Out of his sight, behind a tree, a long haired woman looked at the mansion entrance of the mansion again. The woman breathed heavily as she cracked a smile. The wind blew through her hair and the numerous trees, but it wasn't gentle anymore.
A storm was coming.
Chapter 4 - The Case
The smell of food filled up the whole dining room of the mansion. Tamami served everyone burgers, with a fried egg, corn and some other vegetables. And she didn't exaggerate when she said that her special menu was tasty, because it really was. It even rivaled the food Ran cooked, although Shinichi kept that thought to himself. Using forks and knives wasn't too difficult for the teenagers, since they all had a vast amount of experience with them, probably more than other people of their age.
"So..." Ran said, after swallowing a good chunk of meat. "What kind of reunion is this?"
"The outdoor club of our school." Sumika said briefly before continuing to eat.
"We always went out together, for hiking and camping trips." Masaie explained. He took a sip of his drink. "Mostly during the holidays, since school obviously kept us busy outside of them."
Tamami smiled, fondly remembering those days. "We had a lot of fun during these trips. Despite that, our club only had five members, but we didn't let us get demotivated by that."
"Five members?" Ran asked. "So, that woman clad in red we saw earlier in the forest is the fifth member?"
If fear and tension had a smell to them, it would've completely suppressed the smell of the food right about now. The perceived temperature of the room dropped a few degrees and all of adults abruptly stopped their movements; breaths halted, eyes widened and muscles tensed up. It seemed like Ran stroke a very upsetting chord.
Shinichi observed their reactions carefully, as did Sera. Ran was stunned by the strange reaction of the adults to her question.
"W-where..." Tamami stuttered, completely breathless. She hastily sucked in enough air to shout. "WHERE DID YOU SEE HER?"
Poor Ran looked like a deer caught in the headlights. "Out in the forest...together with Sonoko..." She muttered, intimidated by the sudden outburst of the woman.
"And did she really wear red clothes?" Sumika pressed the subject. Her face grimaced scarily.
"Yes..." Ran said, swallowing hard. She regained some of her composure. "We saw a woman with long hair, dressed in red from head to toe. She wore a red raincoat with matching red boots."
Masaie nervously bit his lip and tried to fight the sudden outburst of sweat that was running down his face with a handkerchief.
Jinsuke stared into the air with his mouth open, swallowing down an imaginary lump. "M-My goodness...don't tell me..."
Suddenly, Masaie slammed down his hands on the table and jolted up. "IT CAN'T BE! SATOKO CAN'T STILL BE ALIVE! IT'S NOT POSSIBLE!" He screamed, slumping visibly after he pushed out these words. His breathing was heavy and irregular and his face was more white than freshly washed sheets. His sweating also intensified.
Jinsuke propped on arm on the table, his voice shaky and pretty low, as if he wanted to make up for how loud Masaie had been. "I rather thought about that murderer from 15 years ago..."
Shinichi and Sera raised their eyebrows. "Could you elaborate on that?" They both asked, in perfect union. Threwing each other a glance, they noticed the detective stare in the others eyes. Neither could stop a faint grin from coming to their faces.
The adults agreed to tell them the story, but Tamami decided to make all of them a tea first, to get everyone to calm down and to try to get the situation back to a normal atmosphere. Once everybody was provided with a cup of tea, Tamami began to tell the story.
"It all happened 15 years ago. In a holiday villa like this, not too far from here." The four teenagers focussed her with their eyes, eager to hear her tale. "An employee of some big company was murdered there. He went there with his lover, but his wife surprised him, carrying a large kitchen knife with her. A policeman then heard noises and when he came running to the room it originated from, he found himself standing in a sea of blood. The wife sat on her husband, stabbing him over and over again with the knife. She wore a white raincoat, but it turned completely red from all the blood. Thus, she was given the nickname 'Woman in Red'."
Sonoko and Ran paled, while Shinichi and Sera gave Tamami a continuously stern stare.
"And was this 'Woman in Red' caught?" Ran asked with a shaky voice.
Sumika sighed. "No. She attacked she officer with her knife and escaped into the woods." Her voice remained very cold. "Officially, she's still a wanted criminal on the run. But I doubt that the police are still actively investigating this case after all this time."
"Three years later, in the summer holidays, we came to this holiday villa, for the first time." Jinsuke continued. "Our friend Satoko, the one Masaie mentioned, said that she saw the woman, so we all went on to look for her in the forest." He shook his head. "In retrospective, it was pretty dumb idea. But we were young and adventerous. Anyway, Satoko got lost in the forest during our little search. Since it was already dusk, we called the police, who kept searching for her everywhere in the woods."
Sumika folded her hands under her chin. "We found her a week later." The blonde woman took a deep breath to deal with the memory. "But only her corpse! She must've fallen into the swamp and drowned in it. The corpse itself was only found because Satoko's shoes were discovered, laying on the ground nearby the swamp. They weren't the only thing though: the knife from the Red Woman murder case was also found alongside her shoes. This could only mean one thing:..."
Sumika closed her eyes and took another deep breath, her eyes and voice now showing more of the panic she managed to keep locked away inside of her so far. "...it is quite possible that Satoko...was chased by the 'Woman in Red', who hid inside the forest for all these years, and fell into swamp trying to escape her, ultimately resulting in her death."
Sumika stopped talking. It seemed like she didn't have anything to add to that topic anymore, considering that she now carefully composed herself again, pushing back the memories of her friend's death into a distant part of her subconscious. The silence lay heavy over the room, with everybody processing the tale of the 'Woman in Red', whether they just learned of it or lived with it for the past 12 years.
Sonoko was the first to speak again. "And now you want Sera-san to find the 'Woman in Red'?!" She said, showing sign of anger and worry in her voice.
"No." Tamami audibly cleared her throat. "If we learned one thing from this whole thing, then it is the fact that the search for that woman is a matter for the police, something that we shouldn't interfere with." She took another sip from her tea, as her voice was still a bit husky. "No, we need her for a different matter. You see, we go here every year, on the day Satoko's body was found in the swamp, even after we finished high school. But there have been some strange incidents in the past two years."
"What kind of incidents?" Shinichi asked.
"Once a window got smashed and there were lots of apples on the floor. Another time we couldn't any hot water. When we checked the boiler, there were many red petals clogging it. And finally, the front got splashed with red paint." Tamami sighed and looked around the room. "The owner decided to paint the entire door red, so it didn't look like vandalism anymore."
Sera nodded. "So you want me to find the one who's responsible for these incidents."
"Exactly." Jinsuke said. "All of these strange occurences, including the woman you saw in the forest today, could all just be some dumb pranks by an idiot who thinks he especially funny. Maybe someone who lives nearby. Anyway, we want to catch this prankster, so we asked our friend Sera to help us out, but it seems he's pretty busy at the moment. Thankfully, he was kind enough to relate our need for help to you."
'Those pranks are probably really just someone's idea of being funny.' Shinichi thought. 'But the woman Sonoko and Ran saw in the forest today, would someone go that far? It would explain why I felt someone's stare in my back earlier, but is that really the prankster too or could it be the culprit from 15 years ago? No matter what, we should be careful.'
"Alright!" Sera shouted from the door. Shinichi was so in thoughts, that he didn't noticed she got up and went back to the entrance. "I'm going to take a look around the forest, maybe I find some clues." She announced while putting on her shoes.
Shinichi also stood up. "Sera-san, wait! We shouldn't just go deep into the forest..." He said, but the tomboyish girl either didn't hear him or ignored him, as she ran out of the mansion. "...alone..." Shinichi finished.
'Ugh, this impatient girl!' He thought, while putting on his own shoes.
"Shinichi, what are you doing?" Ran asked.
"I'm going after her. I don't want her to just wander around the forest alone, who knows what might happen if she doesn't stay on a straight path." He said, now standing in the door with his shoes on.
"But there are still some chores here we could use your help on!" Ran said with a scolding voice.
"Uhm..." Shinichi made a decision. "...see you later!" He finished and dashed out the door.
"Shinichi!"
He had to run for a little while, but he managed to catch up to Sera eventually. The girl turned around to him. "Oh, you followed me?" She said, but there was no surprise in her voice.
Shinichi was still a bit breathless from the sprinting he'd just done. "Yeah...you know, after the story we just heard I thought...maybe snooping around this forest alone might be a bad idea."
"Oh, come on, Tamami-san and Sumika-san were fine going through here on their own!"
"Yeah, but they didn't wander off searching for clues and potentially a murderer."
Sera faked being shocked. "A murderer?! But I'm just looking for a prankster."
Shinichi was not in the mood for sarcasm. "Can it. You can't tell me the thought of the woman Sonoko and Ran saw being the real 'Woman in Red' didn't occur to you."
"Alright, you got me." She raised her hands and chuckled. "Still, no need to worry. That Satoko girl may have had to run away from that 'Woman in Red', but I can just defend myself with my Jeet Kune Do, remember?"
Shinichi was about to say yes, but then he realized that this wasn't something he knew. "No."
Sera raised an eyebrow. "No?"
"No, I don't remember, because I didn't know you were practicing martial arts too." He paused, pretending to let this new information sink in. "Interesting."
"But, Conan-kun knows." She said, strangely emphatsizing his other name. Just like in the bowling alley, he got the feeling that she already knew of his identity and just like in the bowling alley, this feeling was not a good one.
He shrugged. "So what?"
Sera gave him a look that said Are you really gonna play that game?, but when he didn't react to that look, she decided that verbal communication was apparently necessary.
"You recognized me."
"Huh?"
"When we ran into you at the Professor's house, you recognized me immediately. You said to the Professor that you didn't notice he had visitors, so my voice didn't give it away, unless you lied, for which there would be no reason to." She narrowed her eyes on him.
Shinichi tried to keep a casual composure, as he noticed she was trying to put the shakes on him. "I'm sorry to repeat myself, but again: so what?"
"You recognized me and still introduced yourself, because you're..." She hesitated. Shinichi expected her to end her pause with ...Conan-kun!, but she didn't. "...you're...you're..." Insecurity slightly crept onto Sera's face.
Shinichi used her loss of words to cut in. "...because I'm not an idiot."
"Huh?"
"I knew you were Masumi Sera, because I ran into Conan when I arrived at Agasa's place. He told me that you'd be doing a hiking trip with Sonoko and Ran today, remember?"
"...but I ran into Conan on the way here and he told me you three would be out of town this weekend, so I wasn't in rush to get out of here, if that's what you wanted to know, Sonoko."
"And when I saw you standing there with Sonoko and Ran, I simply deduced you were Masumi Sera." Shinichi flashed her a grin that was almost taunting. "Besides, Conan-kun send me a picture of you after your first meeting at that hotel."
"So..."
"So?"
"So, let me get this straight, yeah? He send you a picture of me, but didn't tell you about my Jeet Kune Do skills?"
"Uhm, no...he didn't mention that. He was more focussed on your deductive abilities when describing you."
"I see..."
"I'm sorry if I sound like a broken record, but what was your point again?"
Sera looked at him like he was an alien, before turning around. "Nothing, forget it...now that you're here with me, help me to look some clues, alright?"
"Sure."
They spend what felt like an hour - Shinichi didn't look on his watch, so he couldn't say for sure - looking for clues, but didn't find any. Neither of prankster, nor of the 'Woman in Red'. Working together didn't become a problem, but Sera avoided saying anything more than was necessary. Until they decided to call it a day and head back to the mansion, that is. Shinichi was still thinking where he could've met her before, but his memory was failing him on that one. Then, Sera broke the silence again.
"What did happen at London?" It wasn't much more than a whisper.
"Pardon?" Shinichi said, because he didn't hear.
"What happened in London?" Her voice was now a bit too loud, but she wasn't quite screaming either.
Shinichi frowned. Why was she talking about that again? "Sonoko told you, didn't she?"
"So, it's true...what she said about the love confession?"
"..." Shinichi was at a loss of words, as he wasn't sure what Sera wanted to hear, what she wanted to say or what her point was exactly. Should he call her out for not making any damn sense? Noticing her questioning stare, still awaiting a answer, he decided to stick to her questions.
"Yes..." He felt himself blush a bit. "...Sonoko told you the truth." And again, he couldn't quite read the expression on Sera's face, which concerned him, as Sera was usually someone who showed a lot of her emotions on her face.
She looked back onto the path ahead. "I see." That was all. The finality of these two words told him unmistakenly This conversation is over.
He could've just left it at that. But his instinct told him he shouldn't; his appearance as Shinichi Kudo seemed to threw Sera off her balance and caused some cracks in her mask; created bugs in the game she was playing. If he pushed her a little bit more, maybe he could get some of her secrets.
He put one hand on her shoulder. "Sera..."
The girl looked shocked and confused, turning her gaze from Shinichi's hand back to his eyes and back again.
"Could it be..."
"Hey, guys!" They suddenly heard someone shout. Shinichi immediately removed his hand, like he was doing something naughty. He cursed inwardly for such a childish reaction. Sera and Shinichi turned around to see Jinsuke walking up behind them, carrying two white shopping bags.
The dark-skinned quickly caught up to the two detectives, looking at them expectantly. "So? Any clues yet?"
They both shook their heads. "No, nothing."
"Ahh, too bad. Don't worry, you guys have my confidence!"
Sera managed a smile. "Thanks. You went shopping?"
Jinsuke raised both bags a bit. "Yeah, the next store is just one kilometer away. I got us some groceries and drinks, we were kinda low on those."
The rest of their way back to mansion was spent with mostly Jinsuke telling various little stories from his high school time. Shinichi didn't hear much though, as he was deep in thought about his 'conversation' with Sera earlier and from the few glances he shot at Sera, she wasn't listening either.
"I'm back!" Jinsuke announced when they entered the mansion again. Tamami came from the kitchen to greet them.
"Oh." She said when she saw that Shinichi and Sera were with her friend. "Did you guys go to the shop together?"
"No, we ran into each other on the way back." Jinsuke replied.
Sera closed the door behind them. "We didn't find any clues though."
Shinichi looked around. "Where are Ran and Sonoko?"
"They finished cleaning together with Sumika and wanted to take a bath. So they should be in the..." Tamami started, but was interrupted by a sudden scream.
"WHA...WHAT IS THIS?!" The voice of Sumika screeched throughout the entire mansion.
Sera and Shinichi didn't hesitate for a second. Detective skills awake as always, they immediately dashed towards the source of the scream.
"It-it's scary..." They heard Sonoko say.
"Is this another prank?" Ran added.
Shinichi and Sera almost busted through the door in their haste.
"RAN!" Shinichi shouted.
"What happened?!" Sera exclaimed.
They didn't need an answer from the three females; upon entering the bathroom, nobody could possibly miss what they were screaming about. The entire tub was filled with red tomatoes. Tamami now also reached the bathroom and gasped. Then after a while of staring she asked: "Where is Masaie? Shouldn't he be with you guys?"
The two detectives eyes widened, both having a horrible suspicion.
"Kudo-kun, don't tell me..." Sera started without looking at Shinichi, but the boy had already set himself in motion, going over to the tub.
"Hey, Sera, help me with this!" He shouted. Sera followed him and helped opening the lids covering most of the bathtub. Shinichi reached through the tomatoes into the green water and stirred around the tub with his arm. Then, he felt something at the bottom, so he grabbed it and pulled it to the surface. Moments later, the group was staring into the lifeless eyes of Masaie Hakuya.
Sera and Shinichi stared at the body in shock, while Sonoko and Ran just screamed.
A/N: Phew, lots of exposition in this one. This chapter might seem familiar and lazy from my side, because it's a very simple adaptation of the original story, but honestly, there wasn't a good way to change that up, besides altering the dialogue due to the difference between Shinichi and Conan in behaviour.
Unique to this chapter is the scene with Sera and Shinichi in the forest, searching for clues. In the manga, Conan runs off with Sera too, but the reader stays with Sonoko and Ran in the mansion. Conan and Sera return later with the same result of no clues found and their search is not mentioned again. However, it's Shinichi who runs off with Sera and my narrating perspective stays with Shinichi all the time, you get to see this forest scene. I'm not quite whether or not I should be happy with that scene, so feedback on that would be appreciated (although regular feedback is just fine too). Was that scene too OOC, too confusing/it made no sense? Not sure.
Anyway, I digress. Many of you can guess/already what will happen next, it's one of the reasons I got the idea for this fic. Look forward to that
~02.06.2015