He may be able to hide his emotions pretty well, but there was no mistaking the flash of fear across Jimmy Kudo's face when the slightly scary teenage girl announced that she was going into the house. Now I have my way in. A small, cruel smile slowly crept across Gin's face. My job just got a whole lot easier.

"Rachel's coming up?"

"Yes, Amy. We have to hide you guys. NOW."

"Why hide us, Conan? It's only Rachel."

"Mitch, you heard how angry she was! Do you think that she will be more casual and forgiving if she finds out that you guys are here, too?" Conan answered. "Jimmy doesn't even know you guys!" he pointed out.

"Yeah, Conan's got a point there, Mitch. Maybe we should hide until she's not so angry," George added.

Amy looked kind of scared. "What about you guys? Rachel's really mad."

"But she already knows that we're here, so why try to hide? It'll just end in more chaos."

"The tall guy's got a point. Junior Detective League, split up and hide!" George commanded with confidence.

"But what about the house being haunted? I don't want to be alone! What if some evil spirit comes and tries to hurt us?" Amy asked, obviously still believing in the possibility of the house truly being "haunted."

"Look, you should know by now that the house isn't haunted. The only ghost you'll see around here is that guy," Harley said, pointing to Kaito, "And the only evil spirit that you have to worry about is an angry Rachel. So go hide until you don't have to worry about Rachel completely destroying something, ok?"

"Yeah, Amy, don't worry about it," George added. They heard the front door open and slam shut. "Like I said before, split up and hide!"

"Ok!" Amy and Mitch agreed before scrambling off.

That good-for-nothing comes home without any warning and then invites Conan over as well as a rival detective that he doesn't even know. But doesn't stop to think that maybe, just maybe, I would want to see him after he disappeared without a trace? No. Rachel thought angrily. She walked into the house and slammed the door behind her in anger. After the echo of the slammed door faded, Rachel heard someone running somewhere in the house. "Jimmy! Don't you dare even try to hide!"

"Don't worry, Rachel," Harley said as he came down the stairs. "Kudo's upstairs. You scared him so badly I don't think he could go anywhere," he joked. Rachel wasn't impressed.

"I didn't come to see you, Harley. I came to see Jimmy," Rachel said. Then she yelled up the stairs, "Jimmy! Get down here!"

"Yeah, Kudo! Do you plan on staying up there all day? I know Rachel can be scary, but don't stick me with her!"

"Very funny, Harley," Conan said as he came down the stairs.

"Conan, where's Jimmy?" Harley looked amused. Conan shot him a look before answering Rachel as innocently as he could.

"I think Jimmy said that he wanted to get something. I'm sure he'll be right down."

"Hey, Rachel! How's it going?"

"Don't 'hey Rachel' me! Jimmy, why didn't you tell me that you were here? You tell Conan and a rival detective, but you don't tell me?"

"Rachel, I told Conan that I was going to come back for just a couple of hours today. And I specifically told him to let you know. Don't tell me you forgot." Conan looked stunned for a minute. He couldn't believe that Kaito Kid, who was pretending to be him, had just thrown him under the bus like that. However, he quickly recovered his innocent-little-kid expression and put his arms behind his head.

"Conan? Is this true?" Rachel asked. Conan wasn't exactly sure what to say, but he knew that he had to react quickly.

"I tried, Rachel. I kept trying to tell you but you were always busy. You kept saying things like 'not now, Conan' and 'later Conan. For now why don't you go play with your friends?' I figured that I'd go see Cousin Jimmy and then surprise you by taking him back for a little visit before he had to leave again."

"That's true. I guess it is partially my fault. But Conan, you know that I would have let you talk if I knew that it was about Jimmy."

"Really? Boy do I feel special!" the fake-Jimmy joked, completely in character.

"Well, you know Jimmy, I rarely ever hear from you. Everybody says that you must be out on some case, and I know how dangerous those things can get. Sometimes I wonder if something happened to you!" Rachel protested.

Great. Looks like I'm going to have to start making calls again, Conan thought.

"While this is touching and all, it's kind of awkward for me. Hope you don't mind if I bug out," Harley piped up, taking a step back toward the door.

"Wait a minute, Harley. You still haven't explained why you're here, and how you knew that Jimmy was going to be here today," Rachel said expectantly. Harley stopped.

"Simple. As you know, I decided to spend the weekend here to visit Ku-onan. I was going to stop by today, but I saw Conan leaving so I asked where he was going. Apparently I have pretty good timing 'cause I came east when the 'famous detective who vanished' was here," Harley explained, making air quotes around 'famous detective who vanished.' "I figured I'd come with him to see Kudo since I never really got to challenge his detective skills. We've been talking about detective stuff ever since!" Harley said, hoping that his half-lie wasn't obvious.

"Oh, ok. But how do you explain the scream after I dragged you out of the house?"

"Gotta ask Kudo that one," Harley answered.

"What are you talking about, Rachel?" Kid asked, sounding kinda worried.

"Oh, I thought that I heard a little girl scream," Rachel answered a little timidly.

"What? Where?" Kid demanded, ready to jump to action just like the real Jimmy would.

"Well, it seemed like it was coming from your attic. But if none of you heard it…I guess it was just my imagination," Rachel said, getting quieter as she reached the end.

"Rachel," Kid started, returning to a relaxed position. "We were just up in the attic. We would have known if there was someone screaming in there. You're crazy, Rachel," he said.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. But I could have sworn –"

"I heard it too," said a new voice from the doorway. The voice was all-too-familiar. Everyone turned, shocked and frightened, to "greet" the new and unexpected visitor that had slipped in unnoticed. Standing in the doorway, holding a lit cigarette and wearing all black with a slightly triumphant grin was Gin. "Well, well. Jimmy Kudo. Long time no see."