Volume 39

Chronology
‹ Volume 38	List of Chapters • List of Cases	Volume 40 ›

Volume 39
Information
Release date:	November 18, 2002
Chapters:	393-403
ISBN:	ISBN 4-09-126169-8
Publisher:	Shogakukan
English release date:	July 12, 2011
English ISBN:	ISBN 1-4215-3499-1
English Publisher:	Viz Media
Featured Detective & Keyhole
Lew Archer Inspector Yuminaga
Aoyama's death & Conan side images

Volume 39 was released on November 18, 2002 in Japan.

Cast

Characters
Conan Edogawa Ran Mouri Kogoro Mouri Hiroshi Agasa Ai Haibara Ayumi Yoshida Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya Genta Kojima Heiji Hattori Kazuha Toyama Juzo Megure Wataru Takagi Sango Yokomizo Shinichi Kudo (flashback) Kamen Yaiba (On TV) Yoko Okino (On TV) Misari Ito (background) Kusukawa (background) Suguru Itakura (background) Eri Kisaki (background)

Gadgets

Gadgets
Wristwatch Flashlight Voice-Changing Bowtie Stun-Gun Wristwatch

Chapters

Red Horse Case

Characters introduced

Inspector Yuminaga
	Police inspector Arson division Kogoro's old colleague

File 393 - The Luring Red Horse

Kogoro explains the serial arsonist's MO.

The protagonist trio, along with Heiji and Kazuha, recount the events of the day over dinner. Kogoro is relieved because if Misari Ito had gone through with her plan of killing Kazuha and Kusukawa by setting the house on fire, the case may have been blamed on the recent serial arsonist. Interested, Heiji asks for more details. Kogoro explains that though the methodology of each arson is different, the perpetrator always leaves behind a "charred, red horse doll." Because "Red Horse" is an old police term that refers to an arsonist, Heiji guesses the arsonist is challenging the police. Additionally, because the arsonist burned the houses of unrelated families on the first block of Rizen, the second block of Toriya, and the third block of Okuho, the arsons were likely in cold-blood. Following the pattern, the next victim will be a random house on the fourth block of some ward. Luckily, Kusukawa had told Heiji of suspicious activity at the fourth block of Haido and had asked him to investigate. With it being their best lead, Heiji wishes to take Kogoro and Conan there tomorrow, but Ran refuses, saying Conan has a field trip. She turns to Conan and shows him a special teru teru bōzu she made that had previously ensured sunny skies for Shinichi's football matches and will surely disperse the rain clouds for tomorrow—irritating Heiji.

Heiji sabotages the teru teru bōzu.

That night while everyone sleeps, Heiji sabotages the teru teru bōzu. Seemingly, as a result, Conan's field trip is canceled due to heavy rainfall. Heiji, Kogoro, and Conan head to the client, Ryoko Morozumi's, house. Heiji worries for Kazuha's safety, but Conan assures him the Mouri Detective Agency isn't on the fourth block.

At the site, the trio sees Ryoko callously driving away an antique salesman, Genda Takanori. She also sends the detectives away, claiming that what she saw was "just her imagination." Though suspicious, they return to their car, as they observe Ryoko welcome her feng shui adviser, Misao Soga, into her home. Soon after, Ryoko's older sister, Keiko, who works as a fortune teller, comes to ask for money but is rebuffed. Two hours pass with no signs of Soga exiting. Heiji, fed up, sneaks his way around the house and spies through a window. The trio discovers Ryoko having an affair with the adviser, but in a moment of his mistress' absence, Soga begins to tear through the drawers in search of something. Ryoko catches him, stating the video of their affair is kept somewhere safe and that she intends to use it as blackmail for him to divorce his wife and marry her instead. She tells him to get changed as her husband, Akira, will arrive.

A red horse burns in the flames of Ryoko's home.

Back at their car, the detectives observe Takanori meandering through the streets before Akira eventually comes home. Akira and Soga greet each other and leave for a bar, leaving Ryoko in the house alone. Soon, Ran calls Kogoro home, forcing the trio to leave their post. As Ryoko's four associates go about their evening activities, a fire blazes brightly on the fourth block of Haido, engulfing the Morozumi's home with Ryoko still inside, all while a blood-red horse doll burns in the flames.

File 394 - Shadow of the Red Horse

An old police reunion.

Heiji tells Kazuha they'll have to skip dinner tonight as they found the Morozumi household up in flames. Conan notices that Soga and Akira have already returned from the bar, the latter mourning the death of his wife. Heiji overhears a young boy telling his mother that the arson was the work of "the Red Horse that makes fire." Heiji and Conan inquire about what the boy witnessed. The boy says while watching Kamen Yaiba, he saw a horse's shadow appear on his curtains. The two detectives immediately rush off to investigate, jumping the boy's wall into his yard. They spot the red horse doll on a window seal inside the Morozumi home, concluding the light from the fire had cast the horse's shadow onto the neighbor's curtains. Based on the allotted time slot of Kamen Yaiba's show, the boys deduce the arsonist placed the horse doll at around 19:30. Amongst the crowd, a distressed Genda watches the scene.

A little while later, the trio is approached by an old senior of Kogoro, Inspector Yuminaga, from the 1st Division Arson Investigation. Kogoro explains he and Yuminaga met while the former briefly worked under the arson division. Yuminaga proceeds to give a rundown of the information they've acquired. The plastic horse doll placed at the crime scene was a replica of those left at the other sites, and because the doll is custom-made, tonight's arson wasn't committed by a copycat. The source of the fire was a small room in the back corner of the house; the culprit likely poured gasoline through a window before sparking a flame. Additionally, they found many footprints in the side-yard, which Yuminaga believes will soon lead to the arsonist. Panicking, Kogoro explains some of those footprints are theirs, recounting their investigations from earlier that day. Heiji states Soga and Akira are not the culprits as those two weren't present based on the suspected time of the fire. With two suspects absolved, Ryoko's sister, Keiko, seems suspicious.

Yuminaga shows familiarity with Genda.

Kogoro, Yuminaga, Heiji, and Conan arrive at Keiko's fortune-telling stand and inform her of Ryoko's death. Keiko is distraught but also confirms with a neighbor that she has an alibi. As the men turn to leave, Keiko expresses a malignant grin under her teary facade. On their way to the police headquarters, they discuss the fourth suspect, the antique store owner. Based on Kogoro's description, Yuminaga is reminded of Genda but dismisses the idea.
At the Mouri Detective Agency, Ran and Kazuha remember their friendly encounter with Genda on the bus, who gave the two his store catalog and a boxed key holder. At the Police Headquarters, Heiji and Conan inspect the red horse dolls left at each scene. They notice only the first one is placed on a base and flip the doll over to see the kanji for "Rabbit(兎)" written on it. Back at the detective agency, Ran sees the key holder is shaped like Guan Yu riding a red steed. While the two girls marvel at their gift, Genda ominously takes a stand before the agency.

File 395 - Owner of the Red Horse

Genda spots the two girls.

Kogoro is shocked to learn the doll depicts the Red Hare. Inspector Yuminaga wonders if Soga, who practices the Chinese Feng Shui, is knowledgeable about the Chinese War Horse, while Kogoro wonders if Soga burned the house down to destroy Ryoko's footage of their affair. Heiji then proceeds to list the motivations of the other suspects. Ryoko's late father proclaimed her to be the sole recipient of his inheritance money, meaning Keiko, who struggles with money, would've fancied her younger sister dead so she could claim the inheritance. Meanwhile, Akira wanted to demolish their house and build a clinic, but Ryoko refused. Along with his wife's affair, Akira would have plenty of reasons to commit the arson. However, since all three have alibis, the likely culprit is Genda—though Kogoro and company still don't know his identity. Conan notices a strange protrusion on the side of the first horse and realizes it likely had a figure of a man riding it and the leg welded onto the horse's body due to heat. Conan and Heiji think of Guan Yu, but Kogoro has some reservations. Since Genda carried a key holder box that probably contained a figure of Guan Yu atop the Red Hare, the two high school detectives believe Genda is the arsonist. Hearing their theory, Yuminaga finally shows a photograph of Genda to the trio.
At the Mouri Detective Agency, Ran and Kazuha prepare for bed, hanging the teru teru bōzu outside their window. Genda observes the two girls, thinking "he's finally found them."

The men discuss Genda's motivations en route to the detective agency.

Yuminaga explains Genda was among the crowd that observed the first arson at Rizen. He heard him mumble to himself, "father... father." The inspector explains Genda's father was a firefighter who died in the line of duty. He theorizes that Genda's delusions are causing him to commit arsons, hoping his father will return and push back the flames. The group decides to call Genda's antique shop, but the workers say the manager went home early and was passing out Maneki-neko key holders today, not Guan Yu. Kogoro calls Ran, who is knowledgeable about ancient Chinese warlords, and the latter tells of the new key holder she received from Genda. Alarmed, Heiji demands to know which block the detective agency is on, to which Kogoro answers the fifth.
On the car ride to the agency, the group deduces, based on Ran's encounter with Genda, that the antique store manager did go home. Heiji asks why Yuminaga didn't arrest a man so suspicious. Yuminaga faintly responds he's "gotten rusty." The car approaches a police car parked outside their home with officers arresting Genda. Ran and Kazuha explain the teary-eyed man had asked to return the key holder as it would bring about another fire. With Genda seemingly confessing to his crimes, he's sent to the police headquarters while Conan and Heiji feel as though the case—serial arsons following a pattern, the sudden arrest of a cooperative culprit, and the true motive being just one single murder—seems oddly familiar. After Kogoro's idea of eating dinner at the Café Poirot, something sparks in the two boys' minds.

File 396 - Witness of the Red Horse

A perfect shadow was cast upon the boy's curtains.

Heiji and Conan realize this arson case is similar to the trick used in Agatha Christie's famous detective story, The A.B.C. Murders. In the story, Hercule Poirot investigates a case where the culprit murders random people in the order of the alphabet. However, the killer's true goal was to murder victim C, so they made their targeted murder look like a cold-blooded murder. Additionally, he gaslighted an innocent person into thinking he was the culprit, just like Genda in this situation. Believing something is fishy, the two boys return to the fourth crime scene the following day. Kogoro, Ran, and Kazuha join the two as Yuminaga informs them of Genda's affiliation with the other three suspects. Genda would have periodic conscience loss and visited Akira's clinic to seek treatment. Soga was a usual customer of Genda's antique store and recommended Akira's clinic. Keiko has no apparent ties but reportedly seemed spooked when seeing a small zabuton clutched in Ryoko's hands. Heiji says they should ask the boy next door more questions.
The boy watched baseball, followed by Kamen Yaiba on TV in a dark room. Conan wonders how he could've read the clock during the baseball game if the lights were off, but the boy states light was coming from the window. Furthermore, the horse's shadow on the curtains didn't have a wavy profile but a rigid outline. Hearing this, Conan and Heiji jump the wall and into the Morozumi storage room. They rummage through the scraps and find a broken light bulb and several pieces of burnt tissue. They conclude that any one of the suspects could've started the fire, but they still need to know how they manipulated Genda.

Kazuha and Ran angered by the boys' remarks.

The group heads to Genda's home and searches for evidence to absolve him. They find footprints all over the house floor belonging to Genda and burnt clothes in a box. Kogoro sees this as evidence of his crimes, but Yuminaga states it's not him, and "he's not that kind of guy." Heiji finds the receipt for the telephone bills and sees Genda's been charged 30,000 yen (~$300) this month. It reminds the two boys of how Ran and Kazuha spent long hours calling on the phone, which the two mock. Suddenly, the two girls slam open the door, upset. They explain they heard their voices on the radio, meaning the house was tapped. Heiji and Conan look for listening devices, finding one in a vase. They continue searching but find a crystal ball that belongs to a fortune-teller. Conan finds another listening device stuffed in the zabuton the ball was laid on. Yuminaga comes along and points out it looks just like the small zabuton Ryoko was holding. Heiji swipes the piece of evidence and rips it open, finding a plaque inside with the words "Red Hare(赤兎馬)" written on it.

File 397 - An Obtuse Imitation

The other suspects are stopped.

By the request of Heiji, Yuminaga calls all three suspects, stating they haven't found any incriminating evidence in Genda's house and that tomorrow, the forensics department will open a more extensive investigation. He purposely withholds the information about finding listening devices that likely belong to the suspects. Kogoro, Ran, and Kazuha stand confused by the scheme, but Conan and Heiji assure them it'll succeed.
Later that night, three silhouettes approach Genda's house. Kogoro stops the first silhouette, Misao Soga, from removing his listening device from his vase. Ran and Kazuha stop another silhouette, Keiko Gondo, from removing her listening device from her zabuton. Lastly, Yuminaga, Heiji, and Conan stop the last silhouette who was tampering with a lamp, seemingly trying to cause a fire.

  Show spoilers »

The lights turn on, revealing Akira Morozumi as the arsonist.
How it Began:
The first "arson" in Rizen was actually a complete accident. The house owner had received a boxed key holder from Genda but hadn't opened it. The box and the Guan Yu figure melted away when the house burnt down, leaving only the Red Hare doll. Because the owner never checked the box's contents, he wouldn't know where the doll came from, leading Genda to question himself.

Conan states why only Akira could be the arsonist.

How Akira became the arsonist:
Genda came to Akira for help, as his childhood sleep-walking condition was responsible for the recent events. Hearing his patient's worries, Akira devised a plan to frame Genda for several cold-blooded arsons, including the murder of Ryoko Morozumi. He would prescribe sleeping medication for Genda, which allowed Akira to sneak into his home and leave items typically belonging to an arsonist, all in an attempt to gaslight him further. Using his listening device, Akira heard Soga tell Genda that he may find luck passing out key holders in Ryoko's neighborhood, so Akira swapped the Maneki-Neko key holder Genda was supposed to be passing out with the Red Hare doll, which would lead him to suspiciously walk around and collect the misdistributed key holders.
The Trick:
Genda wrapped tissue around an incandescent light, which can reach temperatures of 214 degrees. Akira poured gasoline on the floor of the Morozumi storage shed and waited for the tissue to burn and fall to the ground, lighting the place on fire. The boy saw such a clear image of the placed horse doll because the consistent light from the incandescent bulb was on before the wavering fire.
Evidence:
The plaque Ryoko held onto matched perfectly with the horse from the Okuho arson, and if Akira's fingerprints show on the plaque, he's the undisputed culprit. While the other suspects have plenty of motivation, they wouldn't have set the listening device in the telephone (the listening device was using Genda's telephone signal, thus eating into his monthly bills). To remove the telephone's listening device, one would have to enter Genda's home; if they do so, they'd also likely remove the listening devices from either the vase or zabuton they used for their con jobs, which could spark suspicion in Genda.
Motive:
Ryoko likely witnessed Akira practicing his arson trick in the storage shed. After searching, she also discovered Akira's stash of Red Hare dolls, confirming that her husband is the serial arsonist. She then used this information as leverage to get him to divorce her and leave the house.

Heiji's attempt at lowering Genda's antique price.

While the process of law enforcement continues, Yuminaga thanks the group for their help. Heiji then asks why he was so adamant about Genda's innocence. Yuminaga had once met up with Genda at a park after the former's name appeared on the suspect list. After thirty minutes of silence, Yuminaga decided to leave, but when he turned around, Genda desperately searched for something in the grass. He would only leave after it began raining. Yuminaga realized Genda was searching for his used cigarette, which was the cause of the fire that claimed his father's life. The inspector couldn't bring himself to believe a man like that would commit arson. A few days later, Heiji is seen trying to bargain a lower price with Genda for his antique clock.

People

Takanori Genda
	42 years old Antique store manager

Ryoko Morozumi
	Victim (burned) 39 years old Housewife

Misao Soga
	45 years old Feng Shui instructor

Keiko Gondo
	41 years old Fortune-teller Ryoko's older sister

Akira Morozumi
	45 years old Psychiatrist Ryoko's husband

Major events

Conan was going on a field trip the day Heiji and Mouri were going to investigate (which, of course, made Heiji very angry). It was very rainy that day, so Ran took out a teruterubozu to make sure it's sunny tomorrow. So that night, Heiji secretly made the teruterubozu face the other way so it would rain tomorrow and Conan could go with him tomorrow on the case.

Camper Van Murder Case

Characters introduced

Elena Miyano
	Ai Haibara's mother

File 398 - Torn Friendship 1

Ayumi realizes her relationship with Haibara is oddly detached.

Professor Agasa recounts his meetings with the Atsushi and Elena Miyano.

Ayumi calls her classmate, Megumi, asking if she could take care of the class pet over the weekend. The girl agrees, allowing Ayumi to join the Detective Boys on a Sunday camp. While prancing about the room, Ayumi notices something on her list of contacts: she refers to all of her friends with the casual "chan" honorific, except for Haibara, who she refers to with the formal "san" honorific. Ayumi resolves to change their friendship dynamic during the camp. When Sunday arrives, Ayumi tries to refer to Haibara as "Ai-chan" but has difficulties. On the car ride, Conan talks to Professor Agasa about Suguru Itakura's diary entry on a female Black Organization member saying they want to "resurrect the dead." Agasa reveals there was more written in the diary. The professor believes the woman dislikes cats as Itakura wrote how she hastily hung up after hearing the meows of a cat slowly approach her. However, Conan quickly dismisses it. The boy wished Agasa had information on Haibara's father, Atsushi Miyano, but to his surprise, Agasa says he met the man several times at science conventions. He remarks that the label "Mad Scientist" is not very befitting, as he was a pleasant man who showed interest in his inventions. On the other hand, his wife, Elena, was a reticent foreigner from Britain who was difficult to read. While Conan wraps his head around Haibara being half British, Agasa's eyes stray from the road, almost leading to an accident with a parked camper van.

Takuto shows Ayumi the fireworks from atop the camper van.

The Detective Boys marvel at the luxurious vehicle, the van's owner, Haruka Tendou, and her friends: Reiji Fukuura, Yasumi Shirafuji, and Takuto Meshiai, return. The two groups introduce themselves to each other as Genta is attracted by the smell of Takuto's camp cooking. Yasumi recommends sharing it, stating they'll borrow Haruka's wallet and buy more ingredients if they run out. The van owners were former members of the outdoors club at their college, going on many trips to exotic locations with the help of Haruka's sponsorship. Hearing their story, Conan is oddly reminded of the friendship between Ran and Sonoko.
The group continues their camping until nightfall when Takuto notices Yasumi is missing. Haruka points out their missing bicycle, leading Takuto to believe she's off visiting the "special place." Because Ayumi expresses interest in seeing their "special place," the group decides to head there in the camper van. Reiji drives the van through the mountain pass while Takuto opens the sunroof and hoists Ayumi up so she can see the fireworks in the distance. Suddenly, Reiji spots something on the road and slams the breaks. The group goes out to investigate but seeing it's just an old fence, they carry on. They reach the summit and view the spectacular fireworks display; Yasumi is nowhere to be found. After enjoying the show, the group decides to head back and look for their friend somewhere else, but that's when Reiji spots Yasumi's lifeless body sprawled on the road.

File 399 - Torn Friendship 2

Inspector Megure visualizes the likely scenario that led to Yasumi's death.

Inspector Juzo Megure and Wataru Takagi arrive at the scene. They identify the victim and determine the time of death to be between 17:00-18:00. The Detective Boys express their skepticism as they did not see her body on the road when they drove by at 19:00. Reiji does mention their interaction with a fallen fence post, leading the group to believe Yasumi had biked through the guard fence and fell to her death. Conan notices a strange scratch mark on Yasumi's hip and an octopus-like string of strings attached to her pants.

Haibara comments on the beauty of the view.

The police ascend the mountain and examine the lookout. Megure sees the tire marks from Yasumi's bicycle in the dirt while Takagi finds the bicycle stuck in the trees below. But before the officers can label the case as an accident, Conan realizes the ground shows no sign of brake pressure, despite the bicycle's breaks being fully operational. Megure considers the potential involvement of foul play, causing him to gather information on Yasumi's friends. The students inform the inspector of their actions during the van ride up the mountain, but none of them have an alibi during Yasumi's expected time of death. Megure suspects Reiji as he could've avoided Yasumi's body during the ascent, but the boy denies its plausibility.
Conan notices a strange line streaking across the sunroof and hops atop the van to investigate. After finding its blood, Conan believes he has found the killer, but after Mitsuhiko draws attention to the high-speed winds and Haibara points out the beautiful view from the van's roof, Conan has an epiphany. He leaps off the vehicle and runs down the road—with Takagi on his tail. Using his Wristwatch Flashlight, Conan discovers a plastic sheet stained with blood. The discovery throws a monkey-wrench in Conan's theory as anyone could be the culprit now. While gauging the suspects' reactions to the sheet's discovery, Conan realizes the killer had to have been splattered with Yasumi's blood. The boy smirks as he's found the killer.

File 400 - Torn Friendship 3

While the suspects and Megure continue to bicker about case details, Agasa sneaks atop the roof of the camper van and calls for everyone's attention. Agasa continues to mouth words while Conan uses his Voice-Changing Bowtie to start the deduction show.

Haibara allows Ayumi to call her "Ai-chan."

  Show spoilers »

Agasa appears above the sunroof.

Agasa states the culprit placed Yasumi's body above the van. They had lured her to the sunroof and bludgeoned her, attaching the body to the ceiling so it could fly off during the drive. Suspicions of Reiji's guilt immediately rise, as he was the driver and could've used the fallen fence post as a cue to stop the car, flinging Yasumi's corpse off the van. The boy denies the allegation, questioning how he could've attached the girl's body to the roof. In response, Haibara points out the series of strings on Yasumi's pants and how only one of the lines was knotted. Agasa confirms the culprit used the knotted string to anchor the corpse, and the streak of blood across the sunroof came from when the culprit wiped the blood off the window. The window was slightly open during the murder to hasten the attaching process. The line of blood formed in the seam between the window and the van's roof—visible once the sunroof was fully closed.

The plastic sheet used to guide Yasumi's flight.

Megure still believes Reiji is the killer as only a person with considerable driving skills like him could've pulled the trick off. However, Agasa denies it, saying by utilizing the plastic sheet as a sail, one could reliably send Yasumi's corpse flying in the winds and in a reliable direction. But because anyone could pull this trick off, they should look at the case differently.
Then, Ayumi notices Haruka Tendo's belt is missing the back loop despite it being properly secured in the photographs they took earlier that day. She had changed her pants as the other pair was smeared with Yasumi's blood after she had bludgeoned her.
Motive:
In truth, Haruka was not a rich girl and had faked her family's wealth to become friends with Yasumi and Reiji. One day, she overheard a conversation between her three friends: Yasumi had discovered her lie and intended to use her money to continue their exotic trips until graduation. Takuto sympathized with Haruka, but Reiji joined Yasumi in bashing their friend. Thus, Haruka murdered Yasumi and attempted to frame Reiji for it.

Hearing the killer's hateful prose, Haibara states the group was not true friends, as friends are more than just a means to an end. As the girl finishes her principled speech, she remembers what Conan had noticed about the group when they first arrived. Unlike the true friendship between Ran and Sonoko, where the former once declined an offer to go skiing as she was low on funds despite the latter being a multi-millionaire, this group of students used Haruka's supposed wealth to get ahead, even using the formal "san" honorific to distance themselves.
On the car ride back home, Ayumi again tries to call Haibara by her first name. Finally noticing her friend's attempts at getting closer to her, Haibara accepts to be called "Ai-chan," filling Ayumi with joy. Comically, she does not grant Mitsuhiko or Genta the same privilege.

People

Reiji Fukuura
	21 years old College student

Yasumi Shirafuji
	Victim (bashed) 22 years old College student

Haruka Tendo
	21 years old College student

Takuto Meshiai
	23 years old College student

Major events

• Professor Agasa tells Shinichi that he knows Haibara's father, who praised some of his inventions. For him, Haibara's father is a polite man while oppose to his wife.
• Conan asks Professor Agasa about the news about Mr. Itakura's diary relating Tequila (surviving from Episode 311) but not much known.
• Ayumi begins to call Haibara "Ai".

Child Star Case

File 401 - A Small Client

Using Ran's body as a reference, Kazuki identifies the location of his mother's mole.

At the Mouri Detective Agency, Ran demands to know why Kogoro refused a dinner invitation from Eri, but her questions fall on deaf ears as the detective is busy watching the Yoko Okino movie, Konjikiyasha, in rapt awe. Conan reflects on how the love between the two characters featured in the scene—set in Atami—can never conclude as the author died during serialization, and he vows the same won’t happen between him and Ran.
Kinukawa Kazuki, a 7-year-old child actor who Ran adores, approaches the detective agency asking for help finding an unknown woman named Atsuko, who had been sending him one postcard a month for the past two years. The postcards, marked with stamps ranging from Hokkaido to Okinawa, often comment on his movies and dramas. She never wrote her address, only her name, but that was enough for Kazuki to deduce the cards were from his biological mother, who abandoned him in front of a convent when he was one. He’s convinced because the handwriting and name on the postcard match those on a note left with him in his bassinet. Seeing the postcards, Conan believes the boy’s mother is in Atami as the photograph shows a part of a famous statue depicting Kanichi and Omiya, the two main characters in Konjikiyasha.
Seen as there are three copies of the same postcard featuring the statue’s hand:

1. The postcard is probably sold at a restaurant, hotel, or store at Atami, meaning she must have visited Atami at one point.
2. The card is part of a four-piece set of postcards, but she only sent the least recognizable corner, likely in an attempt to obfuscate her location.
3. She sent three copies of the same postcard. If she was rich enough to travel around Japan, she should have more variety in her postcards.
4. She probably asked visitors to send her postcards once they return to their respective prefectures, meaning she’s likely a worker at a hotel or inn.

The group decides to travel to Atami, showing the postcard around to see who’ll recognize it. While walking around, Kazuki remembers an attribute about his mother. He asks for Ran to hold him so he can use her body as a reference—greatly annoying Conan. The boy recalls a mole existing on the left side of his mother’s chest. He remembers falling asleep staring at the mole and listening to her chop food on a dicing board.

A photograph painting Kazuki's mother as the murderer.

The group eventually finds an inn that once sold the limited edition postcard of Kanichi and Omiya. Mitsu Kusano greets them and reveals she is a huge fan of Kazuki. In the lobby, they meet another inn worker, Toshiko Betsusho, who seems unusually shy. They also run into Yasuhiro Kamoshita, a freelance writer booked in room 205 who speculates that Kazuki is looking for his mother. Finally, the group is shown to their room by a grumpy inn worker, Tomoka Saegusa.
Late at night, Kamoshita is seen calling his editor, saying that he might have a big story: Kazuki’s father was a murderer. Meanwhile, the protagonists head for the onsen but find Kamoshita’s lens cap on the corridor floor. Ran goes to deliver it to the writer, while Kogoro rushes to mixed baths and sees the three inn workers bathing. Betsusho screams at the sight of the detective’s lascivious behavior, but Kusano invites them in. Kogoro notices all three women have moles on their bodies:

• Betsusho: Left side of her jaw.
• Kusano: Under her right collarbone.
• Saegusa: Right side of the back of her neck.

Suddenly, Ran’s screams reverberate through the inn. Kogoro and Conan rush to room 205 and discover Kamoshita’s fully dressed corpse half submerged in an overflowing bathtub. While Kogoro determines the cause of death to be strangulation, Conan finds a flip phone which contains a recently saved photograph. He opens the image to see Kamoshita being strangled by a naked woman who perfectly matches the description of Kazuki’s mother.

File 402 - Woman With a Mole

Inspector Sango Yokomizo of the Shizuoka prefectural police arrives with his team. An officer informs Sango that prior to his death, Kamoshita had called up female employees in the inn, telling them, “if you remember about twenty million yen, come to my room, or I will reveal everything.” Kogoro takes the opportunity to show the inspector the photo left on the victim’s phone, leading Sango to announce the killer as a woman with a mole on her chest. Despite Conan and Ran’s best efforts to lead Kazuki away, the boy still hears the inspector’s words. Considering his mother may be a murderer, Kazuki scampers off.

Betsusho boldly reveals herself to avoid suspicion.

Sango speculates the culprit took the photo to create an alibi for themselves, but Conan disagrees. The woman used both hands to strangle the victim, so the photographer had to be Kamoshita. In addition, if the culprit had taken it, she would have covered herself so the photo wouldn’t reveal her gender. The men then look through the phone’s history, indicating Kamoshita had called someone ten minutes before his death. They call the number. A man named Izumiya, manager of the magazine “Hot,” picks up and informs the inspector of how Kamoshita would regularly drop the magazine big scoops. In this case, Kamoshita claimed he found Kazuki’s mother, and he would soon send a picture of her. The journalist intended to write about how a woman named “Atsuko” had blackmailed Kazuki’s agency; allegedly, she threatened to reveal that Kazuki’s father is a murderer on the loose if they refused to send her twenty million yen. Kazuki’s agency sent her the money when she revealed the name of the convent where she had left Kazuki and identified Kazuki’s birthmark. Because she had contacted the agency by email, her face and voice remain unknown.

Conan observes two grown men watch Kazuki's film in horror.

As Sango thanks the man for the information, an officer brings the three female inn workers who lack alibis before him. They are Saegusa, Kusano, and Betsusho. Sango Yokomizo informs the employees that the culprit has a mole on her chest. Saegusa indignantly asks if he wants her to strip in front of him, embarrassing Mitsu. Sango states they’ll bring a female officer to search them, but Betsuho boldly exposes her chest, showing she doesn’t have a mole. Seeing their colleague’s actions, Saegusa and Kusano soon follow suit—even amongst the lecherous stares of Kogoro Mouri. The women ask to be released so they can finish their jobs. Still, Sango wishes for them to stay as yet again, the murder weapon is nowhere to be found (a one-meter-long black string).
Conan notices that before he died, Kamoshita rented out one of Kazuki’s horror movies. Kogoro and Sango pop the VHS tape into the player and watch the film for evidence but are terrified by the jump scares. Meanwhile, Ran and Kazuki wander through the corridors when suddenly, Kazuki hears the familiar sounds of a knife chopping food on a cutting board, showing that the boy truly does want to reunite with his mother. Back at the crime scene, Conan looks at the spine of the VHS cover and figures most of the case out. A forensics analyst calls Sango over, telling him Kamoshita was bludgeoned on the back of his head, likely knocking him unconscious. The inspector believes the weapon to be the shower head and asks for it to be tested with a luminol reaction. As Conan feels he’s got the case nailed, Ran arrives and tells him about Kazuki’s reaction to the cutting board. Hearing this, Conan confirms Kazuki’s mother is not the killer.

File 403 - A Red Mole...!?

The shower head reacts positively to the luminol reaction, prompting Sango to order a body search on the three suspects. However, Kogoro says it's no use as none of them have the mole, and he recommends starting again tomorrow and investigating the entire inn staff. The detective feels a mosquito bite on his neck, but as he goes to feel it, he collapses to the ground. The Sleeping Kogoro orders Sango to gather materials and call the three suspects—he's got the killer.

  Show spoilers »

Sango Yokomizo thins the tape by stretching it.

The Trick:
Kogoro begins by stating the killer disintegrated the meter-long black string. Hence it's nowhere to be found. He then points to the VHS tapes Kamoshita had carried with him and asks Sango to compare the film with an exact copy the police purchased from the store. The inspector watches closely and realizes that Kamoshita's tape lacks the opening logos, credits, and prologue. Kogoro explains the culprit cut about a minute's worth of tape out of the VHS. Applying a tensile force to the tape transforms into a thin black string—just like the one featured in Kamoshita's photo.

Sango notices black marks on his gloves from touching the tape. Kogoro explains the magnetic material on the tape's surface leaves such marks, and the culprit tried to wash them off of Kamoshita's neck but had gotten the man's clothes wet. To avoid suspicion, the culprit dumped his body into the bathtub. However, the killer failed to destroy Kamoshita's photograph, which presented the killer with a red mole on her chest. The red mole: a blood splatter, confused with a mole due to backlighting.

Betsusho's red mole had stained her yukata.

In conclusion, the culprit went into Yasuhiro's room and cut the tape from his movie. She then said the shower was broken to lure him into the bathroom. She hit him on the head when he entered and strangled him with the tape. After cleaning off the blood from the floor and her body, she put her clothes back on and left Yasuhiro's room. She went into the mixed bath to clean off the magnetic powder on her hands and any remaining blood on her body.
The Killer: Kogoro points to Toshiko Betsusho as the murderer as she was alarmed when Sango Yokomizo told her about the mole. The area is a blind spot, so she failed to wash it off before putting her clothes back on. Although she later removed the blood, but the blood stained the inside of her yukata. Kogoro wondered why a reserved woman like Betsusho would boldly show her chest to strangers. The likely answer's that she was hiding something, in this case, a blood mark on her clothes.
Motive:
Betsuho hated her co-worker, who abandoned her son and sent him postcards after he became famous. She was jealous because she was infertile. She threatened Kazuki's agency as a prank, lying that she was Kazuki's mother and that Kazuki's father was a murderer. But she was shocked when they sent her the money. Kamoshita had discovered this case of fraudulent identity theft and attempted to blackmail her.

Kazuki hands Saegusa a packet of postcards before rushing off.

The next day, Conan wakes up and informs Ran that Betsusho is the murderer. He notices Kazuki is missing, and Ran tells him he's about to leave as he couldn't find his mother. Conan tells her that Kazuki couldn't have fallen asleep while looking at his mother's chest mole and hearing her cut food, as you can't cook while cradling someone. The nuns at the convent cradled him to their chests, so he assumed that his mother had held him the same way. His mother was instead carrying him on piggyback; thus, his mother must be Tomoka Saegusa as her mole is on the back of her neck. She likely acted coldly to prevent him from realizing she was his mother, as she didn't want to burden him. Ran runs off to inform Kazuki about Conan's theory, but Conan believes the boy already knows, and the crumpled state of the postcards was not from mistreatment but from the boy soaking them with tears.
Kazuki is seen signing autographs for the staff and guests in the lobby. Kusano pushes Saegusa forward to receive a signature, but Kazuki refuses and instead gives her a pack of postcards, stating that if she doesn't send him, he'll return. The boy rushes off as the inn worker sheds tears while apologizing to her son.
Three days later, Kogoro receives a piggybank from Kazuki as payment, but it unexpectedly only contains about 5000 yen (~fifty dollars).

People

Kazuki Kinukawa
	7 years old Child actor

Mitsu Kusano
	34 years old Hostess

Toshiko Betsusho
	29 years old Hostess

Yasuhiro Kamoshita
	Victim (strangled) 37 years old Freelance writer

Tomoka Saegusa
	28 years old Hostess

Izumiya
	Chief editor for "Weekly Hot" Kamoshita's acquaintance

Major events

• At the beginning Conan and Kogoro are watching a drama called "Golden Demon" which is based on a book of the same name. Conan observes that the author of "Golden Demon" suddenly passed away during the serialization of the novel and so the two main characters who were love interests lost their chance to get their happiness together for all eternity, then Conan/Shinichi while gently looking at Ran says to himself: "But in our case, I won't let that happen."
• Conan gets upset when Kinukawa tries to use Ran to determine the exact location of his mother's mole.

Trivia

  Show spoilers »

According to the BLACK PLUS Super Digest Book, the gradually increasing sound of cat noises that startled Vermouth in chapter 398 came from the Black Organization boss, Renya Karasuma, holding a cat and approaching her.

Cover in other countries

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  China
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  Finland
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  France
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  Germany
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  Hong Kong
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  Indonesia
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  Italy
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  Korea
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  Malaysia (Chinese)
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  Malaysia (Malay)
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  Rep. of China (Taiwan)
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  Spain (Spanish, Volumen 2)
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  Sweden
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  Thailand
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  United States
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  Vietnam

See also

• Manga
• Volume 31-40
• Detective Conan