Chapter 35: Only a Minute of Suspicion
"Papa!"
Anya ran over and hugged Natsukawa's leg, then climbed up to his shoulder.
"Little Anya-chan, now you can tell us, right? The police have done as you asked and brought Natsukawa-san here."
Inspector Megure's face flushed slightly as he said this, feeling like a suspicious old man trying to coax a child.
However, he couldn't ignore Anya's words.
She was the one who had identified the culprit in the diplomat's case, after all.
Anya had just mentioned that besides finding the drugs, she'd also discovered something else.
Conan, meanwhile, stared blankly at Anya acting cute. He'd been trying to get information out of her, but Anya had mastered the art of staying silent, not uttering a single useful word.
"Anya found a dead person smell in the elevator!"
Anya's words were shocking.
The scene fell silent for several seconds.
Even Natsukawa's jaw nearly dropped.
"It's in that elevator! We noticed it when we came up. It stinks!"
Anya pinched her nose and wrinkled her face, using gestures to express her disgust at the smell.
"Really?" Conan rested his chin on his hand, looking thoughtful, and began recalling the smell in the elevator.
After thinking for a moment, he did remember a strange odor in the elevator, especially noticeable when it was ascending.
But how did Anya know it was the smell of a corpse?
He'd learned a lot in Hawaii, including exposure to many cadavers... no, wait—those all smelled of formaldehyde.
At this moment, Sato Miwako had already left the room to check the elevator.
A minute later, she returned and nodded to Inspector Megure. "There is indeed a foul odor in the elevator, but I can't confirm whether it's from a corpse or something else."
Inspector Megure nodded and looked at Anya, forcing a smile as he asked, "How do you know this smell is from a corpse, little Anya-chan? Could it be..."
Inspector Megure's eyes involuntarily glanced at Natsukawa.
Could it be that Natsukawa has a body hidden at home? Otherwise, how would Anya know what a corpse smells like?
"Because I've seen the bodies of animals that have been dead for several days, and that's exactly the kind of smell!" Anya said matter-of-factly.
In reality, her heart was pounding.
Lying is so exciting!
The smell of a corpse was completely made up.
She knew because she'd overheard her father's thoughts last night, learning there was a body on top of the elevator in the Beika Library.
She hadn't paid much attention initially, but today her Detective Boys happened to be at the library and had just discovered drugs, so she decided to mention the corpse.
After all, it wasn't her father who'd killed him.
"I see."
Inspector Megure breathed a sigh of relief. If that was the case, the stench in the elevator might not be from a human—it could be from an animal.
"That smell is probably coming from the top of the elevator—it's stronger when the elevator ascends." Natsukawa seized the opportunity to add, "I think we should still investigate. Inspector Megure, you're investigating the disappearance of Beika Library employees, right? Perhaps there's a connection."
"Right. Sato, go check the elevator control room on the fifth floor."
Sato Miwako nodded gravely. She had a feeling that the smell might be from Tamada Kazuo, whom they'd been searching for all day, or from the missing curator, Tsujimura.
The staff member and the curator disappeared within three days of each other, and drugs were found hidden in the library. Something was definitely wrong here.
"Anya, you're so sneaky! How could you not tell us something so important!" (︿)
Ayumi pointed at Anya with her hands on her hips. Genta and Mitsuhiko, standing nearby, also looked indignant, feeling that Anya was becoming a bit like Conan.
Conan was like that too—he never told them anything and even tried to avoid them.
But thinking about it, they really were somewhat incompetent.
They all rode the elevator together, so why hadn't they noticed this detail?
As junior detectives, their attention to detail was indeed lacking. They needed more practice.
Conan, however, felt somewhat melancholic.
He had actually smelled that scent earlier, initially finding it strange and wanting to investigate. However, after discovering drugs hidden in unopened books in the children's section, he'd forgotten about the elevator incident.
If Anya hadn't brought it up again, he probably wouldn't have remembered.
Speaking of which, it was Anya who discovered the drugs too.
He hadn't expected a six-year-old girl to be this perceptive—almost as sharp as he'd been at that age.
Conan narcissistically touched his nose.
Could it be that Anya was originally an adult, and like me, she took that Organization's drug and shrank?
He glanced at Anya furtively, only to find her looking at him with a smug expression.
Conan stared back stiffly.
His dead fish eyes transformed into half-moon eyes.
Okay, Conan only suspected it for a minute before dismissing the idea.
Anya didn't act like an adult at all—she had the personality of a complete child, incredibly immature. This kind of behavior wasn't something an adult could easily fake.
Soon, Sato Miwako rushed back in, the hem of her business suit billowing as she ran, her high heels clattering urgently. "Inspector Megure, come quickly!"
"Right!"
Inspector Megure nodded. Seeing Sato's expression confirmed his suspicions. It seemed Anya's words weren't baseless.
At the very least, there was definitely something in that elevator.
And it was very likely, as Natsukawa had suggested, Tamada Kazuo's corpse.
"It stinks!"
The Detective Boys, following them out, had just reached the glass door when they were hit by an overwhelming stench of death, nearly fainting from the smell.
Natsukawa put Anya down, closed the door behind him as he left, and glanced at the five children locked in the children's section. "Don't even think about coming out. Just stay inside and read. I'll take you home when this is over."
Ignoring the resentful group of young detectives, Natsukawa turned to the police officer beside him. "Please don't let the kids out. It smells too terrible out here. If they see something they shouldn't, I'm afraid it'll traumatize them."
The officer patted his chest and nodded, indicating he'd handle it. Unless the glass door shattered, those children definitely weren't getting out.
When Natsukawa arrived at the elevator, the doors were already open, and the elevator car was suspended in the shaft with only the top visible.
On it, Tamada Kazuo's body lay quietly on its back.
It looked just like what Natsukawa had seen last night, but the smell was much stronger. Large patches of the body's skin had turned dark purplish-red—yesterday it had been mostly spotted, but now it had spread into patches.
"That's definitely Tamada Kazuo."
Inspector Megure peered into the elevator shaft and observed carefully for a long time.
Two forensic investigators followed him in, while the others watched from outside.
The elevator shaft was too cramped to accommodate many people working inside, especially given Inspector Megure's bulky build—he took up the space of two people.
"The cause of death was asphyxiation. There are obvious ligature marks on the neck, suggesting a possible attack from behind—strangulation, then placement here."
The investigators quickly examined the body and returned. The cause of death was fairly standard, nothing unusual. The only surprising aspect was that the body had been dumped on top of the elevator.
"It seems someone inside the library did this," Natsukawa said, covering his nose.
With Conan absent, he had to provide Inspector Megure with clues.
"Yes."
Inspector Megure nodded. "Tamada Kazuo never went home the night before last. After receiving his wife's missing person report today, we reviewed the library's internal and external surveillance footage. Tamada Kazuo entered the library that night and never came out. It's highly likely someone inside was responsible."
(End of Chapter 35)
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