Conan and Ran are at Sonoko’s place for her big sister, Ayako. Ayako is getting married so she’s there to meet her new dad-in-law. However, when they are at their house, they witness a murder outside in the rain. The victim is the dad-in-law, Tetsuharu Tomizawa. The killer at first looks like Ayako’s fiancé, but then they find out he's the younger of triplet sons, and nevermind their more or less different looks they all have the same eyes - the only part of the killer that Ayako, Sonoko, Ran and Conan saw. Which of the triplets is the real murderer: eldest son Taichi, second son Tatsuji, or youngest son Yuzo?
« Hide spoilersConan is sure its one of the triplets. Since Kogoro isn't with them, he uses Sonoko instead. The culprit is the eldest triplet, Taichi Tomizawa. He told them that he has an alibi. He said that he was at the pachinko at the time of 11:30 PM. However, according to the law, every pachinko must be closed after 11:00 PM meaning that Taichi is lying and lacking a good alibi. In fact, at the time of 11:30 PM, he was really in the house, hiding. He followed the match there. When it ended, he recorded his message on the answerphone, having previously changed the time to an earlier one. All of this were to make them believe that he were calling at the time of murder. Then, he changed the time back and waited for his father to come back home. When he got back, he killed him with a stone. Taichi knew everything of what was happening because he was listening to them using a mike. He hid the mike in the watch of his father. Using it, it would be easy to follow every occurrence, from the match to his father's return. After the murder, he took the watch to get rid of any evidence. He also break the satellite to force his father to come there. There was a power cut during ten minutes at 11:30. If the power is cut, the answerphone stops working all. Of course, the clock still works because of batteries and we can still phone but it's impossible to record a message when there is no electricity. It would take an incredible luck to make his message and the time of the murder matched and that is the proof that he is the only one who can change the time on the answerphone. This is the evidence that Taichi is the culprit. He did it for the money and inheritance to be able to go on writing. He had less work and was starting to lose money so he asked his father to give him and that's when he understood. His father was pressuring his editor to make him refuse the work that he was asked to do. Taichi thought that his father wanted him to stop writing so that he could follow his steps in the company. When he found out that his father was coming to see Yuzo's fiancee, he found it a good chance to commit the murder. That's why he offered him the watch with the mike and broke the satellite. He also thought of getting Yuzo accused so that his part of heritage would be bigger. He did all of this to be able to continue to write. He is soon arrested.
Remastered version[]
A remastered version of this case was aired on October 29, 2016.
Manga to anime changes[]
Main article: List of differences between the manga and anime*In the manga, Conan's second attempt to fire a tranquilizer dart at Sonoko is foiled by Ran who catches him behind the door, prompting him to get Ran and Sonoko to solve the mystery together. When his question fails to guide them in the right direction, Conan tries and succeeds at firing his dart. In the anime, he is successful on his second attempt.