episodes 286—288 — suzume's new york case
Ran slowly began to wake up from her spot in the backseat of the car. She blinked slowly and looked off to the side, her eyes widening as she saw the Statue of Liberty in the distance. "Wait a second... Isn't that—!"
"The Statue of Liberty," Suzume answered in English, glancing over her shoulder from her spot in the passenger seat. "In Japan, it's called Jiyu no Megumi. Though, from my last visit, I've heard New Yorkers call her Miss Liberty."
"For goodness sake, why didn't you wake me up?" Ran asked, frowning. "I was really looking forward to seeing the night view of the city from the Brooklyn Bridge!" She whined. "And look, we're almost at the end of the bridge already!"
Suzume smiled nervously, looking back at Ran. "If you had tried to get some sleep on the plane, you wouldn't have fallen asleep on the drive."
"How could I sleep after that last case?" Ran asked her. "I'm not like some people who can fall fast asleep after being satisfied they solved a case."
"That wasn't the only reason I fell asleep, you know," Suzume grumbled to herself.
"Just listen to you two, this romantic view of the city would charm every couple in the world," Yukiko mused, making them look at her. "Are you two having a lover's spat? How I envy you."
Suzume sighed. "This is your fault, Mom," she groaned. "We weren't supposed to get to New York until tomorrow, but the minute we arrived in LA, you made us get on another plane for New York!"
"I didn't have a choice. I wanted to see this musical. I didn't think I could get the tickets, but I did," Yukiko explained happily.
Suzume paused. "I'm sorry, did you say musical?"
Yukiko hummed before pointing at a sign on top of a taxi cab. "That one, see?"
Both girls looked over and saw the words "Golden Apple" on the sign in English.
"I heard it's pretty popular right now," Suzume said, tilting her head.
"That's right. Broadway's Phantom Theater, 8 PM," Yukiko told them and giggled. "I'm so excited!"
Police sirens filled the air as several police cars drove the opposite way the Kudos and Mouri were going.
"There sure seem to be a lot of police cars on the road tonight, don't you think?" Ran wondered.
Suzume sighed. "Probably going after that slasher," she said.
Ran gave her an alarmed look. "Slasher?"
"I heard the slasher's Japanese and only goes after young women," Suzume recalled. She liked to keep up to date on what was going on everywhere, not just in Japan. She supposed it was a habit her father got her into.
"You don't have to worry. He only appears after midnight," Yukiko reassured Ran. "You won't run into him as long as we get back to the hotel by then. Besides, it isn't even 6 PM yet."
Suzume glanced at her watch. "Don't you mean 7 PM? We're on daylight savings time now."
"Eh?" Yukiko checked her own watch before letting out a surprised noise. "Oh, no! It slipped my mind completely! Starting the first Sunday in April, we set our clocks one hour ahead, don't we? Oh, no!"
"What's got you panicking like that?" Suzume frowned with concern. "It'll only take about forty minutes to get to Broadway from here. And it's not even 7 PM, so we'll get there with plenty of time left."
"You don't understand, I promised to meet the person who got the tickets for me," Yukiko told her daughter, who blinked. "I'm supposed to get to see the dressing rooms if I get there one hour before the curtain goes up."
Suzume smiled nervously. "You might have to forget about it, Mom. I don't know if this car will get you there in time."
"Now you've done it, Suzume," Yukiko said seriously, and Suzume got a really bad feeling in her gut about what was about to happen. "Ran-chan, grit your teeth and hang on tight."
"Okay, sure."
Suzume nervously grabbed the sides of her seat as her mother went on.
"The people at the Jaguar company put everything into this E-type when they built it," Yukiko said and chuckled. "Never underestimate me." She shifted gears and pressed down on the accelerator, speeding up the car exponentially as she began to weave through traffic.
Suzume just had a look on her face that screamed, "I'm done." She was all too used to her mother's brand of driving. "Mom, wasn't this car in the shop last month for repairs? You literally got it back just the other day."
"Don't worry. The mechanic was a pro. The car works like a dream," Yukiko said. "The 267 horsepower engine won at LeMans." She shifted gears once more and the car began going faster as she pressed down on the accelerator.
Both Ran and Suzume let out noises of shock as they were pushed into their seats.
"Should you really be doing this with all of the police cars around?" Suzume asked.
"I don't care. They were in the opposite lane. While they're admiring this beauty of a car, we'll disappear from sight," Yukiko said, not at all concerned. "By the way, will you and Ran do that thing you always do?"
Suzume deadpanned as her mother gave her a wink before turning to Ran. "I hate to ask this, but could you come up here?"
"Okay? What is it?"
Suzume smiled wanly. "Trust me, okay? It's only scary at the beginning..."
"I guess so..." Ran moved to get to the front seat when a sudden turn sent Ran into Suzume's lap.
Suzume rolled down the window and sat on the door, pulling Ran close to her. "Don't panic, okay?"
Ran opened her mouth to say something before grabbing onto Suzume's shoulders as Yukiko tilted the car onto its two right wheels as it made a turn. They quickly got back inside the car as the car went back onto all four wheels.
"What the hell was that?!" Ran shouted, making Suzume lean away from her with a sheepish smile. "Are you crazy?!"
"You already know the answer for that, Ran!"
"Not! Funny!"
~ — — — ~
Yukiko parked the car in front of the Phantom Theater. "It's exactly an hour before the curtain goes up," she said in satisfaction. "I told you we'd get here in time. No problem."
Her little party was interrupted by a police car pulling up behind them with lights flashing.
"I guess I was wrong..."
The police officer walked over and tapped on the window with his baton. Once the window was lowered, he said in English, "Your license and registration, please!"
"Okay, okay!" Yukiko quickly did so, handing them over.
"You were going 40 miles over the speed limit," the officer informed her. "Who do you think you are, Dirty Harry?"
"Oh, we were in a hurry," Yukiko told him sheepishly and Suzume sighed from her seat.
"You look familiar."
"Ah, well..."
"You might have met her on another case," a man interrupted, walking over. "Because she works with us."
"Captain!"
"She is an undercover agent," the captain said. "It looks like the criminal got away from her this time, though."
"Who is he?" Suzume asked quietly.
"Radish. Yusaku met him when he solved a case," Yukiko told her. "That's how they became friends. He's a captain on the New York police force. His name's Radish Redwood! His Japanese is pretty good since his wife's from Japan."
Suzume hummed.
~ — — — ~
As it turned out, it wasn't Captain Radish Redwood who helped Yukiko out of a speeding ticket, but her friend, Sharon Vineyard. Suzume easily recognized her name since she sent her books for every birthday and Christmas. She sent pretty good books, too.
Apparently, Yukiko and Sharon studied under a magician to learn the art of disguise, and Sharon got good enough at it that she could mimic a person's voice. Suzume was thoroughly impressed when she learned that.
After they parked the car, Sharon led them inside the building to the dressing rooms. She opened a door to a room that had three actresses in their costumes.
Lila Sanchez smiled. "Sharon is here. You came to see us, after all!"
"I guess our coach does tell the truth sometimes," Akane Nielson said.
"How exciting!" Rose Hewitt cheered. "I'm so happy! This is like a dream!"
The three women crowded around Sharon and Suzume raised an eyebrow, looking faintly amused. I see. When we see them just before the show, they're already in makeup and in costume.
"They all adore her, don't they?" Ran said.
"Yes, they do," Yukiko agreed. "She knows their troupe leader very well. When she said she wanted to come and give them her support, she was handed the tickets, just like that."
Akane looked at Yukiko. "Is that who I think it is?"
"It sure is." Sharon smiled. "The people's favorite female private investigator."
"Night Baroness!"
"At your service!" Yukiko smiled at them.
"Night Baroness?" Ran repeated, confused.
"It's her nickname here," Suzume told her. "Because she's married to Kudo Yusaku, the author of the Night Baron series. And being married to a mystery writer, Mom once appeared as a guest on a special investigative program on television here." She smiled. "She analyzed a crime and everything she said fit. The criminal was arrested almost immediately. That's how she became so popular and got the nickname Night Baroness."
Ran hummed.
Suzume then sweatdropped, looking off to the side. "But no one knew she only repeated what Dad mumbled as he read the newspaper every morning..." She chuckled nervously.
"You mean those two are your children?" Rose asked Yukiko, looking at the two teenagers.
"Ah, the one in the black jacket is, the other isn't," Yukiko corrected. Though maybe Ran'll become family in the future...
"Well, well," a voice from the doorway said. She was Iberis Hamilton. "I thought the Night Baroness was here to solve the mystery of the strange parcel. But I see she's only come to gossip and she's even brought her kids with her. I'm so disappointed."
Suzume frowned. "Strange parcel?"
"That's right," Sharon said. "A package was sent to the troupe three days ago. It was an apple sprayed with a gold coating, a golden apple. There was a message inside written in animal blood that said, "To the most beautiful woman"."
I see, Yukiko thought, putting her hand to her chin. So that explains the ominous feeling I got when I walked into this dressing room.
An actor, Heath Flockhart, walked into the room. "Just calm down, my lovelies," he said. "I'm sure it was just somebody's idea of a joke."
"But, Heath..."
"Who's that?" Yukiko asked Sharon.
"That's Heath Flockhart, the star of this theatrical group," Sharon answered. "But tonight is his last performance because he got a role to star in a movie."
"Okay, everybody cheer up," he continued. "Let's all give Sharon and her friends the backstage tour."
~ — — — ~
"Are you sure it's all right?" Yukiko asked. "The show starts in forty minutes, maybe we shouldn't be bothering them."
"Don't worry about it," Sharon assured her. "The first twenty minutes will be a narration. A narrator will just go on and on about Greek mythology."
Ran looked up and paused. "What's that up there?"
Everyone else looked up as well. "Oh, that," Sharon hummed. "They're stage costumes. They have it suspended up there, so it doesn't get in the way."
Ran made a noise as she saw something shiny fly through the air and something began to fall. "Look out!"
"Armor!" Suzume gasped.
Everyone scattered, except for Rose, whose dress got stuck on a no-smoking sign. The actress screamed as Suzume saw that the armor was heading straight for her. Making a split-second decision, she ran over and pushed her out of the way with the armor hitting where Rose once stood.
"Suzume!" Ran gasped, running over to where Suzume sat on her legs with Rose staring at the armor, shellshocked. "Are you okay?"
Suzume nodded. "Yeah." She looked back at the armor with narrowed eyes.
"I knew it was me!" Rose gasped. "Somebody wants to kill me!"
"I don't think so," Heath said, inspecting the rope that had been holding the armor up with the other costumes. "The rope snapped because it was worn out."
"Alright, who did this? Who hung that thing up there?" Akane asked.
"Things could've been worse, though," Iberis said. "We're lucky that huge mirror over there didn't break."
Rose smiled, looking at the mirror. "You're right, that mirror's our guardian angel."
"What are you girls talking about?" Sharon interrupted. "You don't owe that mirror or an angel any thanks." She pointed at Suzume with her thumb. "You should thank her."
Suzume blinked as the attention was on her and Rose gasped. "Thank you. I owe you my life!"
"It was nothing," Suzume said, shaking her head with a smile. "I just try to help people when I can."
Heath glanced at his watch. "Hey, we should be getting ready by now," he spoke.
Rose waved. "We'll see you in our dressing room after the show then," she said before all of the actors walked off to prepare for the show.
"Okay," Ran said before looking at Suzume. "Are you sure you're okay?"
Suzume chuckled, patting Ran on the shoulder. "I'm fine, really." She then winced and looked at her wrist to find a scrape. "Okay, maybe not that fine. Looks like I scraped it on the floor."
"Here." Sharon handed her handkerchief to Suzume. "I was right. There is no God, after all. If there was, things wouldn't have turned out so unfairly." She turned to leave before stopping. "I've been meaning to ask—do you like the books I send you?"
Suzume blinked before nodding with a smile. "I do," she replied. "I reread them on occasion. They're good books."
Sharon smiled in satisfaction. "Yukiko, I'm going home."
"Weren't you going to watch the show?" Yukiko frowned.
"Yes, I had intended to, but something important's come up," Sharon told her. "Besides, I've heard it's going to storm tonight, so I'm canceling."
All three women were surprised as Sharon walked away from them.
~ — — — ~
"This is great," Ran whispered as they watched the ballroom scene of the play be acted out. Yukiko watched with rapt attention like Ran while Suzume leaned on the armrest, thinking about Sharon's abrupt leave.
"I knew you'd like it," Yukiko said quietly. "You don't see musicals of such grand scale in Japan." She glanced at her daughter. "What do you think, Suzu-chan?"
Suzume looked over at them and shrugged with an apologetic smile. "Musicals aren't really my thing," she admitted. "But I will agree that it is quite the production they put on."
Yukiko gave a satisfied smile.
"By the way, Sharon-san mentioned this was based on a Greek myth," Ran remembered. "Which one was she talking about?"
"The Golden Apple," Suzume replied. "According to the myth, there were three goddesses: Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite. They had been invited to a banquet, but another goddess named Eris wasn't. Eris, filled with jealousy, sent them a golden apple with a message that read, "To the most beautiful goddess"." She paused for a moment. "Now that I think about it, that sounds exactly like the parcel Sharon talked about earlier."
She shook her head. "Anyway, the three goddesses decided to let the prince of Troy choose which one was the most beautiful. Each vied for his vote by telling him what they'd give him for choosing them. That actor we met, playing the prince, he's the Prince of Troy. The actress playing the rich man's wife is Zeus' wife, Hera, the goddess of marriage who promised to make him the most powerful man on Earth. The headstrong Japanese actress is Athena, the goddess of wisdom, who promised to make him victorious in battle. The actress that had nearly been crushed under the armor earlier is Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty, who promised to give him the most beautiful woman in the world. And finally, the gloomy-looking actress in the previous scene is Eris, the goddess of discord, who sent them the gold apples. Even their names sound similar, now that I think about it..."
Ran hummed in understanding and Suzume continued. "But in this play, money is power, and work is the battle, and romance is the beautiful woman. The golden apple was transformed into a necklace of jewels."
"And then? Who did he choose?" Ran asked.
"Aphrodite," Suzume said. "But that was what eventually caused the battle of Troy."
"But that's a Greek myth. This musical is a little different," Yukiko said, making both teenagers look at her. "You're going to be surprised when you see who that sorry-looking poor prince really is."
"Look! You poor souls," the prince said, now dressed in white robes with white wings. "My name is Michael."
"Michael? Does he mean the angel, Michael?" Ran asked.
"I can see why Sharon didn't stick around," Suzume muttered with a sigh.
"You must heed my words," he continued. Smoke filled the entire room as what sounded like three gunshots rang out, and a red light pointed into the smoke.
Suzume gasped when she heard it and two more rang out. However, everyone else was none-the-wiser as "Michael" was lifted into the air with wires, a dark red spot on the front of the white robes. Blood. Screams of terror filled the entire theater.
"Somebody shot him?" Ran gasped.
"Yes, it looks that way," Yukiko said, narrowing her eyes. "I think it'd be best if we got away from here, too."
"Mom, take care of Ran!" Suzume said as she began to run to the aisle.
"Suzu-chan!"
Suzume ran up to where she believed the shots came from at one of the terrace booths. She growled when she found no one there. "Damn it," she muttered, looking around. She saw a shell casing on the ground. She took a quick picture with her phone before pulling on a glove to pick it up. Her eyes widened as she looked it over. "Isn't this..."
~ — — — ~
"What in the world?" The real Captain Radish Redwood was called to the scene. "I never thought it'd be Heath who'd been shot."
"Do you know him, Captain?" an officer asked.
"My wife is a big fan of his," Redwood replied. "What happened?"
"The performers are waiting in their dressing rooms but the audience all ran off," the officer reported. "He took a bullet in the chest. It's embedded in the wings on his back."
"The wings on his back? You mean this?" Redwood gestured to the wings.
"From the angle of the entry wound, I'd say he was shot from above at a 40-degree angle."
"40 degrees? That's pretty high up."
"Of course it is," Yukiko piped in from the edge of the stage. "The shooter was up there in the balcony seat." She pointed to where she was talking about and walked over. "And he used a laser sight."
"Night Baroness," the officer said.
Redwood smiled. "Well, if it isn't Yukiko. And why are you here?"
She giggled. "I just happened to watch the show," she said. "I never dreamed the musical would turn into a mystery, though. He was shot during the climax where the angel appears, the fireworks went off and smoke filled the stage. The image of the angel in the mirror slides up and at the same time, Heath, dressed as the angel, rises up from behind. It was meant to look surreal, like he had actually flown out the mirror."
"So what you're saying is the shooter shot him from the balcony as he flew up from behind the mirror," Redwood summarized.
"That's right. And then the shooter threw the gun onto the stage to cause a panic. That way, the shooter could get away in the chaos."
"Are you sure about that?" Redwood asked. "About the shooter being on the balcony, I mean."
"Of course I am. Thanks to all the smoke on the stage, I clearly saw a red beam leading from the balcony to the stage," Yukiko said, pointing at said balcony. "Besides, I think my daughter saw it, too."
"Your daughter?"
Yukiko winked. "Yes, she's standing right beside you."
A hand suddenly pinched Redwood's cheek and Suzume blinked, pulling her hand away with an apologetic face. "So he's the real Redwood?"
Redwood pointed at the girl. "Is this your daughter, Suzume, the one you're always bragging about?"
"Yes, isn't she the spitting image of Yusaku and I?" Yukiko giggled. "She's so mischievous, too!"
"Not the time," Suzume sighed.
"Captain, may I have a word?"
Yukiko dragged her daughter over to where Ran was. "Suzu-chan, can't you behave?"
Suzume looked off to the side as she pulled her arm from her mother's grip. "Yeah, yeah."
Redwood turned from his subordinate to the trio of women. "Yukiko, it seems you were right," he said. "There was a suspicious person who bought that seat a month ago in advance. And it seems they couldn't distinguish whether it was a male or female since the person wore a scarf and hat."
Yukiko put a hand to her chin in thought. "That's the shooter. No doubt about it."
Ran frowned. "But why that seat?" she asked. "Is it a good seat? Is it expensive?"
"It's at an angle. It isn't a very good seat, which is why it's cheaper." Suzume sighed. "If someone came with their face hidden and specifically requested that seat, someone would remember them, which is what the shooter would want."
Ran gave her a confused look as Redwood crouched next to the body. "I don't understand." That got their attention. "What are these two strange marks on the deceased's body?"
Yukiko walked over. "Strange marks?"
"Yes, on his neck. Don't they look like burn marks? And there's blood on his right hand."
"Maybe he got it when he grabbed his chest after he got shot," Yukiko suggested.
"No, what puzzles me is the blood on his palm is smeared," Redwood said. "It probably got smeared when he touched something after getting the blood on his hand, but there's no blood on his clothes and it wasn't possible for him to touch anything while he was hanging in mid-air." He looked at Yukiko. "I don't think even you, Night Baroness, can solve that riddle."
"No, I can't. Not yet," she laughed nervously.
"Then, let's ask Yusaku," Redwood said. "I'm sure he'd know."
"No, Yusaku's holed up in a hotel room in Los Angeles now," Yukiko told him.
Redwood scratched his head. "That's too bad. A famous actor's been murdered. What a mess." He crossed his arms. "The murderer got away and on top of that, we don't have a single clue. There's no telling what the people and the chief will say, not to mention his wife."
"Excuse me," Ran interrupted. "Why don't you let Suzume solve this?" Said girl was standing next to the body, staring down at it with a frown on her face.
"Let Suzu-chan do it?" Yukiko repeated. She chuckled nervously. "I don't know. She's still a child and this is a real murder we're talking about."
"But Suzume solved the crime that happened on the airplane," Ran told her.
"Sure, I'll bet that after the criminal was caught, she whispered, "I knew it, it's just as I thought", didn't she?"
Suzume deadpanned from where she stood. "Is that really your mental image of me?" she said under her breath.
"No, she was involved in the investigation from the very start," Ran said.
"She was?"
"Yes. And in the end, she got all the suspects together and began to solve the crime. She acted like she was Holmes or Poirot or something," Ran recounted with a smile. "It was like watching her on the beach nine years ago."
Yukiko smiled fondly. "My Suzu-chan did that?"
Suzume raised an eyebrow and shook her head, smiling at the pride she heard in her mother's voice.
~ — — — ~
Later on, they were walking towards the changing rooms.
"Eh? The murderer is one of those four actresses?" Yukiko said in shock. "I don't believe that."
"Right after the shooting, I went to the balcony seat and found this bullet casing." Suzume held it up in a plastic bag. "It wasn't hot, which proves someone left it up there beforehand."
"But you saw it too, didn't you?" Yukiko asked. "There was a red beam from the balcony seat to the stage."
Suzume stopped, making them all stop as well. "Yeah, it did look like that," she admitted. "But there's no way we could tell where the beam came from and where it was directed. I'm pretty sure that beam came from the stage, not the balcony." She frowned. "It was made to make us think it was coming from up there. What I'm trying to say is, the person who hid their face to reserve that seat and the strange package that arrived was all part of a ruse to make us think someone was going after the actresses."
"Really?" Yukiko murmured as she and Redwood's eyes were dots.
"I see," Redwood added.
Suzume took a few steps forward before crouching down to look at the floor. "There's also this."
Ran looked around. "This is where that suit of armor fell just before the show started," she took note.
"Look at the floor," Suzume requested. They all did as she asked. "There's thin fishing line tied to the nail, and there are markings on the floor beside it. It looks like something was cut." She looked at the suit of armor. "And there's fishing line on the suit of armor that fell, too."
"Are you saying somebody did this deliberately?" Yukiko asked, anger in her voice. Not only did someone do it on purpose, but her daughter had nearly got seriously injured as well!
"That's right. The culprit probably had a blade of some kind attached to their shoe and used it to cut the line, causing the armor to fall," Suzume explained, glancing at her bandaged wrist. "The culprit knew that Sharon's friends—us—would pass through here during our backstage tour. Which means, the culprit is someone who was here to drop the armor and was also one of the performers on stage with Heath. That way, she could aim the beam at the balcony and then shoot him. Anyone of those four actresses could have done it."
"But he's 6'3" tall," Redwood said as Suzume got to her feet. "All of them are under six feet. How could any one of them shoot him from overhead when he is taller than them and on top of that, he was behind the mirror."
"Yes, he's right!" Yukiko said. "Explain that, Suzu-chan!"
Suzume looked away awkwardly. "I haven't figured that bit out," she admitted.
"I see," Yukiko murmured.
~ — — — ~
Apparently, all four of the girls were Heath's lovers. Suzume just wanted to sigh as she looked over at Ran, who smiled sympathetically as she knew her friend's views on love. It seems this case was certainly not going to help change it for the better...
Iberis was married to Heath, Sharon had revealed to Yukiko during their backstage tour. They kept it secret because his popularity would drop if it was revealed they were married. It was after this reveal that Suzume left the changing room, Ran chasing after her.
"Hey, Suzume. Wait a minute," Ran said. They stopped in front of the mirror Rose mentioned was their guardian angel, which Suzume thought was a little odd. "You've figured it out, haven't you? Don't keep me in suspense. Tell me about it."
"Ran, how tall are you?" Suzume asked out of the blue.
"160 centimeters," Ran answered promptly.
"So about 5'3"," Suzume murmured, gazing at the mirror. She held up the pamphlet in her hand. "This is about 12 inches, which is one foot." She held it out to Ran. "Do you mind putting this on your head and standing in front of the mirror?"
Ran took the pamphlet and tilted her head, but did as Suzume asked. "What's this supposed to prove, Suzume?"
"I'm looking for a clue," Suzume admitted. "See, up over there. There's a small crack in the mirror."
Ran moved away and looked. "That's strange. This mirror's been with the troupe for years, it's their guardian spirit." Suzume frowned at that. "Sharon told me they took good care of it because they thought it'd be bad luck if it got cracked."
Suzume leaned to the side, eyes narrowed. "Hey now. It looks like it's been patched!" She glanced at Ran doubtfully. "Are you sure they take good care of it?" Suzume looked at the curtain and frowned, walking over. "Don't you think this curtain's a little crooked?"
"Somebody might've bumped into it when they were trying to get to safety," Ran reasoned, knowing this was a good way for Suzume to work out what might've happened.
Suzume looked at the grate on the ground and saw something strange. "A feather? How'd it get stuck there?" She crouched down next to it. "This cover of the flooring isn't used for anything." She pulled on a glove and lifted the cover, her eyes widening. Two red lines were there. "Blood."
She smirked. I see. So that's how it was done... They used that stage prop to commit the crime.
~ — — — ~
Redwood has the four actresses in their positions in front of the mirror when the murder took place. "From this position, it doesn't look like any one of you could have shot up from above."
"Then would you mind if we changed our clothes?" Lila asked.
"Go ahead," he said. "You all have tested negative for gunpowder residue."
"Which means the killer was probably from the outside," his subordinate said.
"Yeah," Redwood sighed. "That's the only explanation."
Suddenly, the lights in the theater shut off.
Redwood stood. "Who turned the lights off?" he demanded.
"Me, I did it!" Yukiko said, walking onto the stage. "Some people know me as the most beautiful actress in Japan. Others know me as the globe-trotting mystery writer's wife. But in reality, I am a highly intelligent female detective." A spotlight turned on, shining down on Suzume and Ran, who shielded their eyes from the bright assault on their eyes. "I am Night Baroness." A pause. "Excuse me, light man! I'm over here!" The light moved to shine on Yukiko, who stood in front of the mirror.
"Yukiko," Redwood gasped in shock.
"That's right! Captain, the fog has been lifted," Yukiko said. "I'm talking about the fog that hid the truth behind the murder, of course."
"What?"
"Mom, don't get carried away and mess up the ending," Suzume called out to Yukiko.
"Don't worry," she assured quietly. "I'll tell it exactly as you told me."
Suzume sighed, thankful for her mother's good memory of being able to remember her lines.
"Are you sure this is okay?" Ran whispered in Suzume's ear. Suzume tried not to blush as she felt Ran's breath brush her ear. "If you're wrong, your mom's gonna look like a fool."
"I'm sure." Suzume cleared her throat. "Don't you think it's strange? Heath's 6'3", which is about 190 centimeters. That's about your height with the pamphlet on your head. When I measured it, the pamphlet stuck out over the mirror. On top of that, Heath had those wings on his back, so he couldn't bend over, even if he was behind the mirror. The top of his head would have easily been visible." Suzume looked out to watch her mother explain exactly what she was telling Ran. "That's why the killer used that certain thing, so his head wouldn't stick out. Performers use it to appear and disappear suddenly on stage—a trap door."
"But there wasn't anything like that behind the mirror," Ran said, confused. "There was only a strange metal cover on the floor beside it."
Suzume smiled. "A cover hides a hole," she explained. "Feathers from Heath's wings were caught under the cover, and the blood on the floor under the lid was shaped like an arc, and the stage has a donut-shaped ditch. Then add in the crooked curtain near the ditch and you should get what I'm saying."
Yukiko snapped her fingers and the lights came on, the trap door moving to be behind the mirror.
"By moving the donut-shaped floor like that, the unseen trap door opens right up."
The officer opens the cover to the trap door.
"I think if you check it out, you'll find more feathers. The gunshot most likely knocked off more and you'll find Heath's blood," Suzume said. "And you'll probably find the bullet casing from the gun, too."
Ran gasped. "If the bullet casing's there, that means he was shot at close range?"
Suzume grinned. That's the daughter of a private detective and a lawyer for you. "Yep. Heath was standing by under the trap door. The metal lid was resting against the mirror and the killer shot him from above by sticking her right hand, which held the gun, between the mirror and the lid."
"Are you saying the killer..." Redwood began.
"Yes. The only one capable of doing it, under those circumstances, was the one lying beside the mirror," Yukiko said. "Rose. It was you, wasn't it?"
Said woman gasped.
"Rose?" Lila murmured.
"I don't believe it," Akane denied. "It can't be." She looked at the cops. "I mean, no one, not even the staff, mentioned the trap door would be used!"
"I'm sure that's true because..."
"It's not that the staff didn't tell you," Suzume said. "They couldn't. All of you believe the mirror's your guardian spirit. They couldn't tell you that it's been damaged. I'm sure Rose did it when no one was looking. When the stagehands saw the crack, they removed the damaged portion then adjusted the frame to cover it up, so everyone wouldn't be upset and worry about any bad luck coming." She sighed. "But since the frame was now shorter, Heath's head would show. They knew that if they put the mirror on a stand, everyone would be suspicious and notice it'd been damaged."
She watched Yukiko explain this to the actresses and police. "That's why they decided, spur of the moment, to use the trap door so that Heath would be out of sight. They only told Heath and Rose about it."
"But why did they tell Rose?" Ran asked.
Suzume hummed. "By moving the donut-shaped floor, they'd be able to hide the opening. But unless Rose reached under the mirror to lower the lid, the audience would see it."
"Then what about the gun? It fell from way up high," Ran pointed out. "She was lying on the floor. She couldn't have thrown it up that high."
"She could," Suzume said. "Heath, portraying an angel, was going to be suspended in mid-air. All she had to do was use him. Heath had a burn mark on his neck, remember?"
Ran nodded.
"He got it when she put the gun there. It burned him since it was still hot from being fired recently. If she put the gun in the folds of his costume, when he stopped being lifted, the vibration would cause it to fall. But I don't think she imagined for a second that he'd grab her with his bloodied hand. The reason the blood in his palm was smeared was because he grabbed her hand."
They watched the officer inspect Rose's gloves.
"And the proof should still be there on her right hand and the inside of her glove." The officer held the glove up, showing the blood. "Heath's hate-filled handprint. I'm pretty sure she performed with her gloves inside out. After firing the gun, she quickly turned them back correctly. That way she wouldn't test positive for gunpowder residue during the investigation."
"But Suzume, when'd you realize there was blood on her glove?" Ran asked.
"I realized it when I noticed her struggle to open her can of juice in the dressing room," Suzume said. "All she had to do was take her gloves off, but she didn't, so I figured she was hiding something under them." She sighed. "I also had an epiphany about her motive to kill Heath."
"Her motive?"
"Both Lila and Akane had photos on their mirrors," Suzume explained. "Taken with Heath. Not Rose, though. Her photo..."
"The angel," Yukiko said. "Her photo was of him in his angel costume. You weren't in love with him, you were in love with his role as the angel."
Rose gasped before smirking, dropping her act. "That's right," she admitted. "That's why I killed him as the angel Michael. Because I just found it unbearable."
"But he was quitting because he was going to star in a movie," Lila said.
"It was his own decision, though," Rose said. "He was responsible for Michael's death! He knew how much I loved him as Michael and he still did it. But it seems that God was watching over me." She walked toward the front of the stage. "When the suit of armor fell, I couldn't run away because my clothes were caught on a nail and God saved me." She turned to look at Suzume, whose eyes widened. "Thank you, sweet angel," Rose said. "You helped me do it."
Suzume clenched her jaw and Ran quickly took hold of her hand, prying her nails from digging into her palm. They watched as Rose was taken away, laughing as it happened.
~ — — — ~
"Alright, Suzu-chan. I have to go to the police station and stand in when they question her," Yukiko said as she was about to enter the police car. "So you two will have to go back to the hotel by taxi."
"Okay," Suzume nodded as both she and Ran held umbrellas over their heads.
Yukiko leaned out of the open window, a serious look on her face. "Don't forget, there's a slasher on the loose," she reminded them, staring right at Suzume. "He's Japanese and has long hair."
Suzume nodded as Yukiko waved her goodbyes before the police car drove off. She looked around the street before waving a hand at an approaching taxi. It pulled over and they got in, telling the driver where they were going.
"Are you okay?" Ran asked at some point during the drive.
"Eh?" Suzume looked at her, not understanding.
"What Rose said earlier," Ran clarified. "Don't tell me you think it's true."
Suzume hummed, leaning her cheek onto her fist. "I think she's delusional," she said eventually. "It was her own doing, not God's. I saved her because that's who I am." She glanced at Ran and smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry about me, okay?"
Ran nodded, smiling in relief.
"Could you close your window, though?" Suzume said. "You'll catch a cold with the rain. Didn't you say you were feeling kind of hot this morning?"
"Oh, I'm fine already," Ran waved her hand with a smile. "Besides, if I close the window, I won't be able to see the city lights very well."
"But if the rain comes in and the seat gets wet, our driver will be pissed," Suzume pointed out.
"Don't worry." Ran held up her handkerchief. "I have a handkerchief. I'll wipe the wet areas before I get out."
Suddenly, the handkerchief was taken from her hand by the wind and flew out the window. She leaned forward. "Excuse me. Stop the car! Please stop!"
Both teenagers got out of the car to look for the missing handkerchief. Ran had insisted on looking for it by herself, but Suzume wasn't hearing any of it as she got out of the car.
"That's strange. It should be around here," Ran murmured, looking around. "I wonder if it got blown away by the wind."
"Ran, it's just a handkerchief," Suzume said, frowning as she kept glancing around.
"It's not an ordinary handkerchief!" Ran argued. "It's the one you gave me when I turned thirteen! It's precious!"
Suzume noticed something from the corner of her eye and looked up. "Isn't that it?" she asked, Ran turning to look as well. "See, it's caught on the railing of those stairs." She looked inside the open door. "It looks like an old abandoned building." She walked inside. "I'll get it for you. Go wait by the taxi, okay?"
Ran watched as she walked into the building and frowned. Did Sharon know what Rose was going to do? She wondered before hearing footsteps. She looked to the side and her eyes widened as she saw a man with long hair in a long coat walk towards her. A Japanese man...with long hair...
The taxi driver panicked at the sight of the man before driving off, leaving Ran alone with the mysterious man. Ran frowned as she stared at the stranger. Why does it feel like I know him?
"Are you Japanese?" the man asked. When Ran didn't say anything, he sighed. "I asked you if you're Japanese."
"Yes, I am," she finally answered.
"Did you see a suspicious man around?" he asked her. "A Japanese man with long hair dyed silver and sporting a beard."
"No, I haven't seen anyone like that," she told him, wondering why Suzume was taking so long.
A car screeched to a stop behind the man as another man stepped out of it. "Did you find him, sir?" he asked.
"No, I only found a tourist," he replied. "I guess he wasn't on this street. The shootout we had with the animal must have shaken him up. Otherwise, there's no way he'd pass up killing the girl." He turned and grabbed Ran's arm. "This is no place for you, young lady. Turn right at that corner and you'll be on the main street. Get a cab right away."
"Wait!" she urged him, making him pause. "I have a friend. I'm waiting for my friend here, she's a girl and the same age as me."
"Then I'll tell you and that friend of yours one more time," he said. "Get lost! Get out of this area right now!"
"Can we leave her alone?" his colleague asked.
The man took a long look at Ran before his eyes widened slightly. "There's no problem," he said, his piercing green eyes making Ran wonder where she had seen him before. "Every crossing to this street is already secured."
"Pierrot-san?" Suzume's surprised murmur caught their attention. She stood at the open doorway she had entered a few minutes ago. She was staring right at the man, whose entire posture stiffened at the nickname. "Is that you?"
He said nothing before reaching inside his jacket and holding out a folded piece of paper toward Ran. "Give it to her," he told her quietly. "When we're gone. Tell her I'll reach out at some point."
Ran nodded, taking the paper and walking over to Suzume, who was still staring at him. He gave them a nod before walking off. Suzume took the paper and stuffed it into her jacket pocket, sighing deeply.
"I saw something while I was looking around," Suzume told Ran quietly as she pulled her out of the rain. "I wasn't able to tell him before he left, so I'm gonna go check it out. Wait here, okay?"
"Wait, Suzume!" Ran called out as Suzume went up the stairs and disappeared from her sight. "Suzume..."
After a few minutes had passed, Ran grit her teeth and went up the stairs, leaning heavily on the railing as her vision blurred. Is my cold coming back? She shook her head and forced herself to keep going. Come on, Ran. You've got to get a hold of yourself. She went up the stairs between the buildings, once again in the rain. Suzume came in here because you let your handkerchief go. She grit her teeth at the thought. That's right. It's all my fault.
She stopped when she heard footsteps coming down the metal stairs. Somebody's coming down. She was frozen with fear as a Japanese man with long silver hair ran down the stairs before noticing her. Silver hair...blood...
"Ran, get out of here!" Suzume shouted from a few flights up. "That's the serial killer!"
The man chuckled, aiming his gun at Ran. "She's right, girlie. I was hiding out in here. But that kid found me." He reached into his jacket pocket. "If you're going to blame somebody, you should blame God for putting you in this situation."
He put a silencer onto the gun, making his intentions of killing them clear. However, the railing he was leaning against was weak from weathering and broke under his weight. He began to fall before Ran rushed over and grabbed his jacket before he could fall.
Suzume gasped and ran down the stairs, trying to get there in time.
"What're you doing?" Ran shouted at him. "Hurry! Grab my arm! Hurry, my hand's slippery because of the rain!"
Suzume dropped down by Ran's side and grabbed onto the man's jacket. "Why couldn't you just do what I asked?" she sighed.
The man grabbed onto the railings next to the two teenagers and lifted himself back onto the stairs, taking the gun from his mouth. "Why'd you do it?" he asked. "Why'd you save me?" He glared at them. "I don't understand." He got his feet, a hand pressed to his wound.
"Do we really need a reason?" Suzume asked in return. "There could be a million different reasons why someone would kill another person. No one needs a reason to save someone."
The man's eyes widened. Suzume's eyes widened as she heard Ran collapse behind her. "Ran!" She went to attend to her friend, and the man aimed the gun at them. "Please don't." The man paused. "You're wounded, which means the police are nearby."
That must have been why Pierrot-san was here...
"You lost your silencer. If you shoot, the police will be here in no time." She got to her feet with Ran in her arms. "Not only that, but you'll be giving me the opportunity to catch you, too." She looked at him with narrowed eyes. "I'll let you go for now, but if we ever meet again, don't think I'll do the same thing twice."
She began to walk down the stairs. "I'll be your personal Devil, listing out every single one of your sins and looking at all the evidence so I can send you straight to hell. Don't forget that."
~ — — — ~
The next day, Yukiko took Ran and Suzume to Central Park after the former recovered from her cold. Suzume currently had a squirrel in her hands that Ran was cooing at, finding it absolutely adorable.
According to the news, the serial killer had apparently committed suicide after Suzume called the authorities about her encounter.
A buzz from the phone in Suzume's pocket caught her attention. She handed the squirrel over to Ran and looked at the caller ID. Unknown. She frowned before answering the call, taking a few steps away from Ran for some privacy. "Hello?"
"Don't do anything like that again."
Her eyebrows shot up. "Pierrot-san?"
He sighed on the other end. "Nine years and that nickname still hasn't gone away."
"Well, I never did get your actual name," she chuckled, fiddling with the folded paper in her pocket. "Are you okay?"
"I should be asking you that," he said, a frown audible in his voice. "You're the one who ran into the killer last night."
She hummed, stealing a glance at Ran who quickly looked back at the squirrel still in her hands. "Ran and I are fine," she told him. "How's the family?"
He was silent. "I'll call you later on, when you're back at your home, okay?" Before she could say anything else, he hung up. An email came soon after.
From: Unknown
Message:
Saw you on the news a few days ago about the murder on the plane. Good work, the next Sherlock Holmes.
She grinned at the message.
~ — — — ~
A year later, Ran was hanging out with Suzume at the Kudo household when a bespeckled man brought over drinks for them.
"Thank you, Subaru-san," Ran said as she took her tea and Suzume grabbed her coffee. She gave her friend a look. "You need to start cutting back on the coffee, Suzume."
Suzume rolled her eyes as she took a sip. "Yeah, that's not happening anytime soon," she told her.
Ran hummed. "By the way, last year in New York, what happened to my handkerchief?"
Both Suzume and Subaru froze at the question, both for different reasons: Suzume because she forgot what she did with the handkerchief, and Subaru because of his encounter with Ran in the rain.
"I hid it away because two murders happened that night," Suzume lied easily, taking another sip of her coffee.
Ran frowned. "Two? The serial killer committed suicide, didn't he?"
"That's what the police report said," Suzume said, setting down her cup on the table. "The bloodstains and fingerprints that should have been there were wiped away. If you're committing suicide, would you go through all the trouble of covering up your tracks?"
Ran shook her head.
"My working theory is that somebody shot him just before he was going to make his getaway." Suzume frowned. "Somebody got to him before the police arrived."
Subaru frowned as he walked out of the room. That theory of yours... He went into his room and opened his computer, checking the surveillance cameras he had set up throughout the homes and places Suzume visited the most. I'm afraid it is incorrect...
A beautiful blonde woman came to his mind and he sighed. Vermouth...why were you adamant about keeping her protected?
Fun Facts —
— Yukiko is obviously a very proud mother whenever she gets to see her daughter's beautiful mind at work. She also very much approves of a future relationship between Suzume and Ran. #supportivemom
— I had contemplated making Sharon Suzume's godmother, but decided against it. Don't ask why, I just decided against it.
— Second appearance of Shuichi, not that Suzume knows his real name. Let's just say Pierrot-san is going to stick around for a while...hehe. And, aw, he got so concerned when he learned she was confronted with the serial killer.
— If there was any confusion with the final scene, in the original anime episodes, the case in New York was a flashback, but the final scene of the chapter was a flashforward to Ran and Suzume hanging out at the Kudo house with Subaru hovering around.
— Hm, I wonder why Vermouth wanted Suzume protected? hehe