Disclaimer: We don't own the characters from 'Detective Conan.' They belong to their creators.
Author's Notes: A joint fic by Vibrant Filly and Satsuki Mugumi. FYI: This is a fic set in the future. You don't need to know anything else right now.
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Shinichi Kudo adjusted his dark sunglasses. He looked out at the sparking ocean. 'It's good to get away from the office.'
"Come on Dad!" Shinichi's son, Conan, ran toward the inviting water.
"Go on," urged his wife, Ran, "you need to have some fun."
Shinichi laughed and ran after Conan, who was already in the water.
A woman screamed.
Shinichi stopped dead in his tracks and looked towards the sound. Farther down the beach, two people were looking at something on the sand. Shinichi looked at Ran. She nodded briefly and Shinichi ran down the beach.
A man and a woman were staring at a crumpled black form. Shinichi noticed the woman was white with fright. Shinichi looked at the form again, and realized it was a body.
'Seems like I can't leave work in the office.' Shinichi sighed and shook his head. He bent down and pressed two fingers to the man's neck. The feel of the cold, wet flesh sent a shiver down Shinichi's spine. 'Pull yourself together!' Shinichi felt for a pulse, there was a small chance the man was still alive. Shinichi couldn't find a pulse. The man was dead.
After a quick visual examination, Shinichi guessed the man couldn't have been dead long. There were no signs of decay yet, but the skin was a deathly pale, and had an almost waxy appearance. The man's eyes were open, as if he died in shock, his mouth agape.
Careful not to disturb anything, Shinichi stood and led the couple away. He pulled out his cell phone and punched a speed dial number.
"Inspector Meguri? This is Shinichi. A body was found on the beach." Shinichi gave his location and hung up.
Within five minutes, the beach was swarming with police officers.
A coroner was checking out the body and Inspector Meguri was interviewing the couple, Shinichi made his way over to the coroner.
"How long has he been dead?"
Coroner responses, "No longer than 2 days, there's no signs of decay yet, but look at these!" the coroner pointed out the marks on the man's arms and neck, "Almost appears if he's been strangled"
"Most likely not the case, if he was strangled would the marks be deeper possibly cutting the flesh?"
"Yes, you're right, I'm going to try something. This is normally isn't done after such a long period of time, but it looks as if he choked,"
"What are you going to try?"
"I'm going to see if there's air in his lungs. If he choked, his air passage will still be blocked, not allowing water into his lungs." The coroner pressed the heel of his hand to the dead man's sternum, the air way was blocked. The coroner pressed harder, and dislodged an object, deflating his lungs. A pebble was pushed into the dead man's mouth. A coroner poked a gloved hand into the man's mouth, and pulled out the pebble, "Looks like an accidental death…"
Shinichi is thinking, "This doesn't end here," Shinichi begins to walks down the beach, "There's something missing…"
"Shinichi!" Shinichi looked up, Ran was running towards him, "Shinichi, Conan was playing with a fishing net and almost got caught in it!"
"Fishing Net?!?!?!"
Somehow, those 2 words clicked with Shinichi,
"Shinichi!!!"
Shinichi snaps out of his reverie, "Nani…?"
"Baka, You were thinking about that case, weren't you?"
"I guess so…."
Ran runs back to the blanket and she pulls out a frying pan out of the picnic basket, she starts to chase Shinichi around the beach,
"What?!?!? I didn't do anything!!!"
"You don't care about your own flesh and blood!!!" Shinichi falls on the ground, and Ran hits him over the head, she hits him so hard, he sinks into the sand, Ran walks away,
"Women…" Shinichi muttered, "You can never understand'em…"
Inspector Meguri witnessed the entire proceeding, "I'm glad I don't have a wife like that…"
Shinichi stood up, and walked down the beach to find the net. He finds the net with Ran, laying next to the blanket, Shinichi is able to grab the net, but Ran sees him, he automatically hides the net behind his back,
"hmmm…." Ran glanced back at Conan who was playing in the water, Shinichi sees the opportunity and runs his 60 km/h dash, Ran discovers he's gone and mutters, "Where did he go now?"
Shinichi ran down the beach to where the body was being bagged, "Wait!" Shinichi stretched the net, and compared it to the marks on the man's arms and neck, they matched, "The match perfectly, just as I thought…" Shinichi handed the net to Inspector Meguri, "Better tag this as evidence."
A woman called out, "that's my husband!" everyone looked up and saw a dark haired woman leading a small boy by the hand, she ran up to Inspector Meguri, "Inspector, Inspector, that's my missing husband!"
"Ah, Mrs. Tomoe, has your son regained his memory yet?"
"No, he hasn't," said Mrs. Tomoe,
"Are you sure this is your husband?" said Shinichi
"Yes, he went missing 2 days ago,"
Shinichi thought about just about when he died, "Can you tell us what happened?"
"Yes, uh… 2 days ago, my husband and husband went on a boating trip, but they got caught in a terrible storm and my son washed up on the shore yesterday…" Mrs. Tomoe starts crying,
A police officer called, "Hey, there's something out there,"
Everyone looked and saw something bobbing on the water.
"Well, someone go get it!" said Inspector Meguri,
A police was sent out and brought back the motor boat, Mrs. Tomoe gasped, "that's my husband's boat!"
Shinichi went and looked at the boat, and noticed the side was broken,
"This looks like an accident," Inspector Meguri said,
"I don't think so…" Shinichi said quietly,
Inspector Meguri started to interview Mrs. Tomoe, and Shinichi watched her face closely, a police officer began to examine the motor, and Shinichi noticed a change in Mrs. Tomoe's expression. Shinichi checked the body again, and found a plastic bag, that contained some papers, "Mrs. Tomoe," Shinichi said holding up the bag, "Do you know what these are?"
"Um… yes… they're the divorce papers my husband…"
"Divorce papers…?" Inspector Meguri,
"Hey, this motor's been tampered with!" shouted the officer,
Shinichi noticed another change come out in Mrs. Tomoe's expression, he went over to check out the motor, the officer showed him how the casing was loose, and held up a wrench, "I found this in the motor,"
Shinichi checked out the broken side of the boat, and found a small, almost not noticeable scrap of cloth caught on the splintered wood,
Ran runs up to Shinichi, she is angry, "Shinichi, it's 5 PM, it's time to go home!"
"Not now, I'm in the middle of a case, go home without me!"
"NO!" yelled Ran, "Remember when you brought me to Tropical Land, you told me to go home, and you ran off, and I had a strange premonition that you wouldn't come back, and eventually, you didn't, I'm not letting that happen again!"
"Listen Ran, I'll come home this time… I just need to finish this case,"
"No, I'm waiting right here for you," she holds Conan in her arms,
"Fine by me…"
Suddenly, everything fell into place, "I've got it!"
"Wha…?" Inspector Meguri,
"I know who did it!"
"Who?"
Shinichi pointed at the culprit,
….