Chapter Thirty: Not a Fat Man
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Ryoichi Takahashi was pale and trembling as he recounted what had happened on his way there.
“...I really did see a strange man standing on the suspension bridge.” He swallowed, terror showing on his face. “He was wearing a black cloak...”
“He was the one who attacked me!” Ran Mouri nodded emphatically.
“...We saw him too on our way here.” Kakutani and Ota exchanged glances. “But we thought he was someone from a nearby house...”
“There aren’t any houses anywhere near here. The closest one is beyond the mountain.” Ayako Suzuki shook her head.
“In any case, let’s call the police first!” Masaru Ota made the decision.
Under the torrential rain, halfway up the mountain, none of their flip phones could receive a signal. They had no choice but to hurry to the landline.
“Miss Mouri!” Morley called out to Ran.
“What is it, Morley?” Ran was worried, but seeing that someone had already gone to call the police, she stopped and prepared to hear what he wanted to say.
Conan paused when he heard this. After thinking for a moment, he turned around and quietly crept back into the living room.
They’re going to call the police anyway. It probably won’t matter if I’m not there, right? Conan felt a little guilty.
“There’s something I’d like to ask you.” Morley noticed Conan sneaking over but paid him no mind. “When we first arrived at the villa, you accidentally entered the three men’s room and saw them changing clothes, correct?”
“Yes... yes...” Ran blushed slightly. Why was Morley bringing that up?
Suddenly, Ryoichi Takahashi rushed out of the next room with a look of horror and bolted toward the entrance. Everyone followed him outside.
Morley glanced at them, then stopped Conan, who had suddenly turned serious and was about to investigate.
“Conan, you don’t need to go.”
“The telephone line must have been cut, and the suspension bridge leading outside must have been severed as well.”
Conan spun around. “How could you know that?!”
Morley merely lifted his chin, indicating the door.
Sure enough, the portly Takahashi came huffing back inside and told the three people who had remained there, “The telephone line’s been cut... The suspension bridge has been chopped down too!”
“It was him! It has to be him! That bandaged monster...”
Morley sighed and said to Ran, “Miss Mouri, given the circumstances, I suppose this isn’t a convenient time to ask you questions.”
“Could you come with me to the smoking room for a moment? I still have a few questions about what happened earlier...”
As he said this, he glanced at Conan, who was being pulled in two directions by the case and the “attempt to steal his girl” that was about to unfold. He added, “Bring Conan with you.”
Then he crouched down and whispered into Conan’s ear, “It’s related to the case.”
Conan turned to stare at Morley in disbelief.
What has he figured out now? I haven’t even found a clue yet!
Ryoichi Takahashi lowered his head, concealing the sudden change in his eyes.
What has this detective discovered? What does he want to ask Ran Mouri?
Soon, I must...
A few minutes later, in the smoking room.
“So, what did you want to ask me, Morley?” Ran looked puzzled.
“It’s like this. We were just talking about how you saw those gentlemen’s bodies...” Morley took out a pack of cigarettes, then thought better of it and put it away. “Since they aren’t here, I’ll ask you directly.”
“Do you remember Mr. Ryoichi Takahashi’s build?” Morley leaned forward, resting his right elbow on his right knee. “Or, to put it more plainly, was he really fat?”
Ran thought carefully, then suddenly looked up in shock.
“That’s right! The person I saw wasn’t fat at all!”
“But I didn’t pay much attention to it at the time. So that means his body was disguised? Therefore...”
Ran pondered.
“So...”
She frowned lightly.
“So what?” Ran tilted her head, emerging from her thoughts.
Morley was at a loss for words. He then looked at Conan and gestured with his eyes.
Conan was puzzled as well. Why would Ryoichi Takahashi disguise his build?
He returned Morley’s questioning look.
Morley sighed.
“Let’s assume for now that the bandaged monster is one of the people in this villa...”
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“What’s the evidence?” Conan challenged him.
“Set the evidence aside for now.” Morley lightly tapped the armrest with one finger. “Continue reasoning from this assumption.”
“When we arrived, we saw the bandaged monster. What could you tell from his appearance?”
“He was wearing a black cloak, and his face was completely wrapped in bandages...” Conan stroked his chin thoughtfully. “All we can tell is that he was a tall, thin man.”
“Then only Morley and the three club members who came with Miss Suzuki fit the description. It couldn’t be Morley’s brother, who never left the house, and Mr. Takahashi is fat... No, wait!”
“He disguised himself!” Conan suddenly looked up. “He isn’t fat! Ran noticed that!”
Morley nodded slightly. “So, given that these three men had never met Miss Mouri before, let’s assume each of them is the bandaged man in turn. The only one with a motive to attack Miss Mouri is Mr. Takahashi, because his disguise was seen through.”
Outside the door, Ryoichi Takahashi secretly clenched his teeth as he listened.
With the three of them together, I can’t silence them directly!
Then I’ll kill that woman first and find another way afterward...!
He quietly turned and left.
Inside the smoking room.
“But why?” Conan asked, bewildered. “If it really is him, why disguise himself as the bandaged man?”
“Because of love.” Morley crossed one leg over the other. “Because of Atsuko, who killed herself two years ago. I learned from Miss Ayako Suzuki that her dream was to become a novelist.”
“Two years ago, she completed her novel. She was full of hope, believing that this painstaking work would make her a famous novelist...”
“Unfortunately, it wasn’t long before she saw one of her friends submitting her novel—and winning the Best Newcomer Award.”
“The winning novel was Chikako Ikeda’s The Blue Kingdom.”
“The next day, Atsuko was found hanging in her own home.”
“I think Ryoichi Takahashi may be trying to avenge her.”
“Where did you learn all that?” Conan frowned, his expression grave. “Still, if Atsuko’s suicide really happened that way, then the motive makes sense.”
The more he thought about it, the more anxious he became. There was no evidence at present, and this was merely Morley’s speculation, but everything fit together from beginning to end. If it was true...
In any case, there was no harm in gathering everyone together! As long as no one was alone, the bandaged man would have no chance to commit another crime!
Once the police arrived, everything would be all right!
He pushed open the door of the smoking room and headed toward the living room.
Morley was about to leave when Ran suddenly called out to him.
“Morley...” Her expression was complicated. “Don’t you think Conan looks a lot like someone?”
“I wasn’t sure before, but the way he reasoned just now... He really does look like...”
“Shinichi Kudo?” Morley said calmly.
Ran pressed her lips together and nodded faintly.
“First of all, that wasn’t really reasoning. He was merely following the direction I led him in.” Morley decided to cover for the little brat. “Second, Shinichi Kudo is far more capable than what Conan displayed just now. Conan is simply a fairly clever child. I’ve met plenty of children like that.”
Not as perceptive as Holmes, at least. Morley added silently to himself.
“Finally, what if he does resemble Shinichi Kudo?” Morley leaned against the doorframe. “He’s the child of one of Shinichi Kudo’s relatives, so he looks somewhat like Kudo did as a child. He also admires Shinichi Kudo and imitates his words and actions. It’s only natural that you would think they look alike.”
After hearing this, Ran nodded hesitantly. She lowered her head and thought for a moment, then finally breathed a sigh of relief.
“Thank you, Morley.” After being attacked, she finally managed a faint smile.
“In any case, the shadow of the bandaged man still hangs over this villa. This isn’t the time to dwell on that.” Morley nodded. “Let’s go to the living room together, in case you’re attacked again.”
When Morley and Ran arrived in the living room, he noticed that some people were missing.
“Where are Miss Ikeda and Mr. Takahashi?”
“Chikako didn’t feel like eating dinner, so she went back to her room to rest,” Ayako Suzuki explained. “Takahashi thought the roof still wasn’t secure enough, so he went upstairs to repair it... Oh, Conan just asked about them too, then went upstairs.”
Morley clicked his tongue softly.
“I’ll go check on Conan. The rest of you eat downstairs; don’t wait for me.” He waved a hand and turned to go upstairs. “The bandaged man is still lurking nearby, so it’s important to replenish your strength. Eating will help you stay calm as well.”
Everyone glanced at him but said nothing.
...
On the second floor, Conan knocked anxiously on Chikako Ikeda’s door.
Damn it... There was no answer when he called out, no response to his knocking, and the door was locked from the inside!
Could Miss Ikeda really have been attacked?
In his desperation, he bent down and reached for the button on his shoe...
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“Move aside.” Morley’s large hand reached out, grabbed Conan by the collar, and set him to one side.
“In a critical moment, there’s no need to worry about formalities...” He raised one leg.
With a thunderous crash, the door flew open.
The villa’s excellent soundproofing, combined with the noisy rain brought by the storm, meant that its owner, Ayako Suzuki, had no idea that one of the guest-room doors had just been kicked in.
Conan felt that kicking the door down was somewhat improper, but desperate times called for desperate measures. He rushed into the room ahead of Morley.
There was no one inside!
He immediately saw that the floor-to-ceiling window stood wide open. Wind and rain raged outside, soaking the floor. Several objects inside had been knocked over, leaving the room in disarray.
Morley stepped onto the balcony through the rain and examined the eaves. He placed one foot on the railing for leverage, pulled himself up with one hand, and lightly climbed onto the roof.
“You wait below. I’m going to look around from the roof and see whether I can find any traces.”
“It’s so dark! How can you see anything up there?” Conan shouted toward the roof.
“That remains to be seen.” Morley stood up and surveyed the surroundings.
Takahashi had said he was going to reinforce the roof. That meant that even if he had killed someone, he would still have to come upstairs and pretend to be on his way back down. If I can just find where he is...
A voice came from the balcony on the opposite side.
“Look! There seems to be someone beside the window below!”
Morley crept over and cautiously peered out. He saw Ryoichi Takahashi holding a pair of scissors, cutting something in the darkness.
Then a black-cloaked figure flashed past the window below—
Takahashi pulled it upstairs and concealed it beneath his clothes.
Morley quietly dropped from the roof behind him.
“Takahashi...”
The figure by the balcony shuddered violently.
“Looks like I still didn’t make it in time. Well, it doesn’t matter.” Morley lit a cigarette. “But I’m curious.”
“Why aren’t you running?”
“You locked the door to Miss Ikeda’s room and left the window wide open, creating the illusion that the bandaged man entered through the window and carried Miss Ikeda away after a struggle.”
“But then you climbed over the roof to this side and set up a mechanism that made a bandaged-man dummy carry Miss Ikeda’s head past the window here... Why would the bandaged man leave Miss Ikeda’s room, go downstairs, circle around to the opposite side, and do all that merely so everyone could see him?”
Morley glanced at Conan, Ota, and Kakutani, who had climbed out through the window below and were chasing after the bandaged man in the direction he had gone. Then he stared with interest at the trembling fat man before him.
“It’s because of you!” Ryoichi Takahashi’s eyes suddenly turned vicious. “I heard everything! I heard what you said in the smoking room, and I realized it was too late to silence them!”
“Besides, you would definitely go check Miss Ikeda’s room immediately. If I set up the props there and you caught me, it would all be over! I could only perform the trick on this side and hope to deceive you, but then...”
“Run? Before you discovered me, you had no evidence sufficient to convict me. Why would I run? If I kill you, then kill that woman and the child, and insist that the bandaged man killed Ikeda and escaped, I still have a chance!”
He suddenly drew a dagger and pointed it at Morley.
“If you want someone to blame, blame yourself for crossing paths with... for crossing paths with my sacred revenge!”
“Before you kill me, please wait a moment.” Morley calmly exhaled a ring of smoke. “What are you going to do with that head—the one you’re carrying beneath your clothes?”
“What?!”
“You originally intended to search together with everyone else, then secretly dump the head somewhere nearby. To avoid making it look suspicious, you would also have had to dismember the rest of the body.”
“But you didn’t have enough time to dismember the corpse. So, in order to complete this little performance of ‘the bandaged man carrying Ikeda away,’ you could only cut off her head.”
“They should have found the body by now. So how are you going to get rid of that head?”
“And if you kill the three of us, what will you do with our bodies?”
“That’s enough!” Ryoichi Takahashi shouted in a breakdown. “What kind of lunatic are you? You’re going to die anyway, aren’t you?!”
“We’ll worry about that later!” He suddenly thrust the dagger toward Morley’s head. “Die—”
Morley ducked beneath his elbow and drove a powerful punch into Takahashi’s face.
Takahashi reeled dizzily and collapsed. Ikeda’s head, the “bandaged man” dummy, and the cloak slipped out from beneath his clothes and fell onto the floor.
“Damn. That was anticlimactic.” Morley watched as the cigarette in his mouth was extinguished by rain driven by a sudden gust of wind. With no other choice, he threw it to the ground.
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