Through the Lens

Chapter 5: Unsettling Clues

Conan scanned the burning area, his mind analyzing and picking out minor details. The bush that had broken his fall had been uprooted and was now on its side from the force of the explosion from one of the rooms on the first floor. The other shrubbery around the area was still rooted, though some were now on fire.

The fire department rushed to the scene, their efforts to extinguish the fire before it spread also washing away and destroying evidence that Conan would have wanted to explore.

"So you decided to check when you thought you heard a baby crying?" Satou-keiji clarified.

"I climbed the tree to look," Conan explained.

"When we saw where he was," Kobayashi-sensei began, "we were quite concerned. It looked like he was just dangling from the open window. We didn't realize why he was there, but it almost looked more like he was trying to escape from the building rather than go in."

"I-I made him fall," Ayumi confessed, tears springing to her eyes. "He was swinging back and forth, and I got scared for him, and I called his name. He kinda turned to look at me and slipped and fell. Lucky that bush was right there to break his fall," Ayumi sniffled. She turned to look at him, apologizing over and over again.

"It wasn't lucky," Conan murmured.

"What do you mean?" Satou-keiji prompted.

"All the other bushes are still where they were. That bush, the one I fell on right beneath the window, was uprooted. The soil around its roots was a lot looser than the others, and it's a different type of shrub than all the others and is quite a bit taller than the other shrubs. It was only recently put there as though it was meant to break a fall." Conan fell silent, realizing all that he had said, then tilted his head to the side and laughed. "But that's just silly!"

"Not necessarily," Takagi-keiji interjected as he approached the group having run toward the building to check things out until the fire department arrived. He gave a loud cough, his clothes smelling strongly of smoke. "Conan-kun, we need to get you to the police station. We think someone is trying to hurt you."

Conan swallowed, his eyes going wide. He could feel Haibara stiffen. Both of them had the same thought – was it the Black Organization? For a horrible moment, it made terrible sense. With the explosions, the fire, and the water damage that would come from the fire department's efforts to put out the blaze, any chance at finding viable evidence would be slim to none: destroying evidence just as thoroughly as the Black Organization.

"Why do you think that?" Conan-kun demanded.

"There were threats warning about it."

Conan let out a deep breath. The Black Organization wouldn't have sent out a notice warning of his possible death, especially not to the police. His shoulders sagged in relief that at least it wasn't them, but as he did so, a blazing agony burst in his chest and arm, painfully reminding him of his dislocated shoulder.

"He needs medical attention!" Satou-keiji shouted over her shoulder. Her eyes caught those of an EMT that had arrived not long after the fire department. Conan tried to protest that he was fine, but Ran gave him a pleading look. Before he knew it, Conan found himself caught up in a whirlwind of concern and medical activity, the attendee quickly getting him into the ambulance, Ran hurrying in with him.

Really, Conan was sure that he didn't need to be rushed to the hospital in an ambulance, despite Satou-keiji's concern. He was sure he could have managed quite fine for a few hours. Yes, his shoulder needed to be set, and his leg would likely need stitches, but he would much rather have stayed at the scene.

As they rode in the ambulance, his mind began to whirl to life.

The room where Conan had tried to enter had exploded first. Conan had landed in the bush and had been there for a few moments before the explosion came. Despite the window being partially open, the window still would have shattered if the force of the blast from the ones downstairs had been the same. After all, the one near the bush that Conan had landed in had had the force to uproot it. The explosion in the opened room had been a smaller one than all the rest. Also, it wasn't until they had all gotten on the opposite side of the street that the explosions started going off on the first floor.

Before the explosion, Conan had heard a clear, high-pitched ding! that had set off the bomb. It had been an immediate, no time delay explosion. If there had been some sort of trigger that set off the bomb when Conan had put his hand on the ledge, it would have exploded much sooner. Also, the bombs hadn't all gone off at once. No, each had been individually programmed, making Conan certain that they had all been set off by remote – all set off by someone who had been nearby. After the room he'd tried to enter exploded, the next ones to do so where all of the rooms on the opposite side of the building giving Conan enough time to hobble away.

Disconcertingly enough, if he happened to be the intended target, it seemed that the person had wanted to capture him first. But the fact that the house had been set to explode, but with a smaller explosion in the room with the open window it seemed like the person had meant for him to come in, yet was prepared to kill him if he attempted to escape, or scare him off if the culprit didn't manage to capture him.

Conan felt it was a good thing that Ayumi had caused him to fall before going into the room. What would have happened if he had entered? It was unlikely the culprit had been waiting for him in there. There wasn't enough time for the culprit to have been hiding in the room and then run out of the house and away from it before the explosions had started. He would have been trapped there.

And even though he knew it was better that he hadn't been in the room, Conan really wanted to know what had been in there.

Whoever had set this up had been watching him and had likely watched him for a long time. The person knew his route home, knew where he would be traveling the route alone, and knew what would have attracted his attention. They knew his skill set enough to know that he was able to climb trees, wasn't afraid of heights or falling, and would have made an effort to investigate a baby crying.

However, the person had also planned to cover up evidence in case others came looking. The response time to getting rid of suspicious information had been quick and immediate, also showing knowledge of Conan's relationship with the police. Or more likely, the person had wanted the police on the scene if they had been notified.

Why had the person sent faxes warning about it? That unnerved him. Maybe…maybe he had never been meant to make it inside the room. Perhaps that wasn't the attacker's aim. But why have the explosion at all? What was the purpose?

Conan also cursed his own senses. He was usually good at figuring out when someone had been watching him, yet he hadn't felt like anyone out of place had been watching him. It worried him.

What also had him worried was the shrub that had saved his fall. It was newly planted and was higher than the other bushes. Obviously Conan wouldn't want to fall out of a window again anytime soon, but as plants went, it really had been a good bush to land in. It was taller and cut in such a way that it had acted like a spring in slowing down his decent from the window. The only reason he had gotten as badly hurt as he had was because he had slipped in mid-swing and caught one of the branches from the tree. If he had been on the window ledge itself and had wanted to jump from it, he would have been able to land in the bush, likely getting quite a few cuts and scrapes, but he would have managed to walk away relatively unscathed.

Why would someone go through all the trouble to lure him there but give him a possible escape route? But if they had been watching, did that mean they knew he was in the ambulance? Would they try and capture him again? His eyes shifted over the people in the ambulance, his body tingling, knowing that this wasn't over.

Next Chapter: Hospital Surprises


Hope you're enjoying the story so far. ~ Jelp