Case Closed AU
By: FunahoMisaki
(A/N: I own nothing and read last chapter)
"That's my second favorite. Sign of four is my first!" Irene said grinning as she turned around to talk to the adults in the seats behind her. Right now she, Rachel, and Richard were in a van with four others on their way to a Sherlock Holmes fan convention a week after the library murder case.
"Now you're speaking my language kid, sign of four's brilliant. Pure genius." One guy said while the mustached guy grinned at Irene.
"Remarkable. You're so well read for a child." The moustache guy said causing Irene to laugh and thank him.
"Jiji? He doesn't like reading. I think he came along cause me and kaa-chan did… but he did get invited because he's a detective." Irene told the woman in the back back of the van while Richard was talking with Rachel and the driver.
"Hmph sad to say that your selection method has much to be desired. There's one among us who couldn't even name a Sherlock Holmes story." The mustache man, Ernie he said his name was, said with a noise of disdain.
"What? Who would that be? What a disgrace!" A short rather plump woman named Moira asked shocked.
"The guy in the back with the mustache." The other guy that had been in the van, Burt, said causing Richard to begin to turn around and leave.
"It's okay Jiji! No one can match up to the great Holmes, no body!" Irene said when someone, a guy giving her a bad vibe named Alex, and his girlfriend Shelia remarked that while Richard was one mean detective he was way out of his league trying to match up to Sherlock.
"He's not even real he's made up!" Richard yelled whacking Irene on her head while the other Holmes fans glared at him.
"Dad! I've already told you bout hitting Irene-chan! She's still not fully recovered from that knife wound!" Rachel said hitting her dad on his head while more than one persons eyes widened.
"Irene?" A few of the guests said surprised while Shelia walked over to the little girl who was nursing her head.
"Irene as in Irene Adler? I've never met someone named Irene before!" The woman from their van, Nancy, said as they all crowded around Irene.
"Her first name is Irene but she's not Irene Adler. Her name is Irene Edogawa-Moore… also known as the Shinigami detective. Wherever she goes, murder almost always follows." Shelia said causing the whole group of people to look shocked.
"No way!" Moira said shocked while Nancy dug a notepad and pen out of her pocketbook.
"Can I please have your autograph Irene-sama? I love your movies and follow your cases in the paper or news all the time." Nancy asked shakily holding out the paper and pen to Irene who grinned up at her.
"No problem. Anything for a fellow Holmes freak." Irene said grinning as she signed the paper in her flowing elegant script before handing it back to the woman who beamed happily.
"Hey cool! Can I have your autograph too?" Burt asked and that seemed to be the floodgates for the others gathered around Irene to ask for her autograph as well. Irene just laughed it off and signed whatever it is they wanted her to, when she noticed Harley show up and talk to Rachel a bit. At the mention of him liking someone better than Sir Author Conan Doyle, the whole group turned and glared at him, causing him to sweat and admit that Doyle was the greatest.
"Hey if I get enough right do I qualify for the prize too?" Irene asked tugging on the host, Harry's, tweed jacket hem to get his attention after he had finished explaining the prize and how to qualify to win it.
"Sure why not?" Harry said shrugging and causing Irene to grin. In a flash she was over by the table filling out the answers on the test with a pencil she had gotten from Harley. Everyone separated as they filled out their tests, having had to give up their books and cell phones before the test started so that everyone played fairly.
It was past midnight the next day when something interesting happened. Alex, Shelia, Betsy, Harley, Rachel, and Irene noticed Harry driving the car that brought them all there.
"Hey isn't that a cliff?" Shelia asked as they all watched Harry drive off somewhere.
"Don't worry he'll stop." Alex said smiling at her, but Irene and Harley's eyes narrowed as Harley slid open the window so that they both could jump out of it.
"Irene-chan!" Rachel called after her daughter worried as she and Harley ran after the van.
"Hmm that blanket shouldn't be there… Ugh!" Irene gasped as she caught sight of Harry's face and eyes, jumping off of the side mirror she had been on and crashing into Harley.
"Irene-chan hold on!" Rachel yelled as she grabbed Irene's oxygen tank and mask, rushing towards the girl that was clutching her chest and coughing harshly as she struggled to breath.
"Here slow deep breaths like the doctors told you." Rachel said putting the mask over Irene's face and turning on the tank. Less than five minutes later everyone was gathered near the cliff and Irene could finally remove the breathing mask again.
"I know I read about you being injured on one of your cases but I didn't think the injury was so extensive." Nancy commented as she looked worriedly at Irene while everyone was talking about how he could have been murdered by one of the guests over the book.
"I didn't think it was either… but the stupid knife just had to nick my lung. Makes it hard to do anything strenuous without needing my breathing mask and oxygen tank. And trust me running after a car heading towards a cliff counts as strenuous." Irene said sighing slightly, they doctors had told her that it was a miracle she didn't get asthma or any lung illnesses from that but her lung would still be weak for almost another full month. Even after that she'd still need to take her oxygen mask and tank with her in case she strained her lungs to much by accident.
"Ugh it's too dark to see anything…are you crazy lady?" Irene said jumping in alarm when, after knocking heads with a now suspicious Harley, Shelia appeared behind her with her lighter lit.
"You don't use a lighter or smoke near an oxygen tank no matter how small it is! That's almost asking to be blown up!" Rachel took over as she quickly closed Shelia's lighter, causing the woman to look sheepish before a flashlight beam interrupted them.
"I thought that there might be a mystery or scavenger hunt as part of the tour so I packed a couple of things." Nancy said shrugging her shoulders sheepishly when everyone looked at her surprised.
"Nice thinking. That really comes in handy." Irene said grinning up at Nancy who just smiled at her.
"Thanks. Just show me where to point the light." Nancy said as Betsy went to Harry's study to look for their cell phones.
"Right here is good." Irene said pointing to just inside the tire tracks, causing Nancy to nod as she pointed the light there.
"Huh. That's strange." Irene noted looking at the ground that was illuminated by light.
"What is it?" Nancy asked blinking slightly.
"Whenever the air conditioner is turned on water droplets fall just behind the front axel of a car. If the air conditioner was on as you all think it was, then there would be water droplets here but it's as dry as a desert." Irene said feeling the ground just to make sure and causing everyone to stare at her.
"What? What do you mean all the phones are smashed?" Moira demanded when Betsy came running back out to them, causing Rachel to pick Irene up and carry her to the study where all the phones, even the land lines, were on the floor broken.
"It's actually a good thing my cell was smashed." Irene said looking at her destroyed phone, not like it mattered much to her since Dr. Agase was building her an upgraded model. Last she had heard he was finished and she would be given the new model after 'accidentally' losing or smashing her old one.
"Why's that Irene-chan? I thought you said your phone was a specially customized one made by Doctor Agase?" Rachel asked causing Irene to smirk.
"That's exactly why it's a good thing they smashed mine. There was a locator chip and silent alarm like system installed. If I were to be kidnapped I just have to hit a single button and the alarm goes off at his house so he knows to alert the police and then use the locator to find me. If the phone is smashed before I can hit the button the alarm still goes off and he can still locate me. The police are already on their way most likely." Irene said grinning, her eyes narrowing in on Alex when he looked shocked and slightly terrified.
'That's right you little thief and murderer. I've got you now.' Irene thought while smirking at the man who caught her smirk and glared at her.
"Besides. Dr. Agase was building me an upgraded version so losing the, for all intents and purposes, prototype is no big deal." Irene finished with a shrug just as Harley reentered the room after having checked out the other van in the garage.
"The other van's a no go. The gas tank was punctured and there's fuel everywhere while the motor won't turn over. It looks like sabotage, so someone doesn't want leaving to be possible. Looks like we're stranded till the police come, and with the trail here being so perilous they have to go extra slow. We'll probably be here until noon at the earliest." Harley said shoving his hands in his pockets.
"And since he stranded us here he intends to strike again and yes I can almost guarantee that the murderer is a male." Irene said smirking as she got Rachel to put her down on Harry's desk.
"How can you guarantee something like that?" Alex asked surprised, alongside everyone else.
"Think about it. Mr. Konoka was no light weight. And while most women are strong enough to pick him up or at least drag him to the garage after killing him, how would they have gotten him into the car positioned just right to make him look like he was driving? Also we don't know his exact time of death since no one has seen him since we got our tests yesterday night so that technically leaves everyone as a suspect except for me, kaa-chan, and Jiji since the three of us never left each others sight all day yesterday except to use the bathroom, which would only take two minutes and therefore not be enough time to rig up the little set up." Irene said smirking slightly.
"Set up?" Richard asked earning a smirk from Irene.
"Think Jiji. Rigor mortis explains why he was so stiff when we saw him drive over the cliff. Which means he was killed well before then. It's rather simple really which is why they made sure the body couldn't be recovered. By putting his stiff foot firmly on the brake, he started the car and put it in neutral. Doing this he would assure that he has an alibi for the time the car went over the cliff." Irene said causing Harley to pipe up with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes but it takes at least forty hours for rigor mortis to loosen up. Don't forget that the car sped up. The only explanation was that Harry Konoka was alive when he did that." Harley said causing Irene to shake her head.
"I expected that from Jiji not from you Harley-onii-san. Think. It takes that long in a room temperature room but what if the process was speed up. When exposed to extreme heat, a dead body will began to loosen up much quicker than normal. 20 to 30 hours top. Since none of us saw him for a full twenty four hours…" Irene trailed off causing Harley to look like he just had a brain wave.
"That's the noise we heard when we were trying to get him to stop. It wasn't the air conditioner but the heater!" Harley said causing Irene to nod.
"But how do you explain how the car sped up?" Moira asked curiously.
"Simple. The bumps in the road going towards the cliff, they helped move his foot off of the break pedal slightly making it seem like he sped up. By doing this he made sure the body couldn't be recovered for an autopsy which would reveal the trick. If I had to guess I'd say he also rigged up a trap in the garage." Irene said her eyes locked onto Alex's who was sweating bullets at the moment.
"What do you mean?" Burt asked causing Irene to smirk.
"Remember what Harley said a few minutes ago, the gas was all over the floor and the battery was dead. Now if the killer told either Ms. Sands or Mr. Bower that the First edition was underneath the back seat of the car and they opened the door but the light didn't turn on…it's pitch black under the seats… what would you do?" Irene asked looking at the two she mentioned causing them both to blink.
"I'd use my Li-that's it!" Shelia said flicking open her lighter before nearly dropping it in shock. Mr. Bower also looked shocked.
"Exactly. Your own lighters would start the fire that would ignite the whole garage and kill you." Irene said without looking away from Alex.
"Hey Mr. Carr. Do you remember question 241 of the 1000 questions we all answered? What was the message Sherlock Holmes sent out to the murderer using the code in Dancing Man?" Irene seemed to ask randomly causing the man to sweat a little more while Shelia looked ready to pipe up before Nancy covered her mouth with her hand.
"Yeah I remember. It was a simple message Holmes wrote in that letter. That was a good one." Alex said causing Nancy to smirk while removing her hand from Shelia's mouth.
"That wasn't one of the questions. She made it up." Nancy said causing Alex to stiffen in surprise and slight horror.
"What was question dealing with the Adventure of the Dancing Man?" Moira asked looking at Burt who thought about it for a second.
"I'd say list all the codes that appeared in the novel Adventure of the Dancing Man." Burt said causing Shelia and Irene to nod in agreement.
"Exactly. Most would remember that question due to it's extreme difficulty and yet you didn't know it was on there which means you didn't do your test. You didn't do the test and yet you waited up with the rest of us to supposedly wait on the tests to be graded. Now how can someone grade a blank test? You knew the tests weren't going to be graded… because you're the one who killed Harry Konoka!" Irene said pointing right at Alex Carr and causing him to scowl before sighing slightly.
"I did it because of that book of his. His and Bower's! It's called Irene Adler Sneer. It's a critical work of all of Sherlock's wrong deductions." Alex said falling to his knees on the floor while everyone stared at him.
"It was like Irene-er Irene Adler that is- was sneering at him." Shelia said staring at her boyfriend surprised.
"That's right. She would never do that to Sherlock. I did it for Sherlock and for Irene Adler." Alex said lowering his head while Irene scowled darkly at him. Jumping down from the desk Irene walked over to Alex and slapped him as hard as she could right on the cheek, much to everyone's shock. Her words causing Alex to break down into sobs as the police arrived a few moments later.
"You didn't do it for them! You did it for yourself! Sherlock Holmes and Irene Adler would never condone murder in their names!"