During the night of the Tenkaichi Festival at the hotel, the author named Satoru Imatake is brushing his teeth in the bathroom and his friend named Norikazu Sasai is making a mess. When he checked what Sasai's doing, he's confused that Sasai dressed up weird and saw that the hotel room was a big mess. Sasai raises his gun to aim at Imatake's forehead and fired. He also took the rest of the money from his wallet.
Robbery - Murder
Location:Hotel room
Victim:Satoru Imatake
Cause of death:Gunshot wound
Suspects:Norikazu Sasai
The award-winning author, Satoru Imatake, was killed in his hotel room on the night of the Tenkaichi Festival. A man was seen fleeing the scene of shooting.
He went out of the hotel room and fled out of the hotel. He throws away his gun, coat, and his glasses. He took the disposable camera out of his pocket.
While at the Tenkaichi Festival, Ran, Conan, and Kogoro are having a good time. Sasai just finally arrived at the festival while sweating. He found Ran and asked her to take a picture of him behind the background of the mountain that says, "Ichi" so Sasai gives the camera to Ran and Ran takes a picture. Sasai tells Ran that he's collecting an archive based on the theme, "Local Festivals" which is the photo that Ran took. Ran realizes that he's an author. He writes with pen name Tomokazu Imai. After Ran hears that, she got excited that she read about it while at junior high.
Satoru Imatake's murderer was his long-time friend and colleague, Norikazu Sasai. He shot the unsuspecting victim point-blank and left the scene immediately after.
Imatake was found dead with traces of toothpaste on his mouth and a toothbrush lying on the ground near him. His wallet was empty and the room was ransacked.
Sasai was the primary suspect, but he had an alibi. In his disposable camera, there were pictures of him at the festival; and the festival events coincided with the time the killing took place.
Conclusion
Conan, aiding Inspector Yokomizo through Kogoro Mouri, proved that it wasn't just a simple case of robbery and that Sasai was indeed the killer.
Imatake was murdered while brushing his teeth, an act done without inhibitions in front of people whom a person is very familiar with. The bad condition of the room was evidence enough that the robbery was a setup, for the killer fled the scene right away after the gun was fired. And the pictures that were seemingly taken that night proving Sasai's innocence were actually taken from the past Tenkaichi festival. In the picture, his wrist was captured without its current watch tan line.
Motive
Over a year ago, Sasai felt ridiculed when the more well-known writer Imatake's work was chosen to be published over his at the last minute. Imatake apparently became famous when he won an award for a book that they co-wrote, while Sasai wasn't credited for it.
Sasai planned the murder, so that he could take Imatake's place as top writer in the literary world.
