Fated Friendship

A Deduction Duet

The guards did not have much to tell Heiji in the end, apart from what they'd already told the police.

"I'm sure of it! All three days we've been guarding here, not a single person has entered or left the premises. Ah! Wait a moment!"

Heiji perked up, wondering what the security guard remembered.

"On the night of the party, one person did come out – Mitsuaki-san!"

"Mitsuaki-han? When?"

"At around 9:30 pm. He asked us if we'd seen Hideomi-san, but we hadn't so he went back and was wandering around the pond. It was dark though, so I wasn't sure what he was doing..."

Heiji let his feet lead him towards the balcony where Mitsuaki had fallen from. Acting on a whim, he moved closer and right under the balcony of Mitsuaki and Yasue's room.

'Right above me, from the balcony, someone wearing bandages over his face had hooked a rope and climbed down,' Heiji tried to recreate the scene, 'so, if I was the murderer, where would I have escaped?'

Taking a glance upwards, Heiji froze, 'Is that...? A dent?'

What could have made it was a mystery. It was an odd mark for sure though. The balcony next to it, upon checking, had many similar indentions upon it. But, the thing that could have made such a mark on the underside of the window's gallery was elusive to Heiji.

'Can't really make anything of it,' Heiji mused, 'let's get a second opinion then,'

Walking into the mansion, Heiji made a beeline towards the kitchen, where Kudo was talking to the chefs and maids.

"Oh, yes, speaking of odd, a bed sheet's been missing since the last three days!" Heiji heard a maid say as he opened the door.

"Oi, Kudo," Heiji beckoned him, "check this out,"

Conan blinked, but quickly trotted after him, curious.

"What is it?"

"Something really odd I saw on the underside of the balcony of Mitsuaki and Yasue-han's room."

"The balcony Mitsuaki-san was thrown from?"

"Aa."

Kudo looked equally puzzled at what could have made those marks and Heiji then called his attention to the other balcony.

"There are a lot more here!" Conan pointed out, "Whose room is that?"

"Nobuko-han's."

"Something smells fishy...Okay! Let's go check it out!" came the prompt suggestion.

"Huh?" Heiji looked wide-eyed as the shrunken teen ran back towards the mansion purposefully.

Quickly catching up, Heiji asked him, "So? What did you learn from the staff?"

"An increased food intake, consumption of desserts that used to be left untouched and a missing blanket," Kudo rattled off clinically, "Also, it seems that Yasue-san changed his bandages every three days. The last time she'd done it was two days ago."

Heiji frowned, "Taking all tha' into account, it's quite possible tha' it was an imposter who was taking Hideomi's place."

Conan gave a nod of agreement as they stopped in front of Nobuko's room. When after repeated knocks, there was no answer; Heiji concluded that she mustn't be in.

"Yeah, she might be with Ran and the others, staying close together after the murder," Conan agreed, reaching up on his toes to twist the handle and open the door, "safety in numbers and all that."