After a violent crash, Piper's snowmobile lay in pieces, emitting faint white smoke.
The black car that fell from the sky was in an even worse state, not only was its undercarriage severely damaged, but its side door also had a huge dent, and the car windows were shattered into a spiderweb pattern.
Conan was thrown out at the moment of impact.
He felt like he had been tossed into a tumble dryer, spinning around for a while before landing in a soft snowdrift.
The thick snow cushioned his fall, so Conan wasn't seriously injured, though he did get a mouthful of snow and felt dizzy.
"Cough, cough… cough…"
He struggled out of the snow pit, straightened his crooked glasses, and looked towards Piper and the crashed car.
"Piper-nee, are you alright?" Conan called out.
"Ugh… I'm fine… just my tailbone hurts a bit, I overdid it…"
In another snowdrift a few meters away, Piper, who had also been thrown from the driver's seat, shakily got up.
She shook her long golden hair, dusting off the snow, then felt her arms and legs, confirming she wasn't injured.
This allowed Conan to breathe a slight sigh of relief, and he immediately turned his gaze to the black car, the culprit of the incident.
The roof and one side of the black car were severely deformed from rolling and impact, the windows were shattered, and the driver in the driver's seat showed no movement.
Conan had a bad feeling.
Ignoring the pain in his body, he trudged through the snow, stumbling towards the car.
"Hey! Is anyone in the car! Are you alright?!"
Conan shouted loudly, hoping for a response.
However, the only response he received was the sound of the cold wind whistling past.
At this time, Caesar, Lucy, Ellen, and the others behind them also emergency-braked their snowmobiles and rushed over.
Their faces had all turned pale due to the sudden accident.
"Piper-san! Conan! Are you alright?!"
Ran was the first to run to Conan's side, anxiously checking on him.
"Oh my goodness! What on earth happened?!"
Rin looked at the horrific scene, Ran to Piper's side, and thoroughly checked her from head to toe.
"Piper, you're badly hurt, your chest is flattened."
Piper: …Do you even hear what you're saying?
"Tsk, this is big trouble." Caesar frowned, looking at the deformed car.
Lucy was relatively calmer and had already pulled out her phone. "I'll call an ambulance first, then the police. I hope it's not too late."
After telling Ran he was fine, Conan focused all his attention on the car.
He peered through the shattered window into the driver's cabin.
The driver's airbag had deployed, stained with striking crimson.
A middle-aged man in a suit was slumped over the steering wheel, with a severe impact injury on his forehead, blood was flowing down his cheek, staining his shirt and front.
His eyes were wide open, pupils dilated, and he showed no signs of life.
Conan's heart sank.
As a detective, he could almost immediately conclude that this person was dead.
"He seems to be dead…" Conan murmured softly.
Ran also leaned over for a look, immediately gasped, her face turning even paler, and instinctively took a step back.
Soon, the ambulance and police cars that Lucy had called arrived one after another, and the scene was quickly cordoned off.
Leading the team, as always, were the familiar Inspector Megure and Officer Takagi.
They were like freshly spawned NPCs, arriving on the scene incredibly fast.
After setting up the police tape, leaving only a few witnesses and involved parties inside, Inspector Megure habitually adjusted his hat brim and sighed.
"Another murder case? Good grief… Sato just took the bus hijacker back, and now there's a new case so soon."
When he pushed through the crowd and saw Ran standing inside the police tape, he was visibly startled, then showed a resigned, "Of course" expression.
"Ran…"
Inspector Megure walked over, his tone carrying a nearly fatalistic teasing,
"No wonder a case happened here, so you all were here."
He looked around,
"In that case, Brother Mouri must be nearby too, right? Has he gone to investigate the scene again?"
In Inspector Megure's view, where there was a case, there was bound to be Mouri Kogoro or Conan, and where Ran was, those two were likely nearby as well.
Ran waved her hand a bit awkwardly. "Um, Inspector Megure, Dad didn't come today. It's just me and Conan, Dr. Agasa, and some friends who came skiing together."
"Wh-What?! Brother Mouri isn't here?!"
Inspector Megure's eyes widened in shock, his voice uncontrollably louder,
"Are there other detectives on the scene? Has Brother Kudo returned? If not, that high school detective from Kansai would also do…"
With a glimmer of hope, he eagerly scanned the crowd, trying to find other familiar detective faces.
"Uh… Shinichi hasn't returned, and Hattori-kun isn't here either…" Ran became even more embarrassed.
"Not a single detective?!"
Inspector Megure's shoulders slumped, his face filled with disappointment, and he muttered softly,
"This is going to be difficult. Without a detective present, the police's case-solving efficiency will be greatly reduced…"
This left Inspector Megure, who was used to detectives solving cases while he stood by and watched the culprits cry and confess, feeling at a loss.
Officer Takagi, holding a notebook, reminded softly. "Inspector, we should still look at the scene first…"
"Oh, right, look at the scene first."
Inspector Megure pulled himself together and walked to the deformed car.
Takagi and the forensic personnel had already begun their initial investigation.
Soon, the identity of the deceased was confirmed.
From the documents in his wallet, it was learned that he was the manager of this ski resort, named Iwahara Gomo.
The vehicle had rolled down the slope, and the car body had multiple severe impact and scrape marks.
Coupled with the secondary collision with the snowmobile, the scene indeed looked like an unfortunate accident.
"Manager Iwahara Gomo died after his car accidentally fell from the slope."
Just as Inspector Megure was stroking his chin, leaning towards closing the case as an accident, a man in a suit, wearing small round glasses, looking to be in his thirties, Ran into the police tape, panting.
He was the manager's secretary, Kurofuji Kizo, who had rushed over after hearing the news.
Kurofuji Kizo's face changed drastically when he saw the tragically deceased Manager Iwahara and the badly damaged car.
Then, his gaze suddenly locked onto Piper, who was being re-examined by Rin to see if she was injured.
Kurofuji Kizo instantly found an outlet for his emotions. He rushed forward, pointed at Piper, and shouted emotionally to Inspector Megure:
"Officer! It's her! It's her! She was driving our resort's snowmobile like a race car,
crashing around, and that's how she hit and killed Manager Iwahara! She killed Manager Iwahara! You need to arrest her immediately!"
Kurofuji Kizo's accusation instantly drew everyone's attention.
Piper blinked, and in response to the accusation, merely tilted her head, not immediately refuting it.
Because she wasn't sure if she had indeed hit and killed the person herself.
That possibility could not be entirely ruled out.
Inspector Megure frowned, just about to say something.
Just then, a childish yet clear voice rang out, with a childlike curiosity:
"Arere? That's strange—"
Conan had, at some point, run to the rear of the black car and was pointing at a spot on the car's rear bumper.
"Inspector Megure, look here~"
Conan said, feigning nonchalance:
"It looks like there's something white stuck on the back of this black car? It looks like… car paint? And the shape is really strange, it doesn't look like it happened from hitting the snowmobile~"
Everyone's gaze, including the agitated Kurofuji Kizo and Officer Takagi, who was about to take notes, was drawn by Conan's words.
Haibara Ai looked at this scene with a half-moon eye, somewhat speechless at Conan's actions.
But everyone else seemed to notice nothing amiss.
Inspector Megure and Takagi immediately knelt down to carefully examine the spot Conan indicated.
Indeed, on the black car's rear bumper, there were several noticeable white paint scratches that clearly did not belong to the car, accompanied by some irregular dents.
The height and shape of these marks indeed did not seem to be caused by a collision with a snowmobile.
Officer Takagi took out a ruler to measure and carefully observed the direction and depth of the marks.
"Inspector!"
Takagi looked up, his face becoming serious,
"Conan is right! These marks are very likely caused by a rear-end collision or impact with another white vehicle!
And from the force and position, it seems the vehicle of the deceased was violently struck from behind by the rear vehicle, causing it to lose control and plunge down the slope!"
"What?!"
Inspector Megure was greatly surprised and stood up abruptly,
"You mean… this wasn't an accident? But someone used a car to push Mr. Iwahara's car down the cliff?!"
If that were the case, this would not be an accident, but a murder!
"Little Brother Conan! You've been a great help again! Every time you say 'arere?' and make a casual discovery, it always brings us clues.
Why don't you consider joining the police academy and working for the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department in the future?"
Inspector Megure couldn't help but pat Conan's head, expressing his admiration, then immediately turned to give orders,
"Takagi! Immediately take your men to survey the road on the slope! Focus on finding brake marks, tire prints, or any other clues left by other vehicles!"
"Yes, Inspector!" Takagi immediately led several forensic personnel up the slope.
Conan, meanwhile, looked speechless.
Well, his small alias had also become 'Brother'.
Inspector Megure re-examined the scene, his eyes now completely changed.
If this was murder, then the nature was entirely different!
Calling Chiba, who was standing idly by, Inspector Megure instructed him to investigate if the deceased had any recent conflicts with others.
Kurofuji Kizo opened his mouth, seeing the change in the police's attitude, and was momentarily speechless, his face becoming uncertain.
Soon after, Officer Takagi Ran down the slope, panting, holding several evidence bags, his face showing the excitement of a major discovery.
"Inspector! Major discovery!"
Takagi reported,
"On the edge of the road on the slope, we found very clear tire skid and drag marks.
According to measurements, the marks indicate that before plunging down the slope, the crashed car experienced two distinct tire lock-up drags, with a distance of 16.33 meters between the two drag marks!"
He paused, emphasizing his words.
"This perfectly matches the typical characteristics of a vehicle violently struck from behind, losing control and surging forward for a distance, the driver emergency braking and leaving the first drag mark,
but failing to stop the vehicle from continuing to slide, ultimately being forced off the road, and leaving a second drag mark as the tires rubbed against the road surface before falling!"
"Moreover,"
Takagi held up another small evidence bag, which contained several white fragments, resembling car paint,
"On the road near the impact point, we also found these! Fragments of white vehicle paint! These clearly do not belong to this black car that fell off the cliff.
It is highly likely that they were left by the vehicle that struck it! The killer's car is white!"
Inspector Megure's face was grim, and he immediately ordered a comprehensive search of all white vehicles within the ski resort and a focused investigation into Iwahara Gomo's social connections.
Soon, Officer Chiba, who had been dispatched to investigate personal relationships, also ran back, panting, bringing preliminary investigation results.
"Inspector," Chiba reported, holding a small notebook, "Based on initial interviews, we found two individuals who recently had significant conflicts with the deceased."
"Oh? So fast? Good job, Chiba!" Inspector Megure's spirits lifted, "Who are the two people?"
"The first one,"
Chiba pointed to Secretary Kurofuji Kizo, who was standing not far away, still looking unwell,
"Is the deceased's secretary, Kurofuji Kizo-san. According to other employees, Manager Iwahara often made Kurofuji-san work unpaid overtime for no reason in recent months and had already withheld three months of his salary.
furthermore Kurofuji-san had argued with the manager multiple times in the office, his emotions is quite agitated."
Everyone's gaze shifted to Kurofuji Kizo.
Kurofuji's face grew even uglier. He adjusted his glasses and, forcing himself to remain calm, argued.
"Yes, I did have conflicts with the manager, he did withhold my salary, but how could I possibly kill someone because of that? Officers, you need evidence!"
Inspector Megure did not immediately draw conclusions and continued to ask. "And the second one?"
Chiba turned to the other side, pointing to a tall, burly middle-aged man with a menacing face, who had just been brought over by an officer.
"This is Nojiri Masakawa-san. He works for a lending company and is also Manager Iwahara's creditor.
Manager Iwahara owed their company a large sum of money due to gambling, and Nojiri-san came specifically today to collect the debt."
Nojiri Masakawa, with a cigarette in his mouth, spoke arrogantly. "That's right! That guy owed our company a lot of money! I came today to get my money! What? It's only right to pay back debts! You police can't interfere with that, can you?"
Ran looked at the two men, frowning slightly, a hint of confusion on her face.
"Hmm? Strange… I feel like I've seen Kurofuji-san and Nojiri-san somewhere before? They look very familiar."