Hello, hope you enjoy this! R&R…Encouragement makes me a happy cat. :) Now with shiny new grammar and sentence structure- and back from the grave! *Random zombie noises* I have new fics I want to start, BUT old ones need to get done first!


"You're sure this was the work of Kaitou Kid?" inquired Megure as he frowned, frantically scribbling in his case log while trying to keep the details straight. He hated running a crime scene, especially in its first few messy hours of life. There were usually fifty chefs crammed into what felt like twenty square feet of kitchen and that usually caused competition, bickering and most definitely could spoil the soup- or taking it out of the metaphor, screw up a case enormously. Getting a midnight phone call to a museum was not how he had envisioned his quiet day off at home with Midori rather abruptly ending, but odd hours were part and parcel of the policeman's trade and Midori had grown very accustomed to them. Besides, she knew there was only one kind of case for which they would call the keibu in at said hour on said day off.

"Well, it seems pretty undeniable, at least at this point," replied Inspector Takagi Wataru with a rueful half-grimace and unhappy tone. "He was shown quite clearly on at least three security cameras in the actual act of pulling the trigger, and initial analysis seemed to show that the tapes weren't edited or tampered with." A short pause was accompanied by an introspective frown. "Of course, it'd be way too easy for someone to fake that getup of Kid's for the cameras…" he added with a mutter as he returned to photographing the path of a set of bloody footprints that encircled a shattered, now-empty display case almost too perfectly.

"It was him, keibu. He left a note; I'll show you a copy in a few moments." Inspector Satou Miwako got up with an exasperated sigh and resurveyed the messy crime scene with a practiced, still slightly unbelieving eye. "But I will add that several things here are way out of his usual M.O." She grabbed a small notebook out of her pocket and flipped to scrawled, messy notes she had made hastily while researching the young man (well, who knew if he really WAS a young man, or even a man at all; master of disguise, after all) who had earned the nickname of the Phantom Thief. "No warning note about his coming here. How quiet and without fanfare the break-in was. The rather large mess he made of the place, especially as the small jade figurine that was in this case was the only thing actually taken." She then glanced over at the far east wall. "And most of all, killing someone."

Satou finished the last sentence quietly as she watched technicians process the area around the body of the dead museum guard who lay leaning against the wall, legs spread and limp, lifeless arms dangling from his sides. The gunshot wound to his forehead that was the most probable cause of death as well as the rest of his face was eerily, carefully covered by a crisp white handkerchief that had only become mildly stained (which told them it had most likely been placed over his face after he had finished bleeding out.) Still trying to come to terms with what she had seen on the security tapes, Satou walked over to Takagi to assist him and a pair of techs with trying to process the glass case for any possible fingerprints. Of course, Kaitou Kid was so careful about gloves that the effort would most likely prove fruitless.

"So, let's review what we know so far," Megure began to the room at large as he flipped open his notepad which was rapidly filling up with the work of deduction and fact-gathering. "At about ten P.M. tonight the main alarm here at the museum went off. According to the cameras, Kid made his entrance at about 10:05; he may have entered before then but 10:05 is the first time he's actually seen on any of the cameras. He made a beeline for this wing and this particular display case. He began to open the case- rather clumsily I might add, judging by the footage. Then at about 10:15, the now-deceased guard Kuromaru Akagi arrived in the wing and tried to confront him.

"Footage then shows Kid whipping a pistol out and firing a single shot at almost exactly 10:15. We'll get more cameras and more angles later, but for now we're assuming that the fatal shot was fired then. There's no further interference from Kuromaru after that point, and you can quite clearly see him slump against the wall into that position after the shot was fired. Kid then finished taking the jade figure and took off out a side window at about 10:20 with the first police arriving about five minutes after that.

"There are a few things we need to figure out. First is why the alarm went off five minutes before he actually appeared on any of the cameras. Second is why he actually entered the museum so far away from his target object. Third is why he didn't send his notice like he usually does. Fourth is why the huge mess was left. And, the last but most important initial question, why he killed the guard. I've spoken to Nakamori Ginzo-keibu and have scheduled an in-depth interview with him for tomorrow as he's very, very familiar with Kaitou Kid and has said he'll open his case files on him for me." He snapped the notebook shut. "I'll tell you all that Nakamori is thoroughly convinced this guy is an impostor but we'll see." He turned his attention to Satou. "He left a note, you said?"

"Yes, sir," replied Satou as she stepped forward holding a Xeroxed copy of the note that had already been whisked off for examination in the labs. "A handwritten note, which is unusual, but it does have his signature drawing of himself. It simply reads 'He shouldn't have tried to stop me.'" Even in Satou's calm voice, the words sent shivers down more than a few spines. "On the back is some indecipherable scribbling and a hand-drawn picture of a lemon wedge."


This was wrong, all wrong.

Kudo Shinichi actually shook his head violently in protest as he watched the initial news reports, dead certain that there was something far more going on than anyone was realizing. He just could not reconcile that callous, casual taking of a life with the Kaitou Kid he had come to know, albeit he possessed only a mild, somewhat adversarial relationship with him. His mind's eye took him back to the thief jumping out of a plane to save an old woman from committing suicide, and to an abandoned house where that same thief had gone to great lengths to try and prevent anyone getting hurt, including sticking around far longer than he had needed to trying to steer everyone away from the danger that lifting the large diamond would bring.

There was also the fact that this weird heist and everything that had happened surrounding it was such a radical departure from Kaitou Kid's usual methods and practice that it should have practically screamed to the cops that this Kid was definitely a fake.

The one thing that Kid would never steal is a life.

Those words, spoken with such absolute finality and certainty by Nakamori-keibu in the midst of another case in which Kaitou Kid had been accused of murder, rang in Shinichi's head like a bell. Nakamori-keibu had been so certain, and hadn't he been proven correct? Nakamori-keibu, who knew Kid probably better than most anyone except the elusive thief himself, had just known without question that Kid had not stolen that painter's life. And now Shinichi's gut, which he relied on just as much as his brain in certain moments, was telling him that this was yet another case of Kid being set up. Why that was, he couldn't say, but he never questioned that primeval instinct which had served him so well (Okay, except for the night he had followed the Black Organization's agents and wound up a kid again, but that was another subject for another time.)

"What are you doing awake at this hour, brat? It's one in the morning! And why is the TV on-" Kogoro froze as the headline 'KAITOU KID - KILLER?' scrolled across the TV in large red block font and caught the corner of his eye. "What the hell?" he muttered as he began to sink down into the couch and put his full focus on the reporter who was covering the scene, which caused Shinichi to refocus as well.

"…police are confirming that they did find a note from Kaitou Kid and that it does appear to be authentic, though they are not releasing the contents of the note at this time. The name of the slain guard has not been made public yet as the family still needs to be notified…"

"I heard it on your radio, ojisan, so I turned on the TV. Sorry if I woke you up." Not really, but whatever, Shinichi added mentally.

"Never known Kid to kill," muttered Kogoro with a sleepy yawn accompanying the statement. "They said what was stolen yet?"

"Only some small green, ugly statue." There were times Shinichi hated having to act like a child; he wanted to actually be able to discuss the case intelligently, but he was quite sure Heiji would express his displeasure through a pounding the next time they met if he woke the Osakan at this hour.

"Oh, must've been something from that thing going on uptown in the museum. Some jade exhibit or something moved in there last week." A wide yawn. "Only one small statue though? Weird."

Shinichi had to agree. Killing a guard and making that kind of mess for a single, small statue? There was definitely something more going on here than met the eye. Sleeping Kogoro would have to begin his work as soon as possible in the morning.