Chapter 3- A Serial Murder? Ran's POV When we got off Amuro-san's car, we were met by Megure-keibu. He took us to a secluded place, where there was a tree painted red with a woman hanging upside-down on it! "The victim's name is Nateru Ayari, 26 years old. She died about 30 minutes ago because of four bulket wounds: one on the right foot, one in her temple and two in her abdomen. She and her three friends were asked to paint one side of the Park Hyatt Hotel when they were vacationing here. Those three friends were Kano Tsunju-san, Kawakana Nansai-san and Matthew Heal-san. Tsunju-san, who is jobless, said she was sightseeing on her balcony. Nansai-san, a salesman, said he was taking a bath. Matthew-san said he was searching for a restaurant famous in America here." "Mmmmmm..." said Amuro-san and he began thinking. "Conan-kun! What are you doing?" I asked him. He was peering at the corpse. "I see something." He pointed to a spot next to Ayari-san's head and I made out the figures )92 "Kyuu-juu ni?" I thought. "Ayari? Well, she was quite the technosapien, along with Matthew, and she loved to make codes! She also spoke English so fluently that no one but Matthew understood her. But she was clumsy too..." While my back was turned, Conan-kun had asked Tsunju-san some questions! "Conan-kun! Don't interfere! Sorry. he just likes playing detective..." I said with an apologetic look. "It's alright." said Tsunju-san. "Taku, Ayari did like that. It just pains me to know I couldn' t solve them," said a voice. It was Nansai-san! "Wow, Nansai! You surprised me! You were like creeping up on me!" said Tsunju-san. "I'm not really good at that.." And with that he went back to his business.
"Kyaaaaaa!" I screamed.
"Ran! Stop overreacting! We've been gawking at this corpse for 10 minutes already!" cried otou-san.
"Ah, sumimasen, but I just saw a silhouette run into the bushes!"
"NANI?!" Conan-kun and Amuro-san ran to the place I pointed out and searched the bushes.
"There's no one here.. Maybe you were just hallucinating, Ran-neechan."
"O..kay..." I wasn't so sure I was hallucinating. "Um, Ran-neechan? I'll just go to the bathroom.." Conan-kun muttered. "Oh, sure." I said. He hurried into the hotel. "Shhh, let's go follow Conan-kun." whispered Amuro-san.
We went inside. Amuro-san checked the boy's bathroom, but he was not there! "Uh, Reception? Did you see a little boy go in here?" I asked. "Hai! He went upstairs."
I had a hunch on where he was going. "Well, can you please give me the room numbers of Nateru Ayari, Matthew Heal, Kano Tsunju and Kawakana Nansai?" "It's from Room 217 to Room 220" "Thanks.." We ran upstairs to the second floor to Room 217. "Conan-kun?"
"Ah! Why are you here, Ran-neechan?"
"We sort of followed you.." said Amuro-san.. "Conan-kun! You said you were going to go to the bathroom!" I yelled. "Sumimasen, but oji-san asked me to gather information." He started looking at objects in the room.
"Can we join you?" asked Amuro-san.
Conan-kun looked like he was about to protest, but I said, "Come on! What are you doing, Conan-kun?"
"I observed some unusual stuff in the rooms. The first three had paint, this one has none, bu it has a defective Ipad from the US." He held up a gadget.
"May I see your notes?" I asked. He handed them to me. I saw his notes in careful handwriting: Kawakana Nansai- Room 220 Doorknob: Paint (only outside) Doorknob of Bathroom (inside and outside): Paint
Kano Tsunju- Room 219
Doorknob: Paint
Curtains and Veranda- Paint
Matthew Heal- Room 218
Doorknob: Paint
Faucet: Paint
He penned down "Nateru Ayari- Room 217. Inside: Clothes and a defective Ipad." "I swear Ran-neechan. I am going to make a call to Ha-, Heiji-niisan about this case!" said Conan-kun. I sighed. "Okay." and he ran outside. Sometimes Conan-kun was just like Shinichi, a deduction maniac. He even looked like him. Maybe.. No, that's crazy. I've been proven wrong many times already. I sighed. "Amuro-san, let's go back."
"Sure." Mwahahahahahaahahaha!! I just like eppies where Ran suspects Conan!!! Next Chapter's Hint: Paint