544

Originally, Yukiko and Eri, two long-lost girlfriends, were still chatting about the "Miss Teitan" contest held by their alma mater, Teitan High School, years ago.

Back then, the two ended up in a tie because one vote was missing at the end, so they had to call it off, which became a regret in both of their hearts.

However, Ran happened to find that ballot in Kogoro Mouri's pocket by chance, but unfortunately, it had been washed and crumpled, making the content unreadable.

Just as the two were questioning Ran for the truth, the butler, who had been staring at the screen, saw Mikio Fujieda suddenly stand up and raise his hands in the surveillance screen.

This scene naturally caught everyone's attention, and before they could take action, Mikio Fujieda collapsed on the ground.

By the time they rushed downstairs, two gunshots came from behind the locked door again.

Faced with this emergency situation, Ran kicked the door open with one foot, but it was already too late.

Mikio Fujieda had already fallen to the ground, completely silent.

"Gunshot."

Senichi looked at the automatic pistol found outside the broken window and the blackened towel beside it.

After confirming through the surveillance cameras spread throughout the house that the culprit had not escaped, he lost all interest in thinking about the case.

Spoiler alert + super sense of smell, is there anything else worth thinking about in this case?

Without hesitation, Senichi summoned everyone in the room.

What investigative methods? Those are all last resort measures!

Since it's already known that the culprit is still carrying the decisive evidence, and this evidence can solve the case logically without reasoning, then just handle it directly.

Soon, everyone in the room was gathered.

Apart from the maids all dressed in uniform, the rest were the butler, the gardener, Mrs. Motoka Fujieda, and Mikio Fujieda's ex-wife's brother, Shigeru Fujieda.

"Is it really reliable for Detective Senichi to gather everyone and find the culprit based on smell?"

Yukiko, who was seeing Senichi in this situation for the first time, whispered to Conan beside her, "I feel like it's a bit unreliable..."

"Heh... Do you see me taking any action?" Conan's mouth twitched as he watched Senichi confirming each smell one by one, his expression gradually becoming indifferent.

"Well, that's true..." Kudo Yukiko suddenly realized. "If it were under normal circumstances, you would have been running around the crime scene long ago..."

"That's because I didn't want to waste my efforts..."

Conan looked at the people gathered here. He couldn't help but smile and say, "Because when the culprit chose to use a gun, his fate was already sealed."

As if to confirm Conan's words, Senichi stood in front of the kind looking old gardener. "The culprit is you, butler Sohachi Ueki."

"!!!"

Senichi's words instantly attracted everyone's attention. They all looked at butler Sohachi Ueki with shock written all over their faces.

"P-Please, don't joke around, Detective..."

Sohachi Ueki raised his hands in front of his chest, looking flustered. "H-How could I... you can't just accuse me because you walked around us!"

At first glance, it seemed that Senichi had just called everyone over to line up and then walked past them one by one. Such a hasty action naturally seemed nonsensical and unreasonable to outsiders.

"Accuse? Facing the butler's doubts, Senichi smiled and said, "I haven't accused you. After all, I've called everyone over here and carefully screened through them."

Without waiting for the butler to react, Senichi squatted down and lifted the gardener's right foot, revealing a silencer hidden inside the sock.

"Although you hid the silencer in your sock, the smell of gunpowder couldn't escape my nose."

With gloved hands, Senichi carefully removed the silencer. "Your legs are burnt. What made you, an elderly person in your twilight years, make such a rebellious choice to kill your master, whom you've served for many years?"

"..."

After hearing Senichi's words, the gray-haired gardener remained silent for a moment before speaking slowly, "Because the one I served was not Mr. Fujieda, but Mrs. Fujieda."

"To protect the lady's garden, what does a little injury matter?"

"The garden, huh?" Senichi turned to look out the window. "That must have been her cherished place."

"Yeah, the mistress loved the garden the most..."

The butler looked at the pitch-black outside, but it seemed as though he was seeing the most beautiful scene from his memories. "That garden is just like the mistress, simply being there makes one feel at ease.

For me, without that garden, it's like losing my life. And after the mistress passed away, the garden and the mansion fell into the hands of that cold-hearted man, Mr. Fujieda. That's something I couldn't bear..."

With irrefutable evidence, the butler knew the outcome was already determined, but there was no bitterness in his eyes, only acceptance.

Under interrogation, the butler cooperatively confessed everything.

Firstly, he exploited Mr. Mikio Fujieda's habit. Normally, he would sit in the music room for one or two hours, and when he stood up, he habitually stretched.

His coma wasn't accidental; the butler added a drug, Isoprenaline, to the tea, inducing the victim's unconsciousness.

After sitting for a long time and then suddenly standing up would put a significant burden on the cardiovascular system, leading to a sudden drop in pulse and blood pressure, potentially resulting in unconsciousness or even worse.

These symptoms are quite common in older individuals, and even if there's no coma, dizziness upon sudden standing is quite common.

Moreover, the victim was quite old. If he took the drug and then stretched and fell into a coma, it would naturally appear as though he raised his hands in response to a threat.

To ensure nothing went wrong and to make everyone believe the victim raised his hands in response to a threat, he even said, as the victim stood up to stretch, "Master raised his hands."

This statement, followed by immediate unconsciousness, misled everyone into thinking the victim had actually been shot and fell.

But in reality, at that moment, the victim hadn't died yet; he was just unconscious.

The locked room also played into his plan. Naturally, when everyone wanted to enter the room, they would call for him, the butler, to fetch the key.

However, all of this was within his expectations. He had already prepared the key in advance, carrying it with him. If no one called, he would have taken the initiative to fetch the key.

Using the time saved from fetching the key, he went outside to the courtyard and shot the victim three times, ending his life.

That's the entirety of the case.