Episode 162: The Sealed Chamber in the Sky! Shinichi Kudo's First Case
Scenario: Agasa wins a trip to a beach resort and gives the tickets to Kogoro, Ran, and the Junior Detective League. On the plane, Ran falls asleep and dreams about a murder that occurred on an Airliner. In the past, a photographer named Kazuhiro Ootaka is found dead in the bathroom. Shinichi reveals that Ootaka was put to sleep and was killed by having a thin metal object dipped in poison and having it injected into the back of his head. Megure gathers four people who have entered the bathroom during that time and search them for a weapon but to no avail. After a thorough investigation, Shinichi reveals Tsugumi Amano, Ootaka's girlfriend to be the murderer. Shinichi reveals that Amano used a sharpened brassiere wire to commit the murder. Amano confesses and reveals that Ootaka set a building on fire for pictures which inadvertently caused her brother's death.
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| Photographer Kazuhiro Otaka was found dead in the plane's lavatory with an unusual scratch on his neck and a puncture wound just below his hairline. |
In Tokyo International Airport, Conan and the group are going to take a trip to Okinawa by taking a passenger plane. When Ran takes the glasses off Conan, who was sound asleep, she smiled, as it reminded her of Shinichi sleeping. Ran falls asleep as well and dreams about going to Los Angeles with Shinichi.
On the way to Los Angeles, a company employee named Tsuneo Ukai is telling the photographer named Kazuhiro Otaka to not smoke. Otaka said sorry to Ukai and spits smoke at him. Next to him is another photographer named Tsugumi Amano, also his girlfriend, tells him to cut it out. Otaka then tells Amano to lighten up because he will be rich by selling the negatives to the newspaper office. Another photographer named Chizuru Tachikawa questions if the negatives are real or not. She also mentions that the congressman from America might have come to Japan to spread rumors. It would be embarrassing if they caught a wrong person by taking a picture. Otaka tells them that he already sent two pictures and they confirmed it's the right person. After the conversation, Otaka sees Saginuma, another photographer, sleeping. Another man who's in front of Otaka is the freelance journalist, Edward Crowe and he's just looking at Otaka.
Amano asked the stewardess to bring her medicine because she felt sick. Ukai stood up and walked around as he isn't comfortable sitting in a plane. Meanwhile, Amano is still feeling sicker and Tachikawa then switches seat with her. They notice that Otaka is missing from his seat.
Later, a drunk passenger is knocking on the restroom door for telling the person who's using the restroom to hurry up. The stewardess unlocks the door and finds the dead body of Kazuhiro Otaka.
Ran heard people saying they found a dead body in the restroom. Ran is about to tell the person next to her that something horrible happened but he's gone. Inspector Megure who happened to be onboard was taken to the crime scene, suddenly, a strange boy deduces that the cause of death is probably nerve damage. The weapon is pointed but has no blade, like a ice pick. Before he was killed, someone made him take something that put him to sleep. Inspector Megure angrily asks who he is and the strange boy reveals himself as, "Kudo Shinichi". Megure remembers Yusaku Kudo who was his friend but hardly recognizes Shinichi. He is happy to see him but angrily got him out of the crime scene because it is an official police investigation. Then, Megure asks the stewardess that if he could borrow the camera from someone to take a picture. The stewardess said that Shinichi already took the pictures and already returned the camera. Shinichi deduces that from the appearance of the corpse, and the hardening of the chin, he has been dead for around an hour or two. There are three things that Shinichi cannot understand: First, there are some bloodstains on the wall, but there are no stains on the back of victim's clothes. Second, to the right of the death causing injury, there is a scratch. Third is the corpse's left side pocket. The inside is soaking wet, but the victim's hand is dry. Megure makes Shinichi leave. Takagi had now arrived at the scene and starts investigating. The official verdict was the exact same as what Shinichi dedeuced. Takagi wonders of who he is and Megure explains that he is Yusaku's son. He told Takagi that in the past, whenever he gets stuck on cases, Yusaku always solved for him. He remembered Shinichi as a little kid who used to follow his father to the crime scenes. He was so good at analyzing the crime scenes. Takagi became really impressed and wonders if they could ask for his help, Megure calls Takagi an idiot because he doesn't want any help from an amateur.
Next, Megure and Takagi decided to find some eyewitnesses but of course Shinichi interrupts again that he's the only witness who saw everything. He thinks it's four suspects. The ones that went to the bathroom, besides the victim. He doesn't remember how long each one took, but he can recognize them. Since his seat is in the back, he was watching them the whole time.
The four suspect are, the two women next to the victim's empty seat, Tsugumi Amano and Chizuru Tachikawa. The man sitting next to the aisle, Tsuneo Ukai and the man named Edward Crowe in the front.
Tachikawa wonders why would he would be murdered. Megure is about to explain but Ukai mentions that it's because of the negatives. He would sell them to the newspapers for a lot of money. But there were no negatives in Otaka's possession. Saginuma asks if that he was murdered with a sharp object jabbed into his neck. Megure confirms that is correct which means this culprit was professional. But anyone with enough medical knowledge, as well as the right weapon, all of them including Saginuma could have done it.
Amano said that she wasn't feeling well, so she went to the restroom to throw up. When she came back, Otaka was still in his seat. After that, she asked the flight attendant for air sickness medication. Shortly after, Ukai left to go the restroom, which took about five minutes. Megure said that he should have been sitting next to the victim, with the aisle in between. Ukai said he was uncomfortable, so he walked around for a bit. When the flight attendant came back with the medicine and water, Otaka already left his seat. It took less than a minute. Tachikawa went to the bathroom too, after Tsugumi had taken the medicine. It had been about twenty minutes. Since Otaka hadn't come back yet, she went to check on him. At that time, he was still alive. She knocked and asked, "Is anything wrong?" He answered back by knocking. Next for Edward, Shinichi asks him when did he go to the toilet. Unfortunately, he doesn't remember when he did. Saginuma wonders how long is the police going to keep up with the pointless questioning. The one who has the weapon is the culprit so he thinks the police should search the other four because he said as for him, he was asleep the entire time. Ukai calls Saginuma a liar because he knows that he left his seat that's behind Otaka's. Saginuma got confused and Megure asks what is he saying. Ukai said that Otaka was in his seat before he left the restroom. At that time, Saginuma wasn't in his seat. Saginuma asks Ukai that what is he talking about because he was so sure that he was asleep the entire time. He also said that the other four had gone to the restroom and points at Shinichi that he saw it too. Since all five of them are suspects, the police are going to conduct a body search and inspect their luggages.
Later, the police couldn't find a murder weapon even by searching the five people's bodies and luggages. They decided to search the victim's belongings as nothing suspicious was found on the suspects.
Takagi opens the overhead bin door and asks Amano which luggage is Otaka's. Amano points to the bag so she reaches to get it with her right arm but suddenly stops. Amano remembers that Otaka said something strange. About a week ago, he left his bag in the photo studio. The next day, he found the bag had been cut up with a knife. So it's the new bag that Otaka brought currently and Amano reaches to get it with her left arm. In Otaka's bag, there's nothing that could be the murder weapon. After seeing his passport, Takagi remembers that three years ago, Kazuhiro Otaka won the newspaper's big journalistic photography contest. The picture he won was about the mother handing her baby to the fireman during a big apartment fire.
Meanwhile, Ukai is still accusing Saginuma that he's the culprit. He knows that Saginuma is lying about sleeping the whole time. He saw it when Amano was taking medication, Saginuma wasn't in his seat. Megure asks where was Saginuma at that time. The stewardess doesn't think he was in his seat. Saginuma asks the other flight attendant if he was asleep in his seat but unfortunately, she can't remember. When Shinichi asks something to the stewardess by whispering, she said yes. Shinichi had finally figured out who the culprit is. He then asks Ran something that's inappropriate and Ran confirms his suspicions. Shinichi finally found the weapon that the culprit used to killed the victim.
