Kiss of Death

Chapter 16, Part 17

"Deduction"

A/N: Sorry for the very late update. Here it is as promised.

MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NOT WATCHED UP TO THE SCARLET ARC, OR WATCHED MOVIE 20.

I SUGGEST WATCHING MOVIE 20 FIRST. IT GIVES AN OVERALL VIEW OF THE ORGANISATION.

"Oh. Cool kid!" Jodie exclaimed the moment she busted into the Agasa residence. On the way home, Conan called up the FBI and CIA members to discuss about the case. Behind her was Akai, carrying a bulky black bag, presumably his sniper and other necessary equipment.

"Hello, Jodie-sensei and Akai," he greeted back. Jodie responded by giving him a warm embrace, commenting about how he still addressed her as "sensei" after all these years. Yet, his attention was focused on Akai. The man with thick eyelashes and lime-green eyes, staring at Conan back. He was aware that Akai might have known certain things about the Organisation and Shiho's past through Akemi. Whatever it was, he was dying to know.

"So, what about Vermouth?"

"Belmot is still alive," Conan answered, "have you seen the e-mail of Violette's case that I sent you? Violette Cisson, infiltrated the organization to avenge her father's death. Violette's mother was missing. That is because she was taken away and forced her to undergo surgery to look exactly like Chris Vineyard. Then, one of the members hacked the database and replace all the identification and fingerprints of Violette's mother to her's. So Belmot was running free in all these years."

Jodie audibly gasped, "and Julias Cisson?" she asked.

"Julias is the father of Violette Cisson and the son of Jim Cisson. He was also the professor and a friend of Araide Tomoaki, Ran's husband," Conan answered.

"Yes, I've heard of that case, 8 years ago, his belongings were found in London, but his whereabouts remained unknown. Violette and Tomoaki tried in vain to search for the truth behind his disappearance, but remained unfruitful," Akai informed, his dark-lined eyes closed as he leaned against the door.

"Specialising in cellular physiology and DNA genome, he worked for the organization. He was blackmailed by the organization and had no choice but to comply, otherwise the news of him having a love child outside of marriage will spread among the university compound. Thus he will lose his job and reputation, as well as at the cost of his marriage. They needed him to complete the APTX 4869 that Shiho Miyano left. But as he uncover the truth of the APTX 4869 and its dreadful effect, he attempted to escape and reveal its secrets to the higher authorities, only to be killed by enforcing him to consume the drug, leaving no forensic trace of the poisoning," a voice piped up.

"Seriously," Rei Furuya appeared, looking more egoistic than ever, "do your homework, you FBI agents." He gave a smug look, which earned a frown from Jodie. While Jodie was offended, Akai remained calm. Whether or not he cared, Conan couldn't tell.

Turning to leave, Akai stated, "I think I could figure things out myself. I'll be in the Kudo residence in case something happens outside." With that, he picked up his case -probably containing a sniper- and walked off.

"Wait-!"

"Akai-san!" Conan called out.

"What is it, boy ah?"

"I was curious..." Conan began, hesitantly, "... You knew Miyano Akemi, didn't you? And her sister, Miyano Shiho."

"Of course, there were my mother's nieces after all," he stated blandly.

"Then..."

"Speak up, small detective-"

But the boy continued to be reluctant. From his anguished frown, there was something bothering him deep down. It was a rare sight for them to see the young boy like this.

"Then... Did you happen to know the exact nature of the relation between Gin and Miyano? Miyano Shiho, to be specific," Conan blurted out. Ai's birth name left a weird and uncomfortable sensation at the tip of his tongue. As if the name was a taboo. A profanity. Words that ought not to be said.

"I don't think it's my right to tell you, small tantei-san," Akai answered, "it's a story for the young princess to tell you. But of course, don't pry now. It's isn't the right time."

"But-!"

"No," the older man replied tersely. Not revealing anymore information to the young sleuth. He continued walking, leaving Conan in a state of uncertainty. He needed to find out the truth behind Ai and Gin, quickly. The fact that Akai was adamant to keep it a secret confirmed that something terrible did happen, and it made Conan sick to the stomach.

"Tch," Rei, or rather formerly codenamed as Bourbon, clicked his tongue in annoyance, "that guy is still the same as ever."

Having to bring down Black Organisation 5 years ago, Rei Furaya had his identity exposed upon apprehending the members. Same goes for Hidemi Hondou, also known as Kir. Despite being in different departments, both Hidemi and Rei remained on friendly terms, but Rei clearly bears heavy grudges on Akai.

"I'll go accompany him while waiting then," Jodie said, discomfortable with Rei's presence, "James Black is in the headquarters trying to track the latest Black Organisation hideout."

"I guess it's cased closed about Julias, but what about his daughter?" Rei asked, popping out a bottle of Bourbon and pouring it in a glass.

Just then, Hidemi appeared, "drinking while on duty? Doesn't sound like you, Rei."

Taking a sip from the Bourbon, he said, "I was about to go home and enjoy the bottle of wine I just bought, when Conan suddenly called me to assemble in Agasa's place. But no worries, I will not be so stupid to get myself drunk."

Rei then poured the wine on 2 newly clean glasses - one for Hidemi and one for Heiji, who appeared behind them. Heiji, being 25 right now, drinking is nothing rare for him.

"So just loosen up a bit, and get a drink," Rei offered the glass to Hidemi, who reluctantly drank a bit. Seeing Hidemi taking a sip, Rei smugly added, "that's right, drink Bourbon like how you drank it last night."

At this, Hidemi blushed heavily and choked on the drink, while Heiji stared wide eyed at Rei's implication.

Ugh... When did they?! These adults -Conan thought, much irritated. His annoyance faded when Rei offered him a glass.

"Oh no, I'm not allowed to-"

"Mentally, you are allowed," Heiji added, patting the teenaged boy on his back.

"Trust me, I'd rather not. Can we just go back to the case?"

The last time I got drunk, I accidentally kissed Haibara and made her cry. Boy, that was something I've always felt guilty of. I really hated making her cry.

"Alright, but... Are you sure this ain't-" Hidemi asked, rather reluctantly, "you know... bugged?"

"Chao, chao!" the Osaka detective answered nonchalantly, "Jodie and Akai already checked if there's any bugs or spy cameras here. They also checked if there was any bombs, just in case. There's only us, while Agasa, a golden-haired brat and Conan's girlfriend sleeping in their respective rooms."

"I told you! She's not my girlfriend!-"

"Yet," Rei added.

"Whatever," Conan rolled his eyes, "I'll just recap Violette Cisson's case next for Hidemi's sake."

"Violette Cisson is the illegitimate child of Julias Cisson and granddaughter of Jim Cisson. She was formerly seen meeting up with Gin frequently and donned in black. Her behaviour became strange as her whereabouts were erratic, like she was running away from something. 5 years ago, she was found dead in a motel in Tokyo. The suicide note dismissed it as her death being suicide, but the note bears an odd message," Conan began.

"Few things were odd in the crime scene that made us draw 3 conclusions," Heiji intercepted.

"#1: The royal blue curtain was requested by Violette, but dark-coloured curtains prevents the light in, but it is strange because the room was on the second floor . The chair facing the door, almost as if someone had sat there and expected someone to arrive -almost as if Violette didn't want anyone to see what was going on in the room and that she was expecting someone," the small detective continued.

"And number 2," Heiji joined in, holding a peace sign, "#2- There was a glass of water on the nightstand contaminated with sleeping pills that was crushed into powder."

"#3- The receipt was found in the thrash can. The sleeping drugs was bought in a nearby pharmacy. The pharmacy staff was able to verify that Violette had bought it," Conan continued deducing.

"Which goes onto the next clue," Heiji linked Conan's point, "#4- Violette sent a suspicious text asking an anonymous person to meet her but it never happened. -the fact that she's meeting someone, it wouldn't make sense for her to have a suicide just before."

"And finally," the shrunken detective said in confidence, "#5- There's also the marks, that are bigger on the pillars of the veranda. Even though the 2 pillars are separated, it looked like the marks suggest that a rod-like item was placed there."

"So does that mean..." Rei said, "Violette planned to murder the culprit at first and purchased the pills. The strange message that Violette sent to the unknown person of meeting, Violette had an intent to kill whoever the culprit was. But the culprit sneaked in using the veranda. By using a rod-like item tied to a strong rope, the culprit hurled the item on the veranda. Next, the culprit used the rod part to stuck it in between the pillars, then using the rope-part to climb up. So once Violette returned from the pharmacy, she is met with the culprit in that very room. The culprit threatened her at gunpoint and forced her to write a suicidal note. Then, noticing the sleeping pills she purchased, the culprit used this to reproduce a suicide-like murder."

"But, how did Violette die to make it seem like a suicide-?"

"That's our next 3 observations," Conan answered, "#6- There was a deep incision on the right wrist. Violette was dominantly right-handed and yet, the incision was in her right pulse. If you were a right-hander, you would naturally cut your left wrist. The direction of the incision was slanted downwards, from right to left, confirming that it was cut using the left hand."

"This links up to the first time we met Jim Cisson, Amora's grandfather," Heiji said, "#7- During the time we met Jim Cisson & Amora, Amora had been using her left hand to serve as tea and the tidbits so she is likely to be left-handed. She's also evidently jealous of Violette inheriting a huge sum of money from Jim."

Conan continued again, "Finally, findings #8-She has an alibi when the murder occurred in Tokyo. Apparently, she's was with Jim in America. But since the organization could disguise with anyone like how Vermouth would, it's possible that she still did the murder."

Hidemi joined in, "so this would lead to the conclusion that Amora forced Violette to write the suicidal note at gun point. Then, drugged her using the sleeping pills Violette purchased and performed the incision on her pulse. If one stand behind the victim and do the incision of the wrist, it looked like the person did it on herself and then took the water concentrated with sleeping pills to mitigate the pain. Of course, Amora was careless and ignored her dominant left-handedness. That's why the incision was cut in a manner that a left-hander would. It's possible for a syndicate member like Vermouth, but not necessarily Vermouth, just a member with good disguising skills; to pretend to be Amora while she did the dirty job for them. That way, the ties between the Black Organization with Violette was never linked. If the murder was found out, it will be only deemed as a murder for inheritance if Amora was caught. If Amora was successful in getting away with it, she would get all the money. It can be seen as a win-win situation. But how did it became a locked room murder case?"

"Well, that simple," Conan answered, "our observation #9- The chair facing the door, almost as if someone had sat there and expected someone to arrive. The windowsills in the veranda to be slightly chipped, two of the pillars that keeps people from falling over had a linear scratch-mark. The chair that was facing the door in a straight fashion, seeing that there was the same chipped mark, of similar depth and thickness. All the chipped wood on the chair and windowsills seemed to be in a linear manner."

"And findings #10- The chessboard she bought in an auction, the gold king piece was missing. The crime scene had 3 pawns all over the place but the rest were in the box. The room key happened to be under the chessboard," Heiji stated.

"This would lead to the final conclusion These are evidences left by a method that Amora used to make it look like a lock-room murder. Firstly, she used 3 pawn pieces upside down in a triangle and placed the chessboard on top of it. Secondly, she used a recoiling fishing rod. She outlined the pillar of the veranda, the pawn pieces and the chair legs supporting the chessboard using the fishing line from the fishing rod. Thirdly, she locked all windows, doors to the veranda from the inside and locked the front door. Lastly, she used a rubber band to slingshot the key to the chessboard and recoiled the fishing line. In the process of recoiling, the chess pieces will be knocked over, hence, making the chessboard on top of the key that seemed untouched," Conan deduced, "this was similar to the trick a murder used in the case where Haibara first saw me solved a murder." (A/N: See episode 129 for visualisation).

Yearp, the very first time I saw her cry too...because I failed to save Akemi.

The image of the strawberry blonde clutching his shirt, drenching it with her tears flashed from his memory. He could hear the echoes of her screams of "why" in his ears, while he stood there, dumbfounded. That was one of the rare times where Conan had felt so low, so useless, so unintelligent.

"Then, what about Jim Cisson's murder case?-"

"Amora killed him as well. The human's digestive juice in the stomach consists of Hydrochloric acid, so placing metallic in his food will make him explode, in a locked door. How did the culprit do it in a locked room you may ask?" Conan stated, continuing to prattle on, "observation #1- She picked a lock using two simple hair-pins. A lock consists of different pins of different levers. It only opens once all are of a certain level. You use one to tamper with the levers of the pins, while the other can be bent to be used as a lever and turn the whole keyhole once it's unlocked. Now, Amora can use this in a reverse method, to lock the door. Thus, the sealed room murder case is made possible."

Heiji then continued, "which leads us to discovery #2- Jim Cisson didn't order the food by room service. In the crime scene he had his medication nearby. What if the culprit gave him food so that he can eat it before taking his medicine. In other words, the culprit is someone whom he trusts."

"But didn't Amora gave a speech to the students at the same time it happened. She even have a video," Hidemi rebutted.

"It's just like the previous murder case, "now it was Conan's turn to speak, "someone like Vermouth, would've easily dress up as her while they did the deed. Or it can be the other way round."

"As for the evidence, the culprit couldn't wear gloves as it might be questionable to the victim upon seeing her, but with glue to cover up your fingerprints, it'll be easy." Heiji answered, "But there's always a clue the culprit can leave behind. Say, a strand of hair or sweat. Picking a lock requires time, so what if the culprit's hands begin to sweat? The glue loses out and there might be fingerprints on it. The hair-pin might've been disposed somewhere because the culprit needs to get rid of it. With a stroke of luck, Tyler found a hair-pin in a corridor on that day. Even though Tyler is in a sedated state in Tomoaki Araide's care, we managed to obtain it. We already have Megure persecuted Amora, but she did request to give a final event tomorrow. We did let her, given that she holds responsibility for the school and we cannot have the chance to get Kaito Kid disrupted."

"Why the heck is the thief going to scene this time?" Rei gave an angry outburst, "we already have our hands full from the syndicate, and now we have to entertain some mischief of a masked man. Not to mention, he resembles you, Conan. By a lot actually. You sure he isn't blood related to you?"

"Rei, that's another mystery for another time. I have considered that possibility. It's because Amora sold the Chesspiece of Gwendallau to Adviser Jirokochi Suzuki at the auction and KID declared to steal it. As a serve of gratitude to Amora, Advisor Suzuki sponsored the Teitan-Moriarty Masquerade Night, displaying the chesspiece to have a public showdown with Kaito Kid. The event is tomorrow. It's compulsory for the Teitan Middle School students to go. Although I could've just lock Haibara up in here for her safety, she's too stubborn. She kept a promise to some boy that she'll accompany him," Conan explained.

"As for Belmot," he pressed on, "she was never caught by the police in the first place. Violette's mother didn't abandon her, she was taken away and forced her to undergo surgery to look exactly like Belmot. They got one of the members to hack the FBI database and replace all the identification and fingerprints of Violette's mother to Belmot's. So no matter how much she begged for her innocence in that prison cell, no one ever believed her. Then, on that night, she was murdered by Gin. Gin had also escaped shortly before that."

"FBI database? Must be either they have a really good hacker, or Akai and his friends are just incompetent. They should've just let us handle Belmot," Rei scoffed.

"Come on, don't be like that," Hidemi coaxed, placing her delicate hand on his shoulder, "I'm pretty sure they had their reasons. What's important is that we know the truth-"

Just then, Hidemi's cellphone rang.

"Oh, it's Eisuke-kun," she informed, "probably he's in Araide's place right now. I'll head there too. See ya."

"So, let me get this straight, Kudo," Heiji broke the silence, "the FBI will be in charge of tracking the syndicate with the help of Rei's friends. Jodie and Akai are at the Kudo residence to overlook into anyone approaching the Agasa residence, since Akai is the best sniper here. Eisuke and Rei's girlfriend are looking after Ran, Tyler and Tomoaki Araide's safety, because the syndicate might have known their ties to this case. Rei is staying onhold just in case a threat comes here and he could communicate with his own police force, also will be in charge of disarming a bomb if there is one. We're staying with Rei here to protect Haibara, Agasa and the other boy, correct?"

"Yearp-"

"For your information, boys, there's no romantic affiliation between Hidemi and I," Rei intervened, "I'll just be at Agasa's workshop to get some tools." With that, he walked off. Conan waited until Rei is out of sight.

"No romantic affiliations my ass. Didn't he just hinted it to us?" Conan scoffed, slightly annoyed and uncomfortable with Rei's inside joke earlier.

"Kudo, my friend," Heiji patted the boy on the back, "there's such thing as 'casual friends'... If you catch my drift."

"Ohh."

The Detective of the West bursted out laughing at Conan's seemingly innocence. "Did the years of being a kid caught up to you?" he insulted jokingly, "come on Kudo, you can't be that much of an idiot to realise how common and possible it is for adults to participate in a relationship like that. It's not always black and white, you know."

"It's just..."

"Just what?"

"The thought of staying close to someone physically but not emotionally is inconceivable," he said dryly. Conan frowned, his eyes dimming. He stared down at the floor.

"Oh?" Heiji replied, "that's a shock, coming from a dense Casanova like you."

"Say..."

"What is it?"

"It's just..." he hesitated.

"Speak up Kudo, this ain't like you."

"It's just- there was something Belmot told me. The whole information regarding Rei and Hidemi triggered me to remember it. I haven't told anyone else, so keep your mouth shut," he quickly said, afraid of regretting it.

"Ok, I won't tell-"

"Belmot... Well- how should I say this? She... She implied that Gin and Haibara had relations outside of the syndicate business," he said, rather vaguely, as if he did not want to specify the matter. The specific epithet was like a taboo for him.

"I had my own suspicions before, given that Gin is so familiar with her. But I'd always push those thoughts away, delaying it. I don't know why... I just did. It makes me feel... disgusted," he explained further. Taking a sip from his canned iced coffee.

"Not saying that I'm disgusted by Haibara, more like fucking annoyed with Gin if it is true. No- annoyed is not even the word to describe it- I meant, furious," he mumbled on. The can of iced coffee is now clenched tightly in his hand, crushing it. The sickening feeling in his stomach was returning once more.

"That fucking vile, disgusting, son of a-"

"Get a grip on yourself Kudo," Heiji interrupted, prying away the canned drink -now clobbered due to Conan's frustration- from the bespectacled boy.

"You're fumbling about. It's not like you to lose your composure until you rant on," his friend reminded him, "look, your drink's been tortured." As a friend for years, Heiji knew that Conan loses his cool and gives into his emotions when he starts to spit profanities.

"But now that you've mentioned it, Gin always have this crazed look whenever he's hunting her. It was like he's obsessed with the idea of seeing her helpless. It's abnormal, if you ask me-"

"You're right," Conan said weakly, gripping his bangs in attempt to mask his rage, "it's just damn frustrating. I tried asking Akai and others about it, but nobody wants to tell me a damn fucking thing."

Oh boy, another F-bomb. I'd say Kudo is in a highly emotional vulnerable state -Heiji thought.

"And you haven't asked her?"

"I doubt it. For Holmes' sake, I've known her for like what- 8 years? She never told me about anything. It's not necessary for me to know every single detail about her life and I never question it anyway, but... I thought... That no one else made her feel that way," he ranted on, the fire of rage was dying out, but it was replaced by something more gloomy and dark aura in him.

"Kudo, knowing someone for years will not guarantee knowing them as a whole. You can live the rest of your life knowing someone and still not know them. As for her, I can say, she has a lot of skeletons in the closet," Heiji countered, the harsh words stabbing Conan.

Why did the people who meant a lot of him kept so many secrets? Was he not trustworthy enough?

"That's why!" he exclaimed, exasperated, "she's always pushing her emotions away- hiding it in one corner- until she explodes! She doesn't tell what isn't that important and she's so pessimistic about her worth whenever I show sincerity towards her. That's what makes it so annoying, I'm a detective, not an ominous God who knows everything..."

His face was beet red with anger now. Heiji swore that he spotted a tear slid, but it was gone in a blink. Heiji didn't dare to console the boy. In fact, he hasn't seen him so disheartened, like he did 5 years ago.

"Hey... Calm down. We're pursuing a case, don't let your emotions drive your decisions right now. Maybe you shouldn't ask her immediately, you should try to patch things up with her okay? The problem with you is that you're impulsive, and that girl takes her time to warm up to someone," Heiji tried to take the logical route. The boy didn't seem to brighten up, but his posture was better. Then -Heiji saw it- his eyes might have looked dead a minute ago, but now? There were flames that flickered, the ones that he usually displays when he's on a hot trail of getting a culprit.

"A darn long time, I must say-"

But you'll try, at the very least, Kudo.

"Thanks Hattori-"

"No problem-"

Just then, the reassurance of an undying friendship and newfound determination was broken by a piercing scream.

And the voiced belonged to Ai.

A/N: Sorry if the cases aren't Gosho's standard. Also, in his recent interview, he confirmed that Akemi and Akai are cousins. I do have a hypothesis on my next chapter as to why they introduced themselves as a couple. Also, I'm not really much of a Rei/Hidemi shipper but I noticed their chemistry in movie 20 and the fact that their voice is the same as Tuxedo Mask and Sailor Moon respectively. For some of the facts, there's still loads of mysteries in the canon series, so just accept these as COAI SCENES ON THE NEXT CHAPTER.