Over there, after hearing from Inspector Megure that the four building blocks had been mixed in with the others, and that only those four were covered in fingerprints, even in the engraved surfaces, Hattori Heiji began his reasoning, confirming that it was the President's dying message.
"Judging from the photo, the President's hands were tied behind his back, right? In other words, he couldn't look at the building blocks to select the side he wanted and dip it in the ink. So, he could only turn his back, grab the blocks with his hands, and feel the carvings on them to determine what was engraved on each side..."
"But, to think he could find these four blocks just by feeling them," Mori Kogoro said, looking at the photo. "There are hardly any fingerprints on the other blocks."
"That's because the aliases with the same consonant are engraved on the same block," Hattori Heiji said. "He could tell if he was right just by feeling them a bit."
Inspector Megure leaned in to look at the photo. "So that's why only these four blocks are covered in fingerprints."
"Exactly. Besides, fingerprints are primarily left by sweat and oil from the hands. A dead person no longer secretes them. So, even if you made a corpse grasp the blocks to leave fingerprints, you'd get them on one or two blocks at most. It's impossible for all four blocks to be this covered in fingerprints," Hattori Heiji said, looking at the floor. "The many traces of the ink-stained rope on the floor are also evidence. The President probably secretly selected these four blocks behind his back, held them, then turned over to press them against the ink on the floor, getting ink on the side he'd chosen. Then he turned back and returned the blocks to the pile. Because he didn't know when he would be killed, his hands were soaked in sweat from fear..."
As he spoke, Hattori Heiji stroked his chin, puzzled. "But this is a Toy Company. If the dying message is 'Toy', it doesn't have any special meaning... Inspector Megure, are there any special toys here?"
Aside, Mouri Ran muttered in admiration, "Amazing. He's found so many things just after arriving."
"Yeah, that's Heiji for you! Brother Feichi is super amazing too~!" Kazuha Toyama turned her head, only to find Chi Feichi standing there, writing and drawing in a notebook. She approached him, puzzled, and asked in a low voice, "Brother Feichi, do you have a clue?"
"Uh-huh..." Chi Feichi didn't look up as he reconstructed the engravings on all the building blocks. "Could you please ask Inspector Megure for the names and heights of the four people who found the corpse, and if there's anything special about their legs or feet? It would be best to get photos of the four of them. Also, did the President have a habit of tearing off calendar pages in advance?"
"Ah, okay..." Kazuha Toyama nodded. She was about to go, but after taking two steps, she froze as she watched Hattori Heiji questioning Inspector Megure about any unusual items.
"Kazuha, what's wrong?" Mouri Ran asked, puzzled, glancing over at Chi Feichi. "Does Brother Feichi have a clue?"
"Uh-huh..." Kazuha Toyama nodded, then hesitated for a moment. "He's probably about to solve the mystery of the building blocks."
Mouri Ran observed Kazuha Toyama's expression. "Then why do you look..."
"I was just thinking, if Heiji feels sad, I won't be happy either. He shouldn't lose by too much, at least..." Kazuha Toyama paused, then said seriously, "Otherwise, as his older sister figure, it'll be a real headache for me. Besides, when his mother came, she asked me to take care of him. Of course, I can't just watch him get discouraged!"
Mouri Ran held back a laugh. "Yes, yes, I get it."
Kazuha Toyama looked at Chi Feichi, who was looking down at his notebook, his gaze calm yet serious. She hesitated. "I don't mind, but Brother Feichi seems very interested in this case. I was the one who dragged everyone into this bet, yet he's still working so hard on solving the case. If I decide to back out midway, I'd feel really sorry to him."
"That's true. The two of us haven't really put in any effort..." Mouri Ran also hesitated, considering it for a moment. "How about we just discuss it with him directly? Brother Feichi doesn't really care about winning or losing. And we can just concede a little bit, we don't have to lose to them..."
"Inspector Megure!" a Police Officer called out, entering the room with two evidence bags.
In one bag was the weapon: a golf club, still stained with blood.
The other bag contained a leather overcoat, with traces of wiped-off blood on the shoulder.
Both items were found at the crime scene.
Hattori Heiji noticed that a spot of blood on the left shoulder of the leather overcoat had been wiped and stared at the overcoat, pondering.
Chi Feichi glanced over, his eyes landing on Kazuha Toyama who was talking with Mouri Ran.
Kazuha Toyama understood. She stepped forward, pulled Inspector Megure aside, and asked him some questions in a low voice, even getting a photo from him.
"Hey, Hattori..." Conan reached out with a deadpan expression and tugged on the hem of Hattori Heiji's clothes, his eyes fixed on Kazuha Toyama whispering with Inspector Megure.
He could feel it—the same dark cloud that had enveloped him in the past was now hovering over his head again.
"What?" Hattori Heiji looked over and saw Kazuha Toyama nodding continuously before going back to Chi Feichi's side. He fell silent for a moment. "It can't be..."
Conan looked away, then gave Hattori Heiji a speechless look. "What do you think?"
"Cheer up, you idiot," Hattori Heiji said, forcefully ruffling Conan's hair. "Are you just going to give up at the first sign of trouble?"
"Of course I'm not going to just give up," Conan said with half-moon eyes. "I'm just in a bit of a bad mood, is that not allowed?"
Hattori was usually in Osaka; he wouldn't understand his mood.
He wasn't annoyed because he was about to lose, but because that guy, Chi Feichi, would sometimes just state the answer directly. He'd been robbed of the joy of deduction so many times.
Just thinking about him made him feel helpless, powerless, and wronged.
On the other side, after asking Inspector Megure her questions, Kazuha Toyama went to Chi Feichi's side with the photo. She handed it to him and pointed at the people in the picture to introduce them.
"Brother Feichi, this is their company's group photo. This one is the victim, the President. Inspector Megure said he isn't sure if the President had a habit of tearing off calendar pages in advance, but according to the other four, he was a fan of celebrity merchandise. That wall calendar on the wall over there was something he specially bought. He usually wrote his schedule on it, so he probably wouldn't tear off the pages ahead of time."
"The only female in the photo is the Company Manager, Nao Aika. Her height is about 165 cm. I also asked about her alibi for you. Around 5 p.m. on June 29th, the day of the crime, she went out fishing by herself."
"This tallest one is Mr. Jun Hosami, who's in charge of sales. His height is about 180 cm. He said he was at home watching videotapes by himself that day."
"The slightly fat one is Mr. Isao Nakagami, who's in charge of planning. His height is about 165 cm. He said he was at the racecourse at the time of the crime."
"The shortest one, who looks a bit stocky, is the Vice President, Mr. Hajime Iwatomi. His height is about 160 cm. He said he went to a baseball game on the day of the crime."
"As for whether there's anything special about their legs or feet, Inspector Megure said all four of them are fine. However, it seems all four have a collecting habit..."
"Miss Aika has 50 pairs of gloves. Every time she goes fishing, she brings three pairs with her."
"Mr. Hozami, who likes watching movies, has 30 pairs of sunglasses, and he's even bought big-brand sunglasses of the same style worn by a famous actor."
"Mr. Nakagami, who likes watching horse racing, collects hats. He chooses different lucky hats based on the tournament schedule. He's said to have 50 of them."
"The Vice President, Mr. Iwatomi, who often plays golf with the President, has 30 pairs of white golf shoes. They're all brand-name goods specifically for golfing, and he takes them all out to clean them once a week."
Mouri Ran listened from the side for a while, then asked curiously, "Brother Feichi, are you looking for Mr. Iwatomi? Speaking of something special about legs and feet, liking to wear white golf shoes should count, right?"
"I guess so..." Chi Feichi looked at the four hiragana characters in his notebook, rearranged them, and wrote them down.
Iwatomi (いわとみ), Iwatomi (岩富).
Kazuha Toyama peeked over and saw the characters in the notebook, asking in surprise, "D-Don't tell me the culprit is..."
"No," Chi Feichi said, rewriting a name. "This is the true culprit."
Hasami.
The dying message left by the President was indeed 'Iwatomi', but the one who killed him was Jun Hasami.
Before June 29th, Jun Hasami stole a pair of Hajime Iwatomi's white golf shoes. On that day, he changed into the shoes and hid here. After knocking the President unconscious, he tied him up and laid him down behind the table. He intentionally knocked over the ink, placed a video camera in front of the President's head, and transmitted the footage to the television while he himself kept walking around on the other side of the table.
After the President woke up from his unconscious state, the large table obstructed his view, so he could only see the other party's trouser leg and shoes from under the table. Based on the white golf shoes, he speculated that the one who attacked him was Hajime Iwatomi. He also saw the ink that had pooled next to his hand after being spilled and began the arduous task of leaving a dying message—'Iwatomi'—with the building blocks, even carefully placing them back into the pile.
Little did he know, this entire process was being filmed by the video camera on the floor. Jun Hasami had intentionally left him this time to make his subtle move.
Jun Hasami didn't let the President see anything above his trouser leg, but he watched the President finish leaving the dying message through the video camera footage transmitted to the television. Only then did he walk behind the table, kill the President with the golf club, take the video camera, and turn off the television with the remote control.
The pen holder on the table wasn't knocked over, but the ink bottle was spilled at the table's edge; there were traces on the ground indicating something had been placed there to block blood spatter; the television was left on the external input state—all because of this. He had intentionally pushed the chair and placed the President in a specific location, also so that the President would be able to see the white golf shoes on his feet.
However, during the murder, a spot of blood splattered onto the leather overcoat Jun Hasami was wearing, and his left shoulder happened to brush against the wall calendar on the wall next to him. Consequently, the bloodstain on the left shoulder of the overcoat has traces of being wiped, and a bloodstain was also left on the wall calendar.
Because Jun Hasami is 20 cm taller than Hajime Iwatomi, at Hajime Iwatomi's height, it would be impossible for him to smear a bloodstain that high up on the wall calendar. Once the police discovered the blood mark on the calendar, not only would Jun Hasami's attempt to frame him fail, but he would also become the prime suspect due to his height, which was taller than the others.
Therefore, Jun Hasami tore off the wall calendar page for June and hid it.
He (Chi Feichi) thought the wall calendar was weird when he entered because the deceased died on June 29th, but the calendar had already been torn to July.
It was also possible the President had torn it off in advance, which is why he had Kazuha ask Inspector Megure if the President had a habit of tearing off the calendar pages ahead of time.
A person who cherished this celebrity wall calendar and wrote their schedule on it was unlikely to tear it off in advance. Even if he did tear it off early, it would only be because there was nothing scheduled for the 29th and 30th. In that case, after tearing off the June page, he would have also written his schedule on the July page.
But the July page on the wall was completely clean, without a single character or circle on it.
As for the evidence of Jun Hasami's crime, they could search for the hidden calendar page. There's a possibility it was destroyed, but Jun Hasami wore Hajime Iwatomi's shoes.
Hajime Iwatomi takes all his shoes out to clean them every week. If a pair was missing, he would easily sense it. Perhaps this would become the key for the police to solve the mystery and prove Iwatomi was framed.
Jun Hasami couldn't have just thrown the shoes away; he would have looked for an opportunity to return them to Hajime Iwatomi's home. Therefore, as long as they get a police dog to find that pair of shoes, combined with the situation with the calendar and corroborating deduction, the police can request Jun Hasami to come to the police headquarters for an investigation and also obtain a search warrant.
Even if that evidence isn't enough, they will be able to find other evidence to prove Jun Hasami committed the crime.
(End of Chapter)