AN: Oh hey, it's chapter ten! Double digits! We're starting to get into the real meat of this case. As always, I thank all of those of you who are reading this work, but most especially those of you who take the time to leave a review- you really are what propels me to keep going, so thanks!

Until next time!

Bloodsport

Chapter Ten

One Man's Absurdity is Another Man's Truth

"I was starting to wonder if you were actually coming or not, Hattori-kun." With a slight frown on her features as she addressed the young man who almost felt as if he had appeared out of nowhere, Sera cast a glance back towards the house that she had been staking out. Naturally, she had chosen a different location from the last time, and was observing the house from the nearby square. The view was a bit more limited, but she wasn't going to test her luck by observing the house from the same place she had been attacked. "Take care of your midnight snack?"

"Yeah, pretty much." Heiji told her, dropping a fast food bag into her outstretched hands. Before coming here, he had made sure to erase any stray traces of blood that might have clung to him. Since he had half a year of practice in doing so, he had gotten pretty good at it. "Here, as promised, I picked ya up somethin' as well."

"Oh, thank you." With a quick smile, Sera accepted the bag, digging into it without any reservations. "I thought you couldn't handle stuff like fast food though."

"I can't." Heiji said simply, placing his hands on his waist, quirking a brow. "That's why I got ya somethin' else. Ya probably wouldn't have been interested in what I was havin' anyways."

"Well, you never know! I love trying new foods." Sera told him, taking a bite out of the burger that he had bought.

"No, I'm pretty sure ya wouldn't." Heiji said simply. If there were a normal human out there that enjoyed drinking human blood, that would probably be grounds to call the police. Somehow, he almost didn't doubt that there were such weirdos out there, and frankly, he couldn't understand that at all. He had to drink it to live, but it wasn't like he particularly enjoyed it. The notion that anyone could willingly want to drink it was completely baffling to him. "Anythin' happen?"

"No, nothing yet." Sera said, shaking her head, turning her attention back towards the house. "At the very least, nothing that I can tell. Nobody has come or gone from the place since I got here. Since there's no back door, if they wanted to leave, they would have to use the front door."

"Unless they wanted ta crawl out one of the back windows or somethin'." Heiji couldn't help but quip. "But somehow I have trouble picturin' that old man doin' somethin' like that. He's probably been in better shape."

"The tragedy of growing old." Sera couldn't help but remark, her slight smile fading a little as she couldn't help but notice something of a strange expression flash through Heiji's eyes at her joke. Even though it was gone in the same second that she had noticed it, she didn't think it was any kind of trick of the light. "He might really be the patron, just as Jodie-san thought."

"The question is, how did he get in contact with the culprit in the first place?" Heiji asked, placing a hand to his chin, mulling it over. "Or did the culprit get into contact with him first? If he has a way of contactin' them, then we might be able ta use it ta our advantage. It would be best if he knew the culprit's identity, but considerin' those four were all killed fer probably that reason, I'm not sure he does."

"Which would mean the culprit was the one who contacted him." Sera observed. "Which means that he might have something that they need. Money, perhaps. It can't be easy to obtain such large canvases and frames, not to mention getting enough to paint to actually paint them in the first place. He obviously has more money than sense if he's interested in paintings like that."

"Well, I can't say that they don't fit his image." Heiji couldn't help but quip, arching a brow, flashing something of a grin at the slight snort that earned him from Sera. He should probably send a picture of the guy to Kudo, if he got the chance- it might give him something of a laugh. "Maybe our patron had his hands in some dirty business aside from tax evasion, an' caught the culprit's eyes that way. Unless it's possible that old man has been the patron from the very start, in which case they've probably been in contact ever since the first murder, twelve years ago."

"Possibly even earlier than that. If I recall, he moved from England to America thirteen years ago, so he would have already been living here at the time of the first murder." Sera said, nodding her head. "In that case, it would be a good idea to take a closer look at his art business one more time. I doubt he would be doing anything illegal on the surface, but there might be hints of it if we dig deep enough."

"Probably." Folding his arms in front of his chest in thought, Heiji mulled over the information that he had managed to gather so far. "That daughter bothers me too- no matter how ya look at it, she stands out. Even if she's in the care of the FBI right now, it's strange that she's the only name in that notebook that hasn't been killed. There's definitely a reason fer that."

"I think so as well." Sera said, nodding her head. "It's possible that her mother was killed by an early accomplice of hers once she earned the attention of the FBI. Well, given her age back then, I doubt it was her daughter. She would have still been in middle school when the first murder happened."

"Still, the fact that the paintin' style hasn't changed at all bugs me." Heiji said. "I don't know that much about art, but it's probably not that easy to perfectly replicate someone else's style so well. Even if they were taught by the same person, they would probably have some kind of difference between them. Judgin' from the gallery that her daughter put online of her mother's works, there's no doubt that hers is the same style used in the paintings, even if the content of them is different."

"The fact that they've been consistent all this time probably means that the same person is involved in painting all of them. Since the style of her paintings was what had the FBI considering Amelia Hayden as a possible suspect in the first place, for the style of them not to change at all after her murder..." Sera said. "That is a bit strange. Although I admit that I don't know all that much about art either."

"Given the chance, I really do want ta take a good look at the house they lived in at the time." Heiji mused. He got the feeling that if he went there, he might be able to understand something. There was something about this case, other than the identity of the culprit, that was alluding him at the moment. Something... something that he wasn't considering.

What he had told Kudo earlier was true- he really didn't understand too much about magic. He had certainly been doing his research on the sort of world he had been thrust into now, but that was a topic that he hadn't dwelled too much on, other than learning about basic wards and charms. If there really was magic involved in this case, then that was beyond the limit of his current understanding.

Witchcraft. If that was the case, he really doubted Mitsuta would know much about it. Still, there was a chance that she could at least put him in contact with someone who did- it would be worth calling her, in that case.

"I agree." Sera said, nodding her head. "Well, we'll have to try again tomorrow to convince Jodie to give us the address. Will your friends here still be willing to give us a lift there?"

"Ah, probably." Heiji said quickly, for a brief moment, not quite understanding what she meant. That's right- Kazuha had covered up for him by saying something along those lines, hadn't she? Well, he didn't doubt that Mitsuta knew someone here who owned a helicopter, and was willing to loan it out to them, pilot and all, so it was pretty much the same thing. "I'll have ta check with them again, but I should be able ta arrange somethin' like that."

And if push came to shove, it wasn't as if he didn't have a way to make Jodie give him what he wanted, but he would rather not resort to hypnosis unless he had no other choice. As convenient as it could be, he was honestly loathe to use it for things like this, not unless he had a good reason for it. He didn't want to get too used to it, didn't want to risk becoming the sort of person who would end up abusing such a power.

Besides, if he hadn't used it on Ran like he had that one time, he might have never ended up in a situation where he had come far too close to harming those he cared about. Other than erasing the memories of those he drank blood from, it was best to use it sparingly, especially on those he knew.

"Anyways, Sera-han, why don't ya let me take over here?" Heiji asked, glancing over towards the house that they were watching. "Ya've had a long day, an' I've already had a long nap today myself. Ya should head back ta the hotel an' get some rest."

"Are you sure?" Sera asked. "It might make more sense for us to watch the place in shifts."

"Nah, it's fine." Heiji told her, flashing her a broad grin. It wasn't as if he really needed to sleep all that much anymore, just from time to time. "I can handle it. Besides, if both of us aren't there at the hotel when Jodie-han wakes up, she might not be willin' ta let us go off on our own ta do anythin', much less snoop around the house of a former suspect."

"That's certainly true." Sera admitted after a moment, letting out a small laugh. "Then, I'll leave the matter to you, Hattori-kun. But be careful. There's a chance that whatever it was that attacked might still be around. You're the one the actual threats have been directed at, don't forget that."

"Ya don't have ta worry about me, Sera-han. I'm a pretty hard guy ta kill, after all."

"No wonder I couldn't find ya anywhere when I woke up this mornin'." With a long sigh escaping from her lips, Kazuha merely folded her arms in front of her chest, giving Heiji a rather exasperated look. She couldn't say that she wasn't used to this sort of thing by now. "Ya did somethin' that risky, an' ya didn't even bring yer sword with ya? I think by now it should be fairly clear that what we're dealin' with isn't somethin' normal."

"It's not like it was my original plan." Heiji told her, flashing her a nervous smile in an attempt to calm her down a little. Well, he couldn't blame her for getting a bit mad. "I ran into Sera-han when I was leavin', so it just ended up that way. Besides, it would have been worse if she had been the one ta stake out the place all night, wouldn't it? Considerin' that we don't know what we're dealin' with here, she probably got lucky yesterday."

"I suppose it can't be helped then." Kazuha said simply. "So? Did ya finally get somethin' ta eat in the end, Heiji?"

"Yeah, no worries there." Heiji said. "I put in a call ta Mitsuta-han while I was at it too, ta see if she could look into the matter from her side of things. She said that she knew someone who was familiar with witchcraft, an' was goin' ta try an' get into contact with them."

He was also still waiting on a call from Kudo, in the event that he had ended up learning anything new from this mysterious source of his. Once he returned home, he would be giving him some rather firm words about not keeping such important secrets from him. He could sense that there was something going on with those shady men in black of his that Kudo hadn't told him about yet. That wouldn't do at all! What was their friendship even for if he wouldn't let him help him when he needed it?

"So it really was witchcraft!" Kazuha said, a rather pleased expression crossing her face. "An' ta think, ya were the one soundin' so skeptical about my theory, mister vampire detective!"

"We still don't know if it is or isn't." Heiji told her, brows knitting together in a slight glower. If it really turned out to be the case that it was, he was never going to be able to live this down, was he? "But well, there's definitely somethin' that seems magic-like goin' on here, so I thought it would be best ta cover all of my bases. Speakin' of that though, Sera-han an' I will be goin' ta check out the home of the fourth victim today."

"Eh? So soon?" Kazuha asked, blinking a little. Given what had happened yesterday, she was surprised that Jodie was letting them go at all. "That's the one they thought was the culprit the first time around, right? Does Jodie-sensei know about this?"

"Of course she does, idiot. She's the one with the address, after all." Heiji said simply, before heaving a long sigh. In the end, he hadn't needed to use hypnosis to get it from her- although convincing her that they would be fine if they went alone hadn't been that easy. In the end, she had given her permission, and had handed over the address. "It's from Amelia-han's murder that this case got really complicated, I've already figured out that much. It would be better if we could look over the scene of the actual murder, but seein' as they tore down that hotel ages ago, that's pretty much impossible. Their old house is the next best thing."

"Then, I'll come with you!" Kazuha said.

"No, yer gonna stay here." Heiji told her firmly, shaking his head. "With Jodie-han. Don't try goin' off on yer own ta do anythin' foolish!"

"Yer the last person I want ta hear somethin' like that from, Heiji." Kazuha couldn't help but note, quirking a brow. Heaving a sigh after a moment, she gave him a slight smile. "Well, fine. If yer that worried about me, I'll stay put an' be a good girl fer one afternoon."

"Thanks, Kazuha." Heiji told her, leaning down to give her a quick peck on the forehead, flashing a broad grin at the slight red tint her cheeks took on. "When all of this is over, I'll take ya someplace nice when we get back ta Japan. Considerin' how our last amusement park date turned out, maybe we could try again?"

"Yer just sayin' that ta try an' flatter me." Putting her hands on her hips, Kazuha stared at him square in the face, her hard look remaining for only the span of a second, before she broke out into a smile of her own. "An' it's workin', too. But at the expense of soundin' like a broken record-"

"I know, I know. Be careful, right?" Heiji asked. "Of course I will, idiot. It's not like I'm goin' by myself, either. Sera-han will be with me. We can watch each others backs."

"An' what if ya do find somethin'?" Kazuha asked after a moment. "Somethin' that ya can't explain by regular logic."

"Well, Sera-han's already been attacked by some kind of invisible being, so I think she's probably startin' ta think about this case as bein' somethin' other than normal." Heiji said simply, shrugging his shoulders. Which was both good and bad for him, really. "Besides, people have a tendency ta believe in what they can see with their own two eyes, even if they think it's absurd."

"Well, that's true." Kazuha said, nodding her head. "I'll call ya if anythin' important comes up over here, Heiji. If ya learn anythin' over there, be sure ta give me a call too! I can't help but be curious about this case myself now."

"Yeah, I will." Heiji told her, reaching out to pat her hand, letting out a slight laugh as she made a face at the way he messed up her hair. "An' since ya were so worried about it," he began, crossing the room to scoop up the bag where he had hidden his sword. "I'll even bring this with me. Okay?"

"Good." With a firm nod of her head, Kazuha beamed brightly at him. "Now then, let's get ya downstairs so ya can at least pretend ta nibble at breakfast. An' it's no use givin' me that look, Heiji! After that strange package ya got an' yer faintin' act ya did back there, yer gonna have ta try a little bit harder ta act human." She told him firmly, sternly locking eyes with him. "Really, it's a miracle that the whole world doesn't know yer a vampire yet, seein' as yer so bad at coverin' it up!"

"I'm not that bad, idiot!" Heaving a long sigh as Kazuha merely stuck out her tongue at him, he set aside the sword bag for the moment, following her out the door.

If there was one thing that was bothering him still about his earlier conversation with Jodie, it was the fact that she almost seemed to hesitate to call Amelia Hayden's daughter for permission to do another search of her childhood home. Judging from the look in her eyes, he got the feeling that she didn't quite understand the reason for her own hesitation either, probably acting out of some kind of subconscious hunch. And given the way that she had gone out of her way to prevent the three of them from actually meeting the woman... there was definitely something there.

Just like he was almost entirely certain that Bradford Wise had some kind of connection to the case, he was almost entirely certain that Caroline Hayden had some kind of connection of her own. And whatever that connection was, he was going to find out.

Even though in the back of his mind, a faint, rather grim idea was already slowly starting to take shape.

"Eh? The daughter?"

"That's correct." Setting down his teacup, Okiya Subaru glanced over towards his visitor, a rather understanding expression on his face. Given the age of the daughter in question at the time, it was no wonder why the look that had crossed the boy's face was one of disbelief. "After the murder of Amelia Hayden, the first person I suspected was her daughter."

"But she was only seventeen at the time, wasn't she?" Conan asked, his brows knitting together in thought. Just as he had promised Heiji, he had sought out Okiya Subaru- formerly known as FBI agent Akai Shuichi, about the cast the very next morning. And while it certainly was someone as young as himself to commit murder, it wasn't that common- and besides that... "And she would have been even younger when the first three murders occurred. Still a middle school student, I believe."

"That's right. That's why I decided against voicing the theory until I had some more decisive evidence." Subaru said simply, his brows furrowing together as he recalled that case. It had been such a long time since he had dealt with it last, and he had been so focused on the Organization investigation since then that it had nearly slipped his mind. He couldn't deny his surprise when he heard the case being brought up by none other than the curious child sitting across from him. "Before I could look into the matter further, I was transferred to the investigation of the Organization, in order to infiltrate them. In the span of time before the fourth painting was sent in, people seemed to be under the assumption that it might be the last of them, so the urgency in regards to that case dropped significantly."

"Then did you suspect her for the first three murders too?" Conan asked. A high school student might have been a possibility, but a thirteen year old middle school student? That was way too unlikely.

"No, I don't think she was directly involved with those." Subaru told him, shaking his head. "I still hold the belief that her mother was the culprit for those first three. That said, as for her motive, I could never figure that much out. You said your friend is investigating the new cases right now?"

"Yeah, he is." Conan said, nodding his head. "I wanted to try and help him out however I could, since I couldn't go with him. He seems to be having a bit of trouble with it."

If he wanted to inquire further as to what a Japanese detective, and a high school student at that, was doing investigating a case overseas, far away from home, he kept such things well to himself. If there was one thing that he had learned about this boy's friends in the short time he had been living here, it was that they could be rather unusual.

"Hey, did anything happen when you were investigating the case before?" Conan asked, a slight frown on his face. Heiji seemed to have brushed aside the danger like it was nothing, but he couldn't help but worry about him. And Kazuha too, as well, of course. He got the feeling that there was something that his friend was leaving out, and he was half tempted to try and contact Kazuha to pry that information out of her. "Like anyone being attacked, or anything like that?"

"I don't believe anyone was attacked, but there was an incident at the site of the second murder." Subaru recalled. "If I recall, a police officer fell to his death. The investigation afterwards ruled it as a simple accident, though. The area where the corpse was found was quite rocky, and it was believed that he took a bad step that resulted in his death. There were no obvious signs of anyone else entering the area, nor anything in the surroundings being tampered with."

"The second murder... that was the painting entitled The Final Full Moon, wasn't it?" Conan recalled, a slight frown crossing his face. Although the setting for that painting, according to the image that Heiji had sent him, had been a rocky cliff face, something told him that accident wasn't an accident at all. If it was that thing, that invisible force or whatever that had both killed Madeline Craven, and had attacked that other high school detective working with him, then it would make sense.

Whatever the case, this was something that he needed to inform Heiji about as soon as he could. He really had gotten himself involved with one pain in the ass case, hadn't he?

"That's right. It was a rather grim scene." With a slightly stern look, he brought up the image as if he had only seen it yesterday. "They all were, really. You should probably tell your friend to be careful, if you haven't already, boy. The one thing I know for sure is that the person behind these crimes is willing to do pretty much anything."

"Do you still suspect the daughter? Caroline Hayden, you said her name was. She would be around twenty-five years old right now, I believe." Conan asked. "What made you suspect something about her in the first place, Subaru-san?"

Putting a hand to his chin, he dwelled over the question for a moment, trying to recall the exact reason. All he had known at the time was that there had been something bothering him about the girl, right after her mother's death. In the end, he had never quite been able to place what it was, but he didn't doubt that there had been something there. He wasn't the type to doubt his own instincts, even if they told him things that skirted out the near absurd.

"If I recall correctly, I got the feeling that there was something different about her." Subaru told him, narrowing his eyes. "I had spoken to her once before, when we first began investigating her mother as a possible suspect. Between that time and the time after her mother's death, it felt as if something had changed about her."

"Changed? How?" Conan blinked. In the back of his mind, there was a niggling feeling, a vague theory starting to fall into place with this information. The prime suspect becoming a victim themselves. The consistent painting style. The eight year gap between the fourth and fifth cases. Changed behavior. A culprit willing to do anything. The fact that the daughter was the only one on that list who hadn't been targeted so far. And Heiji's theory that there was somehow magic involved in this case.

Honestly, he was going to gave Heiji an earful when he came back, for making him start to think this way. But he when he factored in the fact that this was a case where otherwise absurd things could happen, then he couldn't deny that this theory made a certain amount of sense.

But, if that really were true, if such an absurd thing were really possible... what a horrible thing to do.

"I'm afraid that it's not something I am quite able to put into words." Subaru said simply after a long moment. "All I knew that was when I spoke to her after her mother's murder, I couldn't shake the feeling that something was off compared to before. That was why I began to suspect that she might have some kind of connection to her mother's murder, at the very least."

"If there's one thing I do find curious," Subaru began, picking up his cellphone, quickly opening up the gallery website that he had found when he had begun looking into matters related to that serial murder case again. "...it's the fact that she runs this website at all. She and her mother got along well enough, but the fact that she didn't have any of her mother's talent created something of a rift between them there. She gave off the impression of trying to distance herself from her mother's art."

"It could simply be out of memory of her mother, or that she's had time to deal with her previously unresolved issues, but something about it doesn't quite sit right with me." He finished, a considering look on his face as he leaned back in his chair, watching Conan go through the virtual gallery.

"Hmm." With a considering look on his face, Conan carefully paged through the website. He could see why Amelia Hayden had caught the FBI's interest, all those years ago- even to his own untrained eye, the style of the paintings, especially when they depicted people, were rather similar. "That's definitely a bit strange."

Passing his phone back to him, and getting to his feet, Conan gave him a quick smile. There was no way he was going to share this theory with Subaru- he didn't even want to let anyone know that something like this had popped into his mind in the first place. Aside from Heiji, that was- if he wasn't already starting to suspect something like this himself- and in the back of his mind, he couldn't help but think that some damn part of him better be. What he wouldn't give to go back to being blissfully ignorant of the supernatural.

Especially because being blissfully ignorant of the supernatural likely also meant that Heiji would still be human.

"Then, thank you, Subaru-san. I'll pass on what you told me to Heiji-niichan!" Conan told him finally.

"I can only apologize for not being more helpful." Even as he said that, Subaru didn't miss that glint in his eyes- although he couldn't help but puzzle at the rather disgruntled look that came along with it this time, as if he were almost annoyed by the idea that had entered his head. Still, he seemed to have gotten something of use from what it was that he had told him.

"No, you've been plenty helpful!"

"Still you sure do know a lot of people, Hattori-kun." Sera couldn't help but observe, waving a hand back towards the helicopter pilot who had so graciously agreed to bring them out here. Even if he had said that he had some friends here who could make it happen, actually seeing it in action was another thing entirely.

"Ah, well, when ya have parents like mine, ya tend ta know a lot of people, all over the place." Heiji said quickly, scratching his cheek a little. That vampire network was proving to be rather useful, as it turned out- it was kind of too bad that there wasn't really anything like that in Osaka. He was pretty sure almost all of the vampires that had been living in the city had moved away after that vampire hunter incident. Other than himself, of course.

Still, he couldn't help but feel like it had taken too much time to get here. Travel time couldn't be helped, he supposed, but he couldn't help but want to finish this up as quickly as he could. He couldn't help but be nervous about leaving Kazuha behind like this. Maybe he really should have had her come with him after all?

No, no. Chances were higher that something might happen over here, if his instincts were right, than back there. If that invisible thing was responsible for the consecutive deaths of Amelia Hayden's three students, then it was obvious that it wasn't bound to human means of transportation, but could probably go wherever it would. He could only hope that their investigation here might give him some kind of clue as to what it was that they were dealing with here.

He was sure, at the very least, that thing wasn't the culprit. Given that it had given up on attacking Sera so easily when she had showed the smallest bit of ability to fight back, it probably didn't have much ability to think on it's own, if any at all. Something like a familiar, maybe? Were those even real?

Honestly- Kudo had half-jokingly called this his area of expertise, but there were still too many fields here that he was flying blind in. There were still too many things that he didn't know.

"Ah, I'll go in first." Heiji said, quickly darting in front of Sera. Sparing a brief glance back towards where the helicopter was waiting, he quickly refocused his attention on the house in front of him. Reaching out to take the doorknob, his brows knit together, feeling no response from it. That was good- that meant that he would be able to enter without issue. "Let's see, where did that girl say the key was..."

"It's here, Hattori-kun." Straightening up, Sera passed the key over towards him, the rock that she had pulled it out from underneath set back in place. She couldn't help but cast another curious glance up towards the bag he wore over his shoulder, once again wondering what it could be. Maybe it really was a sword? He was a kendo champion, according to what she had read about him. "Do you think we'll find anything here?"

"It's worth a look." Heiji said simply, carefully unlocking the door. With a slight frown and a bit of a cautious step, he carefully made his way inside of the house, tucking the key back away in his pocket. There was no resistance to his entry- but once inside, he couldn't shake the strange feeling that seemed to overcome him all at once. It felt almost ominous, in a way.

"This place is covered in dust." Sera couldn't help but observe with a slight frown, letting out a cough. No wonder it felt a little hard to breathe. They might have been the only ones to step foot in this place for the past eight years. At least, that was her first thought- at least until her gaze drifted down towards her floor, her brows knitting together. That definitely wasn't right.

Although the furniture was covered in dust, the floor at least, was clean.

"Ya noticed it too, huh?" Heiji asked, casting a glance towards her. "Somethin' tells me this place has seen it's fair share of visitors since people stopped livin' in it."

That was strange- if there were people coming and going through the house, then it should have kept him out. Sure, Jodie had contacted the daughter for permission to come here, but she had only obtained it for herself- not directly for him. If that was the case, then why?

"That's definitely odd." Sera said, taking a few steps forward. The way the floor creaked underneath her feet almost made it feel like a haunted house. The fact that what furniture remained was draped in white sheets didn't really help matters, nor did the cobwebs that she carefully had to duck to avoid almost every time she turned a corner. "This place gives me a weird feeling."

"You too?" Heiji asked, more than a little surprised. "I've been feelin' like that ever since we came in here. I've been in long abandoned houses before, an' they've never really felt quite like this."

"Neither have the ones I've been in." Sera said, shaking her head. "Still, we came here to search this place. Where should we start?"

"Our victim's bedroom, of course." Heiji said, frowning as he took another step forward. Something about the sound the floor made underneath his feet almost didn't sound right- but he couldn't quite place the reason why. Judging from Sera, this was probably something he wouldn't have even noticed if he still had a normal range of hearing. "Well, even if I say that, I don't know where that is. Probably ta the back, given the overall layout of the place."

"Most likely." Sera said. "This feels like the kind of place a ghost would appear."

"Now which one of us is sayin' such unscientific stuff?" Heiji couldn't help but note, quirking a brow. Anything else he might have wanted to say was cut off by the sound of his cellphone, and he recognized the ring tone as being one that he had attached to Kudo's number. "Ah, sorry. I have ta take this call."

"Okay. I'll go on ahead and look in the back." Sera said, nodding her head. "Join me when you're done."

With a promise that he would, Heiji waited until he was certain she was out of earshot before he answered the phone. It had almost faded from his memory up until now, but she had seemed almost unusually interested in Shinichi back when they had first met. "What's up, Kudo? Ya learn anythin'?"

"I wouldn't be calling you if I hadn't." Conan's dry tone was almost music to his ears, and he found himself grinning in response. "Did you know that there was an accident during the investigation of the scene of the second murder?"

"No, I hadn't heard about that." Heiji said, shaking his head. "Somethin' about yer tone tells me that ya think it wasn't an accident, though."

"Yeah. If it was caused by whatever it was that attacked that female detective you're working with, then it's probably no accident." Conan noted. "It was a police officer investigating the scene who died. It might be that he came a bit too close to noticing something the culprit wouldn't have wanted."

"I see. That would make sense." With a slight frown, Heiji cast his eyes over the empty living room, trying to envision what this place looked like when it was still full in life. He couldn't help but wonder if it had still felt this same way even back then- and if the feeling it had given off had simply faded from the memories of those who had come to investigate Amelia. "But that's not the only reason why yer callin' me, are ya?"

"No." Conan said, shaking his head, his brows furrowing together. "I learned something a bit strange though, Hattori."

"Strange?" Heiji asked, blinking a little. He didn't miss that slightly annoyed tone in Conan's voice- if he was starting to think the same thing he was, then he could kind of understand why it was there. "How strange we talkin' here, Kudo?"

"The person I spoke to said that he spoke with Caroline Hayden both before and after her mother's murder." Conan noted. "Although he couldn't put his finger on what it was, he couldn't help but notice that it almost felt like something was different about her the second time around. Something off, he said."

"Off?" With a slight frown, Heiji took a few steps forward, ducking down in front of the fireplace, casting a curious glance up towards it. "Oi, Kudo, don't tell me that ya think-"

Just before he could finish that sentence, he could just faintly make out a strange sound- some kind of click, as if something had been triggered. A second later, a much larger sound followed it, one that nearly shook the whole house to it's foundations, almost causing him to lose his grip on his phone. Swearing underneath his breath, he strained his ears for any sound of Sera, even as the loud noise still rang out in them.

"Hattori-kun! I think you're going to want to see this!"

Letting out a slight breath of relief, Heiji brushed himself off a little- the vibration of the house had kicked up dust everywhere. It was a good thing he didn't need to breathe, or it would be clogging up his lungs right now. "Let me take a rain check on theory sharin' fer a second there, Kudo. Stay on the line though."

Slipping his cellphone back into his pocket without hanging it up, Heiji made his way towards where Sera was, faintly being able to make out the sound of her heartbeat past the ringing of his ears. "What did ya-"

He didn't even need to finish that question, really. For a moment, Heiji's mouth almost hung open, before he quickly closed it, hoping that Sera wouldn't notice him gaping like a fish. It was hard not to- he would have never expected something like a secret passage to be in a house like this. That might be why the sound of his footsteps seemed strange to them- if there was a space underneath the house, that would make them sound different from normal.

"That's definitely somethin' alright." Heiji noted with a slight blink, feeling the grip tighten on his sword bag. The house's ominous feeling- it was coming from that direction. In the back of his mind, some small part of him informed him that going down stairs like that was exactly what got people killed in horror movies- but they weren't at the liberty to abandon the investigation because of something like that.

Still...

"I'll check it out first." Heiji said, a tight frown on his face. "There's a chance that the entrance might seal up after we go down there, after all. I wouldn't want ta be trapped underground in a place like this."

"I can't really say that I blame you." Sera couldn't help but agree, even as she cast a rather considering look towards the Osakan detective. There it was again- that feeling that he knew something more than he was letting on. "Okay. I'll watch the entrance, and make sure to open it again in the event that it does close. But will you be alright down there, Hattori-kun? It doesn't seem like there's any lights."

"Yeah, I'll be fine. I've got a flashlight in here." Heiji noted, patting his bag. That was a total lie, of course. He didn't need something like that to see in the dark. "I'll make sure ta take pictures as well. It seems like comin' here was worth it."

"I'll say." Sera said simply, a slight smile surfacing on her face.

With a nod, Heiji carefully made his way down the staircase, one hand reaching back into his pocket to pull out his cellphone, the other hand resting on the strap of his bag. "Ya believe it, Kudo. There's a secret passageway underneath the floor of the fourth victim's house."

"The would-be culprit, right?" Conan asked. "And, according to what I just overheard, you're going down there by yourself. You really never learn, Hattori."

"Don't give me that tone. It really would be a problem if the entrance closed underneath us." Heiji noted, his eyes narrowing slightly as he made out the faint sound of static. "It sounds like I'm losin' my connection with ya, Kudo, but let me say this first before that happens."

Coming to the end of the staircase, gaze fixed on the room that stretched out before him, Heiji's eyes narrowed. Coming here really was worth it.

"About that theory of yers- I'm pretty sure that you an' I are on the exact same page."