Part 3
Elizabeth Green was confused. She had been in the crowd when Kid had gotten away. She was new to Japan, so she did not know why a thief would announce what they were going to steal to the police and when he was going to steal it.
She was being pushed by some of the people in the crowd. "How rude," she muttered in English. "Excuse me, what's going on here?" she asked the tan boy with the cap she saw by the fountain. There was a child and what looked like a police officer there as well. "Who was that thief? And..." She trailed off as she noticed the body. She screamed, backing up and bumping into a stranger. "Sumimasen!" she said, bowing to the Japanese girl frantically. "I wasn't watching where I was going, the body scared me," she said in Japanese.
She turned back to see what the boy had to say, hoping her Japanese wasn't too bad. She had never had to talk like this with a Japanese person and she was fresh out of high school with only two years of high school Japanese and a summer term at the community college. She adjusted her glasses, which was something she would do when she was nervous.
Heiji frowned. Another foreign girl? He was about the open his mouth to reply when Nakamori-keibu jumped in after dropping Conan. "You saw Kid?!" he demanded. Apparently, he didn't hear the first part of her words.
"She did not see Kid, Inspector," Heiji told him with a frown, pushing him away from the girl. To Elizabeth, he explained, "That thief is Kid. Don't mind about him, he's just a common show-off. And please, everyone, don't go near the body until the police have arrived." Obviously you aren't going to do anything about it, he thought grudgingly as he side-glanced at Nakamori-keibu, who seemed to be questioning everyone in the crowd for Kid.
Heiji noticed that Conan was back on the floor and picking up something. "What do you have there, Kudo?" he asked.
---
"Argh, darn it! I know it already, I'm late, I'm late!" the blonde teen cursed herself, sitting impatiently in the back seat of a taxi. Suzuki Sonoko growled, constantly looking out the windows to see what was going on. Traffic was bad, and this car was getting nowhere. "Forget it, I can walk from here, sir!" She forked over a bit of cash. "Keep the change."
Pushing the door open, she rushed out of the car and down the street, going where the huge but thinning crowd was. "Darn it! If I missed seeing Kid again, I'll---ooh! Curse my sister for telling me about this so late!"
Sonoko pushed into the crowd, in a hurry to locate her friend Ran, whom she knew was around here. The point of interest seemed to be at the center; why was everyone crowding around there? Over somebody's shoulder, she spotted Conan. If Conan was here, Ran was definitely nearby!
"Oy! Chibi-chan!" The child looked up sourly; there was only one person who called him that. Oooh! That tanned-skin guy is here too! Sonoko thought gleefully. "Hey, kid, where's---oh my..." Sonoko stopped short, noticing the corpse.
Conan turned from Sonoko to look at Heiji after examining the object he had picked up with his handkerchief. "It's a Joker, from a deck of cards," he said matter-of-factly. Heiji took the card from Conan's hand and studied it himself. "My initial thought was that someone is trying to frame Kid, because usually he leaves no evidence of his thieveries, but then I noticed that it was the same type of card he uses. Still, Kid isn't the type of guy to misplace his belongings," explained Conan. Heiji nodded, agreeing with him.
Nakamori-keibu ran up behind him and swiftly grabbed the card from Heiji, apparently thinking that he had proof of Kid's involvement in the crime. "I knew it! Kid is the murderer!" he bellowed, and everyone around him gasped.
Heiji snatched the card back, looking annoyed. "Kid is NOT the murderer," he retorted. "Don't jump to conclusion!"
"This is hard evidence, and I'm not jumping to conclusion!" Nakamori-keibu snapped, taking the card again.
"Anyone could have taken a card from some deck and put it there!" Heiji tried to snatch it again. They ended up pulling at both ends, until---
RRRIIIIIIIIIIPPPP!
Both of them including Conan, who was narrow-eyed, stared at the torn cards. "Oops."
---
"See, I told you you'd be blamed," Christie told Kid, after listening to the commotion outside for a while. She had managed to convince Kid that she thought he was innocent, but that the police would blame him. "Don't worry, we'll catch the real killer." Once again, she grabbed at the thief's hand, only to discover it was no longer there.
Whew, that was close, Kid thought as he struggled through the crowd after swiftly changing into his old look---Kuroba Kaito, in normal jeans, shirt and cap. But his hand continued to bleed, and it hurt. He wrapped a handkerchief around it and made sure it was secure. He could see Christie not far behind trying to look for him. Sorry, but I have to do this alone, he thought as he ran towards where he thought the murder occurred. He stopped very fast when he saw Inspector Nakamori. He stood near the edge of the crowd, his cap lowered so that the inspector would not spot him.
Isn't that mine? he thought in surprise when he recognized the card in their hands. I've been looking all over for it since the last theft. I only used the cards to shake off the police, but they disappeared after the trick. Hey! He watched in shock as the card got ripped. That was my favorite! Darn, I'll have to get a new deck.
---
Sonoko could not decide whether to look away or to keep staring; her sight kept on shifting between the now-dead person that lay on the hard pavement and out into the crowd in attempt to drown out the thoughts.
"K-Kid?" she stuttered. "N-no, Kid doesn't kill...he wouldn't kill! Would he...?"
She eyed the Osaka-jin and Inspector Nakamori arguing over the possible murderer, ripping what little evidence there was in half.
"You two, cut it out!" Sonoko barked, managing to cough up a bit of courage. "This isn't getting anywhere with you two bickering...and Ran---where's Ran-chan?!"
"Sonoko-chan! Hattori-kun!" Ran shouted, running in their direction. Leaning forward with her hands on her knees, she caught her breath. Then she rushed up to Conan. "Conan-kun, stop making me worried! Oh!" She stopped short when she saw the dead body. Not again.
Heiji did not hear Sonoko or Ran as he was too busy glaring at Nakamori-keibu. "Look what you did!" the inspector bellowed angrily. "You ripped the evidence in half! I will arrest you for that!"
Heiji rolled his eyes. "It's not all my fault! You're the one who's out of your mind!"
"I'm not out of my mind, you are! Wait, you must be Kid in disguise! You must have purposely did this to clear your name! Don't think you can trick me!" Nakamori-keibu wrapped an arm around Heiji's throat and pinched his face, pulling it. Heiji exclaimed in surprise, trying to push Nakamori-keibu off him.
Meanwhile, Kaito was watching in amusement. "What an idiot," he snickered. "He doesn't even know that I'm right here."
"Sonoko-chan? You're here too?" Kazuha blinked, having taken the liberty to (or was going to) deliver the coffee she bought. Ahou, she thought, berating herself. The heist...of course, why the heck else would she be here?
Smiling slightly (though a bit wryly), she handed over a coffee to Sonoko, as well as one for Ran.
"T-thank you, Kazuha-chan..." Sonoko bowed her head gently, taking the coffee into her hands. Just what I needed...but I don't like this---I don't like this at all! Kid would never kill! I don't care if I don't know him personally!
She shivered, trying her best to keep her thoughts away from the murder. Sonoko did not like to see anyone dead, much less the sight of blood---not at all.
Glancing around in the crowds, she noticed a teenaged boy, who looked to be about her age. Even under the hat he was wearing, she could still notice the wild brown hair that stuck out underneath it. He...his face...he almost looks like Kid! I'm crazy. Kid wouldn't come on right back down here. Not after this. She sighed, taking a sip of her warm coffee.
"Goodness," someone murmured. It was a teenager dressed up like Sherlock Holmes, pacing around with his trusty hawk perched on his shoulder. "It's no use fighting over a piece of evidence that had been tarnished for at least four minutes, fifty-five seconds, twenty-three centiseconds, twenty-nine milliseconds, and seventeen nanoseconds. You people have been fighting for two minutes, twenty-nine seconds, forty-seven centiseconds, thirty-nine milliseconds, and nine---no, make that ten nanoseconds." He clicked his British-looking pocket watch shut and replaced it back into his pocket.
The mad brawl temporarily stopped. Nakamori-keibu frowned. "And just what are YOU doing here? I've had enough with high school detectives, you know!"
"Then how about an FBI agent?" asked a feminine voice in English, appearing suddenly from behind the tall half-British boy.
Sonoko continued to look around, then suddenly--- "What?" Sonoko cried. "Ran-chan, look! It's Jodie-sensei!"
Jodie was busy talking to Nakamori-keibu, and then winked at her former students. She rippled her fingers in a quick, shy wave. "Oh, Sonoko! Hello!"
Ran looked where Sonoko was pointing and saw Jodie-sensei waving. She laughed and waved back---it seemed like everyone had turned up to see the Kid's heist---and now apparent homicide. Ran just could not believe it of Kid, though. He was not a murderer, she didn't think. Conan did not think so, either, after all, or so it seemed.