Ch3

Conan's hand stopped shortly before making the rest of its way to the small office door to knock. "Come in," Ran said.

Nervously, the boy opened the door. "Good morning Conan-kun, 9:00 exactly, right on time," Ran said with hyper jubilancy.

"Uh…good morning?" Conan replied with some uncertainties.

"Sorry about yesterday, there was a little…personal matter that was bothering me," she explained, putting her hands together apologetically.

"I see," Conan faltered as he took his seat.

"Now than Mr. Big Talk. You told inspector Park that you would give him your second suspicion you have toward the case after 24hours. What are you planning?" she asked him.

Conan blinked a few times with a small sweat-drop hanging from his left temple.

"Conan-kun?" Ran nudged her head.

"Um..uh..(Shakes head) Yeah, I was thinking we could go visit Smith," Conan replied.

"You mean the murderer?"

"Yeah him."

"We could but he has one heck of a lawyer with him that just refuses to tell anyone a thing," Ran folded her arms with a pout.

"That's alright, all I want to do is see him," Conan said with slick confidence.

Oooooooooooooo

The room they were told to wait in was a small room with a one sided mirror. A single table with 4 chairs, 2 on each side, was the centerpiece of the chamber and a security camera was placed in the corner. Of course, that one was a fake and the real camera was embedded into the wall and filming through one of the hundreads of small holes that scattered upon it as decoration.

The door opened and two walked in—A man and a woman. Smith turned to the young lad and furrowed his brow. 'What's with the brat?' he thought. His appearance had something primal about it. The broad shoulders, the large nose, eyes that seemed like it would scorch the earth before it, and the fact that there was a small fuzz on his face from lack of shaving just added to his Neanderthal looks.

The woman that followed him, who introduced her as Smith's lawyer, Kelsey Borgans, was a proud woman. Her chest held high, her posture straight yet elegant, and the clipboard that tucked firmly under her armpit instructed authority. Middle aged but still nonetheless admirable. Conan swallowed nervously for there was a resemblance between her and the queen of the courts, Kisaki Eri interms of the similarities in the atmosphere the two gave off.

Waiting for her client to take his seat first, Borgans straightened her business skirt before lowering herself to her chair.

"Are you here to clear my innocence?" Smith croaked with some arrogance.

"I'm here to find out the truth, whether that will lead to your innocence or not will depend on what the truth is," Conan replied.

The man made a 'che' sound through his teeth as though he knew what he had heard was coming.

Borgans held a hand to her client to tell him that she would be doing the speaking from there on. "The court has not issued a final guilty charge as of yet, and I assure you, they never shall," she said as though she looked at them as just another two enemies trying to prove Smith's guilty charge.

"The police has evidence from the shirt the victim was wearing that the bullet had entered from the back of the victim," Ran said simply to see the reaction of the two.

The man hissed through his lips with boredom, looking to another direction.

"That is true," his lawyer said without hesitation. Then with a smirk, she continued, "But the police also lost the knife the victim attacked him with. THE POLICE also lost the knife, which would have proved to be a vital evidence of the case toward my client's defense. It would make the jury wonder just how reliable your test results really are."

Ran's natural instinct as a lawyer made her want to challenge the debate but Conan saw this and gave her a nudge under the table before she could protest. "Mr. Smith," Conan said, "May we see this wound you received from the attack?"

The man turned to his lawyer who nodded. Rolling his sleeves up, he revealed a deep scar on the side of his left arm, right between the triceps and biceps that seemed to be still not yet fully healed. Conan took a quick look then nodded to tell him he could put his sleeve down.

"Could you explain to me in your own words what happened?" Conan asked.

"I went to his house to ask him to return my bike," he said with a sigh as though he had said the same story over and over again, "Things got a little out of hand and when I threatened to call the cops on him, he charged at me. As he did, he picked up a knife off the ground then stabbed me in the arm."

Conan's eye thinned a second but returned to its original size as the man continued. "That's when I shot him with the gun I was carrying under my belt."

"You always carry a gun with you?" Ran asked.

"Never left home without one. Especially with the number of murders breaking records in this city for some reason this year," he chuckled.

Ran frowned. But what the man said was true. Strangely enough, there had been 14 murders this year and it was still just the start of March. Compare that with the highest of 2 murders in the previous 10 years, the city had practically gone berserk with the news. Ran had formed two theories for it. The first, 'Those damn American immigrants,' and the second, she had formed just last night, 'Maybe they heard Conan was coming.'

She released a small giggle, which Borgans turned to with a questioning stare. Ran immediately shook off her daydream and returned her 'poker face' on.

Conan rolled his eyes. 'Her attention span still hasn't grown much,' he though secretly and decided to ignore it.

"Well, thank you for your cooperation Mr. Smith. We'll see you soon,' Conan said while standing and leaning back slightly to stretch his back.

"Any time," Smith replied with arrogance he had during the entire time.

Two police entered the room and cuffed smith to escort him out. As the man slid past the two investigators, he gave a small wink and made a kiss sound with his lips toward Ran before going out with his lawyer.

Ran gave a sickening glare and turned away with disgust.

To avoid unwanted ears, the two decided to wait until they were out of the structure before speaking of the case. Conan and Ran seated themselves in the car and rolled down a bit of their windows to release some of that 'car smell,' that seems to build up every time the door closes. "So did you get what you came for?" Ran asked.

"Yeah," Conan nodded pleasantly. Ran started the engine and backed the car out of its parking space. "Where we headed now?" the boy asked when Ran finished backing.

Ran thought shortly. "How about lunch?" she asked.

"It's still a bit early but I guess it's alright," replied the teenage detective casually.

The restaurant that Ran had chosen was on the third floor of a large Chinese castle-like structure on the Corner for China-town in downtown. Regency Palace was the restaurant's name. A small bridge over a tiny pond led up to the counter where two waitresses bowed to their arrival. Conan had a small phobia toward Chinese restaurants ever since he watched a video on "how to make Cat Fried Rice." But since it was Ran's treat, he decided to take the offer without arguments.

The dining area was enormous. At the far end, an area was left open as a stage for night shows and hosts of celebrations. But what caught the boy's eyes more than anything, more than the giant golden fishes of the end wall, more than the red carpet and the oversized windows, was the buffet table right next to the entrance.

Ran released a giggle but pulled the boy away. Conan gave a disappointed awe but his laughs returned when she told him that he still gets all you can eat dessert even if he ordered.

The waitress came and Ran ordered a meal for two. Now that the teen was pulled away from the buffet, Conan finally saw the other spectacles of the restaurant.

"Conan-kun," Ran said quietly, different from the cheerfulness she had the entire morning.

Conan turned to her questioningly.

"D…So how have you been these years?" Ran laughed, not being able to ask the boy her real question.

Conan noticed but he decided not to show. "I've been doing okay."

"Do you still talk to Ayumi-chan and them?"

"I see them online from time to time. Mitsuhiko got in University of Tokyo and Ayumi got into Keiou Business school."

Ran raised an impressed brow.

"Genta got accepted into a university but he didn't want it so his taking a year of college to reapply for one of the two," Conan said.

"Well good for him," Ran said. As the topic died, her anxiety to ask came back, darkening her expression.

Just when she was about to give another attempt to her question, the waitress returned with their food.

'Why can't I ask him,' she wondered as she pinched a slice of chicken with her chopsticks, 'I know he knows something about Shinichi but why can I just ask him?'

More food arrived. "Yang Zhou Chao Fan, Peking duck, Qing Zheng You Choi," the waitress announced while putting down each dish.

'Am I avoiding him? Am I trying to avoid Shinichi?' Ran continued to think, scooping some rice into her bowl. 'Am I afraid? No, that's stupid, what am I afraid of?'

The tired sweating face of the boy in thought flashed to her mind. Her chewing slowed and she shrunk in her seat.

"Something wrong Ran-neechan?" Conan asked.

Ran jumped. "No, it's nothing. I was just…thinking about the case," she shook her head. "Here eat," she insisted, scooping a hearty mount of rice into the boy's bowl.

Conan forced a laugh, "Thanks…" he said. Turning back to his food, he rang his throat nervously. 'Fried Rice,' he gave his head a shake. The sound of the screaming cat seemed to echo in his head. Slowly, he scooped some of it with his chopsticks and brought it to eye level.

Ooooooooooooooo

"Did you like it?" Ran asked at the front counter while waiting for her receipt.

"If I knew Cat Fried Rice tasted that good I would have raised cats myself a long time ago," Conan joked.

"Don't start cause its illegal here," Ran joked in return.

Since the restaurant wasn't more than three four blocks away from the government building, they decided to just leave the car where it was and walk back to the lab. Unlike the previous day, the two were talking the entire time. It seems truly as though they had just met after 10years. No matter how much or how quickly they talked, it seemed like there were always a million more topics they wished to cover before heading back to work, but as time would have it, none gets that sort of luxury.

Detective Park was seated in his office with his elbows rested on top of the desk and hands together just under his chin when the two entered through the door formally.

"Welcome back Ms. Mouri, Mr. Edogawa," he greeted, "You still have some time before your 24hours is up Conan, but seeing how you've decided to return, I trust you did not come back empty handed?"

"No sir," Conan answered with a firm stance.

"Ahh relax, I'm just fooling with you," Park laughed, "I may have been asked to give you two's interview but I'm not in a much higher rank than you two. No need for sir's with me. Now then, let's hear what you have?"

"Sure Sir…uh…Jason," Conan slouched slightly, which Ran giggled to, "Anyways, I and... Rachel went to go visit Smith today."

"The culprit?"

"Yes. I decided to ask him what happened."

"I thought you read the case."

"I have, but sometimes members involved will recall different things after different times to an event."

Park nodded.

"I've noticed something quite peculiar about what I heard from Smith today. First, not only did he almost recite the words I had read in the file, which made me think if his lawyer had made him memorize or not, there was something that did not match with his words."

Ran took her seat and Conan followed.

"I'm listening," Park said.

"From what he spoke, as it was written in the files as well, the victim charged toward him after losing temper over the threat of police involvement. Here is where I find something peculiar. The victim picked up the knife, as he was charging, off the ground, then used that knife to stab Smith in the arm. When I looked at Smith's wound, it showed distinctly that the blade had entered from above with the blade side down. Yet, if he was attacked as he had described, the wound should have indicated that the knife should have entered from below with the blade facing up," Conan explained.

"Then are you saying that he is lying?" Park asked, refusing to show how the boy's logic impressed him.

"I did not say that. My observation is leaning toward that side but as we all know, anything can happen in a crime," Conan answered, placing his well-known smirk to his face.

Ran's hands tightened on her pants. The image him and him overlapped in her mind again. If it was anybody else, they may have said it was mere coincidence but to her, it was something more. It wasn't just the boy's actions, it was his reasoning, his ways of observation, his thinking pattern; everything was a perfect match. 'No, that can't be it. It must be hallucination. Conan looks like Shinichi, so he makes me think about Shinichi. That's why his behavior is appearing identical to Shinichi. My mind's playing tricks on me, yeah, that must be it.' She said to herself but did not fully believe in it.

Ooooooooooooooo

Back in the confinement of her room, Ran suspired while hugging her pillow. 'The whole day went by and I still can't bring myself to asking Conan about Shinichi.'

The image of the his appearance that night flashed in her mind again.

'What happened to you Shinichi? Where are you?' "Are you still…alive?" she whispered, turning her head slight to look at the tiny-framed picture.

TBC…

Been a while since I updated this, hope you're all still hanging in there. I probably lost all my readers by now but hey, better late than never right? Oh, I haven't written this down in a while but "speech", 'Thought,' (most of the time).

Reviews:

mystriaL-aNgeL: so much for the quick update, sorry, don't be mad heh heh…

Iiiris: Hey, how you doing. With me gone from the group, you'll have to take over all the Conan episodes but you'll manage, I know you will. Good luck!

SanaAkoSiKaitouKid: Thank you dearly, sorry for the late update but remember, I will never abandon a story if I keep it posted on the site!

The Poker Face: Thank you, hope you've enjoyed this chap if you're still there haha.