Somewhere, deep within the bowels of the Tokyo police station, a phone rang in an empty office. The door was open; the occupant had just stepped out for a moment, so the rest of the department could hear the ringing of the phone. A couple junior police officers looked at each other and then at the phone, normally the Inspector's phone was silent. Normal police calls were routed through the secretaries; not many had the number to go directly to Inspector Megure's desk phone. They were either important people, such as his superiors, his family (emergencies only, of course), or other trusted and respected contacts.

The phone rang twice, and one of the officers shrugged and walked in the office to pick it up. With the Inspector out, and it being THE phone, someone had to answer it. If it was something important, and they'd neglected to pick it up the entire department would be in deep trouble with the higher ups.

"Hello? Tokyo Police Department, Inspector Megure's office."

The voice that came over the phone was not quite what he'd been expecting. It wasn't the commanding tones of the chief of police, nor was it the quiet serious voice of one of the many freelance detectives that worked with the homicide unit. Instead it was a higher than normal voice that connected, forming one conclusion in the officer's mind, and the shock accompanying it made him miss the actual content of the message. How had a kid gotten the Inspector's number? He even said just as much, cutting off whatever the child had been saying.

There was a pregnant pause, stunned disbelief on both ends but for different reasons. Finally the mostly calm, if a little annoyed, voice responded, "Does it matter? Someone is dead over here."

After rattling off the majority of the situation, the junior officer scratched his head as he absorbed the information. There hadn't been any similar calls, and the kid had said there were other patrons. If someone really had dropped dead in the middle of an ice-cream parlor, there should have been a least one other call from an adult. It stunk of a practical joke, and not a funny one. "Listen kid, hand the phone over to an adult."

The kid lapsed into silence again, only the faint buzz of the continued connection proved that he hadn't hung up. The uncooperative behavior only seemed to prove his guilt to the officer and he set about searching through the messy desk for the caller ID. He'd get the number and then report him to his parents; it wasn't a good idea to pull tricks on the Homicide unit.

Before the kid answered, there was a soft cough from behind him. The officer turned around—phone still to his ear—only to find the portly inspector standing in the doorway, a steaming mug of coffee in one hand, and a half-eaten donut in the other. One black eyebrow rose as he saw the junior officer on his phone, coughing again before asking, "What are you doing?"

"Some kid is on the phone, Inspector. I think it's just a joke."

The inspector's curious expression faded away, leaving behind a grim look as he regarded the officer, "Unless he has a past history of jokes, all such calls should be taken seriously."

Megure strode into the office, setting down the mug and donut and holding out his hand for the phone. With a thoroughly chastised air, the officer handed it over and fled the office. The Inspector spared him a glance, shaking his head a little at the relatively new officer. Children could make calls too, though they usually didn't route directly through to his phone. He put the speaker to his ear, pushing aside a sheet of paper to see the caller ID, "Boy." His mustache twitched as he let out a sigh of air, "Is Kudou-kun there?"

"Yes." There was a little whisper of relief in his voice, as well as something else. "I'll get him."

There was a moments silence, before the high school detective's voice came out of the speaker, "Inspector…"

--

Kaito closed the cell-phone, silently seething about hard-headed police officers. What would the first officer do if some kid's mother was killed and only the child was there to call law enforcement? What then? There would be no adult to transfer it over to.

He shook his head, hopping off the chair and moving across the restaurant to where Kudou was trying to keep the rest of the customers away from the body, and yet stop them from leaving. Luckily there were only two others, not counting Kaito's group and the employee behind the counter. That left three suspects total.

Kaito slipped the phone into his pocket, forgetting for a moment that it wasn't his own, and slid off his seat. Detective work wasn't really his cup of tea; in fact it was the exact opposite of his preferred work. He prided himself on being more observant than other people, but he didn't feel like sticking his nose into the case when he had a fully trained—or not, but Kudou was better suited for the job anyway—detective who was more than willing to do the job for him.

Kaito made a deliberate effort to not look at the still form sprawled on the floor, stuffing his hands in his pockets as he shuffled past. He hated murder, and just seeing a corpse made his skin crawl and the hair bristle on the back of his neck. Kudou didn't seem to be affected; Kaito couldn't help but notice it as the detective stood by the door, watching the gathered people as a hawk would watch its soon to be prey.

"Ne…" Kaito tugged at Kudou's sleeve, drawing the detective's attention toward him, "I called the police. They'll be here in about ten minutes."

Kudou nodded, giving him a faint yet slightly strained smile before ruffling his hair, "Good thinking."

Kaito grimaced, resisting the urge to dislodge the hand. No matter how annoying it was, he'd tolerate it this once, just this once. He crossed his arms in a childish show of indignation, but didn't make any mention of the large hand that still rested on his head, "So…" He turned his attention to the other people in the parlor. Ran was trying to comfort a crying woman in the corner, who was sobbing uncontrollably. Another woman—older than the first, the crying one seemed to be around his real age—stood a little off to the side, a little shaken up but otherwise alright. The worker, a male in his late teens, hovered off to the side of Ran and the first girl. He seemed, hesitant, as if he wanted to approach, but was afraid to. The only one—besides the crying girl—who was really bothered by the entire thing was Sonoko; she'd flipped open her cell phone and had called up one of her friends, jabbering on and on about nothing in particular, as if to distract herself from the unnerving reality that lay forever still on the tile floor. "What are we to do now?"

"Nothing." Kudou's voice was grim as he also took in the scene, "There's nothing we can do now, except wait for the police."

"…I hate waiting…"

If the detective heard him, he made no indication.

--

"Ah! Kudou-kun!"

Shinichi turned around, letting out a faint sigh of relief as he took in the sight before him. He recognized the portly inspector in an instant, grabbing Kaito's hand and tugging him out of the way of the door. The officers that arrived with the inspector took the motion as a cue to move on in, a couple heading to where the body had fallen and a few more crossing the floor to where the suspects were gathered. Inspector Megure hung back, leaving the officers to the primary examination, "I'm glad that you were on the scene. Did you happen to see anything?"

"I wasn't really paying attention, Inspector." The detective had to admit sheepishly, he'd been preoccupied with the not-child that currently hovered somewhere behind him. He still had a firm hold on Kaito's small hand—his own hand had slipped off the boy's head when he'd pulled him to the side—and he could feel a faint tense-ness in the boy's grip. It wasn't surprising; he had just witnessed someone die. Not everyone was as used to seeing corpses as he was, unfortunately. "But I do know that no-one has left the shop or touched the body."

"Saaa," Megure let out a sigh, his mustache quivering, "We'll have to solve this one the old fashion way."

He stepped past the two in the doorway, only then noticing the child that was half-hiding-but-not-really behind the detective, "Oh Kudou-kun, is this the kid I talked to on the phone?"

"Aa…" Shinichi glanced down at Kaito, a little surprised that he hadn't spoken up yet. He ended up deciding that he was either still shaken up over the death or just wary of police in general. "He's my cousin. He happened to be with me and Ran today."

"Right, well…" The inspector sighed and drew himself up, looking away from the two and toward the active scene in the parlor, "Formal introductions will have to wait until later. Are you ready Kudou?"

"Aa…" The Inspector nodded and walked inside, his stride purposeful as he barked some order to the uniformed personnel. One of the officers rose from his half-crouch near the body, holding up the wallet he'd fished from the dead man's jacket in his gloved hand. "We have an ID on the vic, Inspector."

"Ah! Very good!" Shinichi followed Megure in, Kaito trailing behind him. The detective had released his hand, but the not-child seemed pretty determined to stick near him. With a faint sigh Shinichi pointedly ignored the excitement that had started to overtake his sorrow over the entire incident. It wasn't as if he was glad the guy died, but he just couldn't help the thrill a good mystery gave him. It was deep set in his personality, and the source of one of Ran's less dignifying nicknames for him—the deductive maniac.

"According to his driver's license his name is Takaheshi Kuroi, and he is 21 years old." The officer snapped to attention, before quickly bagging the wallet and placing it with other select pieces of evidence. "Cause of death hasn't been determined, but because of statements given by Mouri-san and Suzuki-san, we've narrowed it down to the medium to fast acting poisons—most likely ingested through the mouth."

Shinichi listened to the report with half an ear, pulling out a small notebook and jotting a line of notes down. He hadn't really learned anything except the victim's identity—he'd already guessed the cause of death himself from his initial examination of the body. "How long until you can get the lab to analyze it?"

The officer gave him a weird look, a sort of 'who the heck are you' expression. The guy had to be new if he didn't recognize Kudou Shinichi; he often worked with the homicide unit and Megure specifically asked for him at times. However, with further observation, Shinichi decided that the man was either a really talented rookie or an officer transferred from another department. The subject of his absent scrutiny—obviously he wasn't paying complete attention to his analysis of a police officer, most of his focus was on the current murder—looked to the Inspector, to see whether he should answer the boy's question or not. Megure gave him an annoyed look, it seemed he had some things he had to drill into all the officers who had recently joined his unit, "I would like to know as well."

"Saa…" The officer took the Inspector's words as a go ahead, doing a few calculations in his head, "It really depends on how quickly we can send over a sample. Probably around 20 minutes."

The Inspector made a gruff sound of approval before half turning to Shinichi, "Ah, Kudou-kun, would you like to do an examination before they finish?"

Shinichi shook his head, tapping his pencil against his lip. He was reading over the notes he'd taken, including which were his earlier observations of the body. He already had an idea as to what type of poison killed the man. All he needed were those lab results to confirm his hypothesis.

Depending on the validity of that conclusion, he'd be able to figure out the culprit. As it was, only two of the suspects had any possibility. The question was--which one?

"No, keibu, I think I want to ask the witnesses a few questions instead."

The Inspector nodded and waved the officer back to his work. Afterwards he called one of the others over, one of the men who had been talking with the suspects, and proceeded to start a conversation in low tones. After a moment Megure waved Shinichi over, and the detective normally would have followed without a falter. A small, but firm grip caught his arm, prompting the high-schooler to shift his attention downward and toward the uncharacteristically ghost-like child. Out of sight, out of mind, Shinichi had almost completely forgotten about Kaito's presence. It was weird, he usually was able to keep an eye on everyone when he was in "detective mode" –coined by Ran, obviously—his attention to detail was what allowed him to solve so many difficult cases over his career.

"Kudou…I think I'll go over with the girls."

He didn't respond for a moment, blinking owlishly as he processed the information with the small portion of his brain that wasn't controlling his vital functions, running over every possible method of operation for the case, or keeping half an eye on the cluster of suspects to the far side of the restaurant. When the kid's words did manage to sink in, he noticed the covert glances the former high-schooler kept giving the body—which they would have to pass to reach Megure and the other officer. Shinichi thought he understood, and nodded, turning around and moving on as the hand released his shirt.

--

Kaito watched as the detective joined the police—he couldn't help the faint laugh it brought to his lips. It was weird, to see the detective in action. He'd never gotten a chance before; heck he hadn't even seen the guy in person until maybe a few days ago. He always scoped out potential threats when they popped up, usually about a week before he initiated any further contact, given the time. Obviously that plan hadn't worked very well at all, what with saving Kudou's life and getting his own completely messed up in the process. At least he'd get a chance to learn more about the detective—purely in a professional sense, of course. The more he learned about what made Kudou tick, the better he would be able to formulate any plans for future gem retrieval expeditions—once he got himself unshrunk, that is.

Kaito stuffed his hands into his pockets, turning away from the investigation as it began to fully mobilize, trudging across the fairly large ice-cream parlor until he reached the two girls hovering near the wall. The police had shooed Ran away from the suspects while they gathered statements, and she had proceeded to join the distraught Sonoko. Kaito eyed the slightly frantic brunette, who was waving her cell phone in the air and chattering to Ran, from what he could tell her cell phone died.

"Nee-san"

He decided to go for Sonoko first, she seemed to be the one who needed distraction the most. Crime scenes weren't his favorite places to be, and he was sure he was far more desensitized to the stuff than either of the girls—you see many things while wandering the night streets—and he figured the girls might need an interaction. There wasn't much he could do to help Kudou in the case, so he figured his efforts would be better put to use elsewhere.

Entertaining people was what he did best. He did it every day, at school, on heists, at home…Even now, starting his new phase of life as Kudou Kai, he was putting on a performing act. Might as well do it to keep people at ease. Kaito pulled a silk rose out of nowhere—he always kept a few of his tricks on him, the day at the park had been no different—and handed it to a startled Sonoko, giving her a cheery grin, "Wanna see some tricks, nee-san?"

--

x.x Surprisingly, I'm not dead. Just been having a dry spell of inspiration/lack of motivation. Wasn't quite sure how to end this, or where. I never intended on going through the entirety of the case…but anyway, the next chapter will wrap the case up, and skip ahead a while…we finally get to see what Kaito's gonna do about Kid! Sorta…

Anyways, hope you liked it and I'll see ya when I get the next chappie done…

x.x I hate late night inspiration, but at least it helped me finish this chapter.