:)
FOUNDER OF CROMARTY INC. PASSES AWAY AFTER LONG ILLNESS, LEAVES NOTHING BUT STATUES TO FAMILY
FAMILY OF THOMAS CROMARTY QUESTIONING HIS SANITY PRIVATELY, SAY CONFIDENTIAL SOURCES
STRANGE FIGURINES THOMAS CROMARTY'S ONLY BEQUEST TO SURVIVING RELATIVES
Well, at least it had been easy enough to find more information on the history of the Cromarty family.
The family had been the source of the Buddha statue's loan to the museum for its 'Jade Through The Ages' exhibit, once Saguru had gone looking for data in older American newspapers that were cached on microfilm instead of more current papers. Of course, he'd found an article or two in British papers as well but the American papers definitely held the brunt of the collective data, and once he had begun digging he had rapidly realized why.
He had started his search by going about thirty years back, but quickly realized that if these statues dated back to 1928 as the stolen statue's plaque had indicated, then he should probably go dig in the newspapers from 1920 to 1930. Specifically, larger newspapers that would be more likely to have crime sections back then. He'd found the first of his articles almost immediately when he began perusing the New York Times from August of 1920- a front-page story that had a picture of a middle-aged plump, jolly-looking man in a suit at what looked like a grand opening event. The man was cutting a huge ribbon with a pair of clownishly large scissors, and it was described by the caption 'Cromarty Cuts The Ribbon On Another Plant' below the photo.
Thomas Cromarty had been your stereotypical all-American success story almost straight out of Hollywood Central Casting or a movie script. A boy born on the wrong side of the tracks (in an era when that term had quite the literal meaning) who had worked hard, scraped together money and put himself through college. He had then built a successful, multimillion-dollar shipping company with headquarters in Japan, Britain and America from the ground up using sheer determination, moxy and an amazing knack for business. During the process of building his empire, he'd somehow found the time to marry his college sweetheart, Lisa Daniels, and have two children with her over the next three years, a boy, Thomas Cromarty II, and a girl, Elaine.
From what Saguru could see things had been going along swimmingly for the multimillionare over the next thirty or so years- more ribbon cuttings, more amassing and enlargement of the family fortune and ever more expansion of his business- until Cromarty had learned in the mid 1920s at the age of roughly sixty that he had leukemia. And unfortunately for him, that was back in the era when cancer tended to be ugly, painful, and for the most part untreatable except by methods that tended to make the ailments and symptoms worse instead of better. In fact, it looked like Cromarty had just laid back and let the cancer run its course without a fight after learning that he had it, stating publicly that he wasn't going to put his body or his family through the torments.
The cancer had finally taken Thomas Cromarty a year and a half later, with him passing at his large estate in the remote woods somewhere in rural northeastern Connecticut. His family had steadfastly refused to reveal the precise location because they didn't want the media hounding them during Thomas's final days, and the media had actually respected thier request for privacy judging by how little was in the papers after Thomas had moved to the cabin. (This fact had elicited a derisive, knowing snicker from Saguru. No way that the voracious beast known as the news media would be that polite and/or respectful these days.)
The problems had started when Thomas Cromarty's will was read the following week after his large funeral...
"Hey, Hakuba! Pay attention! I'm talking to you over here!"
Saguru actually jumped up out of his seat a bit with a start, jolted out of his intense, thoughtful persual of the old microfilms by a certain very irritating tantei nearly bellowing in his ear. "What do you want?" he quickly snapped in reply while readjusting the microfilm he'd been so rudely interrupted during reading. He decided that he wasn't going to bother to hold his irritation in check as he looked up from his seat in annoyance. Couldn't this blithering idiot Hattori see that he was focusing right now?
"I said," replied Heiji, "that the kid and I might have found something."
Yes...that 'kid' Edogawa Conan that Hattori works with sometimes- another matter for me to check into once we're done here at the library. "What exactly did you find?"
Heiji narrowed his eyes at Saguru's doubting tone but kept his tone neutral. "A whole bunch of statues, that's what," he replied as he pointed his thumb at the desk back in the corner that he and 'Conan' were currently working at, buried in newspapers. "A collection of five of them that's going on display in a library in Osaka next week to be specific, loaned by a family that bought them off of guess who?"
"The Cromartys," cried Hakuba instantly, his irritation dissapating in the heat of the hunt as he quickly got up out of his seat and walked over to the table where Heiji and Conan had been digging through more recent papers.
"See? Heiji-niichan and I found this," grinned Conan as Saguru joined them at the table, patting a small notice about the exhibit that the library would be hosting. "Five statues- A buddha, an elephant, a lion, a clock, and a giraffe, all made of jade."
"Should be prime targets for our killer, eh?" inquired Heiji with a grin. "Guy can't seem to keep his hands off these little Buddahs..."
"Well, yes. That's obvious. The problem is going to be trying to convince the police to stake this out instead of pursuing Kaitou Kid."
"Eh, I think that Satou and Takagi, those two I talked with down at the station yesterday, will listen to us at least even if they don't stake anything out," nodded Heiji once he had thought it over for a few moments. "They're the two that figured out that it was someone else wearing Kid's suit at the time of the killing." And that was without Kudo and I having to lead them down that path.
"You're very lucky. Exceedingly, amazingly lucky."
Kaito sure as hell didn't need Konsuke Jii to tell him that. Jii had said this very quietly, even over the phone and alone at his house across town. Jii had no way of knowing, though, that Aoko had long since left for her own house after making sure that Kaito was set up with painkillers, food and the remote control since his mom was going to be working late. Aoko had also had the presence of mind to place the cordless telephone by him, which he was incredibly grateful for once it had started ringing.
"I know that, Jii. No need to tell me that, trust me. I'm very aware of it." Painfully aware...
"Those tantei could just as easily have turned you in to the police as help try and clear your name like they're doing," Jii continued, causing Kaito to roll his eyes in irritation- but Kaito also knew that Jii was perfectly correct in his assessment. "What were you thinking, enlisting thier aid?" Jii continued in a demanding tone.
"It wasn't exactly my intent, believe me," grumbled Kaito before adjusting himself on the couch a bit and resettling down. "We've run into one of them before at some of my heists- the little one with glasses, remember him? I screwed up and admitted that I knew he was a detective as well as the one with the hat- I used 'detectives' when I was talking with them both." His brows furrowed as he realized that he'd never actually asked for thier help; they'd just helped.
"Careless," replied Jii. "That little slip of the tongue could have cost you very dearly. You need to be much more careful about things like that in the future if you're going to continue this life." Kaito could hear what sounded like Jii going into another room or moving. "What about the other one that's always on your tail- the blond half-British one who shows up alot and always tries to stop you?"
Kaito groaned aloud. He hadn't even given a thought yet to Hakuba Saguru and the possible havoc he could wreak, the tantei who seemed at times like he was getting dangerously close to uncovering Kuroba Kaito's secret life as Kaitou Kid. "Oh, wait," he muttered brightly as much to himself as Jii after remembering that Hakuba had been shuffled off to England for the week. "He's in England- nothing to worry about there, at least until he gets back."
"Just seems strange. I don't like it," continued Jii. "What do they have to gain by helping you? What made them think that you hadn't done it in the first place? It smells like a setup to me, if you really want my honest opinion."
"Jii-chan." Kaito finally let a spark of irritation through the flat tone. "I really think you're overthinking this. If this had been a setup, or they were turning me in to the police, don't you think that some cops would have been pounding on my door hours ago, when I first messed up and revealed that I was Kid?"
"So why are they helping you, then?"
"I...I don't know, really." Kaito became more confident as he continued. "But I do know this. If they didn't truly believe I was innocent, you can bet I'd be sitting in a jail cell right about now and they wouldn't be working so hard to help me."
"What do you mean, working so hard?"
"Well, apparently they had a meeting with someone this morning who found a similar case in England last year. They've been at the library all afternoon researching stuff about the old case apparently, trying to see if there's any connection before it closes."
"Hmph. Well, we'll need to decide what we're going to do about this situation once this mess is cleared up." With that, Jii hung up and Kaito's cellphone then started to ring as he was replacing the phone on the table.
"Hello?"
"Hey. Yeah, the cases look very similar. We're trying to find some more details but we have some good leads." The kid, Conan...
"Can I ask you a question?"
"What? Make it quick, Heiji-niichan will get mad if I don't get back in there and help in a hurry."
"Why are you both helping me? You especially?"
This was followed by one of the longest, most uncomfortable silences Kaito had ever been a part of. He had actually been beginning to wonder if thier call had gotten disconnected when the tiny tantei finally replied.
"Simple. Because Kaitou Kid has a saying, No One Gets Hurt- and I've seen enough to know that that's not a hollow phrase. The killing reeked of a setup to me from the very beginning."
Conan terminated the call before the thief could even begin to formulate a reply, leaving Kaito blinking and staring at his phone.