Fated Friendship

Working Together

The moment the coroners were done investigating the body, Yasue-san dropped onto her knees next to him, tears still pouring down her cheeks.

Megure-keibu had arrived on scene with his team and had heard the whole story from Mouri.

"Are you certain the killer was Hideomi?" Megure asked Mouri.

"Yes," Mouri nodded seriously, "we could see him clearly –"

"You're mistaken!" Miyuki-san, Hideomi's fiancée protested, "Hideomi-san would never do something like this!"

'She has a point,' Heiji agreed, 'We can't be sure it is Hideomi...'

"Hey, Hattori!" Conan hissed, "Do you see it?"

"Huh?" Heiji crouched down to his level, "See what?"

"On Mitsuaki-san's hand – it's not very big...but there's a little mark there. Red, like blood."

"Hmm," Heiji narrowed his eyes, "You're right –"

"I'm going to check it out," Conan declared before scampering off, ducking beneath outstretched hands and weaving around the police-men to go and inspect the body.

"Oi!" Heiji grumbled, 'Yeah, just leave me here, won't ya?'

Seeing Yasue-san, Mitsuaki-san's wife, complain loudly how the killer was definitely Hideomi – didn't they all see him? So how dare Miyuki-san say that it wasn't him? – Heiji sighed.

'I guess I'll let Kudo handle the physical examination of the body. First, I gotta get the police on the right track.'

"Miyuki-san is right," Heiji spoke over Yasue-san's wails.

The Inspector turned to see who'd spoken, his eyes widening when he caught sight of him.

'Yep, it's me again, keibu-han,' Heiji said, "All we saw was a face covered in bandages. Who's to say it really was Hideomi-han under that?"

"Bandages?" Inspector Megure echoed.

"Yeah, Hideomi had burn scars all over his face," Mouri explained.

"We saw the killer at 10:00 pm," Heiji told the Inspector in detail, "but all we saw was a man holding a knife in his mouth, his face covered in bandages and trying to find a way to escape. After which, when we reached the room – it was locked and we had to get a spare key – he had disappeared and Mitsuaki-han's body was found."

"We?" Megure questioned the general term,

"Myself and Ran, Conan, Yasue-san and the butler," Mouri expounded.

"I went to alert the guards," Heiji offered, "I didn't enter the room with them,"

"What about Miyuki-san?" Megure asked.

"I had to stay behind to watch the Nagato-san. When I heard Yasue-san scream, I came down, leaving Ran-san to watch over the master," Miyuki explained

"Then who went to get the spare key?" Megure asked in slight confusion.

"I did," the butler answered, "I keep the spare keys in the storage at the end of the hall-way, but because of my frail health, it took me nearly 5 to 6 minutes,"

"Hmm, so the victim was first stabbed to death then thrown off the balcony?"

"Maybe," Mouri hedged.

The Inspector gave Mouri an unimpressed stare before asking out loud, "Does anyone know where Hideomi-san is at the moment?"

The butler shook his head, "We searched everywhere, but we couldn't find him,"