Conan: I Am Not a Snake Spirit

"And she can also create an alibi for herself," Conan thought thoughtfully. "I remember she said that the flower shop clerk delivered flowers to her home this morning, and then she and the clerk arranged flowers at her home until the flowers were put away. After everything was arranged, she sent dog snacks to Grandma Kanae’s house, right? Let’s go find the florist and find out what time they start arranging flowers, maybe we can find the flaw!”

There was an incident waiting to be investigated, and the three children were all very motivated. Even Genta didn't complain about being too tired from walking just now. After Conan proposed a new direction of investigation, he immediately took action and set off to find what Tomoko Hirota had said. That flower shop.

Chi Feichi bought soda for the five children on the way, and also bought some snacks such as bread and chocolate to give the five children a little energy.

The group found the flower shop and asked the flower shop clerk about the time to send flowers to Tomoko Hirota's house.

The flower shop clerk said that the police had just asked him the same question, and also told the time when he delivered flowers to Tomoko Hirota's house.

"I remember it was 8:30 in the morning. Ms. Tomoko Hirota asked us to deliver the flowers at this time, so we did it. Because there were a lot of flowers, I accompanied her to arrange and decorate them until all the flowers were inserted. I just left her house..."

Hearing the clerk say this, Conan's face became a little heavy, and after leaving the flower shop, he frowned and said nothing.

Mitsuhiko noticed something wrong with Conan's face and asked curiously, "Conan, what's wrong with you?"

Conan did not block the door of the shop. He walked to the downstairs of the nearby apartment building and stopped, reminding, "Think about it carefully. Granny Kanae usually goes out to walk her dog at eight o'clock. If Miss Hirota is killing Kanae, After the mother-in-law, she pretended to be Kanae's mother-in-law and left the house of Kanae's mother-in-law with her dog at eight o'clock. She arrived at the commercial street at about 8:10 and arrived at the park at 8:20. She walked through the park and returned to Kanae. At my mother-in-law’s house, it’s already about 8:40…”

Mitsuhiko's face became as solemn as Conan's before, "In other words, if Miss Hirota is the murderer, there is no way she can rush back to her home at 8:30, right? But the clerk sent her flowers at 8:30 I did see her when I was at home!"

"Did we make a mistake?" Ayumi asked with a confused expression.

"If the murderer is not Brother Nobuhira or Miss Hirota, then it must be Mr. Kitazawa, the neighbor next door to Granny Kanae," Gentai said with a serious look, "He must have thought Matsunosuke was too noisy and went to look for Granny Kanae next door. They quarreled, killed Granny Kanae with a knife, and fed Matsunosuke food with sleeping pills!"

"That's right," Mitsuhiko thought seriously, "Although he said that he had been playing chess with his friends this morning, the place where he and his friends played chess was at his home. As long as he said that he was going to the bathroom, he would leave a few rooms temporarily. He can go next door and kill Granny Kanae in minutes, and then he just needs to pretend that nothing happened and continue playing chess with his friends!"

Chi Feichi drew a new route on the notepad where he drew the route map. Seeing that the children were about to change the direction of their investigation, he squatted down with the notepad and pen and said, "Actually, Miss Hirota is pretending to be Mrs. Kanae." After walking the dog, you can return to your home at half past eight..."

The five children immediately gathered around Chi Feichi and looked at the simple map drawn by Chi Feichi.

The simple map drew the nearby streets with lines, and also marked the locations of 'Kanae's House', 'Shopping Street', 'Park', and 'Flower Shop'.

"When we came out of the park and passed by a one-family house, you said it was Miss Guangtian's home." Chi Feichi pointed with his pen at a blank spot near the park on the map, "It's probably at this location. Is it right?"

Haibara Ai recalled the road he had just walked and the direction of Hirota Tomoko's house, "Yes, it's almost here."

Chi Feichi drew a circle where the tip of the pen pointed, marked the words 'Tomoko Hirota's house', and then used the pen to draw a route on the map, "According to what Conan just said, Miss Hirota killed Kana." After Mrs. Hui, she disguised herself as Mrs. Kanae and went out at 8 a.m., leading the dog through the shopping street and the park, and finally sent the dog back to Mrs. Kanae's house. If she did this, she would definitely not be able to get back to herself at 8:30 in the morning. Home……"

As he spoke, Chi Feichi drew another route on the notepad with a pen, "But if she lets her dog take sleeping pills to fall asleep before eight o'clock in the morning, and takes the dog to Mrs. Kanae's house, she will kill her." After killing Mrs. Kanae, she took out the side dishes from the refrigerator, put on a beige windbreaker for Mrs. Kanae, and dressed Mrs. Kanae as if she had just come back from going out. Of course, she also put some dipping sauce in Mrs. Kanae’s house. Then, she wore a beige windbreaker of the same style, led Matsunosuke to leave Mrs. Kanae's house, disguised herself as Mrs. Kanae, passed through the commercial street and the park, and returned directly to her home so that she could be in the eight I returned to my home at half past three.”

"I see..." Conan murmured, his eyes lit up with excitement and confidence, "After she took Matsunosuke for a walk, she did not send Matsunosuke back to Kanae's mother-in-law's house, but took Matsunosuke directly to her own home. , as for the dog at Grandma Kanae's house, it was her own dog that she brought there in the morning... She said that her dog was exactly the same as Matsunosuke, and she also fed the dog sleeping pills to keep it sleeping. , so that even if she changes her dog to Mrs. Kanae’s house, others won’t be able to recognize it, and she can use the two dogs to create an alibi!”

"Using a small animal that trusts you as a tool to deceive others after killing people," Haiyuan Ai said with a cold expression, "This behavior is really dirty and ugly."

"What about Mr. Kitazawa?" Mitsuhiko asked seriously. "Although Ms. Hirota is the most suspicious now, I think what Genta said just now is correct. Mr. Kitazawa also has the opportunity to commit crimes. Should we investigate Kitazawa again?" What’s the situation with Mr. Ze?”

Chi Feichi had no objection, "It's good to go and investigate."

The group walked back to Asakawa Kanae's house, and the five children deliberately threw the Frisbee into the yard of Kitazawa Sokichi's house next door.

While Kitazawa Souyoshi left the yard and returned the Frisbee to Genta at the door, Conan and Mitsuhiko sneaked into the yard and approached Kitazawa Souyoshi's friends to learn about the situation.

Kitazawa Souyoshi's friend had been playing chess with Kitazawa Souyoshi since eight o'clock in the morning. He was very sure that Kitazawa Souyoshi never left during the game. It wasn't until there was a noise next door that Kitazawa Souyoshi went next door to check on the situation. The result was The next door neighbor is found dead.

After leaving Kitazawa Sokichi's house, Chi Feichi invited the five children to eat at a nearby coffee shop, called Takagi Wataru, and asked Takagi Wataru to come to the coffee shop to find him.

The three children were still discussing the case in a low voice while eating.

"In this way, Mr. Kitazawa will have no chance to commit crimes..."

"What if his friends lie for him?"

"It's not impossible, but this is a murder case. The situation is very serious. Normally, no one would hide it for a friend, right?"

"Anyway, Mr. Kitazawa's alibi is flawless, but Miss Hirota's alibi can be forged, so Miss Hirota is more suspicious!"

"Right……"

Listening to the discussion of the three children, Haihara Ai also asked Chi Feichi and Conan in a low voice, "How do you plan to confirm whether this reasoning is correct?"

Conan showed a confident smile on his face, "No matter how similar the two dogs are in appearance, they will have different habits in life. The longer the exchange time, the more likely it is that someone will find something abnormal. Therefore, it is impossible for Ms. Hirota to take away her own dog." She has been staying at Grandma Kanae’s house, and as long as the police officers don’t investigate at Grandma Kanae’s house tonight, at night, she will secretly go over and change her dog back.”

"Last time we met, Mrs. Kanae said that Matsunosuke was influenced by Asakawa playing Frisbee and wanted to catch the Frisbee as soon as he saw it," Chi Feichi reminded, "You can probably find Matsunosuke using this method."

Conan, who thought of the Frisbee a little late: "..."

His little friend's mind is really flexible.

…

After Takagi got involved in the coffee shop, Chi Feichi handed over the task of reasoning to the young detective team.

The three children were interested in performing a mystery show, and Conan was also willing to remind them at the critical moment that except for Haibara Ai who was paddling, the other four members of the Young Detective Team were actively involved in the reasoning session. It took more than half an hour to tell the story of the incident. All the doubts, reasoning, and methods to confirm the reasoning were told to Takagi Wataru.

That night, Megure Thirteen arranged for plainclothes men to stand guard near Asakawa Kanae's house. He personally took Takagi Wataru to stay in the corner of the yard without lights, and guarded Tomoko Hirota with Chi Feichi and the young detective team.

After ten o'clock in the evening, Tomoko Hirota appeared outside the yard of Kanae Asakawa's house with her dog. She looked around furtively and then led the dog into the yard.

Without waiting for Megure Thirteen to say anything, the three children ran out directly to confront Tomoko Hirota, who was so frightened that Megure Thirteen and Takagi Wataru quickly followed them.

Regarding the last paragraph:

Some people said, ‘Change it to destroying evidence before leaving’…

In fact, when the murderer enters the yard, the detective team can go out and stop it, without waiting for the murderer to start changing dogs. If she really waited until the murderer started to change dogs, and both dogs were on her hand, it would be even more unclear, and she would have even more excuses to use.

The time is right for the children to go out now, but the police will assume that such matters should be handled by the police. When they see the children running up to confront them, they are worried that the murderer will hurt the children after being frightened, so they will immediately follow him.

Children are eager to perform, but they do not make solving the case any more difficult.