"Inspector Megure, I already know how the murderer killed President Tomizawa."
The hall instantly fell silent.
Feeling the strange looks around him, the man in the suit's face turned red as a tomato, and he lowered his head, wishing the earth would swallow him whole; this was a slap in the face.
"What? Really, young Hattori?" Inspector Megure approached with a pleasant surprise.
"Great!" A flash of joy crossed Kazuha's eyes, she didn't want her boyfriend to be looked down upon.
Sonoko sighed in relief, and a look of love shone in her pretty eyes.
"Great, Heiji didn't disappoint us, as expected," Ran said in a low voice.
[Hehe, that Ran, always worrying for nothing.]
Conan laughed to himself and rested his chin on his hand: President Tomizawa died of arsenic poisoning, but no reaction to poisons was detected, that's almost impossible. I think the same as Hattori, the murderer is one of the three triplets, but the method, what is the method?
He was about to go crazy, especially hearing that Heiji had figured out the method before him again, he couldn't accept it.
"Heiji, did you find the poison reaction?"
Miwako Sato came running. She had even analyzed the kitchen ingredients, and there was still no reaction.
Miwako Sato was speechless.
"I think you're just wasting time, let us go at once," Taichi Tomizawa said coldly.
"Don't be in a hurry, don't you want to know how your father died?" Heiji looked at Taichi Tomizawa indifferently.
Taichi Tomizawa was speechless and said no more.
Heiji approached the dining table, picked up a lobster, and addressing everyone, smiled confidently: "Lobster, especially this type of large, top-quality lobster, is a delicious seafood. However, prepared a certain way, it can carry a dissolved poison right under everyone's nose."
[What???]
Heiji's words hit like a thunderclap: Lobster can be used to deliver poison without obvious traces?
They had never thought of it.
[No, that's not what Hattori means — he means the lobster itself isn't poisonous, but the killer used the sauce or wine as a solvent to dissolve arsenic and hide it in the dish.]
Conan's pupils contracted sharply as he scanned the table and the empty plates; a cold realization crossed his face: Of course — the poison was dissolved into the sauce or wine so the usual spot tests missed it!
"Don't worry, lobster itself is not toxic; if handled properly there is no problem,"
Miwako Sato furrowed her pretty eyebrows and, looking at Heiji, said indifferently: "So what you mean is the lobster only became poisonous because something was added to it — something that carried the poison?"
"Exactly." Heiji nodded with satisfaction.
"I know — the wine or sauce was the carrier!" Takagi suddenly blurted out.
"Exactly. Someone dissolved arsenic into a liquid carrier — often a warm alcoholic sauce or fruit wine — and used it to bathe the lobster. Arsenic trioxide is tasteless and can be hard to detect in diluted food samples if it's dissolved and distributed across a dish. If the solution's acidity or composition is adjusted, it can mask the usual quick screening methods. That's why no immediate poison reaction showed up at first," Heiji said.
The entire hall fell into a deathly silence. Heiji's voice was not loud, but everyone heard it clearly.
Amazing!!!
Although this is something a chemist or an experienced poisoner might know, who normally thinks about these details? Wine, sauces and seafood are everyday items; who would suspect they could be used to conceal arsenic in a way that defeats quick tests?
"Analyze everything on the table immediately," Inspector Megure ordered.
Previously, they had assumed a straightforward poisoning and only ran standard poison screens; no one considered a deliberate carrier and masking technique.
Soon, the results of the analysis were ready.
"Inspector Megure, a large amount of citric acid and fruit concentrate has been detected in this bottle of mulberry wine." the lab officer announced.
"What?" Inspector Megure ran over, took the bottle of mulberry wine and looked seriously at the three triplets: "Whose bottle is this?"
"It's mine, but I don't know why it has so much fruit concentrate," shouted Tatsuji Tomizawa.
"Hmph, you planned this from the start — you deliberately bought this kind of fruit wine because its composition makes it an effective solvent for dissolving certain compounds. By combining it with lobster, you could spread a dissolved poison through the food and avoid immediate detection. Is that so, young Hattori?" Inspector Megure said, looking to Heiji for confirmation.
Heiji shook his head, and Inspector Megure was surprised.
"Mulberries do contain natural acids and vitamin C, but not in the quantity the lab detected. This much fruit concentrate indicates tampering — someone added a strong acidic extract or concentrate to the wine to adjust its solvent properties," Heiji explained.
"Mr. Heiji is right, the high level of fruit concentrate must have been added artificially," the lab officer confirmed.
"Oh." Inspector Megure felt deflated…
"However, it could still be assumed that Mr. Tatsuji added it," Miwako Sato said calmly.
"Yes, that possibility cannot be ruled out. That way, if discovered, he could claim it was an accidental flavoring," Heiji added.
"It's not true, it wasn't me, I didn't add anything to the wine!" Tatsuji Tomizawa protested nervously.
"Tatsuji, I can't imagine you being so cruel — he was our father! I know you're seeing someone Dad disapproved of, but you can't kill Dad just because he limited your money, right?" Taichi cried.
"Is what Mr. Taichi says true?" Inspector Megure asked Tatsuji seriously. "That could be a motive."
"It wasn't me! And if motive matters, my older brother Taichi and my younger brother Yuzo both have motives too," Tatsuji shouted.
"What?" Inspector Megure turned to the other two with a puzzled look.
"My older brother Taichi, since he likes to write novels and has no steady income, often asked Dad for money. But Dad insisted Taichi should inherit the business, so they argued constantly. You must have resented Dad a lot, right?" Tatsuji said.
Taichi Tomizawa froze, nodded, then hastily waved his hands. "But I didn't kill our father — at that time I didn't touch that bottle of wine."
Inspector Megure nodded and looked at Yuzo Tomizawa: "And you, Mr. Yuzo?"
"The same for Yuzo. He loves painting, but Dad always criticized him and forbade him from pursuing art. He resented him too," came the reply.
To deflect suspicion, Tatsuji spilled family secrets about Taichi and Yuzo.
"Did you keep the wine bottle the whole time?" Inspector Megure asked.
"No — I left it at Dad's house first. There was one night when it was unattended, and at that time both my older and younger brothers were home," Tatsuji answered.
Inspector Megure stroked his chin. "If no one watched it for a night, anyone could have tampered with it. That makes the two of you suspects as well."
"Young Hattori, what do you think?" Megure suddenly asked, turning to Heiji.
Heiji, standing to the side, smiled confidently: "Inspector Megure, do you really think the killer relied only on an obvious, easily-detected poison? Or would they use a carrier — something that can dissolve and spread the arsenic while hiding it from simple tests?"