*SPOILER FREE* Discussion Thread: Detective Conan Files 856-858

[Steffi]

I find this Kenya guy a bit suspicious, i mean he never took his left hand out of his pocket. And didn´t Waka wear a mask? Who has Mascara on when wearing a mask. If this thing is even called mask. I´m sorry i´m no native speaker.

[Ringo]

Considering the minor (might-be-major) details (such as the red paint, and the winking corpse), I cannot reject the possibility of a suicide, knowing that the "victim" can get revenge to her former lover, and friend, by instilling guilt (?). Her "suicide" was intricately prepared to look like a homicide so investigators can actually narrow the suspects to three--these people who possibly have the key to the room. However, there're a lot of reasons supporting that the murderer is indeed among the three. Allow me to bet on Kaga, double-reverse-psychology wise. Haha!

I wonder who Sera was talking to. Okiya? If he is Akai, then it is quite not possible, or is it? Tooru? An FBI agent, assuming that Sera has indeed sought for their help? Heiji?

[Commi-Ninja]

Is it wrong to wish for a straight-up suicide?

[Ringo]

Is it wrong to wish for a straight-up suicide?

Yes, because the elements of this "suicide," isn't that of a "straight-up" one. If the "victim" self-centered-ly planned the suicide, we couldn't fit certain details, such as her location, disposition, and wound, in the scenario.

[Commi-Ninja]

I just mean that I would like to see a suicide case like we had at the very beginning, rather than "oh, this looks like suicide, but really these four plotted to kill him and each had a different part of the murder plot" blah blah blah.
We haven't seen a proper suicide case since Yoko's boyfriend, if I'm not mistaken.

[Wakarimashita]

^ Amuro's introduction case (with the woman killing herself because her husband was her twin).

[Commi-Ninja]

Oh, I'd forgotten about that one! So we've had two in 855 chapters. Surely there are other ways to do a suicide case...? If we can have 5649875 murder cases, why not a few suicides?

[Jecka]

I wouldn't mind having this be a suicide either

[Ringo]

There was a recent suicide case, but it wasn't highlighted for it was followed immediately by a homicide. I forgot the title, but it involves a low dining chair, the "victim" hung high, and a cleaning robot.

If this end up as a suicide, it'll be quite parallel to that case I just mentioned--somebody will be blamed (as planned by the dead)--which is... cool.

[Pmofmalasia]

There was a recent suicide case, but it wasn't highlighted for it was followed immediately by a homicide. I forgot the title, but it involves a low dining chair, the "victim" hung high, and a cleaning robot.

If this end up as a suicide, it'll be quite parallel to that case I just mentioned--somebody will be blamed (as planned by the dead)--which is... cool.

That was the Heiji case right before the Vampire Mansion one, and I'm sure there have been others (just relatively forgettable ones)

[Giogio]

There was one more suicide, where two pieces of cake were made to look like one and the second set of cutlery was hidden around the room... sad one.

I think Chekhov's fake-blood theory makes a lot of sense though. Maybe, if the mask was tight enough, it could have held the one eye open while Waka was passed out, or after she died? I have no idea about this kind of mask :/

One more point though: The makeup was smeared to what would be downwards when the body is lying on the back. It couldn't have become like this while she was lying face down, right?

I thought about suicide too, but it'd be really difficult to pull off. Most importantly, I can't see how she would hit herself on the back of her head, except if she managed to have a huge piece of hit her head, then fall into the bathtub to be dissolved there. But there are no signs of such a mechanism. Plus, if I had been her, I'd have altered the whole thing to a scene looking like somebody tried to drug her then killed her, but accidentally spilled the chloroform and ended up knocked out themself. That way, whoever finds her would look way more suspicious.

I find it weird how whoever pulled the strings seemed to want to have Ran find the body. Rumi being on the veranda could have been induced both by herself and Settsu. If the fake-blood theory is not right, then Waka was dead before fainting. This means the killer left the chloroform for whoever finds the body. And what sense would that make if not in order to fiddle with the scene afterwards. The people who had the chance to do that are obviously Rumi, Kaga while he was on the toilet (doesn't fit too well as Chekhov pointed out), maybe Settsu if he had a second on his own while the others searched the rest of the apartment (would be unusual to not see the scene, but still possible). In order to not pass out in the room you'd just have to hold your breath, which gives you a minute or so, should be enough time.

Ahh, I don't know.

What did Conan notice in the end?

[Ringo]

There was one more suicide, where two pieces of cake were made to look like one and the second set of cutlery was hidden around the room... sad one.

The victim in that case didn't commit a suicide. It was his murderer who killed herself by jumping out of the building.

[Chekhov MacGuffin]

The solution seems to be overly complicated. It's like the culprit expected there to be a strong detective on the scene to think of the Rumi-in-disguise version of the trick. Yokomizo wouldn't have bothered on his own.

The culprit shows intelligence by coming up with a plan to implicate another person by making it look like they performed a trick, yet it contradicts with the culprit poorly thinking out several components. He is still a major suspect and Yokomizo would have hauled him off anyway had Sera, an unexpected guest, not stepped in. How did Settsu know what instructions Rumi would give Ran when she got upstairs? Ran might not have been first to the chloroform if Rumi politely asked her to wait until she finished the phone call because Rumi decided that it would be better to go together rather than have Ran wake Waka alone. What if Ran was feeling shy/polite and waited outside the shower until Rumi finished the call instead of barging into the room? That problem would have still existed even if Rumi's sister came along instead of Ran. Also the culprit didn't paint the ground with red paint. Wouldn't forensics notice the fake death didn't add up once they tried to verify Rumi's "scheme"? Then there are the contradictions Conan pointed out. The whole thing seems favor story (Conan gets to beat Sera again) over logic.

Even though Waka put Settsu's contact in her own eye, wouldn't both her eyes close after she finished because she was falling unconscious? Also Gosho seems to have forgotten hot water is not infinite, especially in apartments....

[Ringo]

Can someone please explain how Kenya's fingerprint was found on the contact lens, when he wasn't even able to locate it? :/

[Chekhov MacGuffin]

Can someone please explain how Kenya's fingerprint was found on the contact lens, when he wasn't even able to locate it? :/

Yeah, I think Waka's fingerprint would have covered it once she stuffed the contact into her own eye.