It looked like Kaito was right about gossiping reporters, at least at this paper. As soon as they started questioning people a thousand rumors turned up. Most were pretty sensational but everyone down to the janitor agreed on some things, such as the fact that Mochizuki had apparently been having an affair and just that morning he and his wife had a loud discussion about it in his office. Ms. Mochizuki had stormed out of the building afterwards.

"Did Mochizuki have any enemies that you know of?" Asked Shinichi.

"Enemies?" Answered Sato Mari, a columnist. "Honey, most of the people here have enemies, it goes with the job. 'Course with the Boss it went well beyond enemies."

"Why is that?"

"Annoying people wasn't just his career, it was his hobby." She leaned back in her chair as she talked. "He'd threaten to fire half the newsroom daily; the other half would be threatening to quit. And his only good points were he had an instinct about news stories, no one and nothing could intimidate him or make him drop a good story, and no one could claim he was prejudiced because he treated everyone like crap. I don't know anyone who liked him. And his wife wasn't any better, if it's possible she was even worse."

"Worse?"

"He was always a jerk to your face, She was one behind your back."

Everyone in the building seemed to share Sato's opinion of the Mochizukis, unfortunately this didn't help much as so far it seemed like everyone had a motive. The secretary, Yamaguchi Oharu was even less help than they thought. Although she provided plenty of information, none of it really narrowed down the list of suspects.

"You don't know who could have been in his office?"

"No, he sent me out to get his lunch." She said.

"He was eating his lunch shortly before he was killed."

"I, I forgot to bring the donuts he asked for. I brought his lunch from that place around the corner but I forgot the donuts he liked and he sent me right back out, by the time I got back the police were already here."

"Do you know of anybody who might have wanted him dead?"

"Um, well last year he ran a story about the city councilman who was involved in a hit and run and almost killed a little girl. And just a few months ago when we were doing a story on the substandard materials used by the company that built that school that collapsed in the earthquake last fall. He received some threats, he was told to drop the story or else."

"How did he react to these threats?"

"He laughed and said, he said he didn't feel he was doing his job unless he received a couple 'death threats' a week." She looked down at her hands as she twisted her fingers together. Her knuckles were white with the force of her grip.

"Are you alright Miss?" Asked one of the officers. "You don't look well."

"I, I'm fine. It's just, I talked to him a little while ago and everything was normal and, and I can't believe he's dead. It doesn't seem real, I keep expecting to wake up."

"Did he receive any threats or warnings recently?"

"No, not that I know of. But he often ignores them."

"Did anything out of the ordinary happen today? Did he seem nervous or upset?"

"He acted like he always does, but his wife did come by today and they always yell a lot but this time it was different."

"Different how?"

"Well I couldn't hear what they said in his office but they argued a long time and when she came out she told him to 'do the world a favor' and 'choke to death on his own bile'. And he yelled back "You first old hag!" Usually they finish arguing before she leaves his office." Her voice was very soft and sad as she spoke.

"Can you think of anything else that seemed out of place?"

"No, I'm sorry I don't remember any thing else unusual."

As the young secretary left the room looking more pale than ever Aoko commented, "She's not taking this well at all, is she?"

"Well she's only twenty and I don't think she's been this close to a murder before. Poor girl." Said Ran.

They talked to Shimada Ryoichi, a middle aged reporter, next.

"Did you see any thing unusual?"

"Not really, But I was going through some old files stored on the ground floor so I didn't see much of anybody. I did see his wife leave after their daily fight."

"Daily fight?"

"Yeah, she comes by almost every day before lunch and they yell a while then she leaves with the guy she sees. He works next door and gets off at noon and they usually go off somewhere together for a few hours then she comes back, gets in her car and leaves." He leaned backin his seatand put his hands behind his head as he continued."I was outside taking a smoke break when she came out and stalked off down the street looking like someone took a leak in her tea." Ran and Aoko seemed a bit surprised at the creative imagery, Kaito looked like he wanted to remember that phrase for use later.

"So she seemed very unhappy when she left?" Asked Shinichi.

"About like she always does."

"I see… Did you see anyone else enter or leave the building?"

"Just Yamaguchi, his secretary she came in a few minuets before Ms Mochizuki left. She was carrying a bag from the deli down the street. I think she left again about a half hour later."

"She left? Do you know why?"

"I don't know, I didn't see her leave I only heard her."

"You heard her?"
"Yeah, she's wearing squeaky shoes today. Mr. Mochizuki sent her on errands all over the building 'squeak squeak squeak' it's been getting on my nerves."

"What time did this take place?"

"Yamaguchi left aboutten or twentyminutes before someone stated yelling for an ambulance."

"Did anyone else enter or leave the building during that time?"

"I don't know. I didn't hear anybody else but I wasn't paying attention."

After Shimada left the room Inspector Meguire asked Shinichi and Kaito if they had any real suspects yet.

"Not yet. Most of the building had a motive, and apparently half of Tokyo as well. This guy made enemies like Kudo attracts mysteries." Said Kaito ignoring the glare from Shinichi and muffled laughter from Ran. "Plus it would have been easy for some one to enter and leave his office without anyone seeing them. I am suspicious of a few people though, and I'm sure Kudo has some ideas as well but we need evidence."

Tigger and Manzanita say, "Thank you, everybody who reviewed.
Fyliwion,
Psycho King,
Vash,
Billie Jukes (We like your kind of greedy, it means we did a good job. Yes the girls think it's odd that Shinichi and Kaito act so much like Conan and Arthur but Aoko knows Kaito doesn't have a brother and Ran thinks she has talked to Shinichi and even seen him while Conan was in the same room so neither of the girls are suspicious yet.)
Aikachi (The arguments are fun to write!)
Clamowamo,
Rose (No I haven't changed my pen name. Why do you ask?)
Jay Kamiya (Heiji and Hakuba will show up soon)
Juliechan (I'm sorry you are unhappy with the length of the chapters but Tigger doesn't have internet access and Manzanita has a learning disability that makes it hard to write or type and between school and work most of this story is written in whatever time we can find before breakfast or late at night.)
Jackie G,
TabbythaMiyano,
PryncessD (Shinichi and Ran have already been to the movies. Kaito went to see his Mom first so he and Aoko didn't get there before getting caught up in the mysteries.)
Snickerer (We really enjoyed your reviews, especially that you went into detail about what you liked about our story. Specific things people liked or didn't like help us improve our writing. Yes this is the first story here with Kaito getting shrunk. The confrontation scenes were a challenge to write with everybody in character and I'm glad you liked how they came out. Dialogue is fun and comes out better when we read it out loud to each other to make sure it sounds 'real', some of the arguments are actually inspired by real life arguments. Hope you like this chapter as much as you liked the others.)"