Detective Conan: Midori

CH 13: THERE MIGHT BE HOPE AFTER ALL

It was already 3:00 AM. The sky outside was still dark and gloomy, no better than the people inside the dining hall. Two people were dead and the main suspect was hidden somewhere in this ship. They were all trapped in this boat with nowhere to go other than the sea. It was as if a knife was hanging over their heads.

When it had only been the old man who was killed, most of the Hatamoto family members could still laugh and brush it off, looking forward to the inheritance they would soon receive. Though they soon found out that they wouldn't get anything. But when the possibility became that any of them could be the next victim, it stopped being a laughing matter.

They all sat separately at the tables around the dining hall, no one saying a thing. The only sound was Akie's whimpering and sobbing as she whispered her dead husband's name.

Natsue stared at her sister for a long while before she couldn't take it anymore. With soft steps, she approached Akie and tried to touch her shoulder. "Oneesama..."

"This is all your fault! This never would've happened if you hadn't brought Takeshi into our family! What do you have to say for yourself?!"

Mariko sneered, "Heh. You certainly are lucky. Now that Takeshi-san killed Otousama, all of his fortune belongs to you."

"You can't be serious! I don't care about his fortune!" Natsue could barely believe her own ears. How sick had to be someone's mind to find themselves lucky when they got an inheritance because their beloved person murdered a close family member? In this Hatamoto family, each one was sicker than the next.

Ironically enough, though, even if Natsue didn't notice, she was standing in the same place Takeshi had. No matter how much she defended herself or said she didn't want the family fortune, not one of them would believe her.

This family was just seriously disgusting. For [Name] who had lost her own, she would never understand why those who did have a family would throw it away so carelessly like trash, not appreciating what they had. "What exactly would Natsue-san have to say for herself? She isn't a mind-reader and it wasn't like any of you noticed who Takeshi-san was either. Moreover... who is to say that Takeshi-san was the one responsible for this?"

"!!!!!"

Mariko clenched her fists, glaring at the girl, "What do you know?! Don't get involved in our family's business!"

[Name] met her gaze directly, raising a brow, "Aa. You're right. I have no right to speak about someone else's family. But the problem doesn't lay there. All of us were down there when Takeshi-san was locked up. That door is locked with a latch from the outside. Explain to me how could Takeshi-san open it on his own while inside the storeroom?"

Mouri, whose brain cells worked a little slower than most, widened his eyes, "That's right! There were no signs of damage on the door as if it had been broken... The only way for him to get out was if someone unlocked the latch from outside which would mean...! He has an accomplice in this room!"

Things just got complicated again.

The members of the Hatamoto family who had been cleared from any wrongdoing became suspects once again. The possibilities were that either Takeshi had an accomplice within the Hatamoto family who also wanted Gouzou dead and that accomplice helped him escape to avoid being implicated, or that... Takeshi was never the killer in the first place and he was nothing but a scapegoat.

Mouri warily watched the suspects, recalling all the details he had been told or seen until now, "So this is what we know. At the time of Tatsuo-san's murder, the three of you were alone in your private rooms..." Mouri looked at Jouji, Akie, and Ichiro as he said that, then turned to the married couple, "...while you two were together in your shared room."