Ran, Sonoko, and the Detective boys all get to go backstage of a drama/acrobatics productions before it debues. They witness the script writer being unnecessarily rough with the new young ringmaster, who is the son of the recently deceased old ringmaster. After going through a dress rehearsal of the play, the new ringmaster's little sister goes to get the script writer only to find him dead. It seems no one from the troupe could have committed the murder since they were all practicing together, but Conan can't help but notice that the ringmaster is acting suspicious when he doesn't tell everyone that something is missing from the scene.