"So did you pick up the evening paper on the way home, Dad? Kid's written a note to the magician kidnappers I guess- it's all over every news channel on TV right now." Nakamori Aoko busied herself with setting the table for a slightly late dinner as he dad hung up his belongings in the hall closet and entered the living room.
"Of course I did. I had to see what that guy was going to do after he called me at work and told me this plan of his," Ginzo replied gruffly as he thunked a newspaper down beside his place setting while glancing at its headline with a deep frown. "I still can't quite decide whether Kid is crazy like a fox or just plain crazy, though."
"Why? What exactly did he put in the note?"
"It's a list of three things that he wants from the kidnappers before he'll agree to surrender himself to them at his next heist, which is due to take place five days from now." Ginzo opened the paper and scanned it over, although he already knew the list thanks to the buzz that had rapidly circulated around the headquarters of the Kaitou Kid task force as he'd been getting ready to head home for the evening. "The first thing he wants is undeniable proof that the other three missing magicians are still alive, second is a guarantee that the other three who are still missing will be released when he turns himself over and finally, he wants an agreement to end the kidnappings until he gives himself up so that magicians can get back to earning their livings."
"Wow. And he really thinks that they'll agree to all of that stuff?"
"Well, the group of kidnappers is obviously pretty desperate to get a hold of Kaitou Kid, for whatever reason. But you know, I'm really wondering if he's going to be who they're expecting him to be under that goofy-looking suit."
Aoko gave her father a puzzled look as she finished dishing out their dinner. "What exactly do you mean by that, Dad?"
"To be honest about it," the keibu began as he rubbed his chin and looked up at the ceiling, "I've always had this weird little feeling in the back of my mind ever since he reappeared that this Kaitou Kid we're chasing now isn't the same one that suddenly stopped stealing eight and a half years ago. Some of his behavior, especially back towards the beginning of his reappearance, just doesn't match up with the Kid from back then." He shrugged and began tucking in to the meal. "But who knows? It's nothing more than a gut hunch that I've never been able to prove or disprove."
"I think Saguru-kun is working on the case too. I overheard him discussing Kid with someone on his phone during our break between classes. Maybe he'll be able to help figure out what's going on."
"What the hell happened to his hair, anyhow? It was this weird shade of bright orange when he came to visit my office this morning but I couldn't bring myself to ask him and besides, we had other things to worry about."
Aoko managed to keep her amusement to some mild snickering after she finished chewing. "Well, Kaito is staying in one of the guest bedrooms at Saguru-kun's house while Kaito's mom takes a trip and apparently, Kaito sleeppranks."
"Say what?"
"Kaito sleeppranks- sets tricks up in his sleep." Aoko shrugged while she readied another bite of food. "That goofball can't even stop joking around while he's fast asleep."
"But what if they don't respond to this, young master? Supposing that this letter you've sent only makes them angrier…" Jii shifted uncomfortably in his seat before getting up and pacing around his tidy living room, clearly letting off some nervous energy about the plan that Kaito had come up with.
"Eh, if they want Kaitou Kid badly enough they'll be willing to cooperate. And I have a feeling that they do and they will be, for whatever reason that they've got." Kaito frowned before studying the strange wooden box that he'd found in the pit the other day, turning it over in his hands and reading the inscription for what felt like the thousandth time. "So you're absolutely sure that you've never heard of this Dona Par Society before? It looks like Dad must have done something for them since he got this box. I wonder what was in it."
"Have you asked your mother about it yet? Perhaps she'd have an idea what it was. She might have even attended whatever event that he got this at with him, who knows?"
"I haven't called her today. I'll ask her when I call her later tonight." And that's the other thing…what is it about this society's name that's bugging the heck out of me? Dona Par…Dona Par…it doesn't seem to be a person's name- or at least not someone who's findable on the Internet , and something just feels off about it. I never found a Web site advertising the society and neither did Jii-chan, but maybe the Dona Par Society simply doesn't exist anymore...?
"Are you really going to go through with this? They may want something that only your father could give or provide, you realize. What would you do then?"
"Not if that something they want is stealing." Kaito shrugged and placed the box down. "Besides, I'm hoping that while I'm with those guys that I can get a few questions of my own answered. I have a sneaking suspicion that the guys that put Mom in the hospital and the guys that are kidnapping the magicians aren't the same group of people."
"Perhaps you're right. After all, you would suppose that since they knew Toichi's name they'd just grab you at your school or something along those lines."
"Exactly. Well, I gotta head back to Hakuba's before it gets too late. The school library doesn't stay open for longer than three hours after school lets out and I used studying there as an excuse to be gone." Of course, Kaito also knew that the superior, icy 'Do you think I'm stupid?' glare that had been Saguru's only proffered reply to that excuse meant that the meitantei hadn't really bought it at all.
Ten minutes later, Kaito approached the house to use the back entrance only to find the door opened before his hand could touch the knob, quickly followed by him being rather forcefully hustled inside by Minawa Shiori, the woman who seemed to be Hakuba's housekeeper-slash-investigative assistant. She double-bolted the door behind Kaito while wearing a vaguely frightened expression before turning to him and firmly pointing towards the hallway library. "Head to the library, there's no windows. Saguru-botchama will explain what's going on."
"Hakuba, what's happening?"
"Maybe something, maybe nothing. But it's always better to not take any chances, correct?" Saguru didn't even lift his eyes from The Adventure of the Speckled Band as he spoke while Watson ruffled her feathers and gave Kaito a look from the top of the leather couch Saguru was currently occupying that the magician could only interpret as annoyed.
"Well you seem awfully calm about whatever's happening."
"That would because the gentlemen in the car- or rather, cars- across the street haven't made any moves yet and they seem to merely be observing the house. Certain security precautions have already been engaged, however." Saguru adjusted the brim of the dark grey hat that he was wearing and continued to read Holmes as he talked.
"Guys across the street? Huh?"
"For about the past four hours or so there's been a pair of men sitting across the street, parked up in the service driveway at the house across the street. The house's owners are out of town on an extended vacation currently, which is why the car being there caught Shiori's eye in the first place when she came back from grocery shopping. The two keep changing vehicles and acting like they're making deliveries, but it's always the same pair of men regardless of vehicle. One rather tall, very stocky fellow and a smaller trim one with long blonde hair."
No way. Could it possibly be the same guys that hospitalized Mom? It sure as hell sounds like them…but how in the world did they trace me here? After a surprisingly brief internal debate, Kaito decided to mention his mother's attack; if Saguru asked him why she'd been attacked he'd just have to quickly think up something plausible. "That, uh, sounds a lot like the two burglars who visited Mom last week and wound up hospitalizing her." A burglary works, I guess.
"I see. Well, I'm waiting to find out a certain piece of information and then-" Saguru's cell phone rang at just that moment. "If you'll excuse me for a minute or two to take this call? I've been waiting for it for a while. Oh, and I wouldn't recommend sitting down on the couch that Watson's perched on; she seems to be in a bit of a mood this evening." With that, Saguru rose up from the couch and answered the phone as he stepped out into the hallway.
"Would you quit looking at me like that? I never did anything to you, dang it." Well, you might have gotten a beakful of knockout gas at a robbery or something like that one of the times that Saguru brought you along to a Kid robbery, but any of that's your fault for tolerating the guy enough to be his pet!
Watson ruffled her feathers again before emitting a loud screech in Kaito's direction and hopping up and down slightly on the couch's back twice, leveling an irate-looking glare at the magician the entire time as if she'd heard his thoughts and was disagreeing with them. This was followed by a larger hop and a glide by the hawk, ending with Watson expertly landing on top of the lamp that Kaito had planted his bug in and reminding him in the process that he still needed to listen to that conversation that was recorded back at Jii's house when he had the chance to.
"Hey, what's this?" Kaito had noticed a set of thick file folders simply marked 'KID' on their spines in Saguru's overly neat, fussy handwriting on the shelves. Overcome with curiousity, he decided to have a quick peek before the meitantei returned and grabbed one of them off the shelf. His heart plummeted sharply when his broadly smiling father in full stage regalia at one of the deceased magician's many stage shows greeted him when Kaito opened one of the binders to its first page. Okay, how in the hell- Now driven by a fear-laced desire to know what Hakuba Saguru knew Kaito flipped through the pages as fast as he could, his eyes first skimming newspaper clippings of Kid's various exploits that seemed to begin roughly fifteen years ago, then articles about Kuroba Toichi's tragic stage accident and finally later-dated articles discussing the mystery of Kaitou Kid's sudden, inexplicable lack of activity. The very last article in the first binder was headlined 'KAITOU KID-DEAD?' He put the binder back into place while unsuccessfully trying to suppress a shiver and was just mulling over whether to risk looking at one of the other binders when he heard footsteps heading towards the door and the knob turning. It looks like he's way, way closer to the truth about Kaitou Kid than I ever even realized...I'll just have to sneak in here tonight and take a closer look at these when I remove that bug I planted, I guess.
Saguru launched into an explanation without any preamble once he fully entered the room. "The police went to go pull up across the street to question the men, but the car left a good ten minutes before they even arrived. That's not to say that the two won't be back later and that we don't need to be careful and watch ourselves, however. Shiori is also going to take us to school by a different route in the morning." He then cleared his throat before asking "Have you checked your house or called your mother lately? I know you mentioned that trip that she went on, in light of things it might be wise to check on both of them..."