Kids We Shall Be
By Ashadu/ Kaz
Chapter Two: Restaurant Mayhem
"Hey, I think I see something!" Jimmy barely could hear a man say.
"Yeah, me too! Two bodies! Call an ambulance!"
"Unh..." Jimmy moaned as he opened his eyes. He squinted his eyes at the flashlight being pointed at him.
"Hey, I think they're okay!" the police officer in front of him shouted. He then turned back to Jimmy and said, "Don't worry little boy, it'll be alright."
Little boy? Who's he calling...
Then Jimmy looked over at Rachel and was so surpised he fell over on his butt. Rachel lay before him, only now beginning to wake up. But something was different about her. She looked like the little girl he used to remember in his childhood. But if she was now a child, then that meant...
Oh no! I've been turned into a kid! This isn't good. For one, I'm a kid! And second, Rachel's gonna kill me!
"Jimmy, is that really you?!" she gasped when she saw him, "But if that's you, than that means that I'm a..."
Jimmy frowned, "a little girl, Rachel."
"Are you kids alright?" the man asked them. Jimmy tried to fake the best innocent smile he could and said, "Yes, we're fine. Right?" Rachel nodded. The police officers then left them be and went to search for any other things they might find.
"Jimmy..." Rachel glared at him, and Jimmy could have sworn he could see fire in the background, "You do realize this is all your fault, right?!"
Jimmy backed away, and tried in vain to calm her down, "well, I guess we're being given a second chance to relive our childhood, huh?"
"I DON'T WANT TO BE A LITTLE KID, JIMMY!"
"Okay, okay. I get your point Rachel," he said, "Now, I know you're angry, but..."
"Oh, you think!"
Gulp. This is going to be harder than I thought. Maybe the cops will bet a dead body after all if I can't calm her down.
"Cmon Rachel, you need to calm down! We need to think this through calmly. Cmon, let's go somewhere else."
"Fine," she said, and they headed into a nearby restauRachelt.
"What!?" Rachel shouted in disbelief, slamming her fists on the table, "You mean to tell me we can't go to the police?!"
"No Rachel," Jimmy told her, "No matter how much security the police can offer, the men in black (man that sounds weird) will come after us and 'finish the job'.
Rachel sighed. "So what are we gonna do?"
"Well first of all, like I said, we can't tell anyone. We're gonna have to assume new lives until we can solve this case, if you can even call it that."
"And just how are we supposed to do that? We're little kids, for crying out loud! We can't get job, how are we supposed to fend for ourselves out there?"
"Well, maybe we can live with someone."
"Who? You expect us to go to a foster home?"
"Why not?" Jimmy said, pondering the idea, "Might not be such a bad idea."
"I'm not gonna do that," Rachel refused.
"Well then..." he said, thinking. He took a sip of the glass of water they gave them until they ordered. Suddenly an idea came to him, "hey, I've got it!"
"Oh great," Rachel, rolled her eyes, laughing, "What fantastic idea does the famous detective Jimmy Kudo have now?"
"Aw, cmon," Jimmy said, playing along, "how about we go and live with your dad?"
"My dad?" Rachel said, pondering where that came from.
"Yeah!" Jimmy laughed at the thought, "If he ever gets a case, I could help him out a bit. I mean, he needs all the help he can get after all!" Jimmy said, laughing out loud.
Next thing Jimmy knew, he was on the ground holding the side of his head.
"Ouch! Rachel, that hurt!" he complained, holding his head. But I bet that was the idea in the first place.
"Remember what I told you this morning about ever making fun of my dad again?" Rachel said, reminding him with a smile on her face and cracking her knuckles.
"Um, Rachel," he said, backing away slowly, "I didn't mean it I sw..."
"Cmere, you!" she pulled him back up next to her. She then proceeded to ruffle his hair and give him several nuggies.
"Ack!" Jimmy cried, trying to get free of Rachel's tight grip. However, he soon discovered it was useless to struggle, and eventually stopped and let Rachel do as she wished. Eventually things quieted down and soon he was just sitting in Rachel's lap. He let out a soft moan that seemed more like a purr as she gently stroked his hair.
"Rachel..." he sighed.
"Like that, don't ya?" she giggled. He's sure is cute like this. Being kids just might be fun after all.
"Uh, may I help you two children?" they heard a man say. They quickly broke away, blushing.
"Eh, sorry," Jimmy apologized, "Um...we'll have the spaghetti kids meal please."
"Very well then," he said, taking down their orders and leaving.
Jimmy and Rachel looked at each other and turned away, blushing, unable to get the cute and romantic scene out of their heads. And, to her own surprise, Rachel found she would have liked nothing more than to have him in her arms again.
What is wrong with me? For some reason, I want to hold him again! And also to... then an image flashed in her head, an image that had been on her mind before this. ...kiss him.
"Um, anyways, how are we supposed to make him take us in?" Rachel, said, trying to break the uncomfortable silence between them, "I mean, sure, I could probably fake you, saying how I found you on the street and wanted to take you in."
"Found me on the street?!" he gasped, not believing she actually said that.
"Well, you certainly act like a street rat," she joked.
"Arrgggh! Oh well, I thought we could probably fool him and, um," he told her, wondering how they could fool her dad, which shouldn't be too hard giving how much of an idiot he was, "say that we...went out on a date."
"A DATE?!" Rachel exclaimed, "And how would that work? And even if it did, it still wouldn't work! We're supposed to tell him we went out for a date every single day and every night?!"
"No," he explained, "I was saying we went on a vacation somewhere. Um...that I went to work on a big case and you decided to help me."
"Oh, that's very original," she joked, "You should have called your dad, he could've come up with a better story than that!"
"Aw, cmon!" he complained, "And besides, he's a mystery novelist. Of course he'd come up with a better story."
"Your...kids meal children," they heard their waiter say from behind them.
"Um, thank you," they thanked him. Jimmy immediately began devouring his spaghetti. Rachel rolled her eyes at his bad table manners.
"So, after we tell him that big story, how is he going to take us in?" she asked him, "I mean, really. You can't expect a bunch of kids to come up and say, 'will you adopt me?!'"
"Well, umm..." he thought aloud, "maybe another adult! I have a friend named Dr. Agasa. He can help us out. We could even probably help us. Maybe give me some gadgets to help me solve cases or something while I'm kid."
"Oh good for you," she rolled her eyes again, "Well, continue Mr. Know-it-all."
"Well, anyways, we tell Mr. Agasa to say that..." he said, but stopped suddenly, "MMMHH! The spegetti's awesome! MMM, HMMM!"
"Get to the point MR. Detective!"
"Fine," he frowned and continued to disgust Rachel by talking with his mouth full, "We have him say that you're a relative of his and I'm a relative of Jimmy's. I was supposed to babysit, but the case was too dangerous to let me go with him I needed someone else to do it. So he wants both of us to stay with your dad because..." he stopped again, "Mmm! Fantastic, you've gotta try this!
"Get to the point Jimmy!"
"Ah, fine!" he hurried up, not wanting to feel Rachel's wrath, "So we tell him that he's got to, um, look after us for a while."
"Hm, hm..."
"And that you'll, um...hate him if he doesn't take care of us..." he told her, but didn't really like what he had said. Man that was lame. I've gotta come up with something better than that! "Well you think up something! You're the one who has to convince him!"
"Why do I have to convince him?"
"Because he can't say no to his only daughter, even if she isn't right there."
Hmmm, I wonder if he'll let me sleep in the same room with her. Or maybe in the same bed...and even taking a bath together...
"Jimmy," she asked him, noticing the obvious red on his face, "what are you blushing about?"
"Um, nothing!" he tried to cover up his lie, but the thought of them taking a bath together was still on his mind.
"Spill it Jimmy!" she ordered, "Or I'll give you a noogie again!"
That might not be so bad. Last time we ended up in...
He blushed again. Rachel noticed and wondered what she had said to make him blush. Must be the reminder of when I had him in my lap. Does that mean he'd like to do that again? Well, only one way to find out.
"Jimmy," she said, leaning close to him (they're in the same seat now, if you haven't noticed), "are you blushing because of me?"
He blushed even redder, and tried to look away from Rachel so she wouldn't notice. But he failed.
He keeps blushing! He must be thinking of me! Of what we just did five minutes ago! Then that means he...
"Hey, you kids enjoying your meal?" a young man came up and asked them. They nodded their heads as a yes, "Glad to hear it. Nice to see a couple of young faces in here. Usually all I get is drunk dudes from work. Well, enjoy yourselves. I have to get back to..."
"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" They heard a woman scream from behind them. Jimmy quickly leapt up, glad to be out of his current predicament, and went to go see if it was what he thought it was. And sure enough, next to the woman screaming was a woman, her face laying limply on the counter.
"Oh my god!" the man they had just met said, "How could this have happened?!"
"Someone call the police!" another lady said, feeling the victim over to see if she was dead. Jimmy then noticed something about her.
Her hands are wet. But if I recall, she never had anything to drink. And where have I seen her face before?
"Hey," said Rachel, "isn't she the lady in the picture we saw when we came in?"
"Oh, that's right!" he exclaimed, remembering, "didn't that article in the hallway say she used to work here and she won the bartending championships three times in a row?"
"Yeah, that's right. What was her name again?"
"Carol Larkins, I think," he said, and watched as the police arrived, "wow, that was quick!"
"Alright," said Inspector Maguire, "This is now a crime scene, so no one touch anything, got it?" everyone nodded their heads.
"Let's see here. Victim's name is Margaret Gauter. Owner of the resturaunt. Most of the customers were sitting in their seats, and only these three were up on the bar counter with the victim, who was having her last drink before she left to go run erRachelds, as I was told." Mr...Maguire began to interrogate the three subjects.
He started with the bartender, "Evan Clemmens. Age 20, just started working here, I see."
"Yes, sir. But recently I began coming in late because my gRacheldmother was sick and my mind was focused on her getting better so I wasn't doing so well at my job. So my boss said today would be my last day."
"Hey Jimmy," whispered Rachel, "wasn't that the guy that served our meal?"
"Yeah, you're right."
"So he fired you?"
"yes."
"I see. And you would be?" he asked the lady Jimmy had just seen.
"I'm Carol Larkins. I had come here to meet someone and to see how this old place was holding up after all these years."
"Ah, Ms. Larkins," Evan said to her, "You're the one my boss talked about. She said she thought you were having an affair with her husband."
"Is this true Ms. Larkins?" the inspector asked her.
"It's true. We've been seeing each other for nearly a month. We thought she had no idea, but I guess we were mistaken. The poor dear. She must have killed herself knowing that."
"Yeah, sure does look that way," the inspector said, "there's poison in her purse. I guess that's it."
But Jimmy wasn't so sure of that. But why would she kill herself here? Usually people kill themselves at home or some place private, not in a public place like a restauRachelt. No, this is definitely murder.
Jimmy picked up the poison and read the label. Blah blah blah, etcetera, etcetera. Hey, what's this ? Enters the bloodstream half a second after swallowing. Man, that's fast!
"Alright," said the inspector, walking up to Jimmy and Rachel, "You two were directly in the back of the restauRachelt. You had the perfect viewing point for seeing the murder taking place. Tell me, did you see anything suspicious?"
"No," said Rachel, "But I did notice Ms. Larkins go to the bathroom over there," she said, pointing towards the bathroom in the back next to the counter.
Bathroom, huh? I wonder...
Jimmy quietly crept away from the group. He made his way over towards the bathrooms and found his answer. Right in front of the bathrooms was a hollow beam that connected to the counter.
Ah ha! Looks like they missed something after all! I just need one more clue and then...huh, what's this?
In front of him was a glass steak that was left behind when the glass was thrown across the bar, like many bartenders do.
But the first one going into the beam is crooked. The one that leaves it is straight. Plus, the glass mark is facing the other way, which means...I got it! I've solved the case!
"Well, I guess that wraps things up," said the inspector, "Just another case of suicide."
"Hold it inspector," Jimmy said, "I don't think this is suicide at all!"
"What's that kid?" the inspector turned his head, wondering what this little boy was going on about, "Are you saying I'm wrong? That this is actually murder?"
"That's right!" he said, flashing a cute kid smile.
"Look kid, I don't think I have to explain myself again, but I will," he said, taking a deep breath, "The victim had pills in her purse and the only person who had the opportunity was the bartender was Mr. Clemmens here."
"He couldn't have," said Jimmy, "he was attending to us when it happened."
"But the drug's effects could have had a delay effect," the inspector argued, "He must have gone to you two to cover up his act."
"Wrong. If you read the label on the poison found in the purse, it enters the bloodstream in about half a second. He couldn't have been there and gone to us in that amount of time!"
"Then she dRachelk it later, when he was attending to you two."
"But if he did plan on that, it might not have worked. If he indeed wanted to cover up his tracks, he wouldn't use a quick-acting drug. He couldn't have done it, not with all of the 'what-ifs.'"
"Then it's still suicide. The victim must have killed herself!"
"Not with what I found in the back!"
"What's that?" the inspector asked, "What did you find?"
"Proof that someone else killed her," he said, and led them to the bar table, "First, notice Evan's streak marks caused by when he threw the drink across the bar."
"Yeah, so what? They're crooked," Maguire said, "He's new, so it's understandable."
"Yeah, but look at the streak after it leaves the pillar," Conan said, pointing to the second streak.
"I-it's perfectly straight!" Maguire exclaimed, "But h-how?"
"It's simple. Evan's innocent. Someone else must have interfered with the glass," he said, and made his way to the back of the bar, "If you look behind the bar, you'll see the pillar's hollow and big enough for someone to fit inside. The glass mark also shows that it was stopped for a moment and then thrown back."
"Yeah, but how did they do it?" Maguire said, "Surely the time difference would have been noticed by someone!"
"Not if you're a three-time winner at the bartending championships," he said, and turned around, "right Ms. Larkins? Being a three-time champion, you could easily stop the drink and put the poison in that quick."
She gasped, and Jimmy knew he had her, "Ms. Gauter didn't drink her drink immediately, but you didn't care. You were supposedly in the bathroom, so no one would suspect you."
"Supposedly?" she gasped, "I WAS in the bathroom, you brat!"
"Funny, if you did go to the bathroom, as you said, I doubt we would have missed the flushing of a toilet," Jimmy said and turned to Evan, "Did you hear anything from the bathroom at the time Mr. Clemmings?"
"No, actually. I didn't hear a thing!"
"And your hands were wet when the victim was killed, I noticed. If you had gone to the bathroom, you would have wiped your hands as well while you were at it," he said, "you got your hands wet from touching the wet glass from the drink."
"I...I..."
"Plus I notice that you were first to attend to the victim when she died. I think you planted those pills there to make it look like suicide!"
"But I..."
"He's got you there Ms. Larkins," said the inspector, "Anything else you'd like to add?"
She hung her head, trapped, "Yeah, he's right. I did it. I killed her so I could get to her husband. I thought since Evan was the bartender and was getting fired today, I wouldn't be suspected. But he went to talk to you kids, and he ruined my plan! And I planned to just plop the poison in quick, but that idiot of a bartender threw it too fast! I had to stop it or my plan would fail! Damn kid!"
"Save it for the courts, lady," the inspector said, cuffing her and sending her in the nearby police car. He then turned to Jimmy and smiled, "Thanks a lot. You're really smart for a kid. What's your name little boy?"
"Um, I'm...um," Jimmy stammered, trying to come up with a decent name.
"Cmon!" Rachel said, pulling his arm, "Sorry inspector, but we're late, and our folks must be worried! See ya!"
"Hey, wait up!" he shouted back at them, but they had both disappeared.
"Thanks a lot Rachel," Jimmy told her when they were out of viewing and hearing distance, "Don't know what I would have done."
"Well, let's get to your house before we start blabbing our names out," she suggested, "I mean, no one can bother us there because you're the only one that lives there."
Jimmy nodded, "Right, good idea," he agreed and they headed towards Agasa's house to plan what they were going to do next.
On the next Case Closed: Hi, it's Rachel this time! Well, we finally make it to the doc's house and, after we manage to convince him of who we are, we're finally going to get down to business and figure out who the heck we're gonna stay with! But enough about that. Seems Dr. Agasa's nephew's in town, and is very nosy about our relationship! Man, if he keeps on interrogating me, I might actually say something! What?! Jimmy's behind me? Ack!
A/N: well, that was harder than I thought. Whoever made was a good mystery writer. Man, it's hard! I mean, sure, you can get a good crime scene, but then you find loop holes in your idea and you have to go back and fix em! I don't think I'll be able to come up with a mystery for every chapter, sorry! Well, all that's left to do is REVIEW! Please?
P.S. Well was I right or what this guy can write. We are working on the enxt chapter and the more reviews the moe likely it will be for the next chapter to come, and well you know how hard it is for two people to think up ideas. However this is not interactive fic. so if you have ideas submit them to