Heya !
Hmm I think that's where the trouble begins... ; )
And, sorry for the cliff ! *runs away*
o.O.o
emmahoshi : Yea, Shin hs always been a kind of buffer to Heiji's lack of caution : ) But he also has his bold side, thanks to the fact he's so little and no one really notices him... That's fun : ) Oh, well, once again some questions that will find their answers in the next chapters so I won't spoil :p
Chapter 7 : Police station
I wasn't really fond of the idea but nevertheless obeyed, knowing my best friend had very probably more discernment than I did right now.
My mood wasn't really improving since we had to travel under a pouring rain and that had never been that pleasant on a bike. But what finished to piss me off was that other request from Kudô, in front of the police station.
"- Ayanokoji ?! The hell ! No way I'm goin' ta ask fer that guy at the desk !
- Hattori... He's the one in charge of that case. He even guessed Ogi was suspicious !
- Listen, I just can', that guy is so much gettin' on my nerves, Kud..."
A hard kick behind the knee welcomed my slip. Someone had just been passing at that moment and my best friend looked at him with his usual paranoia, seeing men in black everywhere.
He finally focused back on me and starting whispering.
"- Stop whimpering and let's wrap that case !
- Don' complain if he doesn' even want ta talk ta us then..." I gave up with a long sigh before stepping towards the door.
o.O.o
That whole scene turned out to be useless since, seeing the late hour, the inspector was apparently already back home.
"- But we can call his manager, the Superintendant Tanioka, he's still here, he's been working late those days..."
I looked at Kudô and saw he didn't mind. They had heard that name already, the man having taken a part into Saijô's surveillance when the car had been attacked, so he was surely aware of the situation.
"- If ya could, yes please."
A few whisperings on the phone later, the female policeman at the desk smiled at me.
"- He's working on something important right now but will be able to see you in one half hour, perhaps 45 minutes, would it be ok ?
- Yea, no problem.
- Please have a seat in the visitors' lounge then. You'll find some vending machines there, if you're hungry.
- Thanks !"
Kudô and I headed to the seats the girl shown us in silence.
One half hour. This wasn't really long but... We left those guys' HQ already thirty minutes ago, add to this another half hour...
"- They won't fly away so fast, Hattori..."
I turned my head at Kudô. How did the guy always know what I was thinking ? Was I so obvious ? Was every of my thoughts written on my face ?
"- But as long as they're outside, still at their malevolent business, I can' calm down, sorry...
- Well, if you need to do something, at least call your mother. It's past 10 p.m."
As always the voice of reason, that was a bit annoying... But yea, after all those nice words last night about being careful and all, I had to call them. And with tomorrow supposed to be a school day... Crap, I had to be persuasive. And seeing she tried to call me twice when I switched on my phone kind of depressed me.
"- Okan ?
- Heiji ? Where are ya ? We tried ta call ya but..."
Heh, well done boy, you managed to put concern in your mother's voice barely one day after swearing to her you'd pay more attention, congrats !
"- I'm sorry, I switched off my phone, I had ta. I'm safe an' sound an' Conan-kun's with me but we're still in Kyoto, in the police station.
- Uh ok... I guess no school fer ya tomorrow, eh ?
- Yea, I'm sorry but I... Well, ya know.
- Don' worry about that, I'll call them."
I smiled at her answer. My mother was many things and comprehensive was a part of the lot. Well, no wonder, after being married to Oyaji that long... A sad smile appeared on my face at that idea.
"- Since I'm busy, I don' think I'll be able ta bring Conan-kun back ta Osaka right now, could ya apologize ta Neechan fer me ? An' if ya could... I kind o' need him right now, he's... ya know, kind o' helpin' be ta calm down. I know it's pretty egoist but could ya check with her if he could stay one or two days with me ? I'll tell him ta call her.
- Hmm I'll try ta persuade her but no more than one day, ok ? A little boy should be at school, I don' want ya ta endanger his education by keepin' him away from school...
- Ok ! I'm not sure when we'll be back ta Osaka tonight but as soon as I know, I'll call ya fer sure !
- Ya've better ta !"
"- So you... need me ?" Kudô repeated with a smirk, forcing a blush of embarrassment on my face.
"- Don' force me ta repeat that, it was embarrassin' enough... An' ya perfectly know I need ya right now. I need yer brain. An' yer stares when I'm about ta do somethin' stupid...
- Glad to help..." He confirmed, his smile still on his face. "And also thanks for the excuse, I won't say I'm disappointed not to go to school for at least a day or two.
- Anytime... Just don' forget that phone call.
- Got it."
After Kudô called Neechan and after we grabbed some "dinner" at the vending machines - well, let's be honest, it was more about wolfing down some candies than dinner -, we had been waiting for a while before the girl finally came to fetch us.
"- The Superintendant Tanioka is ready to welcome you. You'll find his office at the seventh floor, the first door on the right after the elevator.
- Thanks !" I answered as my best friend and I got up.
My eyes fell on the clock. Five to eleven. Superintendents had it hard...
o.O.o
"- Ah, come in ! Sorry fer makin' ya wait, I had that urgent file ta finish..."
The man who welcomed us was a thin built one - though perhaps not that thin around the middle - in his fifties, with a small beard and gray hair. His voice was strong but he seemed a bit uneasy as he wiped the sweat on his forehead with his handkerchief.
Or perhaps he was just tired, it was quite late after all.
"- Ah, ya came with a friend? " The Superintendent noticed with a quick frown when he saw Kudô's small silhouette.
"- Ah, yea, sorry, I took him with me ta visit Kyoto an' he got dragged with me on that case... Hadn' much choice.
- So what was that important thin' ya wanted ta talk about ? Ya mentioned Saijô at the desk ?
- Ah, yea… I think Ayanokoji…-keibu may have mentioned there could be an informer along the police who gave information about the itinerary and the hours of Saijô's transfer ? An' that this informer could be Ogi-keiji ?
- … I don' know where ya heard this, Hattori-kun…" The policeman retorted as he put his elbows on his desk and crossed his hands just below his eyes' level, looking at me with a piercing look.
I decided not to beat around the bush so I looked in his eyes before speaking again.
"- Maa, come on, we both know ya wouldn' put a guard at his door if there wasn' any suspicion about him…
- Let's imagine this could be a possibility… What's yer point ?
- Thanks ta some intel he gave us, we found them. We found the group who helped Saijô ta escape."
If I wanted to surprise the guy, this had been a good way since he was looking at me with startle. Looking a bit destabilized, he gulped before getting a map out and gave me a sign of the head, inviting me to show him the place.
"- There." I announced as I put my finger on his map. "This looks like an abandoned housin' estate but don' get fooled by it. The houses are linked ta each other an' guarded by men with heavy weapons. This place is dangerous. I have some picture o' the place an' some faces on my phone.
- Could ya… ?
- O' course."
I looked at the man uploading the pictures on his computer and copying them on an USB key.
"- Hey, just don'…" But it was too late, before I could even stop him, I saw he erased what was on my phone.
"- Ah, sorry, that's a reflex, I always do that on my phone…
- Nevermind…" I sighed, knowing Kudô had sent those to his phone beforehand so we still had them somewhere to resume our parallel investigation.
I looked at the man grabbing the USB key and getting up to face me.
"- I won' ask ya how ya did that or how ya managed ta speak ta Ogi when he's under surveillance… I've heard about ya, Hattori Heiji, an' I know ye're puttin' yer young nose in cases ya shouldn' meddle with. But thank ya, this information may be pretty useful ta us."
I shook the hand that was held to me, refraining from grimacing when I felt it was sweaty.
"- Could ya wait a second ? I'm goin' ta call the Identification Department ta see if there's anyone ta help us with this pictures. Ya're welcome ta come o' course.
- Thank, I'll take up the offer."
The man took his phone out and stepped a bit aside, so I seized the opportunity to bend at my best friend.
"- He didn't really seem happy to see me…" Kudô whispered with a smirk.
"- An' he looks pretty concerned about somethin'… His hand was so sweaty, that guy is clearly under pressure…
- Might be related to this picture. He was staring at it…"
I looked up to see at what my best friend was pointing at. A picture of the Superintendent and a boy around my age was on a shelf so I took it to look closer at it.
"- His son probably… Think… ?"
But I had to stop in mid-sentence when the policeman came back.
"- It's ok, there's someone.
- Great." I answered, a bit embarrassed, before having an idea. "Is that yer son ?
- Yea. " The man had a tender smile when he looked at the picture. "Had ta raise him alone, I'm glad he's a good boy.
- Isn' he too lonely ? Ya're workin' quite late apparently… If I had one advice ta give ya, it would be ta do yer best ta spend some time with him…"
That last comment was perhaps more about me than him, I would have liked to spend more time with Oyaji before… Well, too late now to have regrets, eh ?
I was so focused on my own thoughts that I almost missed his reaction. The guy paled before stuttering a "sorry about yer loss" before checking his wrist watch to hide his unease.
"- We should get goin', it's quite late already."
I looked at the man grabbing his vest and a huge envelope.
"- I'll be followin' yer advice an' go home." He smiled at me as we followed him outside and I saw him close the door. "Boya, could ya bring this envelope ta the desk? That'd be a great help. The girl will tell ya where ta find us, ask her fer the Identification Department."
Kudô looked up at me with an interrogative look but I just shrugged. Even if the guy was hiding something, we were still in the middle of a police station, no way he'd try anything here.
"- Haaaii ! " He docilely answered as he grabbed the paper.
"- Thanks. We'll be takin' another elevator, it'll be shorter fer us ta reach the ID department through that other one so go ahead.
- Hai!"
I exchanged a nod with my best friend and looked at him going into the elevator, hoping this wasn't a too bad idea to accept to be separated.
"- Hey, still energetic despite the late hour, that boy..." Tanioka smiled when he saw I was looking at him. "Let's go then !"
I followed him towards another elevator, a bit more isolated, and watched him pushing the button to the first basement.
"- Ah, by the way, did ya already give those pictures ta Osaka ? Or should I send them ta them ?
- Nah, we didn', we preferred ta give them ta ya first, since this was yer jurisdiction...
- They'll have it first hour tomorrow mornin' then, since this association seems ta work in both cities, we can' let them in the dark !"
I was wondering if he really planned to. His "accidental" - yea, my ass - erasing of my phone's memory was suspicious. His strange behaviour towards Kudô, me, this picture of his son were suspicious also... But why ? What was his role in this play ? If it was only to have Saijô's itinerary, not need for a Superintendent, clearly... Was is something bigger ? Big enough for someone to probably use his son as a leverage ...?
I froze as the doors opened on a barely lightened empty hallway, now totally focused on what was around me.
"- Quite isolated, that department...
- Well, ya know, since they work on the most sensitive information we have, they need ta be surrounded by concrete, no windows allowed, that would be too much o' a risk..."
I nodded at his answer but still let him go first, not wanting to turn my back even a second to that man. We walked towards the far left corner and, when I saw this corridor was ending with an emergency exit, I tensed. Was he going to try anything and escape through it ?
I tried to tame my anxiety, I was starting to be paranoid, and while being hot-headed was my thing, being paranoid was Kudô's and I wanted things to stay like this...
My paranoia calmed down when we stopped in front of the last door on the right and I saw a little label "Identification Department" on it. Here we were, as promised.
Still a bit sweating, the Superintendent turned the knob and entered first.
When I wanted to follow, my mind went back to its paranoia in the second, as I noticed that the place was filled with computers. ONLY with computers. There wasn't anyone here.
"- What's that about ?
- I'm sorry, Hattori-kun..."
I was a bit surprised to see a true pinch of regret on his face and I knew something was going to happen so I stepped back slowly.
To end against something. Someone to be more precise.
I jumped to face my opponent but only to see he was expecting it and threw his fist deep into my stomach.
Coughing, I fell on my knees, trying to catch my breath without any success, unable to look up to try to defend myself or to see who this sudden aggressor was.
The last thing I remembered was a hard blow at the back of my neck and then, it was only the silent and dark oblivion of the unconsciousness.