Murder Broods (Revised)

Chapter Two:

Above the streetlamps a solitary crow glided toward a windowsill and pecked at the glass of the window. It opened, and the winged creature hopped into the room and flew to a stand holding a dish of water and another of dead insects. The crow ate quietly, a ring blinking around its left leg. The glow of a computer screen highlighted its black feathers.

"...Fortunato." The office chair in front of the computer turned and slid toward the crow. In it a shadowed figure smiled at the avian, her cherry blonde hair cropped just before her shoulders. Her glasses made her eyes difficult to see in midst of the glow from the monitor and her smile seemed icy as she gingerly stroked the bird's beak.

"For how much you despise those crows, you certainly love Fortunato." Another figure approached from near the window after shutting it to prevent the night breeze from chilling the room. "Though how you feel isn't much of a surprise, considering..."

The woman's sharp glare cut through the man's sentence, and despite the gaze being filtered behind a pair of glasses, he felt the chill of ice racing down his spine.

"...if what we've discovered is true, then..." The woman glared at the computer, the screen reflecting off her glasses. "I will not forgive..."

0

Conan sat on the couch and yawned, the clock blinking 8 am. It was a Saturday, and he didn't have any plans until the afternoon, making it the perfect time to try to decipher the code.

'Hide Tame (96flock)4 Fortunato Rache...' He read the text again, then reclined on the couch. 'Fortunato refers to The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe, and Rache...'

Behind him the television buzzed as the channel was changed, and he heard Mouri-ojisan grumbling. Apparently News about an explosion caused by a gas leak had taken over the time slot planned for a Yoko Okino music broadcast.

'You need to grow up, ojisan.' Conan sighed in his thoughts. Then sighed again as his own thought reminded him of his predicament. '...I can't wait until I can become Shinichi Kudo again, and can trounce the Black Org. Haa...' After another sigh he returned to the code. '….this 'Rache' is probably from A Study in Scarlet: but is it intended to mean 'Rachel' or Raché the German word for revenge?'

After considering it a moment while staring at the ceiling, his eyes narrowed.

'In this case, with the word Fortunato appearing before it, it probably is meant to be revenge...since The Cask of Amontillado is about revenge. Perfect revenge.' He paused in his thoughts, listening to the News playing in the background. Curious, he glanced toward the television, just in time to hear the Newscaster bringing on update on the explosion.

-"...a recent development suggesting yesterday's explosion at a small house just outside of Haido city wasn't an accident has police digging deeper into the matter..." -

'That's...wait, Haido...' Conan looked back at the text. 'Could the word Hide at the beginning of the code mean Haido? Since 'haido' is the Japanese pronunciation for the English word hide...that means that Tame could be referring to the Teimizu river. That's...'

"Oh Conan, what are you doing just lying around staring at your phone?" Ran asked as she entered the room. "Oh! Are you waiting for a text from someone? A girl perhaps?" She smiled and peered down at Conan.

"Nnnn...No." Conan replied, blushing at how close Ran leaned in toward him, her face mere inches from his. All thoughts of deducing the code flew from his brain as her scent washed over him. That and the memory of his love confession in London. 'Damn, why can't Haibara just give me more of those pills so I can turn back into Shinichi? I'm tired of being Conan!'

0

Vermouth stood beside a table in a darkened room lit only by the glow of florescent lights peeking in from the edges of the door. Across the room a small muted television flashed, playing the News on its screen. Vermouth watched the man across the room with a small smile on her lips.

"Quite a bold move by our hacker, wouldn't you say, Gin?"

"Too bold." Gin left the window, his eyes glaring at the television monitor. The intensity of his eyes was brief but palpable when the image of the house involved in the explosion flashed across the screen. His lips twisted before he hardened his expression and faced Vermouth. "This fox will regret his challenge. I'll see to it personally."

"Oh? Do you suppose that the hacker is after you? After all, that house was..."

Gin's glare silenced Vermouth without him having to say a word, and his silence continued as he walked passed Vermouth, toward the door. His eyes shadowed by his hair, he paused then left the room.

0

Amuro read over his text on his cell, his lips pursed grimly together though he couldn't hold back all of his exuberance as he finished deciphering the code left by the hacker.

'The words Fortunato and Rache mean the hacker is seeking revenge, while the words hide and tame refer to Haido and Teimizu...implying that this revenge will be done somewhere in around Haido or even Beika city. The number 96 – read as kuro – together with flock, implies a group of crows which is called a murder in English, and the parenthesizes and the number 4 means to multiply 'murder' by 4. So, for revenge, there will be four murders in the Haido, and possibly Beika, area.'

Amuro pressed the send button on his text, then pocketed his cell phone.

'...The only question is whom does this person want to kill in his revenge...'

Chapter End


A/N: I hope you like this chapter of the revised version of Murder Broods.

On another topic: Has anyone else realized how horrifying Shinichi Kudo's dub name is? Especially for someone who is supposed to be like a Modern-day Sherlock Holmes? Who on earth thought the name Jimmy was acceptable?! Jimmy is a shortening of Jim, which is in turn a shortening of James! WHO ON EARTH decided that naming Shinichi Kudo after MORIARITY in the DUB was a GOOD idea?!