Chapters 3571 & 3583 [A Ghost Movie]
Judy adopted a foreign accent and spoke in a strange tone:
"Actually, those photos were initially posted on the board in the living room. But when some of my local friends came to my house, they said it looked too strange."
“Because I took these photos casually, none of you were looking at the camera. My friends in Tokyo said that this looked like taking photos without permission, and some people would mind. So, in order to go with the flow, I moved them to a more secluded place.”
Sonoko Suzuki touched her chin, thinking there was no problem: "Oh right, those people in American TV shows always like to keep photos of relatives and friends on their desks or in their wallets. The customs on both sides are indeed quite different."
Ran Mouri still felt something was off. She glanced at Jiang Xia beside her, hesitating whether to speak up or not.
However, considering that there was a large group of police officers downstairs and that the windows of this ward were closed and could not be opened—if Ms. Judy really was some kind of outlaw posing as an FBI agent, then there was no more opportune time to arrest her.
Furthermore, if Ms. Judy is truly innocent, it's a good time to clear things up now, so she won't keep dwelling on it later.
After much internal struggle, Ran Mouri finally took a deep breath and blurted out everything she wanted to say:
"But in those photos, whenever Jiang Xia appears, his eyes are always crossed out with a black pen! — If it's really to commemorate relatives and friends, you shouldn't treat Jiang Xia's photos like this, it just looks, just..."
That's just like a psychopath!
"..."
Under the gaze of her clear eyes, Judy looked utterly innocent and helpless as she slumped back onto the hospital bed.
What does it have to do with her? It was clearly Vermouth who scribbled on Jiang Xia—Jiang Xia's eyes were already covered by black pen when she transferred these photos from that woman.
"Speaking of which, why would Vermouth do that?" Judy couldn't help but wonder, recalling the redacted photos. She muttered to herself:
"Could it be because Jiang Xia is too sensitive to the camera, always able to spot those paparazzi, and looks directly into the lens the moment the shutter is pressed? So Vermouth felt guilty, or felt it was unlucky, and painted off Jiang Xia's eyes?"
"Hmph, that's really going too far. Although those photos are indeed quite scary to see at night... theoretically speaking, the scenes in those photos are just the real-time scene that Jiang Xia discovered being secretly filmed."
"Jiang Xia is on the side of justice, there's nothing to be afraid of in these photos. But I do want to imagine Vermouth snapping away, then being terrified in the darkroom in the middle of the night by the photos she developed herself, and finally erasing Jiang Xia's eyes one by one... Haha, I really want to see that scene."
"Even so, Vermouth refused to throw away those photos. Instead, she wanted to hang them on her wall. She's really persistent about her goal this time. This confirms what James and I guessed. That woman probably won't leave here. Instead, she'll lie low for a while and then return to these children until she achieves her goal."
Thinking of this, a small figure that resembled herself suddenly appeared in Judy's mind—the former Sherry, or rather, the current "Ai Haibara".
"It's a bad thing for the scientist to refuse the witness protection program, but it's a better way for us in the FBI to bring Vermouth back."
"We can't afford to make a mistake this time. We must protect Shirley and these innocent citizens." Judy thought to herself.
"And Jiang Xia. The fact that his photo was defaced like this shows that Vermouth harbors deep resentment towards him. Perhaps it's because when Vermouth was infiltrating Teitan High School under the identity of 'Dr. Araide,' Jiang Xia accidentally thwarted some of her plans?"
"If that's the case, then when Vermouth comes back next time, she might learn from this experience, eliminate all obstacles first, and then take action against Sherry, who is at the core. In that case, Jiang Xia, who lives next to Sherry and is overly sensitive to criminal activity, will probably be the first to be targeted."
A string of thoughts flashed through Judy's sluggish mind; she frowned, smiled, and then clenched her fists tightly.
Beside the hospital bed, Ran Mouri, who had just finished asking her questions in one breath, stared at this scene and was momentarily stunned.
What's going on? This reaction doesn't seem to be what she expected.
Normally, shouldn't Ms. Judy have explained why she painted Jiang Xia's photo, or perhaps she made up a lie in a panic because she couldn't explain why?
But now... what is she thinking?
Ran Mouri looked at the FBI agent whose expression changed drastically, and felt as if she were reading a magical book that was ever-changing and gave her a headache.
Beside her, Sonoko Suzuki's expression changed from casual to sharp. Since the matter involved Jiang Xia, her brain, which had been too lazy to work due to the recent terrifying incident, suddenly started to speed up.
"Could it be..." Sonoko Suzuki recalled the suspicions she had when Jodie first came to Tokyo to teach and first met Etsuka, and a huge sense of vigilance surged in her heart.
Like a master detective, she stroked her chin and pointed at the strange-looking teacher, Judy, on the hospital bed: "Could it be that you really have a crush on Jiang Xia, but are worried that if you look at Jiang Xia's photo for too long, you won't be able to control your impulses, so you cruelly covered Jiang Xia's eyes?!"
Judy snapped out of her daze: "???"
What?! Who do I have a crush on?!
Conan was thinking about something else: "It shouldn't have been Ms. Jodie who took these photos, but Vermouth, so the ones that were blurred out in Jiang Xia's photos were probably Vermouth as well."
"What exactly is this organization doing? Blacking out the eyes... Is it implying that the person who blacked out the photo wants to drag Jiang Xia into darkness, or even more cruelly, wants to kill Jiang Xia?"
Each of the four people was lost in their own thoughts, completely unrelated to one another. For a moment, it seemed as if a vortex of thoughts was floating in the ward.
Fortunately, one person survived.
James sensed the increasingly strange atmosphere.
He glanced at Ran Mouri's tightly clutched cell phone, ready to dial the police at any moment. In order to avoid being taken to the Metropolitan Police Department for the nth time, he cleared his throat, stepped forward, and broke the heavy silence.
“Miss Mori, it’s like this.” James thought for a moment, and then carefully said, while trying not to reveal the Black Organization to ordinary people:
“These photos weren’t actually taken by me and Judy—the real photographer was that vicious thug we just mentioned.”
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