The three subordinates' faces instantly turned ugly.
Hatsumura Kensaku took a deep breath, as if he had made up his mind, and pointed to Kishiura Minatsu next to him.
"The manager is very annoying, but if you're talking about motive, Minatsu has the biggest motive! The manager is a fanatical traditional film photography enthusiast and extremely despises digital cameras.
Previously, there was a colleague in the department, Ogura, who was very good at digital photography. He was suppressed and given a hard time by the manager everywhere, and finally couldn't bear it and committed suicide! And Kishiura, she was Ogura's girlfriend!"
Everyone's gaze instantly focused on Kishiura Minatsu.
A trace of panic flashed across Kishiura Minatsu's exquisitely made-up face, but she immediately regained her composure. She brushed her hair back and spoke with disdain.
"Hmph, that's because he had a weak psyche. What does it have to do with me? Besides, that good-for-nothing, his salary was so low, it couldn't even cover my expenses. I had wanted to break up with him a long time ago. I don't care if he lives or dies!"
She changed her tone and pointed at Komure Monpei next to her, "Speaking of motive, Komure is even more suspicious! He and Ogura were close drinking buddies! Maybe he wanted to avenge his friend!"
The chubby Komure Monpei was startled and quickly waved his hands in defense. "That's not true! Ogura and I were just ordinary drinking buddies, just having drinks and bragging. How could I kill someone for him! Inspector Megure, you must investigate clearly!"
The scene immediately fell into chaos, with the three of them accusing each other and shifting the blame for the motive.
Inspector Megure had a headache from their noisy, rubbed his temples, and looked at Mouri Kogoro. "Brother Mouri, what do you think? What they're saying seems to make some sense."
Mouri Kogoro was called out, shook his head abruptly, struck a pose like a famous detective, waved his hand, and stated his deduction.
"In my opinion, there is only one truth! That is, the three of them conspired together! They all hated this manager, so they all poisoned the wine.
Then the three of them tacitly avoided touching the wine glasses, just waiting for the unsuspecting manager to drink it himself. Yes! It must be like this!"
This deduction seemed to make some sense, and Hatsumura, Komure, and Kishiura immediately vehemently refuted it, claiming that Mouri Kogoro was slandering them.
Conan, meanwhile, frowned at the side, carefully observing the three glasses of poisoned wine still on the bar.
Soon, he made a discovery.
"Hmm? These wines..."
The liquid level of each glass had a visible difference.
Moreover, when he reached out and touched the glass, he could clearly feel a chill.
An idea appeared in Conan's mind.
He immediately ran to Burnice, tugging at her sleeve.
"Burnice-neechan, when you mixed those four drinks, was the amount of wine in each glass the same? Is it possible that some had more and some had less?"
"Of course it was the same amount!"
Although Burnice was tipsy, her reaction to this question was very strong. She stopped what she was doing, put her hands on her hips, and said with dissatisfaction,
"Little kid, I'm a professional bartender! The amount of each drink must be precise, that's basic professionalism! If customers pay the same money and see someone else's drink is more than theirs, they'll be unhappy! How could I make such a low-level mistake!"
Sure enough!
Conan's conjecture in his mind was initially confirmed.
He turned and walked towards the fashionably dressed female employee, Kishiura Minatsu, and asked in an innocent tone. "Kishiura-oneechan, did the late Manager Hakuda usually like to drink very cold drinks?"
Kishiura Minatsu paused, seemingly not expecting a child to ask this. She pursed her lips and replied. "The manager? He was old and had a bad stomach, so he usually drank things at room temperature and rarely touched anything too cold."
Conan smirked, his gaze sweeping over the rather high-end metal thermos that Komure Monpei was carrying.
A complete modus operandi gradually became clear in his mind.
So that's how it is! He's the killer!
Conan quietly retreated to the back of the crowd, crouched behind the sofa, adjusted his bow-tie voice changer, and aimed at the back of Mouri Kogoro's neck, who was rubbing his nose.
"Whoosh—"
"Achoo!"
The moment Conan pressed the button, Mouri Kogoro suddenly let out a huge sneeze, and his body tilted forward.
The tranquilizer dart, originally aimed at the back of his neck, flew past his skin, hitting Burnice's leg squarely, as she happened to be swaying next to him!
"Ugh..."
Burnice, already quite drunk, stiffened, her eyes instantly becoming hazy. She swayed twice, mumbled something like "fuel full..." incoherently,
Then she staggered back a few steps, plopped down on the empty sofa beside her, head bowed, hands naturally resting on her knees, and remained motionless.
"Oh no! I shot the wrong person!"
Conan cried out in his heart.
But since it had come to this, he could only make the best of a bad situation.
He quickly used the voice changer to simulate Burnice's vocal frequency.
"Cough, cough..."
From behind the sofa, Burnice's voice came, "Everyone, please be quiet. Regarding this matter, I think I might know the truth."
Everyone looked in surprise at Burnice, who was sitting on the sofa with her head down.
Inspector Megure asked suspiciously. "Burnice-san? Are you alright?"
He looked at this familiar posture and had a premonition that he was about to get off work.
Komure Monpei frowned and said discontentedly. "What do you know? Are you going to admit that you poisoned him?"
"No," Burnice's voice continued, "I'm not the one who poisoned him. Moreover, this is not some random killing at all. The so-called poison in all four drinks is just a smokescreen created by the killer!"
"A smokescreen?" Inspector Megure and Takagi exchanged glances.
"That's right," Burnice said with certainty, "Please take a good look at the three remaining drinks on the bar. Don't you think their liquid levels are very different?"
Everyone heard this and looked at the three drinks.
After being reminded, it was indeed clear that the liquid levels of the three drinks were noticeably uneven.
"What does that prove?" Hatsumura Kensaku asked, puzzled.
"This proves," Burnice explained,
"that after the drinks were mixed, someone added extra things to them, and the amounts added were all different! As a professional bartender, I would never make the mistake of having inconsistent drink volumes!"
Komure Monpei's face changed slightly. He forced himself to remain calm and retorted. "Hmph! Nonsense! Even if the liquid levels are different, it could be a mistake you made while mixing! What does that have to do with us! Where's the evidence?!"
Just then, an unexpected event occurred.
Burnice, sitting on the sofa, perhaps due to her physique, experienced the anesthetic effect wearing off prematurely.
Listening to her own voice, she shook her head, looked up, and glanced around dazedly. "Hmm? I wasn't speaking."
Not good!
Conan cried out in his heart, quickly switched the voice changer channel, and adjusted it to Mouri Kogoro's voice.
Just as Burnice woke up, another voice rang out, the familiar voice of Mouri Kogoro.
"Cough, cough! This question, I, the great detective Mouri Kogoro, shall answer for Miss Burnice!"
Everyone looked at Mouri Kogoro.
Mouri Kogoro himself stood there, looking utterly bewildered, without even opening his mouth.