La Quantos

La Quantos is an Western themed restaurant owned in Japan. Its menu includes coffee, carbonated water, and beefsteak. The restaurant was the scene of a murder that took place in 1899.

History

 * Main article: The Adventure of the Great Departure

La Quantos customers were usually rich patrons. However, a sergeant in the Imperial Army named Taizou Uzukumaru, went to the restaurant every three days to steal from those patrons in order provide for his son. He would avoid having to pay for cutlery by simply biting directly into his food in a barbaric fashion. These thefts were reported to the police who sent detective Satoru Hosonaga undercover as a waiter to investigate.

One day, an antique dealer named Sanmon Sonohigurashi sat next to Uzukumaru who ordered a beefsteak. Other customers were Ryūnosuke Naruhodō with Kazuma Asōgi and John Watson with Jezail Brett, the latter two were from England. Watson ordered carbonated water because he just had a tooth pulled the other day and Brett also ordered a beefsteak. Naruhodō and Asōgi both ordered coffee, Asōgi was just about to go on his trip to England so he can change the judicial system.

After Asōgi left, Naruhodō decided to introduce himself to Dr. Watson. Unknown to the two men, Brett was intending to kill the doctor by putting curare (a paralyzing poison not known in Japan) in his water. She intended to quickly leave before he died and the beefsteak was to make it look like he was dining alone. But when Naruhodō came, a huge conversation erupted preventing Brett from leaving. By the time the curare kicked it, Watson started to fall. So Brett used the chair to prevent his body from falling over while Naruhodō went back to his table to finish his coffee.

Brett then got the idea of framing Naruhodō, so she dropped Watson's pistol on the floor and hid. When Naruhodō was leaving, he noticed the pistol on the floor, he decided to give it to Watson. Sonohigurashi was also looking for his koban under the table which Uzukumaru hid in his pocket. As Hosonaga was cleaning in the kitchen, Brett fired her own gun and everyone heard it. As Hosonaga detained Naruhodō in the kitchen closet, she rotated Watson's chair to have his back face the table. Uzukumaru was afraid the police would search his pockets when he was called as a witness to the murder. So he hid Sonohigurashi's koban under his beefsteak and swapped the plate with the one Brett was eating.

Name

 * "La Quantos" is "The How Many" in Portuguese.