Well this sucks, he thought, thoroughly annoyed. I don't like this. It's not logical, not possible. It definitely shouldn't make sense, but it does. How else could the floating and the transparency be explained? Unless I'm hallucinating. He floated thoughtfully above his body while police and security guards alike scurried across the designated crime scene like ants at a picnic. But no, I know enough about hallucination to know that this is not one. So when you've eliminated the impossible, whatever remains however improbable, and means I'm a ghost. But whose ghost? Why can't I remember my name? Well whatever. I'll let the police try to come up with something. It's not like I could tell them even if I did know. They can't see or hear me.

He had to admit the police were doing a pretty good job of things. The first responders who answered the call had set up a reasonably wide perimeter. Not to big to be cumbersome, but not to small to miss important evidence. Tanaka Hoshiro, the guy in charge of the security personnel who had stumbled across his not so final resting place, obviously knew what he was doing. Probably, he had some good experience as a police officer. Even the officers that arrived on scene shortly after the discovery of the body succumbed to the mans unconscious authority and charisma.

"So what have we got?" he asked, never questioning his own right to know.

"Male, 16-17, probably in the second year of high school." He said automatically, even knowing that the police would not hear him." The only visible wound is blunt force trauma to the back of the head, but that's clearly non fatal. The weapon was the metal pipe lying not three meters away. You should check that for prints, though I doubt that if the criminal felt safe to leave it here there's anything there to find over all physical condition is good. I must have been a fairly active person, maybe on a school team. The troubling points are what was I doing in an out of the way corner like this, and how did I die? There's no visible cause of death, but I look like I am, er, was physically healthy. It probably isn't due to natural causes. Some kind of poison, maybe?"

Just as the ghost was finishing his unheard explanation, the junior officer to whom the question was actually directed began to speak, having decided that the older mans authority was real and should be respected with an honest and complete answer, even if he wasn't police. It was against protocol, but somehow felt right to the young man.

"The victim is male, 17 years old, was in his second year at Teitan High School. The only visible wound is a blunt force trauma to the back of the head, probable weapon is the metal pipe found not far from the body which looks to have blood on it. It's being sent to the lab for fingerprinting. Cause of death is unknown."

"That's all you got? C'mon, I need a name here!"

"Do we have a name for him? I assume that since you know what school he attended he had some sort of ID on him, right?"

The officer hesitated, "Well, sir, I don't think I should be divulging that information to anyone outside the police force until he can be properly identified."

"What?! Jeez, give a guy a break. It's not easy thinking of yourself as John Doe. What harm could dropping one little name do?"

"I would like to offer this investigation my full cooperation. I hope that my considerable experience as a former officer and my particular knowledge of tropical land as the head of security. Let me assure you that any information released to me would remain secure and could help me to help you." Tanaka reasoned, using all of his considerable persuasive skill.

"Ah, well then. Like you suggested, sir, according to the victim's school ID, his name is Kudo Shinichi, but that has yet to be confirmed."

Kudo Shinichi, huh? I like it.

"Wait. You mean the Great High School Detective, savior of the Japanese police force Kudo Shinichi, is dead. Probably murdered. Here. In Tropical Land." Tanaka stated.

That explains why I seem to know so much about crime scenes. Mei-tantei Kudo Shinichi. I definitely like the sound of that. But where the hell is Tropical Land?

"Yes sir, we believe so."

"Well shit," the older man said softly before turning to leave.

"Sir? Where are you going? You should stay close by in case we have any more questions."

"In case you have anymore questions? You're the one giving out info like candy on Halloween!"

"I need to make a phone call. I'll be right back. Trust me, I wouldn't miss this one, it's going to be big." His voice fading as he walked from the scene.

"Wait! Who are you calling? I need to know more" the ghost, now Kudo Shinichi, floated after the man, trying to stay within hearing distance. Then stopped as suddenly as if he'd hit a brick wall. Which, by the way, he could now walk through, and yes, he had tried it soon after being a ghost had occurred to him. Being able to freely pass through solid objects was some hard evidence clearly in favor of the dead theory. Shinichi looked back at his body, still lying facedown in the grass. Another attempt to move forward resulted in failure. Having his attempts at eavesdropping thwarted by the invisible wall, Shinichi floated back to the crime scene.

He resumed hovering, deep in thought. Great, something else that doesn't make sense. Why couldn't I follow him? As a ghost, shouldn't I be able to go wherever I want. Then again I don't know much about ghosts. I'm a detective, what would a detective need to know about ghosts for. Obviously I didn't believe they existed. I should have listened to Ran better when she was complaining about ghosts and monsters and stuff...Ran! What happened to Ran!!

Shinichi rifled through his newfound memories, but unfortunately, there weren't many of them. Nothing but a few snapshots of his former life. And all of them appeared to be fairly recent. A school building, a big western style house, the line up for the jet coaster, a man in with a dark coat and an even darker gaze. Ran crying.

We were at an amusement park. Tropical Land. And… I left. Why did I leave? Following someone? But who? Why?

Did Ran get home safe?

He had to find out. He flew head first in the direction that seemed most familiar, and nearly knocked him out when he hit the invisible wall at top speed. The knock to the head confused him, both intellectually and in the more traditional "knock to the head" kind of way. He was a ghost, so how could anything affect him physically? And yet his metaphysical ears were definitely ringing. He tried another direction, slower this time, and once again smacked strait into nothing. Straight up was the same, as was every other direction he tried. Always exactly the same distance from where he hade died.

He suddenly remembered wondering why ghosts in stories always seemed to haunt only one specific area. Now he knew. It was cause they couldn't get out.

No one could see him, hear him or feel him, he couldn't affect the physical world and now he would be trapped forever at the scene of his own murder, which he didn't remember happening. Almost worse, there next to no evidence. No fingerprints or bullet casings, the only shoeprint was too vague to be anything but inconclusive, and the only witness was dead. The detective's murder would go unsolved, and there wasn't anything he could do about it.

This really sucks.

AN: Thank you to those people who took the time to review, and especialy thanks to those who corrected some of my mistakes. You should be pleased to know that I actualy had people proofread this chapter before I posted it. Still, if you catch anything that I missed, please tell me. I really apreciate knowing that people actualy care.

Thoughts are in italics

Ghost Shinichi's speach is also italicized, on acount of he's a ghost and no one can hear him.