"It's not," Kid snorted. "My jokes are way funnier. This is dead serious. Emphasis on the dead."
"Vermouth knows about it," Carmen said. "That's why she disguised as Hattori and followed us. She got the Organization to kidnap Akako, who actually has the Stone right now, but they apparently are unaware of that. She wanted us to try to rescue her so that she could get her hands on Pandora, but apparently Gin had other ideas."
"And now," Kid said, looking back out over Tokyo, "they're offering a prisoner exchange."
"Who for who?" Conan asked, confused.
"Koizumi Akako for Miyano Shiho."
Conan gasped. "You're not--"
Carmen smirked. "Idiot, I'm not dumb. There's no way I'd even tell her about the situation. Knowing her, she'd try to sacrifice herself with nary a thought for the consequences. However..."
"We have only two weeks to come up with a plan," Kid finished.
--
"Something's happening that no one will tell me about," Haibara complained to Michael.
He smiled apologetically. "I'm sure there's a reason--"
"I know there's a reason," she said, shoving her hands into the pockets of her lab coat. "That's not going to keep me from trying to find out though."
Michael looked at her. "Say, Haibara," he said slowly. "What components did you use to create the apotoxin?"
She gave him an odd look. "Why?"
"Were there any you didn't know the source of?" he asked. "You didn't know exactly where they came from or what they were composed of?"
"Most of them," she said. "I just ordered the chemicals. I didn't ask for them from anywhere in particular."
"So you ordered all of the chemicals you used, then?" Michael continued.
"Y-no, actually," she said, thinking. "There was one container of a hydrocarbon compound that my mot-predecessor had left, I think. But that was gone shortly after I started producing them for field testing, so I had to order more."
Michael frowned. "I suppose the container is not retrievable."
"Of course not," Haibara laughed. "Why?"
"I was just curious," he said absently. "I wondered if its molecular structure was precisely identical to the new blend. Say, how many doses did you make with that old stuff?"
"Ah--three, I think. Oh!" She stared at him. "You don't suppose--"
"What was it Dr. Jekyll said?" Michael said grimly. "'For God's sake, get me some of the old'?"
She slammed her fist into the wall. "No wonder I haven't been able to make any progress beyond a temporary cure! I don't even know what I'm looking at!"
"You said it was a hydrocarbon compound," Michael said.
"Yes," she said. "It had some similarities to cyclohexane, but it was way more complicated. It was almost like..." she shook her head. "I don't know what."
"Does the word 'carmot' mean anything to you?" Michael asked suddenly.
Haibara blinked at the sudden change of subject. "Carmot?"
He nodded.
"Well..." she thought for a minute. "It sounds familiar, but I can't quite place it... where did you hear about it?"
"It's supposed to be the primary substance of the Philosopher's Stone," Michael said, shrugging. "I figured it might refer to a project along your lines or something."
"Now that you mention it..." she mused. "That's right, her notes... my mother mentioned something about it, but she didn't take very good notes and I had no idea what it was referring to."
"Interesting," Michael said slowly. "Your magic potion may be magic after all."
"It's probably just contaminated with something else," Haibara said.
"Yeah," Michael said, "but what? What do you suppose would cause the toxin to behave differently?"
She opened her mouth to say something, then closed it again. "I don't know," she admitted finally.
"Figures." Michael shoved his hands in his pockets. "I don't suppose her notes survived?"
"They may have," Haibara said, "if someone thought to grab them. I certainly didn't."
"What did they look like?" Michael asked absently.
"A stack of papers," Haibara said dryly. "What were you thinking of?"
"Sorry," he said, shaking his head. "My mind was wandering. Umm, this is kind of a personal question, but--how well did you know your mother? I mean, would you be able to recognize her handwriting?"
"Yes, of course," Haibara said. "Her lab notes were all hand-written."
"No, I mean besides those," Michael said, shaking his head. "Have you seen any other samples of her handwriting?"
Haibara paused, thinking. "No... I don't think so. Why?"
"So then, are you sure those lab notes were your mother's?" Michael asked.
She looked at him funny. "What is going on here?"
"Please, just answer the question," he said.
"Now that you mention it," she said slowly, "she never did write her name..."
"They were all written in Japanese, slightly worn paper, like it was several years old?" Michael asked.
"I only handled photocopies," she said.
"Does this ring a bell: 'Those who try to twist the flow of time to their own ends will assuredly fail'?"
Her mouth dropped open. "Yes, that was in several of the pages... but how did you know?"
Michael smiled grimly. "Those weren't your mother's notes."