Conan luckily finds a witness who saw Ran studying her lines providing her with a solid alibi. One of the actors, Sazanami, is attacked later that night and the scriptwriter's fingerprints are found on his belongings. Conan follows the clues in the hidden messages and gathers everyone at the theater. Sleeping Kogoro reveals that the scriptwriter discovered that Sazanami and the prop technician were partners in the serial thefts and feared for his life. The prop technician understood the hidden messages and tried to run away. He pointed at Ran because the role she was playing held the clues to identifying Sazanami.