The Detective Agency Hostage Crisis, Part 6
"Um... Conan says he's dug up some information on the suspects. Maybe it'll show us which one is the 'fox.'"
Holding the phone up, Sera Masumi relayed the details Conan had just fed her:
"Ms. Mitsui Tamami, forty-one, unmarried, helps out at her family's stonecutting business.
Ms. Yuchi Shinobu, thirty-six, divorced once, works at a bakery.
Ms. Nihei Junka, thirty-nine, her husband is a seal-carver."
"That's all pretty basic stuff. I can't see any pattern for how Ms. Sawaguri came up with those nicknames just from this," Mouri Ran said, resting her chin in her hand with a thoughtful frown.
Albedo pondered for a moment, then walked slowly over to Sawaguri Kaoru and spoke with perfect composure. "You want to find the person who killed your sister too, don't you?"
When Sawaguri Kaoru gave a slight nod, a flicker of hope crossing his eyes as he stopped thrashing in rage, Albedo pressed his advantage. "Then I'm going to ask you a few questions, and you will answer them truthfully."
Without a moment's hesitation, Sawaguri Kaoru nodded eagerly, signaling his willingness to cooperate.
Albedo reached out and gently took hold of the paper wad stuffed in Sawaguri Kaoru's mouth, easing it out little by little. The moment the gag came free, Sawaguri Kaoru's mouth was finally liberated, and he sucked in a deep breath as if born anew.
Once he'd caught his breath, Albedo asked, "Did your sister ever give you a nickname? And what do you do for a living? Any hobbies?"
Sawaguri Kaoru thought back, then answered. "She did. She always said I was too noisy, so she gave me a weird nickname — 'Nightingale.' I used to be the leader of a survival game team. The team even had a name — the Green Ball Caps. Anything else you want to ask?"
Conan, listening on the other end of the line, heard every word. As he connected it with what he already knew, a lightbulb went off in his head, and he immediately knew who the "fox" in the dying message was.
He hurriedly spoke to Sera Masumi through the phone. "I've got it! The fox is Ms. Yuchi Shinobu!"
"The killer is Yuchi Shinobu!" At almost the same moment as Conan, Albedo announced his own conclusion.
"Eh?!"
Sera Masumi blinked. Hearing the exact same conclusion reached both on-site and over the phone, she couldn't help voicing her confusion along with Ran. "Why?"
Glancing at the phone in Sera Masumi's hand, Albedo replied breezily, "Simple deduction. Even an elementary schooler could find the connection."
*Really? Then what about you, Traveler — did you figure it out too?* Paimon was starting to wonder if she was just slow. Even knowing the answer, she still couldn't see *why*, and couldn't help asking.
Xia Yu's eyes darted away. *Paimon, you know I'm not good at puzzles. Even solving those treasure-map clues before was only thanks to Alhaitham helping me cheat, so...*
*I see. That's a relief!* Paimon exclaimed. *So I'm not the dumb one after all — at least I've got the Traveler keeping me company.*
Having sensed something, Albedo shot Xia Yu a sidelong glance, let out a silent sigh, and walked through the reasoning.
Ms. Sawaguri Mibe's nicknames all followed a pattern tied to the color of each person's work. Sawaguri Kaoru's survival game team was called the Green Ball Caps, hence "Nightingale." The toast at the bakery where Ms. Yuchi worked was fox-colored, so she was the "fox."
Beyond that, seals were carved from ivory-white, which made Ms. Nihei the "elephant." And the stone sold at the Mitsui family's stonecutting shop was mouse-gray, so Ms. Mitsui was the "mouse."
When he finished, Albedo turned to Yuchi Shinobu and asked with perfect courtesy, "So — do you have any questions about my deduction?"
Yuchi Shinobu had been planning to argue a little longer. True, everything Albedo said so far had landed, but at the end of the day, he had no hard evidence.
Yet the moment she raised her head and met those calm, deep blue-green eyes — eyes that seemed to see straight through every thought in her head — a chill swept over her.
He had already grasped everything, and any explanation or rebuttal she could offer would ring hollow. That feeling terrified her, and at the same time made it clear that prolonging the charade was utterly pointless.
Head drooping in defeat, Yuchi Shinobu gave up resisting and confessed to everything she had done.
"You murderer! You bastard! Mmph—!!"
The instant Yuchi Shinobu confessed, Sawaguri Kaoru erupted into a torrent of cursing at her.
Fortunately, Albedo's reflexes were quick enough to stuff the paper wad right back into Sawaguri Kaoru's mouth, sparing Ran and Xia Yu from hearing any more of what they shouldn't.
But even gagged, Sawaguri Kaoru refused to give up, his eyes locked on the gun lying on the table. It was easy to believe that if he weren't tied down, he'd happily put a bullet in Yuchi Shinobu himself.