Detective Conan 769

Chapter 769

01

Text: There are two detectives...!?
Title: File 769 A Detective Just Like This Boy

02

Woman: A-
Woman: A murder...?

Woman: Did you see someone throw him off of here?
Sera: No.

Sera: I only heard you three saying...
Sera: that the man who fell was quite drunk.

Margin: A murder made to look like suicide...!?

Sera: I've gotta have sharp ears with my line of work.
Conan: Your line of work?

Woman: B-but why did you say this wasn't suicide?
Man: Look, his shoes are lined up right there.

03

Sera: That's just a false preconception.
Sera: I've seen the scenes of a number of jumping suicides, but most of them were wearing their shoes.

Conan: A number of them?
Sera: It's probably the influence of movies and TV.
Sera: Leaving the shoes lined up on the rooftop gives the idea of a suicide and is an easy way to set the dramatic mood.

Sera: It's just like how old mystery dramas used to have a trail of blood coming from the mouth of people who had hung themselves.
Sera: In reality, no blood comes out, but it's an easy way to let the viewers know the person is dead.

Sera: Now, there are cases where the jumper...
Sera: takes of his or shoes before jumping from seeing it in dramas and movies...

Sera: but you said this man was quite drunk and that it would take some time for him to sober up.
Sera: Someone staggering around like that...
Sera: wouldn't be able to take off his coat and neatly line his shoes up on top.

Sera: It's possible someone unrelated coincidentally put them here as a prank...
Sera: but I'd dismiss that because the shoes are exactly above where the man fell.

04

Sera: As such...
Sera: I can only think that the murderer put the shoes here to make it look like a suicide.

Sera: Don't you think, boy?
Toshiko: Th-then where is the murderer!?

Sera: He or she will probably be caught soon.
Sera: Before coming up here, I asked a security guard to keep an eye on the elevator and stairs.

Woman: Wh-what?
Man: Who are you!?
Sera: My name is Sera...

Sera: I am a detective...

Sera: just like this boy.

05

Sera: Ehh!?
Sera: There was no one there?

Sera: Are you saying the victim was the only person in the annex?
Takagi: Y-yes...

Takagi: According to the security guards watching the elevator and stairs, you all were the only ones that went in or out.
Megure: And who are you anyway?

Toshiko: A-a detective apparently...
Takagi: A-a detective?
Megure: Not another one...
Sera: But why was that man there?
Sera: I thought the annex was being remodeled so no one could stay there.

Megure: The deceased is Uisumi Teigo-san, the son of the owner of Haido Hotel.
Megure: He was given special permission to stay in the room.

Megure: It was to avoid the media.
Ran: The media?
Sonoko: Was he famous?

06

Megure: Yes. He was arrested once as the leader of a group that committed remittance fraud...
Megure: but he was released due to lack of evidence.
Megure: The magazines are still going nuts over it.

Takagi: But it seemed the media had gotten wind of his location and there was a huge commotion last week.
Takagi: Teigo-san went on a rampage against the media...
Takagi: and broke a window in a sixth floor hallway using a fire extinguisher.

Takagi: That led to fewer people staying in the annex, so the hotel couldn't just leave him there.
Takagi: The rumor was that they were using the remodeling as a chance to move him overseas.
Toshiko: Yes...

Toshiko: We were victims of his fraud and we came to see him after hearing that rumor.
Box: Hirukawa Toshiko (49) Housewife
Woman: We wanted to have him apologize...
Man: before he fled overseas.

Megure: So did you meet Teigo-san?
Toshiko: Yes. First, I went to his room...
Toshiko: and he suddenly started crying, admitting to his crime, and apologizing. He said he wanted time to sober up.

Toshiko: We thought we would record his confession, so we were headed to a nearby electronics store to buy a recording device.
Toshiko: We got in my car that was in the parking lot...

07

Toshiko: and just when I was backing up...
Toshiko: he fell right in front of us!

Megure: Just when you were backing up...?
Takagi: Sir...
Takagi: It's possible a string or something was connecting Teigo-san with her car and it pulled him down to his death.

Megure: Did anyone touch your car or the body after he fell?
Toshiko: I don't know...
Conan: I don't think so!

Conan: This lady said she saw a strange figure on the roof...
Conan: so we went up there right away!

Conan: And I told Ran-neechan and the security guards to watch the car and the body during that time.
Conan: Right?
Ran: Yes...
Toshiko: Although, it seems I was mistaken when I saw the strange figure.

Megure: Okay, the remains of some kind of trick might be left on the car or the body.
Megure: Perform a thorough search!
Takagi: Yes, sir.
Sera: But it's odd...

08

Sera: When I was waiting for the elevator...
Sera: I'm pretty sure it stopped at the 6th floor and the 2nd floor.

Sera: Was that man really the only person in the annex?
Takagi: I-it stopped?
Megure: When did that happen?

Sera: After the commotion from the man falling...
Sera: and after this boy took those three to the roof in the elevator.
Sera: It had gone straight up to the top floor nonstop, but it took a while coming down.

Megure: But aren't there 2 elevators?
Takagi: Only one of them is running.
Takagi: Teigo-san was the only person staying there, after all.

Megure: So someone could still be hiding in the annex.
Takagi: Yes. Some investigators are doing a thorough search...
Takagi: but I haven't received a report of anything yet.

Conan: What about the security cameras? They're set up in the elevator and the hallways, right?
Takagi: Well, when Teigo-san went on his rampage, he spray painted all over the annex...
Takagi: and the security cameras were on of the things he covered in paint.

Takagi: You can only see darkness through them.
Sera & Conan: I see.

09

Sera: The annex is a black box.

Conan: No one knows who was doing what!!

Sera: Exciting, isn't it, boy!?
Conan: Uh, yeah...
Megure: Anyway...

Megure: It looks like we need to go check out...
Megure: the 2nd and 6th floors the elevator mysteriously stopped on.

Man: I'm telling you, it had to be that.
Toshiko: But it won't help to tell that to the police...
Woman: Just tell him!
Megure: Hm?

Megure: What is it?
Man: Oh, well...
Man: It's just a rumor, but...

Woman: One's been appearing in that annex.
Megure: One what?

10

Woman: A ghost!!
Man: People have seen an old man's wheelchair wandering through the halls in the middle of night with no one in it!!

Ran & Sonoko: Ehhh!?
Woman: M-maybe the ghost hit the elevator buttons.

Megure: Y'know...
Megure: If no one was in it, how do you know it as an old man?
Toshiko: Because of my father.

Toshiko: My mother was the one who was scammed. The shock affected her health and she ended up in the hospital.
Toshiko: My father didn't have much time left due to cancer, but he still stayed in a room in the annex and knocked on Teigo-san's door every day.
Toshiko: He would say that he wasn't asking for the money back, but he just wanted Teigo-san to apologize to my mother.

Toshiko: But the night after my father learned that my mother had died in the hospital, he hung himself in the hotel room.
Toshiko: He had been using an electric wheelchair borrowed from the hotel...
Toshiko: and the rumor spread.

Takagi: Incidentally, what room did your father stay in?
Toshiko: It was on the 2nd floor.

11

SFX: Ding

SFX: Slide

Takagi: The graffiti sure is bad...
Megure: They had no choice but to remodel.

Megure: Oh, Chiba-kun!
Megure: Did you find anyone?
Chiba: No, not yet.

Megure: Hm? What's that?
Chiba: A wheelchair!
Chiba: It was still moving when I found it.

Sera & Conan: Moving?
Chiba: There was an odd fishing line between its front wheels, so I checked with the hotel.

12

Chiba: Apparently, Teigo-san had borrowed the wheelchair.
Megure: Did he have bad legs?

Chiba: No, he just rode around the annex on it.
Megure: That guy really was something else.
Takagi: Maybe the whole ghost thing was his doing.

Takagi: Maybe he was planning on scaring the 3 victims by controlling the wheelchair with fishing line on the 2nd floor where the old man killed himself.
Megure: That would make sense.

Sera: This fishing line is quite long.
Sera: And there are a number of broken rubber bands stuck on the end.
Conan: There are also scratches on the footrests as if it hit something.

Conan: Do you think the murderer used this?
Megure: Look out the window.

Megure: This is the other side of the building from the parking lot where Teigo-san fell.
Megure: This wheelchair wouldn't have been any help!

Takagi: Oh, Conan-kun was one of the first people in the annex after the incident, so we brought him with us.
Chiba: There's some other strange boy there, too...

13

Megure: Are you sure you didn't see it wrong?
SFX: Whirrrrr

Megure: Are you sure the elevator stopped on the 2nd and 6th floors?
Sera: If you think I'm lying, you can ask the security guard.
SFX: Whirrrrr

Sera: He was watching too because that was when I asked him to keep an eye on the elevator.
SFX: Ding

SFX: Slide
Megure: Wah!

Megure: It opens on this side, too!?
Conan: Yeah! This elevator has a door on the front and back!

Conan: I asked the hotel people and they said this side of the 1st and 2nd floors of the annex makes a large hall for weddings and such.
Conan: Having the elevator open on the other side on those 2 floors gives more space for the large hall!

14

Megure: This floor has even worse graffiti.
Takagi: Yes. This was the floor Teigo-san stayed on after all.

Takagi: Incidentally, the remodelers were scheduled to arrive 1 hour from the time when Teigo-san fell.
Megure: He spray painted over the new coats of paint, too? Unbelievable...

Sera: So this is the window Teigo-san broke with the fire extinguisher.
Conan: Looks that way.
Takagi: Ah, wait! That's dangerous!!

Takagi: The packing tape holding the cover on was blown off by the wind...
Sera: But isn't this...

Sera: right above where he fell?
Sera: Makes you think there's something here, doesn't it?

Conan: Hm?

15

Conan: There's a lot of paint at the border between the floor and the wall below the window.
Conan: And it's completely dry.

Conan: There's a mark like something was lying on top of it.

Conan: This paint can...
Conan: it has a dent like something hit it.

Conan: And there's one more paint can just like it.

Conan: There was a mark just like this on the bottom of the elevator door.

Conan: Wait, wait...
Conan: An elevator with doors on the front and back, an electric wheelchair with fishing line on it,
Conan: a ghost scare, and a suspicious area being remodeled.

16

Conan: I see! So that's it!!
Conan: The murderer was the sole person to enter the annex before the incident.

Sera: It was that Hirukawa woman!
Sera: She's the murderer!!

Megure: Eh?
Sera: Could you set things up like I tell you...
Sera: and call Hirukawa-san here?

Sera: I've managed...
Sera: to solve this one.

Sera: Case closed!
Box: To be continued in Issue 17

Margin: Sera has realized it at the same time as Conan...How did they deduce this!?