Demon Dog Case (734-740)

[Chekhov MacGuffin]

But here - are you ruling out an actual dog completely?  It's hard to think that everyone, especially Conan and Heiji, would refer to there being an actual dog if it was just an illusion.  If it was just an illusion, then: 1) Conan and Heiji are just playing dumb for the sake of eavesdroppers, 2) the entire cabin setup was a fake (although we can pretty much count on this being the case, as far as the black magic is concerned), and 3) Hachi wasn't growling at another dog, but at Tomoaki, who should have been missed if he went outside.  It's Hachi's reaction that I think points at there being another dog...  One that is perhaps called with the aforementioned dog whistle - and catches Hachi's attention as well.

Yeah, I've decided that an actual dog isn't a necessity as the dragged object can be done entirely without the use of a dog. An actual dog could be used with a trick I suggested earlier. Tomoaki caring for another dog may explain why he gets barked at like you said. If there is no dog, Tomoaki could be taking Hachi and feeding him in the cabin to provide extra evidence that there is a real dog, or he could have faked the scene entirely.

It's also odd to think that Miyuki would be the culprit, or even an accomplice, if she's the one giving both us readers and Heiji/Conan a lot of the information we need to "solve" the case - that is, she's the one giving up information about the Inubushi children (reactions to dogs, names) that, when analyzed, is damning for her.

The foremost reason I find her suspcious is Saki's death. Something was probably dragged in that case too, and whatever was dragged had to be set alight somehow. As you suggested, Saki would have noticed if she was dragging something earlier. The question is what happened to the burning thing being dragged and if there was something used to set it alight? I am presuming Tomoaki's alibi (administering fluids to Satomi) was valid since someone may see him and Satomi could possibly talk if she could walk at a later point so lying about it carries too much risk.  That leaves Miyuki to remove the evidence from the bike or the cliff since she was the only one in position to tamper who is suspect. (I'm ignoring Takako who is probably innocent).  Then again, Tomoaki may have chose to lie about what he was doing since Satomi implicated him.
Another reason is Miyuki told Ran and Kazuha to feed the dog and stay and wait there until the dog was done eating which struck me as a strange request. This appearance of the demon dog in this case was likely intended to scare and not be lethal and would be ideal to target at the friends of the detective as a diversion. It isn't necessary for Miyuki to be an accomplice since Tomoaki could have been listening in in order to time the dog's appearance and the scare tactic may be targeted at anyone, Inubushi family or not. Finally Miyuki knew the pool was bottomless which means she likely investigated it at some point, and thus knew it was useful for Tomoaki's trick although he could know himself.

Now that I go through it, I guess it isn't strictly necessary Tamoaki had Miyuki as an accomplice. He could do it himself. I can see the case go either way. In any case, Tomoaki is definitely the one doing most of the murder work and thus has my vote. Shinichi might have let Tomoaki talk to him because he had a medical issue and Tomoaki was a doctor.

Ever see "candle lights? ...  When Ran and kazuha wanted to go out they were temp stopped.
http://www.buy.com/prod/color-changing-led-candle-lights-set-of-4/q/listingid/86282837/loc/66357/212428365.html
Flame mode

Yeah, that wouldn't work for the reasons I already explained above. You need to thick more critically about the implications of your theories.

Spoiler:

Unless Heiji and Conan were suddenly temporarily turned into idiots, it is impossible that they couldn't tell the difference between real fire and fake fire in this scene at this range.

Edit: Ah yes, by the way!  It may be possible that "屋根裏の猫," or "The Cat in the Attic" is significant, but alas I have no idea what the hell that refers to.

I thought it was a tipoff for the Satomi Hakkenden name theming thing or the "Jin Gi Rei Chi Chuu Shin Kou Tei" ordering thing for the juzu beads. What do you think?
Now that I think about it, it probably deals with the dog trick rather than the naming thing...

[sstimson]

But here - are you ruling out an actual dog completely?  It's hard to think that everyone, especially Conan and Heiji, would refer to there being an actual dog if it was just an illusion.  If it was just an illusion, then: 1) Conan and Heiji are just playing dumb for the sake of eavesdroppers, 2) the entire cabin setup was a fake (although we can pretty much count on this being the case, as far as the black magic is concerned), and 3) Hachi wasn't growling at another dog, but at Tomoaki, who should have been missed if he went outside.  It's Hachi's reaction that I think points at there being another dog...  One that is perhaps called with the aforementioned dog whistle - and catches Hachi's attention as well.

Yeah, I've decided that an actual dog isn't a necessity as the dragged object can be done entirely without the use of a dog. An actual dog could be used with a trick I suggested earlier. Tomoaki caring for another dog may explain why he gets barked at like you said. If there is no dog, Tomoaki could be taking Hachi and feeding him in the cabin to provide extra evidence that there is a real dog, or he could have faked the scene entirely.

It's also odd to think that Miyuki would be the culprit, or even an accomplice, if she's the one giving both us readers and Heiji/Conan a lot of the information we need to "solve" the case - that is, she's the one giving up information about the Inubushi children (reactions to dogs, names) that, when analyzed, is damning for her.

The foremost reason I find her suspcious is Saki's death. Something was probably dragged in that case too, and whatever was dragged had to be set alight somehow. As you suggested, Saki would have noticed if she was dragging something earlier. The question is what happened to the burning thing being dragged and if there was something used to set it alight? I am presuming Tomoaki's alibi (administering fluids to Satomi) was valid since someone may see him and Satomi could possibly talk if she could walk at a later point so lying about it carries too much risk.  That leaves Miyuki to remove the evidence from the bike or the cliff since she was the only one is position to who is suspect. (I'm ignoring Takako who is probably innocent).  Then again, Tomoaki may have chose to lie about what he was doing since Satomi implicated him.
Another reason is Miyuki told Ran and Kazuha to feed the dog and stay and wait there until the dog was done eating which struck me as a strange request. This appearance of the demon dog in this case was likely intended to scare and not be lethal and would be ideal to target at the friends of the detective as a diversion. It isn't necessary for Miyuki to be an accomplice since Tomoaki could have been listening in in order to time the dog's appearance and the scare tactic may be targeted at anyone, Inubushi family or not. Finally Miyuki knew the pool was bottomless which means she likely investigated it at some point, and thus knew it was useful for Tomoaki's trick although he could know himself.

Now that I go through it, I guess it isn't strictly necessary Tamoaki had Miyuki as an accomplice. He could do it himself. I can see the case go either way. In any case, Tomoaki is definitely the one doing most of the murder work and thus has my vote. Shinichi might have let Tomoaki talk to him because he had a medical issue and Tomoaki was a doctor.

Ever see "candle lights? ...  When Ran and kazuha wanted to go out they were temp stopped.
http://www.buy.com/prod/color-changing-led-candle-lights-set-of-4/q/listingid/86282837/loc/66357/212428365.html
Flame mode

Yeah, that wouldn't work for the reasons I already explained above. You need to thick more critically about the implications of your theories.

Spoiler:

Unless Heiji and Conan's were suddenly temporarily turned into idiots, it is impossible that they couldn't tell the difference between real fire and fake fire in this scene at this range.

I also talked about that earlier. About this being a stage. I believe the after effects are setup before hand. Note all these happen at night Why not during the day. Your drag trick would work during the day. But it not happening during the day It happens at night. Saki  I think was setup to look to her like a burning dog was approaching her from the side thus she would forget the cliff and go over. The trick effects do not need to be connected by the illusion. Note no one has said anything about increase in temperature. Ran should have noticed it getting warmer, but she said nothing about that. So hot fire is out. This looks like a burning dog without any burning or heat.

You know a little about how the mind works right. If you look for something you were told is there , you are biased to see it that way, and buy into the illusion. Have they ever looked at these sites during the day? Also note that the cloth found had no signs or oil or being burned.

Also major clues point to fourth and I leave it at that. Also changing the me to ne part. Where you on that. Does anyone know the age of the first two victims?

[caribou]

mehh I am completely lost with the Japanese names/characters and the 'me to ne' and 'Cat In The Attic' so I'll stay out of that altogether... i'm kind of wondering if the piece of white cloth is actually a ruse by Conan/Heiji, because they know the residents of the house are listening and want the culprit to be worried and trap them into doing something?

[Kaitokidlabmult]

Satomi although I do not know how.

[GinRei]

My question now is whatever is being dragged dropping the compound at intervals to make the flaming footprints, or was the compound prelaid out and ignited when the dragged object was being pulled over it. Thoughts?

Prelaid is my guess.  Otherwise it doesn't explain why there wasn't any "footprint" where Kazuha fell.

It's also odd to think that Miyuki would be the culprit, or even an accomplice, if she's the one giving both us readers and Heiji/Conan a lot of the information we need to "solve" the case - that is, she's the one giving up information about the Inubushi children (reactions to dogs, names) that, when analyzed, is damning for her.

Wouldn't be the first time.  Hello, Mermaid Island's Kimie!

i'm kind of wondering if the piece of white cloth is actually a ruse by Conan/Heiji, because they know the residents of the house are listening and want the culprit to be worried and trap them into doing something?

If the cloth didn't actually have anything to do with it, I doubt the culprit would suddenly start being afraid that they found a piece of cloth that has nothing to do with them.  In fact, they'd probably be elated.

[Kleene Onigiri]

I also think that the doc is the culprit.
Once because he was attacked by the demon dog. And on the other hand, he's a doctor, so he's able to get in contact with chemicals. He could steal some from the hospital he works at. (but nowadays everyone can get chemicals somehow :x)

I dunno about the names, letter and japanes stuff. Since I can't speak Japanese myself :3

But I had an idea how the flaming prints were made. I surfed the net to find a way to make fire without a lighter.

Well, one answer was pretty simple actually D: Matches. [iurl=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Match]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Match[/iurl]
There are different types of matches. Some with sulfur some with phosphor. But the ones used nowadays seem to have sulfur in it. And that would explain the "onion smell" which would be probably sulfur.
If you ignite a match it also make this "crackle" sound and is "waving" around first. And the the flame gets stable.
And you just need to rub it to ignite it too. So maybe the "dog" or a person or a object (bike) could ignite those prepared places.
The only thing is, that he culprit has to prepare the ground beforehand.

It doesn't have to be a real match on the ground. The culprit could place the substance used for matches as plates (or something similar) on the ground and ignite it with rubbing it. Or he could ignite some flammable liquid that way.

(hope I didn't make many mistakes in my text. It's 5 am here XD)

[Chekhov MacGuffin]

I think Aoyama left a plothole or three with this resolution. *headdesk*

[Abs.]

I guess it did turn out to be lame, huh?  I've only accidentally-looked at the Chinese...  

[Nyarl]

I think Aoyama left a plothole or three with this resolution. *headdesk*

I'll wait for the translation before judging. I do find it impossible to believe firecrackers completely explain the left-over tracks from other incidents. Hopefully Conan and Heiji somehow got the dog off the track with the prepared fuel (or the culprit didn't have time to prepare it this time). I was expecting the dog to look different once the trick was revealed, either less like it were in flames or less like it were really a dog...

[Abs.]

What firecrackers?

Also, sorry for the lates, C.  It exists now.

Someone let me know if I screwed anything up horribly.  

Also I decided to just use the pronunciations vs. the meanings for some of the kanji...  It made more "English sense" that way.  It's pretty retarded to try to explain a Japanese kanji character case using only English.  If I was bored out of my mind I might look over some of the other files in the case with the names and see if it all makes any sort of sense in the end to an English reader, but...............

[Nyarl]

Spoiler: 740

Not sure I get the reason why where Kazuha fell didn't have scorch marks. The lighters were covered in enough dirt to block the outlets? All the grass/weeds were scraped away so they wouldn't be there for the lighters to scorch?  What happened to the point that the flames themselves got larger at they neared the cliff? Presumably grass/weeds were enough fuel for fire to linger once the lighters were dragged off (very doubtful for that large a proportion of the tracks, IMO)... Aoyama didn't mess up at first and think butane could pool {outside the lighters}, did he? (Or do the Japanese not use butane for their lighters?)

[Abs.]

Spoiler:

I think, yeah, that's what he meant...  The dirt blocked the outlets and/or covered the lighters.

And I got no clue for the flames getting larger (or the flaming dog appearing to get bigger, although that is probably just an illusion due to fear).

[Chekhov MacGuffin]

Not sure I get the reason why where Kazuha fell didn't have scorch marks. The lighters were covered in enough dirt to block the outlets? All the grass/weeds were scraped away so they wouldn't be there for the lighters to scorch?  What happened to the point that the flames themselves got larger at they neared the cliff? Presumably grass/weeds were enough fuel for fire to linger once the lighters were dragged off (very doubtful for that large a proportion of the tracks, IMO)... Aoyama didn't mess up at first and think butane could pool {outside the lighters}, did he? (Or do the Japanese not use butane for their lighters?)

I didn't think there was enough grass at the cliffside to  burn in such a consistent pattern. The road looked like mostly dirt. That's what led me to believe in the first place that an outside fuel source that wasn't grass was necessary. It would have been very nice if Heiji said the grass was burning so we had some idea of what the fuel was.
Also there's no explanation why the tracks on the cliff were further apart towards the end...

Also why wouldn't have Kazuha and Ran said something about the fire spots moving away from them as the dog dragged off the lighter chain if they saw it sparking and jumping from the pulling. Also, how in the bloody heck did the girls not notice lighters on the ground when they walked out? Also, why did they not notice the dog pulling away the chain of fire even if its lights were off?

Using cloth strips for the fake fire is OK, I would have used actual fog/smoke with a switch-offable generator tied to the collar because it would have looked more realistic.

It would have been nice if Conan and Hattori had described the approximate weight or size of the item being dragged. You can tell from the tracks. There is no reason for them not to.

Also, I'm highly skeptical a wire mesh enclosed charcoal attached to the dog's tail would have worked well enough to light the lighters. The dog would have had to be damn precise when running and somehow random motion must not have influenced the dragging charcoal thing which is unlikely. Also passing over in a rush wouldn't have worked out so well at all because any wind would dilute the gas leaking from the lighters to the point where they wouldn't light.

I forgot to point out that Kogoro solved the bloody wordplay pretty much on his own. I suppose Ran got attacked which makes it serious business, and he still fell for the real culprit's trap, but that's better than his usual effort.

[Detective Prince]

This was a long and confusing case and now Dc won't be back for two weeks =/

[Abs.]

I didn't think there was enough grass at the cliffside to  burn in such a consistent pattern. The road looked like mostly dirt. That's what led me to believe in the first place that an outside fuel source that wasn't grass was necessary. It would have been very nice if Heiji said the grass was burning so we had some idea of what the fuel was.

Heiji did say the grass was burning.

Also, how in the bloody heck did the girls not notice lighters on the ground when they walked out? Also, why did they not notice the dog pulling away the chain of fire even if its lights were off?

It was dark out, so they didn't notice the lighters.  Remember that it was only the GAS switch from the lighter that was held in the "on" position.  Like when you have a Bic lighter and you only depress the black part.

So the fire wouldn't have moved away...  Only the lighters would have, you know?