Demon Dog Case (734-740)

[Abs.]

From a storytelling standpoint,

Spoiler: 738

I agree that Tomoaki is suspicious precisely because he got attacked by the demon dog (AND DID NOT DIE!)  He could have brought the cabin to the detectives' attention because he had prepared the cabin in advance and planned on the detectives going to search for the dog after the "attack" on Ran and Kazuha (it would have worked no matter who was feeding Hachi, as long as the demon dog could make an appearance at the house.)

Also, at this point, Miyuki is too obvious to be the culprit.  However, if she is not the culprit, there's still some explaining that needs to happen regarding the Eight Dog Chronicles, and the sharing of kanji radicals between the old woman and Miyuki.  Obviously it doesn't mean she is the culprit just because of her name, but it has to tie in somehow.

I just hope the trick isn't impossible (or impossibly convoluted, same thing). 

[Misztina]

Also,

Spoiler:

Miyuki couldn't have the one who got rid of the warning signs on the cliff, because when she "saved" Kogoro and co. the signs were there and after that Miyuki never left the team. And when she was going up on teh hill with Heiji and Conan, the sign was already removed, she couldn't have done that.

It would be interesting if the three: the doc, the woman (not Miyuki) and the other guy worked together. Rewatching the images of 738 they seem to be feel unwell, when Miyuki says she will take them there, where the cabin is. Hm...

Btw. I found it cute that Kogoro used the flourescent-explanation, as if it was his own idea.

[Nyarl]

Spoiler:

I think now that the "dog" itself is just an explosive flame, with Aoyama drawing it from the perspective of people who are who are suggestible and too scared to really look at it, imagining details that aren't really there. The one that "attacked" Tomoaki might be more elaborate.

From Kazuha's description of odor (and her tears after falling) it looks like the fuel is a sulfur compound of some sort (looked up one that changes from a clear liquid to yellow in light and makes explosive mixtures with air... I don't know how to control the timing of the flame dog with it, though).

The orbs are very likely just a red herring left by the culprit (like the "Red Hare" figures in Red Horse in the Flames). Probably a greed killer making it look like honor killings. Miyuki might be "suicided" soon.

[Chekhov MacGuffin]

I definitely switched my suspicion to Dr. Tomoaki this file. If the flaming footprints were created by putting a compound where the demon dog needs to step, unless the culprit covered the whole ground around the cabin -which is unlikely as Conan and Heiji would have noticed- it means the footprint mix was likely only set on a predefined path which somehow the doctor conveniently managed to follow. He could be implicating Miyuki using the spheres/Satomi Hakkenden reference to make her take the fall.

I'm not confident about the onion smelling compound. White phosphorus has a pungent garlic smell and an autoigniting tendency. This seems to be a two for one combo, but it can't be whatever the compound on the grass is as it would have smelled. Also, you couldn't put white phosphorus on a dog; it would be horribly burned. You can do nifty tricks with it, but this one wouldn't work because of the smell. I was hoping Gosho wasn't misleading us with the art, but I'm beginning to doubt it.

Seems we have at least two files till the solution as Conan and Heiji haven't "got it" yet. Also, where did the dog go? I'll comment more when the file is released.

As long as the explanation for the flaming tracks and the dog are coherent and believable in the end, this is shaping up to be one of the best cases in years.

[caribou]

Spoiler:

Other things: Since he is a doctor, maybe he hides the fact that the old lady is fine and they perhaps worked together, or the old lady asked him to this whole thing. Or he wanted to kill her to get the inheritance. Well, I'm not sure anymore.

that's a good point. the old lady may be in perfect health, but he could be feeding her a medicine thats causing the illness instead... I'm kind of thinking that more than one of them are in this together, though. If Tomoaki was really afraid of dogs it might be difficult for him to train a 'demon dog'. (but I guess he could be lying) my guess is that there is the true culprit who wants to get revenge, while Tomoaki is an accomplice to speed up the old lady's death, Tomoaki thinking that the motive behind all this is to share the large inheritance between just the 2 of them. I'm still favouring the idea that Miyuki is the real culprit who wants revenge. :/

the rotting onion smell suggests sulphur or a sulphur compound... it wouldn't be weird to have this substance in the house too because they live near a forest and sulphur is commonly used as a snake repellent. i still don't know how the demon dog could leave the flaming pawprints, though. there are no flames where Kazuha fell. and where the heck did the dog go to? into the forest? was it even a real dog or just a puppet, as someone suggested earlier..?

[Chekhov MacGuffin]

More analysis on the case.

The culprit in the case needed a lot of free time, most likely during the day, to investigate the goings on in the !Shinichi household in order to determine when to murder !Shinichi, how to implicate the housekeeper and to get info on her son to blackmail her with. Listening devices or watching the house meant that the person needed to be free during these critical times to eavesdrop and observe. Gunma is a little ways from Tokyo so the travel time would be significant. This would imply the person doesn't spend their days in the Inubushi household, and needs to have an excuse for doing so, such as work. The culprit also might be using listening devices in this most recent round of cases at the Inubushi house.

If the culprit planned to nail someone going out to feed the dog, they would have needed to place the stuff in advance and so couldn't be sure who the target would be because Miyuki, Takako, or Ran and Kazuha might be the one to bring the leftovers. Unless Miyuki herself is the culprit (or an accomplice), the culprit could not control who would be feeding the dog before the trap was set up. This line of thinking would suggest the culprit should be someone who wouldn't be expected to have to feed the dog.
What is suspicious though is that Ran and Kazuha's firedog setup didn't have any particularly lethal components: no cliff to run off of, etc. If it was targeted at one of the Inubushi children, it would likely not be lethal. It could be a deliberate scare tactic at whoever, but that Miyuki asked Ran and Kazuha stayed to make sure Hachi finished his food is suspicious.

Takako and Yoshia reacted with a “…â€

[sstimson]

It could be looked as a chicken and egg question. What happened first. The fire and then the effects

or as I think it happened the effects and then the fake fire.

Two things I find of interest. First if the dog and something were really on fire that entering a house does not protect you. The fire would just need to come near enough the house to set it on fire. The fire must be an illusion. Look like fire but is fake like you might see October 31

http://www.ehow.com/how_2099963_make-fake-fire.html and http://www.themebuilders.com/effects/howtobuildafakefire.html

Second It always happens at night. If the friendly dog  is the fire beast, turning out the lights should show that.

No this looks to me like setting the stage as in setting up the effects of the fire say the 'footprints' and then the "fire"

this is a question of order

[PokerFace312]

...............There's a reason why I usually avoid this part of the forums.....

[Chekhov MacGuffin]

...............There's a reason why I usually avoid this part of the forums.....

Care to explain?

[Abs.]

It's like wandering in a dark alley at night.  You know you shouldn't do it, but sooner or later everyone ends up in one.  Changed forever.

[caribou]

...............There's a reason why I usually avoid this part of the forums.....

why? it's fun to speculate and make guesses! (and read others' guesses too)

i like your sig btw. :p

[a-sheen]

I think the culprit is the doctor.
And by the way, sorry if I'm being ignorant or anything but, is the Demon dog in the current arc really red?

[Chekhov MacGuffin]

I think the culprit is the doctor.
And by the way, sorry if I'm being ignorant or anything but, is the Demon dog in the current arc really red?

I dunno, I wish we knew because the flame color would provide hints about the composition of the burning stuff.

[a-sheen]

Oh right, I thought Demon dogs are supposed to be red. (I saw a post saying that the case should be "The Red Demon Dog Case")

[Kor]

Oh right, I thought Demon dogs are supposed to be red. (I saw a post saying that the case should be "The Red Demon Dog Case")

That was just a joke. Gosho has the tendency to use the color red for many cases, and from the start this case had the potential to be really long like the red wall case.