On the surface, it appeared to be an accident, but in Detective Conan world, "accident = murder case" could essentially be considered a theorem.
Such deception couldn't fool Senichi. After all, this was a classic three-choice case; how could there be no suspects?
Moreover, the "classic three-choice" didn't even come into play this time; Senichi had already identified the culprit.
There was no way around it – even if the person had taken a shower, the faint smell of blood still lingered on them.
Now that the culprit was identified, the next step was to expose the alibi.
However, Senichi could confidently say that it was related to the car.
He could even be more specific – it was related to the sunroof of this RV.
Because besides the scent of blood on the culprit, he also smelled blood near the sunroof.
While the other detectives were searching the surroundings, Senichi climbed onto the roof to investigate the source of the bloody smell.
There, he found a straight line of bloodstains at the position of the sunroof, and they had already slightly congealed.
"Now, let's check the body."
Jumping down from the roof, Senichi took three steps to reach the side of the corpse and began to search for further evidence.
This wasn't difficult because when you already knew the answer, retracing the steps backward became an effortless task. Soon, Senichi found another piece of evidence confirming that the culprit had used this method.
At the end of the victim's belt, there were many dangling decorative ropes, resembling an enlarged version of tassels, and one of them had a knot at the end.
"Only one thing left." Senichi surveyed the surroundings, then activated his super-smell and carefully sifted through the areas emitting a bloody scent.
Accompanied by the evening breeze, the subtle smell of blood caught Senichi's attention. The source was not nearby but on the lower ring of the highway.
Holding a flashlight, he descended, and soon plastic sheets stained with blood appeared before Senichi at the railing.
"With this, it's indeed easy to execute this method." Senichi nodded, calling forensic personnel to come and preserve the evidence.
When he returned to the RV, Conan also ran over and began to tell Senichi about his new discoveries.
"Officer Takagi and the others found traces of bicycle tire marks where the wooden railing broke. Also, they found the bicycle in the forest between the slopes."
Conan held his hands together and said, "But this is just the culprit's deception. I examined the tire marks on the ground and found no change in the imprints of the front and rear wheels on the surface.
There are also no footprints of the deceased nearby, which means someone deliberately threw down the bicycle."
"Indeed, just as I thought. Disguised as an accident." Senichi nodded, then took out a walkie-talkie and said, "Inspector Megure, you can call off the team. The case has been figured out."
"Huh?" Conan, who was still waiting to exchange clues with Senichi, couldn't help but raise his head, wearing a bewildered expression on his face.
What's going on?
You've already solved the case? That's too fast. I just went to check where the railing broke.
"Did you use your nose to find another important clue?" Conan asked with a black line on his forehead.
"Well, all the crucial information in this case is stained with blood." Senichi looked at Conan and chuckled. "It's a case of moderate difficulty."
This is not at all a case of moderate difficulty! When others have moderate difficulty, it means it's a bit easier. But for you, it's like they handed the evidence directly to you!
You're completely overpowered!
Ignoring Conan's complaints, upon hearing Senichi's words over the walkie-talkie, Inspector Megure quickly arrived at the RV. The three university students who were separately providing statements were also brought over by officers.
"Senichi-kun, are you sure about knowing the culprit?" Inspector Megure expressed some doubt. "We arrived at the crime scene only a few minutes ago."
"Actually, I almost confirmed who the culprit was when we arrived here." Senichi astonishingly stated, "But because I needed concrete evidence for a conviction, I just gathered some more clues."
"So, you can already identify the culprit?" Inspector Megure looked surprised. "Who is it?"
Amid the crowd's skeptical expressions, Senichi slowly pointed his finger at the woman in front of him. "The culprit is you, Miss Haruka Tendo!"
"What!?"
"How is that possible!"
Facing Senichi's answer, everyone looked at Haruka Tendo with varied expressions on their faces.
"Wait a minute, Detective," Takuto Meshiai, seeing his companion being identified as the murderer, couldn't help but refute, "You need evidence for what you're saying, or else..."
"I do have evidence," Senichi smiled faintly, "Actually, when I first arrived, I smelled the scent of blood on Miss Tendo."
"Hey, hey, Detective, that doesn't count as evidence," Reiji Fukuura couldn't help but argue.
"Of course, although my sense of smell is keen, it ultimately is just my words."
Hearing Fukuura's words, Senichi pointed to the RV's sunroof and said, "So I chose to find evidence afterward, including at the crime scene."
"Di-did you mean," Inspector Megure, watching Senichi's actions, couldn't help but look up at the roof, "Miss Shirafuji was murdered on the roof of the car?"
"That's right," Senichi nodded, "I think Miss Tendo probably found an excuse to ask Miss Shirafuji for help cleaning the sunroof.
Letting Miss Shirafuji help wipe the sunroof or some other excuse to get on the roof, then taking advantage of the moment when the other person was defenseless, attacking the back of her head with a heavy object.
And the evidence proving this is the bloodline left on the sunroof!
I believe that after you killed Miss Shirafuji, you failed to clean up the residue on the window's edge when you were cleaning the splattered blood.
After all, it's quite troublesome to clean liquid at raised edges, especially when it's blood."
"But with just this, there's no way to determine who the murderer is!"
Reiji Fukuura retorted, "And Yasumi died on our way back, but we didn't see her body when we went to that platform. During this time, we were all together. How could Miss Tendo move the body and place it in the middle of the road?"
"This brings us to the crucial point of this method, and it's also why Miss Tendo chose to commit the crime on the roof."
Senichi pointed to the sunroof, revealing the unsettling truth that made Haruka Tendo's face turn pale – the core of her current method.
But she couldn't have anticipated that this method would be so fragile in front of this man, like the shell of an egg that would shatter with just a little force.
To help everyone better understand the issue, Senichi intentionally had the forensic personnel bring the photos of the body, focusing on Shirafuji's waist, or rather, her belt.
This belt was quite trendy, not a regular one that simply came down; instead, one end had several ropes resembling enlarged tassels.
"This belt is also a part of the method."
Senichi pointed to the sunroof, saying, "Miss Tendo fixed Miss Shirafuji's body to the sunroof, using the ropes on her belt."
"Ah, I know this!" Conan, seeing everyone still confused, couldn't help but explain, "As long as you tie a knot with the ropes and then close the car window, you can secure the body on top!"
"The wooden barrier blocking the road in the middle, could it be a mechanism set up by the culprit to shake off the body!?" Inspector Megure said with suspicion.
"No. That's just a diversion," Senichi shook his head and looked at Reiji Fukuura with a meaningful smile, saying, "Just a ploy to instantly shift the blame onto someone else and get rid of suspicion."
At this moment, Fukuura saw Senichi's cryptic expression, his composure from before now gone and his face was extremely pale, showing an expression of disbelief. "Shift the blame onto me!? Are you joking..."
"Of course not joking. Based on the investigation, you were in a former delinquent gang, so your driving skills must be quite good."
Senichi looked at Fukuura meaningfully, saying, "Don't tell me you think a body can easily be thrown off by a car. Without good driving skills, the body might also get stuck on the RV's side shelves.
And you, at the driver's seat, can control the sunroof at any time. Combined with the roadblock mechanism, you are the best choice for shifting the blame."
Then Senichi continued, disregarding Fukuura's pale face. "Of course, Miss Tendo's method is not that simple. To ensure the body drops in the intended location, some skill is needed. Setting up the barrier in front to make you slam the brakes was just a diversion."
Senichi motioned to the forensic personnel nearby, and they quickly brought the plastic sheet he had found earlier. Everyone soon noticed the bloodstains on it.
"Although it's just a simple layer of plastic sheet, it minimizes friction. Coupled with the slope and wind pressure, just releasing the knot on the sunroof is enough to easily throw the body off even without relying on slamming the brakes.
Additionally, accurately tossing the body to that location is simple because that bend is the only place to see the fireworks. So, it's easy to find an excuse to have someone open the sunroof.
In other words, the real moment the body was thrown was not when the brakes were slammed, but when the sunroof was opened to watch the fireworks."
Senichi then looked at Haruka Tendo and said, "Do I need to continue? I've already deciphered your entire method. Now, all that remains is to find the clothes you discarded in the mountains to convict you."
"But why, Sister Haruka even specially invited us to watch the fireworks!" Mitsuhiko asked in confusion. "If she's the culprit, why would she invite us to ride the RV?"
"Because she had to get us to the RV."
Conan, looking at the kids who didn't want to believe this reality, finally revealed the truth, "If we drove behind her, we would be able to see the body on the roof. So, she definitely had to invite us to ride in the RV."
"But... Sister Haruka is from a wealthy family..." Ayumi looked at the sister she liked in front of her and still didn't want to believe it, "Why would she..."
"Hehe... wealthy family's daughter, huh?" Haruka Tendo chuckled self-deprecatingly. "I'm not a wealthy family's daughter at all."
In the skeptical eyes of Ayumi and the others, Haruka Tendo revealed the harsh reality, which was also her motive for murder.
In fact, she wasn't a wealthy family's daughter but just an ordinary college student from the countryside. If she didn't pretend to be from a wealthy family, no one would pay attention to her.
To gain friends, she had to work hard, climbing mountains and watching the sea with the club members.
Although it was hard work, she considered it worthwhile because she thought they were her friends, so she willingly did it.
However, one day, she overheard a conversation among the three. It turned out that Shirafuji had long noticed she wasn't a wealthy family's daughter but kept it to herself, letting Haruka continue to be a fool working and earning money for them to play.
Upon hearing this news, only Takuto Meshiai suggested explaining it to her, asking her not to continue this way, genuinely concerned for her.
And her boyfriend, Reiji Fukuura, also showed a disgusting face, a disappointed look of not having connected with a wealthy family's daughter, preparing to bid her farewell.
Among the most despairing things in the world, the word "betrayal" was undoubtedly included.
This word was like a cold and ruthless abyss, causing a fervent heart to gradually sink into the icy, silent, and cruel darkness.
The pitch-black coldness would gradually erode that vivid red heart, every minute being a painfully unforgettable torment, until that scorching heart was completely dyed black amidst all the torture.
Facing such a situation, some people chose to sink into the abyss and silently lick their wounds in the dark, perhaps to recover one day, but the injuries inflicted would never be fully healed; the jet-black color would forever mix in with the once-red heart.
Some people, however, were unwilling to let the person who harmed them enjoy life so easily. They chose a more extreme way, tearing at the flesh of the perpetrator with an all-consuming momentum, using their enemy's scalding blood to irrigate the heart that had turned black, only this way could they alleviate the inner pain.
Even if it meant sinking into hell.
After confessing, Haruka Tendo revealed the location where she discarded the evidence. The blood-stained pants were a crucial piece of evidence in this case, and also the reason why Senichi wasted time on a futile deduction earlier.
The reason was simple—too troublesome.
Whether it was mobilizing a large number of people to search the mountains for evidence or personally acting as a police dog, it was much simpler to deduce and make the culprit confess with a few words.
After the evidence was found and secured, Senichi bid farewell to Conan and the others, escorting Haruka Tendo back to the Metropolitan Police Department.
On the way, Senichi, as usual, opened the system panel to check the rewards, unsurprisingly getting the usual stingy rewards.
[Friendship Beyond Money]
[Congratulations, host, you've gained 300 Fate Points]