Chapter 45: Knowledge Payment - That Makes Perfect Sense
Franky pretended not to know who Conan was talking about, scratching his head and saying, "Who do you mean? There are a lot of people here today, including several men in black."
"The one in black clothes, black pants, and a black hat. Square face, fierce expression, looks completely unapproachable."
Conan tried his best to describe the features of the Tequila disguise he'd seen to the attendant in front of him. This was his last lead.
"Oh, you mean him! I do remember him."
Franky pushed up his glasses, revealing a sly smile. "But why should I tell you? You're just a little kid. Why are you asking about adult matters?"
Conan couldn't help but pause. Being a child really was inconvenient sometimes. But thankfully, he still had the famous detective Kogoro Mouri as his trump card.
"It was Uncle Mouri who asked me to investigate. You know who he is, right? He's the spokesperson for 'Detective Kogoro Mouri's Mystery Mansion' that was just announced at the press conference."
Conan skillfully invoked his connections. "Uncle Mouri suspects this guy might be connected to organized crime, and he hopes you can provide some useful information."
In his mind, by using Uncle Mouri's name, the coat check attendant should tell him everything. He'd done this countless times before, and Inspector Megure had always complied.
However, the attendant's response caught him completely off guard.
"I can't do that. Even if Mr. Mouri wants to know, it's not allowed. Investigating personal privacy requires proper authorization, even if the Metropolitan Police Department came asking. You're putting me in a difficult position, kid. If you're playing detective games, go back to the press conference."
Conan's eager expression vanished, replaced by extreme frustration at not getting the answer he wanted.
But looking at the attendant's tone and demeanor, he suddenly realized something.
Ah, I see how this works.
"Here!"
Conan stood on his tiptoes and slammed a ten-thousand-yen note on the counter.
"Hehe, kid, you've come to the right person. I did overhear something interesting."
Franky skillfully pocketed the bill. "I also think that guy isn't exactly upstanding. If it can help Mr. Mouri, that would be doing a public service."
"So?" Conan couldn't wait any longer. This attendant was really dragging things out.
"That guy asked me where he could rent a car nearby."
"And then?" Conan pressed eagerly.
"Well..." Franky pushed up his glasses and rubbed his hands together with a knowing grin.
The gesture was shameless, as if afraid of being discovered, glancing left and right while rubbing his fingers together in the universal sign for money.
Seriously?
Conan reluctantly pulled out his wallet, extracted another ten-thousand-yen note, and handed it over with visible reluctance.
Knowledge payment. That's... reasonable, I suppose.
"I told him to go to Aoyama Car Rental in Beika Town 5-chome."
"Thank you."
"You're welcome! Feel free to ask me anytime if you have questions!"
Franky happily stuffed both bills into his pocket. The money wasn't really important—the main appeal was that teasing this kid was entertaining.
Especially Edogawa Conan. Natsukawa seemed particularly interested in this little detective, so Franky was more than happy to follow his lead.
Dahei Building
Natsukawa had already arrived at the base of the Dahei Building.
A black Porsche 356A was parked on the roadside below, and a female traffic officer in a professional skirt suit was writing a parking ticket.
Wow, she's actually ticketing Gin's car! This woman has serious guts.
Shaking his head in amusement, Natsukawa headed straight into the Dahei Building and up to the cocktail bar on the top floor.
Since it was only early evening, not yet prime nightlife hours, the bar doors were closed. The entire floor was quiet, without even the lights on, appearing completely deserted.
However, Natsukawa knew that Vodka and Gin were inside the bar—their car was still parked downstairs, after all.
The reason the lights weren't on was probably to avoid attracting attention.
"You've arrived."
Just as he reached the entrance, Natsukawa heard a deep male voice.
Looking up at the security camera, he saw a flashing red light, clearly indicating it was operational. There was also a small speaker nearby—the voice he'd just heard had come from inside.
As the voice finished speaking, the glass doors of the bar unlocked with a soft click.
The bar's entrance corridor was rather long. Turning left halfway through led to the main bar area, while going straight led directly to the back rooms.
Soon, Natsukawa arrived at the backstage entrance.
There was another door here, but this one was a thick reinforced door, its design and material very similar to the security door of the bank vault he'd previously infiltrated.
"Please perform fingerprint recognition."
A mechanical voice announced. A small panel slid open on the right side of the door, revealing a biometric scanner, its surface flashing green.
Natsukawa calmly pressed his right thumb against it.
The prosthetic fingerprint overlay he'd applied beforehand worked perfectly.
"Recognition successful. Please scan your iris."
Quite advanced, Natsukawa thought to himself. Thankfully, he'd prepared beforehand, wearing specially designed contact lenses.
These contact lenses were made to mimic Tequila's unique iris patterns, and with the scanning technology of this era, his disguise was completely undetectable.
Not only fingerprints and iris scans, but Natsukawa even carried a sample of Tequila's blood, though the alcohol content was admittedly a bit high. However, since it belonged to someone codenamed Tequila, this verification method might actually count as double authentication.
That said, blood verification was relatively rare and time-consuming. It wouldn't be practical to make someone wait at the door for an hour or two for results.
"Please enter."
A mechanical, synthesized voice sounded, and the door beeped open, revealing the corridor beyond.
Although this was just a secondary base, the security measures here were quite sophisticated.
Perhaps in the Organization's assessment, unless they encountered a master of disguise like Vermouth, these two verification methods could eliminate 99% of imposters.
Unfortunately, today the Organization had encountered that 1%—a man whose disguise skills potentially surpassed even Vermouth's. The spy known as Twilight.
Entering, Natsukawa looked around, surveying the small conference room.
The room was dimly lit and empty, but the chairs were neatly arranged in precise order.
There was a liquor cabinet nearby, filled with bottles of high-proof spirits—many bottles, but few varieties:
Gin, Pisco, Vodka, and Tequila.
And at the very bottom shelf, a row of Bailey's Irish Cream.
Bailey's is technically an Irish whiskey liqueur.
So, five rows of liquor—does this mean only five members can enter this hideout?
If so, do the fingerprint and iris scans at the entrance also only identify these five people?
The others were easy to identify, but if it was whiskey, that was trickier.
Who could it be?
Natsukawa knew several whiskey-based codenames:
Irish, Scotch, Rye, Bourbon—all whiskey variants.
However, most of them were either traitors or undercover agents.
A thought flashed through Natsukawa's mind, and he concluded it must be Irish.
Scotch had died three years before the main timeline, so it couldn't be him.
Rye—also known as Shuichi Akai—was a blatant defector who'd fled the Organization, so he wasn't a consideration either.
In reality, only two people remained for Natsukawa to consider: Irish and Bourbon.
Bourbon appeared relatively late in the timeline, and at this point, he shouldn't be actively operating in Japan yet, so Irish was more likely.
Of course, if there was also someone actually codenamed Bailey's, that would complicate things.
Speaking of Irish, he's quite formidable. Strong enough to hold his own against Ran in combat.
If it weren't for the fact that his respected mentor Pisco died at Gin's hands, he probably wouldn't have turned traitor.
There was another door diagonally opposite the entrance.
At that moment, it slowly opened with a soft click, and a burly man in black walked out.
"Vodka, where's Gin?"
Natsukawa asked, waving the Mantendo-branded briefcase in his hand.
"Aniki went to the research facility. Just give me the package."
Vodka said coldly, walking up to the disguised Tequila and looking up at him at a 45-degree angle.
Tall people are really annoying.
Of course, Aniki is an exception.
Vodka thought to himself as he took the briefcase and weighed it in his hand.
The briefcase was very light, but if it only contained a data list, lightness was normal. Heaviness would have been problematic.
"The research facility? Going to see Sherry?"
"Yeah." Vodka nodded, carefully opening the briefcase to inspect its contents, and replied, "Because of that billion-yen job, Miyano Akemi hasn't been able to see Sherry for a long time. Sherry's been getting difficult lately."
Seemingly hitting a sore spot, Vodka suddenly grinned maliciously, muttering, "She really doesn't know her place. The Organization isn't somewhere she can make demands. Her behavior will only hasten her sister's death."
"There are countless brilliant scientists and geniuses in this world. If Sherry can't deliver results, we'll find someone else. The research data still exists, after all."
Natsukawa's heart skipped a beat. Vodka's big mouth strikes again. He'd only asked one simple question, and Vodka had revealed so much critical information.
This is exactly why he's the weakest link in Gin's operation.
Natsukawa quickly moved to the liquor cabinet, picked up two glasses, and began pouring vodka and tequila.
"Let's drink to a successful mission, shall we?"
(End of Chapter 45)
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