Chapter 33: Dumping Bodies in International Waters is the Safest Option
Franky had converted the basement of his villa's garage into an interrogation facility.
It was modeled after the interrogation environments used by certain special agencies.
There was a main interrogation room and a smaller observation room attached.
A one-way mirror was embedded in the wall separating the two rooms—the observation room could see inside, but the interrogation room couldn't see out.
When Natsukawa entered the observation room, Franky was sitting in the center. He must have been up all night; his eyes behind his glasses were bloodshot. Several empty coffee cans littered the table.
In the interrogation room behind the one-way mirror, Director Tsujimura looked even more haggard than the night before. His sparse hair was disheveled, his hands were cuffed, and his lower body was strapped to a chair, immobilizing him completely.
His eyes were wide open, and he kept trying to cover his ears, but the handcuffs only allowed him to cover one at a time.
Natsukawa was familiar with this scene—it was Franky's signature auditory torture technique!
The interrogation room was probably blasting music at maximum volume. Because the entire room was soundproofed, no one outside could hear it; they could only see Tsujimura's agonized expression.
"How'd it go?"
Franky flinched when Natsukawa spoke.
He was so exhausted he hadn't even noticed someone entering.
"Finally. I got everything I needed."
"If you got what you needed, why is the music still playing?" Natsukawa pointed at Director Tsujimura behind the one-way mirror, whose expression clearly showed he was suffering from severe noise pollution.
Franky pointed to the switch, which was indeed turned off.
"I think he's gone insane. He's been like this since the middle of the night." He shrugged indifferently. Anyway, he'd finished the interrogation, and once Natsukawa confirmed there were no issues, he'd dispose of him. Whether the man was crazy or not didn't matter anymore.
Natsukawa hummed in acknowledgment, indicating that Franky should proceed with his report.
"Actually, he doesn't know much." Franky cleared his throat and continued. "His drug deal with Tequila was initiated by the Organization."
"Initially?" Natsukawa asked skeptically. "How did the Organization find Tsujimura so precisely?"
Franky shook his head. "I don't know, but Tsujimura had experience with drugs before getting involved in the drug business, so it's probably related to that."
Natsukawa nodded. Judging from the man's pale, sallow complexion, he'd clearly been using for quite some time.
"His deal with Tequila has been going on for two years. Previously, Tequila would supply him with product almost monthly. Sometimes it wasn't Tequila delivering, but the courier was always dressed in black. However, he was certain that Tequila was one of the higher-ranking operatives—the other couriers generally didn't have codenames."
"Oh, right!" Franky paused, then added, "He mentioned one delivery was rather unusual. Two people came together. One of them, a man with silver hair, had an even more intimidating presence than Tequila's, and the other, a heavier-set man, called this tall, thin, silver-haired man 'Aniki.'"
"Hmm."
Natsukawa nodded. It was probably Gin and Vodka.
"Does he know anything else about the Organization? Like their locations or anything?"
"No." Franky sighed, rubbing his tired eyes. "All he could provide was that logistics company we discussed yesterday—the one called Rabbit Express. Pretty uninspired name, if you ask me."
As he spoke, he pulled a document from under the table. "This company is affiliated with the Yabumoto Group. The Yabumoto family is quite prominent in Tokyo. Although they don't have many members, they have considerable wealth. The Organization might have some connection with this family."
"When I investigated this family, I found they're in the middle of some internal turmoil. There's been a lot of conflict over the family assets. The person in contact with the Organization might not be from the Yabumoto Group itself—it could be an individual family member."
Natsukawa took the document and looked it over. "You mean someone in their family is collaborating with the Organization, or someone in their family is actually part of the Organization?"
"Exactly, but you'll have to investigate to find out who. The second daughter of the Yabumoto family, Yabumoto Natsue, is getting married soon on Yabumoto Island—not far from Tsukikage Island."
Natsukawa chuckled. "We can handle both situations together then. Oh, and remind me later."
Although he'd uncovered the Yabumoto family connection, there was practically no information about Tequila himself. Their dealings, just as Natsukawa had witnessed last night, involved minimal communication—their conversations probably didn't even total a hundred words.
"Anything else you want to ask?" Franky made a throat-slitting gesture.
"No, just be careful not to leave any loose ends. This is Japan—the place is crawling with detectives. If you don't handle things properly, you'll easily get caught."
Especially by Conan.
Natsukawa wasn't particularly worried about the Metropolitan Police Department.
The truly troublesome people in this world were detectives. They always made bold deductions, and somehow the truth would emerge from those wild assumptions.
It was genuinely absurd, so extreme caution was necessary.
"Don't worry." Franky gave an OK sign, radiating confidence.
"I borrowed a helicopter from the IRS. We'll just drop them into international waters to feed the fish. That's the safest method I can think of. Even if detectives and police are looking for clues, they can't exactly search the entire ocean floor."
"You're really something, coming up with a method like that." Natsukawa was somewhat speechless, but had to admit the plan was brilliant.
Franky shrugged. "You told me to be careful, and this isn't difficult for the IRS to arrange. It's not an armed combat helicopter, just a civilian model—no big deal. We're helping them out right now, so providing a little assistance in return is reasonable, right?"
Natsukawa shrugged, indicating he didn't care either way.
As for how the IRS obtained a helicopter in Japan, Natsukawa didn't ask. The IRS wouldn't struggle with something so simple—there were plenty of wealthy individuals in Japan with private helicopters.
Dismissing these thoughts, he left directly.
Natsukawa still had that video of Conan shrinking that he hadn't had time to watch properly.
Watching it on a phone screen was too small, and flip phones had terrible screen quality anyway. A large computer monitor would provide a much better viewing experience.
Franky didn't follow—he was busy dealing with Tsujimura's disposal, contacting the IRS to confirm the helicopter's drop location.
Even if Franky wanted to watch, Natsukawa didn't plan to share the video with him. It was a little secret between him and Conan—though Conan didn't know about it yet.
He found the computer, quickly powered it on, removed the memory card, inserted it into the card reader, and plugged it into the USB port.
A window immediately popped up on screen.
Natsukawa quickly located the video file and clicked play.
There was a ten-minute silent period at the start where Shinichi Kudo remained asleep.
Should he send a copy to Conan? If so, where should he send it?
To the Kudo residence? Professor Agasa's house? Or the Mouri Detective Agency?
Just imagining Conan's shock and fear upon receiving the video made him smile. By then, the footage had reached the moment just before Kudo's transformation.
In the video, Shinichi Kudo woke from his deep sleep, his arm pressed to his chest, his face pale as paper, his expression resembling someone in severe pain.
The next moment—
"Holy crap!"
Natsukawa couldn't help but exclaim.
Last time, he'd regretted missing the 1.5 seconds it took to see Kudo transform into Shinichi. This time, he was stunned to witness Shinichi shrink from an adult into a child in just 1.5 seconds.
His transformation was completely inexplicable by any scientific principle.
If he had to describe it, it was like being hit by a shrinking ray from Doraemon.
That is to say—he just suddenly shrank and became smaller.
He replayed the footage multiple times, and each viewing left Natsukawa amazed. Even Lomonosov, who discovered the law of conservation of mass, would shake his head in disbelief after watching this video.
Could APTX-4869 actually be from the distant 22nd century?
Doraemon, come out—I know you're there!
Compared to the various scientific gadgets developed by Professor Agasa, Conan himself—this living, breathing biological scientific phenomenon—was even more outrageous, with an unparalleled visual impact.
After watching the video, Natsukawa felt his acceptance of the Detective Conan world had increased significantly. Now, even if someone told him that scientists in this universe had developed mind-reading or precognitive abilities, he'd believe it.
(End of Chapter 33)