Secrets and Lies: Chapter 8
Haibara unceremoniously threw a folded up piece of paper at him. It fell into his lap. She had a satisfied look on her face like she had succeeded in something.
"I've got an important shopping list for Hakase. He needs to go out to purchase the items as soon as possible. They are a vital part in my research."
Conan scanned the contents of the list with a single raised eyebrow at all the alcohol that was listed. Most of it was Chinese as that seemed to be the strongest alcohol that worked the best in the antidotes.
"Are you trying to turn the basement into a wine cellar or something? I didn't know that peanut butter and blueberry jam had an effect though. I was under the impression that it was alcohol not sweet things."
At Hakuba's questioning glance he explained how he had discovered that liquor was a temporary antidote. It had been an incredible stroke of luck for him and later Haibara as it had probably saved her life at the incident with Pisco at the hotel and it had fuelled her research.
"When I met Heiji Hattori for the first time I had a bad cold and he gave me some Chinese liquor to help get rid of it."
"Irresponsible as always," Hakuba interjected not surprised for some reason that the hot blooded detective he had met would offer alcohol to a seven year old.
"It didn't cure my cold; it made it a lot worse, but later that day in the middle of a case I turned back to my normal self much to my surprise. I have to thank Hattori for that. Knowing that fact has helped me a lot. Unfortunately it only works when you have a cold."
"What's the peanut butter and blueberry jam for?" Kaito asked not seeing how it fitted in.
"It's for my personal consumption thank you very much," Haibara snapped. She was always sensitive about her blueberry jam and peanut butter after it turned out the Hakase had been ordering imported goods behind her back. "If you all want an antidote you are going to have to keep me happy."
"The only shop that would sell all this would be the one opposite the train station," Conan commented folding up the list. "I'll give this to Hakase and when I come back we can make arrangement for Nakamori-san."
"It's the summer holidays at the moment so we don't have to worry about enrolling you in school for the moment," Conan informed Aoko after giving the shopping list to Hakase with a few extra items added.
Aoko was sitting on Kaito's lap with an embarrassed red face as Kaito had grabbed her and refused to let go until she sat on his lap. He was having quite a lot of fun embarrassing her. It was the one thing that felt normal and reminded her of her old life.
"But the first thing that you need to do is to explain to your father that you're hiding somewhere safe until the Black Organisation has been captured."
"But he won't recognise my voice."
In reply Conan undid his bowtie and adjusted the dials on it after speaking into it a few times. Kaito, Aoko and Hakuba looked mystified. Conan caught their looks and took pity on them. It was a natural reaction; he would have thought anyone speaking into a bowtie before he had been shrunk was mad.
"It's a Voice Modulating Bowtie. I can imitate anyone's voice with it."
Hakuba recalled the he had a watch that shot out tranquilliser darts and he paired the two together. The ability to knock out a person and use their voice. That explained why Kogoro Mouri was so slow despite having solved so many cases. Knocking him out must be faster than giving him hints.
"I suppose that and your tranquillising wristwatch are the origins of Nemuri no Kogoro?"Hakuba said with a smug smile on his face at having worked it out.
"Correct," he replied unconcernedly and passed it to Aoko.
She spoke into it cautiously and her voice sounded exactly like her original one before she had been shrunk. However Kaito wasn't impressed. Why use a machine when he could change his own voice at will? He reminded himself that not everyone had is knack at impersonating people. Hakuba was intrigued in the possibilities of a gadget like that.
"Who made it?" he enquired wondering whether he should get one just to annoy Kaito.
"Hakase did as well as some other ones. I'll show you another time. If you like Nakamori-san, I can get him to design one for you."
He threw a plain black mobile phone that he had been holding to Aoko.
"This is a spare phone that I have never used so They won't know about it and it should be secure. After you have used it please destroy it. Luckily you didn't have your mobile phone with you when you came. Your father's phone line is probably tapped so please be careful about what you say. Don't tell him where you are or who you are with. If you like you can do it in private."
Aoko shook her head; she was afraid that she would do it wrong and say too much which would ruin everything. She hoped that her father would be safe from Them as he was a police officer and couldn't be taken out that easily without people asking questions.
"If I give anything away please tear the phone away from me."
She carefully dialled the number of her father's private line at the police station with one hand and clutched the bowtie in the other. She looked up at the clock on the wall. He should be there at this time in the morning. He picked up after three rings and she thought she heard a faint click on the line. Conan was right; the phone was tapped. She would have to be quick so They couldn't trace her,
"Nakamori here," the Inspector growled informally sounding like his usual gruff self.
"It's me Aoko. I'm just calling to say that I'm not at Kaito's house, but I'm safe. Please don't ask any more."
"Aoko. I've been so worried. Our house was on fire last night and Kuroba-san-"
"Our house was on fire? What happened?"
At hearing that the two detectives and one magician exchanged looks. It showed that the Black Organisation weren't taking any chances with Aoko and were warning them that they would be killed.
"I wasn't at home luckily and our next-door neighbour called the Fire Department as soon as she saw the flames so the damage is...minimal. It's just your bedroom and mine. It seems to have been deliberately started upstairs, but the case has already been closed by my superiors as well as the incident at Tokyo Tower."
"Are you going to be safe?"
"I should be. They're not after me they're after you. I'm not going to ask you where you are or what you are doing in case my phone is tapped. Just stay safe and remember that I love you. Goodbye Aoko."
There was a click as Inspector Nakamori put the phone down. Aoko just stared at it as if she couldn't believe that her father was saying that she couldn't see him. Kaito plucked the phone from her frozen hand and crushed it with his foot. Hakuba and Conn looked away awkwardly not knowing what to say. Kaito hugged Aoko tightly to show that he was there for her, but didn't say anything. The only sign of emotion that Aoko showed were her clenched fists and wet eyes.
"Your father is a sensible man. It's safe for both for both of you if he doesn't know where you are," Conan said eventually.
Aoko nodded miserably not looking up at him. "I can't see him until this is over, right?"
"No you can't. Which brings me to the next topic. You need to choose a new name. Haibara and I often get visits from some of our friends from school and they are very curious and they will want to play with you too."
"Haibara-san told me about them. They like solving mysteries and call themselves the Shonen Tantei Dan," Aoko replied wiping her eyes on a flowery tissue that Kaito produced from up his sleeve along with a puff of smoke.
"I've asked Hakase to get you some new clothes. Haibara doesn't like to share her clothes as some of hers are designer. That's why you are wearing her unwanted pyjamas because she doesn't like them. Possibly because they're pink."
"I'd noticed," Aoko commented dryly. "What made you come up with a name as weird as Conan Edogawa? The Conan is obviously from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Edogawa? Oh, I know; the novelist Edogawa Rampo?"
"Well done. Do you have any book characters or authors that you like? Famous detectives are fine as well."
"I was reading Harry Potter before all this happened, but all the names in that are western and would sound strange. I can't imagine being called Hermione or any of the other names."
"What about Lupin?" Kaito interrupted eagerly. "There are some female characters in that."
"Don't be silly Kuroba," Hakuba broke in as well desperate for Aoko to choose a name that wasn't from a series of stories about a thief and he was unable to resist opposing Kaito. "Sherlock Holmes; there are a few female characters in that like Irene Adler."
"Shut up both of you," Aoko shouted as she was trying to think of a name and didn't want it to be anything to do with thieves or detectives. Also she was a little tired of the rivalry between Kaito and Hakuba. Sometimes it amused her, but right now it was getting on her nerves. "It's my name, I'm deciding. I want to be called Akiko after my mother."
"What about the surname?"
"I think I'll go with a name from an author to make it more interesting. Hmm, what books do I like? I don't mind Nancy Drew so... Keene after the author? Akiko Keene. "I think I'll stick with that."
"Well, we've got that out of the way," Conan said standing up and stretching his stiff limbs. He fished his mobile phone out of his pocket. "I just need to make quite a lot of phone calls. I might be a while. I think I will call Hattori first and get the easiest one out the way."
As he left the room he could hear Kaito asking Aoko why she chose a name from a detective series and she pointed out that most the of the names in Lupin were French and would be even stranger than an English one. Hakuba agreed with her just to annoy Kaito and started an argument on who was better out of Sherlock Holmes and Lupin.
I was completely stuck for an alias for Aoko so what I came up with may sound a little strange. Akiko means autumn child. Nancy Drew had more than one ghost writer, but they wrote under a collective pseudonym which was Carolyn Keene. (My bookshelf of Nancy Drew books was next to my laptop when I was typing this.) I also went through a few of my Lupin books to find some normal surnames, but they were either French or sounded strange.