Ritsu suppressed his frustration and asked seriously, "The kidnapper didn't demand a ransom?"
"No. They only told us to call the police first."
Conan hopped off the sofa and hurried over to Onizawa. Tilting his head up, he spoke in as childlike a voice as possible.
"Onizawa-nii, I know what happened during the kidnapping! Minami-san was treating us to dinner not long ago at a restaurant near the Budokan!"
Hearing that, Ritsu crouched down and said,
"Is that so? Then, Conan, I'd appreciate it if you could tell me all the details."
From Conan's account, Ritsu learned that the kidnappers had lured Minami outside the restaurant with a cellphone call. Then an accomplice wearing a trench coat shoved her into a waiting vehicle from behind.
There had to be at least one suspect inside the car restraining the hostage, another driving, and one outside assisting.
That meant there were no fewer than three kidnappers.
A staff member looked anxiously at the deep-in-thought Onizawa and asked,
"Um, Officer Onizawa, should we notify the MPD now? Do we need to deploy more officers?"
Ritsu shook his head.
"There's no need. The kidnappers probably never intended to let the two members of TWO-MIX go."
"Huh?! W-What do you mean by that?"
"Kidnappers usually take hostages for money, and they generally don't want the police involved because it complicates the ransom exchange. The reason these kidnappers told you to call the police without mentioning any ransom is because money isn't what they want."
His expression darkened.
"They want the lives of the two members of TWO-MIX."
"What?! T-Then what do we do? If something happens to them, the concert..."
Ritsu frowned as he looked coldly at the staff member, whose mind was still focused on the concert.
"The hostages' safety is the top priority right now. I need all of you to cooperate with me. If the kidnappers call again—"
At that moment, the landline beside them rang sharply.
The kidnappers.
There wasn't enough time to set up a reverse trace. Ritsu cleared his throat and said,
"Could everyone step outside for a moment? I'd like to speak with the kidnappers alone."
"Ah? O-Okay."
Ritsu smiled as he walked over to the Detective Boys.
"Could you all give your big brother a little time? Please wait outside for now."
"Okay, Onizawa-nii!"
As Conan was about to leave with everyone else, Ritsu casually reached toward his neck and brushed a hand across it, whispering,
"I'm borrowing your toy."
Conan froze.
'Has Sensei secretly taken up part-time work as a thief? That was way too fast!'
Haibara witnessed the entire theft from beginning to end. Squinting slightly, she couldn't figure out what this guy was up to.
'Shouldn't he be at home protecting Nee-san? Why is he here watching a concert? How strange...'
Ritsu had always been interested in Agasa's inventions.
Picking up the Bow-Tie Voice Changer, he adjusted it to produce a more mature voice and tested it twice. As expected, it perfectly imitated someone else's voice.
He noticed a mark on the adjustment dial. That was probably Kogoro's voice setting.
Without wasting any more time, Ritsu answered the phone, deliberately pretending to sound nervous.
"H-Hello... Put the officer in charge on the line. You did call the police like I told you, didn't you?"
'A mechanically altered voice... But judging from the manner of speech, it's probably a man.'
Ritsu immediately set the Bow-Tie Voice Changer down and answered in his own voice.
"I'm Officer Onizawa from the MPD. Can you explain your objective now?"
The kidnapper clearly hadn't expected Onizawa to be handling the case.
He chuckled.
"So it's you. The star of the First Investigation Division is personally taking charge. It's an honor to have you on my case."
"Is that so? I don't like people who speak in riddles. Why don't you just tell me what you want? It's obvious your kidnapping wasn't about money."
"Hahaha, that's true."
The kidnapper paused before continuing.
"I'm what's commonly called a fetishist. I want anything that belongs to a woman. For example... that handbag the lady accidentally left behind in the restaurant."
Ritsu's gaze fell upon the women's shoulder bag Conan had set down.
Naturally, he didn't believe a kidnapper would go to all the trouble of abducting two top artists just to satisfy some bizarre fetish.
'So... the kidnapper's real objective is something inside the bag. But what could it be?'
"I didn't expect you to have that kind of hobby. I respect your preferences. So where do you intend to make the exchange? I'll—"
"Heh. I'm not letting you trick me, Officer... Have the five little brats who were eating with Minami-san deliver it."
If it had been any other police officer, they would never have allowed five elementary school children to take such a risk.
But Ritsu was different.
He knew Conan was really a high school student. More importantly, Haibara was a former member of the Organization.
Having the children deliver the item would lower the kidnappers' guard. It really wasn't a bad option.
Still, to avoid arousing suspicion, Ritsu deliberately objected.
"Surely you'll allow me to refuse that request. I can't send children into danger."
"Tsk. Officer, are you incapable of understanding human language? The two members of TWO-MIX are in my hands. You wouldn't want the group's name to become ONE-MIX... or even ZERO-MIX, would you?"
The kidnapper laughed maliciously.
Silently counting to five, Ritsu let out a sigh, pretending he had gone through a difficult internal struggle.
"...Fine. I understand. Tell me the time and place."
"Hahaha, that's more like it. Ten minutes from now, have them come to the phone booth at the Kudanzaka Exit of Kudanshita Station. I'll call again after that. Don't try anything clever. If I notice anything suspicious, the hostages die."
The call ended immediately.
Ritsu walked over to the sofa and searched the handbag. He found nothing suspicious inside.
With no other choice, he opened the door and looked at the Detective Boys waiting outside.
"Conan, while you were having dinner with Minami-san, did anything unusual happen?"
Conan rested his chin on his hand as he thought.
"There was. Minamisan said she'd been having terrible luck lately."
"That's right!" Ayumi chimed in.
"She said someone kept rummaging through the cabinets in her office and leaving everything in a mess. There were also signs that someone had tried to pry open the lock on her apartment door. And most importantly, a strange man called her every single day and only said two words—"
"Don't sing!!!"
The three children of the Detective Boys shouted in unison. Haibara folded her arms across her chest and said,
"If the kidnapper doesn't want money, then they're probably after Takayama-san's demo tape. I looked up the concert's setlist online earlier. They're going to perform a brand-new song for the first time. The song the kidnapper doesn't want them to sing is most likely that new one."
Ritsu thought Haibara's deduction made perfect sense.
The kidnapper also wanted Minami's shoulder bag. It seemed that demo tape contained some sort of secret.
He crouched down and looked at the five children.
"I have something I'd like to ask all of you. Can you follow my instructions?"
"We can!"
After explaining everything the kidnappers had demanded, Ritsu had the concert organizers provide a van. He personally drove the children to a nearby station.
From that point onward, the rest would depend on them.
As for Ritsu, during the drive, he had already listened to the contents of the demo tape once. Although he hadn't heard anything unusual, he had written down every lyric.
There was nothing suspicious in the accompaniment, either. That left him with plenty of time to study the secret hidden within the lyrics.