(Detective Conan disclaimed)

Let's keep this going! 2 chapters in less than a few hours! WHAT!

I hope that those two survived the night with each other… Aoko thought worriedly. Neither Shinichi nor Kaito had been in the best of moods when they had dropped her off at home last night. It had obviously been a long day for Kaito, but she didn't think that Shinichi had felt any bit comfortable being there with them. He obviously still felt out of place in Ekoda and she didn't quite know what she could do to make it easier on everyone involved.

Perhaps paying them a visit might cheer both of them up? That is what Aoko thought of when she got up that morning. It was almost nine when she locked the front door behind her. She had left a note for her father in case she decided to spend the rest of the day with them, but she doubted that he would get home before her. He had been working normal hours up until the previous night. He had been called into the office to cover for a few investigators that had been called to a crime scene at the Rinosa Apartment Building. He had returned a little after one in the morning and had to get up again that day and be at work by eight.

She sighed, brushing a few of the wrinkles from her new, deep blue skirt. She had bought it to match Shinichi's… A flush rose to her cheeks as she realized it. She wrung her hands in the fabric, looking anywhere but down. She had bought it to match her light blue blouse which draped over her delicate shoulders like silk, bunching at the shoulders and draping a few inches. She had even bought the blue flats and the blue ribbon, which held back the majority of her mousy hair. She matched beautifully.

Without even realizing it, Aoko was now only a block away from the Kuroba's.

That was when she noticed the two girls across the street looking around as they glanced at a small piece of paper in the brunette's hand. They were about the same age as her and clearly lost. Looking down both ends of the street, she quickly trotted her way to the other side of the road to see if she could help them. Kaito and Shinichi could wait another minute or so.

The two girls looked up at her when she approached and she noticed the remarkable similarity between herself and the long-haired, brunette.

"Excuse me, but… do you need some help finding something?" Aoko asked sweetly. They both smiled in return, the blonde's a bit brighter than the other.

"Yeah, actually," the blonde chirped, snatching the paper and handing it to Aoko. "We're looking for this address. It's supposed to be around here somewhere, right?"

Aoko's eyes widened as she read the address on the paper. "The Kuroba's house?"

"Yes," the calmer of the two replied. "I'm actually looking for Kudou Shinichi. His mother told me that he was staying there. I kinda need to talk to him."

A sudden pang of jealousy rose in Aoko's throat when she realized that these girls were looking for Shinichi, but she swallowed it and smiled. "I'm going there right now, actually. I could take you there."

"See?" the blonde girl teased, nudging the other in the arm. "I told you that we'd find your husband."

H-h-husband! Aoko's mind squeaked and she knew that her face had given away her surprise, but the meek girl seemed not to have even seen it because her face lit up in embarrassment at her friend's comment.

"Sonoko!" she whined, but the girl just chuckled, turning back to, a now fully composed, Aoko.

"That's right. My name is Suzuki Sonoko," the girl said proudly. Aoko recognized the name from a large consulting firm. "And this is Kudou Ran."

"Sonoko!" Ran squealed at the girl before turning to Aoko. "My name is Mouri Ran. Please ignore her."

Aoko felt a tic coming on but tried her best to hide her frustration at meeting her crush's so-called "wife."

"That's alright. I'm Nakamori Aoko," she said forcefully, but if the girls noticed, their faces didn't show it.

So, Aoko led them the rest of the way to the Kuroba house, not completely unintentionally letting the gate slip from her fingers and hit Ran. She apologized, but it had felt surprisingly good.

Aoko tried turning the knob, but the door was locked, much to her surprise. Kaito normally had enough traps set to send any burglar running for cover so it wasn't necessary to actually lock the front door. She quickly made her way around the house, motioning for the apprehensive girls to follow. Upon reaching the back door, Aoko tried the knob again.

Also locked…

Aoko frowned. "Oh, come on. You never lock the doors…"

"Maybe we should knock?" Ran offered.

Aoko felt heat rise up her spine and the back of her neck. "I know what I'm doing. Don't worry."

Making sure that her shoes were securely fastened, Aoko hopped up onto the single railing and helped herself onto the roof of the first floor.

"Ah, be careful!"

"Don't fall!"

She ignored the girls' warnings, stomping over to the open window on the left and sliding into the house. Less than thirty seconds had passed when she opened the back door to let the girls inside. They quietly tread into the house; it was the kitchen.

"Nobody's home right now, but if you go through that archway and down the hall, there's a door to the sitting room at the base of the stairs," Aoko said mechanically, having been there hundreds, maybe thousands of times before. She opened the fridge and peered inside, looking for the apple juice that Kuroba-san loved so much. Pulling out the bottle, she set it on the counter and proceeded to open a cabinet for a glass. The others were shocked.

"Nakamori-san? Should we be in here when they aren't home? Isn't this illegal?" Sonoko questioned nervously.

"It's fine. Do you want something to drink?" Aoko asked, pouring the juice. "There's apple and orange juice, milk, there's tea in the cabinet, and, obviously, water.

"J-just some water, if you wouldn't mind?" Ran stuttered.

"Actually, some juice sounds great," Sonoko added, suddenly comfortable with being offered drinks from a stranger's house.

Aoko took a gulp of her own drink before pulling down two more cups and filling each with their appropriate beverage. She set them on the island in the middle of the room before grabbing her own and leading the girls to the couch. Aoko curled up in the chair with the remote while the others sat stiffly on the couch.

"Nakamori-san?" Ran called quietly.

Not taking her eyes off of the changing channels she hummed in response.

"What exactly..? What are we doing?" she asked.

"Well, I don't know when the boys'll be home, but Kuroba-san should be back pretty soon. She never spends more than an hour or so at the market," she stated matter-of-factly.

"How do you know that she went to the market?" Sonoko asked suspiciously.

"They're almost out of apple juice."

Sonoko leaned over and whispered to Ran. "Are we sure that Kudou is such a great detective?" She got an elbow in her ribs.

"And you're sure that you didn't hear anything that night, Ma'am?"

"No, I didn't hear a peep from that room all night."

"Well, thank you for your time," Shinichi said with a charming smile.

The elderly woman became flustered, the terrier behind her barking. He walked away in frustration as she closed the door, drowning out all sound but the dog's yapping. Kaito was smirking as Shinichi walked up to him.

"Nothing?" he asked.

Shinichi shook his head, running his fingers through his dark hair and ruffling it, the other hand holding his hip. "Not a damn thing…"

"Ooh, that's some nasty language, Meitantei-san."

Shinichi gave him a quick glare before continuing. "It's all the same. No one heard anything that night. No yells, no banging, nothing."

"And the dog?"

Shinichi frowned. "What is it with you and that dog?"

"What?" Kaito yelped, looking offended. "Can't I be worried about Yamanaka-sensei's dog? It ran off when she opened the door to the apartment, remember? That's what she said anyway."

"Yeah, well, I don't think that thing-"

"Kenshin. Her name is Kenshin," Kaito interrupted.

"Kenshin has any vital information to give us. Unless, of course, you happen to have a trick that can make dog's speak in a human tongue?" he asked in a very tongue-in-cheek way.

Kaito waved it off. "Nah, that's more like Koizumi's "magic" than mine."

Shinichi stared. "Koizumi Akako?" he asked skeptically.

"Yeah, man. You haven't met her yet?" he said in astonishment. "She's totally creepy. A real whack-job. Always talking about her pagan spells and her fireside discussions with 'Lucifer'."

A shiver went up Shinichi's spine as he thought back to his first day at Ekoda Junior High School. He had been pondering the reason's for the student body to have wildly colored and styled hair; thinking something about a witch. And then, there she had been, as if reading his mind. She had mentioned "Lucifer" then, as well, and he remembered thinking something about stealing souls…

"Yes…I met her…" he muttered.

"Scary, isn't she?"

Shinichi nodded, but was surprised when he heard someone whispering his name. He looked around to see the old lady with whom he had been speaking previously and noticed that she was looking skeptically down the halls, motioning n=him closer. He hurried back over to her and leaned down where Kaito couldn't hear.

"You didn't hear this from me, but that woman's intended, Kaname-san, was fooling around with Rima. I saw them arguing numerous times while Sawa-chan was away. They would always try to whisper, but it got pretty heated sometimes," she muttered. "'I love you! That's all I ever wanted to say!' she said one night. 'But you're with Sawa-chan so I can't!' Rima cried a lot over that one."

"I see…" Shinichi replied.

"Remember! You didn't hear it from me."

"Hear what?" he said with a smile.

She quickly closed the door again and Shinichi moved back to a confused Kaito.

"So what did she say?" he asked.

"First, tell me why you took that handkerchief and I will divulge everything that I know," Shinichi answered and Kaito's eyes narrowed.

"Fine. I don't need to know." With that, he stormed back to the room in which the crime took place.

On his way, he heard two officers mumbling about the case.

"Yeah, her cousin got caught last night. I bet they're still questioning him!" one said.

"Probably. That girl owed him a lot of money, and he already beat her up once for it. I wouldn't be surprised if it was him."

Kaito hurried past, pretending not to have heard a word of their conversation, but in fact, he was mulling it over in his mind. They were definitely talking about the deceased's cousin, Shiki. If Rima had owed him money, and he had already physically assaulted her, it wouldn't be such a leap to believe that he would do it again under the same circumstances.

This conflicted with his theory, though… He knew that he couldn't ignore it, but the information could be completely coincidental. If that was case, then Kaito had nothing to worry about. If not…well, Kaito would end up with the short end of the stick because he didn't really have anything else to go on at that time. He would just have to investigate more and revise his idea if necessary.

Entering the room once again, he noticed that the body had finally been removed, the noose dangling ominously from the ceiling. A clip bound the two ropes together where they were attached to the victim's ankle and he was glad to see the ropes in the same position they had been in the previous night when Rima had been tangled in them. He smiled at the fact that some real police work had been accomplished and nothing was totally botched… at least not anything that Kaito could directly see. Hopefully, that feeling would remain when he began searching the room once more.

The former wet spots on the handkerchief had to be tears, he remembered. It smelled salty when he had picked up the bag that morning. The dark stains that remained had lightened greatly over night. But the point still stood; Rima had been crying into Sawako's handkerchief before she died. For some reason, Rima had been upset sometime after Sawako left and before she was strung up by her neck from the pipes in the ceiling by a rope.

Why? Why had Rima been crying before she died? Was she scared for her life? …or maybe… did she regret what she was about to do?

Realization dawned on Kaito as he realized why the girl had stains on her cheeks and why the neighbors hadn't heard anything.

Rima was, indeed, a brilliant young woman. She was clever as a fox.

Kudou Shinichi, you're going down…

Kaito is REALLY serious about this. And while he's competing with Shinichi for Aoko, Aoko is competing with Ran for Shinichi. XD Beautiful, no?

ALSO! Anyone who gets anywhere close to being correct in guessing the actual who and how of the crime will receive redeemable points from me for a free fanfiction of their choice (within certain fandoms of course) written by me!

I love you all! Thank you for reviewing!

-DiGi