Sonoko brought Ran, who brought Conan, to visit the site in the country used as location in filming of a well-received romantic TV serial, where the lead actress tied a red handker-chief to a tree branch to enable her lover to find her. The success of the serial went beyond expectation and the sleep rural area became a popular spot where female visitors tied red handkerchieves all over the woods, spoiling Sonoko's scheme to lure Makoto for a romantic rendezvous. They encountered a man who claimed to be part of the TV serial crew, and commissioned by a fan to find the exact location of tree with the original red handkerchief in the show. Shortly afterwards, he was discovered, stabbed dead, at the spot.