"I informed of what truth we found to Juniper and Joey. They are gonna have Marian in custody for a while." said Galtomor.

"Do you people seriously think you have done the right thing?" asked Jude menacingly.

"We're doing what is in the law. But her arrest have to wait. She is still a useful eyewitness to the case." said Klancy.

Yumiko and Jude were allowed to leave and so they did.

"Ahh, what a waste of time. I was hoping what she did was related to the kidnapping or the murder." said Fushichin.

"It does relate to the murder, dumbass. Now we know that the murder weapon was taken from the kitchen after dinner." said Salim.

"Oh yeah. I was kinda thinking that it was the case all along tho. So, it's not much of a revelation for me." whined Fushichin.

"Well, if it interests you, I do have a theory on who might have kidnapped Hori." said Galtomor while putting his fist under his chin.

"Huh" said Fushichin.

"Yeah, if you guys remember two people carried something into the garage, right?" said Galtomor while eyeing his teammates.

Hellen’s eyes shot up and she said " Are you talking about the carton box? Reiner and Joseph carried it to Joseph's car and put the box into the trunk."

"You get what I'm trying to say?" asked Galtomor with a serious tone.

"I see. Hori might have been carried in that box." said Salim.

"But that doesn't make sense. We established that Hori was carried through Mew's door, right? In order for Joseph to kidnap Hori, he has to have access to Mew's keycard or a master keycard." said Hellen contemplatively.

She then confidently added "If he didn't, he couldn't enter Mew's room and enter Hori's room."

"No, he doesn't have to do that if Hori exited herself. Hori entered her own room, used the hole in the wall to enter Mew's room, opened Mew's door from the inside and got out. Hell, I bet she probably went to the guest bedroom herself." said Fushichin.

"Any evidence to back it up?" asked Klancy seriously.

"No, but it's possible. She went to meet Joseph at the guest bedroom. And she might have been attacked there." said Fushichin while pointing up with his finger.

Everyone contemplated his words.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

"What you said is still strange tho" said Hellen.

"What is strange?" asked Klancy.

"Why would Hori use such a roundabout way of exiting her own room? Why couldn't she just open her own door and exit instead of exiting from Mew's room?" asked Hellen.

"Yeah, it is weird...but if it fits the shoes." said Fushichin playfully.

"You can't say that. That's a horrible way of investigating." complained Hellen.

Fushichin sighed, he pondered for a while.

Finally Fushichin said "There is one explanation as to why Hori specifically chose that route. What if Joseph and Hori were working together?"

The others eyed him awkwardly.

"Think about it. The people in this mansion have treated her badly, no? Maybe she wanted to escape. She deliberately used Mew's room to avoid meeting with Marian who she thought was guarding her door. It explains why she had to use such an unorthodox way of exiting her room. After she exited, she entered the guest bedroom and Joseph put her in the carton box. That's how she was able to escape.” said Fushichin.

"You're still contradicting one thing. Mew's account. According to her, Hori and Mew had a great relationship and Hori would never leave her." said Hellen.

"Jeez, you believe that liar?" whined Fushichin.

"It's witness testimony. Unless you can prove it as a lie, we will treat it as the truth." said Hellen aggressively.

"I can't prove that to be a lie. But I have a theory on why Hori had to leave immediately." said Fushichin, his expression became more serious then he continued "What if Hori killed Tenma?"

The others looked alarmed towards him.

"Cool theory, got any evidence?" asked Klancy.

"No, not really. But think about it, isn't it strange how Hori went missing the same day Tenma died? It's very possible that Hori killed Tenma, was too afraid to see Mew and the others dead in the eyes, so she had to escape. That's my guess." said Fushichin.

"That's preposterous!" complained Hellen.

"What about the murder weapon? Hori couldn't have stolen the second knife." said Salim.

"Yeah, you're right. But my guess is that Tenma took it. Hori stole the knife from him. It's true that the wrinkles on Tenma's clothes are probably caused by the struggle against Nile. But we don't know if there was more struggle after that. And who knows, maybe Tenma let his guard down because she is his girl after all." said Fushichin with a grim tone.

"Are we just assuming that Tenma took the knife now? He doesn't have a motive to." hissed Galtomor.

Fushichin shook his head and said "But he was acting strange, right? It's very possible that he-"

"Only a possibility. Fushichin, we need more solid evidence than this." said Klancy.

He sighed and continued "How about this. Let's bring in Joseph and see what he has to say about this. Maybe he will succumb to truth under the pressure."

"Sounds more reasonable than whatever nonsense Fushichin speaks." said Hellen in a tired tone.

Soon Galtomor went away and brought Joseph. The five detectives briefly explained what he was being accused of.

"Me, stealing the girl of the Sushihara household? No way!" yelled Joseph.

"What if Hori asked you to carry her out of the mansion in that box? That's a possibility." said Fushichin assertively.

"Why would she do that?" asked Joseph.

"You're still our one and only suspect. It's very likely that Hori was hidden inside the carton box you carried. Afterall, it was quite heavy, you needed two people to carry it." said Klancy.

"Books, books are hard man." grunted Joseph.

"Were there really books inside the carton box? Nobody can prove that right? Do you have anyone's testimony, saying that there were books inside?" asked Hellen.

"N-no, I don't." said Joseph.

"Then it has to have been Hori who was inside. Was the carton box even empty when you entered the guest bedroom? Maybe Hori was already inside it!" said Hellen with a frown.