Model worker and his little darling

The maid nodded, explaining that the old man had been playing the bamboo flute the whole time, only pausing briefly around 7:30 when she went to deliver the meal. She added that the old man had also remarked, "How rare, curry today."

The second stop was Kariya Shigehide, who said he had been in this room since returning from his business meeting at 6:00 PM. The maid also testified that there were traces of him working in the room from the moment the lights were turned on at 6:30 PM.

Seeing Kagaya Shigehide's downturned lips and impatient expression, Hirakiyo was greatly disappointed. This was the author of pure romance novels that Ran had mentioned? He had thought she was a witty and humorous person.

Finally arriving at Kagaya Tsuguki's studio, they found his dinner still untouched at the door. Kagaya explained that he had been so engrossed in painting that he had forgotten to eat. The maid, smelling the pipe as she brought the food, guessed that he must have been there all along.

Inspector Megure was kicked out after asking only a few questions, showing no concern whatsoever for the truth behind his wife's murder.

Finally, everyone had to go to the living room to discuss the matter. Inspector Megure was at a loss; it seemed that all three of them had alibis, which made him suspect Kariya Banko's lover.

Just then, the phone rang.

Inspector Megure answered the call and discovered it was from Kagaya Banko's lover. "Because Kagaya Banko hadn't replied to his emails all day, he got angry and called home."

Upon hearing this, Pingqing couldn't help but sigh, "Are infidelity cases this rampant these days?"

For a moment, the atmosphere became a little awkward, and Uncle Mori coughed twice. "But it's really strange, all three of them are eating in their own rooms, aren't they?"

"Twelve years ago, when the third brother, Kariya Ruisuke, was still alive, we all ate together."

Upon hearing the familiar name, Inspector Megure recalled a murder case from 12 years ago.

“I remember now. Twelve years ago, Mr. Ruiyou’s fiancée, Ms. Aida Suka, was stabbed in the abdomen first, and then struck on the head, just like Mrs. Banko. After the incident, Mr. Ruiyou disappeared, and not long after, all the money in his account was suddenly withdrawn. The crime scene was sparsely populated, and the investigation has made no progress to date.”

Upon hearing this, the maid suddenly remembered, "Last night, Mr. Ruiyou's friend suddenly called, but he was looking for Mrs. Banko. Mrs. Banko was very angry when she answered the phone, saying that she had not called him at all."

Uncle Mori stroked his chin, exclaiming in bewilderment, "Mrs. Banko lost her phone the night before last, and it was password protected. It was only found today, so she shouldn't have made any calls yesterday."

Just as Ping Qing was about to speak, he turned around and saw Ran staring intently at Conan. Tsk, he wondered if Conan could still keep his disguise a secret this time. It seemed like there was juicy gossip on both sides. Ping Qing suppressed his restless heart and decided to watch Conan's performance.

"A four-digit password is still easy to crack. The person who found the phone must have a lot of free time to try passwords one by one."

Following Conan's guidance, Inspector Megure identified the three people who had been staying in his room for an extended period of time.

Just as Conan was feeling smug, little did he know that Ran behind him was becoming increasingly complicated.

Oops, Conan never realizes how dangerous things are behind him.

Watching Inspector Megure make his deductions, Ran realized that all of these conclusions were guided by Conan, seemingly the innocent thoughts of a child, which just happened to become clues for the case. She initially thought Shinichi was secretly giving hints, but Conan hadn't transmitted any information via his phone today.

That leaves only one possibility.

Conan is Shinichi!

Thinking of this, Xiaolan shook her head. She had seen the two of them together before. But all the incongruities she had previously overlooked suddenly came to mind, and she simply couldn't convince herself otherwise.

Ran glanced around the room and spotted Hirai standing behind her father, remembering that Conan used to be with Hirai.

So, there's something wrong with Taira no Kiyoshi?

Ran decided to test the waters, secretly sending an email to Shinichi's recent email address on her phone, and then keeping a close eye on Conan.

But there was no response from Conan's phone, and Ran became suspicious. However, she quickly recovered, thinking that their opponent was Shinichi Kudo, a high school detective, and that Kiyoshi Taira was there to cover for them; she couldn't let them fool her like that.

She will definitely keep a close eye on the two of them, find a weakness, and then give Shinichi a good beating.

At this moment, Pingqing knew that Xiaolan had been watching him, but he didn't know that the fire had already spread to him.

At the same time, the doorbell rang, and everyone rushed to the entrance, but no one was there.

"Oh dear, it's just another child's prank."

"It's so late, and there are still kids playing pranks? That's unlikely." They're not like those three brats in the Junior Detective Club, who seem to want to solve murder cases every day to show off their abilities.

Upon hearing Heikichi's words, Inspector Megure glanced at his watch and agreed.

“If his wife really is having an affair, I don’t think the old man would sit idly by.”

Everyone became interested after hearing what the maid said.

"Twelve years ago, on the day Mr. Ruiyou's fiancée, Ms. Suhua, was murdered in a phone booth, the two were actually on a date. That night, Mr. Ruiyou called home to ask if Ms. Suhua could come over for the night. However, the old man somehow found out that Ms. Suhua was having an affair, so he scolded her."

Everyone was shocked by the news: a family tradition of being cuckolded!

Heiji had already started to formulate a script in his mind. Sure enough, following Conan, the story could become as melodramatic as it could possibly be.

"It seems that only Mr. Ziying is uninvolved in the matter of Mrs. Banko."

Hearing Uncle Mori's words, the maid spoke up again, "No, about a month ago, Mrs. Banko and Mr. Shige had an argument in the hallway. She accused Mr. Shige of writing something similar to the content of their argument."

Inspector Megure became suspicious of the three again and questioned them once more.

The old man said he knew he was going to eat curry rice because he smelled it from the door being open. Conan was curious about the tape recorder in the house, to which the old man replied that it was used to listen to bamboo flute lessons.

As they left the room, the maid spoke again.

"The old man injured his foot many years ago and has been staying at home ever since. That's when he discovered that the old lady was having an affair, and then he divorced her. Curry rice was the old lady's specialty."

Hirakiyo sized up the two maids; they seemed to know all the secrets of this household. It appeared that only the single second son, Kariya Shigehide, hadn't experienced being cuckolded.

"Anything else? Tell me everything at once so Inspector Megure can solve the case." He absolutely refused to admit that he wanted to hear gossip.