Chapter 60 Death Message
After the tour, Amuro and his entourage went downstairs to the restaurant for lunch.
During the meal, Conan went to the restroom and, by sheer coincidence, ran into Pisco again.
However, the man didn't notice him this time and hurried away as if he had something important to do.
Conan initially wanted to secretly follow Pisco, but hesitated again when he remembered Amuro's instructions. In addition, Ran saw him and pulled the little boy back to his seat.
Conan had to temporarily abandon the idea and decided to discuss it with Amuro after dinner.
However, he will soon regret it:
Because this was the last time he saw Pisco before his death.
When the young detective returned to the top floor of the hotel, the man was already a corpse.
The alarm sounded, accompanied by red warning lights, and the police rushed to the scene, only to be shocked.
"Was he electrocuted?" Nakamori was always in charge of capturing Kid, but that phantom thief was only interested in jewels and never took anyone's life.
This was the first time he had encountered a corpse while apprehending a thief.
“It should be.” Gao Ming examined the body and said, “Officer Nakamori, look over there.”
Nakamori looked in the direction Takaaki was pointing and couldn't help but gasp. He could recognize it with just a glance:
That's a notice from Kaito Kid!
However, this announcement was quite different from the previous ones.
The lettering on the card was dark red, like congealed blood.
Even more bizarrely, apart from the iconic simple sketch of Kaito Kid's face, he couldn't understand a word on the notice at all!
"Un sot trouve toujours un plus sot qui l'admire"
"What does this mean?"
"What happened?" The detectives, who had been alerted, rushed over.
After seeing the corpse on the ground and the notice in Nakamori's hand, the four of them understood about 70-80% of the situation.
"What did the notice say?" Conan asked anxiously.
Nakamori handed him the card and said, "Here, can you understand it?"
Several people crowded around, and Conan, feigning an innocent and cute expression, said, "This doesn't seem to be Japanese, but I think I can decipher it using a photo translation app on my phone. Uncle, am I right?"
Mori pulled out his phone and read from the translation: "The first line means: Fools can always find even bigger fools to worship. Huh? Who's he insulting?"
"This seems to be a quote from the French poet Boileau!" Heiji explained after searching on a search engine.
"What is the meaning of that strange line of text in the lower left corner?" Nakamori asked again.
“This is Gothic English, THE GAME IS AFOOT!” Amuro replied. “It’s a line from Shakespeare’s play Henry IV.”
"Hmph! Switching between French and English all the time. Is this thief showing off his extensive knowledge? How despicable! He killed someone and then said the competition had started. Does he think this is a game?" Nakamori cursed angrily.
“I think there must be a reason for writing those two sentences on the notice, right? I’ve been reading the complete Sherlock Holmes series recently, and I’ve seen those two sentences before!” Conan looked at everyone with innocent eyes, hoping that someone would chime in, but everyone fell silent.
Holmes's disciple felt deeply indignant that his idol was met with such a cold reception in this situation, so he asked and answered himself: "The first sentence appears in 'A Study in Scarlet': 'A fool always finds a greater fool to admire him.' And the second sentence appears at the beginning of the short story 'The Adventures of Glenn.'"
"When did Kid become interested in Sherlock Holmes?" Heiji remarked.
"Perhaps Kid isn't the real culprit, but someone is impersonating this phantom thief to commit crimes, falsely accusing and framing the real person, while getting away with it." Gao Ming, who had gone out at some point, returned at this moment.
"Huh? Why did Officer Morofushi say that?" Nakamori asked curiously.
“I just checked the surveillance footage with Mr. Suzuki and found that the indoor cameras were broken and there was no footage from today.”
"Wasn't that Kidd's doing?"
"No! Although there is no indoor video recording, the outdoor video recording is very complete. Since Mr. Mori and the others finished their visit, no one has come here except for the deceased."
"It's a bit strange, really. Mr. Masuyama died from electrocution, but the only thing that could trigger high-voltage electricity is..." Nakamori suddenly seemed to realize something, "Could the deceased be Kid?!"
This reasoning baffled even Kogoro Mouri. He countered, "The deceased was the chairman of a famous car company. What kind of jewel would he want? Even if he couldn't buy it directly, why would he steal it? Besides, the deceased was so old; how could he possibly be flying around like that..."
"Oh dear, there's something strange on that old man's finger!" The little detective couldn't stand it any longer and activated the helpful tip-off function just as the body was about to be taken away.
Upon closer inspection, everyone noticed a ring-like object on the deceased's right index finger.
"Is this silicone?" Nakamori asked, even more confused. "Why would the deceased be wearing this? Did he want to use it to bypass the finger vein detection? Is he really Kid after all?"
Heiji sighed and said, "If the deceased is Kid, then how do you explain the notice? Especially the part about the 'idiot,' Kid can't be insulting himself, can he?"
This question stumped Nakamori, and he realized a more serious problem after he came to his senses:
According to Mr. Suzuki, the electric current would only stun Kid, ensuring his capture alive.
So why do people get electrocuted?!
"Officer Nakamori, they're here," Gao Ming reminded him from the side. "These three suspects all have access to the security system."
Nakamori cleared his throat and asked, "An unfortunate incident has just occurred here. Please cooperate with the police investigation and tell us where you went and who you met after the morning tour."
"What kind of case happened?" Wakasa asked.
"Specific details cannot be disclosed at this time. Please answer your questions first."
"I've been in my room the whole time."
"And what about lunch?"
"It was brought by the waiter."
"Did he drop him off at the door, or did he take him inside?"
"It was placed at the door."
So that means no one can provide an alibi for you?
"I think watching the surveillance footage will resolve the officer's doubts."
"Miss Wakasa, the salmon at this hotel is delicious!" Conan said, skipping over.
Wakasa glanced at the little boy with a strange look and said casually, "Really? Then I can try it next time."
"Miss Wakasa didn't eat salmon, so what did she eat? Can you recommend it to Conan?"
"The omelet rice is just so-so, so I won't recommend it to you."
"Eh—" The little one's face showed a hint of disappointment.
However, he noticed that the eyes behind the glasses seemed somewhat strange.
"This woman's right eye looks really strange."
Nakamori turned to the jewelry expert and asked, "What have you been doing all this time, Mr. Hajime?"
"The hotel's small bar was under renovation, so I went outside for a few drinks."
Are you with friends?
No, I'm all alone.
"Where did you go after you came back from the bar?"
"Go back to your room and sleep."
Did you run into any acquaintances on the way?
"I don't know anyone here," Tu Shi said impatiently. "Officer, could it be that there's something wrong with the security system? I've said before that using high-voltage electricity is very dangerous, why didn't you listen?"
Thank you for your suggestion; we will consider adopting it.
The last one was Hajime's assistant. Nakamori asked, "Where did Miss Nishimoto go at noon?"
"I have been studying the materials that the senior earth master gave me in my room."
"Didn't you go out for lunch either?"
"No, I went to a restaurant for a meal and ran into Mr. Mori and his group."
“That’s right! That’s how it is,” Mori replied.
"Even so, the three suspects had ample time to adjust the amplitude of the high-voltage electricity."
"But what was their motive? They didn't know the victim at all."
"If Mr. Hajime wants to force Mr. Suzuki to give up this security system, isn't that going too far?"
Nakamori shook his head and sighed, finally saying, "Thank you all for your cooperation. You can go back now."
"So the key to solving the problem lies in these two sentences in the notice, right?" Mao Li thought to himself.
"Does the start of the match mean this is going to be a serial murder case?" Nakamori couldn't help but look worried. "But I still don't understand, when exactly was the notice sent in? The outdoor surveillance footage shows that the victim came in alone, right?"
"It's possible that someone left it behind after the visit, which would connect it to the alteration of the voltage," Gao Ming deduced.
"Compared to the second sentence, I think the first sentence is the real key point, isn't it? Who exactly is the fool referring to?" Amuro fell into deep thought.
“If we’re talking about admirers, Kid has quite a few fans,” Heiji said quietly.
“But you just said that Kid couldn’t possibly be insulting himself. However, if someone framed Kid, then this makes sense: the real culprit was mocking Kid.” Nakamori suddenly realized, “So that’s the culprit’s motive!”
“But it could also be referring to the deceased!” Conan suddenly said.
"Huh? Why would you say that?"
"Hey, I was just guessing!" the little detective said, trying to be cute again.
Nakamori frowned, beginning to consider this possibility: "If it refers to the deceased, then who is the even more foolish worshipper?"
"I think Conan means that the dead are the worshippers, right?" Amuro smiled gently at Conan.
Nakamori's eyes widened as he asked, "So, who's the idiot?"
"cause of death"
Amuro answered silently in his heart.
"Did that gentleman finally discover what Piske was secretly investigating behind the scenes?"
What exactly is he investigating?
"And who is he loyal to?"
Amuro carefully recalled the organization's movements and activities over the past month, but couldn't think of any event that could be related to it.
Now that Pixar has been discovered, can Bourbon escape unscathed?
"Who did the organization send to carry out this? Vermouth, or someone else?"
With a host of questions swirling in his mind, Amuro didn't even notice that Conan had been following him the whole way.
"They did it? Why?" Conan asked.
"have no idea."
Conan looked at the other person suspiciously: "Are you alright?"
Amuro sighed and said, "Let's try to avoid contact for safety reasons recently."
Conan nodded knowingly: "Don't worry, I'll handle things here."
Unfortunately, Amuro overestimated himself and misjudged Conan; their partnership was not as unbreakable as it seemed.
This seemingly cautious decision actually sowed the seeds of disaster.
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