Chapter 478 Detective Conan 44
In the end, we also followed the police cars to the department store parking lot.
As we entered the parking lot, police were securing the area, and inside, a long-haired blonde woman lay dead, having been struck in the head with a blunt object.
"Damn, your divination was right.
A fourth victim ended up dead."
But something about the woman’s body felt unnatural.
"Chief Megure, take a look at the top the woman is wearing.
Doesn’t something seem off?
This woman seems like the type to dress quite flashily, but she’s wearing a company employee’s shirt.
Plus, her shoes don’t fit, which suggests the culprit changed her clothes after killing her.
Probably to hide the fact that she was wearing platform boots, just like the other victims."
Megure Juzo examined the woman’s top and shoes and confirmed I was right.
"You’re right.
She’s wearing a shirt that doesn’t match, and her shoes don’t fit either.
This is definitely the culprit’s doing.
They probably did this to hide the evidence after the crime."
"But what’s strange is that the culprit didn’t hide evidence on the other victims, and even let them live.
Why kill only this woman and try to hide the evidence?
Maybe we should look into whether this woman had anything special about her, like a criminal record or someone who might hold a grudge."
"Now that you mention it, that makes sense."
Then Detective Sato spoke up as if she remembered something.
"Ah, there was a case I heard about from Yumi, who used to be in the traffic division.
That case also happened here.
A boy who was waiting while his mother shopped was playing with a soccer ball and got into an accident.
He wasn’t speeding much since it was a parking lot, but the impact was bad, and the child died three days later.
I remember it because it was such a tragic case."
"There was a case like that?"
"During the trial, the victim’s father argued that the driver was wearing platform boots and that’s why she braked late, but it wasn’t accepted, and the driver ended up with a suspended sentence instead of prison time."
"If it’s platform boots, that might not be unrelated to this case!
What was the victim’s name?"
"Hmm... I think it was Aiza... something...
It was a year ago, so I don’t remember the details..."
Then Inspector Takagi spoke.
"By any chance, was it ’Aizawa Tae’?"
"Ah, yes!
That was the name.
How did you know?"
Then Inspector Takagi revealed something shocking.
"Because the victim lying here right now is named ’Aizawa Tae.’"
"No way!"
I thought that was about all we needed to solve it.
"Chief Megure, I believe the culprit is the father of the child who died in the incident a year ago.
There’s no weapon at the scene, so the culprit probably still has it.
If we catch the culprit quickly, we can secure the evidence."
"Understood.
Everyone hear that?
Let’s move!"
"Yes!"
If they couldn’t catch the culprit even after this much help, the police might as well disband.
"Thanks for your help.
It was very helpful."
"Not at all.
I’ll be going now."
With that case wrapped up, we moved back to the cafe and bought some cake to eat.
Sonoko didn’t pay—I used the money I got from Juzo for the divination.
"Well, at least I earned enough for cake."
"Jin really is an amazing onmyoji."
"Right.
It was so exciting."
Ran and Sonoko seemed to have found the process of the case unraveling quite thrilling.
To be honest, for an ordinary person in the real world, just seeing an actual corpse at a murder scene could be quite shocking.
Depending on the person, it could be a traumatic experience that lingers afterward.
But Ran and Sonoko seemed used to this by now—they looked surprised when they first saw the body, but they weren’t psychologically shaken much.
’I really can’t tell if it’s because people in the Conan universe are just different, or if there are so many murders in Beika that they’ve become desensitized.’
Anyway, after enjoying our cake, we took the Wrangler to drop each of them off at their homes, and I returned home as well.
"You’re late!
Come home earlier.
I’m hungry."
"I was late because I went to buy your clothes."
"R-really?"
Haibara grumbled when I came home late, but when I said I bought her clothes, she immediately perked up.
"Oh, not bad.
I like it.
You have good taste."
"Right?
It’s totally your style, so I grabbed it right away."
At that, she smiled and muttered quietly.
"So we’ve gotten close enough to know each other’s style now..."
"Huh?
What did you say?"
"Oh, nothing."
That day passed, and from the next day, things got a bit busier.
A few commercial shoot offers had come in.
Fortunately, Haibara was also cast and got to shoot with me.
Since she was short on money, she readily accepted the offer as soon as she heard about it.
"Okay! This is the highlight duel scene, so please be serious!"
The commercial we got was for cup ramen.
The concept was two siblings arguing over which of the two products from the same company was tastier.
But it wasn’t just a verbal argument—it included punching scenes, and they were even adding CG to make it look like we were shooting energy blasts.
At first, we were both quite flustered by the absurd concept, but once filming started, we managed to finish it safely.
Still, Haibara seemed to have a lot of complaints.
"Hah... do I always have to shoot these duel scenes?
Isn’t there a calmer commercial?"
It was true that when Haibara got casting offers, most of them were this kind of concept.
Our real-life sibling image must have been too strongly established.
"Well, so what?
It’s fun.
Besides, this image came from when you threw whipped cream during that hidden camera prank at the TV station.
I’d say it’s your own doing."
"Unbelievable..."
"At least you made a lot of money.
Be satisfied with that."
"Hoo... fine...
At least I got paid a lot, so that’s something."
While we were doing that, news about a bus hijacking and a famous soccer player committing murder came out, but it seemed Conan had handled those on his own.
But for some reason, Ran was slumped over at school with no energy.
"Ran, what’s wrong?
Why are you so out of it?"
"Hah... it’s my dad.
He bought a yacht.
The previous owner took us out for a ride yesterday.
But since it’s a small yacht, it rocked a lot and I got terrible seasickness.
I’m still feeling the aftereffects."
"W-what?!
Mouri the detective bought a yacht?!!"
"He did.
The fishing trip he took last time must have been really enjoyable for him.
So he made up his mind and bought one, but it’s really old and needs a lot of repairs.
He doesn’t even have a license yet."
It seemed that going on yacht trips so often lately had gotten him hooked.
"Didn’t you try to stop him?
That’s going to cost quite a bit."
"He bought it without consulting anyone, so I didn’t even have a chance to stop him.
Besides, he said it’s a small yacht and he’ll use it even after retirement, so I couldn’t say much."
I didn’t know how small of a yacht he bought, but if it was under 30 feet, even a middle-class family could manage it if they were careful.
Depending on how much you use it, maintenance costs in Tokyo run about 1.5 million yen per year.
Most of that is mooring fees.
"I see...
For now, since I know a bit about yachts, I think I should go take a look myself."
At that, Ran looked quite relieved.
She seemed to have been very worried about the yacht problem.
After school, we took the Wrangler to the marina.
I’d heard from Ran that Kogoro was there too.
"That’s it.
He’s probably inside."
The yacht Ran pointed to was a ’Beneteau Antares 30’—a French-made yacht with one bathroom and two small cabins.
Kogoro was busy cleaning it.
"Dad, we’re here."
"Oh, you’re here.
What do you think of the Mouri-Go?"
"Dad, I told you that name is too childish.
Who names a yacht after their own surname?"
"Well, who cares?
It gets the name out there too, killing two birds with one stone."
I looked around the yacht and asked.
"How much did you pay for it?"
"It’s an older model, so I was able to get it for 12 million yen.
It still runs pretty well, considering."
It was clearly old—rust was forming in various places, the furniture was chipped here and there, and the teak decking was significantly rotted as well.
Fortunately, the engine still seemed usable.
It looked like the yacht had been left unattended for a long time.
"Hmm...
12 million yen is a reasonable price."
"Right?
The previous owner barely used it and said the maintenance costs kept piling up, so he sold it cheap."
"Did you hear about the maintenance costs?"
"Yeah, he said it would probably run about 1.5 million yen per year."
At that, Ran’s eyes widened in surprise—she hadn’t heard that part—and she said worriedly.
"Dad! 1.5 million yen a year will make our living expenses really tight!"
"Well, so what?
I’ll just work harder.
Besides, the Mouri Detective name is gaining more recognition, so I’ll be able to earn more."
"Hah..."
Ran let out a deep sigh in disbelief.
Honestly, I didn’t know the exact financial situation of the Mouri Detective Agency, so I couldn’t say much.
But judging by Ran’s expression, that 1.5 million yen annual maintenance fee was no small amount for the agency.
"Hmm...
How about moving it to Yokohama Marina?
I know the marina owner there, so if I talk to him, we might be able to reduce the costs to about 1.2 million yen.
If you use it a lot, fuel costs might add up, but mooring fees take up the biggest chunk of maintenance."
At that, Ran sighed in relief, and Kogoro was delighted.
"Oh, really?
Could you look into it for me?"
"Of course.
And I’ll take care of the repairs myself.
Since I’ve done a lot of research on this, I know many shops.
I won’t charge for the repairs either.
Since you’ll be my father-in-law in a few years, I’d like you to enjoy your purchase for a long time."
At that, Kogoro was quite surprised.
"R-really?!"
"Yes.
You can get your yacht license while I’m doing the repairs."
"Alright, got it.
I’ll get it as soon as possible.
Take good care of it, son-in-law."
With that settled, we returned to the detective agency with Kogoro and Ran.
"Uwahaha! This is why you marry off your daughter well!"
"Dad! I’m not married yet!"
Kogoro seemed very happy about getting free repairs.
"Oh, honestly...
Jin, why are you encouraging my dad...
I honestly wanted to convince him to sell the yacht."
"From what I saw, he’s too happy about it, so it’s already too late.
I think the smartest thing to do is to minimize the costs as much as possible.
If things get tough, just let me know anytime.
I’ll help you out."
"How can I ask that of you?"
"It’s not like you’re a stranger.
Or how about working part-time at our place?
You’d assist me when I do onmyoji work.
I’ll pay you well."
"Really?
Would that be okay?"
"Of course."
After the yacht issue was settled, I asked about Conan.
I hadn’t seen him in a while, so I was curious what he was up to.
"By the way, have you heard anything about Conan?"
"Not really.
He hasn’t been coming around lately.
I think he’s still going to school, though."
It seemed Conan still hadn’t recovered from the shock of last time.
On the weekend, Ran came to our house as promised.
She was coming to learn the work.
But Haibara’s expression wasn’t great.
"When I’m already here, why do we need another part-timer?"
"Well, there are some things that adults can do.
For example, moving bulky items, or dealing with clients.
And having more assistants makes it easier when performing high-level spells."
But Haibara looked at me with an unbelieving gaze and asked.
"Is that really true?"
"Ahem... well, I do have a bit of personal motive too."
"Unbelievable."
Anyway, we started doing onmyoji work with Ran observing.
"Hmm...
You’ve been having frequent lower back pain lately, haven’t you?"
"That’s right, but what does that have to do with things not going well?"
"It does.
A very big connection, actually.
When your body isn’t well, you’re constantly distracted by it, so of course your work won’t go smoothly."
"Ah...
That does make sense.
No, you’re absolutely right.
You can’t focus on work if your health isn’t good."
"In my opinion, you should take care of your health when you have the chance.
If you leave it as is, the stress from things not going well will make your body worse.
Then a vicious cycle begins."
"I see.
Understood.
I’ll definitely go to the hospital first."
After that day’s work ended, I gave Ran 20,000 yen and Haibara 50,000 yen.
Haibara had been doing it long enough, so she got more.
"Are you sure I can take this?
I didn’t do anything."
"Observing is part of the work too.
That’s how you learn quickly.
You’re still a trainee, so please understand that this is all I can give you right now."
"No, this is a lot.
I was just sitting there."
"The kimono will arrive tomorrow.
Once you wear that, you can start properly."
"Will I be able to do well?"
"You can.
Look at Haibara—she just brings me a few things and goofs around."
At that, Ran laughed, and Haibara frowned.
"Anyway, you worked hard today.
I’ll walk you home."
"Okay."
After walking Ran home and coming back, Haibara confronted me.
"Hey! When I first started, you only gave me 10,000 yen, so why does Ran get 20,000?"
"Because you said you were going to buy bear panties."
"Unbelievable...
How much could bear panties possibly cost?"
I had expected her to say that, so I pulled out the receipt I had kept from before and showed it to Haibara.
She seemed quite shocked at the price of the panties.
"What?! Why do panties cost 15,000 yen?!
And why is a bra so expensive!?"
"They’re designer brands.
I don’t know if you remember, but you picked all of them out yourself.
So technically, you’ve gotten way more than Ran."
At that, Haibara let out a deep sigh.
"Hah... I’m going crazy."