Disappearing letters murder case (781-???)

[Chekhov MacGuffin 1089]

Switching the poll out now we have an additional murder

The previous question and results are...

Who was the culprit behind Wakamatsu Kouhei's death?

Wakamatsu Ikurou (25): Kouhei's son (5 votes [45.45%])

Wakamatsu Serika (43) : Kouhei's wife (1 votes [9.09%])

Shiina Masashige (56): Design company senior managing director (0 votes [0.00%])

Fujinami Sumio (30): Design company chief designer and football head (1 votes [9.09%])

Satake Yoshimi (32): Victim's Secretary (2 votes [18.18%])

Yonehara Sakurako (23): Housekeeper (0 votes [0.00%])

Someone else (0 votes [0.00%])

It was an accident (0 votes [0.00%])

It was really a suicide (0 votes [0.00%])

I am not ready to vote yet (2 votes [18.18%])

More than one person (0 votes [0.00%])

Feel free to keep discussing this question and the others.

I am currently working on a revised solution. This is certainly a tough case.

[Chekhov MacGuffin 1089]

And double post for solution version #2. It's long, so I tried to divide it up into sections. I estimate this case is going to end at 786 the way things are going.

Wakamatsu Kouhei’s murder

Murderer(s) identity

Murderer: Wakamatsu Ikurou

Accomplice: Wakamatsu Serika

Assuming there is not an additional trick to Wakamatsu Kouhei’s dying message “son” (missing letters, part of a word, English and kana/gana mix-up), the current situation suggests that both Wakamatsu Ikurou and Wakamatsu Serika were involved in the death.

Ikurou probably committed the murder given the dying message, but it is likely both Serika and Ikurou teamed up to prep an alibi and take care of the scene. The evidence that points to Serika’s involvement in the death is her ordering the renovation of both houses, hurrying Yonehara from the scene with orders not to tell anyone, not noticing the message, and lying about the existence of the matching bathroom.

Motive behind Wakamatsu Kouhei’s murder which is important for understanding the chain of events that occur around Ikurou’s death.

The motive is probably because of the embezzlement Kouhei was investigating. There are a couple of scenarios that are possible here:

• Both Serika and Ikurou may have had their hands in it, were afraid of getting exposed, so teamed up to murder Kouhei.

• It’s also possible one of them was doing the embezzlement, then offered money or power to the other in exchange for the murder. If this was the case it’s most likely Serika doing the embezzling because of her position, and Ikurou being bought off.

• Serika could have also been defending the son after he murdered Kouhei, but considering they are not blood related, that seems less likely, even more so given her later laughing reaction to his death.

Ikurou may have begun to blackmail Serika later, threatening to would reveal the secret of Serika’s embezzlement if he wasn’t made company president which is why Serika was so acquiescent around him when he began to throw his weight around at the dinner. It also explains why Serika ordered the demolition of the Karuizawa house where the murder was in order to cover up any evidence, and why she seemed almost gleeful at the son’s death.

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The person who called Hattori out.

Identity of the person who called Hattori out.

Preliminary guess: Yonehara Sakurako called out Hattori

I definitely think the maid, Yonehara Sakurako, called Hattori out to the Osaka villa with the mysterious letter. She’s got the personality and the daring to call a detective out, even knowing she might be suspected of murder because of it; she is swift, indicated by her noticing Conan started speaking differently, and she was bold enough to call him out on it. She also knew Hattori was a very capable detective. The Osaka house was tidy as Kazuha had noted, yet the bathroom was not cleaned meaning she left the dying message intact. She wondered why Serika lied and told the group it would not be possible to see the crazy diamond tiles when there are some in this house. Despite the vibe she got from Serika, she then later showed Hattori the tiles anyway. She knew he hadn’t seen them yet because she was in disguise in the bathroom and saw only the girls who came in.

That said, I don’t think Yonehara Sakurako knows who the culprit is, only the crazy diamond trick that was used. She saw the “S”, but nothing else as she testified earlier. If Yonehara thinks it is a name, that only eliminates Ikurou. This is why she called for a detective, Hattori, instead of simply reporting the results to the Nagano police because she wanted it investigated, but no official channel would do it. That also explains why she was upset Ikurou died because he is the only person without an S name.

Evaluating the rest of the people

Shiina Masashige: No particular evidence for or against

Fujinami Sumio: No particular evidence for or against

Satake Yoshimi: Possible, but no particular evidence for or against

Wakamatsu Serika: Would not because she was involved with crime and is systematically destroying the tile bathrooms with renovations. She also lied about there not being another crazy diamond tile bathroom.

Wakamatsu Ikurou: Would not because he was involved with crime and implicated on the tiles.

Meaning of the cryptic messages

EYE is probably a reference to look for optical illusions. It’s probably the same with “However, there is some doubt that you will be able to properly see me when we do meet. My distorted existence is something thoughtlessly conjured up by humans such as yourself. To see me directly is a fantasy that cannot be realized.”

How the disappearing EYE trick was done

The trick for the disappearing letters is based on the “crazy diamond” illusion. The tiles are all the same although they appear to go from darker to lighter. Basically the person in the dark swapped the scratched tiles that say EYE and replaced them with plain tiles from below. The word EYE is broken up and hidden among the scratched up tiles. This takes time, 5 minutes maybe to replace each one at a time to ensure it was properly oriented in the dark, and makes eerie rustling sounds as Kazuha heard. Another, faster easier strategy would be to layer the EYE tiles on top of plain tiles, simply pull them off, rub down the area, and leave with the EYE tiles. This trick however, doesn’t explain why there are scratched tiles below the word for eye.

Honestly, this whole mysterious person tile thing seems contrived because this person would have probably failed if the girls came barging over to where this person was (which Heiji would have done), or had a flashlight, or blocked the door so the person couldn’t escape.

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Serika’s murder

Murder Method

Serika licks her fingers to turn paper, so poison probably introduced to her that way. To solve this completely we will probably need to know where the poison was found in the next chapter.

Murder Motive

Revenge for assisting in the murder of Wakamatsu Kouhei.

Reference: Order of events where Serika touched things

Satake Yoshimi maneuvered the mouse of the PC while Serika watched. Serika rubbed between her eyes. Fujinami Sumio then gives Serika eye drops with his right hand. Serika takes them with her right. Yonehara Sakurako serves a whole tray of tea. Serika takes one of the cups, presumably with her right hand after she set down the eye drops because the direction the handle faces in a later panel. Yonehara takes the rest of the tray with her when she leaves. Satake Yoshimi tells Serika to open a drawer to retrieve the documents. Serika does so, touching the drawer with her right hand. Serika aligns the documents with both hands and points out the pen is out of ink. Shiina Masashige then gives Serika his unique pen. He removes it from his breast pocket and she takes it with her right hand

Suspect Evaluation

Preliminary guess: Satake is the murderer.

In terms of setup, it was Satake’s tasks that required Serika’s attention. She tells Serika to look at some colors and fonts requiring the use of the PC. Serika uses a Mac but will use the PC in the study later. Also, Satake Yoshimi was the one who had the paperwork, but she told Serika about in front of the other suspects, so anyone could take advantage of the situation to get Serika to touch poisoned stuff. Satake has the best manipulator position because she knows furthest in advance what Serika will be doing.

Shiina Masashige, Fujinami Sumio, and Satake Yoshimi were all around when Serika was using the computer. Note that Serika seemed to have a headache, which could be a sign she had the poison on her skin already as cyanide is absorbed through the skin. It could also be because she wanted some privacy to laugh creepily.

Shiina Masashige: Gives Serika his unique pen. He removes it from his breast pocket and she takes it with her right hand. It seems unlikely he could have poisoned her with it unless he knew Serika’s pen would be out of ink and would ask for one while he was around. I don’t think he poisoned her.

Fujinami Sumio: Gave Serika eye drops with his right hand. Serika takes them with her right. (Revised per Abs.) He asked Sakake to switch between designs often, so it's possible he was trying to strain Serika's eyes knowing that she is susceptible to this in order to have the opportunity to loan her eye drops.

Satake Yoshimi: Has documents awaiting the vice president’s signature and stamp. Poison could be applied to any of those or the drawer they were in that she tells Serika to open. Satake was in a good position to poison the drawer handle because she was crouching by it when she maneuvered the mouse earlier. The poison could also be applied to the side of the PC’s mouse. She maneuvered the mouse while Serika looked at the screen. I think she is the most likely person to have poisoned Serika.

Yonehara Sakurako: She served a whole tray of tea at once, so it would be hard to predict which cup Serika would take, and whether or not others would also take cups as well. The only technique to selectively poison a cup and be sure it was the one taken would be to offer Serika the whole tray first and position the cups so only one had its handle pointed at Serika and thus is convenient to grab. It is possible Yonhera poisoned Serika with this method.

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Ikurou’s Murder

Suspect Evaluation

Poisoning the Cake:

Shiina Masashige: Couldn’t have added poison to it because the cake was uncut when the two business men delivered it and had no way of controlling how or where it was cut and who would be served what pieces.

Fujinami Sumio: Couldn’t have added poison to it because the cake was uncut when the two business men delivered it and had no way of controlling how or where it was cut and who would be served what pieces.

Satake Yoshimi: Able to have added poison and set up the Jastrow objects trick because she instructed the maid Yonehara to cut the Baumkuchen into 8 equal pieces, and Satake helped arrange the cake on the plates according to housekeeper Yonehara.

Yonehara Sakurako: Able to have added poison and set up the Jastrow objects trick because she helped arrange the cake on the plates.

Wakamatsu Serika: Couldn’t have added poison to it because she was nowhere near the cake when it was cut.

Capsule disposal in Serika’s teacup

Hattori said they all came close to the table so any one of them could have disposed the capsule in the tea in the confusion. I will assume they all had the ability to, but it is more difficult for some than others.

Shiina Masashige: Access, but started further away on the other side of the couch

Fujinami Sumio: Access, but started further away on the other side of the couch

Satake Yoshimi: Access, reasonably close to the teacup

Yonehara Sakurako: Access, reasonably close to the teacup, however, she was carrying a tray in both hands at the time.

Wakamatsu Serika: Access, closest to teacup.

Cyanide application to the doorknob

Shiina Masashige: Came after Ikurou stormed off, no access known

Fujinami Sumio: Came after Ikurou stormed off, no access known

Satake Yoshimi: Access

Yonehara Sakurako: Was out until after Heiji and friends arrived, but presumably had access because her return time wasn’t clear and she may have been able to get to room before Ikurou left.

Wakamatsu Serika: Access

Reaction to Death

Shiina Masashige: Nothing either way.

Fujinami Sumio: Contemptuous of the son

Satake Yoshimi: Nothing either way except back to business

Yonehara Sakurako: Visibly upset at the death.

Wakamatsu Serika: Unconcern at first, but then a creepy laugh like she was happy.

Murder Method and Motive

This is somewhat complicated and in need of additional verification in the form of clues.

If Serika did it…

I am reasonably sure that Serika thinks she was the one who poisoned Ikurou. We have at least two chapters left of case because Hattori and Conan still haven’t solved it, so we may get verification that Serika applied the poison to the doorknob evidenced by poison traces on her shoes. Her thinking she poisoned him explains her not caring much about Ikurou’s death and the creepy laugh. The motive is probably Ikurou blackmailing Serika over the embezzlement that was the motive for Kouhei’s murder, as explained in Wakamatsu Kouhei’s murder motive section.

…but someone else may have done it instead before Serika could…

Now, note I said Serika thinks she murdered Ikurou; even though she may have applied poison to his door intending to kill him, that may not be the cyanide source that actually poisoned Ikurou, thus she may have not been the one to do it. She assumed her technique was the one which got him killed thus explaining her reaction.

If this is the case, there should be a contradiction in the Ikurou’s door handle cyanide. The door handle with the poison may not have been touched, lack of poison on Ikurou’s slippers, or there was no poison where Ikurou touched after touching the poisoned handle, or the cyanide types were different, etc... Perhaps next file will reveal the contradiction before the final solution is in the file after that.

Now if someone else poisoned Ikurou, they were probably the same person who poisoned Serika next because the methods were very similar. Also, it would make sense for someone who is avenging Wakamatsu Kouhei’s death to target both Serika and Ikurou because they were both involved as I explained in Kouhei’s section.

Based on the explanation I gave for Serika’s murder, the two most likely suspects are secretary Satake Yoshimi and housekeeper Yonehara Sakurako. Given their positions, the best available technique would be to directly poison the cake that Ikurou was going to eat.

None of the other Baumkuchen pieces were poisoned, so the culprit must have found a way to ensure Ikurou would take a certain cake slice of the two on the plate. Ikurou declared he wanted the biggest piece, but the Baumkuchen was indeed cut into 8 equally sized and identical looking pieces as the police proved. However, there is a way to make piece look bigger than the other despite being the same size: Jastrow objects. Basically, if you take two equal sized shapes approximating an eighth of an annulus and place them side by side, one looks bigger than the other.

The upper one is actually the same size as the lower although the upper shape looks bigger

Notice the configuration of the two cake slices on the plate Ikurou took cake from resembles how you would place the objects to achieve the illusion. Using this illusion, the culprit can get Ikurou to take a specific cake slice without having to poison his hand somewhere else in advance because he will think one slice is bigger than the others.

Now in terms of culprits for this murder. Secretary Satake would be the primary suspect because she instructed the maid to cut the baumkuchen into 8 equal pieces, and Satake helped arrange the cake on the plates according to housekeeper Yonehara. Shiina Masashige and Fujinami Sumio couldn’t have done it because the cake was uncut when they delivered it and had no way of controlling how or where it was cut and who would be served what pieces. Wakamatsu Serika was nowhere near the cake so she is out. Yonehara Sakurako is difficult to rule out because she was in a position to poison the specific slice of cake as well, however considering Secretary Satake was the one to make the orders about how to cut the cake and Yonehara Sakurako was upset at the death, I think she is less likely than the secretary.

For either Satake or Yonehara, the motive probably revenge for the death of Kouhei.

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Final suspect evaluations

Whodunnit

Preliminary guess: Satake murdered Serika and Ikurou.

Secretary Satake and Housekeepr Yonehara both had the opportunity to poison both Ikurou and Serika. Which one is it then? Personally I think Satake is the most likely one of the two. Satake took charge in the relevant murder situations and thus was able to manipulate Ikurou and Serika more than Yonehara was able to. She instructed Yonehara how to cut the cake and helped place it on plates allowing her to use the Jastrow Object illusion, and (although pending evidence next chapter) she was able to get Serika to touch several objects and places where she was able to apply poison in advance.

There are several hints against Yonehara being the murderer.

• Yonehara wondered why Serika lied and told the group it would not be possible to see a crazy diamond bathroom. This reaction implies she didn’t know Serika was in on the trick which would make it difficult to murder her. If she knew Ikurou was the one who did it via the dying message “son”, she would also know that Serika would have helped cover it up because of the suspicious orders she was given. Thus, unless she prepared a split second way to murder Serika, she wasn’t the one getting revenge on Serika.

• If Yonehara poisoned the cake and Jastrow Objects were used, unless she was trying to get caught, she wouldn’t have deliberately pointed out the Ikurou took the far cake was as that might call attention to the illusion.

• If Yonehara sent the letter to Hattori, which I think is the case, it is unlikely she knows who actually murdered Kouhei as I explained in that section. She knows the crazy diamond trick, so she knows an insider murdered Kouhei, but she doesn’t know who. She saw the “S”, but nothing else as she testified earlier. If Yonehara thinks it is a name, that only eliminates Ikurou. This is why she called for a detective, Hattori, instead of simply reporting the results to the Nagano police because she wanted it investigated, but no official channel would do it. That also explains why she was upset Ikurou died because he is the only person without an S name. If she was the murderer, she wouldn’t be upset.

Motive

Kouhei was divorced twice and Yonehara hinted that he may have had daughters. Should this be true, I bet that Satake is a daughter of Kouhei and is getting revenge on his murderers. I also think it is possible Yonehara may be a daughter as well, which inspired her to call in outside help to nail her father’s murderers

[justwantanaccount 125]

^ Makes a lot of sense, as always.

Hmm, does this mean that Shiina might possibly be an accomplice? Or was Satake just extremely lucky that Shiina happened to bring an annulus-shaped cake? I wonder . . .

Also, was the age of Kouhei mentioned anywhere? He must have been in his 50's, since Satake is 32, while Ikurou is 25 and Sakurako is 23. This would mean that Kouhei had Satake in his first marriage, then Ikurou in his second marriage, then possibly Sakurako while he was cheating with the maid, ha ha . . . then he divorced again and married Serika, which would mean that Serika and Kouhei are nearly a decade apart in age, since Serika is 43. Don't you just love math? Lol.

[Berumotto 18]

This case is quite complicated. But I shoved all that aside when Kazuha said she would confess... I'm such a love freak.

I wonder how the secretary/wife died though...

[Chekhov MacGuffin 1089]

^ Makes a lot of sense, as always.

Hmm, does this mean that Shiina might possibly be an accomplice? Or was Satake just extremely lucky that Shiina happened to bring an annulus-shaped cake? I wonder . . .

The cake was a tradition so she would know what it would look like before it came.

Also, was the age of Kouhei mentioned anywhere? He must have been in his 50's, since Satake is 32, while Ikurou is 25 and Sakurako is 23. This would mean that Kouhei had Satake in his first marriage, then Ikurou in his second marriage, then possibly Sakurako while he was cheating with the maid, ha ha . . . then he divorced again and married Serika, which would mean that Serika and Kouhei are nearly a decade apart in age, since Serika is 43. Don't you just love math? Lol.

I looked, but not very hard. It would be nice to know his age.

[Akazora 293]

This case is quite complicated. But I shoved all that aside when Kazuha said she would confess... I'm such a love freak.

I wonder how the secretary/wife died though...

I'm surprised as well that no one else has seemed to point this out.

Kazuha and Ran disappeared after Kazuha made up her mind about confessing.

Heiji doesn't seem to be acting any different, but then again, guys don't really show how affected they are by love and stuff (I'm not saying they aren't affected, just that they don't usually show they're affected).

Anyway, back to the case...

I'm actually happy that we've gotten back to more exciting mysteries.

I'm a mystery fan, so I love murders that start working like this.

Unfortunately, I'm not much of a speculator, so I have no idea who the murderer is.

[justwantanaccount 125]

The cake was a tradition so she would know what it would look like before it came.

Ah, I completely forgot about that. Silly me!

I looked, but not very hard. It would be nice to know his age.

*Looks hard* Aha! Shiina met Kouhei in college, and Shiina is 56 so Kouhei should be around the same age.

. . . Which means that Kouhei and Serika are ~13 years apart in age. Daaang. Also, how can the previous wife be jealous of Satake, when Satake is ~24 years younger than Kouhei? Crazy!

. . . Although, if Satake really is Kouhei's legitimate daughter, then why would she hide it? Hm.

[Stopwatch 36]

Poor Yamato, the murder magnets have struck again...

And I'm really not sure if the maid is the next victim or the culprit, I don't want her to the victim so if she turns out to be culprit I hope it's done as well as with Natsuki and the guy from Moonlight Sonata, maybe even a suicide attempt where Conan fails to save her. Well, I wonder how they're gonna tell Megure 'bout the wife being dead...

I really like this case so far, it's more complex than usual and very interesting and I still can't figure out if Aoyama is gonna have Kazuha confessing at the end or not, with his recent streak of romance I wouldn't be surprised if she did

[Miss Smiles 105]

I agree with CM. I think there's a story tie-in which make the case interesting.

the housekeeper doesn't know who's the killer and it's likely to be her who invite Heiji.

If she knows about the case but don't know the killer, and saw the son die, she already reach to the conclusion and know who's behind the murder of president. It's likely the woman who die is a murderer, and woman's family is a bit spoilt, his son is lazy, the president is kill for fortune (?), the woman laugh and may thought to have money. So imagine this family to culprit's eyes shouldn't be existed and the culprit want to end everything. I get the feeling it's housekeeper invite Heiji, the culprit doesn't like the son being murdered. I think two murderer work separately, so I guess they didn't know each other but Yo can rule out if the second murderer plan not to have the son take over as heir. Now my thoughts the story has proceed, it's likely one of the murderer has die, and second murderer plan to shift the blame to dead woman, creating a dead end.

So if the good person hate them as they are on about company, heir and inheritance, will have the motive to end all by no longer being good. I've pin my suspicion to the person who's tired of everything, is the dead woman's killer, the housekeeper. The housekeeper is prime suspect when I notice she's acting strange.

[justwantanaccount 125]

File 785 spoilers for those who care~

Source: 2chan's Shonen Sunday Spoiler Thread

コナン「奥様の告白文」

Conan "The Wife's Letter of Confession"

「奥様！？奥様ァ！」と泣く米原→毛利「1日に3人も毒で死んだ死体を見るとは…」→秘書、専務「3人？」 高木が昼のファミレスの事件を言う→藤波「自殺じゃねーのか？」 秘書「そうね…殺人なら密室殺人」

"Missus? Missus!!" cries Yonehara - Mouri comments, "Three dead corpses from poison in one day . . . " - the Secretary and Manager says, "Three?" - Takagi explains the case at the family restaurant at noon - Fujinami says, "Isn't this suicide?" The secretary says, "Seems like it . . . if it was a murder, though, then it's a locked-room murder."

コナン「できなくはないと思うよ…机の上に怪しい物が色々載ってる」→米原さんが持って来た紅茶は飲みかけ→専務が貸した万年筆はキャップがお尻にはまったままペンの先がでてる

Conan says, "I don't think that it's impossible - there's a bunch of suspicious things on the desk" - The tea that Yonehara brought was partly drunk - the fountain pen that the Manager lent has its nib exposed and capped at the other end

佐竹さんがサインとハンコを頼んだ契約書は書きかけ…藤波さんからもらった目薬は…箱から出されてちょっと使ったみたい！

The contract that Satake asked signature and seal for is in the middle of writing - the eye drop that was given by Fujinami was taken out of the box and used

平次「奥さんのそばに落ちてる国語辞典とケースも怪しい」→開いてたページは「わ」の項目 →秘書が副社長の身に万一のことがあったら警察に提出するように頼まれた封書があると言い、金庫の封書を見る

Heiji: "The dictionary and its case dropped near the wife are also suspicious" - the book is opened at the page for words starting with "wa" - the secretary says that she was told to give the police a sealed letter in case something happens to the vice president, so she opens the safe and gets out the sealed letter

中身は直筆の告白文で、社長が刺された時に息子を見て庇った。庇った理由は自分が会社の金を横領してるのを息子が勘付いてて、警察に捕まるとバレる、警察が来る前に外部犯の痕跡を作り、社長のメッセージも錯視で隠した。

Inside was a handwritten letter of confession - she talks about how she saw the son when the president was stabbed, and how she protected the son, since the son sensed that she was embezzling the company's money - if the son gets caught by the police, she'll be exposed, so she left traces of a break-in before the police came, and hid the president's message with an optical illusion.

いつか息子に口封じの為に殺されるかもしれないから、その時はそのダイイングメッセージを証拠の一つとして警察に提出して欲しい。

Since she might be murdered by the son, she asked to give the dying message as one of the evidence to the police.

封書の存在は秘書しか知らなかったが、皆おぼろげには知ってた→奥さんのスリッパから毒物反応が出て、ノブの下の毒が途切れてる幅とも一致

Only the secretary knew of the existence of the sealed letter, but everyone vaguely knew [that the wife was the murderer?] - poison was detected on the wife's slippers, which coincides with how the poison beneath the knob is cut-off at a certain width

国語辞典のケースの奥から青酸カリの袋も発見（奥さんが隠してた？）→書斎の机の上からは何も出ず→目黒達は息子を殺した後悔から自殺したと考える

Cyanide was also discovered inside the dictionary's case (hidden by the wife?) - nothing comes up on the desk in the library - Megure & co. think that the wife committed suicide since she regretted killing the son

コナンと平次の会話→奥さんが犯人と思ってたが、これから自殺する人が紅茶入れ直したり目薬さしたりしない→けど書斎には誰も入ってないし、電話で奥さんに指示して罠にはめようとしても容疑者4人は実況見分中だった。

Conan and Heiji discuss with each other - thought that the wife was the culprit - people who are about to commit suicide don't re-fill tea or use eye drops - but no one was in the library, and even if someone tried to trap the wife by instructing her through the phone, the four suspects were in the middle of the on-the-spot investigation.

毒の付いたスリッパも奥さんに罪を着せるなら怪しまれずにすり替えないと→トイレの前のスリッパを見る２人（中には和葉）→蘭「トイレの中にスリッパあるし普通脱ぐんじゃ…」→『せや！トイレや！ここならすり替えられる！』

Even if the poison-coated slippers were meant to pin the crime on the wife, one must switch the slippers without suspicion - the two look at the slippers in front of the bathroom/restroom (inside is Kazuha) - Ran: "There's slippers inside the bathroom/restroom, don't you usually take off [your slippers]?" - Heiji: "That's right! The restroom! You can switch 'em here!"

トイレから出てきた和葉に 「お前この家に来てすぐトイレに入ったやろ？」その時奥さんもトイレ使わなかった？と聞く→和葉達が「育朗さんが入ってて、出てすぐに手を拭きながらリビングに行ったよ。」

Heiji asks Kazuha when she gets out of the restroom, "You went to the restroom as soon as you came to this house, right?" He asks if the wife also used the restroom at the time - Kazuha says, "Ikurou-san was inside at the time, when he came out he went to the living room as he wiped his hands."

２人『部屋のノブに付いてた毒は…フェイク！』 毒のバームクーヘンを取らせる方法を考える２人→蘭の腹が鳴り 蘭「おなか空いたね…」 和葉「バームクーヘンの話したらカマボコ食べとォなって来たわ…」

Conan & Heiji: "The poison on the knob was a fake! [note: in Japanese, 'fakes' mean something 'deceiving' rather than 'inauthentic']" The two think of a way to make Ikurou take the poisoned Baumkuchen - Ran's stomach growls, Ran says, "I'm hungry" - Kazuha replies, "Talks about baumkuchen makes me want to eat kamaboko (fish paste). . ."

蘭「どーしてカマボコ？」 和葉「形、似てるやん！ちょっとカーブがかかってるし…」→２人『そ、そうか！目には目をっちゅうわけかい！』（バームクーヘンを思い浮かべ）

Ran: "Why kamaboko?" Kazuha: "The shape look similar, don't they? They're both curved . . ." - Conan & Heiji: "I see! An eye for an eye!" (thinks of baumkuchen)

平次「ほんなら奥さん殺した方法も…」 コナン「錯視がらみの可能性が高けェな！」→蘭「変だなぁ…事件は解決したってお父さんが言ったのに」

Heiji: "Then the method to kill the wife also . . ." Conan: "The possibility of optical illusions being used is high!" - Ran: "Strange . . . Dad said that the case was solved . . . "

和葉「平次が帽子のツバ正面に向けてる時は捜査続行中やねん！ほんで、ツバを後ろに戻した時がスイッチオフ！アタシの出番っちゅうこっちゃ！」

Kazuha: "When Heiji's cap's brim is facing forwards, he's in the middle of investigation! When he's done, the brim goes back facing backwards! That's when I come in!" [Note: I'm guessing she means that that's when she'll attempt confessing to Heiji, though I'm not 100% sure]

高木に奥さんが見てた文字のデザインを見せてもらい話しを聞く→見てる最中に藤波が目薬を渡し、その後家政婦が紅茶を持って来て、その時に僕達が迎えに来て

Takagi sees the typography the wife was seeing, while asking questions - while she was seeing the designs, Fujinami gives the eye drops, then the maid comes in with tea, then Takagi and Megure come in . . .

奥さんが待ってる間、署名捺印を佐竹が頼んで…引き出しの契約書を奥さんに取らせ、椎名がブロンズ製の万年筆を懐から出して貸した→コナン「ブロンズ製？」

While the wife was waiting, Satake asks for signature and seal - she gives the contract that was in the drawers, then Shiina takes out his bronze fountain pen from his pockets and lends it - Conan: "Made with bronze?"

高木「他の社員には同じブロンズ製の時計を贈った…事情聴取の時、藤波さんも佐竹さんもつけてたから…あの時計だと思うけど…家政婦さんは社員じゃないからもらってたかはわからないけど…」

Takagi: "The president gave bronze watches to the other employees . . . during police interview, both Fujinami and Satake were wearing [the watch] . . . I think it's that watch . . . since the maid isn't an employee, I don't know if she received one or not . . ."

２人『今ので犯人もトリックもわかったけど…証拠がねぇ！』→４人が喉が渇いたとペットボトルを開けるのを見て

Heiji & Conan: "Just now, I understood both who the culprit is and what the trick was, but . . . I need evidence!" - the four say that they're thirsty, so they open a bottle - Conan & Heiji see this

平次「やっとまともに見る事ができそうやな…」 コナン「あぁ…オレ達人間が勝手に作り出した歪んだ存在の…証ってヤツがな！」

Heiji: "It looks like we'll finally be able to see properly . . . " Conan: "Yeah . . . To see the evidence for the warped existence that we arbitrarily created"

次号休載

Taking a break next issue

[Stopwatch 36]

So I was right about it being on the same day as last case

Such an interesting case... thanks justwantanaccount~

[Miss Smiles 105]

Takagi come, (and find out?) the poison capsule cause death as poison slowly builds up. They all gathered around side of the table and put tea away, realize poison also fade away with tea from bottom of cup.

Yonehara is the one who cut cake and rest is suspect... Satake and Mouri ask: are everyone hungry, and earn scold, did you know the education, said by one of suspects (Fujinami) and housekeeper, mother...

President has a dying message, about housekeeper is a member of company, Conan (said?) 'it is more visible hand. (Note added by Sato: I guess he trying to say) it's alive to talk and

message is here: there's initial 'S'.

And housekeeper said: 'I .... find the corpse, calls the wife, Xiang Qin hear about the tile.

Heiji said: 'you saw the tiles custom is be no more'. The housekeeper turn confused. 'eh?'

After Mouri listen to three suspects about their alibi, four is in the living room except the maid. 'The first one which was eaten, was not poisoned,' Heiji said. 'in the two remaining sauce on the tray when I ate one' Takagi said something about the size is equal, which fits 8...

Takagi said: 'The Invisible Man Jaarumai' and Conan and Heiji said: 'That letter and remember'

okay, I clean up the garbled version from English google translator, now it's readable.

i have nothing to do but to read and make it readable for me. *shrug*

[hopes 237]

Hm... This one is going on for quite a while... And it's a string of murders. Wonderful.

[Chekhov MacGuffin 1089]

The bronze fountain pen may react to cyanide by becoming tarnished/cleaner (I forget which) if I remember correctly from the gathered Detectives versus Kid in the creepy crow mansion case. I guess we have to wait for the art. It looks like my explanation may turn out to be correct if the son wiped the poison off because he went to the bathroom before eating Baumkuchen.

I've also heard that after this file 785 there will be a break because Gosho is taking one. Then there will be another break after file 786 (the resolution) because Shounen Sunday takes a week off.

[Stopwatch 36]

I think it goes tarnished, remember in that case with the ring when Haibara and Ayumi got mad at Conan when they thought he saw them naked.

And, yes, there is definitely a break after this file and the solution. And the chinese file is out, looks like Conan and Hattori have figured out the culprit.

[Akazora 293]

Darn, there's going to be even more breaks?

Then this arc will take forever...

I was hoping for a BO appearance soon, but since this arc is taking so long and the breaks are making it even longer, it seems I still have a long time to wait...

[Wakarimashita 137]

"Even more breaks" ? Gosho has taken very few breaks this year.

[justwantanaccount 125]

File 785 is out! DCTP, you are fast, as always <3

Hmm, the typography designs that the wife was looking at - the ones that say "Sake for the Young" - are read "Wakabito no Sake" or "Wakoudo no Sake", or even "Wakaudo no Sake" in Japanese, so the phrase starts with "wa". I have no clue if this has anything to do with the case, but I'll just throw that out there . . .

I mean, the wife must have died by licking her finger and trying to turn the page in that dictionary, right? If she touched poison beforehand, then it would have showed up on that bronze fountain pen, right? But what would she need to open a dictionary for, when she's a pro at reading kanji's? Where does the optical illusion come in? Hmm.

EDIT: Huh. I just looked at my printed Japanese dictionary, and it only listed "wakoudo" for pronouncing 若人, though this online dictionary lists all three pronounciations that I mentioned. My intuition was to read this as "wakabito", but apparently "wakoudo" is the more standard reading. Tricky. I wonder if the wife was looking that up? I don't know that people who scored first tier in the kanji skills test can and can't read, though . . . hmm.

[Chekhov MacGuffin 1089]

The reason Serika looked up "wa"

The Wakamatsu that Gosho used to identify the suspects in the boxes is 若松. Part of the Wakamatsu that Serika used to sign the confession letter was different: instead of 若 there was a different character. Was Serika looking up how to spell her own family name because she forgot how to write the rest of the character under the ? If one of them knew she would look up her own name, the dictionary trick would go off perfectly because of her finger-licking-to-turn-the-pages habit.

^^^ Nevermind. Abs. told me it was cursive and thus the same character. Never liked cursive, English or otherwise.

I will be revising the solution later today.

[justwantanaccount 125]

^ *Looks at scan*

Hmm? It looks like the same "waka" (若) to me.

[Chekhov MacGuffin 1089]

^ *Looks at scan*

Hmm? It looks like the same "waka" (若) to me.

若

Maybe it's the calligraphy, but the bottom half of that first character doesn't look like it matches, especially that little right leg on the downward stroke which is separated from the difficult to read bit right of it.

Nevermind. Abs. told me it was cursive and thus the same character. Never liked cursive, English or otherwise.

[Black Demon 466]

*Sigh* No new file next week...

[Wakarimashita 137]

*Sigh* No new file next week...

Gosho is busy elsewhere next week : http://www.websunday.net/super/.

[justwantanaccount 125]

@Chekhov: Ha ha that's okay, you're not a pro at Japanese.

EDIT: Also, the way Serika wrote her name isn't technically cursive, but it is handwritten. I mean, see, for example, the cursives here:

The cursives look quite different. Serika's handwriting doesn't look that different - the small difference comes from the fact that, in Japanese/Chinese, you have a specific order in which you write the kanji. For example, see the kanji for mouth (口):

As you can see, it's not just a square - not only do you write in that order, you're also supposed to slant the vertical lines toward the middle, and slant the horizontal lines slightly upward in handwriting. When you see Serika's handwriting, you can see what order she wrote the little square in. I think that that's what made you think that it was a different character. /EDIT

@Wakarimashita: Ooh! Brb translating . . . Done! First chapter of Kaito Kid will re-run on Weekly Shonen Sunday Super Extra Edition, August Issue (sold 7/25/2011), will contain Kaito Kid news

[Berumotto 18]

"Author will be taking a break to collect information." What does that even mean?!?

I hope the case will be concluded in the next chapter. I'm still a little confused... why does everyone suspect the secretary?