0 Detective Conan Episode 1161: The Secret's Afterimage

Episode 1161: The Secret's Afterimage

Scenario: Juzo Megure is standing in front of Mouri Detective Agency with a worried look on his face when he is spotted by Conan Edogawa. Up in the agency Ran Mouri has just returned home when she finds Kogoro Mouri enthusiastically cheering for a horse race, which Kogoro is following over his radio. Kogoro says that he can't help but to listen to horse races because he doesn't have work. Although he ensures Ran that he didn't bet any money on horse races, he says it's because they're completely broke, a detail which is overheard by Conan. Conan has taken Megure up the stairs to the agency, but while Kogoro tries to cover up the situation, Megure doesn't mind it and instead has a much more important matter. He suspects that one of his subordinates is having an affair, and he would like Kogoro to help investigate.

Previously, Megure spotted Sawatari, a detective from Unit 3, alone at a park. With a look of intense emotion on his face, Sawatari threw a café receipt into a trash can, which Megure retrieved. The receipt is dated two days ago, and the order is a pasta set and a lady's meal set. Megure, having known Sawatari and his wife well, decided to investigate the receipt and its contents. The lady's meal set can only be ordered by women, but Megure knew that Sawatari's wife had already left to visit her parents, and thus could not have been with Sawatari at the café. Sawatari is also not assigned any cases at the moment, which means he was also not at the café to investigate. Megure confirmed Sawatari's presence at the café through one of employees working there, and he was seen with a beautiful woman. This, of course, is not enough to suspect Sawatari of having an affair.

However, dash cam footage recorded three days ago by one of Unit 3's unmarked patrol cars showed Sawatari visiting a high-end jewelry store and buying a bouquet at a flower shop. There is no relevant occasion between Sawatari and his wife to give gifts for, and Megure knows that Sawatari would not give gifts to his wife without a special reason. Since Sawatari is one of Megure's close subordinates, Megure had already approached Sawatari regarding this matter, but Sawatari did not reveal anything. This leaves Megure to trust his police instincts that Sawatari is hiding, and requests Kogoro's help in finding concrete evidence. After all, a police officer engaging in infidelity is subject to disciplinary action, and Megure would like Sawatari to stop before it gets worse.

Kogoro explains that the established method of investigation for these cases involves searching through the suspect's notebooks, phone, bank statements, and credit card records, as well as installing voice recorders and bugs in they're home. All of these methods requires Sawatari's wife's cooperation, but Megure would not like Sawatari's wife to know about this as it could hurt her feelings. Conan suggests examining Sawatari's P-III, a smartphone-like police radio, and its GPS records, but Megure says that doing so would attract the attention of the higher-ranked officers. This leaves the option to conduct stakeouts and tail Sawatari, and Megure agrees to assist, being that he is currently off-duty. With that decided, Ran is prompted to turn into the detective agency's receptionist and offers Megure a list of charges in an attempt to earn money for the family.

Conan asks Megure if Division 1 has computers or not, to which Megure confirms yes. Then Conan wonders if the search history contains words like “hotel”, “cheating”, “divorce”, or “damage”, then they are investigating in the way that Sawatari is guilty while he could actually be innocent. This surprises him as to why Conan knows these, with him covering that it was Shinichi who taught him, but Megure still proceeds to check the search history. Meanwhile, Ran is seen worried if her father knows how to use a digital camera or not, with him stating yes before going for a stakeout alone. Then Conan decides to look at the footage from the said car with Ran. There, he points out that Sawatari went in and out of the jewelry store in just 5 minutes, which is unusually fast, so they hire a taxi to probably go to that jewelry store.

When the two arrive at the said jewelry store, they happen to see Detective Sawatari actually going out with a woman, but Conan soon has to improvise as Kogoro’s method of stakeout almost causes him to be revealed. There is nothing too intense for now, but Kogoro and Conan can’t be seen by Sawatari again while they are in the store, so Ran has to be the one to get in and gather information. Soon after, she informs them that the woman is having her finger measured for the ring. Kogoro receives a call from Megure confirming that the search history does not have any words that Conan mentioned before, but Sawatari did view disciplinary actions, which are the MPD internal regulations including infidelity. Considering the circumstances, there is a chance that Sawatari is guilty, but there isn't any decisive evidence yet.

At that time, Sawatari and the mysterious woman are seen coming out from the store by Conan, so Conan pretends to fall near Sawatari so the boy can put a transmitter on him. Before Kogoro and Conan continue to follow the two, Conan asks Ran to visit the flower shop where Sawatari had visited to see which flower bouquet he bought. As soon as Conan receives the information, he goes somewhere after telling Kogoro not to get too close to them. Later, when Sawatari is giving the ring to the woman, he is caught red-handed by Megure and Kogoro, with the latter having taken pictures of him. Surprisingly, Sawatari apologizes for doing things unworthy of the title of the police, but before Megure and Kogoro can get the answer about the relationship between Sawatari and the woman, Ran and Conan step in and reveal the sad truth behind it.