Too Close for Comfort
Chapter One: Missing
"Mouri detective agency," Ran answered expertly into the phone. "Oh hi, Dr. Agasa! Conan-kun? Yes, of course." Cupping her hand over the bottom of the phone, Ran called out. "Conan-kun! Phone!"
"Coming, Ran-neechan!" Somewhere in the apartment a door closed and Conan, still in his pajamas, stepped into the office soon afterwards. He gave a long yawn, and then reached up to Ran for the phone. Ran handed it to him with a smile and headed towards the kitchen to prepare breakfast.
"Moshi-moshi," Conan said tiredly into the phone, rubbing his eye with his free hand. "Oh, good morning Dr. Agasa. Is something wrong? It's early."
"Shin'ichi, are you sitting down?" Agasa asked quickly.
"Yes," he lied. "Why?"
"It's Haibara. She's gone missing!" Agasa yelled in worry.
Conan's eyes went wide, and he almost dropped the phone. He gripped the phone with his second hand as the initial shock left him, but his mouth hung open. His heart had sped up and his breathing had become quick and light.
"Shin'ichi, are you still there? Shin'ichi!"
"H-hai. Are you sure she hasn't just gone out for a walk?"
"I'm sure of it! She usually tells me these things. Her research is all gone and her part of the lab has been destroyed!" Another long pause followed. "Shin'ichi?"
"I'm here. I'll be over there soon."
"Be careful, Shin'ichi!" Agasa warned. There was no answer. Only the dial tone.
"What did Dr. Agasa want, Conan-kun?" Rachel asked, walking into the room as he struggled to climb down from the chair after putting the phone back.
"He made breakfast for me and Haibara," Conan lied. "Can I go, Ran-neechan?" Putting on the best smile he could in this situation, he inched his way towards his room.
"Well, I guess it's okay. He must not make breakfast often to call you over for this," Ran replied thoughtfully.
"No. He usually doesn't."
"Oh really?" said Rain with a smile. "If that's the case, I'll go too."
"N-nani!" Conan exclaimed. "No, you can't go, Ran-neechan. Dr. Agasa doesn't have enough food made for you, too."
"I don't mind, Conan-kun."
"B-but-" Conan thought frantically. Ran couldn't possible go. It was out of the question! "But what about your dad? He doesn't know how to make his own breakfast. He'd burn the apartment down!"
"You're right." Ran thought a moment, lowering her head. "Well, just wait a few minutes and I'll have something made for dad. Then we can leave." With a smile, Ran went back into the kitchen to finish the food.
Conan, on the other hand, rushed to his room to get dressed. Hardly a minute later, the apartment door was slamming behind him as he ran out, still a mess.
"Conan-kun?" Ran called, taking a peek out of the kitchen.
There was no response.
With an annoyed sigh, Ran turned back to making breakfast for her and her father.
The first thing he'd noticed had been the scratching on the keyhole. Obviously someone had struggled to get inside, and fast. His best guess was that Haibara had been chased back to the house sometime late in the night. Then there were the two muddy sets of footprints much too large to be hers. Considering that her footprints had not been muddy, but only dusty, he assumed that they hadn't been with her most of the trip. He supposed that they'd waited for her in a dark, unconcerned alley somewhere. He could follow them and find out where they had come from, but where they went would remain a mystery. In the house the mud had slowly died away until there was none left to follow for their escape. And Haibara had been grabbed and carried, for her prints had suddenly halted in one place. But why hadn't Dr. Agasa heard anything?
"Dr. Agasa?" Conan yelled. After a moment's silence, he heard the quick thudding of the large man running downstairs.
"Shinichi!" Agasa called happily. "I'm glad you're here."
"Of course I'm here. What happened?"
"I don't know. But Haibara's antidote has been taken. All of her research is gone, and so is she!"
"Did they leave anything behind? A not or - or something?" He paused, thinking again over what he'd just said. "Wait, you mean she actually made an antidote?"
"Yes!" Agasa answered exasperatedly. "Well, maybe. She was going to call you over today to test it. But she only made on, just in case it didn't work."
"And now she and it are gone! Damn it!" Shinichi yelled, banging his small fist on Agasa's work desk.
"Shin'ichi, you don't think that it was-" Agasa started.
"I'm sure it was. There's no other explanation for the antidote being taken," Shinichi answered grimly.
"But if they know who she is, then surely they've figured out who you are."
"That's what I'm afraid of." Shinichi paused and started towards the soccer ball that had been left in the living room. Agasa was silently watching him as he placed his foot underneath it and expertly kicked it up. He then commenced in juggling the ball, as he often did when in thought.
"If that's the case," he continued after a moment, "then they'll definitely be after me as well to finish off the job. If I were them, I'd wait for a time when I was alone. But then why weren't they waiting for me to come here? They must have known that this would be the first place I'd go."
"Maybe they're testing you," Agasa suggested.
"That's possible. But there's no reason for them to do that. They want me dead, plain and simple. The only thing I can come up with is that they don't know yet, which isn't likely either. But if they do know who I am, then where else would they go? Certainly not-" There he stopped, eyes wide. The soccer ball hit with a soft thud on the flood.
"Not where?" Agasa asked in worry.
"Ran!"