A/N: Hello once again, everybody!

I have the plot arc resolved, so have no fear! I have a cold so I was able to spend more time than usual working it out, but that also means the NyQuil might have influenced my hand. XD If something sounds a little looney or odd, point it out and I'll address it once I'm clear-headed again. I tried to keep it as close to what I know as I could, but I did wonder off into some unknown territory. But I was also able to keep it fairly close to my original idea, so I guess it was a fair compromise between the two.

I just felt like sharing this:
This is by far, already, the longest story I've ever written. Not to mention my first mystery story, and my first DC fanfic. It's been a wonderful learning experience, and I once again apologize for the problems I've been having. I just wanted to give a shout out to EVERYONE still reading at this point, because you are all absolutely amazing! : )

Now, I think this chapter came out all right. I tried to add in a little more dialog, because I've noticed that I don't seem to do very much, but that's only because I'm not very good at it. ^_^ Overall, I think it could have been better, sure, but I don't think it'll disappoint. Of course, if it does...

LET ME KNOW! Yes, that's right, believe it or not, I actually want to know if there's a way I can improve the story. Shocking, no? Is anyone out of character, did I misuse an honorific, are there spelling/punctuation/grammar errors, did something seem unbelievable? Then tell me in a review. Whether it means swapping the 'e' and the 'h' if I typed 'teh', or rewriting a paragraph to better express a confusing idea, or rewriting the chapter as a whole to better hone the clues given, or even change the way Conan comes to his conclusions entirely. I WANNA KNOOOOW!

- - - - Reviews! - - - -

Chelseaj500: I'd actually thought of maybe doing something like that, but it felt sort of like a cop-out. Plus, I had no idea what the BO should think to best keep the story on track. :P Anyway, I've come up with a plan, I just hope it's ok! ^_^

Miruial: Hehe well, I think I wound up somewhere in between those two. This certainly isn't what I'd originally envisioned, but it's not toooo far off, and while it sounds plausible I'm really clueless as to whether or not this'd actually work. XD

ZXCVBNMEM: Opening 24? (I kid, I kid, and I take that as a compliment. :P)

Elena Forest: Well, hopefully this chapter isn't the one that breaks that 'good' trend, eh? And I was wondering where you'd gone, I thought Chapter 9 had scared you off. ^_^


I'm out of time! His left hand was still held in Ran's warm grip as he was marched towards the car. If he was made to get inside, it was all over. It would be impossible to both keep his cover and reveal this incident as no mere accident. And in that moment, two forces that had never before met clashed. His need to remain Conan, and his need to solve the mystery and put a criminal behind bars. The two sides battled it out, and the winner was clear in less time than it took him to take a single step.

Solving mysteries was a desire. He desired nothing more than that one moment of revelation, where a seemingly impossible problem has all of its inner workings laid bare at his feet. But staying Edogawa Conan, at least for now, was a need. He simply wouldn't survive if Ran... He couldn't even finish the thought.

With only five steps remaining before he would be at the car's side, the steps of a third grader no less, a plan had been meticulously crafted and completed. It was one, last, desperate ace up his sleeve. Timing would be everything, but it would work. He'd make it work. As soon as Ran let go of his hand, he'd be ready.

His gaze shifted back toward reality, focusing in on Kogoro as he slid into the driver's seat, door falling shut behind him, on the opposite side of where he and Ran were headed. He felt the cold reclaim his fingers when they were released from her grasp, reaching instead for the handle of his door, opening it with one fluid motion. He smiled up at her, saying in a brighter tone than he felt "Thank you Ran-neechan."

He caught a quick half-smile as it crossed her face, too little to feel like he should think anything of it but more than enough to cause a similar fleeting smile of his own. He waited until her attention was focused on opening her own door, then he raised his watch while simultaneously flicking the crosshairs up, aiming through his open door and the gap between the seats with a speed that only years of practice had brought him. With a nearly silent swich, the dart fired.

Kogoro's arm jumped half-way to his neck, yelling "Wha-!", only to fall back toward his side, limp by by the time his drunken-sounding "Yok-kaaaaaa!" had come to it's end. Conan flinched, a jolt of panic hitting his nerves upon noticing one particular abnormality. Kuso, he's looking up!

"Dad?" Ran asked worriedly, her hand uncertainly approaching his slumped shoulder just as Conan shot like a rocket into the back. With enough of his body out of sight behind the passenger seat, Conan whipped the bowtie out of his pocket, already set on Kogoro's bassy 87-21 configuration from the last time he'd used it.

"Ran," he said urgently, "Is Yumi-san still here?" Ran twisted around to look behind her after pulling her arm back out of the window. Conan took his chance to push Kogoro's face down so that his mouth wasn't quite so visible, then ducked back behind the passenger seat.

"Yes, she is," Ran said questioningly.

"Good, I might have just figured something out. Go ask her for the sportscar driver's name, age, occupation, and see if he has any friends that work around machinery."

"What for?" she asked, quirking an eyebrow. "Dad, what does any of that have to do with-"

"Just see if he does," Conan cut her off in Kogoro's brusque tones. "It's important."

"Geez," she murmured, but turned to march off toward the squad car nonetheless. "I'll be right back Conan-kun," she called over her shoulder right after he'd shoved the bowtie behind his back.

"Hai!"

He waited for her to get just a little farther away, then scooted to the opposite side of the car, standing in the seat to better reach Kogoro. He'd asked her to do those things simply to buy himself a few spare minutes, but at the same time, he was genuinely curious. All too often, there was information that could be gathered from things such as a name or occupation, and they might just be the last bit of information he needed to put all of the clues in their proper order.

He reached a hand up to his glasses, snapping the microphone off the frame and slipped it into Kogoro's shirt pocket before sticking the speaker under the folds of his collar. That way, he could hear if Ran made it back to the car before he did, and be able to reply, too. He opened the drivers door, cautious of making any noise that might give him away, and jumped back out into the frigid nights air. Ducking low, he made his way towards the wreckage. Silence might have been his first priority, but speed was definitely a close second. He wasn't sure how much time he'd just earned, but if he didn't have a case and solve it before Kogoro woke up... Well, things would get very interesting very fast.

Once he'd made it to the yellow car's side once more, he went immediately for the windows. There was no such thing as a perfect crime, and any imperfect crime left evidence. And so long as he wasn't overlooking something, the only place he hadn't looked was the car's interior. He stepped lightly, though the glass had more or less been pulverized into a fine powder, what with himself, Ran, Kogoro, the police, and more having all walked over it. There were still of course pieces that would snap as he'd set his full weight on them, and whenever that happened he'd freeze, if only long enough to look back at the group of other cars and make sure that he hadn't grabbed anyone's attention.

There has to be something, he thought, expression grim as he scanned the interior of the car. He looked at the controls, looking for anything out of the ordinary. The radio was off, the heater was on, nothing unusual there. There weren't any strange objects in the car, not that he'd exactly expected to find an empty syringe lying in the floor.

He was starting to get frustrated with the whole thing. What am I missing? he growled to himself. There has to be something! He took a step back, regarding the scene as a whole, trying to see the whole picture. There has to...

He circled around to the other side, doing the same. But it was difficult to look for some kind of clue when the car looked like it had been through a war zone. He took another step back, then another, scanning it back and forth for something, anything. He went to take a third step back when his heel struck something laying on the asphalt that rang with a metallic, resonating hum. His first instinct had been soda can, but, after checking that no one had heard the noise he'd made, he found that it was something else entirely.

He bent down to pick it up, pulling a white cloth out of his pocket as he did so. It's warm, he noted. It was a steely grey-silver, about the general size and shape of a thermos. It was fairly light, which paired with the resonating ringing sound it'd made when he'd kicked it, reinforced his theory that it was hollow. There was one odd dent on it's side, and though the metal seemed thin he felt pretty certain that even a super-kick wouldn't have been able to dent it like that, let alone inadvertently bumping it with his heel. So if it wasn't me, he thought, gazing up to the wreckage again. It was most likely in the accident.

He examined one end of it then, realizing that it wasn't one solid piece, but three. There was a bottom and a top plate welded onto a hollow cylinder, but for what purpose? He scrutinized it more closely, holding the end up to his face. These welds don't look professional, he noted once more. They're too messy, and even though they don't look very old they've already started to crack. He flipped it over, finding similar welds and signs of stress on that sides end as well.

But what got his attention was a small pen sized hole in the center of the end plate that seemed to flair outwards, almost like something had been shot through it. He scanned for a matching entry hole, but wasn't able to find anything. "But then..." he murmured aloud. Stress on the welds, an odd hole, and a dent on the side that meant it had most likely come from or been hit by the sportscar. Though if it had been hit, he amended himself, it would have been thrown farther away. So, on the car it is then.

But just as he felt a revelation coming on, like the answer was right in front of him, if only he could look at the problem from the proper perspective...

"Ide Konzo."

Conan jumped, a startled yelp clawed at the bottom of his throat but he kept it down. It took him a moment to realize that Ran's voice was not in fact behind him, but being picked up by the speaker he'd left on Kogoro. "Twice," he muttered to himself, breathing a little quicker than normal. He once again pulled out the bowtie, holding it up to his mouth.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Conan asked, Kogoro's voice issuing forth some ways away from the speaker under his collar.

He could practically hear her cross her arms. "His name, is Ide Konzo. He's 45, a lawyer, and doesn't know anyone who works on machines." She paused for a second, then added on tersely "I hope you're happy, Yumi-san had to to call Takagi-keiji just to look up that last one."

"Geez," he huffed, "you sound like your mother." Then, Takagi-keiji? He found it an odd choice. He'd assumed, from the way they interacted, that Yumi would've been much closer to Satou. Not to mention they were the only two female officers he'd ever seen, and usually there would be some form of camaraderie there. Unless... Maybe they were fighting? He shook his head as if to shake the stray thoughts out. There's time for office drama later!

"Dad!" came Ran's exasperated combination of a sigh and a groan.

"Alright, go tell Yumi-san that I've solved the case."

"What case?" she asked, the annoyance still evident in her tone.

Conan, eyes ablaze with victory, confident grin in place, finally had all of the puzzle pieces fitting together. "The murder of Ide Konzo."


Ten minutes later marked the arrival of two more police cars to the scene. Yumi, being in traffic and not homicide, had radioed in as soon as she was made aware of the situation. The situation being that a world renowned detective had said that someone had been murdered, and generally those situations were best not to ignore.

The first vehicle to arrive was a standard police model with its lights on, where a disgruntled Megure exited. Takagi followed shortly, a serious glint in his eyes. Only moments later the two were visible only as silhouettes as another car approached from behind with its high beams on. After a general moving of arms to shield their eyes by all of those already gathered around the Mouri's rental car, the lights disappeared and a team of three forensics officers appeared, who immediately seemed to recruit the two other officers on the scene as Yumi made her way over to Takagi. She appeared to want to discuss something with him, but Megure had already begun speaking before she even got the chance.

"Alright Mouri-san," he'd started in a weary tone, a hint of aggravation creeping in as he went on. "Can we skip all of the theatrics tonight and just get on with the case? My dinners getting cold here."

"Of course," Conan spoke into his bowtie, currently sitting with his back to the rear passenger wheel since everyone seemed to have congregated on the driver's side, as Kogoro was still in his seat and there was very little chance that that would change any time soon. At least, so he hoped. He wasn't sure of the exact time that he'd knocked Kogoro out, the irony of that was almost painful, but he did know that he didn't have time to be subtle or show off. He wasn't even sure if he'd get through a full thorough explanation.

"Takagi-keiji," he started. Takagi gave a quick nervous salute as the spotlight seemed to fall on him. "Could you please open the hood of that patrol car?"

The detective approached the car the forensics team had arrived in, opening the driver door and popping the hood before making his way back around to the front. Sliding gloved fingertips into the small crack between hood and car body, he lifted the hood up and propped it open, giving everyone a good view of the engine compartment. Almost as importantly, it allowed Conan to move from his spot while everyone had their backs to him.

"Alright, Conan-kun," he said. He always got a little kick out of calling himself, but now wasn't quite the time to indulge in a private joke.

"Hai Ojisan!" he called in his own voice, double checking that the bowtie had been switched off and stuffing it in his pocket. He ran around the side of the rental, by this time every pair of eyes had turned to this latest development, then handed Takagi a bundle of white cloth that was clearly concealing something inside.

"Huh?" Takagi murmured, allowing the cloth to fall open in his hand. Inside was the metal cylinder Conan had found by the sportscar, as well as a road flare. In the time that everyone's attention had been focused on the odd items in Takagi's palm, Conan had made his way back to his spot by the rear passenger wheel.

Megure regarded the contents of the cloth for a moment before his gaze returned to Kogoro. "What is it?"

"That," Conan spoke in Kogoro's voice, "is the key to the trick that was used to murder Ide Konzo."

Megure turned his full attention to the piece of metal in Takagi's hands, and upon noticing the odd dint in its side turned to the forensics team. "Did you search this for blood?"

"There's no need, Keibu," Conan interrupted. "This wasn't used as a club, but a housing."

"Look, if you know something just tell us already!" Megure fumed.

"Takagi-keiji, would you mind starting that patrol car before I go any farther?" he asked.

"Uh, hai," he said with an uncertain glance at the cruiser.

"Here are the keys, Keiji-san," one of the forensic officers said as they held the aforementioned keys out to the detective. With an exchange of items, Takagi taking the keys and the officer taking the cylinder and flare bundled together in the white cloth. Takagi climbed in behind the wheel, and a moment later the engine roared to life.

"Good, now, make sure that the heater is turned on, and that it's taking in fresh air from outside and not recirculating the air inside."

Takagi checked the controls, but seeing as how he didn't touch any of them, they apparently already met those specifications. Conan peeked around the corner when no response came, seeing that Takagi was waiting for further instructions, then ducked back behind the rental.

"Next, roll down the windows and take the road flare."

Takagi, growing more confused by the moment, once again obliged and soon had the road flare held in his hand.

"Light the flare so that the smoke is aimed towards the windshield."

"Mouri-san," Megure warned, "there had better be a point to all of this."

Conan peeked again, just in time to see Takagi light the flare and hold it close to the windshield, where a current of air sucked the smoke down the glass and into the recessed lip between the windshield and the body of the car. "Just take a look for yourself Keibu." Just as he'd said this, the view they had of the inside of the police car slowly began to grow darker and hazy, and a few more seconds later smoke was clearly visible entering the cabin.

"You see, the air intake for the heater and air conditioner is right below the windshield, near where the windshield wipers attach. The smoke from the flare is being pulled in, and what isn't being stopped by the air filters leaks into the cabin. Now imagine that this smoke was colorless, scentless, tasteless, and nonirritating. It would be impossible to tell whether it was even there. And now imagine," he spoke, voice growing lower, "that it could kill you in minutes."

"Are you saying that he was killed by a flare?" Megure asked.

"Not quite, Megure-keibu. Besides, there's still another piece to the puzzle. What about the metal cylinder?" Conan glanced at his watch. Another five minutes has gone by, I have to hurry. "You see," he continued without even giving anyone a chance to figure it out on their own, something he very rarely did. "The cylinder was custom made. The welds were done very sloppily, so they were likely made by someone without much experience. The back piece was fairly simple, just a round piece of metal welded to another. But the front required a bit more work."

He watched, waiting as Megure held it up to eye level and squinted at it. "So there's a hole, what's your point?"

"Do you see how it bows outward slightly, like something was shot through it?"

"Yeah," Megure said, setting it back on the white cloth in the forensic officer's hand. "What about it?"

"That's from the metal plug that had sealed the hole shut being shot out by a tremendous pressure behind it. The cylinder had been filled with carbon monoxide gas, and the container would have been sitting somewhere in the engine compartment over something that put off a lot of heat, and as the gas grew hotter it would have expanded. Eventually the pressure would have been high enough to shoot the metal plug out, and as you can see, there's stress on all of the welds from this pressure as well."

"From there," Conan continued, "it was a simple matter of the escaping gasses getting sucked into the cabin air intake vents and being blown inside."

"Ah, Mouri-san," Takagi started. "How do you know it was Carbon Monoxide?"

"The discoloration of the victims face and fingertips. They're unnaturally red, and even if it was just a normal blush, the blood would have drained away by now. Also, his erratic driving was a major clue. It showed that his reaction time had been greatly slowed, and that he wasn't thinking clearly. Almost as if he were drunk, or even-"

Conan was cut off abruptly as a near deafening yawn ripped through the air. He held his ears, only to realize it didn't help in the slightest. He yanked his glasses off, the sound now barely audible. It only took him a moment to remember that his bug was still stuck in Kogoro's shirt pocket. A confused looking Kogoro all but stumbled out of the car a handful of seconds later. "Wha'sall the racket about?" he asked, barely even half-coherent.

"Another great deduction, Mouri-san!" Megure yelled, clapping him on the back, nearly sending him off balance and tumbling to the ground. Kogoro took a few seconds to catch on to what was happening, then seemed to be instantly awake.

"It was nothing for the great Sleeping Kogoro!" he shouted, clapping a fist against his chest.

Unbeknownst to the others gathered around, congratulating the detective, Conan was letting out a sigh, his shoulders falling and a kink that'd built up in his gut relaxing. Well at least the rest doesn't really matter, he thought. He slid his glasses back in place, remembering at the last second to mute the microphone so that he wasn't subjected to the sonic boom of a shameless laugh that was sure to follow Kogoro's boasting. All they have to do is search the container for fingerprints. It didn't seem like they would have thought to wipe their prints off of the inside portions of the end pieces, so hopefully they'll still be there.


Epilogue

Two days later, Hideki Ayami, an apprenticing mechanic, was arrested when the prints taken off of the canister were traced back to him. His prints were in the system thanks to a bar fight he'd gotten into a couple years ago.

When confronted with the evidence while he was working at the garage, he attempted to flee but was apprehended when Shiratori tackled him to the ground. He later confessed, and when asked why he'd killed Ide Konzo, he said it was because his girlfriend had been cheating on him, sneaking over to Ide's house whenever she got the chance. However, not only did his girlfriend turn out to be Ide's wife, but Ide had been the sender of the anonymous letter.

And so, in the end, one woman's adulterous game had ended in the loss of one life, and the destruction of another.


A/N: The epilogue thing wasn't too bad, was it? I tacked that on at the last minute, to make sure that the case had some closure to it and everything came around full circle, because I wasn't sure how to write that out in 'story form'... if that makes sense. If you didn't like it, lemme know and I'll tweak the ending around to try and, well, figure out how to do it in story form. :P

- - - - Theories! - - - -

So, seeing as how there's not much else to discuss in the way of Akai, I was wondering... Does anyone have any other theories they might want to share?

I came across one in a forum a little bit ago (one I don't believe personally) that says that Kogoro knows he isn't solving the cases... and knows exactly who is. And guess when this little revelation comes about? Yes! Episode 580 - The Black Time Limit Drawing Near. The SAME case that most of our Akai theorizing comes from! (That's the one with the bombs in the store with the red shirts.)

Because, of course, Kogoro wakes up before the reveal is complete, and we don't know when. He just suddenly opens his eyes and starts talking, which also means that he must have heard enough of what the checkout lady was saying to reply to her, so he was awake with his eyes closed, staying still and silent, for an unknown amount of time. Also, he's very solemn as he reads the email on his phone, like his ego had just been dealt a serious blow. (This theory also says - as a side note - that the effectiveness of the tranquilizer has worn down considerably. (Or more like Kogoro's resistance to it has risen considerably.) Originally it seemed to last for more than fifteen minutes/half an hour after the case was done and over with, and now he's waking up before it's even resolved.) Just something to think about, I suppose.

Oh, and here's one I found ALL BY MYSELF. Yes, I know, I'm shocked too. I was watching this clip on youtube of episode 473 when Yukiko and Toichi are having lunch(?). Then, Toichi asks if she could take a note home to Yusaku. She says that, oddly enough, Yusaku had given her a message to give to him. She then went on to say (paraphrasing here) "The funny thing is-" but Toichi cuts her off, grinning, saying "It's only one character, isn't it?" And she says "Yeah, how did you know?" and pulls out a card with an exclamation mark on it. Toichi reveals his to have a question mark on it. Toichi's message meant "Do you think you'll be able to stop me?" and Yusaku's meant "Yes, I think I will!", as revealed by their 'thoughts'.

That's when I realized that Yusaku KNEW TOICHI WAS KID. And it certainly wasn't a relationship like Hakuba and Kuroba have where Yusaku said he was and Toichi denied it, because Toichi seemed to fully acknowledge the fact. Really, it almost seems like that question mark card was meant to tell Yusaku in case he didn't already know. So, that makes me wonder, why? From there... Well, I would say, but I think one of those scenarios just might work its way into this story. (My storylines are always very flexible. XD)

So, if I can come up with those two off the top of my head, how much might I have missed? Let all of us know in a review! ^_^