4: Chapter 4: The Haunted House Murder

Fujino gritted his teeth and heaved the heavy stone slab aside, revealing a narrow, winding staircase leading down into darkness.

He descended cautiously. The stairs ended in a damp, dimly lit tunnel. Puddles dotted the uneven stone floor, and the rhythmic drip, drip, drip of water seeping through the walls echoed eerily.

Looking around, Fujino spotted a rusty iron door, slightly ajar, with a faint light emanating from within.

Suddenly, a heart-wrenching cry pierced the silence from behind the door.

Fujino's heart jumped.

He peered through the crack. Inside was a room resembling a primitive jail cell.

A man, his hair and beard long and unkempt, was confined within a cage. He was frantically tearing at a ragged bedsheet, his voice choked with anguish as he pleaded with a gray-haired woman in a simple, dark dress standing outside the bars.

"Mom! Let me turn myself in! Please!"

"No! Akio, you mustn't!" Mrs. Yamada's eyes shimmered with tears. "We just have to wait until the statute of limitations runs out! Then we can start a new life, a better life!"

"I can't take it anymore! Every night, I see Father's face in my dreams!" Akio cried, then began violently slamming his head against the iron bars. "Just let me die! Let me die!" he screamed between impacts.

"Akio!" Outside the cage, Mrs. Yamada frantically tried to shield his head with her hands. The rough, calloused skin on her palms broke open, leaving bloody streaks on the bars with each desperate attempt to protect him.

After a few agonizing moments, Akio Yamada finally fell silent, slumping against the bars, exhausted.

Mrs. Yamada knelt down, gently stroking his long, tangled hair.

"What's done is done, Akio," she soothed, her voice trembling.

"No amount of suffering can bring the dead back to life. Just wait a little longer. Once the time limit passes, everything will be alright. It will."

So, they're the culprits in the Haunted House Murder case.

Standing silently in the hallway, Fujino watched the scene unfold, the pieces clicking into place.

He knew about statutes of limitations. Most countries had them for criminal cases. After a certain period, legal proceedings could no longer be initiated.

Basically, if you committed a crime and weren't caught, once the clock ran out, you were legally off the hook. The justice system lost its right to prosecute.

But for someone like Akio Yamada, someone still burdened by conscience, what good did that do?

The trauma was irreversible. The guilt would haunt him forever, his father's face forever etched into his nightmares.

"The dead can't be brought back," Fujino thought, leaning against the cold tunnel wall,

"but the guilt lives on in the killer's heart."

"Who's there?!"

Hearing the faint noise, Mrs. Yamada instantly wiped her tears, snatched a fruit knife from a nearby crate, and spun around, eyes darting towards the doorway.

[Notice: Detective Time Activated. Countdown: 0:00:59]

The system prompt chimed in Fujino's mind. He tightened his grip on the card ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in his hand, taking a slow, steadying breath.

Guess I need to wrap this up quickly.

He pushed the iron door fully open and stepped into the room.

"My name is Fujino. I'm a detective."

"A detective?!" Mrs. Yamada stared at the young man, panic flickering in her eyes.

"What ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠is a detective doing here?!"

"Isn't it obvious? I'm here to investigate the murder that happened five years ago," Fujino stated calmly, his gaze fixed on Mrs. Yamada.

"Five years ago, there was a homicide here, initially reported as a break-in gone wrong. The victim's wife and son moved out shortly after, and the killer was never caught... But strangely, ever since the mother and son left, bizarre rumors started circulating about this house being haunted."

He paused, a slight smile playing on his lips. "Though, the truth behind those rumors seems pretty clear now."

"If I'm not mistaken, you two are the Yamadas, aren't you? The mother and son from five years ago?"

"That incident wasn't a robbery gone wrong at all. It was premeditated murder, disguised to look like a burglary! And the killer... is one of you!"

"Shut up!" Mrs. Yamada glanced nervously at Akio, then leveled the fruit knife at Fujino, her jaw clenched.

"I did it! He had nothing to do with it! I've just been keeping him locked up here!"

"Is that so?" Fujino tilted his head, considering.

"A wife kills her husband and imprisons her son who witnessed it all. That's certainly one plausible explanation."

He paused, then his eyes sharpened, locking onto Mrs. Yamada's.

"But there's another possibility. You're trying to take the fall for him, aren't you? Intentionally covering for your son, the real killer!"

"Five years ago, Akio Yamada murdered his own father. And when he panicked, you helped him stage the scene, made it look like a robbery, to help him escape justice!"

"Normally, no one would have ever suspected the truth... But you didn't count on his conscience eating away at him, making him want to confess!"

"So, to stop him from ruining his future, you locked him in this basement cage, planning to hide him away until the statute of limitations expired. Then you'd bring him back out into the world!"

"I heard your conversation just now. The real killer five years ago... it was your son, wasn't it!"

"I told you to shut your mouth!" Mrs. Yamada's face contorted with rage and desperation. Realizing her deception was exposed, her grip on the knife tightened, her scarred hand trembling violently.

Her initial plan to take all the blame was shattered. This detective had destroyed her last hope.

A dangerous glint flashed in her eyes. With a desperate cry, she lunged, thrusting the fruit knife straight at Fujino's chest.

"Die!"

"Mom, no!" Akio screamed, gripping the bars of his cage helplessly.

But Mrs. Yamada was beyond reason. Her only thought now was to silence the detective permanently.

Typical Beika. Someone gets cornered, they immediately reach for a weapon. So very Conan.

Fujino had anticipated this kind of "logical" escalation. He crushed the Stat Boost Card in his hand without hesitation.

[Perception & Strength Boost Activated: +100%. Countdown: 0:00:58]

Suddenly, the world seemed to slow down around him.

With his heightened senses and strength, Mrs. Yamada's movements appeared almost in slow motion. He could see every detail, even the tiny nicks on the blade she held.

"Do you really think this is what he wants?" Fujino asked calmly, his voice cutting through her desperate lunge.

He delivered a swift, precise kick to her wrist.

The silver knife flew into the air, spinning end over end before clattering harmlessly onto the stone floor a few feet away.

"Give it up." Fujino retracted ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠his leg, his expression impassive as he stared down the distraught woman.

"I won't let you take Akio to prison!" Mrs. Yamada stumbled back a step, then, with a hysterical sob, cradled her clearly dislocated wrist and charged at Fujino again, unarmed but utterly desperate.

"Do you really think this is helping anyone?" Fujino frowned, watching her approach.

He hadn't wanted to use excessive force; she was an old woman, after all.

But if she kept this up, he'd have no choice but to physically restrain her before she hurt herself or did something even more reckless.