Hattori had been running with the assumption that his friend was following him, so he was surprised when he had shown up alone. The police were still sweeping the room, and Ran sat down the hallway, tending to the young woman. Kogoro was questioning the older man, the old lady walking in from the bathroom with a worried look. Everyone was accounted for, but where had Shinichi gone?

He accepted that the house was large, and the child might have gone off somewhere else. Ran gasped as the woman began to wake up, holding her head and groaning. She could have valuable information, and the detective promptly forgot about his worries.

Through questioning her, the group learned a few interesting things. First, she had fallen unconscious under the influence of a sleep drug. She had bought a nail polish with her friend when they were bar-hopping and playfully stirred the water she had been provided when her nails changed. Of course, this was only after she had drunk it. Second, she had seen a shadow-like figure stabbing her boyfriend. She testified that she was too out of it to remember much more. Third, she recounted that the water had come from nowhere. They had both left to get ready for bed, and they came back to a made-up bed and glasses of water by the sides.

They continued to search for details, but her shock had seemed to stop her from thinking of any.

Shinichi woke with a start to a pitch-black surrounding. He was sat on a chair with his hands tied behind his back. With his awareness returning, he noticed that a blindfold was causing the darkness.

"You're finally awake," a female voice sounded. The assassin identified it as the older woman, "It's such a shame, really. I hadn't planned on doing more than killing that insufferable couple, but you and your friends just happened to show up at the worst time."

She slid a knife down his face and cut the blindfold off. The collateral was small, only gaining him a small scratch on the cheek. In a stressful situation, he defaulted to his playful coping mechanism.

"Hey, Granny. Where do you get off kidnapping children?" he chuckled, "Mind explaining why you're doing this?"

Seemingly taken aback by his attitude, the woman responded slowly, "Well, since you're going to die anyway, why not? You and your family stumbled upon a drug pedaling house deep in the woods. My husband and I have been running it for years. That wretched woman is my daughter. She and her boyfriend have fallen on hard times and had planned to kill us to collect insurance money. Of course, they didn't have the stomach, so they only fantasized. I, on the other hand, was fully prepared and decided that insurance money didn't sound too bad," she paused to cackle after her long-winded speech. She sobered up and seemed almost sad, "Really is sad, honey. You are some nice people, but we can't just let you go."

Shinichi sighed in amusement, "You do realize that you were the ones that invited us inside, right? We only asked to use your phone." he accused.

"I know, that old man doesn't know what's best sometimes. He must've forgotten about our previous commitment," she answered, slightly exasperated.

The child hummed and thought through his options. No doubt Hattori would come for him as soon as he realized he was missing, but it may take him a moment to find whatever room he was in. That was even assuming that boy wasn't caught up in the case. He could potentially escape by himself, but he wasn't entirely sure how to loosen his restraints. The previously harmless lady looked ready to kill, and he doubted that she discriminated. His shoulder was sure starting to hurt from this position.

The woman sat in thought and jolted. Soon after, she ran out of the room and up the stairs. This thought reminded him that he hadn't quite looked at his surroundings yet. He wasn't too excited by what he saw, though. The concrete room was filled with tools and instruments of torture. The pristine condition brought him to the startling realization that it was more commonly used than he had recently thought. The fact that there were stairs could confirm that they were underground.

The lightbulb above him flickered, and he thought of escape methods. His pride wouldn't allow him to be saved from an empty room with so many escape-friendly objects. Shinichi smiled when he spotted a sharp knife hanging off one of the lower tables. On the downside, he would need to grab the blade to get it.

He hopped over to the knife and grabbed it as gently as was possible. It was impossibly sharp, and he couldn't avoid a few shallow cuts. Once escaping the ropes, he wrapped his hands with a nearby cloth and stored the knife in his pocket, just in case the woman came back. He began up the stairs and back towards the house.

Hattori was relieved when Shinichi walked back towards the main room. He had been on the verge of looking for him.

"Hattori, I need to talk to you. Don't alert that I'm here." the child spoke quietly.

Listening to the instructions, the detective acted as if he were walking to the bathroom.

"What happened? Why is your face cut-your hands!" Hattori asked worriedly.

"I'll get to that…" The boy recounted his experiences since they had split up, exemplifying that the older woman was the culprit. While he was sure of it, he had no definitive proof with him. He would have to convince everyone to go to the shack in the woods without showing that he had escaped, "Hattori, I need you to follow me."

The sticks and leaves crunched underneath despite their attempt to be quiet. In his earlier haste, Shinichi had forgotten to look for potential surveillance. As such, they were essentially walking in blind.

A buzzing sound brought attention to a small tripwire that Hattori had been awfully close to activating. Thankfully, the mechanism was cheap and loud. This instance increased the pair's perception, but there didn't seem to be further measures.

Finally, the two happened back across the cabin he had escaped from. The outside was disarming, looking like it was about to cave in. A sudden cracking jolted the teens and alerted them to a spot beside them.

"Oh? You aren't my assignment!" A gruff voice broke through the trees.

As it stood, Hattori was hidden behind the tree and couldn't be seen. Shinichi sighed at the new occurrence. They couldn't catch a break, could they?

"Hey, kid! Where's the old woman? She sold Boss some defective stuff!" the man yelled harshly.

The child decided to act as his anatomy dictated, "Sir? Why are you so mad?" he started on the verge of tears, "I-I think they live in that house on the hill." he began to convincingly cry hysterically, hoping the man would abandon him.

The knucklehead ran into the trees and away, cheap handgun in tow.

"Should I be concerned with your actin' skills?" the detective broke the silence.

Shinichi only smirked and walked towards the dilapidated door.