Ayumi's father placed the phone on the table and turned on the playback function.
The recording paused for a moment.
"Daddy, save me!"
Ayumi's voice suddenly rang out, filled with intense panic.
"Ayumi!"
Mrs. Yoshida's tears poured out once again. She leaned into her husband's arms, her face full of grief.
Heiji couldn't help but frown. He rewound the recording and listened to it again. This time, he listened very carefully.
Because of his Magic Voice skill, he had absolute pitch. He could easily distinguish even a slight tremor in the voice coming from the recorder.
"Heiji, did you find something?" Inspector Megure asked expectantly.
Heiji shook his head. "Every code has a key point. For now, I still don't know what the key point in this code is."
"What if there is no key point?" Ayumi's father asked urgently.
Heiji glanced at him. "Then that would prove the kidnapper never intended to let Ayumi come back at all."
Upon hearing this, Ayumi's mother fainted directly into her husband's arms.
Inspector Megure's mouth twitched. If a police officer had said something like that, he would definitely have given them a harsh lecture. But since the person speaking was Heiji, it was difficult for him to say anything.
"Heiji, my friend, that's not really the best thing to say right now."
Still, he couldn't help but offer a soft reminder.
"However, this code should have a key point. We just haven't found it yet."
Hearing Heiji's words, Inspector Megure and the others breathed a sigh of relief.
"Of course, we must find it as quickly as possible. The code contains the phrase 'the dying little princess.' This indicates that Ayumi's current situation is likely not very good."
This one sentence from Heiji made Inspector Megure's heart tighten once again.
"Heiji, next time, please finish everything you have to say all at once."
Inspector Megure's mental state was usually quite strong, but Heiji's way of speaking was keeping him on an emotional roller coaster. When a young life was at stake, no one could remain calm.
Suddenly, Ayumi's father supported his wife and knelt down. "Mr. Heiji, I know your reasoning skills are very strong. Please, help us save Ayumi. I beg you!"
After saying this, he pressed his head against the floor.
Heiji frowned and looked at Inspector Megure helplessly.
Inspector Megure understood the look and signaled for the other officers to help the Yoshida couple up.
"Mr. and Mrs. Yoshida, please rest assured. We will do our absolute best to rescue Ayumi. To be honest, her Junior Detective League has helped us solve several cases in the past."
Suddenly, Inspector Megure's eyes lit up, and he became a bit excited. "Perhaps we can start by looking into those past cases. Officer Chiba, go immediately and filter out all the cases the Junior Detective League has been involved in so we can analyze them together."
"Yes, sir!" Officer Chiba nodded immediately.
Watching the members of Search Division 3 busily moving around, the Yoshida couple felt a small sense of peace.
Heiji did not join in. Instead, he sat in Miwako Sato's seat, lowering his head in deep thought.
Internal Thought: In that recording just now, the coded part was not only electronically disguised, but the rhythm of the speech changed every three words. It was impossible to hear any melody. However, that final sentence was definitely not spoken by Ayumi. A voice-changing technique was used. A normal kidnapper would have no reason to go that far.
Internal Thought: It is already certain that the kidnapper is Vermouth. But why is she doing this?
He continued to think with his head down. The people around him were sensible enough not to disturb him.
Suddenly, a sharp light flashed in his eyes. That guy Kudo also has absolute pitch.
"Heiji, where are you going?"
"I'm going out for a while."
Heiji didn't look back as he walked straight out of the Metropolitan Police Department.
"Damn it! It's not here either! What on earth does this code mean?"
Conan struck the slide hard with his hand, his face full of anger.
"What should we do? We still can't find Ayumi. Will the bad guys kill her?"
Genta's face was pale as he imagined all sorts of cruel scenarios in his mind.
"Maybe Ayumi saw the kidnapper's face, and then she was murdered," Mitsuhiko said, sitting on the ground weakly, his eyes lifeless.
"Don't be ridiculous! Ayumi definitely won't die. Otherwise, they wouldn't have let us try to crack the code," Conan said through gritted teeth.
"But we still don't know what the code is saying." Genta looked helpless.
"Maybe we should call Ran. Perhaps Mr. Mouri already knows something."
"Idiot! That moron definitely doesn't know anything!"
Conan suddenly shouted, which startled Mitsuhiko.
Haibara leaned against the side of the slide silently. Her mind was racing at high speed as she also tried to crack the code. Hearing Conan shout, she knit her brows slightly. "What's the use of shouting at people now? If you had gone home with Ayumi yesterday, this wouldn't have happened."
The Mouri Detective Agency and the Yoshida house were on the same route. Usually, Ayumi arrived home first, and Conan would walk her there. But yesterday...
Conan didn't defend himself. He hammered the slide again, his face full of regret.
Actually, this matter didn't have much to do with him, as no one could have predicted it. But he couldn't forgive himself. Because he had stayed behind for a novel, if something happened to Ayumi, he would never be at peace for the rest of his life.
Suddenly, Haibara's phone rang. She looked down at the screen, and her eyes brightened. She quickly answered.
"Haibara, you all know about Ayumi's situation by now, right?"
"Yes. We are looking for her."
"This matter is targeted at Kudo. Tell him to stay quiet and not get involved."
"Targeted at Kudo?" Haibara's body trembled. A look of panic flashed in her eyes. "Is it... is it them?"
Haibara's face turned slightly pale. The silence on the other end said everything.
"Where are you? I'll come pick you up."
"I'm at Beika Park."
"I'll be there in ten minutes. Tell Kudo that if he keeps investigating, he will be exposed."
"Come quickly."
Haibara weakly lowered the phone. She glanced at Conan, forced herself to stand up, and walked over to his side. In a low voice, she said, "Kudo, this is a trap. You must back out immediately."
"A trap?" Conan frowned and looked at Haibara calmly. "Did Hattori say that?"
"No matter how you look at it, this is a setup. Why was she kidnapped last night, but we weren't notified until this morning? This whole night was clearly meant to make us anxious and mess with our minds. That way, our guard would be at its lowest."
Haibara's eyes were cold and filled with cold logic.
"So what? Are we just not going to save Ayumi?" Conan said coldly.
"If we can save her, then the police can save her too. If the police can't save her, then we can't either. We might even get ourselves exposed."
Conan looked at Haibara and let out a cold laugh. "Haibara, I've suddenly realized how cold-blooded you are. Ayumi is always so good to you, yet you can actually just stand by and do nothing."
A flash of pain crossed Haibara's eyes, but she remained clear-headed. "If we are exposed, it will only hurt more people. Have you even thought about the consequences?"
"I only know that if I don't save Ayumi, I won't be at peace for my entire life."
Conan turned around and ran off.
Haibara suddenly lost all her strength and leaned against the slide. She stared blankly ahead, her eyes hollow.