"Alright, hold that pose, don't keep turning your head to look at the living room door," Tsuneo instructed Officer Sato on her acting.
"Got it…" Sato leaned forward, holding the phone in one hand, imitating the victim's cycling posture at the time.
The indoor exercise bike was positioned by the living room window, with its rear only a little over a meter from the bookshelf against the back wall. Its left side directly faced the living room door, allowing anyone to see with just a turn of the head if there was any movement.
"That person looks very nervous," Director Conan turned to glance at Mr. Masuo, who was sitting on the sofa.
The latter had his hands clasped on his knees, his expression very serious, continuously staring at Officer Sato, who was playing his wife.
"No kidding," Director Tsuneo clapped his hands, signaling Shiratori.
Come on, kill her!
The living room door wasn't locked, but when Officer Shiratori extended his white-gloved hands to push it open, it began to make a subtle sound.
Officer Sato immediately turned her head to look.
She intended to react as Mrs. Masuo would have, getting off the bike and fleeing.
Upon seeing the culprit sneak in with a knife, a normal person would definitely run away.
"Wait a minute!" Sato suddenly stopped.
"What's wrong?" Shiratori, holding a paper knife folded by Conan, looked at her in confusion.
Sure enough, you also find this absurd, don't you?
To be honest, if Tsuneo had said this alone, Shiratori wouldn't have cared much, but Conan, a sharp-minded child detective, was also chiming in.
It wouldn't be good to shatter a child's dream and brand police officers as not taking cases seriously.
"No, I was thinking, from the living room door to the exercise bike, there's about four meters. If the culprit really ran in, that time should be enough for the victim to call for help, not just let out a single scream."
Officer Sato looked at the phone in her hand, on the other end, Takagi was calling her name.
Shiratori also turned to look at the distance from the living room door to the exercise bike.
It was true.
But there are too many unexpected situations in this world, aren't there?
Perhaps the victim was too scared and only managed to scream once?
"Not just that, the sound of opening the window and climbing in earlier wasn't quiet either." Officer Sato glanced at Officer Shiratori's feet.
He had even taken off his leather shoes, but it still couldn't prevent the sound.
"Most importantly, if I were to escape, my target would definitely be that window."
The right side of the exercise bike was the living room window, not far away, but the victim's body lay to the left side of the bike, not even having run a single step, which was a bit strange.
"I think we can end the acting here. Let's change the direction of the investigation," Tsuneo quickly called "Cut!" ending the reenactment.
Officer Takagi, hearing this on the other end of the phone, also walked in from outside the villa.
"Officer Takagi, did you hear clearly just now?" Conan, hands in pockets, walked up to him and asked.
"Hmm, yes," Takagi nodded.
Including their subsequent conversation, he had indeed heard everything.
"I remember when we arrived here, Mrs. Masuo's phone was still on, not hung up, right?" The Great Detective looked up, asking with a curious expression.
"Th-that is indeed true."
Takagi also felt something was off. If it was truly as Officer Shiratori said, that the culprit was hiding in the villa and only attacked because the victim was on the phone with the police, then the first thing they should have done was hang up the phone.
"Officer Shiratori, I think we should contact the special investigation team later. There are too many inexplicable parts to this case," Officer Sato voiced her opinion.
Notifying them now to search for some foreign robber would be premature; it's better to first understand the situation at the scene.
"Then I'll ask you in return, who else could the murderer be?"
"And how did they commit the crime?"
"What was the motive for the murder?"
Shiratori also asked a series of three questions.
"Stop struggling, you also feel something fishy, don't you…" Tsuneo patted today's newly appointed team leader.
After killing someone, this culprit even remembered to close the window with the hole in the corridor when leaving. Why not just help change the glass…
"However, it's an undeniable fact that the killer first snuck into the house and then killed the victim. From the scene, it seems he could only have been somewhere, waiting for an opportunity."
Shiratori shook his head, then smiled and looked at everyone, saying, "No matter what, that knife couldn't have just flown over and killed someone, could it?"
Hearing this, the Great Detective's eyes widened a few points, and he quickly exchanged glances with the mechanic.
Yes, it very well could have flown over by itself!
"It looks like you guessed right, that knife did indeed fly over by itself." Tsuneo looked at Conan, who had run to the exercise bike, then turned to look at Mr. Masuo, whose expression had subtly changed.
With the situation changing so rapidly, this guy must be terrified.
Conan stood up from beside the exercise bike and nodded at Tsuneo.
There really was something fishy here!
"Oh my, that's strange, it looks like there's some kind of string tangled here?" Seeing Tsuneo not respond, Conan could only squat down, once again using that curious child-like tone.
Heh, even real elementary schooler Ayumi wouldn't speak in that tone anymore…
"What string are you talking about?" Officer Shiratori immediately walked over and squatted down, looking at the side of the exercise bike.
"Look, there are many loops here, it looks like kite string," Conan extended his small hand, pointing at the wheel axle on the inside of the pedal.
That's right, it was this thing that made the knife truly fly over and kill the victim.
And it didn't even require the culprit to be present in person.
"Mr. Masuo, do you know what this string is about?" Officer Sato looked at him.
"I don't know," Mr. Masuo shook his head very straightforwardly.
"I think this must be the string used to package the exercise bike. It was bought and we never noticed it tangled on there," Officer Shiratori said with a smile.
There was nothing strange about these few thin strings. Getting tangled wouldn't affect the normal operation of this indoor exercise bike, and of course, it would be difficult to spot without bending down to look into the gap.
"This guy must be possessed by someone today," Tsuneo said, standing at the living room door, speechless.
With such an ability to explain any situation, it's hard not to associate him with the plague god Mouri.
"Possessed?" Takagi scratched his head, a bit confused.
Then he looked at Conan, who had, at some point, climbed onto the top shelf of the bookshelf behind the exercise bike.
Hehehe, every time a case is solved, Mr. Tsuneo says strange things, and Conan is always jumping around, doing who knows what…
(End of chapter)
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