Behind the Scope

Chapter 13: The Truth

Around a week before Conan and his friends visited Arata's dojo, Kaito was having dinner at Nakamoris' home. That day, the police had just confirmed that Arata was the one who hired a sniper to kill Yusaku and his Interpol friend. It was big news. People talked about it everywhere. Kaito was quite surprised to know that his friends also discussed it on social media. Because of that, his smartphone vibrated too often, annoyed Kaito so much that finally he decided to set it to mute mode.

Ginzo looked tired that night, but at the same time, he looked satisfied. The inspector was happy that the case had reached a very important point. It had not finished, not yet, and he knew it, but at least it had good progress. Aoko looked happy too seeing his father in such a good mood. Not only that, today she was able to have dinner with her father after so many days the inspector had to skip dinner due to his job investigating Arata's crimes. That was quite a pleasant dinner. Everyone was in high spirits, full of hope and optimism, and Kaito enjoyed it very much.

"Now that Arata was proven to be the one who hired sniper, what else the police must do, Otou-san?" Aoko asked her father during dinner.

"We still need to investigate his crimes further. Aoko, that man is dangerous. He's a criminal mastermind. Besides, we still have to find the sniper," Ginzo answered.

"Oh, is that so... What about the suspects? It's clear now that the hirer is Arata, so they should be released, right?"

"Yeah. I heard from Megure that they would be released since now we know that Arata is the culprit and none of them could be the sniper."

"But there are some suspects that don't have alibi, if I'm not wrong. What's going to happen to them?" Kaito asked.

"Oh, you mean Elizabeth Grey and Harry Green. It's true that they don't have any alibi when Victor Wood was murdered, but they have an alibi when Kudo-sensei was shot. Moreover I heard that NYPD didn't find any firearm in their house, so I think it means that they too will be released soon," Ginzo answered.

"If the suspects will be released, then how the police could find the sniper? Do they have different suspect now?"

"We don't have specific suspect for now, but we think we'll find some suspects soon if we keep digging Arata's crime."

"But it's good, right? Those people will be released soon. They don't have to be worried anymore," Aoko said. "Mia-san can practice in peace too. Aoko heard that she had been feeling pressured all this time."

"That's right. I guess they'll feel better after the police finally released them," Ginzo agreed.

Kaito did not give any comment. He ate his dinner silently, thinking. When he returned to his home, he was still thinking. He held the mysterious arrow in his hand, wondering what would happen with the case from now on since the suspects would be released soon. Kaito wondered if the arrow that he held had anything to do with them. After all, that arrow was used to send him a letter from Wolf who probably was involved in Arata's crime. The potential suspect who might be the sender of the arrow, Mia Vasquez, would be released soon, so perhaps she really was innocent in this. Besides, Arata was known to have skill in kyudo, so he could be the one who sent the arrow to Kid.

'Does this mean that the sender of the arrow is actually Arata?' Kaito thought. He observed the arrow and suddenly he remembered that he had not really checked Arata's dojo. He knew that the arrow was a basic arrow which could be used by everyone in Japan, including Arata's dojo, but despite of that, Kaito had not investigated the dojo further. The teen got up and turned on his tablet, searching for Arata Gymnasium's website. He tried to collect information as many as he could from there. He read all about Arata Gymnasium's sports and martial arts, he read about all the training schedules, all the instructors who worked there, especially people in kyudojo, but Kaito did not find anything suspicious. He sighed, then he read his summary about Interpol's suspects. He read those five people one by one, again and again. Somehow his instinct told him that those suspects had a link to the sniper case, like Eric Wu who actually was not even the suspect but involved indirectly in the case or Mia Vasquez who somehow ended up training in Arata's gym. The teen thought deeply, searching for that link between the suspects and the sniper case. He stopped thinking when he realized something.