"Why did that guy have to go off, send his reply to almost every major newspaper and let nearly the entire population of Japan in on what's going to happen tonight? This damned zoo is even worse than it usually is." Ginzo followed this disgusted comment to Saguru by waving his hand in a discontent, vague gesture towards the unusually large Kaitou Kid fan club turnout as well as the tons of media that had shown up to report on Kaitou Kid giving himself up to the magician kidnappers after his heist.
"Well Nakamori-keibu, it is quite a story, not to mention the fact that Kaitou Kid usually draws quite a crowd to his heists to begin with." I only hope that Kuroba knows exactly what he's doing; those two black-jacketed men who've been skulking around my block for the past few days certainly look like they mean business even if they haven't done anything untoward yet. "Plus, how else was he supposed to deliver his message to them? It's not like the kidnappers provided any sort of contact information to Kid in that note."
"Yeah, yeah. I know he had no choice. Still pisses me off." Ginzo let out a put-upon snort before he turned away and facing the shop that the thief was targeting with an irate expression. "As you've no doubt found out already, two of the other three kidnapped magicians got dropped off at that hospital in Maebashi City over in Gunma three days ago, not that either of them is talking about what happened. They're afraid the same thing might happen to others or that the guys won't release the third magician tonight like they're supposed to when Kid gives himself up, according to the police working the kidnappings."
"But Kaitou Kid made them say they would stop the kidnappings, right? That's what he made the bad guys promise if he turned himself over tonight; Ran-neechan told me that his letter in the newspaper to them said so."
The familiar child's voice struggling to be heard over the crowd's volume caused Saguru to turn around. "Oh, hello there Conan," he began after quickly recalling Kudo Shinichi's alias. "That's very true, he did. But aren't you up awfully late for a school night?" Ahh, so Kudo-kun must have gotten Mouri Ran-san's Kaitou Kid fangirl friend that he mentioned to bring them here tonight after all. Saguru also noticed that the other teen looked almost relieved for some reason when he used his pseudonym to address him.
"Ran-neechan's friend made us come and I wasn't allowed to stay home since Kogoro-ojisan is on a business trip somewhere," Shinichi replied over the din with a carefully faked yawn as he pointed with his free hand to a blonde girl who was saying something about a "brave, noble sacrifice" loudly enough to be overheard in the roar of the crowd from over ten feet away. At the same time, he gave a surreptitious glance over to a small corner that was relatively free of crowds.
"I'll be right back, Nakamori-keibu." Saguru had correctly guessed that Shinichi wanted him to follow him to the corner that had been indicated, and they arrived there after a few moments. "So have you seen that black Porsche anywhere?" the blonde asked in a quiet tone once they'd arrived at the location while leaning down slightly to make sure that his fellow meitantei could hear him.
"No, but I have seen a bunch of weird characters hanging around here tonight, both men and women that are trying to blend in with the crowd behind the fence and the news reporters; there are at least six or seven of them and probably even more that I haven't spotted yet. I can't really put my finger on what exactly's bugging me about them either, which almost makes me even worry more. They don't feel like Black Organization members but there's just something off-"
"Conan, there you are! Come on, don't you want to sit in the front row seats that Sonoko-chan saved for us up here? If we don't keep our spots we'll lose them for sure; this place is completely packed."
"Coming in a second, Ran-neechan. I'm saying hi to someone I know." Shinichi let out a light, annoyed huff and turned back to Saguru before quickly saying "They all have a little symbol hidden on their clothes somewhere- the different suits that are in a card deck. See if you can spot or tail any of them, because I won't be able to leave Ran again to poke around any more without looking suspicious."
"Alright," Saguru loudly replied to Shinichi's rapidly retreating back, although he found himself wishing that he could have gotten more of an explanation. Hmm...the suits contained in a deck of cards? So that would mean hearts, diamonds, spades and... His eyes widened slightly, then narrowed in thought momentarily before Saguru turned to a police table and quickly inspected the first photograph of Kaitou Kid that he could find on it. Damn, this one is too closely zoomed in on his face. He would be absolutely certain of his new suspicions if it wasn't such a tiny and also constantly moving detail on the thief's uniform; he needed a much closer look before he could be sure. I can't believe that in all my time researching Kaitou Kid I hadn't ever thought of that symbol perhaps holding a deeper significance than simply a play of sorts on the family name. I'm beginning to wonder if it's meant to be a club instead of a clover, but I need a much closer look at the design first...
Saguru held the photograph in his hand out to one of the male officers from the Kaitou Kid force that was seated at the makeshift, somewhat rickety desk. "Excuse me, do you have a full-body shot of Kid anywhere close at hand? Preferably one that's primarily focused or angled on his right side if at all possible; I need to get a good look at his monocle, in particular the little triangular piece on the end of its string." Even if Kuroba does have that same symbol on his monocle, does he know what it means? For that matter does it even have any sort of hidden meaning or any relation to what Kudo-kun just told me?
"Uhh, we probably do have something like that somewhere in this stuff, yep. Hang on, I'll need to dig through the photo book." The older officer had just dived down beneath the desk to begin his search when a deafening cheer erupted from the fan club crowd on the other side of the fence. Saguru instantly glanced down at his watch with an equal mix of puzzlement and curiosity. A full four minutes and twenty point seven five seconds early? Strange, but there's no mistaking the crowd's roar for anything else other than Kuroba's arrival. The blonde looked upwards through the searchlights and after a few seconds of following the crowd's pointed fingers spotted the familiar figure of International Criminal 1412 gliding through the clear night sky on his trademark white glider.
"So do we try and stop him like usual, or...?" began the same officer after he spotted Ginzo upon quickly reemerging from under the desk following Kaitou Kid's entrance.
"We have to," replied Ginzo quietly and gruffly as he nodded. "If we don't act exactly like we always do the kidnappers will probably figure out that something's up and that Kid contacted the police for assistance."
Saguru had just been ready to voice his agreement with the keibu's remark when he noticed a white dove fly past the left side of his head- an unusually large specimen that definitely wasn't one of Kaitou Kid's small, well-trained avian assistants the thief occasionally employed as a distraction and/or escape aid. This was followed by the dove dropping a piece of rolled, tied up paper at Ginzo's feet before disappearing into the night sky.
"What the hell...that was too big to be one of Kid's," muttered Ginzo before he picked up the folded paper and untied the paper. Saguru watched as his face slowly changed from concern to confusion before finally settling somewhere between amusement and anger. "This had better not be another one of his jokes or tricks, dammit..."
"Is that a note from Kaitou Kid, Nakamori-keibu? What does it say?" I've never seen Kuroba use one of his doves as a messenger, and that didn't look like one of his doves to begin with.
"Well, it could be from him but I don't know. It doesn't have one of those stupid little ink drawings of himself anywhere on it, right off the bat. And there's no signature on it at all." Ginzo handed Saguru the piece of paper before running off to try and prevent the gem's theft from the building that Kaitou Kid had just entered through a vent.
Please don't interfere.
Saguru studied the single neatly computer-printed sentence with a cocked eyebrow. What in the world? Why would Kuroba go to the trouble of sending this? He's already called Nakamori-keibu and made arrangements with the police to follow him after he surrenders, so this message seems like a complete waste of time. Unless...He began studying the crowd on the other side of the gate more closely and noticed at least three or four people scattered in the front of the crowd who were studying the scene of the current Kid heist with unusual intensity. One of them, Saguru noticed upon closer inspection of a trim silver-haired man whose repetitive hand motions near his chest had caught the meitantei's eye, was making a white rose repeatedly disappear and reappear in his left hand in what almost seemed to be a subconscious gesture.
Bah, Nakamori-keibu went and took almost all of the fun out of this heist for me. Kaito had actually been more than a little disappointed when he'd entered the jewelry store above all of the police activity only to find absolutely no traps or police protection surrounding the gem or even the room it was displayed in- more than likely the older man trying to make things go as smoothly as he could without actually veering into the territory of aiding and abetting an internationally wanted criminal. Kaito also had little doubt that the police would give chase once he left the building again with the gem in hand, mostly as a way of following him to the meeting point several blocks away that he'd been provided in the form of a note pinned to the costume of one of the two magicians that had been dropped off in Maebashi City. Hopefully I can get the guys to talk once the exchange is complete, at least somewhat. I especially want to try and find out more about that Dona Par Society Dad seemed to be a member of that I can't find any information at all on...
After he finished putting mirrors in place to deflect the security system's lasers, Kaito was just getting ready to size up the thickness of glass cutter he would need when he heard a crash echo out from the room to his right- the manager's office that was supposed to be not only locked, but empty as well. He pressed his earpiece down to check with Jii on whether the crash might possibly have been an officer. "There are no cops in here but a really loud crash just came from the next room. Has any radio chatter indicated the police have anyone inside of the building?"
"Not that I've picked up, young master. Due to what's supposed to happen after tonight's heist, they seem to be content with merely following you afterwards and you eventually leading them to the rendezvous location so they can follow you from there."
"I figured as much. Makes it a little boring, though." Kaito studied the pedestal that the gem was sitting on more closely. "Bah, this is one of those stupid weighted cases that'll set an alarm off if the gem is removed; I'll have to find something to replace it with."
"You should have a mock gemstone in your pack that's two-hundredths of an ounce heavier than the gem. The case can only detect differences in weight greater than five-hundredths of an ounce according to the manufacturer's specifications so it should work. You'll have one second to make the switch before the alarm is triggered."
"I knew there was a reason I let you help me out," replied Kaito with a grin before cutting around the base of the case and removing it, then rapidly swapping the gem and fake that he had indeed found in his small white pack. "OK, I'm done and I'm coming back out. Break in on the police frequency and let them know that I'm heading to that park where the guys want to meet up to make the exchange."
"Alright. I'll try to follow along if I can sneak out while the police are forcing traffic aside to follow you, young master. I'll hail them in three minutes so that you have time to finish packing your things up."
Kaito replaced the cover over the fake gem, collected his mirrors and began to use the rope that he'd climbed down to make his exit with.
"Kaitou Kid is going to be exiting the building shortly and heading to the meeting spot."
Ginzo stared at the two-way police radio in his hand, wondering who on Earth the older gentleman talking was. After no one else asked, he pushed the speaking button. "Who in the hell is this? How did you get on this frequency-"
"That really doesn't matter, does it? You and your task force should be more worried about clearing some of that nasty, snarled traffic out of the way so that you can follow Kid after he lands."
"THERE HE IS!" This screech followed by a loud, continuous bout of clapping and cheering from the other side of the fence caused Ginzo to grab his binoculars and scan the roof of the jewlery store. Sure enough, there was Kaitou Kid with his signature glider, getting ready to glide from the rooftop and make his getaway.
Ginzo immediately began barking orders into the radio. "You heard him! Get people out of the way NOW, dammit! We can't afford to lose sight of Kid!"
Ten minutes of frantic scrambling after the thief later, a small group of police cars that had managed to extricate themselves from the area surrounding the building were parked in a rough half-circle fifty feet away from a large black van that Kaitou Kid was standing facing the back of while wearing his usual unreadable expression. Several media vans were trying desperately to record the current proceedings using long-range lenses since the police wouldn't let them any closer than sixty feet to the van and they were also under very strict police orders to not follow the van once it left the meeting spot.
One of the van's large back doors swung open before the bound and gagged Oonishi Isamu was rather roughly deposited onto the ground in front of Kid by the people in the back of the van, who were making a point of staying well concealed. Ginzo noticed Kid nod slightly in what was likely a response to someone talking before he walked a few paces around the other magician and then stepped up into the back of the van, being helped inside by two pairs of hands before the door quickly slammed shut and the van's engine started up. As he had watched white disappear into darkness, all Ginzo had found himself wondering was if he was going to find out Kaitou Kid's true identity through someone discovering his dead body- the one way Ginzo never wanted to obtain that knowledge.