Rachel is reading in the newspaper about a case that they recently solved. Coan had used Richard to solve a case involving a criminal named Yancy, who had been put in prison. The news that Yancy had just escaped from prison worries Rachel and Conan, since before he was taken away Yancy had threatened to get Richard. Richard, however, is not worried and announces that he is going to the racetrack to bet on a horserace. Rachel and Conan decide to go along with him and keep an eye out for trouble. Richard begins betting when they get there, then sends Conan off to get some drinks for them. On his way back to them, Conan notices a man with a fake beard and sunglasses watching Richard and Rachel with binoculars. The man has disappeared by the time Conan returns to his seat. Richard manages to lose all of his bets, and they leave.
Outside they are about to go up some stairs when a woman coming down collapses on top of them. Conan notes that she looks too healthy to pass out like that, and they take her to the hospital. They learn that she has amnesia and that all she can remember is her name, Maya. Richard, smitten by her good looks, decides they should help her try to regain her lost memories. He thinks that if she sees something familiar, maybe she will remember some more things. Conan points out that there was a gym near where they found her, but the gym is not familiar to her. At this time Conan notices two thin scars on her hands like where a wire cut her, but she is unable to remember how she got them. A terrible headache comes upon her suddenly and Conan is unable to learn any more.
Conan and Rachel look over the things that Maya had in her pockets when they found her. A piece of a jigsaw puzzle and a torn out bible page are all that they have to go on. Conan notices that there is the faint impression of 9,13 Last Supper written on the top of the torn out page, but is unable to figure out what it means. He then has the idea that maybe the page is from a hotel bible, so they start checking nearby hotels. They happen upon the one she was staying at and see that the torn page is from the bible in her room, but cannot find any more clues about her. As they are leaving the bearded man from the racetrack nearly runs over Maya and Richard with a car. Conan takes off after the car, but loses it on a nearby street. He sees a wrecked bus and truck on the street and learns from a nearby officer that the wreck was about 3 hours earlier. Conan suspects that Maya perhaps lost her memory in the accident and goes back to fetch them. She vaugely remembers wandering away from the wreck, and they then try to track down where she was going on the bus. They board another bus going that same way and Maya suddenly points out a broken down neighborhood as her earlier destination.
As the four wander around the neighborhood hoping something will jog Maya's memory, Conan suddenly spies the bearded man on top of a nearby building. The man pushes a large pile of concrete off the building directly over Richard and Maya, but Maya deftly jumps out of the way. Conan notices that she pulls a length of wire out of her necklace pendant out of instinct. The bearded man takes off with Richard close behind. Conan realizes that the man has been after Richard this whole time and tells Rachel to watch Maya while he chases the two. They end up in a ramshackle building where Richard almost falls through a hole in the floor. Conan tries to help him, but is unable due to his size. As the bearded man prepares to shove them, Rachel arrives and knocks the bearded man away as she saves the two. The man escapes and Rachel explains that Maya suddenly disappeared a few minutes before.
In a nearby store Maya and the bearded man have a meeting. The man tells her that she has messed everything up and he will work alone next time. She puts the puzzle piece she has been carrying into a puzzle on the wall and a drawer pops open revealing a file on Richard. She realizes that Richard is her target and knocks out the bearded man in anger after realizing that he was prepared to kill her to get Richard. She leaves the store and quietly rejoins Richard's group, but Conan happens to notice that a nearby store has the adress of 9,13. While Richard continues hunting for something familiar with Maya, Conan and Rachel explore the store. They find the bearded man, Yancy in disguise, unconscious in the floor and the open drawer with Richard's files inside. Seeing the Last Supper puzzle above the drawer, Conan figures out that Maya is after Richard and tells Rachel to go call the police. He remembers how quick and agile she is, that she stays in hotels and takes buses around, and her wire pendant, and realizes that she is a professional killer.
Meanwhile Maya has lured Richard into another abandoned building and left him there. She loops some of the wire from her pendant around an overhead beam and silently lowers it down around Richard's throat. Conan arrives just in time to see her hanging Richard from the beam. He kicks a nearby baseball at her and hits her hands, saving Richard. Conan then tells her she must have regained her memory, which she admits came back when she was almost killed by the falling concrete. Maya is soon surrounded by police and she admits that Conan is a force to be reckoned with. As she and Yancy are led away, she tells Yancy that the picked the wrong little detective to mess with.
The wealthy corporate tycoon Thomas Mcmullin's daughter Nikki has been kidnapped and he has been instructed to deliver a ransom in exchange for his daughter at the docks. The police, headed by Inspector Meguire, secretly surround the area where the swap will take place as Mcmullin parks where he is instructed. A curtained van pulls up beside him and he momentarily glimpses a girl with duct tape over her mouth glance around one of the curtains. Suddenly he recieves a call from the kidnappers saying that they told him not to call the police. The van takes off and the police quickly follow in their cars. After a short chase the van smashes through the guard rail and plummets into the river below. They quickly start combing the river in that area and call in a crane to pull the sunken van back up, but there are no bodies inside.
At this time Richard, Rachel, and Conan show up, having been hired by Mcmullin to investigate the kidnapping. Since Nikki was in their grade in school, Conan and Rachel both remember her as a very lonely seeming girl. Conan takes a look at the van and sees that even though the van went headfirst into the river, only the passenger side window has been busted. He also finds a hammer laying in the floorboard of the van. The cops continue to drag the river, but they are still unable to find any bodies.
Mcmullin and the three then return to his mansion to continue their talks. Once they arrive, Richard interviews Mcmullin's personal assistant Elizabeth, the last one who talked to Nikki before the kidnapping. The two girls were supposed to go to the movies one afternoon, but Nikki never showed up and Elizabeth soon recieved a phone call from the kidnappers. After explaining what happened, Elizabeth takes her leave of them. Mcmullin then explains that since Nikki's mother died when she was young, Elizabeth has always been like a big sister to Nikki. Richard then tries to figure out who might have kidnapped Nikki. He remarks that Mcmullin has many enemies due to his many hostile corporate takeovers over the years. When their meeting is over Rachel and Conan are wandering along the river when they see Elizabeth holding her nose and looking out at the river. She doesn't reply when they first call, then explains that her allergies sometimes affect her hearing. They see that the cops are still dragging the river, and Rachel says that she is certain that Nikki is still alive. Elizabeth, however, is not optomistic and leaves to go rest.
Conan gets Rachel to accompany him down to the docks to see if any of the fishermen saw anything strange. They talk to one man who was on the river at the time and helped with the search effort. He doesn't remember anything strange, but does recall that a boat went speeding past him soon after the wreck. They get the description of the boat from the man and go to the local marina to look for the boat. Upon arriving they quickly find the boat and Conan finds a scuba diving suit inside. He figures that the kidnapper must have put on the gear and swam out the broken window after the van sank, then swam out to the boat across the river. Conan decides this is a lot of trouble to go through for an escape and he can not figure out how the kidnapper could have brought Nikki, since there is only one diving suit.
The next day Richard announces that they are no longer on the case because Mcmullin has dismissed them. Conan riles Richard up and gets him to return to Mcmullin's mansion to ask why he dismissed them so suddenly. Mcmullin thinks they are just there because they want their retainer fee, but Richard is insulted and they leave. Conan sneaks off from them and returns to the house to see what is really going on. He hears Mcmullin and Elizabeth arguing inside about the kidnapping. They have heard from the kidnappers again and recieved a dated photo that shows that Nikki is still alive. The kidnappers had learned that Mcmullin had hired Richard, which is why he was dismissed. Mcmullin doesn't want to pay the ransom now, however, since he says that losing that much cash will clean him out and cause several business deals to fall through. Elizabeth pleads with him to reconsider, but he refuses. About this time Conan trips and they find him spying. Mcmullin tells Elizabeth to lock him up in her room so that he won't tell Richard and endanger Nikki.
In the room Elizabeth breaks down and hugs Conan, saying that he reminds her of her little brother Mason, who was murdered several years ago. Conan then notices that her watch is a diving watch and that her ankle has a strange tan line on it. She leaves him locked in the room and Mcmullin shows her the fake money he is planning to fool the kidnappers with. Conan manages to escape out the window while the two prepare to leave, and then hides in Mcmullin's trunk. Conan now knows that Elizabeth is the kidnapper. The tan line on her ankle is from a wetsuit and her ears were damaged the day before from her plunge into the river. Nikki was never in the van that day, the face they barely saw was Elizabeth pretending to be Nikki. The car soon arrives at an abandoned warehouse and the two go inside to meet with the kidnappers.
Elizabeth suddenly shoves Mcmullin down some stairs, breaking his leg. She explains to the bewildered man that this warehouse belonged to her father's company before Mcmullin destroyed it. Her father then killed himself, her mother, and her younger brother. Elizabeth took a job in Mcmullin's company and waited all those years to take revenge on him. She tells him that if he had actually paid the money for his daughter she would have taken the money and left, but since he is so greedy that he wouldn't even use real money, she is going to kill him. She then pours gasoline on him and is preparing to light him on fire when Conan intervenes. He tells her not to do this, it will make Nikki feel how Elizabeth did when her parents died. He convinces her to put down the lighter and she drops to her knees, thanking Conan for helping her realize this wasn't the right thing to do. Nikki is soon found safe and unharmed in the basement of the warehouse, and the first person she run to hug is not her father, but Elizabeth. Even though Nikki knew Elizabeth was the kidnapper, she says that she couldn't hate her. Mcmullin is downcast because he realizes that he loved his money more than his own daughter, and this is the result.
On their way home from school every day Conan, Mitch, George, and Amy always stop at a certain house to pet Jack, a german shepard who lives there. Conan remarks that Jack has always been around. He makes the mistake of saying that Jack was a puppy ten years ago when Conan was just a kid, but the other kids luckily don't take not of it. The owner of Jack is Charles Peterson, a kind lawyer who specializes in cases involving children.
Later that night Conan goes to dinner with Rachel and Richard and they pass by the Peterson house on the way home. As they pass Conan comments about how friendly Jack is, which makes Rachel remember how much Jimmy had always loved Jack. She also recalls how when they were about in 3rd or 4th grade the 7th grade boy who lived there committed suicide. Suddenly they hear a scream and a young woman rushes out of the house. She tells them that Ted has been attacked and they rush inside to find a man laying dead at the bottom of the stairs. Jack is standing at the top of the stairs and looking vicious, but when Conan calls him Jack rushes down and begins licking the boy. They find that Mr. Peterson is on the phone, wondering what has happened. When they explain that Jack has attacked Ted, Peterson prepares to rush home. Both he and the police soon arrive and they try to peice together what happened.
While Peterson was out visiting a friend in the country he let his neighbor Ted Growben housesit for him. Ted had invited the young woman, his girlfriend, over and they had been partying when Mr. Peterson called to check on Jack. He asked Ted to hold the phone up to Jack so that he could tell him goodnight, and Ted complied. Right after the clock chimed at nine o'clock, Mr. Peterson talked to Jack for a moment and Jack suddenly became vicious and lunged at Ted, knocking him down the stairs to his death. Inspector Meguire is suspicious of what Mr. Peterson said to Jack, but Peterson claims that he just said, "Jack, are you doing ok? Everything alright?" and that is when Ted was attacked. Learning that if Jack attacked without provocation that he will be put to sleep, Conan explains to Meguire that Jack is the most nonaggressive dog that he knows. Meguire then learns that Peterson's son Michael committed suicide 8 years ago after being repeatedly bullied by another boy. Michael had hung himself and left a diary behind explaining how Ted bullied him daily. Mr. Peterson admits that at first he was angry at Ted, but after Ted broke down and apologized at Michael's funeral, he had forgiven the boy. Ted had lived in another town until 3 months ago, when he happened to move into the house next door to Peterson.
Richard and Meguire are both certain that Peterson had not forgiven Ted, but they are unable to prove that he ordered Jack to attack Ted. They have Mr. Peterson repeat the words he said earlier to Jack, but Jack does not respond. Jack is taken away and everyone leaves Mr. Peterson's house. Conan, however, decides to go keep Peterson company for awhile. Mr. Peterson, lonely, explains how Jack always slept at the top of the stairs because the door to Michael's room was there. Conan happens to notice that the cordless phone that was in the living room earlier has been switched out with a normal one, but when he asks why the cordless phone is gone he acts like he just thought it was a cool phone. As the clock strikes the hour Conan remembers that the clock was striking nine when the attack occured. He takes his leave of Mr. Peterson and rushes home to tell Richard his suspicions. Richard, already convinced that Mr. Peterson somehow commanded Jack to kill Ted, believes that Mr. Peterson had the cordless phone in the living room earlier so that Ted could take it to Jack at the top of the stairs. When Conan mention's Peterson's clock, Richard becomes convinced that the combination of the clock and the words were what made Jack attack, but Rachel doesn't believe that Mr. Peterson would do such a thing.
The next day they get Meguire and Mr. Peterson to test out this theory. They play a recording of the clock striking 9, then have Peterson repeat the words he said the night before. Richard is stunned when Jack still has no reaction. After Mr. Peterson leaves, Richard and Conan learn that Peterson has been taking Jack out to the country every Sunday, purportedly to give him some exercise, but they are sure he was training Jack to attack. They then learn that Jack will be put to sleep the next evening because Mr. Peterson had agreed to it. That night Rachel looks out her window and wishes for Jimmy to return, both for her broken heart and to save his friend Jack. The next morning Conan is at a local pool with his friends when he hears a swimming coach's whistle blow. He suddenly figures out how Mr. Peterson trained Jack to attack, and quickly rounds up Richard and Meguire to go test this theory. This time Meguire has the phone ring, then he plays the recording of the clock. When he asks Peterson to repeat his words again, Mr. Peterson says he can't go on and admits that they have figured him out.
Peterson explains that it is true that he really forgave Ted at Michael's funeral. When Ted came back to town 3 months ago, Peterson learned that Ted didn't remember the bullying incident and Michael's death, possibly due to therapy and hypnotizing. This enraged Peterson, since Ted was no longer remorseful and therefor hadn't changed his ways in Peterson's eyes. Since Michael's death was now completely in vain, Peterson devised the plan to kill Ted. Conan asks how could he have used his friend Jack in that way. Mr. Peterson is ashamed and saddened over what he has done, and asks if he can pet Jack one last time. He is allowed to and Richard remarks that Peterson should cherish this, since it will likely be the last time that he sees Jack. After Mr. Peterson is taken to prison, the kids and Conan learn that Peterson's friend in the country will be taking care of Jack from now on. They are happy that Jack will be safe, but saddened that they will no longer be able to see Jack every day after school.
When Rachel finds out that Richard's 15th class reunion is coming up soon, she begs him to take her and Conan with him to the resort it will be held at. Richard doesn't want to take them, initially saying they needed to stay home and answer the phone, but as he is pressured they find out that he is just being cheap. As they are walking down the street arguing, they suddenly see a man fleeing from the scene of a bank robbery. Richard and Conan give chase as the robber turns into a small alley. He turns and pulls a gun on the two, but Conan uses his special sneakers to kick the gun out of the robber's hand with a brick. Richard then charges into the robber, knocking him to the ground until the authorities can arrive. Richard is amazed that Conan was able to knock the gun out with a brick, but Conan just says it was a lucky shot. As a crowd gathers, one woman sees Richard and calls out to him. She turns out to be Jamie Hummelford, an old classmate of Richard's. After she sees Rachel and finds out that she wants to go to the reunion, Richard has no choice but to let Rachel and Conan come. As they part the authorities are taking the robber away, but his gun has disappeared from the alley. They figure someone must have taken it, but have no idea why or who would do that.
Later that week Rachel, Richard, and Conan take a train to the resort where the class reunion will be held. As they ride they discuss how the gun was never found and it was likely a real gun since the barrel didn't crack when the brick hit it. They finally arrive at the resort and Rachel takes Conan to the hot springs while Richard catches up with his friends. All of the group was once in their university's judo club, and they kid Richard for always skipping classes and never scoring any points at the matches. At this point Rachel returns from the hot springs with an obviously embarassed Conan. She says she pretended to be Conan's mom so that they could go into the springs together. Conan gets a nosebleed as he remembers their time in the hot springs, but they just chalk it up to being in the water too long. Conan reflects to himself that this is going to be a long weekend.
All of Richard's friends introduce themselves. Scott Andros, the ace of their judo club, is now married to another former member, Nancy. Jamie Hummelford, the lady they met at the robbery is there, along with Jim Flemming, an stocky man with glasses. The final member of their party is Craig Newberry, a large bald man who is now a police detective. As they chat they look through Nancy's photo book and see a photo that reminds them that Craig and Jamie were a hot couple back in their university days. Jim and Scott reveal that they both had crushes on Jamie back then. Craig is now engaged to his former boss's daughter, while Jamie remains unmarried. Jamie tells them that her job and her life are both going down hill and says that sometimes she wishes she was dead, but quickly says that she is joking when she sees how concerned they look. After it is brought up that Jamie and Jim are the only two who have never been married, they joke they should get together, but Jamie laughs it off while Jim looks like he wouldn't mind the idea. Since it is only about three O'clock at this point, they decide to play table tennis for awhile until it is time to go watch the fireworks that evening. Jamie declines and goes to rest in her room so that she will have the energy for that evening's fireworks.
While they are playing, Jim leaves, saying he needs to go to the restroom. He is gone for a few minutes, then returns, sweating and looking nervous. The matches continue for some time until finally they notice that they are going to be late for the fireworks. Craig volunteers to put away the equipment while the others go find a good spot for the show. Rachel, Richard, Jim and Conan race off to the field, but halfway there Rachel remembers that no one went to wake up Jamie for the fireworks. Jim says he thought Jamie said she would set her alarm, but since no one else remembers that, Rachel and Conan race back to wake her. As they arrive back at the hotel, the fireworks are already starting. They race up to room 201 and knock, but there is no answer. Craig comes by at that point, saying he had decided to take a shower before the show. He says that Jamie probably didn't want to go to the fireworks since she wasn't answering. They decide to go without her, but come upon Nancy and Scott downstairs. They all continue on to the field, but only Conan and Rachel make it through the crowd to Richard's spot. Jim runs off to find the rest, but he too disappears into the crowd and doesn't return.
After the fireworks show is over, they all meet up back at the hotel. They think that Jamie is probably up pouting in her room, so they all go up together to get her for dinner. They knock again, but still recieve no answer, so they go inside. They are shocked to see Jamie sitting against the wall with a gun in her hand and a gunshot wound in her temple. Craig hustles everyone out except for himself and Richard so that the crime scene will not be contaminated. Rachel goes to call the police, but learns it will be 2 hours before they can arrive because of flooded roads. Meanwhile Conan notices that the gun Jamie is holding is the same gun the bank robber had. Richard agrees and figures that Jamie picked it up that day, planning to kill herself at the reunion all along. Using Jim's camera they take pictures of the untouched scene, then investigate further. They find that rigor mortis is already setting in, and that Jamie is nude under her robe. Conan soon begins picking out inconsistancies in the scene. Jamie's stiffened finger is not on the trigger, her head is at the wrong angle, and she is wearing a man's robe, which is not the smaller robe she was wearing earlier. Richard dismisses Conan's observations and determines she has been dead for seven hours, which was about when they started their table tennis match.
Conan innocently demands of Richard how exactly she killed herself, irritating Richard until he realizes that something is amiss. He checks the gunshot wound again and discovers that there is no burn mark around the wound. Normally when a person commits suicide they put the barrel up to their skin and shoot, and the hot air from the gun leaves a burn mark. This convinces Richard that this was a murder, not a suicide. Someone at the hotel must have shot her, then set it up to look like a suicide. Everyone is both speechless shocked at this news except Conan, who had already figured out that this was no suicide.
After recapping the events of the reunion leading up to Jamie's death and Richard's announcement that it was murder, Scott asks how any of them could have committed the murder, since they were all together in the gym at the estimated time of death. The only person who left the room was Jim, who went to the bathroom at least two hours after the time of death, clearing him. Craig points out that anyone could have come in through the window or the unlocked front door, so they need to interview the hotel's staff. The matron of the hotel, an elderly woman, says that she didn't notice anything strange, except for a woman and a young child who ran in right after the fireworks started. Since this was Rachel and Conan coming to wake Jamie, they decide the woman hasn't seen anything. Richard questions the two and learns that although they knocked, they heard no answer and were dissauded from waking Jamie by Craig.
Noticing that Jim seems very nervous, Richard asks him what is going on. Jim replies that it is probably nothing, but when he went to the bathroom at five O'clock, he saw Jamie on the second floor staircase glaring down at him with a hateful look. Since the estimated time of death was two hours before this, Richard and the rest dismiss Jim's sighting as a result of exhaustion. Richard then admits that all of their group still seems to have an airtight alibi at the time of Jamie's death. Since the staff still don't know what is going on, Richard explains that Jamie was murdered and the police are on their way, then excuses himself, leaving Craig to deal with the bewildered staff members. Richard leaves to go to the bathroom, but Conan tags along out to the hall and asks Richard how he can rule out all of his friends as suspects. Richard somberly replies that he knows that one of them had to have killed her somehow. Richard tells Conan that he needs to clear his head because he can't afford to accuse anyone without being completely sure. After Richard leaves, Conan thinks about who he thinks is the killer. The time of death seems real, but Conan cannot figure out how the killer committed the crime and got back without being missed.
Conan thinks about how the finger wasn't on the trigger of the gun, which seems odd since the suicide scene was so carefully set up. He decides that the matter of the changed clothes and lack of underwear also seem odd. Standing there, Conan notices a statue of the namesake of the hotel, a warrior named Benkai, who died standing up with many arrows in his body. Finally figuring out how the killer got away with it, Conan prepares to stun the returning Richard with his watch. Seeing how determined Richard is to find the killer, Conan understands Richard's feelings and decides to let Richard help solve this one. When they return to the rest, Richard admits that they all had perfect alibis, but Jim had no reason to lie about seeing Jamie at five O'clock. Conan, seeing that he needs to give Richard some clues to work with, says that he wants to go play table tennis using the special grip Jamie used in an old picture. Richard looks at the picture of Jamie gripping her paddle and realizes that it is the same grip she had on the gun. Conan then says that he doesn't want to play after all because then he will get sweaty and have to change clothes. Richard wonders if Jamie was for some reason playing table tennis before she was murdered, then wonders why someone would waste time to play a match with her before killing her. He tries to remember something that he learned in his days at the police academy, but cannot quite recall it. Conan then asks the old matron about the Benkai statue, and she explains that he died standing up after he fought fiercly for a long time. Richard finally remembers what he once learned and immediately accuses Craig of being the killer.
Craig protests that he was in the gym at the time of the murder, but Richard replies that Jamie didn't really die at three O'clock. They had based the time of death on her rigidity, but strenous exercise beforehand makes a dead body stiffen much quicker. Benkai died standing up because of all the fighting he had done before his death. Richard explains that Craig must have played a match with Jamie before he killed her. He had promised Jamie a private match that morning, but she was pissed when he asked everyone to play and that's why she went to her room. She then watched the courtyard to see when everyone left Craig alone, explaining why she was scowling down at Jim at five. After everyone left at six she came down and played against Craig, then he escorted her back to her room, where he shot her. She was still holding the paddle at the time, which explains why her hand was in that position. The first of the fireworks would have drowned out the shot, explaining why no one heard him shoot Jamie. He then changed her clothes and wiped off all the sweat, but before he could place the gun in her hand, Rachel and Conan knocked on the door. Craig then went out the window and came out down the hall to get rid of the two and make sure Jamie would be undisturbed. By the time he ditched them at the field and made it back to the hotel, however, Jamie's hand had already stiffened too much to fit the finger on the trigger.
Craig protests, saying Richard has no proof that he was the killer, since anyone could have pulled off those tricks. Conan agrees with Craig and says that he is a wonderful detective, since he knew that Jamie was dead before even examining her. Richard recalls how Craig told them to call the police, not an ambulance, even before they determined she was dead. Craig, finally backed into a corner, confesses. Jim and Scott both face him, but are thrown to the floor by the angry man. Craig explains that he had been secretly seeing Jamie for the past 18 years, but Jamie would never marry him. When he became engaged to his present fiance, Jamie repeatedly threatened her and threatened Craig that she would show the fiancee pictures of the two of them together. The day of the bank robbery they had just had a meeting discussing this blackmail, and that's when Craig found the gun and decided to kill her. During their match at six he told her he had already taken the pictures from her bag, making her run up to her room, where he killed her. Richard tells Craig that he will never understand what makes someone kill another, then throws him to the floor and says Craig is the weakest that he's ever been. After they return home Richard seems very depressed to the worried Rachel and Conan, but a blown up skirt is all it takes to make the weary detective happy again.
Conan, Rachel, and Richard are leaving a movie theater and discussing where to go to dinner when Conan suggests a nearby bar and grill. Richard replies that Conan is too young to go there. Just then two men come out of the bar and go over to a chauffeured car. The skinnier of the two men reminds the older and fatter man to take his blood pressure medication, prompting an outburst from the older man. Richard recognizes the older man as Claude Osgood, the CEO of Osgood systems. As Osgood gets in the car he gloats about a deal he just had, and mentions how a stupid programmer gave up his rights to some software. Conan happens to notice that Osgood's medication bottle fell out of his coat pocket when he got into the car and runs over to return it. Osgood thanks Conan, then berates the driver, Ken Thomason, for not noticing that he had dropped it. Ken looks briefly furious, then dutifully calms down. Richard takes the opportunity to give Osgood his business card and says that if Osgood ever needs a private detective, to give Richard a call. Osgood then tells Ken that he wants to hit some more bars in town, and they drive off.
That night Osgood lays in bed tossing uncomfortably and sweating as the temperature goes higher and higher. The next morning Richard recieves a call from Inspector Meguire saying that Osgood was found dead that morning by his driver Ken. Meguire asks Richard to come to Osgood's house as a precaution since they found Richard's card in Osgood's jacket. Rachel and Conan tag along when Richard comes, and outside the house they meet up with the man who was with Osgood the previous evening, his personal assistant Todd. Todd uses an electronic palm reader to grant them access to the house and explains that the house is very high tech and a central computer controls many of the house's functions. Even the computerized air conditioning is always kept at a comfortable temperature, no matter the conditions outside. They meet Meguire inside and learn that Osgood appears to have died in bed of a heart attack around two in the morning. Osgood's wife was not home because she had left on a three week trip overseas the day before. Ken explains that he came in that morning and found Osgood already dead. He explains that he went to the store after dropping Osgood off the night before, and Meguire decides that Osgood likely just had a heart attack due to his weight and excessive drinking.
Just then Asia, Osgood's beloved long hair himalayan cat, comes into the room and nudges Ken's leg. He goes off to feed the cat and Richard decides that he would like to see the body. Meguire lets Richard to take a look at the body, but tells Rachel and Conan to stay out. Conan ignores this and sneaks in to inspect the body for himself. While Richard sees nothing alarming, Conan points out that Meguire is soaked with sweat, which is odd since the house is perfectly air conditioned. He muses that a heart attack is sudden, so why would Osgood have sweated so much? Richard throws Conan out of the room, so Conan goes looking for more clues. He finds a bouquet of dead flowers in a vase and sees that they were only delivered the day before. He also finds a tray of wrapped chocolates that appear to have melted and then resolidified. Since Ken and Rachel are outside talking about the cat, Conan talks to Todd, Osgood's assistant. He learns that Ken was a software designer who became the head of Osgood's software division. Ken then quit and started his own software company with some other programmers, but his company went under and the only job Ken could get at Osgood at that point was as a driver. Todd then excuses himself to go tell the board of directors what has happened while Conan thinks about Ken. Osgood was obviously trying to shame Ken with the driver job and make him an example of what happens to people who competed with him.
Rachel returns and tells Conan how a cat like Asia has to stay inside when it's hot outside because the heat will make her sick. Seeing that Asia is fine, Conan wonders why everything else seems to have been heated. Conan decides to talk to Ken and explains that he wants to be a software designer when he grows up. Ken talks about how he tried to form his own company, but someone drove him out of business. He laughs it off when Conan asks if it was Osgood, but Conan can tell that it was. Conan still doesn't know how Ken would have caused Osgood to have a heart attack, but he is certain that Ken was involved.
Conan then visits Dr. Agasa in his laboratory to get some more information on computer systems. Dr. Agasa admits that if someone had enough skill they could hack into a house's computer system, and Conan figures that Ken could have done it. While Conan thinks he accidently steps into some mashed potatoes that Agasa had dropped and is forced to change his socks. Conan then complains about how stuffy it is in the lab, and Dr. Agasa says that he doesn't like for the temperature to be too different from the temperature outside. He tells Conan that an elderly man recently came into a cold restaurant from the hot outdoors and the sudden change in temperature caused him to have a heart attack. Conan then realizes how Ken killed Osgood and asks Dr. Agasa to make a little gadget for him.
Conan takes the bus to Ken's apartment and asks him more about programming. While they are talking Ken's company car's alarm goes off, and he runs downstairs to turn it off. Conan takes the opportunity to quickly search Ken's computer for the file that controlled the air conditioner, but he is unable to locate it. Ken finds a little gadget on his car door that is setting off the alarm and rushes back up to his apartment, but finds that Conan is just playing a card game on the computer. The only odd thing that Conan can find is a few weird paper wads scattered around Ken's floor. He eventually takes his leave and returns to Dr. Agasa's apartment. He finds a cat hair on his sock and figures that it is from Asia, but then remembers that he changed socks since he was at Osgood's house. He then realizes why there were paper wads and cat hair in Ken's apartment. Conan uses his bowtie voice modifier to call Inspector Meguire with his Jimmy voice. He explains that based on what Conan had told him, he had figured out how Ken caused Osgood's death and that Meguire should take Richard, Rachel, and Conan to interview Ken at his apartment. Conan then laments the cruel fact that he has to use a machine to speak with his own beautiful voice.
Meguire asks Ken if he brought Asia home with him the night before, but Ken denies it. Meguire explains that Conan found a cat hair in the apartment and showed it to Jimmy, but Ken says he must have just tracked it in. Conan then shows proof that the cat had been there, the little wads of paper litter all over the apartment. The litter was a special kind designed to be flushed down toliets. Pressured, Ken admits to keeping the cat and Richard acusses him of taking the cat so that it wouldn't get sick. Conan says that Ken wanted revenge and comitted two crimes, killing Osgood and turning technology into a murderous monster. Ken finaly confesses to raising the temperature at the house and then dropping it drastically, causing Osgood to have a heart attack. He retrives the floppy disk containing the program he used, explaining that he couldn't destroy any of the precious programs he had created. As he is taken away Ken tells Conan that he should become a program designer and not make the mistakes that Ken had. When the Moores return home Richard grumps about Jimmy sticking his nose into his cases, while Rachel becomes furious at Conan for not calling her down to Dr. Agasa's house when Jimmy was there. She doesn't believe Conan when he says he doesn't know where Jimmy is, and chases him across the house while calling him a little brat.
Early one afternoon Richard, Rachel, and Conan are meeting with a very wealthy lawyer, Samuel Taylor. Mr. Taylor has his offices in an exclusive suite at the top of a very fancy five star hotel. Trying to look important, Richard comments that they will be eating dinner there later and that they often eat at very expensive and fine places. When they arrive at Taylor's offices, Richard tells Rachel and Conan to go wait in the lobby, but Taylor tells them that they can stay there and he will order room service for them. Taylor checks his watch repeatedly, confusing Conan since Taylor just told them to wait around for room service. Mr. Taylor then excuses himself and goes to the restroom. While he is gone the phone rings and Richard tells Conan to answer it. Conan does and finds that it is Mr. Taylor's wife, Catherine. She asks to speak to Mr. Taylor and Conan hears something playing in the background. She tells him to hold on and the noise stops, then she returns to the phone. Mr. Taylor quickly returns and answers the call, telling his wife that he has a client and will call her back later. He then asks if Rachel and Conan to go down to the hotel's coffee shop, saying they can order anything they want and bill it to him. Richard and Mr. Taylor stay behind to talk business while the two leave. Mr. Taylor explains that he thinks his wife is having an affair and he wants Richard to follow her and find out for sure.
After a long wait, Richard finally comes down and rejoins Rachel and Conan. He explains that he has taken this case and will be following Mrs. Taylor. When he says that they are going to go grab a burger somewhere, Rachel annoyedly reminds him that he promised that they would eat dinner at the hotel. As they pass by the parking garage on their way out, Conan glimpses Mr. Taylor doing something in the trunk of his car, but is unable to figure out what. They eat dinner, then go walking over to Mr. Taylor's house so that Richard can find it for his case. When they arrive they are suprised to see the police are all over the house and even Inspector Meguire is there. Meguire asks Richard to come with him, and Conan sneaks along. They find that a bound and gagged Mrs. Taylor is lying dead in the bathtub. Meguire explains that she was tied up and then strangled to death. Conan finds a staple laying next to the body and wonders what it is doing there before Richard notices him and kicks him out.
They find Mr. Taylor talking to the officers. He admits that they had relationship troubles and that he hired Richard to follow her, but denies that he had anything to do with her death. Meguire estimates that the time of death was around two to three that afternoon, which is when Taylor was with Richard in his office. Mr. Taylor explains that after they left, he went to drop off some papers at a client's house, then came home and found his wife dead in the tub. Richard and Conan agree that Taylor only left briefly to go to the bathroom and that his wife had called while they were there. Upon learning that the phone in Taylor's office automatically recorded all calls, Meguire sends his men to fetch the tape of the call. Seeing that Taylor has a rock solid alibi, Richard, Rachel and Conan return home. The next day Richard reads that the police suspect that Mrs Taylor's lover may have been the murderer. Conan continues to think about the odd things he saw the previous day. The mysterious staple, the fact that Mr. Taylor seemed to time his visit to the restroom so that someone else would answer the phone, and the fact that Mr. Taylor was doing something with his trunk after their visit are enough for Conan to decide to pay another visit to the hotel.
When he arrives, Conan finds that there is a laundry chute leading down to a loading area next to the parking garage. He also learns that Taylor always kept the hotel room next to his offices reserved for guests. Hearing a music box in the hallway, Conan then finds that each room's alarm clock plays the tune when the alarm goes off. A maid explains that the clocks are custom made for the hotel in Europe. Conan quickly realizes that the tune the clock is playing is the same as the noise he heard in the background when he was talking to Mrs. Taylor the previous day. Taylor's alibi is now compromised.
Conan returns home to find that Richard has already left for Mrs. Taylor's wake and Rachel has been furiously waiting on him to return. They rush to Taylor's house and find a furious man accusing Mr. Taylor of the murder. The man introduces himself as Steve Jacobus, Mrs. Taylor's lover. Meguire asks where Steve was the day before from two to three, and Steve shows them the note from Mrs. Taylor that he had recieved asking him to come to her house at 2:30. Richard replies that he could have faked the letter, and he has therefore no alibi for that time period. Seeing that Steve is about to be arrested, Conan puts Richard to sleep using his stun watch. Richard sinks to the ground and Conan hides behind him and uses his bowtie to mimic his voice.
Conan explains that Steve didn't kill her, it was Mr. Taylor. Taylor laughs at the accusation, saying that he has a rock solid alibi, but Conan explains that Taylor was trying to manipulate him into creating a false alibi. He says that Mrs. Taylor wasn't killed at the house, she was actually killed in the hotel. She had been waiting in the guest room next to Taylor's office and had been instructed to call at a certain time. Samuel Taylor left the room at that time so that he would have an alibi of being at his office while she was still alive. After Richard left, Taylor strangled his wife and put her body in a laundry bag while the hotel staff were all on break. He sent the bag down the chute, then put int into the trunk of his car. The staple in the tub had come from where they put labels on the laundry bags. Since the body had stiffened while in the bag, Taylor put his wife in the bathtub so her cramped position wouldn't be suspicious. Taylor objects that this is all conjecture, but Conan replies that he has concrete proof. He has Meguire play the recording of Mrs. Taylor's call so that they can all hear the music box in the background and explains that the music came from the hotel's special clocks. Taylor says that any music box could have been playing, but Conan produces a recording of the clock in the guest room. Everyone gasps as they realize that the 'e' note is missing from both recordings of the song. One of the chimes in the clock was damaged, showing that the call could only have come from that room.
Taylor finally admits that he murdered her. Over the years he had been involved in many shady deals and Mrs. Taylor had threatened to go public with her knowledge unless he paid her 20 million dollars after she divorced him. He plotted to have her meet him in the hotel room that afternoon and call him at a certain time for him to deliver the money to her. Taylor says that he has taken alot of risks in his life, but this is one that he wishes he hadn't taken. Conan replies that Taylor should have checked the recorded call better and that one truth will always prevail. As Taylor is taken away Meguire congratulates the befuddled Richard on solving another case. Conan silently observes that the old timer is getting smarter every day, thanks to him.
Richard has been invited to appear live on the Primetime Mystery hour at Nich Uri studios. Before the show begins, the host Tate Evans calls his producer, Miguel Santos, and asks him to meet him privately in the fourth floor meeting room after the show. Miguel is somewhat hostile to Evans, but Evans tells Miguel that he has a new idea to pitch and it won't be a waste of his time. The show soon starts and Evans and his cohost Alice Nagel introduce the famous private detective Richard Moore as Rachel and Conan watch from the studio audience. They ask him about his most difficult cases, but Richard explains that his hard cases make him so drowsy that he often cannot remember them well. The show takes a commercial break and Evans complains to them that his stomache is feeling upset. Meanwhile one of the stagehands receives a call from Miguel asking them to remind Evans to meet him in the fourth floor meeting room. Miguel then reflects to himself how he is going to replace the successful mystery show with one filled with beautiful women to boost ratings and advance his career.
As the show continues, Alice comments how Evans used to be a marksman in the military, which he modestly confirms. They then get onto the subject of phone tapping and Richard explains, using Evans's phone, how even some cell phones can be spied upon using a radio scanner. After this they run a four minute mini detective case tape. While the tape is running Evans runs out, claiming that he needs to go to the bathroom. Miguel, still in the meeting room, then recieves a call from Evans and asks why he's calling during a live show. Evans tells him it will be the last time he hears his voice because he is about to jump off the building. Miguel rushes to the window of the room and the scene switches to the end of the taped segment. Evans returns to the set covered in sweat just as the segment ends. The show asks the audience who committed the crime in the tape, and though Conan easily figures out the correct answer, he plays dumb to Rachel. After the show ends one of the stagehands notices that Miguel is not answering his cell phone and finds Miguel dead in the meeting room. Richard and the others navigate the maze of the studio from the ninth floor set down to the fourth floor meeting room and find Miguel with his back to the wall under the window. He was apparantly been shot in the head and the window behind him is covered in blood. Next to the body is Miguel's open cell phone and a pistol, presumably the murder weapon. In the back of the crowd Evans smiles at the sight of Miguel dead, a sight not unnoticed by the vigilent Conan.
Inspector Meguire and the police soon arrive and confirms that the murder weapon was the silenced pistol. They quickly find several more shells and bullet holes in the wall around the window, leading them to think someone rushed in and fired wildly at Miguel, and one bullet passed through his skull and out the window. They figure the man must have rushed out after hitting Miguel, dropping the pistol as he fled. Evans admits that he was supposed to meet Miguel in that room after the show, but claims he wasn't involved. Conan notices that Miguel was apparantly on the phone at the time, but they are unable to figure out who he was talking to. Evans then denies reports that his show was about to be canceled and that one of his fans might have murdered Miguel. He pledges that his show will hunt for this killer, but Richard is unconvinced by Evan's claims. Richard suggests that Evans ran downstairs and shot Miguel during the four minute break he took, but Evans counters that it would take at least six minutes to get down to the fourth floor and back up to the ninth floor studio. Richard runs the course in an attempt to prove Evans wrong, but is unable to do it any faster. The police check the survelliance cameras on the fourth floor, but they are unable to find any suspicious activity.
Even without any evidence to prove it, Conan is sure that Evans is the killer. He doesn't understand how Evans got there so quickly until he encounters a lost Rachel in the halls and she mentions how much of a maze the studio is. Conan realizes that Evans must have taken some sort of shortcut to the fourth floor. Conan walks up to the seventh floor and notices that it is about two minutes from the studio. He sees a storage room next to the stairwell and goes inside. The storage room has a window that Conan finds to be directly above the fourth floor meeting room's window. He wonders if Evans scaled the wall down to the lower window, but the position of the body doesn't support that theory. Upon examining the murder scene again Conan finally understands how Evans did it. Checking the sidewalk outside under the studio, Conan quickly finds the bullet mark only inches away from the building. Conan is still missing any concrete evidence to convict Evans, however, until Evans hears his phone ringing and mentions that he had left it on all this time.
Conan lures Richard into the seventh floor storage room by saying that Yoko Okino is inside, then stuns the hapless detective. Conan then borrows a paint gun from a nearby actor, claiming that Richard needs it. He then sets up a camera in front of the passed out Richard and uses his bowtie to broadcast down to the meeting room where Meguire, Evans, and the rest are still at. To Meguire's disappointment the whole exchange is taped and broadcast by the press. Conan, using Richard's voice, announces that Evans is the killer. Conan explains that Evans shot Miguel from the seventh floor window. When Meguire argues that the shot came in horizontally to Miguel's head, Conan pretends that he is falling out the window behind Richard. Meguire, thinking that Conan is in danger, leans out the hinge opening window just in time to get shot in the temple with the paint gun held by Conan. Conan then drops the gun down onto Meguire and it slides into the room, explaining how the murder weapon got next to the body. Conan then tells Meguire that Evans must have gotten Miguel to lean out the window like that by saying that he was either going to push someone off or jump himself. Meguire conceeds it is possible that Miguel was shot that way, but asks Richard to explain the bullets and shells found inside the room. Conan says that they were planted there earlier in the day, before Miguel arrived.
Evans asks Richard where the proof in all these theories is, and Conan replies that Evans made one mistake. With the kind of cell phone that Evans has, if you don't turn it off, the redial function remains active. Meguire takes the phone and hits redial, causing the nearby phone that Miguel had been holding to ring. Evans then tries to claim that his phone was sitting on his desk during the show and he didn't even know Miguel's number, but Conan reminds him that Richard used it during the show and if Evans hadn't called Miguel after that then the redial would have rung Richard's home phone. Seeing that he has been backed into a corner, Evans confesses to killing Miguel. He says he thought it might be a mistake to have the famous Richard Moore on the show the night he did it, and now Richard has solved another case. Evans explains that he killed Miguel because his show was about to be canceled. Miguel and Evans had been close friends years ago when they were planning the show, but over time tension and stress had taken things to the point where Miguel had told Evans he would never work at that studio again. Evans had planned to kill Miguel that night so that his show and his career would be saved.
Richard wakes up a bit earlier than expected in the storage room and finds Meguire congratulating him on another sucessful case. Richard grabs Conan and demands to know why he is always sleepy when Conan is around. He then remembers that Conan had said Yoko would be in the storage room and demands to know where she is. Luckily for Conan, Yoko suddenly appears in the hall, saying that she had seen the case on tv while she was doing a scene down the street and she had to come see him and say hello. Conan narrowly gets off the hook as Richard forgets him for the time being.