Episode 688: Detective Takagi Picked Up 30 Million Yen
Scenario: During his morning jog, Takagi comes upon a gym bag filled with 30 million yen. The owner of the bag, an organic grocery store manager, claims that he dropped it the previous night. When the newspaper man tells Conan that the bag wasn't there earlier that morning, he suspects that the grocer placed the bag for someone specific. Takagi questions the woman who was with him when he found the bag, but she doesn't know the grocer. The woman's partner then runs after Takagi thinking he was questioning her about a murder-robbery case that occurred 15 years ago. Ironically, the grocer was a suspect in that case, but had a solid alibi being hospitalized at the time of the crime. Sleeping Kogoro reveals that the grocer was indeed the robber who murdered the woman's first husband and that he had lent his health insurance card to his friend who was hospitalized under his name. The grocer later met his wife who inspired him to straighten his life. When his wife died, the grocer decided to give all his earnings to the woman and turn himself in. As he was about to approach the woman at the cemetery, he overhears her and her partner talk about finally moving on. The grocer didn't want to reopen old wounds. Takagi brings him in as the woman refuses the money and tells him to use it for a fresh start.
At 6:00 AM in morning time, Detective Takagi had breakfast at Janothon's and begins to go jogging for exercising. While jogging, he met the part-timer named Hideko Sasamoto and says good morning to her. When he went ahead of her, Takagi found the bag and when he opens it, he found thirty million yen inside. Sasamoto thinks Takagi is a burglar but he tells her it's not what it looks like. At the police station, the officer confirms it's thirty million yen and it hasn't been reported about the lost and found items. When Sasamoto learns that Takagi is a police detective, she started apologizing to him for thinking that Takagi's a burglar.
Later, Takagi starts questioning the old lady. The old lady happens to know a few people with the brown bag but Takagi is not familiar in the neighborhood where he is so the old lady is going to ask someone else. After that, Conan and the Detective Boys went to Takagi and they heard that he found thirty million yen so they decided to help Takagi to look for the person who lost it. Takagi told the Detective Boys that he found the bag in 6 AM so he's off duty today and he ran back from a friend's place from last night. Then he met the part-timer, Sasamoto, so he was jogging alongside with her. Finally he found the bag on the street (where they currently are). All of a sudden, Kogoro appears with the unhappy face saying that he dropped a lot of money so he requests Takagi to lend him a hand. Takagi's cellphone rings and he answers it. The officer told Takagi that someone who lost the bag of thirty million yen came forward.
At the police station, the man who works as a management of natural food stores named Toshiyuki Hiranuma claims that he's the person who lost the bag of thirty million yen. Apparently, his wife Mie dropped it and she seems to be ill recently. The thirty million yen is said to be insurance money. When Takagi asks Hiranuma why did he dropped the money, he said it's a shameful story. He went home being drunk, and he realized he had no bag with him when he woke up. The police are going to return the money to Hiranuma eventually. Before Hiranuma takes his leave, Conan notices that there's white paint on his back and dirt on his shoes.
At 9:32 AM, Takagi, Conan, and the Detective Boys are sitting on the stairs of the playground. Suddenly, the old lady that Takagi met this morning came and he brought the newspaperman who knows about the brown bag. He said at 5 AM, he was delivering newspapers, and he saw it.
At the area where Takagi found the bag, Conan went inside the abandoned place. While looking, Conan found Hiranuma's footprints and the debris from the paint which that explains why Hiranuma has dirty shoes. The paint adhered to Hiranuma's back. This means Hiranuma was inside the abandoned place right before Takagi jogs to the area where he found the bag. Before Detective Takagi came, he placed the bag in the middle of the street. Even if it's early in the morning, after the newspaperman passed by and before Detective Takagi came, during that one hour time frame, nobody coming to the street is unthinkable. If the bag was placed on the street just before Takagi came, when he found the bag, he should've seen Hiranuma. In other words, at that time, until someone would find the bag, Hiranuma calculated the time, placed the bag in the middle of the street, and from the deserted shop, he was watching. Takagi figured it was for Sasamoto. Passing the street was a coincidence for Takagi, but Sasamoto said that every morning, she jogs by passing the street. This means Hiranuma wanted Sasamoto to find the thirty million yen.
The group went to the supermarket to meet Hideko and after she learns that the money will be returned to its owner, she is happy to hear it. When Takagi asks Hideko about Hiranuma, she has no clue who he is. The group exit the supermarket and Hideko's boss named Kunitaro Oba came to Takagi by asking him was the culprit found. He was talking about the murder case of Hideko Sasamoto's husband. The culprit hasn't been caught and last month on the 30th, 15 years have passed. If it was from before, the statute of limitations will be up. As Takagi just saw Hideko's become cheerful; but at the time, Oba never saw her smile and she was always depressed. The truth is, Oba wanted to marry Hideko. Oba's proposal was rejected at first. Hideko said, "For me to be happy while you're gone is unfortunate." It sounds so strange. Recently, she started thinking about her own happiness, and last month, Hideko and Oba went to Hideko's husband's grave to ask for a request. Oba asked the deceased to let his wife go, but it's quite complicated. When Oba thinks about the culprit reappearing again, he wonders if Hideko will suffer the hatred. After the conversation, Oba went back to work in the supermarket.
At 11:35 AM at the playground, Takagi is going to explain the murder case that happened in 15 years ago. The case occurred 15 years ago at night in a multi-tenant building of an office on the 4th floor. He probably feared the security cameras. He climbed the adjacent building's drain pipe up four floors and entered the office via the veranda. Working overtime alone, Akio Sasamoto (Hideko's husband) was murdered and the 5 million yen cash was stolen.
However, the culprit's sneaker left a footprint at the scene. From the sneaker, a list of customers was made and a thorough investigation was carried out. Among the list of customers, Hiranuma's name was also in it. Conan sees that and to atone for that case, he tried to give 30 million yen to the victim's family of Sasamoto. He would have her find it, he, the owner, won't claim it, and in six months, the money would be hers. Hiranuma could be the culprit but he isn't actually. For Hiranuma, the crime was impossible to commit. When the investigator Tadayoshi Uno and a younger officer visited him, Hiranuma's leg was fractured. When they confirmed it with the hospital he went to, the broken leg was covered in cast three days before the incident. With a broken leg, you can't climb up to the 4th floor and with a cast, you can't wear sneakers either. The case from 15 years ago and Hiranuma's 30 million yen aren't related after all. Conan made a fake call from Kogoro for telling Takagi to look into something to check if at that time there was anyone near Hiranuma that broke their leg or not and telling the Detective Boys to get good information about Hiranuma. Conan with the Detective Boys and Takagi split up to start the investigation.
A little while later, the Detective Boys went back together at the shop that was closed a month ago. At that time it seems his wife, who had been sick for a long time, passed away. Hiranuma seems very honest and nice. Only, recently there's one thing that's strange, even though he said, "I'm going to travel for a while," and left the house, in the end, he returned home that same day, it seems. This was about one week ago.
At the dry cleaners, the man named Morita says that it was at the end of last month on the 30th. When he thinks about it, the night before, Hiranuma said something oddly strange. He said, "From a long time ago, I decided to do that, but when the time comes, I get scared. I'm such a pathetic guy." Afterward, he said, "money can't atone for it," repeatedly. And so, on the next day in the morning, Morita saw Hiranuma carrying the bag and wonder if he's going to the hot spring. Hiranuma wasn't going to the hot spring but he's going somewhere far for a bit. Then he told Morita to take care fo himself and takes his leave. Morita kind of felt like he was saying his last goodbye. Even so, that evening he said he couldn't go on vacation and came home. After Morita finishes his testimony, Mitsuhiko wonders what does this means.
At the shop, the man named Kanzaki is having a beer and Takagi came by to have kake soba. Kanzaki claims that he lost his footing on the stairs and crack went his right leg. When Conan asks him about that he didn't have health insurance card, Kanzaki asks back of what's Conan saying all of sudden.
