The Mystery of the Clasped Watchband (Chapter 4)
( ch. 1) ( ch. 2) ( ch. 3)
I have so many things I should be doing other than write thirty pages in a week, but... gah, plot bit me.
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: The police get more clues, this time straight from the horse's mouth, and Kid causes trouble both directly and not.
~~~~~~~~~~
And so Nancy learned everything that Kudo Shinichi knew, and that was quite a lot. She was appreciating the fact that while she had known enough to use it as a bargaining chip, what she had known barely scratched the surface. Slaughter a bunch of policemen all at once with impunity? Yeah, she was starting to be a little less skeptical about that.
Frank saw her out. "So what are you going to do now?" Nancy asked.
Frank shrugged. "What I've been doing, I guess. Hide out here. I'll poke my nose out once things have died down I suppose, but other than that I guess I'm just hiding."
"You should call your dad," Nancy suggested.
"I can't. You know why I can't. He'll get killed."
Nancy sighed and crouched down so that she was level with Frank. "Frank, he'll die anyway. I wasn't kidding when I said your dad was working himself to death. He's going to find a trace of you or die trying. And even if you didn't call him and he went back to Bayport to pick up the pieces, what if the Organization discovers who you are? It seems like they'd kill him anyway, regardless of how much he may or may not know. And he's working with the police here on their perfect murder case, if the Organization decides to kill everyone involved in that then that includes him. He's in danger whether you call him or not. And you don't even have to really tell him anything. Just that you're safe but hiding, and can't come home just yet. It'll make him much happier."
Frank took a deep breath. "I'll think about it. Bye Nancy. And... thanks for everything."
Nancy smiled. "Anytime. You ever need someone to talk to, you call me, alright?"
Frank nodded. "Alright."
~~~~~~~~~~
Nancy was called by Fenton Hardy no later than two days after. "You knew," he hissed, irate.
"Knew what?" Nancy asked, though she had an inkling. Good for Frank.
"You knew that Frank was alive, but you didn't tell me! Damn it Nancy, why didn't you tell me?"
"Did Frank tell you why he hasn't called you?"
"Yeah, he said he was hiding out at some place until things died down, because he'd bitten off more than he could chew and now someone was after his life. The same person who had killed Joe. How did you figure it out Nancy?"
Nancy decided to answer his previous question instead. "I didn't tell you that I knew Frank was alive because the people who are hiding him are very secretive. They made me promise that I wouldn't tell anyone in exchange for letting me to see him," she lied. "I did encourage Frank to call you though."
She could hear Fenton sigh on the other end. "Thank you for that Nancy. I'm still mad that you didn't tell me, but... thank you. Very much. There are some things I still don't understand, but you've done this old man a great favor."
"You're not that old."
"I've felt it though. And I think I'll still feel it yet before my time. It'll be hard bury... burying Joe without Frank there. He said that he can't even come to the funeral. What kind of trouble could he get into that it isn't even safe halfway around the world? Do you know?"
"Sorry, no," Nancy lied again, feeling more than a little guilty.
"Well... thanks again, Nancy. For everything."
~~~~~~~~~~
If Nancy had thought that all, or at least her part in all, was over and done with, she was wrong. A day after the phone call from Fenton, she received a text message from the subject of the previous phone call, one Frank Hardy, Biter of Large Problems. Confused and curious, she followed the directions in the text to the letter.
Considering that these directions were to make haste to the police station at a specified time, this was not hard. Fenton Hardy, Inspector Nakamori, Inspector Megure, and Inspector Megure's underlings were surprised to see her. She however was not surprised to find them all in one place, assuming that Frank had sent word to them as well.
Fenton frowned at her. "Nancy, what are you doing here?"
"I still don't see why I have to be here," Inspector Nakamori grumbled. "I've got a heist to prepare for this evening, I'm busy."
Inspector Megure also frowned. "Yes Nancy-san, what are you doing here? Kudo-kun shouldn't know that you're on the case. Kudo-kun shouldn't even know about this case in the first place, which makes me wonder how he's solved it."
"Kudo-kun?" How come they had gotten a message from Kudo, but she had gotten one from Frank?
The door to the meeting room, which Nancy had closed, suddenly opened behind her. She turned and saw, to her surprise, a full sized version of Kudo Shinichi. He wasn't hard to recognize, since she'd done her research after that meeting at Agasa Hiroshi's house, but she was shocked to see him in full form. "Long time no see Inspector Megure," Kudo greeted. "Glad you could meet with me."
Inspector Megure stood up. "Kudo-kun, what is the meaning of this? How do you even know about this case?"
Kudo didn't answer. To be fair, he didn't get much of a chance. Frank Hardy walked into the room behind him, shut the door, and lowered the hood of his jacket. The effect on those attending was instantaneous.
"Frank!"
Fenton Hardy's cry was strangled and abrupt, as if he wasn't quite sure if what he was seeing was real. His chair rocketed backward with a clatter as Fenton stood up, vaulted over the conference room table, and enveloped Frank in a bone-crushing hug.
By this point, Nancy was more than a little confused. Weren't Frank and Kudo stuck in their little forms?
Fenton, knowing not of such things, had no such thoughts. "Oh god Frank, we thought... but what... when they called us about Joe... so worried... and then you wouldn't say anything... hiding from us... where the hell have you been?"
Despite no longer being able to string words into a proper sentence, Fenton Hardy's meaning was perfectly clear. "Missed you too Dad," Frank said in reply, returning the hug.
Inspector Megure, whose attention had been taken by Frank, turned his eyes back on Kudo. "What is the meaning of this? Explain."
"If everyone sits down I will," Kudo stated.
There was a slight holdup to this demand when it became clear that Fenton was not keen on letting go of Frank. Eventually everyone made it to a seat however, Fenton and Frank's right up next to each other and Fenton keeping a possessive arm on Frank. Kudo weaved his fingers together and began to talk once everyone had settled down. "The reason I've called you all here today is because you are all working on what I've been told is being referred to alternatively as the 'dozens of bodies' case and the 'perfect murder' case, a case that the existence of which was kick-started by Nancy-san here. A case that I myself have been working on for far longer than the police have been aware of it."
"Whoever it is has made an attempt on your life as well?" Detective Sato asked. Kudo nodded.
"That's why no one's been able to contact you," Inspector Megure mused.
Kudo nodded again. "This is all correct."
"Why didn't you get help?" Detective Takagi, the one who seemed to be in some sort of relationship with Detective Sato, asked.
"At first I was uncertain just how big the group behind this case is, and did not want to risk the possibility of them having someone on the police force somewhere. The simple fact is I did not know who to trust. This investigation coming into being on its own and lasting this long is something I take to be a very good indicator that everyone in this room is trustworthy. I've since gotten a better idea of the size of the group of course, but overall that hasn't been a good thing. Their trail for the most part variates between cold and very cold, and while I've made some progress it's taken me a very long time as you can probably guess."
"I don't suppose you could enlighten us on how Kid's involved? Because all this possibility that he's tied up with murderers is getting on my nerves," Inspector Nakamori complained.
"Simple," Kudo said, brightening slightly at the not particularly dangerous contents of the question. "He was there when they tried to kill Frank-san. And he knew that I was investigating them, so he called me using Frank-san's cellphone and I came running. Frank-san has been hiding with me since then."
"Okay, that I kind of understand, but he was involved before that. How?"
"We're not actually sure," Frank spoke up, surprising everyone. "At a heist, Joe... well, he saw a sniper and overheard part of a phone conversation. We somehow managed to arrange a meeting with Kid, but then two unknown men arrived to kill us before Kid appeared on the scene."
"Do you think Kid may have betrayed you?" Inspector Shiratori asked.
"If he had done that, then why would he have called me afterwards?" Kudo shot back. "At any rate, while Kid is involved in this somehow, we don't know how and at the moment it's not the most important thing. Back to the topic at hand, I came here for a reason. Like I said, the fact that this investigation has existed for so long is as close to undeniable proof that none of you are in league with them as I'm going to get. So I'm here with a warning. These men are dangerous. You must tell no one of this. None of this is to leave this room, ever. You've all gotten a glimpse of what they can do."
"Kudo-kun," Inspector Megure warned, "Don't you dare think you can tell us not to investigate. We're not children, we know what we're doing."
Kudo chuckled a little at that. "Oh I understand completely Inspector Megure. I'm only giving you a warning, that's all. It's not like I've been completely alone in this. The more allies the better. I'm merely warning you all to step cautiously."
"What can you tell us about them, whoever they are, Kudo-kun?" Detective Sato demanded.
Kudo took a deep breath. "You're not going to like this answer."
"You mean you've been investigating them for who knows how long and you don't know anything?" Detective Takagi asked.
"No, just that I'm not going to tell you very much of what I do know. I know things that any policeman, rash or not, would grab and run with. Things that would lead to that policeman getting killed. For your own safety, I won't be telling you these things."
Detective Takagi stood right up, planted his hands on the table, and glared at Kudo. He was silent for several seconds as he tried to figure out just what he was going to say. "Kudo-kun, I appreciate your concern," he finally bit out, "But we volunteered for this job. Out of all of the professions in the world, we chose this one. We chose this one because we want to protect people and are brave enough to do it. We did not choose this job to be safe and comfortable, we chose this job in order to risk our lives for those who can't save themselves. And I will not sit here while you, who is still a minor may I remind you, dangle information that we can use to protect people in front of us."
"Takagi-kun's right," Inspector Megure informed Kudo. "I've always given you a certain amount of leeway in the past, but this time you're playing by my rules. And I'm not above an obstruction of justice charge in a case as serious as this."
"Inspector, have you not been listening to me?"
Inspector Nakamori's grin was slightly feral. "Oh I think he has been listening, quite clearly. After all, an obstruction of justice would bring this all out into the open. And you don't seem to want that, do you?"
Frank turned to Kudo. "How many people have blackmailed you over your insistence of keeping this all secret now? That's two in the past seven days, do they usually come this regularly or are you just having a bad week?"
"Blackmail is such an ugly word," Inspector Nakamori made a dismissing motion with his hand.
~~~~~~~~~~
Over the course of the meeting, Kudo informed those in the room of almost everything he had previously told Nancy. He never once mentioned Haibara or her involvement, which made a little sense as he was also obviously hiding the small thing. There was of course the possibility that there were things he hadn't told Nancy in the first place, but Nancy appreciated his concern that one of the others would run off and do something stupid.
After the meeting however, a new problem arose: that of Frank Hardy. Namely, Fenton Hardy's unwillingness to let him out of his sight. Once this problem became apparent, Kudo sighed. "Well I was going to drop you off and then go off on my own. I suppose it can't hurt, as long as you keep your head down. Keep an eye on the time." And with that, surprisingly enough, he left the conference room.
Nancy put her hands on her hips. "You know, I was kind of expecting him to put up more of a fight about that."
"Forget that, hand me your phone Nan. I don't suppose anyone here knows the cell number of a Miss Mouri Ran, do they?" Nancy pulled out her phone and handed it to Frank, raising an eyebrow as she did so. "Someone should warn her that her boyfriend is on his way to sweep her off her feet," Frank explained with a mischievous grin.
Nancy half-heartedly tried to snatch her phone back. "Frank, leave them alone!"
As it turned out, half the people in the room knew Mouri Ran's number. Once Frank showed his hand however they were all at varying levels of unwillingness to give it. Reluctantly, Frank gave Nancy her phone back and Fenton started dragging him off so that they could have some father-son time.
Nancy would ask Frank how this was possible later. Right now, she'd just be butting in.
~~~~~~~~~~
Naturally all of the excitement concerning Frank and related Evil Organization business had completely overshadowed the rest of the world. Which was why Nancy was actually surprised when she went back to the Nakamoris to discover Aoko making a sign. She belatedly remembered Inspector Nakamori referring to a heist before Frank and Kudo showed up. "Well I hope you have fun," Nancy told Aoko after Aoko clued Nancy in on everything she knew.
"Don't you want to come?" Aoko invited. "There's always a crowd."
Nancy thought. On the one hand, she might find something out. On the other hand, she already knew how to get a direct line to Kid. And she did have homework, which she needed to do regardless of the fact that she wasn't a normal student. "Nah. I'm intrigued, but I've still got some math problems to do. Tell me all about it when you get back, okay?"
Aoko nodded vehemently. "Of course. Who knows, maybe this will finally be the day my dad catches him."
"If you see him, tell him good luck from me."
"I will!"
Of course, the kind of luck Nancy was referring to and the kind of luck Aoko was thinking she was referring to was good luck for two completely different things, but Aoko didn't need to know that. Since it was coming from her, the Inspector would know what she meant.
Nancy went up to her room to work on homework.
~~~~~~~~~~
The heist, according to Aoko, had been scheduled to start at precisely 7:11 pm. At ten o'clock Nancy decided to wait up for Aoko. At eleven, she started to get a little worried. She tried calling Aoko's cellphone, but it went to voicemail. Now really worried, she called Inspector Nakamori. It rang, and for a moment she was concerned that his cellphone would go to voicemail as well. At the last second it picked up. "Inspector Nakamori. Talk fast, I'm busy."
"Inspector, it's Nancy," she started, hoping that she wasn't about to add to his pile of problems. "It's just Aoko-san hasn't come home yet and isn't answering her phone. I was wondering if you know where she is?"
"Oh, Nancy-san. I guess I should've called you earlier, you sound worried. Aoko won't be coming home tonight, she's in the hospital."
"Hospital?" Nancy exclaimed. "Is it serious? What happened?"
"No, thankfully it's not serious. But there was some shooting and she was caught in the crossfire, just grazed."
"Do you think-?" Nancy started.
"Yes."
Nancy was grabbing her bag from the floor beside her before he'd finished speaking. "I'll be right down."
"No! It's fine, really. Everything's under control, you're not needed. Aoko will be fine, and if you suddenly showed interest it'd be suspicious. You'll learn everything in the morning, I'm sure. Papers are like that."
Nancy bit her lip. "If you say so."
"I do. Now go to bed, it's late."
As soon as the line had been cut, Nancy murmured, "Hypocrite," to the unlistening handset.
~~~~~~~~~~
The paper the next morning was distressingly vague. They did not know who was shooting, how many people were shooting, who was shooting back, who was injured, if anyone was killed, how Kid was involved, etcetera etcetera etcetera. All they seemed to know for certain was that Kid got away with the jewel.
Kaito was walking stiffly when he met up with her on the way to school, and he refrained from the usual magic, though he was bearing the usual smile. Nancy had started to wonder if he ever didn't smile. "I heard there was some shooting at the heist last night," she started.
"Yeah, I did too."
"Apparently Aoko-san was caught in it. It's just a graze though, she'll be just fine."
"Good."
Kaito's monosyllabic nature this morning was not matching his smile, and Nancy started to grow concerned. "Do you know if Kid was injured as well?"
"Yeah, I hear he was, but not as bad as Aoko."
Nancy blinked several times. This conversation suddenly didn't make sense anymore. "What happened?" she outright asked.
"I don't know, I wasn't there."
Nancy raised an eyebrow and glared at him. "Kuroba-kun..." she warned.
"What?"
"If you don't tell me, I'm going to have to ask Inspector Nakamori."
Kaito's smile suddenly changed somehow, but without actually moving. "When you do, could you tell him that Kid might just be dead to the world now?"
Nancy stopped in her tracks. Then, spinning around, she proceeded towards the precinct, leaving a not quite confused Kaito behind.
~~~~~~~~~~
Next Chapter: Nancy tries to figure out just what happened at the heist. Success is relative.
( ch. 5)
I have so many things I should be doing other than write thirty pages in a week, but... gah, plot bit me.
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: The police get more clues, this time straight from the horse's mouth, and Kid causes trouble both directly and not.
~~~~~~~~~~
And so Nancy learned everything that Kudo Shinichi knew, and that was quite a lot. She was appreciating the fact that while she had known enough to use it as a bargaining chip, what she had known barely scratched the surface. Slaughter a bunch of policemen all at once with impunity? Yeah, she was starting to be a little less skeptical about that.
Frank saw her out. "So what are you going to do now?" Nancy asked.
Frank shrugged. "What I've been doing, I guess. Hide out here. I'll poke my nose out once things have died down I suppose, but other than that I guess I'm just hiding."
"You should call your dad," Nancy suggested.
"I can't. You know why I can't. He'll get killed."
Nancy sighed and crouched down so that she was level with Frank. "Frank, he'll die anyway. I wasn't kidding when I said your dad was working himself to death. He's going to find a trace of you or die trying. And even if you didn't call him and he went back to Bayport to pick up the pieces, what if the Organization discovers who you are? It seems like they'd kill him anyway, regardless of how much he may or may not know. And he's working with the police here on their perfect murder case, if the Organization decides to kill everyone involved in that then that includes him. He's in danger whether you call him or not. And you don't even have to really tell him anything. Just that you're safe but hiding, and can't come home just yet. It'll make him much happier."
Frank took a deep breath. "I'll think about it. Bye Nancy. And... thanks for everything."
Nancy smiled. "Anytime. You ever need someone to talk to, you call me, alright?"
Frank nodded. "Alright."
~~~~~~~~~~
Nancy was called by Fenton Hardy no later than two days after. "You knew," he hissed, irate.
"Knew what?" Nancy asked, though she had an inkling. Good for Frank.
"You knew that Frank was alive, but you didn't tell me! Damn it Nancy, why didn't you tell me?"
"Did Frank tell you why he hasn't called you?"
"Yeah, he said he was hiding out at some place until things died down, because he'd bitten off more than he could chew and now someone was after his life. The same person who had killed Joe. How did you figure it out Nancy?"
Nancy decided to answer his previous question instead. "I didn't tell you that I knew Frank was alive because the people who are hiding him are very secretive. They made me promise that I wouldn't tell anyone in exchange for letting me to see him," she lied. "I did encourage Frank to call you though."
She could hear Fenton sigh on the other end. "Thank you for that Nancy. I'm still mad that you didn't tell me, but... thank you. Very much. There are some things I still don't understand, but you've done this old man a great favor."
"You're not that old."
"I've felt it though. And I think I'll still feel it yet before my time. It'll be hard bury... burying Joe without Frank there. He said that he can't even come to the funeral. What kind of trouble could he get into that it isn't even safe halfway around the world? Do you know?"
"Sorry, no," Nancy lied again, feeling more than a little guilty.
"Well... thanks again, Nancy. For everything."
~~~~~~~~~~
If Nancy had thought that all, or at least her part in all, was over and done with, she was wrong. A day after the phone call from Fenton, she received a text message from the subject of the previous phone call, one Frank Hardy, Biter of Large Problems. Confused and curious, she followed the directions in the text to the letter.
Considering that these directions were to make haste to the police station at a specified time, this was not hard. Fenton Hardy, Inspector Nakamori, Inspector Megure, and Inspector Megure's underlings were surprised to see her. She however was not surprised to find them all in one place, assuming that Frank had sent word to them as well.
Fenton frowned at her. "Nancy, what are you doing here?"
"I still don't see why I have to be here," Inspector Nakamori grumbled. "I've got a heist to prepare for this evening, I'm busy."
Inspector Megure also frowned. "Yes Nancy-san, what are you doing here? Kudo-kun shouldn't know that you're on the case. Kudo-kun shouldn't even know about this case in the first place, which makes me wonder how he's solved it."
"Kudo-kun?" How come they had gotten a message from Kudo, but she had gotten one from Frank?
The door to the meeting room, which Nancy had closed, suddenly opened behind her. She turned and saw, to her surprise, a full sized version of Kudo Shinichi. He wasn't hard to recognize, since she'd done her research after that meeting at Agasa Hiroshi's house, but she was shocked to see him in full form. "Long time no see Inspector Megure," Kudo greeted. "Glad you could meet with me."
Inspector Megure stood up. "Kudo-kun, what is the meaning of this? How do you even know about this case?"
Kudo didn't answer. To be fair, he didn't get much of a chance. Frank Hardy walked into the room behind him, shut the door, and lowered the hood of his jacket. The effect on those attending was instantaneous.
"Frank!"
Fenton Hardy's cry was strangled and abrupt, as if he wasn't quite sure if what he was seeing was real. His chair rocketed backward with a clatter as Fenton stood up, vaulted over the conference room table, and enveloped Frank in a bone-crushing hug.
By this point, Nancy was more than a little confused. Weren't Frank and Kudo stuck in their little forms?
Fenton, knowing not of such things, had no such thoughts. "Oh god Frank, we thought... but what... when they called us about Joe... so worried... and then you wouldn't say anything... hiding from us... where the hell have you been?"
Despite no longer being able to string words into a proper sentence, Fenton Hardy's meaning was perfectly clear. "Missed you too Dad," Frank said in reply, returning the hug.
Inspector Megure, whose attention had been taken by Frank, turned his eyes back on Kudo. "What is the meaning of this? Explain."
"If everyone sits down I will," Kudo stated.
There was a slight holdup to this demand when it became clear that Fenton was not keen on letting go of Frank. Eventually everyone made it to a seat however, Fenton and Frank's right up next to each other and Fenton keeping a possessive arm on Frank. Kudo weaved his fingers together and began to talk once everyone had settled down. "The reason I've called you all here today is because you are all working on what I've been told is being referred to alternatively as the 'dozens of bodies' case and the 'perfect murder' case, a case that the existence of which was kick-started by Nancy-san here. A case that I myself have been working on for far longer than the police have been aware of it."
"Whoever it is has made an attempt on your life as well?" Detective Sato asked. Kudo nodded.
"That's why no one's been able to contact you," Inspector Megure mused.
Kudo nodded again. "This is all correct."
"Why didn't you get help?" Detective Takagi, the one who seemed to be in some sort of relationship with Detective Sato, asked.
"At first I was uncertain just how big the group behind this case is, and did not want to risk the possibility of them having someone on the police force somewhere. The simple fact is I did not know who to trust. This investigation coming into being on its own and lasting this long is something I take to be a very good indicator that everyone in this room is trustworthy. I've since gotten a better idea of the size of the group of course, but overall that hasn't been a good thing. Their trail for the most part variates between cold and very cold, and while I've made some progress it's taken me a very long time as you can probably guess."
"I don't suppose you could enlighten us on how Kid's involved? Because all this possibility that he's tied up with murderers is getting on my nerves," Inspector Nakamori complained.
"Simple," Kudo said, brightening slightly at the not particularly dangerous contents of the question. "He was there when they tried to kill Frank-san. And he knew that I was investigating them, so he called me using Frank-san's cellphone and I came running. Frank-san has been hiding with me since then."
"Okay, that I kind of understand, but he was involved before that. How?"
"We're not actually sure," Frank spoke up, surprising everyone. "At a heist, Joe... well, he saw a sniper and overheard part of a phone conversation. We somehow managed to arrange a meeting with Kid, but then two unknown men arrived to kill us before Kid appeared on the scene."
"Do you think Kid may have betrayed you?" Inspector Shiratori asked.
"If he had done that, then why would he have called me afterwards?" Kudo shot back. "At any rate, while Kid is involved in this somehow, we don't know how and at the moment it's not the most important thing. Back to the topic at hand, I came here for a reason. Like I said, the fact that this investigation has existed for so long is as close to undeniable proof that none of you are in league with them as I'm going to get. So I'm here with a warning. These men are dangerous. You must tell no one of this. None of this is to leave this room, ever. You've all gotten a glimpse of what they can do."
"Kudo-kun," Inspector Megure warned, "Don't you dare think you can tell us not to investigate. We're not children, we know what we're doing."
Kudo chuckled a little at that. "Oh I understand completely Inspector Megure. I'm only giving you a warning, that's all. It's not like I've been completely alone in this. The more allies the better. I'm merely warning you all to step cautiously."
"What can you tell us about them, whoever they are, Kudo-kun?" Detective Sato demanded.
Kudo took a deep breath. "You're not going to like this answer."
"You mean you've been investigating them for who knows how long and you don't know anything?" Detective Takagi asked.
"No, just that I'm not going to tell you very much of what I do know. I know things that any policeman, rash or not, would grab and run with. Things that would lead to that policeman getting killed. For your own safety, I won't be telling you these things."
Detective Takagi stood right up, planted his hands on the table, and glared at Kudo. He was silent for several seconds as he tried to figure out just what he was going to say. "Kudo-kun, I appreciate your concern," he finally bit out, "But we volunteered for this job. Out of all of the professions in the world, we chose this one. We chose this one because we want to protect people and are brave enough to do it. We did not choose this job to be safe and comfortable, we chose this job in order to risk our lives for those who can't save themselves. And I will not sit here while you, who is still a minor may I remind you, dangle information that we can use to protect people in front of us."
"Takagi-kun's right," Inspector Megure informed Kudo. "I've always given you a certain amount of leeway in the past, but this time you're playing by my rules. And I'm not above an obstruction of justice charge in a case as serious as this."
"Inspector, have you not been listening to me?"
Inspector Nakamori's grin was slightly feral. "Oh I think he has been listening, quite clearly. After all, an obstruction of justice would bring this all out into the open. And you don't seem to want that, do you?"
Frank turned to Kudo. "How many people have blackmailed you over your insistence of keeping this all secret now? That's two in the past seven days, do they usually come this regularly or are you just having a bad week?"
"Blackmail is such an ugly word," Inspector Nakamori made a dismissing motion with his hand.
~~~~~~~~~~
Over the course of the meeting, Kudo informed those in the room of almost everything he had previously told Nancy. He never once mentioned Haibara or her involvement, which made a little sense as he was also obviously hiding the small thing. There was of course the possibility that there were things he hadn't told Nancy in the first place, but Nancy appreciated his concern that one of the others would run off and do something stupid.
After the meeting however, a new problem arose: that of Frank Hardy. Namely, Fenton Hardy's unwillingness to let him out of his sight. Once this problem became apparent, Kudo sighed. "Well I was going to drop you off and then go off on my own. I suppose it can't hurt, as long as you keep your head down. Keep an eye on the time." And with that, surprisingly enough, he left the conference room.
Nancy put her hands on her hips. "You know, I was kind of expecting him to put up more of a fight about that."
"Forget that, hand me your phone Nan. I don't suppose anyone here knows the cell number of a Miss Mouri Ran, do they?" Nancy pulled out her phone and handed it to Frank, raising an eyebrow as she did so. "Someone should warn her that her boyfriend is on his way to sweep her off her feet," Frank explained with a mischievous grin.
Nancy half-heartedly tried to snatch her phone back. "Frank, leave them alone!"
As it turned out, half the people in the room knew Mouri Ran's number. Once Frank showed his hand however they were all at varying levels of unwillingness to give it. Reluctantly, Frank gave Nancy her phone back and Fenton started dragging him off so that they could have some father-son time.
Nancy would ask Frank how this was possible later. Right now, she'd just be butting in.
~~~~~~~~~~
Naturally all of the excitement concerning Frank and related Evil Organization business had completely overshadowed the rest of the world. Which was why Nancy was actually surprised when she went back to the Nakamoris to discover Aoko making a sign. She belatedly remembered Inspector Nakamori referring to a heist before Frank and Kudo showed up. "Well I hope you have fun," Nancy told Aoko after Aoko clued Nancy in on everything she knew.
"Don't you want to come?" Aoko invited. "There's always a crowd."
Nancy thought. On the one hand, she might find something out. On the other hand, she already knew how to get a direct line to Kid. And she did have homework, which she needed to do regardless of the fact that she wasn't a normal student. "Nah. I'm intrigued, but I've still got some math problems to do. Tell me all about it when you get back, okay?"
Aoko nodded vehemently. "Of course. Who knows, maybe this will finally be the day my dad catches him."
"If you see him, tell him good luck from me."
"I will!"
Of course, the kind of luck Nancy was referring to and the kind of luck Aoko was thinking she was referring to was good luck for two completely different things, but Aoko didn't need to know that. Since it was coming from her, the Inspector would know what she meant.
Nancy went up to her room to work on homework.
~~~~~~~~~~
The heist, according to Aoko, had been scheduled to start at precisely 7:11 pm. At ten o'clock Nancy decided to wait up for Aoko. At eleven, she started to get a little worried. She tried calling Aoko's cellphone, but it went to voicemail. Now really worried, she called Inspector Nakamori. It rang, and for a moment she was concerned that his cellphone would go to voicemail as well. At the last second it picked up. "Inspector Nakamori. Talk fast, I'm busy."
"Inspector, it's Nancy," she started, hoping that she wasn't about to add to his pile of problems. "It's just Aoko-san hasn't come home yet and isn't answering her phone. I was wondering if you know where she is?"
"Oh, Nancy-san. I guess I should've called you earlier, you sound worried. Aoko won't be coming home tonight, she's in the hospital."
"Hospital?" Nancy exclaimed. "Is it serious? What happened?"
"No, thankfully it's not serious. But there was some shooting and she was caught in the crossfire, just grazed."
"Do you think-?" Nancy started.
"Yes."
Nancy was grabbing her bag from the floor beside her before he'd finished speaking. "I'll be right down."
"No! It's fine, really. Everything's under control, you're not needed. Aoko will be fine, and if you suddenly showed interest it'd be suspicious. You'll learn everything in the morning, I'm sure. Papers are like that."
Nancy bit her lip. "If you say so."
"I do. Now go to bed, it's late."
As soon as the line had been cut, Nancy murmured, "Hypocrite," to the unlistening handset.
~~~~~~~~~~
The paper the next morning was distressingly vague. They did not know who was shooting, how many people were shooting, who was shooting back, who was injured, if anyone was killed, how Kid was involved, etcetera etcetera etcetera. All they seemed to know for certain was that Kid got away with the jewel.
Kaito was walking stiffly when he met up with her on the way to school, and he refrained from the usual magic, though he was bearing the usual smile. Nancy had started to wonder if he ever didn't smile. "I heard there was some shooting at the heist last night," she started.
"Yeah, I did too."
"Apparently Aoko-san was caught in it. It's just a graze though, she'll be just fine."
"Good."
Kaito's monosyllabic nature this morning was not matching his smile, and Nancy started to grow concerned. "Do you know if Kid was injured as well?"
"Yeah, I hear he was, but not as bad as Aoko."
Nancy blinked several times. This conversation suddenly didn't make sense anymore. "What happened?" she outright asked.
"I don't know, I wasn't there."
Nancy raised an eyebrow and glared at him. "Kuroba-kun..." she warned.
"What?"
"If you don't tell me, I'm going to have to ask Inspector Nakamori."
Kaito's smile suddenly changed somehow, but without actually moving. "When you do, could you tell him that Kid might just be dead to the world now?"
Nancy stopped in her tracks. Then, spinning around, she proceeded towards the precinct, leaving a not quite confused Kaito behind.
~~~~~~~~~~
Next Chapter: Nancy tries to figure out just what happened at the heist. Success is relative.
( ch. 5)