The Secret of the Search for his Wife

Tomomi Higuchi
	Victim (stabbed); 29 years old; Masaki's wife; Florist; Amateur actress;

Masaki Higuchi
	32 years old; Office worker; Kogoro's client;

Chronology

‹ The Target is the Metropolitan Police Traffic Department

List of Episodes

List of Filler Cases

Follow Them! Detective Taxi ›

The Secret of the Search for his Wife (妻探しの秘密 ,Tsuma Sagashi no Himitsu^?) is the 975th episode of the Detective Conan anime.

It was originally scheduled for April 25, 2020 as episode 976, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It finally aired on July 4, 2020 as 975th episode, replacing The Beika City Shopping Center Garbage Bin Mystery^{(ep 1002)}, which aired instead on April 17, 2021.

It is the 329th anime-original episode, written by Asami Ishikawa and storyboarded by Koichiro Kuroda.

The story follows Ran and Conan who find a desperate Masaki Higuchi looking for his missing wife and decide to help him, along with the famous sleeping Kogoro. After looking around the neighborhood, things take a turn for the worse, as her corpse is found in the Higuchis' own backyard. However, this is not a case of domestic violence gone wrong, and something is amiss in the neighborhood.

Cast

Characters

Gadgets

Stun-Gun Wristwatch

Voice-Changing Bowtie

Case

Situation

A man named Masaki Higuchi is showing a poster of his missing wife Tomomi Higuchi to several people while he is getting wet from the rain. Ran and Conan approach him with an umbrella to offer him shelter and ask to see the poster. Ran immediately recognizes Tomomi from her workplace, a florist shop. Masaki asks for their help and Ran suggests he talk to her father Kogoro Mouri, known as "Sleeping Kogoro".

At the detective agency, Masaki tells them what he knows. He had planned a date with his wife Tomomi at an expensive restaurant but she never showed up. Kogoro asks if maybe she ran off, but Masaki tells him that that is impossible as they had a happy life together. As evidence, he reveals that her phone and wallet were left behind, something a person running away would never do.

Masaki asks Kogoro to investigate the case for him which he accepts. Kogoro along with Conan question Masaki's neighbors, getting different statements from them but nothing to lead them to Tomomi.

Missing

Location: Beika-cho

Victim: Tomomi Higuchi

Age: 29 years old

Time: 3 days ago

Masaki Higuchi asks Kogoro to solve the mystery behind his wife's disappearance, which he thought was strange.

As Kogoro and Conan are walking around the neighborhood, they hear Masaki arguing with someone and go to investigate. They find detective Takagi with two officers. Kogoro asks what is wrong and Masaki reveals that Takagi came to dig up his garden because they believe Masaki killed his wife and buried her in their own backyard.

Masaki lets them dig stating that they will not find anything as he believes Tomomi is still alive. However the officers find Tomomi's body in the garden, much to Masaki's shock and grief.

Murder

Location: Higuchi house

Victim: Tomomi Higuchi

Age: 29 years old

Time: 3 days ago

Cause of death: Stab wound from pruning shears

Suspects: Masaki Higuchi

Takagi and some officers come and dig in the ground and find what was Tomomi's body. Masaki then becomes the prime suspect.

People

Woman A
	Next door neighbor of the Higuchis Housewife

Man A
	Man living in front of the Higuchis Retired

Man B
	Man living diagonally from the Higuchis

Man C
	Man living behind Higuchis Suspicious neighbor Bandage on forehead

Woman B
	Woman living behind the Higuchis Suspicious neighbor Scratches on legs

Woman C
	Woman living behind the Higuchis Suspicious neighbor Bandages on left arm

Boy
	Woman C's son

Police officer A
	Tokyo MPD police officer

Police officer B
	Tokyo MPD police officer

Resolution

Show spoilers »

The culprit is the woman with scratches, whose name is in fact Sakie Tsutsumi.

Her motive was that Tomomi had decided to cut some branches off her tree, as it was blocking the sunlight necessary for her garden. Sakie had gone to confront her and had stepped through Tomomi's rose garden which was extremely thorny explaining the scratches on her legs. Tomomi was trying to explain why she cut the branches off her tree, but Sakie wouldn't have it and shoved the garden sheers into Tomomi killing her.

Seeing what happened she buried Tomomi's body in her own garden and left hoping she would never be found. However, Tomomi's husband Masaki Higuchi started to look for her as a result Kogoro was put on the case and he started asking the neighbors questions about Tomomi. Sakie saw this as a opportunity to frame Masaki and falsely told Kogoro that Tomomi and Masaki got into arguments often. And when Kogoro questioned the other neighbors they claimed the same thing, until it was revealed that Tomomi was also an aspiring actress. Which meant that all the "arguing" they heard was just acting from Tomomi's scripts that she was rehearsing with Masaki.

Walking near Masaki and Tomomi's home they hear Masaki yelling and see that Takagi and some MPD officers have arrived to his house. Masaki asks Kogoro for help, stating that the police said that they believe that Tomomi's body is buried in their garden. Takagi reveals that they got an anonymous tip from a phone call and decided to act. They later found Tomomi's body in the garden much to Masaki's shock and grief. It is later revealed that Sakie sent that anonymous tip in the hopes of framing Masaki for good.

Ironically this backfired as this was what made Conan suspicious, which ended up helping solve this case. The evidence to prove her guilt was her blood on the rose bushes and on the garden sheers that was used to kill Tomomi. Sakie reveals that she felt inferior after watching her and Masaki working so happily on their garden it make her sick and envious. She was pushed over the edge when Tomomi started cutting branches off her tree and caused her to kill her in retaliation.

Attempted Murder

Location: Higuchi house

Victim: Sakie Tsutsumi

Age: 35 years old

Method: Bashing with shovel

Culprit: Masaki Higuchi

When Masaki hears the shocking motive from the culprit, he attempts to kill Sakie to avenge his wife, but is stopped by Megure.

Conan as Kogoro states that if she had not said anything and had not tried to frame Masaki then she never would have been caught. As Sakie is being led away by Takagi, Masaki grabs a shovel and is about to attempt to kill her after learning that she killed his wife over something so petty. However Megure talks him down stating that this is not what his wife would have wanted, and she would want better for him. After remembering Tomomi and her smile, he relents and breaks down knowing that Megure is right.

Trivia

The case shares similarities with The Missing Girlfriend, written by Tatsuro Inamoto.
The restaurant where Masaki had a date with his wife is Arsène, the skyview restaurant which appeared in The Desperate Revival, and he was bringing his wife a Fusae Brand gift.
The play Tomomi is cast in is Shakespeare's Othello.
The police car from The High School Girl Trio's Secret Café reappeared.

Gallery

For the full gallery, click here:

In other languages

Language	Title	Translation
Catalan (Catalan dub)	El secret de la cerca de la dona d'en Higuchi	The secret of the search of Higuchi's wife
French (Subbed)	Une énigmatique disparition	An enigmatic disappearance
Thai	ความลับของการตามหาภรรยา	The secret of the search for his wife
Vietnamese	Bí ẩn trong vụ tìm kiếm vợ	The Secret of the Search for the Wife

v • d • e Season 25 (2020)
#965: Kaiju Gomera vs. Kamen Yaiba (Prologue) #966: Kaiju Gomera vs. Kamen Yaiba (Interlude) #967: Kaiju Gomera vs. Kamen Yaiba (Climax) #968: Kaiju Gomera vs. Kamen Yaiba (Finale) #969: The Young Kaga Lady's Mystery Tour (Part 1) #970: The Young Kaga Lady's Mystery Tour (Part 2) #971: The Target is the Metropolitan Police Traffic Department (1) #972: The Target is the Metropolitan Police Traffic Department (2) #973: The Target is the Metropolitan Police Traffic Department (3) #974: The Target is the Metropolitan Police Traffic Department (4) #975: The Secret of the Search for his Wife #976: Follow Them! Detective Taxi #977: The Broken Fishbowl #978: The Case On the Opposite Shore #979: Leading a Detective Around By the Nose #980: An Encouragement of the Perfect Crime #981: Welcome to Bocchan Restaurant (Part 1) #982: Welcome to Bocchan Restaurant (Part 2) #983: Kid vs. Komei: The Targeted Lips (Part 1) #984: Kid vs. Komei: The Targeted Lips (Part 2) #985: The Two Faces (Part 1) #986: The Two Faces (Part 2) #987: The Company Dissolution Party #988: The Feuding Girls #989: The Case of Ayumi's Illustrated Diary #990: The Automatic Tragedy (Part 1) #991: The Automatic Tragedy (Part 2) #992: Murder at the Townhouse Café
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