Secrets and Lies: Chapter 9

Later that day after Hakuba and Kaito's argument Professor Agasa arrived back from shopping and dumped all the bags on the sofa after a long shopping trip. Aoko was in the basement helping Haibara with her research and Kaito was feeding his doves in the front room.

Haibara briefly appeared to take the bag of alcoholic beverages to the dark depths of the basement for further study. She ordered Kaito to make her some peanut butter and blueberry jam sandwiches and told him to keep them away from Hakase as he was on a strict diet.

"Here's the clothes I bought for Nakamori-san," he said holding up a white skirt, a black pair of shorts, underwear and two plain pink t-shirts. "I also bought her a pair of Converse; I think she is the same size as Ai-kun so they should fit. By the way does she like pink? I hope she does."

"Her favourite colour is blue, but she doesn't mind pink," Kaito informed him remembering playing dressing up games with her as a child and she would always insist of wearing something blue.

Flashback

"Kaito, let's play Princes and Princesses," Aoko demanded happily diving into the dressing up box full of clothes and other things that Chikage Kuroba had brought down from the attic for them to play with.

It was a Saturday and it was the day after a Kid heist. Inspector Nakamori had dropped Aoko off at the Kurobas' house so they could look after her as he had to fill in paperwork at the police station and he couldn't find anyone else to look after her. Toichi Kuroba was having a lie in after a very late night and didn't want to be disturbed so Aoko and Kaito were banned from running amok through the entire house like they usually did. They were restricted to the front room and told to keep the noise down. To cheer them up Kaito's mother brought down some old clothes from the attic and said they could play dressing up as long as they were quiet and didn't leave the room or wreck the furniture.
The clothes were an odd mixture. Some were from Chikage's childhood and some were old clothes that her husband didn't wear, but wanted to keep in case of an emergency like his spare white suit and top hat.
Aoko came out clutching a long pale blue dress and a matching hat that Chikage had worn as a girl.

"See, I can be the princess and you can be the prince."

Kaito screwed up his face and delved through the box for something that would hopefully change her mind. He found a small flat and round object with a long chain hanging from it. He was unable to work out what it was so he showed it to Aoko as she often knew random facts. She took it from him and held it up to the light. The middle of the circular part was glass and see through.

"It's a monocular; you wear it on your eye like this," she explained, mispronouncing the word as she had only heard it said once. She placed it on his face to demonstrate, not noticing that he was blushing. "That thief that Otou-san says rude words about wears one. You know, Kaitou Kid."

"Oh, Kaitou Kid. I like him. He's a magician so he can't be a criminal. Ooh, there's a white suit and a top hat too. I can be Kid instead of some boring prince," Kaito said putting on the trousers and the jacket. Both were too long for him and swamped his small body.

"Kaito, that is for an adult. You could roll up the trouser legs and sleeves. If you are going to be Kaitou Kid then who am I?"

Kaito thought for a second determined to keep her happy so she would forget about playing princes and princesses. "I know, you can be my wife. You can dig out the bullets like a surgeon when I get shot," Kaito suggested fantasizing about being like Kaitou Kid when he was older. "I think I saw a gun in there."

Aoko rifled through the clothes and spotted it along with a black hat that she stuck on her head. "Okay, run round the room and pretend you have stolen a jewel."

Kaito ran around the room as quietly as possible and bounced on the sofa and jumped off with his arms out pretending that he had a hang glider. Aoko cocked the gun quite low at him as it was heavy for a seven year old to hold.

"Stick 'em up Kid. I'm from a criminal organisation that wants to hunt you down."

She pulled the trigger once struggling to pull it back and luckily for both of them the safety was still on. It was Toichi Kuroba's spare gun that he thought he had lost. Kaito dropped the floor and writhed around in pretend pain. Aoko discarded her hat and ran over to him pretending to cry.

"I'm going to dig the bullet out husband. Don't scream," she ordered bending down over him.
"Ahhhhh! Don't scratch me."

Chikage Kuroba watched the two seven year olds through the partially open door. She was amused at the subject they had chosen and reminded herself to remove the gun from the box at the first opportunity. However she was a little fearful about their safety in the future too. Kaito and Aoko could be acting out their future if last night's heist had been any indication. It had been the worst so far. The Black Organisation had turned up again to threaten Kid and this time they actually started shooting at him. They were demanding that he find Pandora again when he refused they fired shots at him and one of them hit him in the arm. Jii had helped him escape by causing a diversion and when they had both arrived home she had helped Jii dig the bullet out.

She knew that Kaito liked Aoko and they were a good match. In the future Kaito could be potentially taking Toichi's place and Aoko could be taking hers if they were both killed by the Black Organisation.

Kaito smiled fondly at the memory remembering how he wished that he was Kid and Aoko was his wife. Now he knew that his dream had come true in a way, but a little more disastrously than he had intended. He was jerked back to the present by Professor Agasa coughing and sitting down on the sofa with a newspaper that he had bought.

"That reminds me, I need to call my mother and explain everything that is going on to her," Kaito said wondering if the phone at his house had been tapped yet. It probably had been knowing the efficiency of the Black Organisation and he didn't want to take a chance and ruin everything by telling her where they all were. Then he remembered Jii; he could contact him and ask him to pass a message onto her. He could also use one of his doves to send a message, but they weren't as efficient as homing pigeons.

"Er, Kaito-kun. I don't think that you should contact her right now or anytime soon. It could put her in even more danger. There's an article here that mentions her."

Hakase folded the newspaper in half and pointed out small news article in the corner of a page towards the back. It was a local newspaper. Kaito took it from his worried and read it out loud as Conan and Hakuba entered the room together. His brain couldn't seem to process what he had just read so he read it out loud.

"Street crime is still happening today despite what the Police are telling us about lower crime figures. As proof the wife of Toichi Kuroba, the world famous magician was one of many victims today that were a victim of street crime. Chikage Kuroba was beaten by a gang of street thugs here in Tokyo who were apparently after her purse. She was taken to hospital with severe injuries and her attackers fled from the scene... The rest of the article just goes on about street crime."

"It's Them," Conan stated what they all knew.
"They must be trying to send a message to us to warn us that they are on our trail."

"Well, we can't stop night. I think they are panicking after you three singlehandedly destroyed an entire branch of their organisation. Kuroba, please don't get tempted to visit your mother. It's most likely a trap."

"I know," Kaito answered sadly. He was like Aoko; she wouldn't be able to see her father and he wouldn't be able to see his mother. It would be hard, but they would both have to persevere. "They must know I'm helping too since they target my mother. Wait, if they have targeted my mother, are controlling Aoko's father to do nothing what about Hakuba's parents."

Hakuba jumped a little when Kaito said that. Kaito and Conan looked at him waiting for him to answer. The moment Kaito had read the article out loud his mind had jumped to his father. He wasn't worried about him. He never saw him anymore. His work as the Chief of Police kept him busy and sometimes he got a glimpse of his early in the morning leaving for work, but he didn't care about pleasing his father anymore.

"I'm going to be blunt," Conan began noticing that Hakuba seemed to be sensitive on the subject of his parents. "Do you have a mother and if so where is she? The Black Organisation are targeting anyone close to you three so we need to know."

Hakuba sighed remembering how his mother had died. It had been his father's fault and he had hated him ever since then. "No I don't have one. She died when I was very young. I have a father and a governess who is currently in England and doesn't work for my family anymore."

"I don't think your father would be targeted as he is the Chief of Police, but I don't think he could have got that far up in the ranks without hearing anything about the Black Organisation," Kaito said knowing that Hakuba would pick up what he was implying.

"He's either a member or an affiliate that passes information on. You're right Kuroba he couldn't have got that far in the Police without having something to do with the Black Organisation; they wouldn't want a Chief of Police that worked against them and investigated their cases properly. He is probably the one that closed down the Tokyo Tower investigation."
He smiled ruefully at the look on Conan and Kaito's faces. "I don't care for him anymore. I never see him and he never pays any attention to me even if we accidentally meet at the Police Station. It's like I don't exist. I think we should investigate him first."
"Yes, I think that would be a good idea. I think I'm going to be calling in some favours from officers I know. Excuse me," Conan replied turning on his heel and leaving the room.

Kaito patted Hakuba on the shoulder feeling sorry for him. At least he had done parent that cared for him and supported him. To have one dead and never see the other one must be terrible.

"You must get lonely at home. How's Watson? I haven't seen him recently," Kaito said trying to cheer him up.

"He is in England, but I think he's going to die soon. I've had him for a long time."

Conan flipped open his Conan Edogawa phone and scrolled through his police contacts deciding who to call. He came to Sato's number and considered the risks. Sato and Takagi were the officers that were the most likely to do something for him, but on the other hand they were the most suspicious ones. However he couldn't be picky so he decided to ask Sato. If he involved them even if it was for one small task he could be potentially endangering their lives. To give them a chance he resolved to explain everything briefly first before they agreed to anything. He couldn't call her line at work in case all the telephone lines were tapped. Luckily he had her mobile number that she had given him for emergencies. He dialled the number.

"Hello. It's Sato," she said picking up her phone after a few rings.

"Sato-keiji. It's Conan-kun. I've got a big favour to ask of you. It's very important," Conan stated trying to sound as childlike as he normally did when talking to her. The level depended on how suspicious she was.

"Oh, hello Conan-kun. Sure, I'll do you a favour. What do you want?"

"I think I had better explain it all to you first before you do anything. It might save your life."

He briefly went through all the major points about the Black Organisation leaving out all the parts about him and Haibara. He explained how they had informers in the Police and mentioned some of the cases that They had been involved in. He also told her what he needed to do.

"So you want those case reports and if anyone asks it was Kogoro Mori that requested them. I can do that. You also want to know who closed the investigation involving Kaito Kid at Tokyo Tower. That isn't really my department. I don't think I can do that. Sorry."

"Can't you persuade someone from that department to tell you? I've heard from Takagi-Keiji that you are popular with male police officers; he said that they would probably do anything for you."

"TAKAGI!"

Conan could hear Sato yelling at him in the background and hid a smile.

"All right Conan-kun, since it is important I'll do it. However I do have one condition."

He didn't like the sound of that. "What is it?"

"You will tell me how you got mixed up with a criminal organisation and you will tell me the whole truth. I'll call you when I've got the information. Bye."

She hung up before Conan could protest or reply. She put her mobile phone back into her pocket. Two very strange requests from a very strange child. She and Takagi had always known that some facts about him didn't add up. She had initially believed that he had picked up his skill from Kogoro Mori teaching him. After watching how he treated Conan she was positive that it wasn't the case. She had decided that she would go along with him and wouldn't ask questions until some new evidence about him turned up. Now she had some. He had a connection to a criminal organisation. How did a seven year old get mixed up in that?

He had also noticed that effect that she had on male police officers that she wasn't really aware of. She didn't think that Takagi had told him; it didn't fit in with his personality. He must have lied to cover himself. To top that he had suggested that she use it to her advantage. A normal seven year old wouldn't ask that. At least now she had the chance to ask him some questions.

She looked over at her idiotic partner on the desk next to her who had his head buried in paperwork. She stood up and moved next to him ignoring the stares that she had got from yelling loudly at him.

"Takagi, go down to records and request to have these case files. It's someone's request, but say Kogoro Mori if you get asked," she ordered slapping her hastily scrawled list down top of his paperwork. "Now please."

"Why do I have to do it? Why can't you? I'm busy," he whined making a face.
Sato knew by now how to stop him protesting. She poked his chin noticing how his cheeks reddened. "He's asked me to do something else. If you do it I'll make you a bento."

She dropped her volume and whispered in his ear. "It's a request from Conan-kun. If we do it I get to ask some questions in return."

Takagi turned it over in his mind. It was very tantalising. Ever since the bombing case that had trapped him and Conan in a lift together with a bomb he had been curious as Conan had shown skill in disarming the bomb. When Takagi had asked him who he really was the boy's answer had intrigued him. It was a good opportunity to find out why he was so smart.

"Okay, I'll do it," he said standing up and leaving the office.