Maori Kogoro began to understand everything

He Ye and Xiao Lan hugged each other in horror.

"Could it be... that the murderer is a human, a mermaid?"

"Fool, how could a mermaid wear long boots?" Hattori said speechlessly, "This is just a trick to deliberately mislead everyone. I think the murderer may have walked along the coastline and met Miss Naoko next to the fishing net. After committing the crime, he walked back along the coastline. The footprints were washed away by the waves, and it looks like this..."

"But speaking of which," Conan asked, "Did anyone see Miss Naoko leave the funeral hall?"

Shimashiro Kimie shook her head and said, "I don't know... When I came, she was no longer in this room..."

"Mr. Kadowaki, what about you? Your name is signed behind Ms. Naoko..."

"I did not see."

The unshaven Kadowaki burped and said, "When I came in, I was the only guest who came to pay my respects..."

"So to say,"

Xiaolan pondered, "Did Miss Naoko arrive here first, and then she went to the net?"

Conan stood quietly by the side, thinking, and then looked at Maori who was also silent: "Uncle, what's wrong?"

"nothing."

Mao Li shook his head and lit a cigarette for himself - he still had some things to figure out.

……

In the living room of the Ebihara family, the guests who came to keep watch gathered together for dinner. The Fukui Prefectural Police also took the opportunity to conduct a search to see if the murderer who stole Naoko's dugong arrow was mixed in the crowd who came to pay their respects. However, the only two people with arrows were Kadowaki and Kazuha, who had received them during the festival.

Maori did not think that such an investigation was of any use, but some of the islanders' statements were quite strange.

Someone saw the missing Saori appear near the Mermaid Falls during the festival...

"Is it really Miss Saori herself?" Hattori asked doubtfully.

"It's definitely right," the islander said with certainty, "because she's the only one on our island who has brown hair and wears glasses, and Saori always wears blue clothes..."

"If it's true," Hattori sat down at the dining table and said in a deep voice, "Miss Saori must be hiding from something, so she can't show up in front of everyone... Gong, Conan, uncle, have you figured out anything?"

Conan ate sushi and said, "I have no clue at all. The only people we can be sure of are Ms. Sumi who was killed initially, Ms. Naoko this time, and Ms. Saori who is missing... Everyone believes in the power of the longevity lady who ate mermaid meat, and they are all obsessed with the dugong arrow..."

"Yeah," Hattori looked at Saori's father who was drinking across from him, "I also think that the three of them were killed or fled because of the dugong arrow... If only we knew what number Miss Sumi's license plate was last night..."

Shimashiro Kimie happened to be sitting next to him. Hearing this, she smiled and said, "This is easy, because I will write down the names of all the people with each number on the roster. Do you want to check the roster now? Because of what happened, I haven't checked it yet..."

"Of course!" Hattori said in surprise, "That's great!"

"register……"

Maori paused slightly.

After leaving the Ebihara family, everyone passed through a forest filled with strange noises and headed for the Shimashiro family where the shrine was located.

With her hands behind her back, Huibara walked at the end with Maori, and whispered to everyone behind her back: "The only thing missing from Ms. Saori's luggage is her medical insurance card. Uncle, you noticed that, didn't you? Did you find any problem? It's been acting strange since just now..."

"This serial murder case seems to have been planned from the beginning," Maori looked at the people leading the way in front, "and what happened to Miss Saori is also suspicious. If she was trying to avoid someone, it would be too strange. I'm afraid..."

"It's the murderer's disguise, right?" Huiyuan continued, "Do you already know who the murderer is?"

"Well, there has been some speculation."

Mauli nodded.

Haibara looked at Maori, and a barely perceptible inexplicable light flashed in her eyes.

……

At the Shimashiro household, Shimashiro Kimie leads a group of people into a room and rummages through cabinets looking for the roster.

"That's strange. I clearly remember putting the things here..."

"Can't find the roster?"

"Well, only this year's is missing..."

"Could it have been taken away by that old woman?" Hattori helped to search.

Shimashiro Kimie shook her head and said, "Impossible..."

Conan then asked, "Does anyone else know that you keep the things here?"

"Almost everyone on the island knows it, because they often look at the names of celebrities in the roster," Shimadai Kimie said helplessly, "I'll look for it in other rooms..."

"Miss Junhui," Mao Li said, "Can I see the longevity lady?"

"Ah?" Shimashiro Kimie was stunned. "My great-grandmother should be asleep now. Can I ask for you tomorrow?"

"Ok."

Maori did not force it. He just watched Shimashiro Kimie, Xiaolan and Kazuha go to other rooms to find the rosters, and then he checked other rosters.

Each number corresponds to a person's name, making it clear at a glance.

If there is such a list, it is easy to know who draws the Dugong Arrow. For Sumi Ebihara, Naoko and even Kazuha, drawing the Dugong Arrow is not just a coincidence or good luck.

As for the roster being lost at this time…

"Ok?"

Mao Li accidentally turned over a page in the roster and noticed the name "Miyano Shiho" on it.

Huihara glanced at the roster from the corner of his eye, and paused for half a second on the words "Kurosawa Jin" and "Uozuka Saburo" below his own name: "It's just the same name, don't make the mistake."

Mao Li wondered: "I haven't said anything yet..."

"Miyano Shiho?" Conan came closer curiously and said in surprise, "Come to think of it, that is indeed your real name, Huiyuan, but you don't look like the kind of person who would want to be young and beautiful forever, hehe..."

Huiyuan said calmly, "Compared to this, don't you think that the list might have been stolen by someone in advance? At the banquet, someone heard you coming to check the list..."

Hattori put down the other roster in his hand and said, "Are you talking about Mr. Kadowaki? I knew it, he must be afraid that the fact that it was Miss Sumi who actually drew the dugong arrow would be exposed!"

It was normal for Kadowaki to steal the list after Maori put it down. I don't know if it was a coincidence that the old drunkard became the biggest suspect in this incident because of the dugong arrow. Once the list is discovered, he might be arrested by the police as the murderer...

"Heiji!"

He Ye hurried back to the room and said anxiously, "We just saw a woman with brown hair and glasses in the yard... Could it be Miss Saori?"

"What?" Hattori asked in surprise, "Where is she?"

"I don't know, because she ran away immediately..."

"Here we go again..." Maori frowned and followed him out of the room, seeing that only Kazuha and Xiaolan were in the corridor.

"Strange, where is Miss Jun Hui?"

"She went out the back door," Xiaolan said, "because she said she wanted to look around in the renovated warehouse..."

"She's going alone?"

"Yes," He Ye nodded, "Originally we said we would go together, but she said she would be back soon, so we should go back here first..."

Mao Li's face changed slightly, and his mind began to work rapidly again. All the clues were connected into one line in his mind: "Where is that warehouse?"

"what?"

He Ye and the others were startled and quickly pointed to the shrine outside the yard.

"Okay, it seems to be behind that shrine..."

Across the shrine, the sky on the other side was illuminated by the fire, and it was particularly eye-catching in the dark night.

Without bothering to explain, Maori opened the glass doors and windows and ran towards the shrine warehouse.

It is completely clear that Shimashiro Kimie is the murderer!

……

The third day of the mermaid incident.

Maori and Haibara stood together in front of the smoke-filled shrine warehouse, silently watching the firefighters on the island busy at work.

When he arrived here, the fire could no longer be stopped. The warehouse burned all night and was completely burned to a charred ruin just like three years ago.

A charred corpse was also found...

"Although it's a little burnt," said a tired firefighter at the Shimashiro family residence, "but you can still make it out. She's wearing glasses and blue clothes... It's probably the body of Saori who's missing..."

"But, but..." He Ye and Xiao Lan trembled in fear, "The person we saw in the yard... could it be a ghost?"

The longevity lady trembled as she walked to the corridor and yard. She ignored everyone and kept shouting in the house with a hoarse voice: "Jun Hui! Where are you, Jun Hui?"

Hattori watched the old man walk by and asked curiously, "Is Miss Jun Hui not back yet?"

"Well," He Ye looked at the lonely Changshou Po and said worriedly, "I'd better go with the old lady to take a look..."

"I'll go too."

Kazuha and Xiaolan hurried away and caught up with the longevity lady who disappeared around the corner. Conan looked serious as he watched this scene and said softly, "Hey, Hattori, I remember Miss Kimie said she had just seen a dentist, right? If we ask using her name, we should be able to tell which dentist it was right away..."

Hattori's face froze, and he turned slightly pale as he said, "You idiot...what on earth are you talking about? Could it be that..."

"Don't be so stupid!" Conan said in a deep voice, "You should have thought of the same thing as me now, right? I have a... ominous premonition..."

Maori came to his senses, withdrew his gaze from the ruins, walked to the edge of the yard, looked at Conan and the other two, and said nothing.

Outside Changshou Po's bedroom, He Ye and Xiao Lan closed the wooden door with ease, but there was still worry in their eyes.

"How is it?" Maori asked, "Where is the longevity lady?"

"I've fallen asleep for now, but I'm still thinking about Miss Jun Hui..."

Xiaolan asked worriedly, "Will something happen to Miss Junhui as well?"

Mao Li chuckled and comforted her, "Don't worry, Miss Jun Hui will be fine."

Of course she would be fine, not only was she alive and well, but she was right under their noses...

Maori looked calmly towards the longevity lady's bedroom.

After the whole incident became clear and all impossibilities were eliminated, the final truth was laid before him. No matter how unexpected it was, the fact was the fact, and the longevity woman should be Shimashiro Kimie.

Just one last piece of news...

At noon, a phone call came to the shrine. Mao Li answered the phone and announced to everyone in a deep voice: "After comparing the tooth shape of the corpse with the records left by Miss Jun Hui during her treatment... the data is completely consistent..."

"what?"

"How can this be?"

Hattori swallowed hard and clenched his teeth tightly: "Damn it! If we had been more careful yesterday..."

"Miss Jun Hui..." Xiaolan and the other two girls wiped their tears, "Such a good Miss Jun Hui actually..."

He Ye started sobbing and crying: "Ms. Jun Hui was with us last night, wuwuwu..."

Hattori looked at the crying Kazuha and said with a serious look in his eyes: "No matter who this murderer is, one thing is certain, he must not be allowed to continue to get away with it... He is simply a murderous devil who does not take human life seriously!"

"But why did the murderer want to kill Miss Jun Hui? The previous times were all for the dugong arrow, right?"

Huihara asked in confusion, "And why did Miss Kimie specifically dress like Saori?"

"I'm afraid Miss Junhui saw something, and after killing Miss Junhui, he wanted to confuse the public," Hattori thought, "Last night, a glass door in the corridor was broken, and it seemed that someone came to steal the lottery book... That uncle Kadowaki is very suspicious. I heard that his fingerprints were found on the lifebuoy, but now the police can't find him..."

After a pause, Hattori subconsciously wanted to call Kudo, but he changed his words in time when he met Conan's gaze: "How about this, Conan, uncle, after we meet the longevity lady, let's go out and look for her together..."

Mao Li interrupted directly: "Let me take care of the longevity lady... Xiao Ai and I will stay and take care of the old lady."

Hattori looked at Mori in surprise, not understanding why he was not in a hurry to solve the case - was this the so-called calmness of a famous detective, different from those high school student detectives like them?

"Okay, I'll leave this to you."

……

Outside Choju Po's bedroom, Hattori and Kazuha left the Shimashiro family shrine together, while Mori and the others stayed, kneeling in silence at the door, and reluctantly told the story of the charred corpse in the warehouse.

"Really? Jun Hui is gone too..." The old man lay in the bed with an old and lifeless face, as if he might close his eyes forever at any time.

Xiaolan blamed herself with tears in her eyes, "It's all because we didn't follow Miss Jun Hui. If we hadn't let Miss Jun Hui go to the warehouse alone..."

The old man said in a tired voice: "Young lives are gone one by one, but I am still dragging this body to continue to struggle... Sorry, can you leave me alone for a while?"

"Old woman," Conan asked anxiously, "I heard that the old woman asked someone to move the mermaid's grave to the mountains two years ago. Who did you ask to do it?"

"What's the point of asking this?" The old man shook his head gently, closed his eyes and said sadly, "Because even that person left me behind..."