Akikawa Kyusuke's statement is undoubtedly contrary to Conan and Sera Masumi's reasoning.
It also raised the vigilance of the two detectives.
'If the killer is really Okawa Takao, then there is no reason why he wouldn't open the door for Akikawa.'
'Could it be that some accident occurred that prevented Takao Ohga from opening the door for Akikawa?'
Conan's thoughts were disturbed by Akikawa Kyousuke's words, and for a while, he couldn't understand the development of the situation.
Both detectives felt that something was wrong.
Then, I quickly entered the exhibition room of Hota Yoshitoki.
Several detectives were standing in front of the closed door to Hotta Yoshitoki's personal room.
"I knocked on the door, but there was no answer."
"And the room was locked from the inside. There should be someone inside."
"But we've been shouting for a long time, and we haven't gotten any response."
Megure Juzo told Sera Masumi and Conan.
Sera Masumi walked up to the door and found that there was nothing wrong after checking it.
"It is actually locked."
She also tried to open the door with gloves.
It turned out that, just as Akikawa Kousuke and Megure Juzo had said, the door could not be opened.
"Something's wrong."
Sera Masumi whispered softly.
To prevent the clues from being destroyed, Sera Masumi decided not to break the door violently.
Instead, they waited until the official festival staff arrived with the keys, and then police officers with sophisticated equipment stepped forward to open the door.
A group of criminal police officers searching for the three series of criminals held their breath and prepared.
Sera Masumi and Conan also hid to the side to avoid potential gunfire.
Finally.
The detective responsible for opening the door turned the key twice and opened it.
A group of heavily armed detectives rushed in.
However, what they saw in front of them surprised many people.
What they saw was a man lying on the ground.
The man was dying, as if he had exhausted all his strength and collapsed.
His cheeks were covered with traces of tears and mucus, and there was a puddle of vomit on the man's clothes and the floor beside him.
Sera Masumi recognized at a glance that it was Takao Ohga, who had worked with him to administer first aid to Kosaka Tsunekazu the night before.
However, his embarrassed appearance now was very different from his appearance yesterday.
Megure Juzo quickly sent the police to arrest Takao Ohga and search him.
However, no gun was found on Takao Ohga.
After confirming that Takao Ohga was incapable of acting, Megure Juzo ordered the police to lower their guard. After calling an ambulance, they sent people to search the room.
'Not like poisoning, but more like withdrawal symptoms.'
Sera Masumi looked at Takao Ohga's appearance and made a judgment.
She thought to herself and then turned to look at Conan.
They saw Conan bringing his fist to his mouth, looking at Takao Ohga on the floor, making a thoughtful gesture.
Then Conan raised his head, looked at Sera Masumi, and nodded toward her.
The two detectives made the same judgment—
What Takao Ohga was showing at that moment were withdrawal symptoms.
"Officer Megure!"
At that moment, a voice sounded from a police officer who was searching the room.
Everyone looked at him and saw the officer looking at the back of a cabinet in the room.
Megure Juzo approached and saw a gun hidden behind the cabinet.
Megure Juzo was surprised and quickly took the gun to confirm.
Then he removed the bullet and, after looking at it repeatedly, said in a deep voice:
"This is a Sig Sauer P226, 9mm caliber. The bullet is also the same bullet that killed Ryo Sogabe and Miho Soma. At least, this should be. It's the murder weapon."
Then, Megure Juzo handed the gun to the forensic officer standing by to compare fingerprints.
The striation must be sent to the laboratory for comparison, so there is no way to do it right now.
During this period, Sera Masumi had been observing Okawa Takao's reaction.
But she discovered that Takao Ohga did not react at all when he heard the police say they had found a gun.
'Why is he so calm? Does he trust that no trace of him will be found on the gun?'
Sera Masumi thought to herself.
At the same time.
Another detective who was searching the room made another discovery.
He found a cardboard box and a syringe in a glove compartment of the room.
There were also many vials containing liquid inside the box.
Sera Masumi glanced at it and sighed in relief after seeing the label on the vial.
"Medicinal morphine and naloxone hydrochloride. Indeed, my guess was correct. Kosaka Tsune and some others were abusing opioids."
Sera Masumi's words seemed to strike like lightning in Ohga Takao's mind.
The shock made him dizzy for a moment.
He was a bit confused about the situation.
'Obviously, Kosaka Tsunekazu's autopsy report has not been released yet, why did the previous Akikawa Kyusuke and the current Sera Masumi do it?'
'Did everyone guess so accurately that Kosaka and the others were abusing morphine?!'
Ohga Takao did not understand at all what made Sera Masumi realize the clues.
He opened his mouth and tried to refute Sera Masumi's words.
But he was unable to refute.
Because once he spoke, it would be equivalent to admitting that he knew about Kosaka and his morphine abuse.
"Then I don't understand."
"How did it end up like this?"
Megure Juzo made a confused sound. He looked at Takao Ohga lying on the ground like a corpse and felt puzzled in his heart.
According to Sera Masumi's earlier reasoning, this Takao should be the killer.
But as the killer, why does it seem like he was killed now?
"There must have been an accident."
Sera Masumi said.
"Before the door was opened, the room was always in a 'locked' or 'secret room' state."
"In this case, unless the movie exhibition staff with the key committed the crime, it can only be Takao Ohga himself who caused the current situation."
'!!!'
After hearing this, Takao Ohga suddenly felt a strong sense of dizziness rising to his head.
Given the circumstances at that time, besides locking the door, did he have any other option?
They had deprived me of almost all my mobility due to the morphine and naloxone.
If I hadn't locked the door at that moment,
once someone discovered his condition, the medicines and gun left in the room would immediately reveal the fact that he was the killer.
Not to mention.
At that time, Akikawa also said "See you later," meaning he would soon return to Hotta Yoshitoki's personal room.
And the only thing that can separate him from the devil who seems to have the ability to see through people's hearts is this little door.
But Takao Ohga did not expect this.
He didn't expect the devil to return, but due to his own behavior of locking the door, he distorted the direction of the detectives to solve the case.
'But it doesn't matter. There are no traces of me on either the gun or the pillbox. As long as I kill you and refuse to admit it, they shouldn't be able to do anything to me.'
Takao thought to himself.
(End of Chapter)