New chapter! Thank you for Reading, and please review.

I hope Heji's speak is okay, I've been a bit troubled with how to write it.

Chapter 4

'A penny for your thoughts.'

'I've heard tha name before...'

'Koizumi!'

'Koizumi?' Heiji gave Conan a blank look. 'Who're ya talkin 'bout?'

'Koizumi Akako, you just met her.'

Recognition dawned on Heiji before his expression turned to confusion.

'What 'bout her?'

'Never mind,' Conan sighed; maybe it had been his imagination after all. 'So what can you tell me about the Katsurou family?'

Heiji shook his head. 'It was relatively recently though, a few weeks ago at most...'

For a while they just walked, each lost in thought. Conan was musing over the recent deaths by heart attack but his train of thought kept taking him back to Arata and Akako. Like his subconscious was trying to tell him something. He could not see a connection between the two though, the only thing they had in common so far, seemed to be the fact that they stared at nothing.

Or was it really nothing... Maybe Conan just could not see it...

'Katsurou Ume!' Heiji suddenly exclaimed, startling Conan and a few by passers

'Huh?' was all Conan managed to utter, while looking at Heiji's beaming smile. Then the words sank in. Katsurou. Heiji had remembered something.

'Katsurou Ume, thirty six years of age, died of a heart attack 'bout three weeks ago. Was tha first case in Osaka.'

'Arata-kun is from Osaka,' Conan said, his mind racing. Could there be a connection? She was but one of many victims, but still... They had to start somewhere.

'Ya don't say,' Heiji said sarcastically. Not that Conan was listening, he was fishing his phone out of his pocket and was about to dial when the display flashed with an incoming call. Arthur, the display read. Conan smiled and answered the phone.

'I was just about to call you, Kuroba-kun,' he said as soon as he held the phone to his ear. Heiji sat down and laid his ear to the phone to listen in on the conversation. Conan sent him an annoyed glare and got a grin for an answer.

'Aww, tantei-kun wanted to talk to me,' came the answer. Conan just rolled his eyes while Heiji snickered.

'Katsurou Ume. I want you to find me as much information on her as possible,' Conan said and gave Arthur the details he needed.

For a while it was silent while Arthur typed on the computer. When the typing stopped and Arthur had begun reading, Conan decided to speak.

'So why did you call?'

'Not even wondering how your brother is doing? You hurt me tantei-kun.'

Conan rolled his eyes again and sent Heiji a look. Why can't KID be serious just for once?

'Come to the point.' He could practically hear Arthur pout.

The other boy did not answer for quite some time, making his dissatisfaction clear. Conan idly wondered when eye rolling had become one of his daily routines.

When Arthur finally decided to answer, he spoke but one syllable, 'L.'

He had been right then. L had been hacking the police. There was not much trust between the police and L, which usually meant that some information would be held back. Had it been Conan and he had the skill, he would have hacked - in a way he had hacked regardless - so he had chosen to assume L would do so too. He had been right.

'We're coming over.'

'Ah, wa-…' Arthur was unable to finish his protest before Conan closed his phone, breaking the connection. Heiji and Conan grinned to each before changing their course to their new destination.

At the hakase's house, Arthur was grumbling at his phone.

'I hadn't finished talking yet.'

xXx

In a room somewhere a small group of men were sitting at a table. Several documents were spread on it; occasionally one of the men picked up one and looked at it. Their faces were grim; their eyes were cold and hard - like the eyes of men that had seen too much. They were men that had seen the world for what it is, cruel and unjust, but still choose to fight, so they could bring some justice to the innocent.

The youngest of the men, most likely in his mid thirties, picked up a random document - they were all copies of the same report - looking through it. He was not as interested in the context as he was in the green notes written on the pages and finally the lines drawn on the last page, forming an image. A top hat, a monocle and a huge grin. A rather well known doodle.

'I would never have noticed,' he spoke slowly.

From the other end of the room, a whitenette slowly turned towards the group, still half focusing on the couple of dozen TV-screens he had been watching. He was the youngest man in the room by far, only in his early twenties, yet he seemed to hold the authority of a leader. His eyes were gleaming with intelligence.

'That is one of the reasons why you are not tasked with hacking and code breaking, Matsuda-keiji,' he said while playing with some dolls in his hands, causing Matsuda to fluster ever so slightly.

'You have to admit Near-sama, this was subtle, even for KID,' said a man in his early forties. Near nodded absently, more focused on his toys.

'I still can't really see it,' one of the men said, his eyes trained on a page of his copy of the report. Green notes were written in the margin and some parts of the text were ringed by the same green as the notes were written with.

'Yeah, the change in the color tone is so slight, it's almost nonexistent,' said another.

The group sat for a couple of minutes, discussing KID's note further. Near turned around to watch the TV-screens again, seemingly not too interested in the others theories.

'Oh, Matsuda-keiji,' Near suddenly said. 'I want you to be extra observant the next few days. Take a note of everyone that approaches you.'

'Huh?' Matsuda said confused. Near just smiled, offering no answer.