"Are you saying that preparing a bed in the basement was for someone to sleep there?"
Ran probably understood what they meant.
"Could it be that someone wanted to imprison someone there?"
Suzuki Sonoko felt like she had thought of the key point, and suddenly blurted out her idea.
"How is that possible? If someone were to be imprisoned, this empty villa could be used anywhere, so why would they specifically dig out a basement?"
Shinichi Kudo retorted.
"Then the problem goes back to the basement again."
Takato shook his head, "Let's put aside the basement issue for now and discuss the person who is supposed to sleep on that bed! Think about it, if someone prepared such a bed for someone to sleep there, how do you think that person who came to sleep got in?"
"They must have been brought in by someone, right? After all, this is an uninhabited villa; no one would voluntarily come in."
Ran said.
Meanwhile, Shinichi Kudo, who was beside her, now showed a knowing smile, then looked at Takato and asked, "Has Mr. Akechi bought and drunk beer here these past two days?"
"No."
Takato replied, somewhat puzzled.
"But, was bringing someone in just for them to sleep in the basement?"
Suzuki Sonoko expressed her inability to understand.
"Do you remember half a month ago, Dr. Dr. Agasa said the lights in this villa were on one night?"
Shinichi Kudo prompted, "It must have been that day; the person who dug out this basement brought someone to this villa."
"But what could they do by bringing someone to this empty villa?"
Ran asked.
"There's a lot you can do, like drinking alcohol or something."
Shinichi Kudo revealed a smug smile, "Actually, I just found an empty beer can in the corner; it looks like it was recently thrown there. Since Mr. Akechi didn't drink it, it can only be someone from outside who came in and drank it."
After hearing Shinichi Kudo's words, Takato frowned and began to ponder.
"So you mean that on that night half a month ago, someone brought someone here to drink beer, and then after they had drunk enough, they let the person who was brought in go into the basement to sleep?"
"That's right."
Shinichi Kudo agreed with this statement, which made Takato even more puzzled.
"But this is too strange, isn't it? If that's all it is, why put the bed in the basement? And it's not logical to let someone sleep in this empty villa!"
Suzuki Sonoko retorted.
"And bringing someone here to drink beer is also very strange!"
Ran also could not accept this explanation.
"Perhaps, it's precisely because they wanted that person not to find it strange that such strange actions were taken."
Takato seemed to have thought of something, saying it with some uncertainty, but after pondering for a moment, he showed a look of sudden realization, which was then replaced by a look of utter surprise—"No way!"
"It seems Mr. Akechi has also figured it out!"
Shinichi Kudo said, "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."
"What exactly are you two talking about?"
Ran and Suzuki Sonoko were completely unable to follow the conversation between Takato and Shinichi Kudo.
"And what do you mean by 'making that person not find it strange'? Drinking in an empty villa and going to sleep in the basement are both very strange, okay!"
Suzuki Sonoko said.
"Drinking in an empty villa and going to sleep in the basement. This seems extremely strange to us, but what if it seems perfectly normal to the person who was brought over?"
Shinichi Kudo said.
"How could anyone find that normal! Kudo, what nonsense are you talking about!"
Suzuki Sonoko said.
"For example, the person who was brought here already lives like this... No, to put it more directly, what if the person brought here thought this place was familiar to them?"
Takato began to explain, but Ran and Suzuki Sonoko were now completely unable to comprehend the two men's statements.
"To put it simply, there are two villas with identical layouts! One is here; and the other is where the person who was brought here originally lived!"
Shinichi Kudo spoke more directly.
"Then digging the basement is..."
"Because of the difference!"
Before Ran could finish, Shinichi Kudo began to say, "Perhaps the only difference between these two villas is that this one doesn't have a basement, so to make the layouts of the two villas identical, a basement had to be dug here!"
"If that's the case, the whole matter can be understood."
Takato began to explain.
"Of course, for simplicity, let's temporarily call the person who dug the basement 'A', and the person brought here 'B'."
"A, by chance, discovered that the layout of this unoccupied villa was almost identical to B's villa. So, for some purpose, A dug a basement in this villa, making the layouts of the two villas exactly the same. Then, one night half a month ago, A brought B here and they drank together. B didn't know that this wasn't his own villa, and after getting drunk, B habitually went back to the basement to sleep."
Upon hearing this explanation, Ran and Suzuki Sonoko showed expressions of astonishment, as if listening to gibberish, so Shinichi Kudo continued to add details.
"I think A's purpose in doing this was to have B create an alibi for him! A's elaborate effort to dig a basement indicates that what he intended to do was a very significant matter. I think it's highly likely he wanted to kill someone nearby, but if that person died, A would be under great suspicion, so he needed someone to provide him with an alibi, and B became the best candidate."
"Because B's own villa is very far from here, if B testifies that A was drinking with him at the time of the incident and couldn't possibly have made it to the crime scene, then A's suspicion would naturally be cleared. Afterward, A would only need to take the sleeping B back to B's own villa."
Takato said.
"But... but, for two villas to have identical layouts, that's too much of a coincidence, isn't it? And according to this explanation, B's villa should also be empty; is that possible?"
Ran asked incredulously.
"Of course it's possible. For example, what if B's villa was built according to this villa? As for B's villa also being empty, that's easy to understand, because B's villa was just built, and the furniture hasn't been moved in yet!"
Shinichi Kudo said, and at this, Ran and Suzuki Sonoko were completely baffled.
"A had seen this villa before. Later, B wanted to build a villa, and A took advantage of this, directly giving the design of this villa to B, so B built a villa exactly like this one, only because of B's insistence, B's villa had a new basement built. And recently, the villa was completed, but the furniture hadn't been moved in yet, so B could only temporarily sleep in the basement."
Takato said.
"Wait a minute! Are you trying to say that A wanted to kill someone, and so, a long time ago, he took advantage of B's plan to build a new villa, all for the purpose of creating an alibi for himself half a month ago!"
Ran was so surprised she almost stood up, and Suzuki Sonoko also looked at the two people who had made such a deduction with shock.
"To kill one person, and specifically build a house for it!"
Takato paraphrased a famous quote from "The Moai Island Murder Case" to summarize this deduction!
"Since that's the case, why don't we confirm it."
Shinichi Kudo said, taking out his phone and dialing Inspector Megure of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Investigation Division One.