Thanks to all my wonderful readers and reviewers! Thanks for your patience with my updates. I WILL finish ALL my stories. *eyes the very uncooperative Muzai that wants to finish twenty different ways evilly*

"Do you know what it is exactly that we're looking for, young master?" Jii carefully stepped over and around the traps that Kaito had set up all over the Kuroba home, trying to follow Kaito's footsteps exactly so as to not trigger any of them.

"Mom said she might still have an old notebook around here that may have stage names of Dona Par Society members in it, so we're looking for that along with anything Dad left behind that'll help us figure out what these kidnappers are up to." Kaito continued to slowly make his way towards the large painting of his father hanging on the back wall, ducking under and over various triggers. He finished approaching the painting after a few moments and began the process of opening the secret hideout. "There are no traps right around the picture, but stay close."

Jii nervously looked down and placed his feet on the floor as he waited for Kaito to finish. "We also have to figure out why these guys decided to come after me all of a sudden," Kaito continued as the secret door swung open and the pair entered the room. "Why'd they choose right now to come after me- well, Kaitou Kid? Why didn't they start chasing after me right after I started bringing Kid back?" He grinned as he began digging around in the pit again, hoping against hope that they'd find something. "Especially because I probably would have been a lot easier to catch back then, when I didn't know what the heck I was doing."

"You'll get no argument on that one," replied Jii with a laugh as he began moving things in another part of the pit. "You also raise an excellent point- something had to have set these events into motion." He moved a particularly large box out of the way. "I've got a feeling that if we can figure out what triggered the kidnappings, we'll gain quite a bit of headway into getting the group -or rather, groups- of people chasing you off your back."

"I hope so. I want to get back to finding Pandora, but if I start pulling heists as Kid before we figure this stuff out they'll probably just start kidnapping magicians all over again, or maybe even worse." Kaito shivered as he thought back to the Osaka letter's dark threat. We might just stop giving them back...

"Interesting. Here's what seems to be a dinner menu from a Dona Par Society event that's ten years old, judging by the date printed on it." Jii rubbed his chin and studied the folded piece of paper. "It was folded up and tucked between two of the books here on the shelf." He opened the trifold-style menu and began studying it.

"Sounds like it was hidden by Dad, all right. What's on it? Besides the food, that is." Kaito felt his phone vibrating against his leg and pulled it out of his pocket, studying the caller ID. "Bah, it's Hakuba- he probably saw the news and thinks I'm dead or something." He pressed the answer button and placed the phone to his hear. "What do you want?"

"Are you staying somewhere else tonight, or does Shiori need to leave the side door unlocked?" Saguru cleared his throat. "Seeing as how it's a shade past one A.M. on a school night and all."

Oh, right. "Uh, sorry- I was picking up some stuff from my house and lost track of time I guess. Leaving the door unlocked's fine."

"Alright, I'll tell Shiori." Kaito was somewhat surprised at Saguru's lack of questioning- especially about his being out so late on a school night. "Just be sure to lock the door behind you, hmm?"

"Hakuba was just wondering if I was still staying in his guest room. I didn't realize how late it was," Kaito explained to Jii after he hung up and returned the phone to his pocket. "So what was on that menu that you found?"

"It appears to be a list of several stage names, actually. This also looks like your father's handwriting, along with some drawings of crows and doves." Jii pointed to several names that were printed in ink on the back of the dinner menu, the older man's brow furrowing as he continued to study the list. "How strange."

"What's strange?" Kaito walked over to study the list over Jii's shoulder. It was a list of somewhere between ten and twenty stage names, with what looked like a crude drawing of either a white dove or a black crow next to each name. Kaito then picked up on what he figured Jii was talking about- five of the names had nothing at all next to them. "Looks like some kind of code or something. Well, let's get going for now- I'd like to get some sleep before school tomorrow. I can try and figure it out during class."

"It has what on it?"

Why does Kudo sound so shocked? "It appears to be a copy of a list of magician's stage names written on the back of a menu for a dinner that an organization called the Dona Par Society held." Saguru shifted in his sofa slightly and gave the paper in his hand another look. "The names have either doves or crows sketched by them- or at least most of them do. Kuroba 'accidentally' dropped it on the way out of school this afternoon as we were leaving class so that I could see it; he was about as subtle as a freight train." Saguru cleared his throat and glanced in the direction of his guest bedroom before continuing. "There are five names on the list that don't have either a crow or a dove by them."

"No way. It can't be." Shinichi almost seemed to be muttering to himself.

"What exactly's on your mind, Kudo?"

"I was thinking about the Black Organization, actually." There was a pause and what sounded like a backpack being zipped. "Of course, that's probably because I can't help mentally associating them with crows after some of my confrontations with them."

"Oh? And why is that?"

"I don't want to get into it too much until we have more proof but I'm wondering if the Black Organization is somehow even more tied up in this than we realize." He sighed deeply. "I really wish we had the original of that paper to take a good look at, but you probably couldn't get it from Kuroba." Saguru could hear footsteps padding across the room before a lock snapped into place on the other end. "Have Gin and Vodka shown up at all since last night, while we're on the subject of those guys?"

"Interestingly enough, there hasn't been hide or hair of them across the street since the shooting. The witness who's currently in the hospital gave a rough description of the shooters that matched Gin and Vodka's descriptions quite nicely, however- what he could manage to see before the black smoke obscured everything, that is."

"Not surprising, and of course we can't ask the only eyewitness we've got access to. Well, we could ask him but he'd be admitting that he's Kaitou Kid if he answered truthfully. If he really is Kid, that is."

Saguru continued to study the copy of the menu he'd been given. "I don't think Kuroba has much more of a clue as to what's going on or why this whole mess suddenly started than we do, Kudo. He came to us for help- in a strange and rather roundabout way, but he still came to us. I highly doubt that anything but sheer desperation would have driven him to such a thing." He snorted lightly. "Well, that along with that 'No One Gets Hurt' rule of his."

"Don't remind me. You're not even supposed to know that I'm me." Shinichi continued on after a few moments of somewhat tense silence. "So how old is the menu exactly? Maybe we can start looking at stuff that happened on or around the date. Wherever Kuroba found it at, it must have been kept for a reason."

"It's ten years old and dated September 15." Saguru rose out of his seat and began walking around the library. "There is one event that immediately springs to my mind, actually- Kuroba Toichi's death on September 17th of the same year. He passed away after being rushed to the hospital; some pyrotechnics used during his stage show's finale exploded a few seconds before they were supposed to and he got caught directly above the explosion."

"Let me guess what happened. The police could never figure out what exactly triggered the early explosion, and his death was eventually ruled an accident." Shinichi's tone was serious and dark in spite of his child's voice. "That's got the Black Organization's M.O. written all over it, all right. The question is how the names on the menu connect with what happened."

"Actually, it might be a good idea to ask Hattori to poke around down in Osaka for clues."

"Uh, Hattori? Why?"

"The accident that claimed Kuroba Toichi's life took place during a road show down in Osaka, so I'd imagine that the case file would still be there in mothballs somewhere." Saguru settled back down into the couch. "He'd likely be more amenable to a request coming from you than me, though, so it's probably best if you call him."

"Yeah, Hakuba wasn't kidding. Kuroba Toichi got himself blown up alright- and damn near took the whole theater with him in the process, if what I'm readin' here is anything to go by, although I'm not even a third done yet." Hattori Heiji's voice filled with curiosity as he went on. "What's makin' you look at this guy's death, anyhow? It's a pretty old case- took 'em a while to find it."

"Because whatever happened to him may very well tie into the string of magician kidnappings that have been happening lately." Shinichi explained as quickly as he could about the menu and its implications. "When Hakuba mentioned that there were crows by people's names on the menu it got me wondering about a possible connection to the Black Organization, too- at the time the menu was drawn on, I mean. I really don't think it's coincidence that Kuroba Toichi got killed two days after this dinner menu got drawn on, if he was the one that did the drawing and the crows mean what I think they mean."

"Oh, yeah." Heiji sounded exited. "There were some witnesses that noticed a couple men in black jackets and hats hangin' around backstage the day of the explosion." He let that sink in for a few moments. "They seemed particularly interested in Kuroba Toichi's fireworks that he used for his big finale, although the police could never get a good description of the guys and they couldn't find any evidence of tampering. Not that there was much left to test of course, fireworks being designed to blow up and all."

"Did they ever figure out why the fireworks went off early?" Shinichi kept a close eye on his door, expecting Ran to grab him for dinner at any moment.

"Nope, at least not from what I've read so far. 'Freak accident' is used more than once, although it sure seems like the cops thought somethin' strange was up. They kept a team of four on it for nearly six months, but couldn't find anything solid in the end."

"I should have known. Those guys are too good at covering their tracks," sighed Shinichi disgustedly. "Which makes me wonder what happened at the van last night. Leaving anyone alive is a big slipup for the Organization, especially for Gin and Vodka."

"I saw that they have at least one witness still alive in the hospital. Is it Kid?"

"I'm not sure. Hakuba seems pretty certain he knows who Kaitou Kid is and the guy is still alive and kicking." Shinichi sat up and stretched his legs. "Actually, he's been staying in Hakuba's guest room for the past few days."

"Oh really? Who is it?"

"His name's Kuroba- Kuroba Kaito. And yeah, he's the son of Kuroba Toichi" Shinichi added quickly, anticipating his friend's next question. "He's also who gave Hakuba the menu that had the drawings on it- a copy of the menu, anyhow." Shinichi then heard a knocking on the door and let out a muffled curse. "I've gotta go, Ran's knocking on the door. Keep reading, I'll call when I can tomorrow." He stuff his phone into his pocket and

"Conan, what are you doing in there? You've been cooped up in your room practically since you came home from school," came Ran's worried voice through the door.

"I'm doing homework," Shinichi called through the door as he realized that, in a way, it wasn't a lie.