Through the Lens
Chapter 4: The Scene
As Ran ran, loud noises that sounded horribly like explosions rattled the windows in the buildings nearby. Mortified, Ran turned her head only to see smoke beginning to rise from the direction Megure-keibu had last reported Conan-kun's location. She thought she had been running as fast as she could before but found that suddenly she hadn't been running quite nearly as fast as she could.
More explosions, louder and more resounding echoed from the same direction. Most people were beginning to run the opposite way from the sounds of the blasts, Ran being one of the few running toward it. Heart pounding faster than her feet on the pavement, she turned the corner where the fire and smoke billowed, sirens already blaring.
It took her a moment to find him amongst the crowd that had gathered, but it was like he knew that she was there. Conan-kun's eyes darted over to her, wide eyed and surprised, looking ever like a terrified child. And he needed her.
She ran to him, taking in his battered and bloodied appearance. His arm hung at an odd angle. Bruises had begun to form all over his body while there was a large tear in his pants where she could see a jagged cut that had blood seeping from it. If it weren't for the way his body was tense with pain, she would have wrapped him in her arms and hugged him tight. As it was, he merely stared at her blankly. Her dear Conan-kun looked lost. Blinking several times, part of the tenseness began to leave him and the wild look in his eyes began to dull, replaced with the clear calmness she so often saw him wear.
The way he seemed to be masking his own pain and fears made her want to cry. However, before she could say anything, Satou-keiji was there, crouching next to him, looking over Conan-kun's injuries, her eyes full of worry, concern, but a firm determination.
"Conan-kun, what happened?" she demanded, her eyes fierce.
"I heard a baby crying...in...in the building," Conan-kun swallowed, the reality that the baby wouldn't have survived the explosion, settling through all of them. "I climbed the tree –" he pointed to the tree that was now on fire, "since that's where I heard the baby's cries coming from. But..."
His eyes lowered downward, his thoughts turning introspective as he brought his uninjured hand up to pose thoughtfully against his chin.
"Conan-kun?" Satou-keiji prompted, knowing, as everyone else did that Conan-kun had just figured something out but was likely to not confide his thoughts unless prompted. Ran had the sudden realization that if Conan-kun was going to tell them everything, his voice would be firm and direct. If he was hiding it, he would laugh it off with a childish disregard, saying it was nothing.
Ran was relieved that he chose the former.
"After I heard the baby, I tried the door and the windows on the first floor, but they were all sealed quite tightly. Isn't that odd?" Conan-kun asked, looking at Satou-keiji as though she should be able to follow his train of thought and realize why it was so strange.
Ran could see on Satou-keiji's face that she didn't understand, and that she, like Ran, couldn't follow his logic. Thankfully someone else voiced the concern.
"What was odd Conan?" Genta-kun pressed, looking excited. Conan-kun turned to look at him. Mitushiko-kun and Ayumi-chan chorused their curiosity while Ai-chan seemed contemplative, as though she out of all of them might actually have also spotted what Conan-kun had noticed.
"If a person had carried a baby into that room, it would be very difficult to do so by climbing a tree. They would have had to carry the baby and then try to get from the tree to the ledge. The window was barely open. Even if the person had somehow managed to get inside, it was clear that there had been no sign of a forced break in and the locks weren't picked. In fact, there was dust and dirt on them. If they had been disturbed recently, there would have been a mark showing use. Why would someone abandon a baby on the second floor where everything else was sealed tight except for the window on the second floor? Not to mention, if the person who had been there had used the window as his or her entrance, then it was rather small for an adult. It wouldn't be possible to close the window that much from outside of the building, meaning it had to have been opened from the inside. But the opening seemed just the right size for a child to fit through."
"Maybe they did use another entrance and just had the window open for the air for the baby?" Mitsuhiko-kun pointed out. Conan-kun shook his head.
"The air is chilly today, but the most telling part is there wasn't a screen on that window. The screens on the other windows were still there. If a baby was only put there today, then the other entrances would have shown use. In other words, it either means that the person was there for a very long time, or more probable, there wasn't a real baby, but a recording that someone put nearby, and that it has been inside the building long enough that the other entrance the person used has been closed for some time."
For emphasis, Conan-kun pointed to the building where they could see one of the bug screens partially blown out, its small wires caught and torn in the brittle edges of the now broken glass. Something heavy hung in the air as the realization that it had all seemed planned out a long time ago...planned for someone who would undoubtedly be drawn to investigate the sound of a crying baby, one who'd be able to just fit his small body through the narrow gap at the window, one whose curiosity wouldn't be sated until he figured out what was going on.
"It either means that there was someone in there with the baby who had enough supplies that they didn't need to leave for long periods of time...or it was a trick."
Next Chapter: Unsettling Clues
Your thoughts? ~ Jelp
