Chapter 57: Please Start Your Performance
The two exchanged a look and immediately ran off. Hattori Heiji went to the Kitchen to investigate the Cake Decorating Tip, while Conan, taking advantage of his small size, secretly slipped to the Dining Car to look for Evidence.
Chi Feichi did not follow them. He looked at the incoming call display on his Mobile Phone, picked it up, and answered.
Neither Conan, Hattori Heiji, nor the Police were certain whether the culprit had premeditated or acted on impulse, but he was different. He was very clear that this incident would not have happened originally, and the only variable was himself.
He guessed that Eguchi Sachiko had learned about the messy Room after their private conversation, and coupled with the Snake Venom she had obtained through some channel, she would have been motivated to commit the crime and shift the Suspicion onto him. In that case, Eguchi Sachiko would have had at most half an hour to prepare.
The Snake Venom might have been left behind from her Daughter before, kept somewhere in the Room as a memento. And to prepare a murder weapon simulating snake fangs in just half an hour, the Method he could think of was Cake Decorating Tip and Piping Bag.
Compared to Conan and Hattori Heiji, he did indeed have an advantage in Intelligence.
After the Phone Call connected, Chi Shinnosuke's steady and calm voice came through, "I've already heard about the matter from Ganxiong. Is this matter related to you?"
Chi Feichi replied calmly, "No."
Chi Shinnosuke gave a light 'hm' sound, "I'm already near the Morizono Residence, but there are Reporters all over Outside the Morizono Residence now, so it's inconvenient for me to show my face. A lawyer will go in directly later. Leave everything else to the lawyer. In any case, don't let the Police take you back for questioning as a Suspect."
"Master, that Conan brat is aiming at you with his Watch!" Hissashi suddenly reminded him.
Chi Feichi also reacted extremely quickly and bent down, "No need to trouble the lawyer to come over. It will be resolved soon."
A tiny Tranquilizer Needle flew swiftly over Chi Feichi's head, all the way to the wall, and bounced off the wall to the ground.
Crap! Conan broke out in a sweat, secretly looked over, and found that Chi Feichi was still on the Phone Call, but his heart did not feel much relief.
A person sitting on a Chair suddenly bent down, usually to tie their Shoelace or pick up Things from the ground, but Chi Feichi just bent down for a moment and then sat up straight again, very abruptly, as if specifically to dodge his Tranquilizer Needle.
Coincidentally, Chi Feichi really did dodge it, just like with the Bug last time, frighteningly perceptive.
Last time, he could still deceive himself by saying that there were so many people at the time, and Chi Feichi probably wasn't sure who had planted the Bug. But this second time, he could be sure that Chi Feichi definitely knew his little actions, completely showing an attitude of 'I won't play along with you, nor will I get to the bottom of it.'
It made him uncertain what Chi Feichi was thinking. Just because he lacked curiosity? Possibly. Not only towards him, but Chi Feichi also seemed to have little curiosity towards others, such as Haibara Ai and Hattori Heiji...
...Over there, Chi Feichi was still on the Phone Call with his Father.
"It will be resolved soon?"
"Detective Mori Kogoro is here, and so is High School Student Detective Hattori Heiji from Osaka. They seem to have some clues."
"That's good. Contact me again after the matter is resolved."
The Phone Call ended. Chi Feichi noticed that Hattori Heiji nodded at him after returning. After putting away his Mobile Phone, he walked towards the Dining Car.
Hattori Heiji arrived at the Dining Car first and asked Conan in a low voice, "How is it? Ku... Co... Conan, did you find it?"
Conan pulled back his wandering thoughts, glared at Hattori Heiji unhappily, and pointed to the lower edge of the Dining Car, "It's stuck in the edge. It seems the culprit is indeed Miss Eguchi Sachiko. Miss Pianling Feng also had a chance to act, and her Relationship with Mr. Kikuto is a bit strange, but only Miss Eguchi Sachiko can freely control the Dining Car's movements."
"She wasn't wearing Gloves when serving dishes, and they weren't found in her personal belongings afterward. Her Fingerprint will definitely be left on the Cake Decorating Tip," Hattori Heiji suddenly grinned, "Case solved!"
"Please start your performance," Chi Feichi turned around and returned to his seat.
"Hey..." Hattori Heiji couldn't stop him in time and could only turn his head to look at Conan.
"You do it," Conan said helplessly, "My Tranquilizer Needle is already used."
"Used it?" Hattori Heiji subconsciously turned his head and looked at Mori Kogoro, who was still lively and kicking at the Scene.
"I originally wanted to put Chi Feichi to sleep," Conan lowered his voice, "but after the Tranquilizer Needle was shot out, he noticed it and dodged."
Hattori Heiji chuckled and poked Conan's head playfully with his finger, "I'm telling you, don't provoke other people. Isn't it better to honestly anesthetize that confused Uncle? Last time you anesthetized me and I discovered your Identity. Haven't you learned your lesson this time?"
Conan was speechless and dodged Hattori Heiji's pokes. After considering it, he still told Hattori Heiji the Truth, "There are Videos of me and Photos of Haibara in his Mobile Phone, which is very likely to attract people from the Organization. But he is unwilling to delete them. I thought that when I used his Identity for Reasoning, I could also take his Mobile Phone by the way and clear those Things."
"It will attract those guys who made you smaller? That's troublesome," Hattori Heiji secretly glanced at Chi Feichi, "Why not just explain it to him clearly..."
"Please!" Conan quickly stopped Hattori Heiji's idea, "If those guys know that Kudo Shinichi is not dead, they will definitely come to kill me again. At that time, even the people around me will be in danger. The fewer people who know about me shrinking, the better."
If it weren't for Hattori Heiji guessing his Identity and running to him to expose it, he wouldn't have told Hattori Heiji, okay...
"But does he really not know?" Hattori Heiji said, "Although he has stayed here for two days this time and has more Information than us, his Reasoning Ability and observation ability are no worse than mine. What I can think of, he should also be able to think of, right?"
"He doesn't have your strong curiosity," Conan glanced at Hattori Heiji, hinting, "At least he didn't come to me for confirmation, nor did he ask me to get to the bottom of it."
"Not curious, it's also possible that he already knows everything, and there's nothing worth being curious about. It's just that he doesn't tell you," Hattori Heiji said with some inexplicable schadenfreude, "Just like the Kaito Kid's Notice mystery last time, he obviously saw through it long ago, but he didn't seek confirmation from anyone or say anything. It's the same this time. If you don't ask him, he might just keep it to himself until we find out the Truth ourselves."
"I also have this Suspicion, but he doesn't ask anything. I have no way to be sure what he's thinking. In short, let's just wait and see," Conan was also helpless.
This Chi Feichi guy doesn't play cards according to common sense at all. And considering that Chi Feichi is a Patient at Aoyama Fourth Hospital, he felt that he shouldn't understand Chi Feichi's thoughts in a normal person's way of thinking, let alone speculate on what Chi Feichi was thinking...
Hattori Heiji did not continue the discussion. After preparing for a moment, he spoke up to remind the Police and began to Deduce the whole process.
Everyone returned to their original seats and began to reconstruct the Scene. Inspector Megure and Wataru Takagi replaced Morizono Kikuto and Akio Shigematsu. The remaining Police officers, according to Hattori Heiji's instructions, took out the Cake Decorating Tip stuck in the edge of the Dining Car.
Eguchi Sachiko initially argued a couple of times, but fell silent after Hattori Heiji reconstructed the crime process.
"Inspector Megure!" A Police officer walked over with an Evidence Bag. Inside the Evidence Bag was the flat metal piece taken out from the lower edge of the Dining Car. "Plastic Component containing Snake Venom was found inside, and clear Fingerprint were also left on it!"
"Mm, I understand," Inspector Megure stood up from his seat and looked at Eguchi Sachiko.
"I just... wanted to ruin tomorrow's Wedding," Eguchi Sachiko lowered her head and said guiltily, "I didn't know that the Snake Venom cleaned out from Mie's place was Protobothrops Mucrosquamatus Venom. Looking at the Photos from Mie's place, I thought it was the same as the Snake Young Master Hissashi brought. I thought, since it's a Snake that can be kept as a Pet, injecting a little Snake Venom wouldn't kill anyone..."
"Then Mie you mentioned..." Inspector Megure wanted to confirm the source of the Snake Venom.
"She is my Daughter. Since my divorce from my ex-husband, she has been living alone Outside and is unwilling to tell me anything," Eguchi Sachiko looked at Pianling Feng with a complex gaze, "I occasionally go to help her clean up her Room. It was that time that I discovered she had left Snake Venom at Home. I also found a group Photo of her and Young Master Kikuto. After that, I called her to ask if she had a boyfriend. That was the most harmonious Communication we've had in recent years. As long as her love life was mentioned, she seemed to turn back into that Little Girl who depended on her Mother in the past, saying full of hope about her Life during that Time, and anxiously asking me how the Gift she chose was. I originally wanted to tell her next time I called that Young Master Kikuto was the Young Master of the family I worked for..."
"Then, then later..." Pianling Feng thought of her engagement with Morizono Kikuto and didn't finish her sentence.
"Later, Miss Xiaofeng came, and Butler Chong Song facilitated her engagement with Young Master Kikuto," Eguchi Sachiko closed her eyes, and tears flowed from the corners of her eyes, "I can't imagine how sad Mie would be. No matter what, Parents always care about their children. This time, Young Master Hissashi came and even brought a Snake that looked very similar to the one in the Photo. I thought, this must be Heaven letting me stop this Wedding. I just wanted to cause a little Accident for Young Master Kikuto and injure Butler Chong Song by the way, I never thought of killing them..."
"Since you don't understand Snakes at all, don't use Snake Venom randomly," Hattori Heiji said helplessly, "Snake Venom is inherently a very dangerous Thing. What if it kills someone as a result, and also causes innocent people to bear the blame for murder?"
"I am very sorry!" Eguchi Sachiko bowed to everyone.
Subsequently, the Police received a Phone Call from the Hospital. Morizono Kikuto and Akio Shigematsu, after being rescued, had already escaped from danger, but still needed to recuperate for a period of Time.
Morizono Mikio went Outside to tell the Reporters about the Wedding postponement. Chi Feichi also received a Phone Call from Morizono Kikuto.
"I'm really sorry, it seems I've troubled you. Actually, Mie knows that her Mother works at my Home, but..." Morizono Kikuto's voice was weak, "Forget it, let's not talk about those things now. And please apologize to Hissashi for me."
"Hissashi wants to eat Fish," Chi Feichi said calmly.
There was a second of Silence on the other end of the Phone, "Okay, buy, buy, buy! I'll contact someone to order Fish later. As much as you want."
(End of Chapter