Idol's Peril 5

Kogoro was still awake this morning after he pulled an all-nighter. The bizarre death of Akiyoshi Fujie, Yoko Okino's ex-boyfriend, was distracting him from doing anything else.

"So the first point would be the date. Three months ago… that was almost the exact same time Kenichi Katou started harassing Yoko-san. Did he have anything to do with Fujie-san's death?"

Kogoro muttered as he typed sentences, paused, pressed backspace for a second, and started over again. After he was done, he opened a folder Velma sent him. She had just arrived an hour ago, but was already busy helping him crack the old record of the security camera from five adjacent buildings near the ramen restaurant.

"Let me check the CCTV again…"

Kogoro opened the recording one by one, until he finally found the one he was looking for. It was captured from a 45 angle, and was showing the whole murder scene.

Like Kogoro had deduced before, Mr. Sugimoto was nowhere to be found when a drunk Akiyoshi Fujie appeared on the screen. He walked along the pavement, and stopped when he was right in front of the ramen shop. He stood above the drainage cover. The black-haired man then looked around, and checked his wristwatch, before he put his hands in his trouser's pockets. He looked up at the restaurant's banner, and Kogoro could see him rubbing his stomach, clearly feeling hungry.

About two minutes later, a flash of light illuminated the street, and then a brick came flying from the building beside the ramen store. Looking at the arc it flew, the culprit had probably used the street lamp's pole as the axis of the rope tying the brick.

Sure enough, the brick hit home, and bounced off Akiyoshi Fujie's head. The burly man's body was thrown several feet away, and he went down unconscious, blood pouring from the wound.

The murder weapon fell opposite of the victim's body, and Kogoro could see it was jerked to release the knot tying it. The culprit then pulled the loose rope from somewhere in the building, and then made themselves scarce from there.

"Huuufff… So that's how. Then they probably called Sugimoto-san using an unknown number, framing the man for the murder." Kogoro finally relaxed on his seat, and stretched his tight back muscles from sitting too long.

Kogoro picked up his phone, and called Miwako about the case. As he waited for her to pick up the call, Kogoro wondered about the identity of the culprit.

"If I'm not wrong, then that person would be the most suspicious. If only I have the evidence…"

***

"If it turns out to be wrong, I'm going to make sure you pay for waking me up at this hour!" Miwako grumpily said as she entered the Mouri Detective Agency. Kogoro, as always, did not take her threat seriously.

"Come on, Miwako! weren't you the one who said that if I have any leads to a case, I should call you straight away?"

Miwako snorted, "Yes, but I'm talking about current cases, not the ones we already solve!"

Kogoro simply gestured to his computer, "You see for yourself then!"

Irritated by him ignoring her words, Miwako walked past him to see the screen. She sat down on his seat, and pressed the play button to start the video. But the more she watched, the more grave her expression became.

"Is this… from a security camera? I see… so that's what actually happened…"

Kogoro stood beside her, "If the ramen shop's waitress did not say anything about the strange sound she heard, I wouldn't investigate this either. Furthermore, I think my current client had something to do with this case."

Miwako raised her eyebrow, and asked, "Who is your client?"

Kogoro shrugged helplessly, "It's the Idol, Yoko Okino!"

Miwako's gaped, before she scrutinized Kogoro. "What's with you and female Idols? You already have that Yuko Ikezawa, but now you want to add Yoko Okino?"

The private eye grimaced, "I swear to whatever god you believe, I don't have that kind of intention with her! And besides, I already told you she might have something to do with the murder case! I also have a standard, you know!"

Miwako just stared at him, clearly unimpressed by his last sentence. "Hinata Yamashina, that name rings a bell?"

Kogoro sweated profusely, trying to come up with something to distract his lover. Luckily, he managed to come up with one!

"Anyway, I called you because I didn't know what happened inside the building where those bigwigs from the entertainment industry had a party at the same time the murder happened. I think they used offline storage instead of using cloud service."

Miwako hummed, before she replied, "I can do that. but you have to share what you find with me!"

Kogoro chuckled, "Of course! In exchange, just mention my name to Megure-keibu! I have a feeling he was mad at me about what I did to that kidnapper."

Miwako's expression turned devious, "Ooh, he was truly mad, indeed…"

Kogoro sweatdropped, and finally said, "Okay… Let me know if you find something, I need to search the building where the culprit threw the brick from."

The two of them went separate ways. Miwako drove her car to the police headquarters, while Kogoro walked down the street to the beetle parked near the intersection. He opened the door to the passenger seat, and was greeted by the visibly vibrating Velma.

"Kogoro~"

Kogoro chuckled, and leaned over to give her a kiss. She reciprocated, and he deepened the kiss before cutting it short.

"Let's go! If the date you got from Kenichi Katou's message history is true, then we need to hurry before we miss the important meeting!"

Velma furiously nodded, still flushed from the kiss. They fastened their seatbelt, and the car accelerated down the street, to the familiar direction that Kogoro had taken many times before.

The one and only Futamata Hotel!

'Just you wait, Kenichi Katou! Whatever shady deal you are having, I'll definitely catch you red handed!"

~To Be Continued~

-

-

A/N: The thunderstorm just didn't stop. I couldn't access the internet for more than 15 hours. My apologies to those who waited for the update!

My gratitude to my patrons Dragon_knight240, phil, XOL, and to all of you loyal readers of KMPE!

Keep nuttin'!

segalengko69