"Sorry to disturb you," the twin maids suddenly stood in the middle of the hall, "Ladies and gentlemen, this mansion has a custom of locking the masquerade hall at 12 midnight. ”

"Once locked, the east and west wings can no longer be connected to each other, so we have to ask everyone to go back to the room to rest before we do this, and we hope that everyone will cooperate."

"Huh?"

"It's only half past eleven......"

Gao Cheng didn't ask Uncle Maori again, and said strangely: "How can there be such a strange convention?" ”

The twins explained, "Because Shaw's masquerade likes to play pranks, he will play around as soon as it is past 12 midnight." ”

"We have to lock them all in the Masquerade Hall."

"Outrageous, isn't it?" Matsudaira Mamoru swallowed, "It's just nonsense!" ”

"It's true," said the maid calmly, "that the masks either tilt from side to side or fall to the ground after dawn, as has happened too many times in the past. ”

"So please everyone, now you can start preparing to go back to your room to rest."

"Uh......"

A trace of cold sweat flowed from Gao Cheng's forehead.

I don't know where Su Fanghongzi found the twin maids, standing together as if they were mirror images, with the same expression and the same tone, it is not so much that a mold is printed, but that one person is divided into two people.

With the topic of cursed masks, the level of weirdness skyrocketed.

"Da-da." In the east wing, Gao Cheng and Gray Yuan went back to the room together, and next door was the room of Uncle Maori for 3 people.

Gao Cheng saw the figure of the uncle entering the house, paused, turned to the maid Suinami in the east wing and asked, "Where does Ms. Su Fang live?" ”

Honami replied, "The teacher's room should be on the side of the west wing, because you can only go to the teacher's room through the stairs of the west wing." ”

"Is it only over there?"

Gao Cheng's gaze narrowed.

"I'm sorry, but can you arrange a room for us over there?"

"Huh? But ......" Honami's face was embarrassed.

"There should be a spare room, right?" Gao Cheng said cautiously, "I'm sorry for you, I'm also thinking about Teacher Su Fang's safety." ”

"Okay, I'll go talk to the teacher."

"How?" Gray Yuan watched the maid leave, and said unexpectedly, "Do you think that threatening letter is true?" Cursed Kamen will suck blood tonight......"

"If it's true, it's a murder, even if it's just a possibility, you can't be careless, right?" Gao Cheng returned to his room to pack his luggage and calmly pulled out Lake Toya from his backpack.

Gray Yuan glanced at Gao Cheng unexpectedly: "I didn't expect you to care so much about that lady, could it be that you have also received her help?" ”

Gao Cheng's movements stopped.

Speaking of which, because his parents died in a car accident when he hated him when he was young, Gao Cheng, a city in this world, has always been dependent on his grandfather, and he is indeed a car accident orphan.

"I just don't want to have a murder case," Gao Cheng said as he gathered his thoughts, "Although my parents also died in a car accident, I have nothing to do with Ms. Su Fang, and I am not an orphan, my grandfather has taken care of me since I was a child." ”

"Oh?" Gray Yuan fell silent, Gao Cheng's situation was similar to her, and now she was alone, so it would be good if she continued like this.

How nice it would be if there wasn't that dangerous and terrible organization staring at you......

"Detective Joto," Shinami reminded as she walked outside the door, "the West Wing room is ready. ”

"Thanks, we'll be right over."

Gao Cheng nodded, and after thanking Minaho, he followed Minami to the West Wing with his luggage.

The guest rooms are almost all on the second floor, the first floor is mainly an activity room and a room where the servants live, Su Fang Hongzi Performing Arts Company usually lives on the first floor, and only Su Fang Hongzi lives alone on the third floor.

When Gao Cheng and Gray Yuan moved to a new room, Su Fanghongzi had already fallen asleep completely, so it was not good to disturb him again.

Gray Yuan knew that Gao Cheng was going to stay at the staircase on the third floor tonight, and said strangely: "If you're worried about accidents, there should be a better way, right?" ”

"Yes, yes, you can forcibly investigate everyone in the villa or let me be a bodyguard, but I'm just a guest, so what's the best way? Just do your best, and besides, what kind of psychic medium Ms. Su Fang would prefer to believe. ”

Gao Cheng shook his head, he had nothing to do with Su Fanghongzi, if he was too much, not only would he not get Su Fanghongzi's gratitude, but he would arouse disgust.

Time passed, and as the pendulum clock struck 12 o'clock in the middle of the night, the two doors of the façade hall were locked at the same time, and the east and west wings were completely separated.

Gao Cheng and Gray Yuan stood in the dark by the stairs on the third floor, watching through the night.

The others were almost all resting, there was no sound in the hallways, and no one knew they were hiding here.

"It's so late, can't it be a prank?"

Gao Cheng yawned, looking tired.

On such a cold night, it would be troublesome to catch a cold......

Looking at the gray plain wrapped in a coat, Gao Cheng whispered: "Xiao Ai, you go back to sleep first, it's enough for me to have one here." ”

Ash Yuan didn't move, just buried his head in his arm and asked softly, "Joto, why did you choose to be a private detective?" Most people should be admitted to a good university, right? ”

"How can you be a detective?" Gao Cheng was stunned, "Of course I started to make money." ”

"Make money?"

"Yes, there is only one detective agency left, and I don't know what to do if I am not a detective."

Gao Cheng wiped his nose embarrassedly: "But now in addition to making money and fame, I feel that I can't do without this profession anymore, and occasionally help people who are in difficulty, and I can continue to find the truth, well, it should be said that it is more appropriate to find people's hearts......

"Ahh Gray Yuan sneezed lightly, and gradually fell asleep next to Gao Cheng.

“……”

"I'm just starting to say ......"

Gao Cheng looked at Gray Yuan helplessly, and his gaze returned to the staircase again.

There's no reason, Uncle Maori and Conan came together, plus so many weird circumstances, how could nothing happen?

Is it really just a prank? Or is it influenced by his butterfly effect?

"Shaw's mask is gone!" There was a sudden movement in the masquerade hall, and Uncle Maori's loud voice immediately attracted Gao Cheng's attention, and even Gray Yuan was awakened.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't know, something seems to have happened."

Gao Cheng walked outside the locked masquerade hall, but suddenly there was a strange noise on the third floor of the meditation room.

There were muffled screams and the sound of things falling......

Gao Cheng's gaze narrowed suddenly.

"Could it be...... No way? ”

On the third floor of the West Wing, Su Fanghongzi's room was tightly locked, but Gao Cheng was still dragged by something in his heart, knocking on the door and not responding, and the air window on the door couldn't see the situation in the room at all.

"Ms. Su Fang!"

After breaking the air window with a wooden knife, Gao Cheng set up a platform to look inside, and in the dim light, he could only see Su Fanghongzi lying on the bed, surrounded by scattered Xiao Bule masks, and blood staining the bed red......

"Joto!" Uncle Maori and others hurried over, "How is it?" What about Ms. Su Fang? ”

Gao Cheng shook his head: "Call an ambulance first, and call the police by the way." ”

"Brother Joto," Conan said anxiously, "let me go in and see what's going on inside." ”

"Be careful."

After the air window cleaned up the glass shards, it was just enough for the child's Conan to go in, and in order to prevent Conan from scratching, Xiaolan also carefully laid out a tablecloth.

But even if he didn't go in, Gao Cheng knew that Su Fanghongzi was basically hopeless.

The breath of death had already mixed with the bloodthirsty mask, and he clearly felt that Su Fanghongzi in the room was no longer breathing......

Just why is this happening?

He had been guarding the staircase, sure that no one was near Ms. Su Fang's room.

And those masks, which are obviously locked in the masquerade hall, why did they appear at the scene of the murder......

Hell, people are killed like this.

……

In the early hours of the morning, Officer Twilight, who received the report, rushed to the villa, and his face instantly fell when he saw Uncle Maori.

"Really, why didn't you immediately notify the police when you received a threatening letter?"

"This," Uncle Maori laughed dryly, "because Ms. Su Fang said that she usually receives this kind of threatening letter and doesn't need to make a fuss, so she ......"

The forensic staff in the room were still taking pictures, and the scattered masks remained intact.

Gao Cheng stood in the corner of the room, frowning and observing the scene.

According to the uncle, someone suddenly called them on the inside line, and then found that all the Shaw masks in the masquerade hall had disappeared.

This was followed by a strange noise coming from the 3rd floor.

It should be Su Fanghongzi's screams, as well as the sound of these brush-pull masks scattering.

Someone killed Su Fanghongzi at that time, but the key problem was that the door that was the only one who could enter Su Fanghongzi's room at that time was locked, and no one approached at all.

Considering the structure of the east and west wings, there is almost no possibility that the people in the west wing will commit the crime, but the east wing is also unable to enter Su Fanghongzi's room, because the door to the east wing room next door has been sealed with nails a long time ago.

The only thing that is a little problematic is the wooden plank of the fence above the gate, if it is removed, it should be barely able to enter and exit, but the police have just checked, and the wooden plank of the fence cannot be removed, and not even a hand can be passed between each plank......

"When you came here, this door was locked from the inside, right?" Twilight asked, standing in the doorway.

"Yes, and there are two locks," Uncle Mori explained, "and the first one to come was Joto, and after breaking the glazing glass, he let Conan into the room to confirm that Ms. Su Fang had been killed. ”

"Two locks?"

"I heard that Ms. Su Fang always has two locks when she sleeps, one is a door lock, and the other is a padlock prepared separately."

Twilight wondered, "Why do you want to put on two locks?" ”

"According to her secretary, Miss Inaba, when she asked the psychic medium to seal the mask curse, she had instructed several rules that Ms. Su Fang must strictly abide by, one of which is to put two locks on the door of the dormitory."

Gao Cheng said loudly: "Officer Mudui, Ms. Su Fang seems to have been taking sleeping pills because she often has insomnia recently, and there is no trace of struggle on her body, which means that she has also taken sleeping pills today...... In other words, this is an impossible case of murder in a closed room. ”

"Impossible Locked Room Murder?"

"The door to the next bedroom had been sealed with nails years ago, and the lattice planks on it could not even fit through an arm, and the two windows in the room had been sealed so that nothing was out of the ordinary, and the only door that allowed for entry and exit was locked from the inside......"

Gao Cheng looked at the door lock, held up his elbow and said in a deep voice: "The murderer can't enter and exit from this room, most of the previous secret room incidents were locked from the outside, but this time, this padlock, it is impossible to lock it from the outside, and the most important thing is ......"

"The most important thing?" Twilight looked at Gao Cheng who suddenly stopped talking after hanging his appetite, "Speaking of which, Brother Chenghu, how did you arrive at the scene first?" ”

"Because I've been guarding the staircase," Gao Cheng said solemnly, "just in case, Xiao Ai and I specially moved to the West Wing, and we've been watching it since the Kamen Hall was locked at 12 midnight." ”

"What?" Twilight said anxiously, "Did you find anything?" ”

"No, but I'm pretty sure no one has come near this side since, and no one has ever been near the Masquerade Hall." Gao Cheng shook his head, and his gaze returned to the door connecting the bedroom of the East Wing next door.

Removing the influence of preconceived ideas, the uncertain situation is on the side of the East Wing.

The Maori family on the second floor can't be the murderers, and only Lankawa Fuyuya, who lives on the first floor, and Honami, one of the twin maids, are left.

Honami was with her uncle when Su Fang Hongzi screamed, and the suspect was only Lankawa Fuyuya.

If there is no accident, the murderer is Lanchuan Fuyuya, yes.

If you think about it, it would have been suspicious that the murderer had made an internal call to Uncle Maori before the incident, as if he wanted the uncle to confirm that the Kamen Hall was locked.

If it weren't for the fact that he happened to be at the top of the stairs with Xiao Ai, everyone in the west wing at that time would have become suspects, and it is very likely that the murderer was in the east wing in reverse.

The question is the modus operandi of the killing, how exactly did the murderer do it......

"Police Department!" A police officer returned to the scene, "We have searched all the surroundings of the house, and there is no sign of the murderer in the nearby snow. ”

"Hmm," Twilight had never encountered this kind of problem, and muttered with a frown, "The problem now is that the murderer can't even enter and exit this room, and since the old brother of the city household has been guarding the door, no one can kill Ms. Su Fang at all......"

"Hmph," Uncle Maori glanced at Gao Cheng, "I think eighty percent of you took a nap, so you didn't notice the murderer." ”

Saying that, the uncle turned to Mu Du and said: "Officer, no matter what, if you want to go to Ms. Su Fang's bedroom on the third floor, you can only go through the stairs of the west wing. ”

Twilight's brows furrowed even deeper, if he had to choose between Maori and Gao Cheng, he didn't know why he was more willing to trust Gao Cheng.

But now I can only follow Uncle Maori's thinking, otherwise would the report ask for some Su Fanghongzi to be cursed and killed?

"Joto," Conan leaned over to Taksei, "have you really been staring at this side?" ”

Gao Cheng's attention turned to the masks scattered at the scene, and he didn't want to know the murderer's methods, and the uncle might start to suspect him as the murderer: "It's impossible for anyone to hide from me, at least not here, and I'm even more sure that the murderer lives in the East Wing." ”

"East Wing?" Conan exclaimed in surprise.

"Didn't you notice?" Gao Cheng smiled, "Why did the murderer call your room before the killing?" It has nothing to do with the name of the uncle detective, no matter who lives in the East Wing, they will receive a call, and the other party just needs a piece of testimony. ”

"Testimony? Do you say ......"

"That's right, it's the Kamen Hall that was locked at the time of the incident, and it was the people in the West Wing who committed the crime, this testimony.

"Now that I've been staying at the top of the stairs, I've become the most suspicious and the most innocent person, and I don't know what it would be like if the murderer knew."

Gao Cheng had a trace of cold sweat on his face, but the corners of his mouth were slightly upturned.

"However, after locking up the murderer, sooner or later the criminal modus operandi will be unraveled by me."