Chapter 9: Down Came the Rain

One by one the lights in the rooms they were watching died out, plunging the corridor outside into complete darkness. Alex could feel the wind and rain lashing out against the house's walls and storm shutters, could hear the storm and the distant waves thrashing against the shore outside, but he couldn't see either Saguru or Conan, though he knew they were both close by.

He had almost slipped into a lull when a movement from Conan drew his attention. The boy had touched the left side of his glasses, and a glowing web appeared on the lens, casting faint light onto his face. "Okay, Heiji and Sera seem to be heading up the tower." Saguru walked over from his shift by the library window and he explained: "Aside from being a mini walkie-talkie, I can also track the badge I gave Hattori earlier."

"And now they're coming down again," Conan continued, and a brief flash of Saguru's torch illuminated Hattori and Sera as they appeared in the doorway to their floor.

"Spider's gone," Masumi whispered as they all clustered together around Saguru's electric torch. "We just made a loop of the house and there's no sign of him."

"Okay," Alex whispered back after a brief pause. "We might need a new plan. Do you think it's worthwhile trying to find where he's hiding, or should we stay here and continue guarding this floor?"

"Stay," Saguru said, at the same time Heiji said: "Go and find Spider—"

They both stopped talking. "It's better if we can find and subdue Spider instead of waiting for him to attack," Heiji said. "Stick with our old plan: you guys stay here while we keep on searching. I want to grab something from that display case downstairs, too."

"I think at least one group should move around," Conan agreed. "The Delacey heirs are the most likely to be in danger, but there is still a chance the target is one of the Hirokawas. One of us should stay by the window in the library to keep watch on the other courtyard windows from there."

It was far from ideal, but Alex couldn't think of a better idea. There was no plan that would cover all the possibilities—all they could do was make their best shot, and hope.


The power seemed to have gone out, so Masumi beamed the light from her torch onto the display case while Heiji prodded at its base. "Huh," Heiji said after a pause. "Well that's interestin'." He lifted off the glass covering, exposing the collection of antique weapons below.

There was quite a selection: various swords, including a katana and tekkan, a metal gussen fan, manriki-kusari chain, and even a pair of authentic-looking tanegashima pistols. The collection must be worth a small fortune. After some consideration Heiji chose a simple bokken. As he picked it up and tested the heft and grip of the wooden sword, Masumi examined the remaining weapons.

"Hattori-kun, look at this," she said. "The kunai and yawara in this section are spread out further apart than the others."

"An' ya think they'd lock a case a' valuable weapons like this, but I lifted the top right off."

"Yes, I think someone unlocked this, took something, and then spread out the other weapons to cover up the absence."

"Looks like I ain't the only one who wanted to borrow a weapon fer tonight," Heiji said grimly.


Saguru peered out through the library windows. He tried to keep watch for any signs of a figure scaling the roof and walls, but between the chthonic darkness and the hard rain pouring down the window glass it was difficult to determine what was real, and what was storm-stirred imaginings.

Time seemed to stretch and slip, and he almost thought that he had fallen asleep standing up when—

Raindrops against his face, and the smell of fresh night air.

The library window was open.

He had just enough sense left to throw himself to the side as a stripe of silver rain flew sideways towards him—and bounced off hard wood with a metallic tinkle. Hattori had appeared beside him, both hands gripping the bokken he had used to deflect the wave of lethal needles.

"Yer being attacked—don't just stand there!" Heiji yelled.

"I can see that, thank you very much!" Saguru snapped back, adrenaline pumping as he backed away into the room.

A figure had appeared as if by magic outside the open window—dressed in all black, its face covered by a strange mask with a triangle of glowing red lights which brightened and pulsed, and begun to swirl.

Hattori stopped and stared. "…Kazuha?"

"Don't look at them!" He shone his torch straight into Heiji's eyes to clear out the effects of Spider's hypnotic lights. Hattori yelped, and Saguru got a nasty thwack on the forearm from the temporarily blinded Osakan when he reached for Heiji's shoulder. He ignored the pain, and tugged Heiji towards the library door. If Spider had more of those needles, they were so screwed—

The assassin leapt towards them, and was stymied when two figures appeared to block him: Alex and Masumi. Alex's arm shot out, something went splat, and the red lights on Spider's mask were suddenly covered by grainy splotches.

Mud. He threw soil from one of the plant pots, probably mixed with rainwater, Saguru realized, trying to see more of what was happening. His torch showed a strange, lethal dance: the assassin ducking and weaving between Alex's karate strikes and Masumi's Jeet Kune Do. Spider's vision was partially blocked by the mud covering his goggles, but he was armed, and Alex and Masumi were not used to fighting with each other. More than once one of them had to pull back or redirect an attack to avoid hitting their own ally, which their opponent quickly learned to take advantage of.

Still, the two were gradually learning to coordinate their moves. Then Heiji jumped into the fray with his bokken raised, and the tides began to turn.

Saguru considered joining in as well, but the torchlight he was providing the others to see by seemed more valuable than another person added to the fight. Just as he thought that, Spider dodged Masumi's low kick, twisted Heiji's bokken to deflect one of Alex's chop at his throat, and threw something at Saguru.

He ducked, but his torch was knocked out of his hands and broke on the ground. In the near total darkness, all he had was a dim impression of blurred shapes and the sounds of strikes and heavy breathing. Now Alex, Masumi and Heiji had a much harder time trying not to get in each other's way, and all the while the red lights on Spider's head grew brighter and brighter as the mud began to fall off.

"Get away from Spider right now!" Conan's voice called out, and three clumps of darkness surrounding the man suddenly jumped away. The assassin crouched low, crimson lights cleared, readying for an attack—

An arc of electric blue sparked from the doorway, and something slammed Spider in the chest hard enough to throw the man across the room and against the window ledge. Conan ran in, sneakers still sparking, the soccer ball he had kicked rolling to a stop by the side of the wall.

The assassin looked up and twisted to the side, narrowly avoiding a bokken chop from Hattori. Spider continued the movement, rolling out of the window and landing in a crouch upon the shingled roof.

The man took in the situation in a glance—Saguru in a judo stance, Hattori with his bokken ready, the soccer ball back in front of Conan and the boy's sneakers starting to spark again—and chose a tactical retreat.

"Ya!" Hattori shouted as the man turned and scurried over the rain-slick roof like the arachnid of his namesake. Saguru watched his progress: "He's heading for the tower." Heiji tried to raise his arm, and winced.

"Hattori, you're hurt!" said Conan, alarmed. The moon slipped out, and they could see something dark dripping down Heiji's left bicep.

"We'll follow Spider; join us later once you're all right!" Alex yelled as he and Masumi ran out after the man. Saguru passed Heiji's torch for Conan to hold, tore a strip off of his shirt, and quickly tied it into a makeshift bandage around the Osakan's arm.

Conan switched on his Detective Boys badge. "Try to keep Spider in sight, but engage with caution."

Alex's voice came out of the badge, slightly panting from the effort of running up the stairs. "Got it."

The immediate danger now over, Heiji lowered his bokken and rubbed his eyes gingerly. "Was that weird whammy thing with the red lights what ya were talking 'bout, Hakuba?"

"Yes, Spider can use those goggles to…spin illusions to trap his victims. I'm not precisely sure how it works, but I believe it involves hypnosis of some kind."

"Lovely," Conan groaned. He tapped his badge again, and added: "Oh, and you guys, Spider uses those red lights on his mask to paralyze people, so watch out if they start spinning again." He looked up. "If Alex and Sera-san can stay on his trail, we can ambush him all together."

"Yes…but is it a good idea to leave this floor unguarded?" Saguru asked. Then he noticed that the football Conan had used still hadn't deflated. Conan caught his look: "I borrowed a soccer ball from downstairs. There's still two more in my belt."

"As fer leaving this floor, I think that's a risk we'll have to take at this point," Hattori said. Then an idea struck him. "We could use the wax from those candles Yukiho-san gave us to seal the doors! That way at least we'll know if anyone's entered or left the rooms here."

They quickly made the seals, and regrouped with Sera and Alex on the ground floor. "Spider definitely came down here," Alex said in frustration as they stood by the weapons case, "but then he gave us the slip."

Masumi tapped the glass of the display case. "Do any of you remember the layout of this case? When Hattori-kun and I came down to borrow his bokken something was clearly missing."

Saguru shook his head, but Alex said: "I think…there was something like a miniature speargun here when I was looking at the case before, and it's not here now."

"Huh, why would Spider want one of those? Did he run outta those needles or something?" Heiji wondered.

"He wouldn't," Saguru said slowly. "Spider carries enough weapons to not need any antique replacements. Anyone else here who has murder on their minds, however…"

"So aside from the assassin, there might be someone else walking around armed and ready to kill. Fantastic," Alex summarized. "Well, I'm sure Spider came down here; let's search this floor."


They did, walking around the entire floor, checking the kitchen, around the shrine and sliding back shoji panels to make sure no one was in an alcove or on the engawa, all the while braced for a sudden attack, but found no signs of Spider or anyone else.

"Dammit, he must have snuck upstairs again," Hattori said once they had completed the circuit.

Alex thought of it then. "The courtyard garden!"

He slid back one of the panels walling the tsuboniwa—sturdier than the wood-and-paper shoji of the living area but not as heavy as the amado shutters—and stepped into the garden, looking for any sign of a person on the roof or climbing the walls. The torchlights behind him picked out the rain beyond the overhang, falling in a steady, hypnotic drizzle. He started to get drenched as soon as he stepped past the shelter provided by the roof, but Alex ignored the water and squinted up at the tower. Was it just his imagination, or was there a bulky shape up there—

"Watch out!" He heard someone scream, and threw himself to one side. A series of heavy thuds crashed down beside him, as if it were suddenly hailing boulders. Alex frantically covered his head with his arms, and waited. When the landslide noises finally stopped, he peeked out.

A pile of concrete cinder-blocks lay near where he had stood moments before. Some of the blocks had shattered into rubble, and he shuddered to think of what would have happened if one had landed on him.

"Someone's up there, on the top of the tower!" Conan pointed.

"Spider," Alex hissed, and they all bolted for the stairs.


They ran up the tower as fast as they could, but both attic and rooftop were empty by the time they reached the top. Still, there were clear traces that someone had been there before them. The holes in the southern corner of the roof were uncovered, letting in the rain, and once Heiji climbed the ladder to the rooftop he found rope, long wooden beams and other materials scattered there, like the aftermath of a construction site.

"The beams must have been used to help push that pile of cinder-blocks off," Heiji reported, once he climbed down again. "Like a ramp or a sled. Otherwise it'd be impossible for one person to throw that many blocks all at once."

"It's really kind of overkill," Alex said. One cinder-block thrown from that height would have been more than enough to crush him to death. "Still, I thought he mainly wanted to kill Hakuba?"

Conan frowned, thinking, and then his small face cleared. "He may have been, but Alex, you and Hakuba-niichan both have fair hair, and similar builds. You two would look very similar to each other from this distance and dimness."

Masumi snorted. "Conan-kun, at this point I'm pretty sure he wants to kill all of us. Alex just happened to step out at the wrong time."

Conan noticed the axle on the long central beam which formed the southern edge of the roof. "I think he pulled up the cinder-blocks a few at a time using that bucket there," he said. The metal bucket which he had remembered was hanging there in the afternoon was now on the attic floor, the long rope coiled inside. Conan frowned. That was odd.

Feeling rather like they were chasing a malevolent ghost, Conan led the way down one floor, to Spider's room. It was still unlocked, and empty, as was Delacey's old room next door. They quickly searched the room, but there was nothing that would have been out of place as part of the assassin's cover identity.

A brief check of the second floor proved similarly unsatisfactory, but as they moved to the first floor he caught a movement in the darkness of the living room, and swung his flashlight around. "Who's there?!"

The narrow beam picked out Ines Suarez, standing near the dragon statuette with a deer-in-the-headlights look. Then she saw that the ones who had interrupted her were a child and four teenagers, and relaxed again. "Oh. Hello!" she said awkwardly.

"Doing some after-hours investigating, Ms. Suarez?" Masumi asked with an edge in her voice.

"Looks like I'm not the only one," the woman shrugged, unrepentant.

The wax seal on her door had been unbroken when they just checked the second floor, Conan thought. Plus her nightclothes were perfectly dry. Given their search pattern… "You were in Mr. Delacey's room before you came down here, right Ines-neechan? Did you see Mr. Geskel?"

Her black eyebrows scrunched defensively, then drew back again in confusion at the mention of Geskel's name. "No, I was alone in Mr. Delacey's room—ain't no rule that we couldn't search there whenever we wanted. Then that Kapoor girl found me and made me leave, so I decided to come here and search instead. You all were clambering up and down the stairs and all over the place," she pointed out. "I don't see why I couldn't."

"So you haven't seen Sp—Geoffrey Geskel?" Heiji asked.

Ms. Suarez shook her head. Then she saw Heiji's bokken. "Why are you carrying that around?"

Heiji futilely moved the long wooden sword behind him. Alex came to the rescue. "As protection, of course. We are looking for the clue to a fortune, after all."

Suarez looked apprehensive at the thought of this will-hunt growing dangerous, then a new expression dawned on her face. Conan, who had seen the look on his father numerous times, recognized it immediately; Ines Suarez was clearly transported from this physical realm to one where the nascent seeds of future bestsellers abounded. "Now there's an idea. And there's even a storm tonight; if this were a story all we would need is a murder," she said dreamily.

"What's going on?!" Raina descended the stairs, her loose hair a mess of curls and pajamas mis-buttoned. She saw them all standing there, and groaned. "Are you guys all searching too?"

"Too?" Masumi said quickly. "Who else have you seen walking about here?"

"I caught Ms. Suarez here in Mr. Delacey's old room," she said, then swung her flashlight around the room and hesitated. "And I thought I saw Mr. Kett come down here, but I must have been mistaken."

Oh dear lord, how many people are wandering around this place? It look more and more like their sealing the heirs' doors had been the equivalent of closing the barn door after the horses had gone.

"After you removed Ms. Suarez from Mr. Delacey's room she just came down here instead," Hakuba informed her.

Raina groaned. "It's not like I can stop anyone from searching the house, but I do wish you all wouldn't pick the middle of the night to do it. You guys are making a racket, and obaasan needs her rest."

"Fine, fine, I'll go back to my room now," Ms. Suarez said, a little abstracted. She allowed herself to be herded back up to the second floor and into her own room, though from the gleam in her eyes Conan thought it was unlikely that she would sleep soon like a sensible person. Staying up trying to type down her ideas while they were fresh in her head was more likely.

Raina watched her turn in, then seemed to realize that they weren't going to do the same. "Are you guys going to keep on wandering?"

"We'll be extra quiet from now on," Alex promised. "It's really important…though I'm afraid we can't say why." At that, Raina gave up and went back to her and Marie's room.

By then the rain had stopped, and there was even a wan moon, casting pale light down upon the island. The five of them completed another search of the house, which turned up free of both assassin and wandering guests.

"Well, what now?" Masumi asked. "We can't find Spider anywhere. Do you think he's left the house?"

"That is a possibility," Saguru said. "Though if he is I wouldn't try to search the rest of the island for him. Not during the nighttime."

"Agreed. Let's just continue to keep watch over our clients, and we'll search outside during the day."

They rotated shifts through the rest of the night, keeping vigil over the second floor and the library window until the sun rose upon a new day. And through all those hours, they did not see a single sign of Spider, or any other living soul.


A/N: This chapter was so difficult to write. I had to make both a map and a timeline of character movements, and I'm still not sure I didn't mess something up. When I started this story I decided to make the mystery in this installment more complicated than the one in Viper's Den, and now I'm kinda regretting it.

Re: names. I picked the names Elena & Marie Semple pretty much at random, and didn't even realize that they could be related to Elena Miyano and Mary Sera. So yeah, any similarities there are pure coincidence.

Also: I finished Never Say Die! I haven't decided if/how the big spoiler is going to affect this series; I'll probably have to think about it.

As always, thanks for reading!