Chapter 53 Dark Cuisine

Moray certainly wasn't going to lower himself to bickering with someone of that caliber, but he also couldn't be bothered to linger. "I think I'll take my leave. This woman..."

"Oh, don't be like that, Moray-kun!" Suzuki Sonoko hastily intervened to persuade him. "She just has a rather abrasive temper; she's actually quite a decent person at heart..."

As she spoke, her voice trailed off into silence, realizing how unconvincing even she found her own words.

Uemori Michi quickly donned an apron, casting a defiant glance at Moray as she stepped out.

Moray narrowed his eyes.

Hmph...

He patted Sonoko on the shoulder, reached out with his right hand, whipped an apron out with a crisp snap, and put it on. He crossed his arms over his chest, adopting a look of supreme disdain.

Uemori Michi curled her lip in contempt. "Today, we are making cream of mushroom soup and duck breasts with orange sauce."

"I will demonstrate first, so pay close attention..."

"First, dice two hundred grams of mushrooms..."

"Sauté them in butter..."

"Sauté the chopped onions and minced garlic together until tender..."

While the others were still observing, Moray had already stepped up to the prep counter.

Hmph, French cuisine?

Adding minced garlic, of all things—a textbook example of French aesthetic vulgarity. When have we members of the British upper class ever consumed anything as coarse as garlic?

Back where we come from, only peasants treat garlic as a vegetable.

So, what should I use instead...

Speaking of which, I'm rather missing British ginger tea.

How wonderful ginger is—ginger tea, gingerbread, ginger-based seasonings. They are infinitely superior to garlic, beyond measure.

Right, I'll just slice up some ginger... No, let's mince it finely.

Moray tasted the broth, frowning as he smacked his lips.

The broth doesn't quite seem salty enough... Perhaps I should add some miso?

He glanced sideways at the cream he had been simmering, his expression freezing. He hurriedly lunged forward to turn off the burner.

The cream seemed a bit over-fried... Oh well, the color of the miso will mask it well enough so it won't show...

A few minutes later.

Uemori Michi stared at a pot of brownish-black, unidentifiable liquid, her face turning pitch black.

"What! Are! You! Doing!" Uemori Michi roared at the top of her lungs.

"Allowing you in here is one of the most disgraceful things I have ever done in my life!" She pointed unceremoniously toward the door. "Get out! You're just a Brit wearing a French disguise!"

"What?! What's wrong with being British? I demand an apology from you on behalf of the centuries-old culinary traditions of the British Isles!"

"Britain? Cuisine? Those two words actually strung together in the same sentence?" Uemori Michi let out a snort of derision. "I am utterly enlightened!"

Moray... isn't he French? Why is he so obsessed with British gastronomy? Conan frowned.

Though, why should I care about any of this... Conan watched the bickering pair and offered a wry smile.

Suddenly, with a sharp snap, the room plunged into pitch darkness.

A shadowy figure grinned broadly from the gloom.

Moray switched on a flashlight and swept the beam toward the ceiling. The faint reflection barely illuminated the interior. "What's going on? Did the power go out?"

Oh no! Nishitani Hiroaki's pupils dilated violently.

If you mess things up like this, my trick...

Komiyama Yuko, however, brightened visibly. "Mr. Moray, since you happen to have a flashlight, would you be so kind as to accompany me to the electrical room?"

Moray had no objection to this.

Conan shouted, "I want to go too!" and trailed right behind them.

Watching the source of light recede into the distance, Nishitani Hiroaki drew out a sewing needle.

Good, very good. I never expected to get another opportunity to verify my positioning like this...

He glared with malice at Uemori Michi shrouded in the darkness.

Today is the day you die!

Inside the electrical room.

The cause of the tripped breaker was easily discovered.

"This mechanism is rather simple..." Moray touched the ice block resting beneath the breaker switch. "Conan, share your deductions."

"Right. The person who set up this trick first used an ice block to prop up a heavy object..."

Conan stopped midway, suddenly feeling that something was amiss. Why does it feel like I'm the assistant here?!

I am the master detective Kudo Shinichi, for crying out loud!

"Well? Continue, won't you?"

Ah, whatever...

"They used an ice block to prop up a heavy object, and then hooked a ring attached to the weight onto the circuit breaker switch," Conan resumed describing the setup. "Once the ice melted, the weight would fall, pulling the breaker switch down."

Moray flipped the circuit breaker back on. "The question is, who would do such a thing? And what is their objective?"

He sprinted back into the house, and the scene before him made him furrow his brow. Everyone was clustered around Uemori Michi, wondering what was happening.

"What's going on? Why are you all gathered around her?" He glanced toward the entryway. "And why is the door wide open?"

"We don't know. Teacher Uemori said she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her chest and was having trouble breathing..."

"Chest pain and difficulty breathing?" Conan's gaze sharpened. Relying on his identity as a child, he rushed forward and pulled back the clothing on Uemori Michi's back.

"Conan!!" Mouri Ran cried out, her face flushing crimson as she hauled him up by the collar. "What on earth do you think you're doing?!"

"Look, everyone, there's a red mark on Auntie Uemori's back! She must have been stung by a bee!" He still tried to salvage his cover as an innocent child.

Moray stepped forward to examine the area closely.

"Now that you mention it, she did say earlier that she felt a sudden sharp sting on her back..." Suzuki Sonoko recalled.

Conan had intended to wait for Moray to administer first aid, but seeing Moray's blank expression, it seemed the man had no idea what to do. With no other choice, Conan had to step up himself.

"Um, is there any plastic wrap in the house?" Conan's heart was burning with anxiety, leaving him no time to worry about maintaining his childish persona. His eyes turned sharp as he turned to direct the others. "Listen, her lung has been punctured, and it's likely caused a tension pneumothorax! Sonoko-neesan, please call an ambulance! Ran-neesan, please call the police! Ms. Komiyama, please bring some plastic wrap over here!"

"May I ask what this is for..." Komiyama still looked rather uncertain.

"It's one of the few first-aid measures we can take right now," Conan said with a grave expression. "Covering the wound with plastic wrap and pressing it down gently prevents air from leaking out of the lung and stops outside air from entering, which alleviates the pneumothorax and slightly dampens any potential internal bleeding."

Panic rippled through the gathered crowd.

However, Moray interrupted his instructions.

"The treatment for an open pneumothorax is indeed like that, but an injury caused by a needle is far more likely to result in a tension pneumothorax."

Moray hadn't actually been spacing out earlier; he had been carefully observing Uemori Michi's condition.

"What... what is that?" The people present looked utterly bewildered.

"In short, an open pneumothorax involves a large wound in the chest wall, whereas a tension pneumothorax means the lung itself is damaged, allowing air to leak into the chest cavity without a way out. Using plastic wrap at a time like this is completely useless..."

"Do you have a needle? A hollow needle with a diameter of 1.6 to 2.1 millimeters and a length of over five centimeters. I need to perform a thoracentesis." Moray asked Komiyama.

"Ah! We do have one, it's something Teacher previously smuggled back from the beauty salon... cough, cough. But why would you need this..." She still hesitated.

"They actually have one? What on earth did she smuggle that back from a beauty salon for?" Moray was somewhat astonished. He hadn't genuinely expected to find one and had already prepared himself to slice open the chest cavity directly with a utility knife and wrap it in plastic wrap...

"Just... a little quirk of hers... Oh, I'll go get the needle right now!" Komiyama scurried off awkwardly into the inner room.

Moray... surely he wouldn't act without knowing what he's doing. Conan felt a nervous flutter in his chest. Could it be that I was the one who was wrong?

The sterilized needle was retrieved in short order.

"A tension pneumothorax traps air inside the chest cavity with no escape, which requires a needle decompression. From the second intercostal space along the midclavicular line, right here—"

"How can you be certain this is a tension... whatever kind of pneumothorax? And you're going to puncture her lung? How can you do that?!" Nishitani Hiroaki interrupted, his tone laced with anxiety. "Shouldn't we just wait for the ambulance..."

If he actually manages to save her life with first aid, won't all my hard work have been for nothing?!

"Then it will be too late!" Moray whipped around to scold him. "Look at her absent breath sounds and distended neck veins—simply put, look at her neck; the jugular veins are engorged and bulging, their contours visibly protruding, and there's tracheal deviation. That clinches it. See? Now that the puncture has been performed, all her symptoms are visibly subsiding... Never mind, even if I explained it, you wouldn't understand."

"This..." The group was left at a loss for what to do.

Having completed the procedure, Conan asked with lingering concern, "Shouldn't we lay her flat or something..."

"If she's unconscious, she should remain in the lateral position just like she is now. I arranged for that before performing the puncture—notice how the puncture site is positioned on top... What, you know so much, yet you couldn't even lend a hand?" Moray turned back, his brow furrowed.

"Yes!" Startled, Conan snapped to a rigid posture. "Is there anything you need me to do?"

Moray considered this for a moment and cast a sideways glance at him. "Never mind, there's nothing for you to do. Just stay out of the way for now. Ms. Komiyama, please bring the plastic wrap."

"Um, do we still need the plastic wrap?" Komiyama asked, confused.

"Since we have time to spare now, I'll add a one-way valve... It's more or less what Conan mentioned earlier, but anyway, explaining the specifics to you would be a waste of breath."

Everyone in the room: ......

Although Moray-kun is certainly handsome, kind-hearted, and remarkably capable, sometimes his mouth... Suzuki Sonoko's mouth twitched slightly. Well, he was desperate to save a life, so being irritable and impatient is completely normal... she quickly reassured herself.

Conan slumped his shoulders and retreated to a chair.

There was really no need for Moray-kun to be so harsh...

However, even when targeted and mocked like that, you showed not a single trace of anger, choosing instead to save her immediately... Moray, you are so gentle!

Besides, if your first-aid method is the correct one...

Before long, the police and the ambulance arrived. Uemori Michi was rushed to the hospital for treatment, while the police remained behind to conduct their investigation.

The focal point of the investigation was, naturally, the wide-open front door, but the findings proved utterly shocking.

"What? The fingerprints outside the front door are completely undisturbed, and only a portion of the fingerprints on the inside of the door have been wiped away?" Inspector Megure frowned. "Does that mean no outsider broke in to commit the crime, and instead someone inside the house opened the door deliberately to mislead the investigation?"

"Among everyone present, Conan, Ms. Komiyama, and I went to the electrical room at the time, giving us an alibi," Moray analyzed.

"And among the rest, Sonoko was only visiting occasionally, while Miss Mouri is here for the very first time, giving them no motive and making them low-suspect individuals."

"That leaves the remaining three..."

He cast his gaze toward the three pale-faced individuals.

"From the perspective of motive, if I recall correctly, Nishitani-san's financial sponsorship from Ms. Uemori was about to be cut off, wasn't it? Harboring resentment because of that is certainly a possibility."

"And from the perspective of method, Miss Uemori Kaoru wears an eyepatch over her left eye, meaning she has already adapted to the dark. If she were to remove it, she would easily be able to locate Ms. Uemori in pitch darkness."

"Might you enlighten us as to the actual reason you wear that eyepatch?"