But in the End

Conman

"Sorry for the short notice."

I sat in the backseat of the cab, glancing between the front seats, and out the windshield as we pulled up to an area of warehouses.

"So, you'd mentioned that you figured out who's behind the serial murder case." The cab driver spoke up. "I imagine you are on your way to address the killer?"

"That's right." Kunikida replied, not looking to the man.

"Then we should probably hurry. So, what's our destination, sir?"

"Right here." Kunikida told him, glancing to the man out the corner of his eye.

"Huh?" Confused, the man glanced over.

"The abductions happened here, you're the kidnapper." Kunikida accused the driver. "You subdued passengers with sleeping gas, and abducted them after they fell unconscious. You wore a gas mask to escape the effects."

"Why would he go through all that trouble?" Atsushi asked, not understanding the motive.

"Why does any serial killer do the things they do?" I sighed, glancing to the boy.

"I can think of one reason." Dazai spoke up, causing us to turn to him.

"And what's that?" I asked, wondering what he's thinking.

"Merchandise." He replied without hesitation.

I let out a hum as Atsushi pressed on. "What do you mean?"

"He'd sell bodies for their parts." Dazai began to explain, sitting forward, glancing over to Atsushi and I. "There's quite a large black market for organs, if you know where to look."

"That's disgusting." I cringed, crinkling my nose at the thought.

"The cut may not be ideal, because of the various economic factors involved. But if you're flying solo, the pays not bad." Dazai continued, turning his attention to the cab driver.

"That's horrible." As Atsushi replied, I noticed the cab driver began to get nervous, sweat rolling down his face.

"H-Hang on, that's impossible." He retaliated, trying to convince us of his charade. "If I'd kidnapped people in this taxi, then I would have been found out when the police traced their last known whereabouts."

"Actually, the police didn't even give this taxi a second look." Kunikida countered. "Why would they? All the victims had vanished. And subsequently, each one became untraceable the following day."

Noticing the driver didn't say anything, Kunikida continued his theory. "After the targets got in your taxi, they were sedated. You proceeded to strip them of their clothes and belongings, that's why most of the victims in the hospital were all only in their underwear. You would then don their clothes in order to disguise yourself as them, and followed up by checking into hotels, where they had previously made reservations. You made sure you would show up on security cameras for that reason."

So the photos from earlier... they were this man the whole time. I thought, remembering how Kunikida realized it from Dazai taking his glasses earlier. A conman...

With the thought, I tuned back into what Kunikida was saying. "The victims being the same size as you, was no accident either. You chose people who wore hats and glasses, because they were easier to impersonate. If the security feed showed someone looking close enough to the victim, the police were inclined to believe it."

But if that's the case- I pondered over his explanation, baffled. "Then why was Sasaki there...?" I mumbled to myself, bringing my hand up to my chin.