Nevermore

By: Hikari-chan (Chitsuki)

Disclaimer: If you recognize it, it's Gosho's. If it's Poe's, it's referenced in the text. I make no profit from this.

Musings: For the 6 people who reviewed the last chapter. Your support keeps me posting. :) Thanks!

-o-o-o-o-o-

Chapter 7

-o-o-o-o-o-

"I think that raises more questions than it answers," Ai commented with a frown once Conan had finished explaining his reasoning behind the note.

The Shounen Tanteidan was huddled around in an awkward circle on Conan's bed, with the three notecards lying face-up in the middle. Genta had given up at least a couple of times halfway through Conan's explanation and was the only person dressed in day clothes and ready to go get food. Both Mitsuhiko and Ayumi were trying their hardest to wrap their heads around the language conversion, although they had taken turns brushing their teeth.

"Such as what?" Conan prompted.

"Why send a card? Why does it tell you where the murders would take place? Why does it have to be Edgar Allan Poe?" Ai listed.

"Because there's something about this Arakawa case," Conan answered simply. "If Chiba-sensei and Shima-san were just murdered, then the police investigations that happen will just be two regular homicide investigations with no link to the Arakawa case, especially since it has been closed." He picked the 3 cards and continued. "But by explicitly indicating there's a connection between them, someone would obviously take a look at the Arakawa case again."

"Which you did," Ai pointed out.

"Yes."

"Okay, then why bother telling you? You were already going to come here," Ai reminded him.

Conan furrowed his brow at this. "This is just a guess," he began, "but I think this note might not have been meant for me."

"But you said it was delivered to your house," Mitsuhiko interrupted.

"Yes, and I live at the Kudo house," Conan emphasized, staring at Ai.

She understood what he meant right away. "You think this note was meant for Kudo Shinichi?" she asked.

Conan shrugged. "Or Kudo Yuusaku even," he replied. "It makes sense, doesn't it? The sender of the notes is looking for someone to re-investigate the Arakawa case. Who would be better than a couple of reclusive but very famous police consultants?"

"Ran-nee-chan said Shinichi-nii-chan hasn't been heard from in years though," Ayumi supplied.

"But Kudo Shinichi was never declared dead," Conan pointed out. "It never made the papers, so for someone who only knows him from the media, it would just seem like he dropped out of the public eye."

"So someone was hoping to lure one of the Kudo detectives into investigating an 8 year old closed case by setting into motion a series of murders," Ai mused.

"Furthermore," Conan added, "the snowstorm is a fluke. There are a lot of things you can predict when planning a murder, but the weather's a pretty unreliable thing to be counting on. If the storm hadn't cut off most of our resources, the investigation of this case would have gone a lot faster since I was already on scene. If this note was meant for Kudo Shinichi or Kudo Yuusaku though, they would probably only decode it when Chiba-sensei's murder hits the news, which may be a day or two after it happens, by which point, Shima-san would be dead."

"Then Kudo Shinichi realizes the note's prospective nature, finds that the connection lies in the Arakawa case from 8 years ago, and starts investigating," Ai theorized.

Conan held up the third card. "At which point, enough time would have passed for the culprit to claim a third victim," he finished.

"It does fit...timing-wise," Ai muttered thoughtfully. "But then why were the girls in our class kidnapped?"

Conan ran a hand through his hair, which was still messy from sleep. "I haven't figured that part out," he admitted, "but I bet it has to do with these initials we haven't connected together yet."

"So what's our next step?" Mitsuhiko asked.

"Well, first," Ai began before Conan could say anything. "We need to all change and get some breakfast. Kojima-kun looks like he's ready to ditch us at any moment." They all looked up and sure enough, Genta was halfway between the bed and the door, looking like he was debating internally whether he could walk out. He froze when he realized everyone was staring at him.

"We might be awhile since we're taking turns using one bathroom," Conan pointed out, his voice laced with amusement. "Why don't you go get food first, Genta? And save us a table."

Genta didn't need to be told twice. He bolted out the door faster than one could say unagi-don. Ayumi, Mitsuhiko, Conan, and Ai looked at each other and burst out laughing.

Sometimes, it was nice to know you could count on something, even if it was Genta's stomach.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Conan had a real appreciation for food for the first time in what felt like days. All things considered, he was well-rested and he felt like he had made one giant leap forward that very morning on the case. There were some unanswered questions still, but they were definitely getting closer. Lowering his voice, he told his friends that their junior high school teachers were now definitely in the clear.

"They would have known my address from the school records, which they must have seen after 3 years of teaching me," he explained. "They would have realized that leaving the note at that address would result in me finding it rather than Kudo Shinichi or Kudo Yuusaku."

"They wouldn't have had to leave the location clue in the first note if that was the case," Ai finished his thought. "Since it's probably safe to assume you would tell the Kudo detectives, even if they didn't know you would have investigated yourself."

"That's right," Conan agreed between bites of his omelet. "But before we do anything else about this case, we need to take care of the third note. Right now, it's more important to prevent someone from being killed."

"But we don't know who the intended victim is," Mitsuhiko pointed out. "We can't keep an eye out on every person on this resort."

"We don't have to," Conan answered. "The potential victim has to be related to the Arakawa case from 8 years ago. That means it has to be someone who was here 8 years ago. Also, the culprit has to have a reasonable way of knowing for certain they would be at this resort in this timeframe."

"That's all the staff," Ai frowned.

"No, most of them are on shift," Conan replied. "And typically, shift schedules don't come out until a couple weeks before, so it would be impossible to ascertain their presence on a specific date with enough time to plan such an elaborate serial murder. It would only be a few salaried staff in the front office and the doctor and nurse, who are on a fixed schedule."

"That's only a handful of people. I can go ask them if they used to work on the old resort," Ayumi volunteered.

"Take Genta with you when you go," Conan instructed.

"What about our school group and the other guests?" Mitsuhiko asked.

"The only potential victims in our school group are our teachers. The rest of us would have been 7 years old at the time of the Arakawa case. I doubt any 7-year-old would have offended anyone enough to be targeted as a murder victim," Conan mused.

"Please tell me the irony in that statement isn't lost on you," Ai smirked.

Conan scowled at her. "I think the irony is applied to you too," he retorted.

She shrugged. "I wasn't the one who said it," she pointed out. "I will, however, concede that the statement is correct for 99.9% of the population."

"Um," Mitsuhiko interrupted their argument. "I can ask our teachers if they visited the old resort."

"So that leaves the other guests," Ayumi said.

"Anyone who is visiting who prepaid months ahead of time, or a group that has recurring outings here," Conan replied. "Ryusaki-bucho ought to have that information."

"I guess that's the two of us," Ai finished delegating the work. "But how does the passage in the note play into it?"

"'The Murders in the Rue Morgue' is about a detective who investigates a locked room murder involving a mother-daughter," Conan explained. "It turns out that the culprit was an orangutan who escaped confinement. The owner hadn't reported it missing at the time, resulting in the mystery."

"Well, I don't think it'll be an orangutan," Ai replied skeptically, "but maybe a double homicide or a locked room murder."

"Most likely, the potential crime scene is a guest room. The common areas are accessible with our room keys, so it'd be difficult to create a locked room," Conan deduced. "Let's start by narrowing down our list to those who were here 8 years ago, then we'll figure out where our potential crime scene might be."

-o-o-o-o-o-

Conan and Ai were one third of the way through the list of guests who prepaid when he saw a name that made him pause. He pointed to the name and spoke up. "Uchida Ayako and Uchida Kyoko are the mother-daughter we met the first day we were here, right?"

"Yes, the daughter was the one who spoke to us about using the business centre to contact her father," Ai filled in.

Conan narrowed his eyes and quickly replayed in his mind their brief encounter and conversation with the pair. "Stop looking," he said, standing up and motioning for Ai to follow him. "They're the ones."

"What?" She hurried after him.

"They're a mother-daughter pair who has an annual vacation, who likes skiing, and who prepaid for their stay at this resort," Conan summarized as he rushed down the hall. "If they like skiing, it makes sense for them to make this resort their destination for their annual getaway. They're old enough to have been customers of the Hope Hills resort, and the fact that this vacation is recurring and prepaid would allow the culprit to be certain that they would be here. It all fits."

They skidded to a stop in front of the Uchida room, which Conan recalled from their multiple searches for their missing classmates. He banged loudly on the door.

"Uchida-san!" he yelled.

There was no answer. Frustrated, he tried the doorknob, but it was electronically locked.

"You don't think..." Ai trailed off.

"I don't know," Conan replied. He reached for his detective badge. "Guys, stop looking. It's Uchida Ayako and Uchida Kyoko. Get Ryusaki-bucho! Their room is locked."

There was a pregnant pause before Ayumi reacted. "Genta-kun and I are at the front office. We'll get Ryusaki-bucho."

Conan paced impatiently as he and Ai waited. He wanted to knock down the door with his soccer ball but the hallway was too narrow. When Ryusaki-bucho showed up minutes later with the trio in tow, Conan was about ready to snatch the keycard out of the man's hand. He twisted the doorknob as soon as the green flashing light came on, much to the manager's resignation, and pushed the door open – only to be stopped by the security lock bar.

"Uchida-san!" Conan yelled again through the crack.

There was no response, but Conan already knew what he would find. He could smell blood through the crack. He could only hope that the manner of death wasn't as brutal as was described in Poe's story.

"Mitsuhiko, I need to borrow the laptop," he said urgently.

"Huh? Um, okay. Do you need me to do anything?"

"No," Conan replied curtly. He held the door open and pushed the side of the closed laptop against the bar lock where the bar and metal loop met. Slowly, he started to pull the door close. The pressure held against the bar caused it to swing open when the door was nearing being shut completely. They could hear the slight clang of the bar hitting the door frame. Then, Conan threw open the door and the strong smell of blood flooded the senses of the six people standing in the doorway.

Conan hastily pulled the door half shut again. He turned around to see Ryusaki-bucho looking pale. Ai, as always, was stoically silent, but Ayumi, Genta, and Mitsuhiko looked like they might lose whatever breakfast they had eaten earlier in the day.

"You guys might want to go downstairs to call the police again," Conan suggested gently. "Genta, make sure no one gets in here."

"But-!" the trio started protesting.

"You guys really don't need to see this," Conan insisted. "Please."

They backed down. Mitsuhiko and Ayumi left with Ryusaki-bucho for the front lobby, and Genta turned around and stood by the door while Conan re-opened the door and made his way inside with Ai, still holding onto Mitsuhiko's laptop. Two bodies laid on the floor between the beds and the door. Their eyes were closed, but the huge pool of blood surrounding their bodies on the floor left little doubt to the fact that they were dead.

Conan set the laptop down near the door and made his way over to the corpses. "Sometimes, I hate that I'm right," he whispered.

"They still would have been dead," Ai replied softly. "You just found them faster than someone else."

"But not fast enough," Conan responded solemnly. "Maybe, if I had figured it out faster, I could have saved them."

Ai sighed. "You can't save everyone."

"I know that!" Conan argued.

"But you think you can," Ai pointed out. "In the deepest recesses of your heart, you still think you can save everyone."

"I want to be able to save everyone," he admitted finally.

"That's fine, but you have to accept that sometimes, it is beyond your power to do so."

"That's like admitting defeat before you've even tried."

"No, it's not," Ai refuted. "You, either as Kudo Shinichi or Edogawa Conan, will always do anything and everything within your power to save someone's life, even at the cost of your own. It is part of who you are. You could never admit defeat before you've tried, no matter the heartache you may cause the people who care about you. But, if the worst happens anyways, you must accept that you've done all you can, and learn to forgive yourself."

Conan stared at her, looking a bit flabbergasted.

"You know that's why your nightmares have gotten worse over the years while mine have gotten better, right?" Ai continued. "You haven't forgiven yourself for the lives that were lost during the takedown of the Organization. Somewhere inside, you think there should have been no casualties, which you know logically is ridiculous, but you've silently taken responsibility for the loss of their lives. Psychologically, that has extended to the lives of the people around you – you feel responsible for our lives. That's why you sleep better when we're close by."

Conan opened his mouth, and snapped it close again, not knowing what he wanted to say. Stupefied at Ai's speech about his nightmare problem, he only watched wordlessly as she went to get Mitsuhiko's laptop from where he had left it, and propped it up on the bed, ready to take notes. She approached the bodies and knelt down to inspect them, pulling from her pockets an extra pair of gloves she had taken to carrying since Chiba-sensei's body had been found, and took a closer look.

"Exsanguination through the cutting of the common carotid artery," Ai concluded for him after a long pause. "The blood in the surrounding area is dry, so it's been awhile. From rigor mortis and livor mortis, the time of death is probably 7 or 8 hours ago, so 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning is the window. No signs of struggle, so I'm guessing drugs to knock them out. The cutting is a bit messy, so not a professional like a doctor, but definitely someone who had done some research."

Conan narrowed his eyes, refocusing his concentration on the situation. "Is there a note?" he asked.

"Not on the bodies, but..." Ai trailed off.

Conan looked around, and almost immediately spotted the now familiar-looking black card sitting on the writing desk. He strolled over and picked it up, reading out loud for Ai's benefit.

"Oh, bright was the seraph Ermengarde! and in that knowledge I had room for none other. – Oh, divine was the angel Ermengarde! and as I looked down into the depths of her memorial eyes, I thought only of them – and of her.
XX"

"How many more is this guy planning?" Ai asked, shaking her head.

"None, if I have anything to say about it," Conan answered. He looked up at her, fire snapping in his eyes. "I think I know who it is."

"You do? Who?"

"There are a few more things I need to figure out in my deduction," Conan replied. "I'll tell you as soon as I've got it all figured out."

She nodded, knowing he refused to openly accuse anyone until he was 100% sure he was correct. She turned to the laptop to start taking notes on the body, but spotted something in the lower right hand corner of the screen.

"Hey, Meitantei-san," she called him. He looked up from the note at her. "I've got good news for you. It looks like the wireless signal is back."

-o-o-o-o-o-

It was a few hours after the discovery of the Uchida mother and daughter's murders that found the Shounen Tanteidan gathered back together in Conan and Genta's room. With 4 dead bodies and 6 missing girls, the emergency services had told Ayumi, who had called them, that they would be up there as soon as it was feasible, which the dispatcher had estimated to be sometime in the evening. In the meantime, Genta and Ayumi were adding new information to the white board while Ai reviewed the notes on the latest two victims. Periodically, she glanced at the 4 cards spread out in front of her on the bed thoughtfully. Conan had called Takagi-keiji as soon as they had finished with the crime scene, requesting guest access to the National Police Agency's database. Now, he was instructing Mitsuhiko how to log into the database to research the Arakawa case.

"Search for Chiba Ren, Shima Chiaki, Uchida Ayako, and Uchida Kyoko in the witness statements," Conan stated.

"Chiba Ren," Mitsuhiko muttered as he typed. "Ah, he was a ski instructor for the Hope Hills resort."

"No surprise there," Conan commented. "Let's see...ah, right here! It says between 9:00AM and 11:00AM, he was teaching Shima Chiaki to ski. The estimated time of death for the victim, Arakawa Eiko, was between 8:30AM and 9:30AM, so it would have been impossible for Shima-san to commit the murder. So Chiba-sensei didn't just know Shima-san; he was her alibi for the Arakawa case."

"So how does that result in both of them being murdered now?" Mitsuhiko asked.

"I have my suspicions," Conan admitted, "but first, let's check if the Uchida pair was there at the time."

"Hey Conan," Genta spoke up. Conan and Mitsuhiko paused in their research to look at him. "Are we skipping lunch?"

Conan glanced at his watch and realized that it was late in the afternoon. Genta must be starving.

"Why don't I go get us some food and water then?" Ai said, standing up. She gave the second laptop to Conan. "I could use the walk to think about something."

Genta eagerly rushed to the door, obviously ready to go with her. Absentmindedly, Conan returned to the research, logging into the National Police Agency database to double Mitsuhiko's research efforts. He tuned out the food discussion and read the official police reports, noting interviews with the husband – Daisuke – indicated that Eiko-san had asked him to leave in the morning. Daisuke mentioned leaving around 7:30 to get an early start on the slopes.

"I found the Uchida pair's testimony," Mitsuhiko spoke up all of a sudden.

Conan glanced over at the other screen.

"It says they didn't see anything," Mitsuhiko summarized for him, looking confused. "Why were they victims if they had nothing to do with the death of Arakawa-san?"

"I think," Conan mused, "that they did see something but just said that they didn't."

"How do you know?"

"Because in 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue', the case happened due to the owner of the orangutan not reporting its escape," Conan explained. "So far, the other two notes have been linked to a motive – a potentially false testimony, and revenge. It makes sense that the third one is similarly related. In the report here, both Ayako-san and Kyoko-san said they spent the time in their room before some staff saw them leaving for the slopes. Where was their room in relation to the crime scene?"

"I remember seeing the room number on the report," Mitsuhiko replied, scrolling up. "Ah here! Room 416."

Conan skimmed the incident report he had open. "The crime scene is Room 418," he read. "That's the motive. The culprit thinks that being in their room at the time of death, Ayako-san and Kyoko-san heard something but didn't report it."

"Like they could have saved her?" Mitsuhiko guessed.

"Potentially. Morphine overdose is treatable if you get help immediately," Conan said. "Since there was an infirmary onsite, the medical staff might have been able to save Eiko-san's life if the Uchida pair had heard something and reported it right away. That said, we'll never know if they heard something or not."

"So we've basically found all the connections within the victims," Mitsuhiko grinned.

"I've solved all of the murders too," Conan mused thoughtfully.

"You have?!" Mitsuhiko exclaimed excitedly.

"Yea, but there's a couple things I don't understand. Why did the culprit bother kidnapping girls from our class? And what do the initials at the bottom of the notes have to do with anything?"

Mitsuhiko frowned. "Do you know what the fourth note mean? Shouldn't we be trying to save another person?"

"I don't know if there will be another victim," Conan explained. "The passage in the fourth note is from Eleonora, which is a love story."

"I thought you said Poe wrote morbid stories," Mitsuhiko replied.

"He was famous for his darker stories; they weren't the only stories he wrote," Conan elaborated. "Although even this one was darker than your typical love story. I went through it when I was searching for the quote in the second note. If I remember correctly, Eleonora died of natural causes, not a murder."

"Maybe the culprit will kill a lover next?" Mitsuhiko suggested.

"No, his lover's dead."

"How do you know that?"

"Because Eiko-san was the lover."

"Huh? Wait, you know who the murderer is?"

"Oh, yea. I figured it out a little while ago. I just needed to confirm some things," Conan explained.

A loud growl suddenly interrupted Conan and Mitsuhiko's discussion. Both boys looked up to find Genta lying on his back on the bed. Mitsuhiko coughed to hide his laughter.

"I'm starving," Genta complained, rolling over to look at his friends when he realized their eyes were on him. "Shouldn't Haibara and Ayumi be back by now?"

Conan frowned. "Weren't you about to go with them earlier?" he asked.

"I wanted to, but Haibara said I would be a hindrance in the kitchen and I should update the board instead," Genta told him. "Ayumi said she'll ask the chef to make me unagi-don if I behave myself."

Conan glanced at the clock. It had been awhile since they had left. He took out the detective badge. "Ai," he called into the badge. "Are you guys there?"

Nothing came from the other side, even after a silence that felt like forever.

Conan tightened his grip on the badge and switched on the tracking glasses instead. "No way," he muttered, mostly to himself. "It's the middle of the day."

Two blinking dots appeared, looking like they weren't that far away. Conan put his badge away and rushed out the door. He paused when he saw that he was practically standing on top of the dots, according to his glasses, but neither Ayumi nor Ai were in sight. He knocked loudly on the door of the room that was in front of him. Natsubori opened the door moments later, looking confused.

"Ai and Ayumi aren't in here, right?" Conan demanded.

"Err...no," Natsubori sounded dumbfounded.

"Conan-kun!" Mitsuhiko called him. Conan looked behind him to see Mitsuhiko and Genta running down the hall towards him. "Wait!"

Conan didn't bother wasting time explaining his suspicions. "You guys check this room on the second and first floor. I'm checking the fourth and fifth floor."

Then he ran off. When he came to be standing in front of the two blinking dots while on the fourth floor, he saw that he was also standing in front of Ai and Ayumi's room. He raised his hand to bang on the door, but the door gave way with barely any protest. Conan's posture stiffened right away, his senses on high alert.

Ai and Ayumi were not inside. His eyes swept across the room, looking for details. There were two opened bottles of water on the night table, which wasn't too odd. He knew Ai usually kept water by her bedside and wouldn't be surprised if Ayumi did as well. One of the bottles was almost empty while the other was a quarter full. On Ai's bed, a handful of stationary had been spread out haphazardly. Conan frowned. His girlfriend was impeccably tidy; there wasn't any way she wouldn't clean up her used pens. He walked closer, taking deep breaths to keep himself calm. He smelled something sweet and pungent in the air.

His eyes widened when he realized what the smell was. He hurried over to the window, only to trip over something on the floor. He quickly covered his nose with his sleeve and opened the window before checking what he had tripped over.

Ai and Ayumi's detective badges glinted back up at him.

-o-o-o-o-o-

End Chapter 7.

Word Count: 4,309
Cumulative Word Count: 33,548