"What is it, you fool?" he asked
"I figured it out! Look!" she beamed.
The screaming woke Conan up.
"You fool! I can't believe it took you so long." Heiji was saying.
"She figured out the code?" Conan asked. "Let me see."
Kazuha smirked. "The message is:
We will be relocating everyone to build the new American base. Everyone will be needed to have the appearance of a company. Everyone is to leave their mission or job for at least a month and go meet in Austin in one week, or else."
"How did you figure it out?" Heiji asked Kazuha.
"I tried a lot of detailed and complex patterns, but they didn't work, so I decided to try a simple one. First, I tried the first letter of every word, then, I did every other word. Neither worked, so I skipped two words, then three, and I finally figured it out,¡¨ she shot a superior look at Heiji, ¡§It's skip three words." she sang.
"All right, now all we do is wait to see who comes to get the message in the morning. Kazuha, you and I will sit at the table beside the encyclopedias and Conan will hide under the table. Kazuha, you need to get some rest. I'll get you at 6:50, okay?"
Kazuha and Conan nodded. Kazuha went to sleep, and the detectives put up all the Sherlock Holmes books and the code breaker book Kazuha had used.
At 7:00 the library opened and at 7:30, Kazuha, Heiji, and Conan went to their hiding places. They waited for an hour, but no one came. Kazuha was getting bored. "Let's leave," she said.
"One more hour, okay, Kazuha?" Heiji asked.
At 9:00, a walked in and took the G encyclopedia off the bookshelf. She got out the message, sat down, and read it. Then, she wrote a reply. She bent down, reached for the V encyclopedia and slipped her reply in, and then she put the B encyclopedia behind the C.
When she bent down, Conan recognized her. It was Jody St. Emillion, the teacher on the bus when it was hijacked. So Ai had been right. He cursed himself for not believing her. After she put down the encyclopedia, Jody hurriedly left. As soon as she was out of the library, Conan grabbed the encyclopedia and searched for the message. It was under the article titled "vermouth". He reached out for it, but Kazuha got it first.
She said, "The message is:
` By the time you read this message, he will be dead. Also, I will make sure the traitor isn't here and leave Japan by Wednesday."
"So Jody's code name is Vermouth." Conan thought. "Who's she going to kill?"
He recalled her evil sneer and fear gripped his heart.
"Not Vermouth! I've heard Shiho talk about her. She never fails any of her missions. If Vermouth promises to find her, she's as good as dead. I have to find her first." he thought desperately.
"Let's follow her," he whispered to Heiji. Conan and Heiji shadowed Vermouth. She window-shopped for a while, the lead them to a glove store where she purchased a pair of white gloves. Conan and Heiji soon got bored. Kazuha had already gone back to the Professor's house two hours ago. Conan called the police as Shinichi Kudo and asked them to shadow Vermouth. On the way back to Professor Agasa's house, Conan and Heiji discussed plans for the rest of the day.
"Where do we look now?" Conan asked.
"We aren't going to do anything. We'll just wait for the police to call and make their report." Heiji answered.
"We have to keep looking. I can't let Vermouth find Shiho first." Conan cried.
"Yes, but we have to go back to the Professor's house to watch the news. It'll only take thirty minutes." Heiji said.
"I'm going to take a nap." Kazuha announced.
They continued along in silence and soon reached the Professor's house.
Ai stretched. She had been working at the computer ever since the night before. She decided to eat and catch up on the news. She opened and heated a can of soup, carried it to the living room, and sat down on the couch. There had been a murder, and the police had been unable to find the murderer. The victim was killed at 3:00 this morning.
As she watched the news report, she felt the hair on her neck begin to rise, and she started trembling. After she saw the victim's body in the room where he had died, she knew he had been killed by a member of the Black Organization. She was unsure of what to do.
"Why should you do anything? It's none of your business. Just let them get away with it. ¡KIf you let them get away with it, you're just as guilty as they are. They killed your sister. What would Kudo think if you just let them get away? Does his opinion matter to you at all?" she asked herself.
"It doesn't." she said as she leapt up from the couch. "I don't care."
As soon as the words were out of her mouth, however, she knew that she did care. If she didn't care, she never would have left Professor Agasa's house. If she didn't care, his tantrum on the playground wouldn't have upset her. There was only one person she had ever loved as much: her sister. She knew she couldn't hide the truth, but she had no proof and no one would believe her. She would have to call Kudo and have him talk to the police.
"He won't want to talk to me,¡¨ she thought miserably. "but I have to speak to him anyway."
She picked the phone and hesitantly dialed the number of Shinichi's tiny cell phone. It rang, and someone picked up.
"Kudo?" she whispered hesitantly.
"He's busy right now. Tell me your name and I'll get him to call you back." Heiji said. Conan was watching TV. When the phone rang, he thought it was Ran and told Heiji to go into the kitchen and tell Ran he was busy, but it wasn't Ran.
"Who are you?" Heiji asked even though he already knew.
"I'm Ai Haibara-" Shiho started.
"Oh, so you're Shiho Miyano." Heiji interrupted.
Shiho was shocked, gasping for air.
"What? Who are you?" she asked.
"Heiji Hattori." Heiji said shortly. "Where are you, anyway? Why did you run away? Don't you know how worried he's been?"
"Who?" Ai asked, surprised.
"Kudo! He's barely slept since you left!" Heiji shouted.
"I didn't think he would care at all. I want to speak to him, now." she replied coolly. "Where is he?"
"He's watching TV." Heiji giggled.
"Just get him," she answered.
"All right, but promise me you'll never hurt him." Heiji said seriously.
" I promise. He's really lucky to have you as his best friend." Shiho said.
"I know." Heiji smirked.
He handed the phone to Conan. "It's Miyano-san."
Conan snatched the phone from Heiji.
"Shiho?" he asked, hoping it wasn't another one of Heiji's tricks.
"Kudo?" she asked.
There was no answer, but he hadn't hung up. Shiho hesitated. Was Kudo angry? Relief, anger, and happiness washed through Shinichi's brain. He clutched the phone tighter.
" I have something to tell you." they both said at the same time.
There was a pause.
"Are you mad at me?" Shiho asked.
"No." Shinichi answered. "I should be, but not now. I'm just relieved that you're not dead."
" I meant for creating the drug and ruining your life," she said.
"I stopped blaming you for that a long time ago." Shinichi replied. "When I first met you, I was angry, but not now. I promise. Why did you leave?" he blurted out.
"I need research," she answered.
"You've never lacked it before, and what's wrong with the Professor's resources? Tell me the real reason you left, Shiho." Shinichi demanded.
"You threw that fit on the playground, and I thought I had ruined your life. Besides, if I stay here, I'm just endangering the lives of the Professor, the kids, and you." Shiho said.
"It doesn't matter, just come back. You were right about the bus. Jody St. Emilion is one of them. She's Vermouth. She's after you. You have to come back here now." Shinichi ordered.
"Vermouth? She's one of the best agents. How did you know?" Shiho asked.
"Never mind. It takes too long to explain. Where are you?" Shinichi inquired.
"Wait. You were watching the news, right? Did you see? They killed him. I know they did,¡¨ she said.
"You have no proof." Shinichi began.
"But I know. I was right about one of them being on the bus. Besides, I created the medicine that killed him. Trust me, they did it," she insisted.
As the truth dawned on him, Conan was forced to agree, and he reluctantly did so.
"I believe you," he admitted. "I should have believed you the first time. It's too dangerous for you to be alone. Come to the Professor's house now."
"That's where I am now." she lied.
"I'm here now, and you're not." Shinichi said.
"Shinichi, I don't want to go back yet. Not before-" Shiho started.
"I can't wait that long. We don't have time for you to do that. Your safety is more important to me." he interrupted.
Shiho said nothing.
"Promise me." Shinichi said. "Promise me that you'll be back by tomorrow before the sun sets no matter what, and you'll call me if anything unusual happens."
"I'll be very careful. It¡¦s not like I want to get killed by them. I promise I'll call you if I feel like I'm in any danger. Bye!" Shiho said and quickly hung up.
"Shiho..." Shinichi began, hen gave an exasperated sigh as he realized she had hung up.
Ai smiled. She had made remarkable improvements on the antidote, but needed to go back to Professor Agasa's house to make it.
"Good thing I hung up on Kudo before I accidentally gave him enough clues to know where I am. I'll go back if he calls the police. That's why I called him in the first place, anyway." she thought.
"Good night, Shinichi." she said aloud to the phone before she headed upstairs to go to sleep. Then she remembered something else Shinichi had told her. Vermouth was after her.
"What if..." she thought uneasily as she drifted off to sleep.
Conan had called the police as Shinichi Kudo and told them that he suspected the murder was done by an organization that was very powerful and was going to meet in Austin, Texas within a week, and every member had probably murdered someone before. The police were shocked and demanded more information, but he told them to see about it and keep his name out of it.
"Policemen are so stupid," he thought. "At least Shiho didn't get herself killed. If Vermouth was leaving Japan by Wednesday, she was going to have to act tomorrow because it¡¦s already Monday. I hope she'll really call if anything unusual happens."
"What did she say?" Heiji demanded.
"She said the murder on the news tonight was committed by the Black Organization." Conan replied.
"I'm not surprised." Heiji looked at Conan as he spoke.
"Why?" Conan asked.
"I'm a genius, now let's go to sleep." Heiji responded.
Conan nodded and followed Heiji back to their room. As soon as they got to their room, Heiji smirked.
"Tell me everything she said." he demanded.
Conan blushed; he looked down at the floor and said nothing.
"I've asked you before, and I'm asking you again. You like her, don't you?" Heiji asked.
Shinichi spun around. "Yes!" he shouted. He was obviously annoyed. "I don't know what to do. Ever since she left, I've just been wondering about what I should do."
"I knew it!" Heiji crowed. "Why else would you drag me over here at 5 a.m.? Plus, I also have psychic powers."
"Yeah, right. What should I do? Tomorrow is Tuesday; Vermouth said she'd leave Japan by Wednesday. If I never see her again..." Shinichi trailed off.
"Well, all I can say is wait. In the message, she seemed unsure of Miyano-san's whereabouts, so she'll need to somehow send her a message, and didn't you make Shiho promise to call you if anything unusual happened?" Heiji asked.
"Yes, but do you think she will?" Shinichi asked.
"I don't know, but I know you won't let anything happen to her, so I think she's pretty safe." Heiji replied. "What about Ran, though? You've seen how worried she's been over you, you know she likes you."
"I know Ran likes me, but I just don't feel the same way about her. We've been friends ever since we were little. I did like her before, but I never said anything, and then I met Ai, so..." Shinichi trailed off.
"It doesn't matter. It's just that we've all been friends, me and Kazuha, you and Ran. I always thought we'd be like that, but now you fall in love with someone else. I never dreamed it would happen. What's she going to think?" Heiji asked.
"Ran has been my friend for a long time, and I don't want to hurt her more in the long run that if she learns the truth right now. She may be sad and angry for a while, but one day, she'll wake up and realize that there's someone else for her, she just needs to look for him. I can't lead her forever." Shinichi replied.
"Are you just going to tell her, then? You're right, but I don't know if she can accept that." Heiji warned.
"Well, maybe she'll just notice. After she realizes there's someone else for her, we can still be friends. The four of us will always be friends. We'll just include our new friends instead of abandoning each other. When Ran finds someone else, he'll be a friend to all of us too." Shinichi said.
"I hope you're right. I think Ran's a reasonable person, but you never know... anyway, let's get to sleep. We have to find Miyano-san tomorrow." Heiji reminded.
"I know." Shinichi told him.
The boys lay down, each thinking their own thoughts.
"I will find you, Shiho, no matter what." Shinichi promised again.
"Friends forever." Heiji thought with a smile.
The next morning, Heiji, Shinichi, and Kazuha looked all over Beika again, but they still found nothing, so they returned to Professor Agasa's house for lunch.
"Will you come home today?" Shinichi thought as he sat down. He was very worried, because he knew Vermouth would have to act today.
"The mail's here." Professor Agasa announced, interrupting his thoughts.
"So?" Conan asked.
"Look at this." Heiji said, holding a letter.
It was a plain white envelope, addressed to "Sherry".
Shinichi limply sank back against the back of his chair. His hand trembled as he reached for the letter. Heiji looked sympathetically at him before he handed the letter to Shinichi. As he looked at his friend's pale face, he realized how lucky he was to have Kazuha at his side.
The mailman had just left the Kudos' house, leaving one letter. Ai went downstairs to get the mail.
"Only one letter?" she thought, turning it over. It was a plain white envelope. A plain white envelope addressed to "Sherry".