Disclaimer: I do not own either Detective Conan / Case Closed or Yu Yu Hakusho – if I did, I would be rich and famous! I am currently neither, but frankly, that suits me just fine. I hope this story will be found worthy of both fictional worlds.

"Two Sides to Every Tale"

Jimmy paused for a moment to let his pronouncement sink in.

"Jimmy!" the Inspector sputtered. "How can you be so sure of that? These prints don't look like they were made by heels!"

"Oh, I know they weren't. There are some styles of shoes that have flat soles for comfort, but keep the height and body-shaping effects of heels. It's the only explanation that fits the facts"

"Body-shaping?" Keiko whispered to Rachel.

"Beats me," she whispered back.

Yusuke grinned, having overheard them. "You mean you girls didn't know? There's more to heels than just looking taller. When a woman wears them, it slants her feet, and that makes certain parts of her body stick out more than they usually would."

The girls promptly turned beet red as they pictured themselves in heels and rapidly identified the parts Yusuke was referring to.

"Seriously? That's why men like it when women wear them?"

"Men are such animals! I'm never wearing heels again!"

Jimmy rolled his eyes. Girls… it's not like there's a law requiring them to wear heels, but they do it anyway. "Anyhow, Inspector, if you would be so kind as to locate Mr. Yamaguchi's niece and nephew and bring them here for questioning? Separately, if you can."

"Sure thing, Jimmy."

XXXXX

Asamashii Okane, age 28

"Ya mean he's dead? Well, no surprise there. All these punks and delinquents always hangin' around his store, and him feeding them like so many stray cats." The young woman coolly filed her nails and fixed Yusuke, who was sitting on the floor holding an ice pack to his face, with a withering stare. "That the one who did Uncle in?"

"No, ma'am. AH-choo! He's a… witness," the Inspector fibbed.

"Hnh. Looks like trouble, if you ask me."

"Easy, easy, Keiko!" Rachel restrained the furious girl, not without some difficulty.

"But she…"

"Just wait. Jimmy does his best work this way. People will say things without thinking when they think they're in control of the situation."

Hmph. Smelly snob!

"Mrs. Okane, if you wouldn't mind describing what you were doing about seven o'clock this morning?"

As usual, Jimmy was letting Inspector McGuire ask the basic questions while he observed the suspect's responses – which, in practice, tended to be much more useful than the answers to those questions.

The gaudily-dressed young woman blew on her nails and closely inspected them. "What? You think I did it? Like I would need the money from his insurance, or his measly inheritance. I liked Uncle Yamaguchi – he was a fool, but he was a good man."

"Then where were you?" the Inspector pressed.

"Look, if I tell you, do you promise to not tell my husband?"

"That shouldn't be a problem, as long as it's nothing illegal," the Inspector vowed.

"It's not. See, I'd been monitoring the amount in our joint accounts for the past few weeks, and he kept making withdrawals – small ones, but more than he'd need for incidental expenditures. Then one morning, on my way to an appointment with my hairdresser, I saw him in a coffee shop with some strange young woman. I… thought he was cheating on me with that tramp!

"So this morning, I followed him to the coffee shop. She was there again. I eavesdropped on them, and I overheard that she was his cousin, and he was helping her out with a bit of money to pay her bills. Please don't tell him I suspected him!"

"Do you have anything that proves you were where you say you were?" Jimmy asked her.

"Well, I went in disguise, so my husband wouldn't recognize me… so no one at the shop will remember me. And I had a receipt from the latte I bought, but I burned it as soon as I got home."

So she's got nothing but a story… a believable one, but still just a story. "Inspector, you can let her go for now."

"All right, Mrs. Okane, you can go. But go straight back home, and don't leave once you get there. Consider yourself under unofficial house arrest."

"I understand. Thank you, Inspector. Please, find Uncle's killer!" She bowed and stepped through the metal frame of the shattered door.

"I'll have a patrol car follow her home," McGuire told Jimmy.

The teen detective waved a hand lazily. "No need, Inspector. She's not the type of woman to readily abandon her life of luxury just to escape from a criminal charge."

"Oh?"

"She married into money; she doesn't want to lose it." He shrugged and waved his hand to clear the air. "She's clearly more concerned about the money tied up in her marriage – and impending divorce – than about any romance that may still be there."

"Impending divorce?"

"That was no cousin he was talking to in the coffee shop. I'm sure her husband knew she was there – that expensive French perfume of hers is unmistakable – and changed the conversation immediately. I'm sure he's planning to leave her… poor, foolish girl. Anyhow, if you could send in the nephew?"

"Uh… yeah."

Rachel shook her head. He can be so callous sometimes…

XXXXX

Takashi Gakushi, age 26:

"Seriously? Uncle Yama kicked it? You know, I always told him this neighborhood was a little rough for a guy getting' on in years like him, but he just wouldn't give up on his dream of making the world a better place by helping out the kids." The young man, who looked like he hadn't seen a barber in years, shook his head; his hair splayed out beneath his black beret. "Man, what a major bummer!"

"Actually, Mr. Gakushi, it appears that your uncle was murdered in cold blood," McGuire corrected him.

"Uncle Yama, murdered? No way, man. Like, everybody loved him! "

"So we've heard. Nevertheless, all the evidence points to a planned homicide, not a robbery gone sour. So, if you wouldn't mind telling us where you were around seven this morning?"

"What? You guys think… hey, man, it definitely wasn't me. He was like a father to me, ever since my dad died when I was young! Let's see, seven, umm… uh, I was asleep, man! See, I work nights playing bongos at 'Club Kodou-Kizami', so I was in bed long before dawn, and I stayed there til your men woke me up bangin' on my door."

"Is there anyone who can verify that?" the Inspector inquired gruffly.

"Yeah, I've seen this guy there!" broke in Yusuke.

"You went to that… weird… place?" asked Keiko incredulously. I didn't think Yusuke was that type…

"Well, not exactly… Kuwabara and me kinda crashed in through the back door while fighting one day. I was kinda busy at the time, but I know I saw this guy up on the stage." I'd never miss that hair…

"So that was you? You guys busted up my buddy's sitar!"

"Ulp… um, sorry?"

"A-HEM!" The Inspector cleared his throat. "Not to interrupt, but what I meant was, can anyone verify that you were at home, sleeping, at seven o'clock this morning?"

"Hey, yeah, my girlfriend Kionna – she was there when I went to bed."

"So we can find her at your apartment, then?"

"Uh… maybe… she's usually out during the day…" he answered evasively.

"Can you tell us where else we might find her then?"* asked McGuire impatiently.

"Well… no, not really." The young man gulped, and his eyes darted back and forth.

Jimmy's eyes narrowed, and he stepped up to the suddenly very nervous man. "Is it that you can't say, or you won't say?" he probed, crossing his arms.

But he wouldn't say a word. He knows he's already said too much. Jimmy pulled him into an empty corner of the store. "Look, you can either tell us, or we'll find out anyhow – and the police are much more willing to look the other way in… trivial matters… if you cooperate."

"Yeah, yeah, okay. I get it." He quickly whispered something in Jimmy's ear.

The young detective promptly busted up in a fit of laughter. "Hoo hoo… let him go, Inspector. I've got what I need from him."

"Alright, Mr. Gakushi, you can go. But don't leave town."

"And don't contact your girlfriend until we clear this up," Jimmy added.

"Sure thing." He vanished through the busted-out doorframe.

"So he didn't do it?" McGuire asked.

"I already told you it was a woman. Now, then…" he brushed off his pant legs. "If you wouldn't mind accompanying me, Keiko, Yusuke, we have some another suspect to track down."

"Ugh… Does it involve moving?"

"Yes."

"Damn."

"Yusuke!" Keiko slapped his shoulder. "Will this help clear him?"

"More than likely."

"Then we're going! Come on, you sluggard!" She fairly dragged the battered boy through the door.

"Inspector, you and your men check the scene for more clues here – though I doubt you'll find any."

"You're sure you don't want me along?"

"I'm fairly sure an official police presence would hinder the investigation more than help it. By the way, you haven't yet made an announcement to the press about Mr. Yamaguchi's death, have you?"

"No, but why? Everybody in the neighborhood knows something went down here. It'll be impossible to pretend nothing happened."

"That's fine, as long as they don't know exactly what happened just yet. Don't let them see the corpse up close! Take it out to the ambulance on a stretcher, not to the coroner's van in a body bag. We won't have to lie by saying he's alive – they can come to their own wrong conclusions easily enough."

"But why do you want them to think…?"

"Look, just keep the media completely in the dark until I tell you otherwise, okay? Tell them 'Our investigation is still ongoing', or something."

"Well… all right. Good luck, Jimmy."

Nodding, Jimmy followed the preceding pair. Moments later, he stuck his head back through the door, a quizzical expression on his face. "Coming, Rachel?"

She glared at him sulkily. "You didn't ask me to."

Jimmy was dumbstruck for a moment. You mean I have to even ask? "I'm sorry, Rachel, I just assumed you'd want to come along."

"Sigh." I know that's just how you operate, always assuming everything. But even though you're almost always right, it's still infuriating, you… ass! "Let's go."

Inspector McGuire watched them leave, and shook his head wistfully. "That Kudo. He can solve the most baffling crime, but he can't see that the girl right under his nose loves him. I sure hope he figures it out before she gives up on him. All right, you two, you heard the man! Get some paramedics in here with a stretcher and all their equipment, on the double!"

"Yes, sir!"

A/N: *Just to clarify, this story is set before cell phones became commonplace.