Secrets and Lies: Chapter 2
"Well, APTX was supposed to be, is an untraceable poison, it can't be found in an autopsy," Conan explained watching their reactions carefully with a practised eye. "It was invented by a scientist called Sherry. Most members carry it around to test, or that's what used to happen."
Hakuba filed that little snippet to think about later. "Can you explain the codenames that they seem to use? Snake, Gin and Sherry?"
"As a whole I refer to them as the Black Organisation, it fits because they always wear black. Hmm, I've never heard of Snake before. He could be in a different branch. Most of them seem to have alcoholic codenames."
"Snake only seemed to be interested in Pandora so you could have a point about the different branch," Hakuba said. "Edogawa-kun, do you know who Sherry is?"
Conan flinched. He had been expecting this question from the start, but he still didn't quite know what to say. If he told them Haibara would either kill him or find some way to make him suffer. On the other hand this was the best lead he had in a long time and he couldn't just leave it. He was mulling it over when he was saved by the bell, literally. Or rather a knock at the door. He looked over at the silhouette and saw that it was Ran. Perfect.
"Conan-kun, I've made tea for you and your visitors. Can I come in?"
"Yes Ran-neechan," Conan replied, his voice automatically going up in pitch and sounding childlike.
Kaito had a few seconds of panic as he tried to put his mask and wig on properly in a matter of seconds. He was quick, but he had been surprised so his hands were shaky. Aoko had an easier time as Hakuba calmly helped her pull the mask over her face.
When Ran entered the room a salary man, businesswomen and teenager were politely waiting. Ran set the tray she was carrying down on the coffee table and started to pass the cups out. She couldn't help but wonder why these people would be visiting Conan and she was very protective and fond of him partly because he was like a mini version of Shinichi.
"So why do you want to talk to Conan-kun?" she enquired suspiciously.
"We, well we are friends of, um, his parents and we were in this area so we thought that we would drop by and see him," Aoko answered before Kaito and Hakuba could say a word.
"They're leaving after they finish their tea," Conan said pointedly.
"Now, wait a second," protested Kaito before being cut off by a glare from Hakuba to remind him to watch what he said. "You can't expect us to leave without a hug," he hastily ad libbed.
Conan scowled and made a face. He took a look at Ran and knew she would be disappointed if she didn't hug someone that was supposed to be friends with his parents. He gave Kaito a brief hug much to the delight of Ran and Aoko.
After saying good bye to Ran and Conan the three left the Detective Agency more puzzled and hungry for answers than when they arrived. As soon as they had left Conan ran upstairs to get his phone and shoes to run over to Hakase's house to give the pill to Haibara.
He knew that Kaito kid, Inspector Nakamori's daughter and Saguru Hakuba would be back and they wouldn't be so polite so he resolved to come to an agreement with Haibara on what he should tell them and how they should follow that lead. But that could come later; right now his priority was to get the poison to Haibara. He said good bye to Ran and left the agency at a brisk jog.
He looked around for any sign of Kid and the other two. He couldn't see them, but he knew that they weren't stupid enough to be seen so he took a few wrong turns and took a taxi part of the way there. He eventually arrived at the house next to his and rang the doorbell.
5 minutes later another taxi pulled up outside 2-22 Beika . After paying the driver Kaito, Aoko and Hakuba piled out wearing the same disguises they had worn before as they hadn't had chance to change.
"2-22 Beika," Kaito noted, then he realised the significance. "Hey Hakuba, that's like being next door to Holmes. Bet you're jealous."
Aoko punched him in the arm again. "This is serious Kaito."
He rubbed his arm and stuck his tongue out in reply. "At least I'm the one that thought to stick a tracker on him. We wouldn't know where he was otherwise."
"Quiet," Hakuba snapped as they climbed over the gate to the property.
Kaito refrained from looking up Aoko's skirt as she climbed over the gate after taking off her stilettos. She wished that Kaito hadn't chosen such an awkward disguise for her to wear; she could barely walk in the heels let alone climb anything or run.
It was the first time that Conan had ever seen Ai Haibara show such a positive reaction to something as he handed over the tiny pill of APTX. She normally remained expressionless or had a sarcastic smile. This time was different.
She had frowned at it at first, then the fact that she was holding the original poison that she had been trying to recreate for months had finally sunk in and her eyes had lit up with hope and she had genuinely smiled.
"You really surpass yourself sometime Kudo-kun," she commented archly before turning to Professor Agasa who was reading a science magazine to inform him that they were going down to her lab in the basement to analyse it.
Once they were in there she turned on her computer and put the poison under a microscope.
"How on earth did you get hold of it?"
Conan briefly explained about Kaito Kid and his visit. He knew that she would get scared when she heard that Snake had been carrying a photo of her, but she took it well and she didn't have that rabbit-caught- in- the- headlights look she normally had when they were mentioned or when Vermouth was around. She really was improving. All she did was shrug and say that she expected everyone in the Organisation to know about her escape sooner or later since no one had ever escaped before without being hunted down and killed.
"I am going to have to tell them something about you. It is almost certain that they are being watched and they will eventually become desperate, feel trapped and could lead Them to us if they haven't already. We have to tell them something and help them. After all we haven't had a lead on the Black Organisation for ages."
"All right. We do need to help them, but not right now. I want peace whilst I am working on this. Please leave me now," she said transferring her attention to her computer, the solitary light source in the room. "Also don't hassle me about the antidote like you have a tendency to do. This will speed the development up, however it won't be instant."
"Fine," Conan replied dismissively and turned to go. He became aware that Professor Agasa was standing in the doorway with a panicked look on his face. He stammered for a second, and then he managed to speak coherently.
"This might sound strange. Shinichi Kudo is here."
"Kid," Conan said and cursed before running up the stairs. He had been followed after all. Kaito Kid had been cleverer than he had expected. He wouldn't mind co-operating with him now that he knew what he was about to tell him would be in capable hands.
5 minutes before
"So master criminal, how do we get into the house?" Hakuba enquired after they had peered discreetly through the front window to see Conan Edogawa disappearing down a flight of steps which presumably led down to the basement. There was also an elderly man in the room reading a magazine who stayed behind drinking coffee. Since there was someone in the house that would be able to hear if they broke in going in illegally was out of the equation. Since it was a criminal matter Hakuba left it up to Kaito.
Kaito frowned and turned round from his position in a flowerbed to look at the house next door which was a large house that was more western style that the one they were currently outside. He recognised whose it was after he racked his memory because he could remember hearing the address somewhere before. He recalled doing some research into Shinichi Kudo and after learning that he was a teen detective and that he was the one that had clashed with him at the clock tower and had a slight connection to Conan Edogawa. He had seen photos of Shinichi and had noticed that there was a slight resemblance to himself in the face and hair and had put him on his list of detectives that he could disguise as; a list that was getting shorter.
Kaito had even taken the trouble to read all the newspaper articles he could find about him and had noticed that Shinichi Kudo had dropped out of the news and Kogoro Mori had taken his place almost immediately. In fact he had read on the internet that he had been assassinated after he had investigated a case that had been beyond him. Curiouser and curiouser. A simple idea presented itself in Kaito's mind. Luckily for him he was wearing a suit and he had a pot of hair gel somewhere in his pocket.
"What are you doing Kaito?" Aoko hissed as Kaito ripped off his mask and began to speedily gel down the unruly mess he called his hair.
"I'm going in through the front door. I'll wear a wire so you can hear everything that is going on."
Kaito placed a metal disc under his suit's collar and passed the receiver that was tuned to its frequency to Aoko before giving her a brief kiss to stop her arguing and walking off towards the gate. Aoko shrugged, knowing better than to argue with him and looked over at Hakuba to see if he understood any better than she did.
"Shinichi Kudo," he muttered recognising who Kaito was disguising as.
He always liked to know who his rivals were and the name Shinichi Kudo had always come up when teenage detectives were mentioned. So like Kaito he had researched him and found out that he was either dead or had dropped off the radar. He had noticed the resemblance between him and Kaito Kuroba. In fact the two of them could pass as brothers.
Aoko and Hakuba ducked behind a bush as Kaito scaled the gate again and pressed the buzzer once he was over the other side. They couldn't hear what he was saying, but it must have been successful as the gate was opened for him.
The front door was opened by the large elderly man with shoulder length white hair and round glasses. He still seemed to be surprised to be visited by his next door neighbour. Hakuba deduced that the man thought that he was dead or was in hiding. It looked like there was more to the disappearance of Shinichi Kudo than he had suspected.
The door closed behind them and they couldn't see anything else. It was all up to Kaito now. Aoko placed an one earphone in her ear and passed the other earphone connected to the receiver to Hakuba so they could both hear what was being said.
I finally break up from school this tuesday; about time to. So will be able to write this quicker and give it more attention. Since I'm using the rules of the manga Kaito doesn't know who Conan is unlike in the films.