Here are hints in case anyone wants help solving the case:baka1412 wrote: But it seems that the goth loli dress would have something to do with the murder.. Since her friend (which presumably, and I'm sure she is the murder) told the victim to wear THAT dress...
Case time line:
12:56 - The Goth loli enters the restaurant
1:00: The scheduled time for the meeting between the goth loli and the office lady occurs. The Goth loli leaves the restaurant
1:10/1:12 - The office lady enters the restaurant. The office lady does not leave after this.
12:30-1:30 – Time of death window
~1:30-1:45: A person waiting in line at the bathroom tells Sonoko that the person in the stall has been there for over thirty minutes. Sonoko discovers the body.
The goth loli's phone has been ringing in the stall every ten minutes for over 2 hours. Apparently the office lady started calling after the meeting time of 1:00.
1# The victim has Yoshikawa lines which going by Cutepeipei's translation are due to fingernails. "Usually, at that time the one being strangled leaves fingernail marks! Because compared to the anguish of being unable to breathe, the pain of scratch marks on the neck is nothing!" The marks on her neck are very long and on both sides of the strangle mark, which is likely indicative of fake nails. However the victim wasn't wearing fake nails, nor was the loli who entered the restaurant wearing any either. Fake nails were not found in the bathroom.
2# The goth loli asks the waitress what time it is in a small voice.
3# The office lady makes quite a fuss by spilling her water in the restaurant.
4# The office lady wipes the menu clean after spilling water on it which would erase any fingerprints present.
5# According to Sonoko it is a fashion for 2 goth lolis to be dressed identically.
6# Black or white fake nails are fashionable with Goth loli dresses
7# The toilet paper cover in the stall is unusually clean, suggesting it was wiped
8# The bathroom would have been relatively empty before 1:00
9# Conan notices that it is possible for one of the women to disguise as the other due to the fashion and the makeup.
10# According to Megure, it is a thirty minute round trip at the minimum between the teahouse and the stall.
Here is a rather likely solution to the case. (Wall of text warning!)
This is a relatively cut and dry case.
The day before the murder, the victim buys two identical goth loli dresses from the store. We know from testimony that the dresses were unique to the store, the store sold out the same day, and that the office lady was traveling at the time which made it impossible for her to buy the dresses herself. It stands to reason the victim bought one dress for herself, and one for the office lady. The victim and the office lady probably intended to go as a matched pair like Sonoko claims is fashionable.
The office lady and the victim met in the stall before 1:00. According to testimony, the bathroom would have been relatively empty at the time. They probably went to change into their clothes. This would have been the time (12:40-12:45) that the victim was murdered by the office lady. At the time of the murder, the victim was wearing fake fingernails which created the long yoshikawa lines. The toilet paper cover was probably wiped because the office lady wanted to hide that she had been in the bathroom earlier. She may have stood on it to lock the adjacent stall door from the inside or simply touched it for some reason. I’m not sure exactly.
It is implausible that the murder happened after 1:00. To make the trip to the bathroom would take around 15 minutes which would mean that the goth loli would arrive at 1:15 when the bathroom likely had a lot more foot traffic. A murderer would be adverse to such conditions especially since someone might see them leave the stall or hear the struggle. Also, it is unlikely that anyone meeting someone at 1:00 would leave for a restroom break that would take thirty minutes round trip at the time they are scheduled to meet someone.
There is considerable evidence that the office lady showed up in a wig to impersonate the victim at 1:00 and give the illusion the victim was still alive at the time. As Conan noticed with the heavy makeup characteristic of the goth loli style and the identical dress, it would be relatively easy for the office lady to impersonate the victim. She asks the waitress for the time even though the clock is nearby so that waitress will be able to remember the time later and serve as a witness to the office lady’s alibi. As the goth loli, the office lady talks in a small voice so that the waitress will not recognize her voice later. The office lady as the goth loli was not wearing fake fingernails so she would match the victim.
After the office lady as the goth loli left, she changed out of her clothes, removed her makeup, and put on her normal outfit. Since the office lady “arrived” just ten minutes later, she must have changed nearby since it would take too long to go to the same public bathroom thirty minutes away. The office lady purposely spilled her water for two reasons. One reason is to have other people notice her who will corroborate her alibi later. The other reason is to have an excuse to wipe the menu to remove the “fingerprints of the victim” that the police would have expected to be on the menu. The police may have figured out her trick if there wasn’t a good reason for there to not be any fingerprints of the victim in the restaurant.
The item used to strangle the victim may still be on the office lady, but more likely it was disposed of either by flushing it down the toilet or somewhere along the way between the restaurant and the bathroom.
There must have been a good reason for the murderer to have taken the fake fingernails from the victim. There are several reasons I can think of. One is that the victim scratched the office lady during the struggle which would have left damning evidence. Another is that the victim and the murderer accidentally had two different color nails. Recall Sonoko said that black or white fake nails were popular with goth loli outfits. The murder may have intended to wear fake nails as part of the disguise, but because the nails were different colors, her disguise wouldn’t match the victim’s. It might be considered strange if she was seen in the restaurant without fake nails while the body has fake nails.
The office lady had to have hidden the identical dress she was wearing earlier somewhere. The fake fingernails and the murder weapon may be with the dress or they could have been disposed of down the toilet or somewhere along the way between the bathroom and the restaurant. It could be that those clothes thieves from earlier picked up her bag if she left it out where someone might take it.
Amusing Note: I think there is an art error on page 7 of file 696. On the bottom left panel, the clock is drawn without hands. It isn't so clear in Kyuu's raw but in another raw it is clearly same clock shown on page 6 in the middle left panel.
