"Hattori, what do you mean?" Inspector Megure asked, puzzled.
Heiji walked to the dining table and picked up the bottle of mulberry wine. Gently, he swirled it, watching as the black fruit wine inside rippled slightly, forming small waves.
"Inspector Megure, the murderer wanted us to believe in that old tale about vitamin C and seafood—it was a deliberate diversion."
"So, Mr. Hattori means...?" Inspector Megure's eyes widened in shock.
"It's nothing but a diversion by the murderer to confuse us and avoid blame. Right, Mr. Taichi Tomizawa?"
A jolt ran through Taichi Tomizawa. His hands trembled as cold sweat streamed down his neck, and he forced a shaky laugh. "Hattori, are you mistaken? I only served my father lobster meat. You can test the lobster. If the poison was in the lobster meat, wouldn't we all be poisoned?"
"Did I say the poison was in the lobster? Your reasoning isn't weak," Heiji replied with a faint smile.
Rooted to the spot, Taichi Tomizawa's eyes widened in disbelief, his breath caught in his throat as he stared at Heiji.
Seeing his reaction, the entire hall instantly burst into whispers. In this situation, it was evident that Taichi Tomizawa had unintentionally given himself away.
"Mr. Taichi, what is going on? Explain," Inspector Megure said sternly.
Taichi Tomizawa waved his hands and laughed nervously. "I write mystery novels. Of course, I can deduce that. Mr. Hattori isn't the only detective in the world."
The hall fell silent again, and everyone looked at Heiji.
"Heiji…" Kazuha clasped her hands in front of her chest, her eyes full of nervousness.
"Heiji will find the proof, for sure." Sonoko comforted Kazuha, her pretty eyes full of confidence in Heiji.
"Hattori?" Inspector Megure looked at Heiji with expectation.
"Mr. Taichi, a moment ago, you deliberately provoked President Tomizawa to get angry, didn't you?"
Heiji ignored the strange looks around him and, with his hands in his pockets, looked at Taichi Tomizawa indifferently.
Taichi's face paled, his lips parted wordlessly, and his fingers twitched nervously. Disbelief filled his eyes as he stared at Heiji: How does he know that?
"If President Tomizawa hadn't gotten angry, you'd have had no way to clear suspicion—or your fatal evidence. Isn't that so, Mr. Taichi?" Heiji said.
"Wait, Mr. Hattori, you're confusing me. Isn't a crime supposed to be committed in secret?" Inspector Megure was somewhat perplexed.
Heiji smiled: "Usually, yes. But Mr. Taichi needed an alibi and broke the rules."
"An alibi?" exclaimed Inspector Megure. Suddenly, realizing his position, he abruptly covered his mouth, and his expression turned serious: "Mr. Hattori, are you saying the murderer poisoned the victim right in front of us?"
Poisoning him right in front of us?
Everyone looked at each other: What murderer would expose themselves to everyone's sight to commit a crime? Heiji said calmly, "Mr. Taichi took a huge risk—one wrong move, and he would have been caught."
"Older brother, why did you kill Dad?" Tatsuji Tomizawa said in disbelief.
"He was our father! Why kill him?" Yuzo Tomizawa was very sad.
"Nonsense! His accusation is baseless. You say I did it in front of everyone? Then tell me—how did I poison him?" Taichi barked at Heiji.
No one spoke; everyone silently looked at Heiji, waiting for him to present the decisive proof.
"Mr. Taichi, you served all the lobster to President Tomizawa, right? But the poison wasn't hidden inside the meat from the start. Instead, you used the wine, which had been adulterated with arsenic and acid, to dissolve the poison. Then you coated the lobster with this solution, and then covered everything with plenty of sauce to mask the taste."
Heiji's accusation stunned Inspector Megure and the others—arsenic for his father? Ruthless.
Taichi scoffed. "Do you think my father couldn't tell that something tasted strange?"
"That's why you prepared so much sauce, isn't it?"
Heiji's words abruptly silenced Taichi Tomizawa's laughter, and his expression went blank.
"First, you used the wine to coat the lobster with a diluted dose of poison. That was the first stage—distributed and hard to trace. Then, you prepared a special piece with a higher concentration, hid the taste with extra sauce, and personally gave it to him while pretending to apologize. This way, you drew attention away from yourself—no one would suspect you'd kill your own father right in front of everyone."
Heiji's voice echoed in the hall.
Cold sweat ran down Taichi Tomizawa's tense face. His shirt clung damply to his back as he shifted uncomfortably.
Heiji took a wine glass from the table. He swirled it, the red wine spinning over and over, like waves of blood. "Mr. Taichi, do you need me to present the proof?"
After a long, suffocating silence…
At last, shoulders slumped, Taichi Tomizawa sank heavily into the chair. He drew a crumpled paper from his pocket, hands trembling: "It's not necessary, Mr. Hattori. I admit my defeat."
"What is that?" asked Inspector Megure, perplexed, looking at the paper.
"Inspector Megure, that's the paper Taichi used to hold the concentrated acid and arsenic solution before mixing it. There are traces of the mixture left on it."
Miwako Sato approached, took the paper, and gave Heiji a look full of admiration.
"Older brother, why did you kill Dad?" Yuzo Tomizawa still couldn't accept this fact.
As you know, I love to write novels. Lately, though, many publishing houses have not accepted my manuscripts; some even returned them. At first, I assumed it was just a matter of skill and didn't pay much mind. Then, when I went home to ask Dad for money, I discovered he was the one who had made those publishers refuse my work. He crushed my dream, and I couldn't forgive him.
Madness flickered in Taichi's eyes. "If I could pull off a murder in plain sight, then my novel would finally succeed too. But Heiji caught everything."
"Whatever you have to say, say it at the police station. Takagi, take him away." Inspector Megure said seriously.
As Takagi was escorting Taichi Tomizawa away, Taichi suddenly stopped when passing by Heiji: "Heiji, may I ask when you started to suspect me?"
"Knowing that your words would anger President Tomizawa, you insisted on saying them. Aside from a hidden motive, I can't think of any other possibility. To summarize it with a Japanese saying: The mouth is the source of disaster," Heiji said indifferently.
"So that was why. Worthy of a great detective. It seems defeating the Night Baron and Kaitou Kid wasn't in vain after all." Taichi Tomizawa relaxed completely.