The Mystery of the Clasped Watchband (Chapter 3)
( ch. 1) ( ch. 2)
Better get comfortable, because this chapter is waaay too long. It's the line breaks' fault.
Title: The Mystery of the Clasped Watchband
Fandoms: Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, Detective Conan, Magic Kaito
Rating: T
Genre: Mystery/Hurt/Comfort
Characters: Nancy Drew, Kuroba Kaito, Hakuba Saguru, Edogawa Conan, Frank Hardy
Summary: She was assured that this case was a doozy, and it would've been even if it weren't personal. One Hardy missing, the other dead for no apparent reason, and Nancy Drew undercover at Ekoda High on seemingly a fool's errand could sum up the situation. But soon it seems like she can't even sneeze without the trail leading to Kaito Kid, and what about that strange boy with the glasses?
In This Chapter: Putting the "Hurt/Comfort" in "Mystery/Hurt/Comfort".
~~~~~~~~~~
The 'dozens of bodies' theory as it turned out held weight. Rather a lot of it. Nancy was soon called into the police station so that they could go over what they'd found with her. In the same room that they'd met in before, she was shown several profiles of other people who had died for no apparent reason.
“Hayashibara Nana, 36, private investigator. Ishikawa Jiro, 57, politician. Okumoto Hikaru, 21, convenience store shift manager. The list goes on.” Inspector Megure stated. “Sixteen bodies in all, though it seems probable that even after we've asked, police departments are still holding out on us. It's rather surprising that this hasn't come to light before, because several of the victims are very nearly considered the rich and famous. Other than that for the most part they're the kind of people who, if anyone, would die a mysterious death, like Hayashibara Nana. Okumoto Hikaru, considering the company he's keeping in death, is an anomaly.
“We're trying our hardest to keep this under wraps. Very few people outside this room know about it. Clearly this is big, bigger than we'd thought. This isn't just a boy dying and another disappearing under mysterious circumstances, this is mass murder on a grand scale. And if your theory is completely correct, these people are responsible for even more, seemingly normal deaths.”
“I've informed a few of my most trusted men that we need to talk to Kid, though I haven't told them why,” Inspector Nakamori butted in. “Kid being involved in this goes against everything I know about him. If there's trouble, he's always gone out of his way to save someone. Clearly we need him to tell us how he's connected, because it's too complicated for us to guess at. I've told them that if they corner Kid on their own, not to jump him but to tell him that he needs to contact me.”
“Nancy, we're pulling you out,” Fenton Hardy stated. “This is too dangerous for you. What little you've done so far is marvelous, but I can't let you continue. I'm sending you back to the States.”
Nancy was ready for such a demand. “But Mr. Hardy, it would be suspicious. For me to show up for a week then leave suddenly? You might tip your hand that I was investigating. Wouldn't it be better for me to stay for at least a month?”
All of the adults in the room exchanged glances. But before anyone could say anything, the door to the meeting room suddenly opened and a small boy with large glasses bounced in. “Inspector Megure!” he chirped, far too cheerful. “Are you investigating a murder? Can I help?”
“Conan-kun!” Inspector Megure started.
But before anyone could stop him, Conan had run over to the table and jumped up on a spare chair. “Oh, are these people all dead? That's bad, really bad. I hope you catch who did it! But it says here you don't know how they died, isn't that strange?” Then Conan looked straight at Nancy. “That sounds like it could be dangerous. If these people could kill without leaving a trace, I'd be really scared if I were investigating them. I wouldn't want to investigate them at all.”
Was Nancy imagining things, or had a little kid just warned her off the case?
At that moment the door opened a second time and a girl around Nancy's age looked in, angry. “Conan-kun!” She stormed over to where Conan was standing on the chair, followed by a darker-skinned boy the same age.
The boy looked sheepish. “Ran-neechan, heh heh.”
“Don't bother Inspector Megure, I'm sure he's very busy.” She then turned to Megure. “I'm sorry Inspector Megure, Hattori-kun was talking to me, and next thing I knew Conan-kun here had slipped off.”
Megure waved her off. “It's okay Ran-kun, just get him out of here.”
Ran started dragging Conan out the door. Before the door closed, Nancy saw a look pass between Conan and the teenage boy that she couldn't quite decipher.
Going back to what they were discussing before the interruption, Fenton Hardy spoke up. “Fine. Three more weeks, just so that it doesn't look suspicious, then it's back home for you. And no sleuthing.”
“Yes Mr. Hardy.” As if Nancy had any intention of that.
~~~~~~~~~~
Kaito Kid's acquaintance it seemed was not interested in becoming Nancy's acquaintance. Kaito passed the word to her one morning after distracting Aoko. Nancy was a little frustrated, though she'd been going over what her next step would be if that were the case. Unfortunately she hadn't quite figured out what that next step would be, so until she knew she was unwillingly following Fenton Hardy's order to not sleuth.
She'd also taken to avoiding Hakuba again. He'd managed to corner her once, and ask her how her theory had panned out. She'd lied and said they hadn't told her, and when he asked if she'd managed to worm Kaito's secret out of him yet she'd lied about that too.
It was evening, and Nancy was doing her homework in her room, when the phone call came. She'd started at first when her phone buzzed and started wiggling across the desk, but then realized it was probably Aoko calling to ask if she wanted her to pick anything up for her at the store. “Hello, Nancy Drew speaking.”
“...Nancy?”
Oh.
My.
God.
“...Frank?!”
“Nan, you have no idea how nice it is to hear your voice.”
“Frank! Where the hell have you been? Everyone's looking for you! What happened?”
“Listen Nancy, we haven't got much time. I'm going to give you an address and I need you to get over here right away.”
“Why? Do you need me to break you out of somewhere? Is that why you haven't contacted anyone, you've been kidnapped?”
“No! The people who're hiding me, they don't think you should be told. They don't know you like I do, they think if the trail's cold enough you'll give up and leave. But listen, you've got to come to 22 Beika right away. When you get here, go around the left side of the house. The third, at least I think it's the third, basement window will be open. Come in that way. Hurry.”
Then the line went dead. Nancy stared at her phone for several long moments. Frank. Frank had just called her. He was alive, and sounded just fine. It was Frank. Frank Goddamn Hardy.
Nancy didn't need to be told to hurry twice.
~~~~~~~~~~
Nancy had the taxi drop her off at 21 Beika, just in case. The driver looked at her a little weird for wanting to be dropped off at such a clearly abandoned house, but Nancy ignored him. She stood in front of the gate staring at 21 Beika until the taxi was out of sight, then ran next door to 22 Beika. The lights in the modern house were off, but the gate was unlocked. Following Frank's instructions, Nancy went around the left side of the house and sure enough, the third basement window was open, and just wide enough for Nancy to slip through. Some light was coming out of it too. Looking through, Nancy saw that the light was from a computer monitor and a small, low-level lamp on the other side of the room.
“Frank?” she called out hesitantly. “Frank, are you there?”
“Nancy?” Frank's voice was loud and clear, but Nancy couldn't see where he was or tell where it was coming from.
“Frank, where are you? We've all been so worried about you, your dad's near enough working himself to death. You said we didn't have much time, so come on out and tell me what happened.”
“Nancy, I didn't call you to tell you what happened, I called you to warn you off. You don't know what you're dealing with.”
“Oh not you too. Everyone seems to think I can't handle myself, I swear it seemed like a little kid even told me to back off a couple days ago.” At that, Frank started chuckling. This irritated Nancy. “Really! That many people have warned me off that I'm starting to imagine people are warning me off! Frank Hardy, if you don't come out and tell me what happened right now, I'm going to come in there and find you. And don't think I won't, this ground isn't the nicest thing to kneel on.”
Frank didn't respond. “It's okay,” Nancy tried again, far less irate. “I know that that poison does something to the victims, and you certainly sound sane enough. So come on out then, whatever it is it can't be that bad.” Frank still didn't respond. “All right, I'm coming in,” Nancy warned, and started to slide her foot through the open window.
She had just gotten both legs in, and was about to slide in the rest of the way, when the door, which had been cracked, opened further and a small boy entered the room. He was skinny and pale, though Nancy couldn't tell if that was just the low lighting talking, and he was holding something red up to his mouth. “Hello Nancy,” Frank's voice said.
Nancy fell the rest of the way into the basement. Her rear complained in protest when it slammed into the table under the window and she winced. The boy dropped the red thing to the floor and ran forward. “Nancy, are you all right?” he asked, in a normal little boy voice.
Nancy blinked. “Yeah, I just... Frank?”
“Yeah.”
Nancy stared long and hard at the boy. How could this boy be Frank Hardy? Frank Hardy was eighteen years old, like her, not... this. But the hair, the eyes, the shape of the face... that was all Frank. “Oh... my... god...”
Frank smiled a little. “Hey, hey, breathe. Don't want you passing out on me, we've got to get this over and done with before the others come back. They wouldn't be too happy to discover you here.”
Nancy moved her legs so that she was sitting properly on the table, grasped the edge, and leaned forward to stare at Frank. “Frank Hardy, what the hell happened to you?”
“I don't honestly know myself,” Frank responded. “Say what you will about Haibara-san, but her science is way beyond me.”
“Haibara-san? Who's that?”
Frank shrugged. “I probably shouldn't say any more.”
Now that they were closer, Nancy could tell that Frank's pallor was not just the low lighting. She knew that if he was reacting to the situation in any way like his father (and she had no doubt that he was), he was eating and sleeping only through force. And since it seemed like the people who were hiding him were keeping him in this house, he probably felt trapped and helpless too. Nancy slipped off the table, knelt, and pulled Frank into a hug. “Oh Frank.” Frank hesitated, then returned the hug. Nancy realized how easy it would be to just carry him off, small as he was now. Frank started shaking, and Nancy let him do what he needed to do.
They stayed that way for several minutes. Finally Frank stopped shaking and slowly pulled back. “Sorry about that,” Frank apologized, face still wet.
“Oh Frank. What's there to be sorry for? You could start bawling in the middle of a biker bar on Manly Street, Manlytown and no one would blame you, not a whit.” Nancy could feel her own eyes tearing up. “How did you even know to call me?”
Frank glared at thin air, giving him a thoughtful look. “I overheard my oh so gracious hosts discussing what to do about you. Their plan is to point-blank ignore you and hope you go away. Other than the fact that the chance of that working is very small, I was tired of them making all the decisions for me.”
“Why did you call me?” Nancy finally asked.
Frank took a while to answer that. “I could make up something about wanting to see how far you've gotten, or to ask you for help on something, but... that would be a lie. I think I really just wanted to hear a familiar voice.”
Nancy of course had been spending a lot of time since she arrived in Japan thinking about how horrible everything must be for Frank. But she realized in that moment that all of the things her imagination had cooked up were nowhere near the truth. Frank had nearly died, and had survived the encounter only to discover that his little brother had not. And for the past few weeks he had been hiding in the home of a complete stranger, cut off from all that he knew, changed in a way that Nancy would never have believed were she not staring it in the face, and other, secretive people in control of his life as it rapidly spiraled out of control. Nancy was reminded that young men, in an unexpectedly loose sense of the term, sometimes needed comfort too, especially if Frank's tears were anything to go by. “Do you want to talk about everything? Or even just a small part of everything?”
As one the two of them moved over to the nearest wall and leaned against it, Nancy's arms still around Frank. “I thought... that Kid had betrayed us,” Frank started. “But then they told me that he had called them to take me somewhere safe. I thought... I thought I was going to die. I mean yeah, I've been there before, but never so close. God I was a mess when I came to. Screaming and hollering and crying, trying to get out, get to Joe, I was convinced that they had to be lying. That if I could just get to him, somehow he'd be fine, just fine, or like me, but still finer than... than...”
“Shhh, it's okay. I know,” Nancy reassured. “You don't have to say.”
Frank paused before speaking again. “I still can't believe they haven't killed him yet.”
Nancy was confused now. “Who haven't killed who?”
“The people who did this. How haven't they killed Kid yet? The impression I've gotten is that everyone and their goldfish wants him unmasked, in a jail cell, or dead, so with the whole world against him, why is he still free?”
“What do you know about Kid?” Nancy asked. “How is he tied up in all of this? Why were you and Joe so anxious to meet with him?”
Frank laughed a little brokenly at that. “That's the thing, we had no idea. We'd noticed a sniper hanging around a heist and watched him for as long as we could. The next heist we kept our eyes open and spotted him again. Joe got lucky, overheard a few very suspicious words from a telephone conversation. And so the heist after that when we managed to corner Kid on the roof, we bluffed our hearts out. We were vague, but incorporated what we could of what Joe had overheard, and it worked. I couldn't believe it had worked. This whole mess? Curiosity, pure and simple.”
Nancy stroked his hair soothingly. “We're detectives. It's an occupational hazard. We all know it.”
“Is it though? We've gotten into trouble before, but never like this. We've always come out on top before. Now, even if everything suddenly started going right, we still wouldn't be on top. There's no way for us to end up on top from this, because there is no us anymore. There's just me. And I don't really think either of us realized just how much of an occupational hazard it was until it was too late. Until everything was already happening, had happened...” Frank's voice drifted off and he started staring into space, clearly reliving his own personal nightmare.
“Do you want me to distract you?” Nancy asked quickly.
“Yes please.”
“What about Ekoda High School? How does that school fit in?”
Frank frowned at Nancy. “Ekoda High? What are you asking about Ekoda High for?”
Nancy frowned back. “You did say you wanted me to distract you. Why did you mention it when you called your dad?”
“It's the high school that Hakuba Saguru goes to, and we needed to talk to him to find out what he knows or suspects about Kid. We never did get around to it though. Why?”
Nancy couldn't help it; she started laughing. “Oh Frank, if you only knew what the wild goose chase you'd accidentally sent me on resulted in.”
Frank went a little goggly-eyed. “Wait, Dad actually took that seriously?”
Nancy immediately stopped laughing. “Of course he took it seriously Frank. Joe was dead and you had vanished without a trace. The investigation was stalling horribly, he was going to follow every lead he had to the end of the earth to find you.”
Frank flinched. Nancy stopped the topic immediately. “I'm sorry, I didn't mean...”
Frank shook his head. “No, I understand. Got to face up to it after all. It's just... it's so fresh...”
Nancy pulled him close. “I know Frank. I know.”
There was an awkward, sad silence, until Frank interrupted it. “So what did Dad do?”
“He called me up and asked me if I would like to go undercover,” Nancy explained. “You are looking at Ekoda High School's brand new exchange student.”
“And I take it that resulted in something other than some chit-chat with Hakuba Saguru?”
Nancy nodded, grinning much like the Cheshire Cat. “Yeah, not very much though. Just being in the same class as Kaito Kid, that's all.”
Frank's jaw dropped, and he was still for several minutes. “...You're joking,” he finally insisted. “Either that or I've finally gone mad, and you actually said something completely different.”
“Nope!” Nancy responded, popping the p. “Hakuba Saguru does have some very interesting theories about Kaito Kid, such as the one where he's one of his classmates. The fact that he's correct seems to do nothing for the slight laughingstock status he gets for it. That's how your hosts knew about me. Hakuba-kun told me, and I managed to get Kid to tell me what he knew about your disappearance. Since he was there when it all happened, it was rather a lot.”
Frank stiffened, and started to pull away. “Wait, he was there? So he did betray us?”
Nancy shook her head quickly. “No, no, he was on the roof of one of the buildings. He couldn't intervene at all, it happened too fast. And it's tearing him apart, believe me. He's also lost a family member to these men, he knows what it's like.”
“He has?”
Nancy nodded. “Kid disappeared for eight years. That was when his father died.”
Frank smiled. “Wow Nancy, should've invited you here with us in the first place,” he joked, trying to lighten the mood.
“We'll never know,” Nancy replied, avoiding the fact that it had usually been Joe to lighten the mood before. “Anyway, I told Kid that I wanted to talk to you, and he said that he'd get in touch with your hosts and see if they would allow it. As you well know they didn't, and then you took matters into your own hands and here I am!”
“And here we are.”
The main lights in the room suddenly flickered on, surprising Nancy and Frank. Standing in the doorway was an older man and two small children. It was the boy who had spoken. Nancy realized with a start that it was Conan, the boy who had seemed to be warning her off at the police station. “Frank, I warned you about this. You're only putting her in more danger.”
Frank stood up and moved so that he was standing between Nancy and the other group. “Yeah? You don't know Nancy, and I do! I knew that she wasn't going to leave this alone, and that she would be in more danger if you just continued to let her charge in without knowing! This was for her protection!”
“You could have told me that you know.”
“I tried, but every time I did Haibara-san was all, 'Oooh, danger danger! Mustn't let others know!' And you were too busy listening to her to listen to me! How did you even know Nancy was here in the first place?”
“Kid's got a bug on her.”
Nancy frowned. “But I turned that off.”
“The switch is a dummy. Don't worry, you're not the only one to fall for it. He heard your phone call with Frank and called me.”
Nancy growled and, standing up, pulled the bug out of her pocket and crushed it under her foot. “Last time I trust anything he says!”
Conan had the gall to smirk at that. “Yes, he does seem to have that effect on people, doesn't he?”
“Kudo-kun,” the girl said quietly, tugging on the boy's sleeve.
Kudo. Now that was a name that was ringing a bell. It was the name on the nameplate of the house next door. And now that Nancy thought about it, it was the name of the not missing teenage detective that Detective Sato had mentioned. She smirked. “I get it. You're Kudo-kun the apparently not missing teenage detective who calls his girlfriend a lot. You live next door and are friendly with at least one of your neighbors, which is how the old man is involved. And you,” she pointed at the girl, “Must be Haibara-san. I would say that you invented the perfect murder, but...”
“I'm on the good guys' side?” Haibara shrugged. “Times change. So do loyalties, for all sorts of reasons.”
“You told people about your predicament,” Frank shot at Kudo. “I don't see why I can't.”
“I didn't tell them, they either figured it out for themselves or someone else told them,” Kudo argued.
Nancy folded her arms. “Well now that I do know, you're going to tell me everything.”
“No, we're not. You are going to go home and forget that this ever happened.”
“I would say fat chance, but Fenton Hardy's sending me home in a little over two weeks anyway. You know that they know about whatever group of people is behind this, and he's decided that it's too dangerous for me. I only got the time I have because I argued that it would be suspicious to come and go so quickly. But even when I do go, there's no way I'm forgetting all this.”
“The police know?” Haibara suddenly squeaked. She rounded on Kudo. “Why didn't you tell me about this?”
“I thought you didn't want to know about these things! You just want to live in a safe place with the problems of the world outside your lab!”
Nancy smirked. “Hmm, trouble in tiny paradise? Yeah the police know. The police know that someone's come up with the perfect murder that leaves no trace. They've also deduced that this someone would only use the perfect murder when other methods couldn't be used so as not the give the game away. The police know that some group is out there killing people, and they're investigating. What do you say to that?”
“Don't you see?” Kudo glared. “You've already messed things up enough. Now go home and forget!”
“What, it's a bad thing that the police know? I would think you would be jumping for joy that the police know without you getting involved, seeing how much you like staying in the shadows.”
“Yes it's a bad thing! The police will investigate, the Organization will catch on, and then they'll all die! Every single one of them, and then they'll go after the person who kick-started the investigation, you!”
Oh, this was rich. Nancy just had to keep Kudo angry. “Organization, hmm? An organization big enough, or at least you think big enough, to slaughter a bunch of policemen without anyone catching on? Interesting.”
Unfortunately this didn't further rile Kudo. “Do you care at all about your life and the lives of others?”
Just then, Nancy figured out what to do. “You like your privacy, right? You like no one knowing the truth and staying in the shadows. Since I don't know anything about you I can't make any jibes about how well or how not well that's been working for you, but I do know that that's your modus operandi, correct?” Kudo merely nodded, not giving anything away. “Then how's this: Fenton Hardy is very worried for Frank here. I would love to alleviate some of that worry. And now I know where Frank is and what happened to him.
“You tell me everything, or Fenton Hardy learns everything I know. And as you know, that's quite a lot,” Nancy delivered her ultimatum.
Kudo sighed. “Let's go upstairs where it's more comfortable.”
~~~~~~~~~~
Next Chapter: Conan goes for a tried and tested way to get everyone off his back, even though said tried and tested way has failed every time so far. And little people know, when little people fight, we may look easy pickings but we've got some bite!
( ch. 4)
Better get comfortable, because this chapter is waaay too long. It's the line breaks' fault.
Title: The Mystery of the Clasped Watchband
Fandoms: Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, Detective Conan, Magic Kaito
Rating: T
Genre: Mystery/Hurt/Comfort
Characters: Nancy Drew, Kuroba Kaito, Hakuba Saguru, Edogawa Conan, Frank Hardy
Summary: She was assured that this case was a doozy, and it would've been even if it weren't personal. One Hardy missing, the other dead for no apparent reason, and Nancy Drew undercover at Ekoda High on seemingly a fool's errand could sum up the situation. But soon it seems like she can't even sneeze without the trail leading to Kaito Kid, and what about that strange boy with the glasses?
In This Chapter: Putting the "Hurt/Comfort" in "Mystery/Hurt/Comfort".
~~~~~~~~~~
The 'dozens of bodies' theory as it turned out held weight. Rather a lot of it. Nancy was soon called into the police station so that they could go over what they'd found with her. In the same room that they'd met in before, she was shown several profiles of other people who had died for no apparent reason.
“Hayashibara Nana, 36, private investigator. Ishikawa Jiro, 57, politician. Okumoto Hikaru, 21, convenience store shift manager. The list goes on.” Inspector Megure stated. “Sixteen bodies in all, though it seems probable that even after we've asked, police departments are still holding out on us. It's rather surprising that this hasn't come to light before, because several of the victims are very nearly considered the rich and famous. Other than that for the most part they're the kind of people who, if anyone, would die a mysterious death, like Hayashibara Nana. Okumoto Hikaru, considering the company he's keeping in death, is an anomaly.
“We're trying our hardest to keep this under wraps. Very few people outside this room know about it. Clearly this is big, bigger than we'd thought. This isn't just a boy dying and another disappearing under mysterious circumstances, this is mass murder on a grand scale. And if your theory is completely correct, these people are responsible for even more, seemingly normal deaths.”
“I've informed a few of my most trusted men that we need to talk to Kid, though I haven't told them why,” Inspector Nakamori butted in. “Kid being involved in this goes against everything I know about him. If there's trouble, he's always gone out of his way to save someone. Clearly we need him to tell us how he's connected, because it's too complicated for us to guess at. I've told them that if they corner Kid on their own, not to jump him but to tell him that he needs to contact me.”
“Nancy, we're pulling you out,” Fenton Hardy stated. “This is too dangerous for you. What little you've done so far is marvelous, but I can't let you continue. I'm sending you back to the States.”
Nancy was ready for such a demand. “But Mr. Hardy, it would be suspicious. For me to show up for a week then leave suddenly? You might tip your hand that I was investigating. Wouldn't it be better for me to stay for at least a month?”
All of the adults in the room exchanged glances. But before anyone could say anything, the door to the meeting room suddenly opened and a small boy with large glasses bounced in. “Inspector Megure!” he chirped, far too cheerful. “Are you investigating a murder? Can I help?”
“Conan-kun!” Inspector Megure started.
But before anyone could stop him, Conan had run over to the table and jumped up on a spare chair. “Oh, are these people all dead? That's bad, really bad. I hope you catch who did it! But it says here you don't know how they died, isn't that strange?” Then Conan looked straight at Nancy. “That sounds like it could be dangerous. If these people could kill without leaving a trace, I'd be really scared if I were investigating them. I wouldn't want to investigate them at all.”
Was Nancy imagining things, or had a little kid just warned her off the case?
At that moment the door opened a second time and a girl around Nancy's age looked in, angry. “Conan-kun!” She stormed over to where Conan was standing on the chair, followed by a darker-skinned boy the same age.
The boy looked sheepish. “Ran-neechan, heh heh.”
“Don't bother Inspector Megure, I'm sure he's very busy.” She then turned to Megure. “I'm sorry Inspector Megure, Hattori-kun was talking to me, and next thing I knew Conan-kun here had slipped off.”
Megure waved her off. “It's okay Ran-kun, just get him out of here.”
Ran started dragging Conan out the door. Before the door closed, Nancy saw a look pass between Conan and the teenage boy that she couldn't quite decipher.
Going back to what they were discussing before the interruption, Fenton Hardy spoke up. “Fine. Three more weeks, just so that it doesn't look suspicious, then it's back home for you. And no sleuthing.”
“Yes Mr. Hardy.” As if Nancy had any intention of that.
~~~~~~~~~~
Kaito Kid's acquaintance it seemed was not interested in becoming Nancy's acquaintance. Kaito passed the word to her one morning after distracting Aoko. Nancy was a little frustrated, though she'd been going over what her next step would be if that were the case. Unfortunately she hadn't quite figured out what that next step would be, so until she knew she was unwillingly following Fenton Hardy's order to not sleuth.
She'd also taken to avoiding Hakuba again. He'd managed to corner her once, and ask her how her theory had panned out. She'd lied and said they hadn't told her, and when he asked if she'd managed to worm Kaito's secret out of him yet she'd lied about that too.
It was evening, and Nancy was doing her homework in her room, when the phone call came. She'd started at first when her phone buzzed and started wiggling across the desk, but then realized it was probably Aoko calling to ask if she wanted her to pick anything up for her at the store. “Hello, Nancy Drew speaking.”
“...Nancy?”
Oh.
My.
God.
“...Frank?!”
“Nan, you have no idea how nice it is to hear your voice.”
“Frank! Where the hell have you been? Everyone's looking for you! What happened?”
“Listen Nancy, we haven't got much time. I'm going to give you an address and I need you to get over here right away.”
“Why? Do you need me to break you out of somewhere? Is that why you haven't contacted anyone, you've been kidnapped?”
“No! The people who're hiding me, they don't think you should be told. They don't know you like I do, they think if the trail's cold enough you'll give up and leave. But listen, you've got to come to 22 Beika right away. When you get here, go around the left side of the house. The third, at least I think it's the third, basement window will be open. Come in that way. Hurry.”
Then the line went dead. Nancy stared at her phone for several long moments. Frank. Frank had just called her. He was alive, and sounded just fine. It was Frank. Frank Goddamn Hardy.
Nancy didn't need to be told to hurry twice.
~~~~~~~~~~
Nancy had the taxi drop her off at 21 Beika, just in case. The driver looked at her a little weird for wanting to be dropped off at such a clearly abandoned house, but Nancy ignored him. She stood in front of the gate staring at 21 Beika until the taxi was out of sight, then ran next door to 22 Beika. The lights in the modern house were off, but the gate was unlocked. Following Frank's instructions, Nancy went around the left side of the house and sure enough, the third basement window was open, and just wide enough for Nancy to slip through. Some light was coming out of it too. Looking through, Nancy saw that the light was from a computer monitor and a small, low-level lamp on the other side of the room.
“Frank?” she called out hesitantly. “Frank, are you there?”
“Nancy?” Frank's voice was loud and clear, but Nancy couldn't see where he was or tell where it was coming from.
“Frank, where are you? We've all been so worried about you, your dad's near enough working himself to death. You said we didn't have much time, so come on out and tell me what happened.”
“Nancy, I didn't call you to tell you what happened, I called you to warn you off. You don't know what you're dealing with.”
“Oh not you too. Everyone seems to think I can't handle myself, I swear it seemed like a little kid even told me to back off a couple days ago.” At that, Frank started chuckling. This irritated Nancy. “Really! That many people have warned me off that I'm starting to imagine people are warning me off! Frank Hardy, if you don't come out and tell me what happened right now, I'm going to come in there and find you. And don't think I won't, this ground isn't the nicest thing to kneel on.”
Frank didn't respond. “It's okay,” Nancy tried again, far less irate. “I know that that poison does something to the victims, and you certainly sound sane enough. So come on out then, whatever it is it can't be that bad.” Frank still didn't respond. “All right, I'm coming in,” Nancy warned, and started to slide her foot through the open window.
She had just gotten both legs in, and was about to slide in the rest of the way, when the door, which had been cracked, opened further and a small boy entered the room. He was skinny and pale, though Nancy couldn't tell if that was just the low lighting talking, and he was holding something red up to his mouth. “Hello Nancy,” Frank's voice said.
Nancy fell the rest of the way into the basement. Her rear complained in protest when it slammed into the table under the window and she winced. The boy dropped the red thing to the floor and ran forward. “Nancy, are you all right?” he asked, in a normal little boy voice.
Nancy blinked. “Yeah, I just... Frank?”
“Yeah.”
Nancy stared long and hard at the boy. How could this boy be Frank Hardy? Frank Hardy was eighteen years old, like her, not... this. But the hair, the eyes, the shape of the face... that was all Frank. “Oh... my... god...”
Frank smiled a little. “Hey, hey, breathe. Don't want you passing out on me, we've got to get this over and done with before the others come back. They wouldn't be too happy to discover you here.”
Nancy moved her legs so that she was sitting properly on the table, grasped the edge, and leaned forward to stare at Frank. “Frank Hardy, what the hell happened to you?”
“I don't honestly know myself,” Frank responded. “Say what you will about Haibara-san, but her science is way beyond me.”
“Haibara-san? Who's that?”
Frank shrugged. “I probably shouldn't say any more.”
Now that they were closer, Nancy could tell that Frank's pallor was not just the low lighting. She knew that if he was reacting to the situation in any way like his father (and she had no doubt that he was), he was eating and sleeping only through force. And since it seemed like the people who were hiding him were keeping him in this house, he probably felt trapped and helpless too. Nancy slipped off the table, knelt, and pulled Frank into a hug. “Oh Frank.” Frank hesitated, then returned the hug. Nancy realized how easy it would be to just carry him off, small as he was now. Frank started shaking, and Nancy let him do what he needed to do.
They stayed that way for several minutes. Finally Frank stopped shaking and slowly pulled back. “Sorry about that,” Frank apologized, face still wet.
“Oh Frank. What's there to be sorry for? You could start bawling in the middle of a biker bar on Manly Street, Manlytown and no one would blame you, not a whit.” Nancy could feel her own eyes tearing up. “How did you even know to call me?”
Frank glared at thin air, giving him a thoughtful look. “I overheard my oh so gracious hosts discussing what to do about you. Their plan is to point-blank ignore you and hope you go away. Other than the fact that the chance of that working is very small, I was tired of them making all the decisions for me.”
“Why did you call me?” Nancy finally asked.
Frank took a while to answer that. “I could make up something about wanting to see how far you've gotten, or to ask you for help on something, but... that would be a lie. I think I really just wanted to hear a familiar voice.”
Nancy of course had been spending a lot of time since she arrived in Japan thinking about how horrible everything must be for Frank. But she realized in that moment that all of the things her imagination had cooked up were nowhere near the truth. Frank had nearly died, and had survived the encounter only to discover that his little brother had not. And for the past few weeks he had been hiding in the home of a complete stranger, cut off from all that he knew, changed in a way that Nancy would never have believed were she not staring it in the face, and other, secretive people in control of his life as it rapidly spiraled out of control. Nancy was reminded that young men, in an unexpectedly loose sense of the term, sometimes needed comfort too, especially if Frank's tears were anything to go by. “Do you want to talk about everything? Or even just a small part of everything?”
As one the two of them moved over to the nearest wall and leaned against it, Nancy's arms still around Frank. “I thought... that Kid had betrayed us,” Frank started. “But then they told me that he had called them to take me somewhere safe. I thought... I thought I was going to die. I mean yeah, I've been there before, but never so close. God I was a mess when I came to. Screaming and hollering and crying, trying to get out, get to Joe, I was convinced that they had to be lying. That if I could just get to him, somehow he'd be fine, just fine, or like me, but still finer than... than...”
“Shhh, it's okay. I know,” Nancy reassured. “You don't have to say.”
Frank paused before speaking again. “I still can't believe they haven't killed him yet.”
Nancy was confused now. “Who haven't killed who?”
“The people who did this. How haven't they killed Kid yet? The impression I've gotten is that everyone and their goldfish wants him unmasked, in a jail cell, or dead, so with the whole world against him, why is he still free?”
“What do you know about Kid?” Nancy asked. “How is he tied up in all of this? Why were you and Joe so anxious to meet with him?”
Frank laughed a little brokenly at that. “That's the thing, we had no idea. We'd noticed a sniper hanging around a heist and watched him for as long as we could. The next heist we kept our eyes open and spotted him again. Joe got lucky, overheard a few very suspicious words from a telephone conversation. And so the heist after that when we managed to corner Kid on the roof, we bluffed our hearts out. We were vague, but incorporated what we could of what Joe had overheard, and it worked. I couldn't believe it had worked. This whole mess? Curiosity, pure and simple.”
Nancy stroked his hair soothingly. “We're detectives. It's an occupational hazard. We all know it.”
“Is it though? We've gotten into trouble before, but never like this. We've always come out on top before. Now, even if everything suddenly started going right, we still wouldn't be on top. There's no way for us to end up on top from this, because there is no us anymore. There's just me. And I don't really think either of us realized just how much of an occupational hazard it was until it was too late. Until everything was already happening, had happened...” Frank's voice drifted off and he started staring into space, clearly reliving his own personal nightmare.
“Do you want me to distract you?” Nancy asked quickly.
“Yes please.”
“What about Ekoda High School? How does that school fit in?”
Frank frowned at Nancy. “Ekoda High? What are you asking about Ekoda High for?”
Nancy frowned back. “You did say you wanted me to distract you. Why did you mention it when you called your dad?”
“It's the high school that Hakuba Saguru goes to, and we needed to talk to him to find out what he knows or suspects about Kid. We never did get around to it though. Why?”
Nancy couldn't help it; she started laughing. “Oh Frank, if you only knew what the wild goose chase you'd accidentally sent me on resulted in.”
Frank went a little goggly-eyed. “Wait, Dad actually took that seriously?”
Nancy immediately stopped laughing. “Of course he took it seriously Frank. Joe was dead and you had vanished without a trace. The investigation was stalling horribly, he was going to follow every lead he had to the end of the earth to find you.”
Frank flinched. Nancy stopped the topic immediately. “I'm sorry, I didn't mean...”
Frank shook his head. “No, I understand. Got to face up to it after all. It's just... it's so fresh...”
Nancy pulled him close. “I know Frank. I know.”
There was an awkward, sad silence, until Frank interrupted it. “So what did Dad do?”
“He called me up and asked me if I would like to go undercover,” Nancy explained. “You are looking at Ekoda High School's brand new exchange student.”
“And I take it that resulted in something other than some chit-chat with Hakuba Saguru?”
Nancy nodded, grinning much like the Cheshire Cat. “Yeah, not very much though. Just being in the same class as Kaito Kid, that's all.”
Frank's jaw dropped, and he was still for several minutes. “...You're joking,” he finally insisted. “Either that or I've finally gone mad, and you actually said something completely different.”
“Nope!” Nancy responded, popping the p. “Hakuba Saguru does have some very interesting theories about Kaito Kid, such as the one where he's one of his classmates. The fact that he's correct seems to do nothing for the slight laughingstock status he gets for it. That's how your hosts knew about me. Hakuba-kun told me, and I managed to get Kid to tell me what he knew about your disappearance. Since he was there when it all happened, it was rather a lot.”
Frank stiffened, and started to pull away. “Wait, he was there? So he did betray us?”
Nancy shook her head quickly. “No, no, he was on the roof of one of the buildings. He couldn't intervene at all, it happened too fast. And it's tearing him apart, believe me. He's also lost a family member to these men, he knows what it's like.”
“He has?”
Nancy nodded. “Kid disappeared for eight years. That was when his father died.”
Frank smiled. “Wow Nancy, should've invited you here with us in the first place,” he joked, trying to lighten the mood.
“We'll never know,” Nancy replied, avoiding the fact that it had usually been Joe to lighten the mood before. “Anyway, I told Kid that I wanted to talk to you, and he said that he'd get in touch with your hosts and see if they would allow it. As you well know they didn't, and then you took matters into your own hands and here I am!”
“And here we are.”
The main lights in the room suddenly flickered on, surprising Nancy and Frank. Standing in the doorway was an older man and two small children. It was the boy who had spoken. Nancy realized with a start that it was Conan, the boy who had seemed to be warning her off at the police station. “Frank, I warned you about this. You're only putting her in more danger.”
Frank stood up and moved so that he was standing between Nancy and the other group. “Yeah? You don't know Nancy, and I do! I knew that she wasn't going to leave this alone, and that she would be in more danger if you just continued to let her charge in without knowing! This was for her protection!”
“You could have told me that you know.”
“I tried, but every time I did Haibara-san was all, 'Oooh, danger danger! Mustn't let others know!' And you were too busy listening to her to listen to me! How did you even know Nancy was here in the first place?”
“Kid's got a bug on her.”
Nancy frowned. “But I turned that off.”
“The switch is a dummy. Don't worry, you're not the only one to fall for it. He heard your phone call with Frank and called me.”
Nancy growled and, standing up, pulled the bug out of her pocket and crushed it under her foot. “Last time I trust anything he says!”
Conan had the gall to smirk at that. “Yes, he does seem to have that effect on people, doesn't he?”
“Kudo-kun,” the girl said quietly, tugging on the boy's sleeve.
Kudo. Now that was a name that was ringing a bell. It was the name on the nameplate of the house next door. And now that Nancy thought about it, it was the name of the not missing teenage detective that Detective Sato had mentioned. She smirked. “I get it. You're Kudo-kun the apparently not missing teenage detective who calls his girlfriend a lot. You live next door and are friendly with at least one of your neighbors, which is how the old man is involved. And you,” she pointed at the girl, “Must be Haibara-san. I would say that you invented the perfect murder, but...”
“I'm on the good guys' side?” Haibara shrugged. “Times change. So do loyalties, for all sorts of reasons.”
“You told people about your predicament,” Frank shot at Kudo. “I don't see why I can't.”
“I didn't tell them, they either figured it out for themselves or someone else told them,” Kudo argued.
Nancy folded her arms. “Well now that I do know, you're going to tell me everything.”
“No, we're not. You are going to go home and forget that this ever happened.”
“I would say fat chance, but Fenton Hardy's sending me home in a little over two weeks anyway. You know that they know about whatever group of people is behind this, and he's decided that it's too dangerous for me. I only got the time I have because I argued that it would be suspicious to come and go so quickly. But even when I do go, there's no way I'm forgetting all this.”
“The police know?” Haibara suddenly squeaked. She rounded on Kudo. “Why didn't you tell me about this?”
“I thought you didn't want to know about these things! You just want to live in a safe place with the problems of the world outside your lab!”
Nancy smirked. “Hmm, trouble in tiny paradise? Yeah the police know. The police know that someone's come up with the perfect murder that leaves no trace. They've also deduced that this someone would only use the perfect murder when other methods couldn't be used so as not the give the game away. The police know that some group is out there killing people, and they're investigating. What do you say to that?”
“Don't you see?” Kudo glared. “You've already messed things up enough. Now go home and forget!”
“What, it's a bad thing that the police know? I would think you would be jumping for joy that the police know without you getting involved, seeing how much you like staying in the shadows.”
“Yes it's a bad thing! The police will investigate, the Organization will catch on, and then they'll all die! Every single one of them, and then they'll go after the person who kick-started the investigation, you!”
Oh, this was rich. Nancy just had to keep Kudo angry. “Organization, hmm? An organization big enough, or at least you think big enough, to slaughter a bunch of policemen without anyone catching on? Interesting.”
Unfortunately this didn't further rile Kudo. “Do you care at all about your life and the lives of others?”
Just then, Nancy figured out what to do. “You like your privacy, right? You like no one knowing the truth and staying in the shadows. Since I don't know anything about you I can't make any jibes about how well or how not well that's been working for you, but I do know that that's your modus operandi, correct?” Kudo merely nodded, not giving anything away. “Then how's this: Fenton Hardy is very worried for Frank here. I would love to alleviate some of that worry. And now I know where Frank is and what happened to him.
“You tell me everything, or Fenton Hardy learns everything I know. And as you know, that's quite a lot,” Nancy delivered her ultimatum.
Kudo sighed. “Let's go upstairs where it's more comfortable.”
~~~~~~~~~~
Next Chapter: Conan goes for a tried and tested way to get everyone off his back, even though said tried and tested way has failed every time so far. And little people know, when little people fight, we may look easy pickings but we've got some bite!
( ch. 4)