Woah! So many reviews last Chapter! THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH! Thanks to everyone whos reading! Sorry this took so long to get out, I may be late in the future because school is making me SOOOOOOOOOOOOO busy! Oh well, at least this chapter is longer! I really hope you all enjoy it!

May I just say I think it is very ironic how many of my reviewers/favoriters/followers have some kind of cat in their username for pictures...

Time Line:

Sat: Kidnapping

Sun: Everyone searching, questions the men in jail, Mind games and hunger starts

Mon: DB go back to school, Question the man who tells them of first kitten, Takagi stabbed

Tues: Hattori arrives, Conan actually accepts food.

Wed: Hattori stops guy from stealing from police, Vermouth visits Conan, Kinkalow visits.

Thurs:

Fri:

Sat: Date Takagi is supposed to be found dead

A soft click-clack sounded as Satou waled through the station, her steps sounding overly loud in the strangely silent building. No one spoke, it seemed that no one even dared to breathe, as she passed. All eyes followed her. The inspector may have been oblivious to Satou and Takagi's relationship, but he was possibly the only one. Everyone else knew with terrible clarity of the two's relationship, and felt a pang of pain and sympathy for the girl whose love was supposed to die the next day.

She paid them no mind, holding her head high and proud as she walked calmly past. Her stern expression showed nothing of the fear and sadness twisting around inside of her. Hattori walked beside her, his sneaker-ed feet making nary a sound. The teen was fingering the tip of his cap, his eyes serious and distracted. Many of the officers' gazes cantered longer on this teen than the woman, for his presence marked another terrible absence, one perhaps even more terrible than the first.

All of the officers had arrived at crimes scenes that week, almost expecting to see the small bespectacled child popping up and practically spoon feeding them the answers. Each time they were brutally reminded of his absence, and the horrors of what could be happening to Conan. They felt the child's disappearance like a splinter, painful when one was aware of it, easy to forget but all it takes is a small brush to bring back the pain.

Finally the two got past the silence, past the stares and into the room Megure had set aside for the conversation with the original officer murderer. This room also became silent as they entered, eyes all centering on them. Those in the room quickly tried to hide it, calling out greetings and such, and the two newcomers tactfully ignored the pause.

"Ah, Satou-kun, Hattori-kun. You're here." Megure called out to them, Shiratori and Chiba standing behind him. The two nodded, knowing that the man wasn't really surprised. While it was true that it was well before noon, none of them wanted to risk the 12:15 time requirement. The inspector continued speaking as the two newcomers walked up to the group. He motioned to the computer sitting on the table in the center of the room. "He should be on the site in about twenty minutes. Our biggest issue right now is that we aren't sure what he's expecting us to say to "convince" him to help. We never caught him so we don't know his motive for committing the murders. In fact, we don't really know anything about it. This whole thing will probably be a stab in the dark."

"Come on, we gotta know something!" Hattori suddenly yelled, causing Magure to blink at him in surprise.

"No, we really don't. It was like Jack the Ripper. He came, murdered and was never found."

Hattori grumbled slightly, but seemed to know that it wouldn't do anything to argue.

"We were thinking about getting some of Conan-kun's friends in here to try and help convince the man, but we want to include as few civilians as possible, That's also why we didn't tell Ran-kun. We could have asked Mouri-san but he has a habit of being impulsive and putting his foot in his mouth."

At that Heiji rose his eyebrows, as if to say 'and I don't', but Megure ignored him.

"Also, he's apparently searching on his own. He's been trying to find out where the culprit took them by checking out the direction he was going when pulled over. As it is, I think you two would be the best choices to speak to him. Especially because I don't think he wanted a big audience. We'll all still be in here, but you two will be doing all of the talking. We'll only step in if we feel that you need a lot of help."

"Great," Heiji said, rubbing the brim of his forward facing cap in anticipation. Satou simply nodded once more, her eyes looking deadly determined. The two came around to sit at the table, logging into the website and sitting to wait for the man even though he would not be arriving for several minutes.

"You got a plan?" Hattori asked Satou, knowing that neither could really formulate one concretely without knowing more about the person they were speaking to. She frowned.

"In the email he seemed upset at both someone kidnapping a child and someone copying him. The question is, should we play off of his pride or his moral compass. I like to think that a murderer has no morals, but kidnapping a little kid might be crossing some line for him. I'm hoping he'll give us something to tell us which one to go for." She sighed. "This would be so much easier with Conan-kun or Takagi-kun here, both were really good at reading people. Conan-kun especially. He could proably figure it out just by how the guy says hello."

"Hey! Don't forget about me! I'm every bit as good as Ku-Ku- Conan-kun!" She looked up, startled.

"A-ah right, of course." She said, sweat dropping slightly. She'd completely forgotten that the Osakan teen was a well know detective himself. Suddenly the computer popped as someone entered their chat room. Every heart in the room stopped when they saw the user-name: Officermurdersculprit.

With a final deep breath Satou clicked the button for a video chat. Everyone waited with bated breath to see the criminal's face. And they were all sorely disappointed. Rather than a face it seemed that the camera had been blocked, leaving a solid black monitor as a voice spoke from the computer.

"Right on time. I'm impressed." A mocking, smooth voice spoke. Satou and Hattori stiffened, their eyes locked on the now blank screen. The man chuckled slightly before continuing.

"Well now, a teenager and a woman. Isn't this a surprise. I expected someone so much more... official." At that both Satou and Hattori visible snarled.

"I will have you know that I am a very competent and respected member of the Tokyo Police department, no matter my gender." Satou said calmly, slight anger encroaching on her tone. She had been though enough this week for this man to simply dismiss her because she was a woman. She really did not need this right now.

"What are you talking about, 'some teenager'? I'm the great high school detective of the West, comparable only to Kudo Shinichi, the great high school detective of the East. I'm one of the best detectives in Japan!" The teen yelled, flabbergasted at not being recognized. The teen dropped don in his chair in a huff, and mumbled to himself quiet enough that the computer wouldn't pick him up. "If we were in Osaka he would'a known me."

When the man spoke again his voice had the slightest trace of disappointment.

"I see. A great detective and an officer. Well then, why should I help you find these... boys?"

Satou and Hattori shared a glance, they still had no clue how to play this. Hattori hesitantly spoke first.

"This criminal, whoever he is, kidnapped an innocent child to get to the officer."

"I already know that."

"The culprit used your methods. He copied your legacy, what you did." Satou attempted.

"I know that too. I already told you all of that in the message I sent. Obviously that wasn't enough to convince me to help. If you have nothing else to say, then I guess we're done here."

"Wait!" The two yelled, hating how desperate they sounded. For a moment there was only silence, then:

"Yes?" A voice spoke from the darkness of the screen.

"What would it take to convince you?" Satou asked in a hesitant voice.

"Tsk, Tsk, tsk. That isn't how this works. If the lives of those two mean so little to you that you are not able to convince me by yourselves, then I see no reason to help you. After all, what reason do I, a cop killer, have for rescuing some officer and the police force's mascot?" The two sitting gave no answer. Satou's hands, gripping her knees, began to shake. The man, seeing no response was coming, simply continued.

"Why should I, someone who previously aspired to kill officers help you now to save one? What does the life of that little brat mean to me? A little teenage detective and an officer, investigating the disappearance of some little mini-detective and an officer who'll be replaced in a few months. You think all you have to do is question me I have no reason to help this little nameless, dime-a-dozen cop who will be forgotten in no time. Why-"

"Shut up!" Satou yelled, her arms shaking as she glared in righteous fury at the still blank computer screen. "You don't know what you're talking about! Takagi-kun isn't nameless, he isn't dome-a-dozen and he will never be forgotten. I'm not searching for some officer, I'm looking for Takagi-kun, my partner, my friend, and maybe something more. I don't care if you help us or not, I am finding him. I won't give up until either he's with me, or I am standing beside his corpse. Even after that, if I'm too late, I will stop at nothing to avenge him. I will put everyone who was connected with his death behind bars, including you if he dies because you wouldn't talk for the stupid reason that we couldn't convince you. I am not letting MY Takagi-kun die because of something like that."

"Yeah!" Hattori yelled, "Ku-Conan-kun may be just some little brat for you but he's my best friend. I am not going to let these people get away we doing anything to him. These two may not seem like much to you, but they are way more than you are making them out to be. They are more than some kid detective and an officer, they are our friends. They have families, friends, and lovers who are going to come after those who hurt them. We won't rest until these criminals are behind bars, no matter what it takes. We will find them. Kudo is not going to die, not while I'm here."

For a moment there was silence, a pin's drop would create an echo, even the officers hidden from the computer refrained from moving or making any sound. Then finally, the man from behind the camera spoke.

"Well then... That's what I wanted to hear." There was a stunned, relieved silence. "I don't want to help the cops, but I have no beef against this 'Takagi-kun' of 'Conan-kun'. Since I'm helping them and not just some random officer and detective, I would love to help. However, I will need more detail about exactly what happened."

Everyone in the room's mouths dropped open in shock before Satou began scrambling to create an answer, knowing that because she had been the one to find their belongings, she would be the best to tell the man what had happened.

"A murder happened last Saturday morning, and Takagi-kun and Conan-kun were going to question some witnesses. There were a lot, so we expected them to be gone all day, and-"

"Why did you allow the child to go with him to question witnesses?" The man asked reprimandingly.

"He woulda found a way to get into the investigation anyway." Hattori answered, Satou nodding in agreement.

"He's very bright and useful to have. Plus he would have sneaked into the investigation no matter what. This seemed like the safest place for him. None of the people being questioned were even suspects." There was a pause, as if the man was nodding before realizing that they couldn't see him, then he told Satou to continue.

"After a long while I realized that he was very late and hadn't contacted us with any news what so ever. Neither one would answer their phone, so I went out to find them. After a while I was able to track down the last house he went to and found it empty. I called him and heard his phone inside the building. I followed the sound to see all of their clothes in a box, and they were nowhere to be found. Later I noticed some of Takagi-kun's notes about people copying crimes and saw that the box didn't have his gun, badge, or handcuffs and pieced it together."

The man seemed to be mumbling to himself for a moment, as though thinking aloud. "Strange, I usually left them in their uniforms, but if it was a detective and I wanted to make sure there was nothing to link me to him I could just buy a cheap suit similar to their original... I don't know why they would take the kid, coulda just left him... unless he saw their face, then..." He sighed, then seemed to address them again.

"Okay, I'll tell you as much as I safely can, but know that I'm not sure how much this will help. First off, I never had any cops just come up to my house and talk to me, I would have to lure them to my house with some fake emergency. I made sure to change it every time. I'd knock them out and take them to a secluded safe-house I have that can't be traced to my name. I would keep them there for a week in a hidden room I added, and I would kill them in there as well. The night after I killed them, I would drive to a police station and leave them on the roof. It was harder after you guys got wise and started guarding them, but if I drove around long enough I could always find something."

Hattori and Satou remained sitting after he finished, waiting for him to continue.

"Well?" Hattori asked.

"Well what? This is it. You guys already knew most of my secrets, I just told you what was left."

"How is any of that supposed to help us find them?"

"I told you that I would tell you my method, not that it would help at all."

Hattori seethed at him. "You mean this was just another waste of time? I don't have time for this, I gotta go look for Kudo-" Hattori started to rise, but Satou held down his arm. She turned back to the camera, though she felt herself shaking with rage as well.

"Well then do you have any suggestions?" She grit out to the computer. The man was silent for a moment.

"Don't know how much this will narrow thing down but... check houses that were recently bought but it seems like no one really lives there. Even better if you know renovations were made. I'd also recommend having obvious guards on a couple of police station roofs, and some hidden ones on others. Of course, it'll be too late for you little boyfriend by then." Satou flushed but made no comment. " As for the kid... I really don't know. Hope you have a lot of luck, cause That's pretty much all I know that could help you find him.

"Wait! I remembered one more thing. The cop that came to my house mentioned that whoever did this interviewed the culprits to find out their methods, and it got me thinking. A month or two ago I get a phone call from some little kid saying that they wanted to ask questions about how I was a suspect in that case. Kid came right out and asked if I did it and how. Course the first thing I thought of was how all those seven-year-olds have been solving all of these crimes, I thought some cops had used it to set up a trap for me. I don't know, maybe they thought I would answer a kid cause I thought no one would take them seriously. Thinking back at it now, it would've been a really stupid plan.

"But when the cop came the other day and asked about it, it made me think. I realized it wasn't you who called me, it musta been the kid who apparently they sometimes use. But what I wonder is, how did they get my number. I know that there was never a list or anything out about the suspects, in fact the papers never named any suspects at all. There should be no way that anyone would know who I was. Anyone outside of the police force that is. That's all I got. If you have any other questions... answer them yourselves."

The window closed as the man ended the chat, leaving those in the room staring at the computer in shock.

Satou was the first one to speak. "I can't believe it... that must mean that one of the officers..."

Hattori spoke next. "I know. It makes sense if you think about it. They seem to have a lot of information, but its still hard to believe that anyone would..."

Suddenly, fury lit in Satou's eyes, intense and burning. "That means someone... someone who works here is responsible for Takagi-kun being kidnapped. It means someone who I know might play a part in his death! One of my fellow officers... practically killing him." She stood, her eyes deathly intense and full of acute anger. She seemed ready to go out and start bashing heads left and right until she found the double agent. Only Megure's calm hand on her shoulder stopped her.

"We don't know that for sure. Look at how easily that thief snuck in the other day, the files could have been stolen or copied."

"People have been going through the files and reviewing them all week. Nothing was missing. It has to be someone in here telling them."

"Don't worry Satou-kun, we'll find them. From now on I want all of the information on this case to stay between those of us in this room, and I want nothing leaking out." Everyone in the room nodded with a quick jerk of the head. With that the matter closed and the occupants of the room cast their thoughts back on the rest of the chat.

"I don't really know what I expected that conversation to be like, but that sure wasn't it." Chiba said with a slight chuckle. Shiratori just frowned pensively.

"As for his "lead", there's got to be hundreds of houses like that in Japan. Finding all of them won't narrow anything down at all."

"Well, right now its all we got. I'll go get some people to start finding the houses that match the specifications he made. I'm going to tell them its for something else though, just in case." Megure said, frowning as well. "He didn't really give us much that would actually help us find them. After all, you can only do so much with knowing that a traitor "exists". We'll keep a look out, but for now we have to see what he gave us that can help us now."

"He didn't give us anything." Hattori spat. "Other than the traitor we know nothing! There's no way we'll find them with what we know. Takagi-keiji is going to be killed tomorrow, and who knows what's happening to Ku-Conan-kun. I know the two of them as well as you all do. If they were able to escape, they would have done it already! Its up to us now, and we have nothing!"

"Hattori-kun, calm down!" Megure called out, surprised at the teen's outburst. Satou said nothing, her own thoughts dangerously close to the teen's.

"What do you mean calm down? They could die, all because I wasn't good enough to solve this one case! If that kid were here he'd probably have a million leads by now, looking up at me with his cocky grin, the one I always hated. I feel like someone who can't find their glasses, thinking about how thing would be so much easier if they only had their glasses and could see! I need his help on this case, but he is the case!"

"Hattori-kun!" Megure shouted once again, this time stopping the teen's tirade. "Being upset and wishing they were here isn't going to change anything. Trust me, everyone in this room is concerned for them, and we are not going to give up until we actually have them with us. If Conan-kun were here he would not want you feeling sorry for yourself, he would want you doing whatever it takes to find him, and he wouldn't doubt you the way you are doubting yourself. Neither would Takagi-kun doubt any of us." As Megure concluded his speech he left, Chiba and Shiratori following after him. Hattori calmed his breathing, knowing that the inspector was right. He was right, Hattori knew it, but it was hard to remember that when he was sleeping in the Mouri's living room, listening to Ran cry with worry in her sleep.

"He's right." Satou said softly. "Lets go and see what we can do to help. It's all up to us now, we're the only ones we can trust. We're the only ones left for them to trust." She stood and left the room. Hattori stayed only a second longer staring a the computer and remembering their conversation, pondering every word, trying to find hidden clues. Suddenly he froze, letting out a nervous chuckle. Kudo would've killed him if he knew that Hattori had accidentally called him his real name... twice. Well, at least that was one good thing about times of panic like this, people tended to focus on nothing but the matter at hand. Letting out one final chuckle, the teen left the room to find the others.

Megure frowned as he reviewed the conversation with the murderer in his mind, though it wasn't something that the man had said, but what one of the two on his side had said that disturbed him. They had let out a secret that he was sure he wasn't supposed to have heard... since when were Takagi and Satou 'something more'?