Heiji hadn't expected to be turned away so bluntly.
Back in Osaka, he could freely involve himself in criminal investigations not only because he possessed exceptional deductive talent.
But more importantly because his father, Hattori Heizo, was the Chief of the Osaka Prefectural Police Headquarters. Naturally, the police there tended to turn a blind eye.
"But I came here because I accepted Tsujimura-san's request! That means I have every right to participate in this case!" he hurriedly argued.
He had traveled all the way here without even getting to meet Shinichi, and now he wasn't even allowed to investigate this locked-room murder. There was no way he could accept that.
If he had to return to Osaka like this, Heiji was certain he wouldn't be able to sleep tonight.
"Officer, Hattori-kun really was invited here by me..." said Tsujimura Kimie, dressed in a brownish-gray business suit with a ladies' handbag in her arms.
Ritsu frowned slightly upon hearing that. He turned to Takagi and said,
"Give him a pair of gloves and shoe covers."
The moment Heiji heard those words, he knew Onizawa was allowing him to assist with the investigation.
"Thank you, Onizawa-san! I've already performed a preliminary examination of the body. The victim, Tsujimura Isao, was poisoned by the murderer."
After putting on the gloves, he helped turn the victim's body over before pointing to the area just below the ear, near the hairline.
"There's a tiny red puncture mark here. It looks like he was stabbed with something thin and sharp. Most likely a poisoned needle or a syringe filled with a lethal toxin."
Ritsu had to admit that the high school detective from Kansai really knew what he was doing.
After scanning the room, he bent down and picked up a silver needle from the floor.
"It looks like this is most likely the murder weapon."
He looked toward Takagi.
"Takagi, bring me an evidence tube and store it carefully. We don't want anyone accidentally pricking themselves with a poisoned needle."
"Yes, sir!"
Heiji also acknowledged Onizawa's professionalism.
At the same time, he couldn't help wondering who was actually superior, the genius detective Shinichi or this genius police inspector.
Ritsu, of course, had no idea what Heiji was thinking. He crouched beside the corpse and conducted his usual examination.
The body still retained warmth. There was no rigor mortis. The pupils were dilated and lifeless.
No livor mortis had appeared yet.
Judging from the MPD's response time and those four observations, the victim had likely died around thirty minutes ago.
That meant the murderer was most likely either a member of the household or someone living nearby. Personally, he leaned toward the former.
"Achoo!!"
His train of thought was instantly interrupted. Turning around, he saw Conan wiping his runny nose.
'No wonder something felt off today... Kudo caught a cold.'
How strange.
Could it be that the completed APTX4869 actually didn't grant any resistance against illness?
As expected, it still wasn't perfect.
"Conan, are you alright?"
Ritsu crouched down and reached out to check his temperature. To his surprise, Conan immediately stepped backward, covering his mouth and nose.
"Onizawa-nii, if you get too close, you'll catch my cold!"
Ritsu wanted to explain that getting sick simply wasn't possible for him, but instead he merely shrugged.
"If you're feeling that bad, have Mouri-san take you home. Don't push yourself."
Heiji tilted his head in confusion.
'Didn't the baijiu work? Normally, if you've got a bad cold, drinking a little alcohol, sweating it out, and getting some sleep should cure it, right?
That's weird...'
Conan wiped away the sweat forming on his forehead.
He could barely concentrate anymore. Fortunately, Ritsu was handling today's case. As long as he was here, the murder should be solved.
His nose kept running.
His chest felt tight.
His ears rang constantly.
Staggering over to the wall, he leaned against it weakly.
'My colds were never this severe before... Did shrinking my body also weaken my immune system?
...I feel awful.'
Ritsu noticed Conan was becoming delirious from the severe cold.
He decided to throw himself fully into the investigation and solve the case as quickly as possible. Turning toward the butler standing by the doorway, Fumio Koike, he asked,
"Based on our current findings, the estimated time of death is between 3:30 and 4:30 p.m. Could you explain who was in the house during that period? Or whether anything unusual happened?"
Heiji hadn't expected Onizawa to voice exactly the deductions he himself had been about to make.
Touching the bridge of his nose awkwardly, he felt strangely uncomfortable. Usually, he was the one leading the police.
Now the police were leading him instead. It really wasn't something he was used to.
After Fumio honestly recounted where every family member had been during that hour, Ritsu found something odd.
According to the butler, the only person who had come into contact with Isao during that time was his wife, Kimie.
However, Kimie had an alibi provided by Heiji and the others. That meant he was still missing a crucial piece of evidence.
And that evidence had to be somewhere inside this study.
Looking toward Heiji, Ritsu asked,
"Hattori-kun, could you describe what happened when you entered the room?"
Heiji recalled,
"Tsujimura-san unlocked the door with a key. Even before opening it, we could hear loud Western classical music playing from inside. After the door was opened, we saw the victim resting his chin on his right hand.
At first, we thought he had fallen asleep. It wasn't until Tsujimura-san walked over and shook him that we realized he was already dead."
After hearing the account, Ritsu's gaze shifted to the stack of books on the desk.
The books on the shelves were neatly arranged.
Only one empty space remained, and a single book had toppled over there, as though several books had been hurriedly removed and placed onto the desk.
The victim had no reason to do something like that. Which meant, the only person who could have done it was the murderer.
Suddenly remembering something, he quickly strode toward the doorway. Looking inside from the entrance, he mentally recreated the victim's sitting posture.
Sure enough, the right half of the victim's body couldn't be seen from outside.
If the butler hadn't lied, then the murderer had been bold enough to kill the victim right in front of the guests.
"Inspector, I found something strange about the victim's key!"
Takagi held up the oval key ring taken from the victim's pocket. Opening it with one hand, he said,
"Look. There's a piece of tape stuck inside, and the empty section looks like it was used to hold something in place."
"Hm?"
The moment Ritsu saw it, he couldn't help smiling.
'So that's how it was. Using a trick like this to frame someone else... But the real murder weapon never actually left her possession, did it?'
He looked toward Kimie, who was standing not far away.
He was about to expose her method when a loud thud came from behind him. He turned around and saw Conan lying motionless on the floor.
An ominous feeling instantly welled up inside him.
Ritsu moved even faster than Ran. Crossing the distance in two quick strides, he knelt beside Conan.
"Hey, Conan? Conan! Wake up!"
He reached out and touched Conan's forehead.
The scorching heat startled him.
'This has to be at least 104 degrees Fahrenheit... Could this be a side effect of APTX4869? Or a complication?
Was the APTX really incomplete?!'
"Mouri-san, please call a doctor immediately!"
At this stage, he had to get Ran away first. The case would have to wait. He needed to find a way to contact Haibara and get her here.
If there really was something wrong with the APTX, then he hadn't just harmed one person.
He had harmed two.
'Damn it... Kudo, you have to pull through.'