3. The Disappearance

-x-

"If you were to leave one day, where would you go?" she asked suddenly when he was about to turn and leave after obtaining the antidote.

He halted his footsteps. "What do you mean?" He looked at her, but her back was facing him as she resumed eating her breakfast.

"Nothing," she said with a casual wave of her hand. "I was just thinking. I'd like to go to a beach."

"Haibara, you – "

"Don't take it too seriously." Her voice was no longer solemn, as it was before, but full of bored complaints. "I'm just somewhat upset that we're camping in the middle of the woods again this time. I quite liked that time when we went fishing. The wind on the sea..."

Exasperated, he rolled his eyes. "Fine. We'll go sailing next time."

Snorting, she glanced at the clock on the wall. "You should get going." Implying whether he shouldn't be late for her birthday party or that he should leave before the Detective Boys arrived and arouse suspicion, he didn't know. But he didn't give it much thought anyway.

They said nothing more.

-x-

If I'd realized then, if I'd turned back then, then maybe, maybe...

Maybe.

-x-

"And then Eisuke-kun tripped on his shoelace, crashed into Sonoko, who was carrying the cake, and the two of them knocked over the table of food!" Ran laughed as she told her childhood friend, who was strolling beside her, what had happened at her birthday party yesterday before he showed up.

The Great Detective of the East laughed in response and shook his head at the clumsiness of Hondo Eisuke. But speaking of Hondo, he remembered the Organization, the antidote, the time. It's about time, isn't it? he thought, dejected, and no longer followed the funny stories that Ran was telling him about their classmates. He only smiled and chuckled because Ran was smiling and laughing; he never heard her words.

Then Ran stopped all of the sudden – words and footsteps – and gazed up at the gate, at the house. The silence was ear-piercing, and he realized that they had arrived at his house, where they would part again. He glanced at his watch and squeezed his eyes shut, not wanting to see the second-hand tick away. If only he had twenty-four more hours...

"Calm down... Humans cannot reverse Time..."

Putting down his left arm, Shinichi opened his eyes and mentally thanked Haibara with a soft and bittersweet smile. She'd done the best she could, and he'd come to learn that sometimes, one shouldn't ask for more when one already had a lot. He looked at Ran, whose back was facing him. He knew that his childhood friend was no longer smiling, but he hoped that this time, there would be no tears involved.

"Shinichi..." Ran whispered, and he waited. She spun around. "Shinichi! I love you, Shinichi!"

Of all the things that he'd expected to hear from her, this was the least. What was he to do now? He stared at her, at her flushed face. What was he to do now? As he stood motionless, he saw her strong and beautiful eyes lose their brightness and confidence. Did she think that he didn't love her back? No, but he did! He did. It was just...

His cellphone rang.

"H-hello?" Reality finally crashed in. He found himself blushing and heart pounding under Ran's gaze. Right, he remembered. The professor was supposed to phone him some time this morning to make him look as if he was called away for some important case again. Except you're a little early, professor, he complained in his mind as he answered the phone.

His heart sank when he caught sight of Ran's downcast eyes. She was chewing her lip; she knew. "P-pardon?" The not-professor voice on the phone grabbed his full attention. He took a quick look at the telephone number on the screen of his cellphone and realized that he didn't recognize it. "Wait. Who are you again?" He vaguely remembered the speaker identifying himself earlier. His eyes widened, and they only widened further when he comprehended the subject explained to him. "You're not serious," he said. Ran cocked her head as she observed the grave look on Shinichi's face. "I'll... be there soon," he whispered, and his tone scared Ran.

"Is it that case again? Or a different one?" Ran asked.

"Uh... different one," he decided to say. It was, in a sense, true. He patted Ran's arm reassuringly and said out of habit, "I'll be back." Then he hailed a cab, got in, and left. Forgetting the time, and forgetting the cab following his.

-x-

"Detective Yamamura!" Shinichi called out as he stepped out of the cab and hurried over to the police officer. A couple police cars were parked on the roadside along the woods in which the professor and the kids were camping, and several police officers were in view.

"You're Kudo Shinichi?" Yamamura asked, a pen in his hand and a notebook in the other.

"Yes." He looked around and saw Ayumi, Mitsuhiko, and Genta running past him. "Where is Professor Agasa?"

"We sent him to the nearest hospital. He seemed extremely shaken by the disappearance of... that girl. What was her name again?"

"Haibara Ai."

"Yeah, that name. And..." Yamamura's voice trailed off as he looked over Shinichi's shoulder with a surprised expression. "Ran-san?"

Shinichi whirled around, not believing his eyes. "You followed me here?" he asked, aghast, but that explained the other cab to which he paid little attention on the way here. And then he remembered that he should be turning back into Conan any time soon. This is bad, he thought, this is in the middle of nowhere. He hadn't asked Haibara how long this antidote would last, but he assumed it was about the same as the last. Give or take some minutes. Maybe he should've asked. Maybe he should've turned back and asked.

He'd been too excited.

Ran looked up from talking to the Detective Boys, smile dropping, and sent Shinichi a flat stare. "Do you mind?" She nodded to a sheet-covered body lying near one of the police cars and said, "I might be able to help. That victim there, I looked. She was involved in a case that Dad solved not too long ago."

"Then Mouri-san is here?" Yamamura asked with excitement. "Although this seems like a suicide case, I don't think so and can't wait to..."

While Ran explained to Yamamura that no, her father was at home, Shinichi headed for the body. A case that Uncle solved not too long ago, he thought, that means I should know the case and the people involved. He lifted the sheet and peeked under it. When he recognized the face, he returned the sheet to its previous position like a robot, stunned, and never once stopped cursing life and the coincidental jokes it loved to pull.

"I've done what I've come to do," the victim had said at that time when she was convicted of murder. It was that case, he thought, that case which Haibara dubbed to be the simplest with the perfect outcome. Haibara! He remembered all of the sudden and turned to look for Yamamura, who was right behind him.

"I heard from Ran-san that your skills match the Sleeping Kogoro's?" Yamamura asked as Ran came up to them. "Well," he continued before the Great Detective of the East could answer. "Since Mouri-san isn't here, I guess I'll just have to tell you about the case. So far, we know that the victim here is Saruwatari Miharu. She died from a stab of the knife here..." – Yamamura lifted the plastic bag containing the pocket knife for Shinichi to inspect – "...stabbed right in her heart. Only her fingerprints have been found on this knife. But..." – he pointed to a wooden cabin not far from them – "...we've located blood other than that of the victim's at the location where she died as well as a trail of that same unknown blood to the main road, where the trail ends. We suspect that Saruwatari might have fought with the murderer and injured whoever murdered her in the process. And the murderer escaped in some sort of vehicle. Then there's also the theory that she committed suicide, but how do you explain the unknown pool and trail of blood?" he muttered to himself. "Hey!" he shouted out to the detective, who ran past him. "Where are you going?"

"To take a look at the crime scene at the cabin!" Shinichi shouted back as Yamamura hurried after him. Ran remained standing by the roadside, but her gaze followed him toward the cabin.

Everything was as Yamamura described. Dried, splattered blood – a pool and a trail. The pool was right outside the door, some spilt onto the steps leading up to the door. But the pool of blood had been "contaminated," meaning that things had mixed and splashed into it. Saruwatari must have fallen into the puddle of blood that wasn't hers when she collapsed onto the ground when she died. No clear footprints. No sign of struggle, even.

There was nothing in the cabin. There was the door, but no windows. According to the police, the door was open, unbolted from the outside (since the latch was on the outside of the door – strange) when they – the police – first arrived. Shinichi stepped inside the cabin and shut the door. It was pitch-dark inside, save for the line of light coming from the gap between the door and the wall. Yamamura yelled for him to come out.

"How did Saruwatari get here?" Shinichi asked as he walked, with an annoyed Yamamura, back to the roadside where Ran was standing. "I... I heard that Saruwatari was convicted of murder and..."

"I was getting to that," Yamamura said. "I know about the case that Saruwatari was involved in. I follow Mouri-san's cases after all. We contacted the Tokyo Metropolitan Police and heard that they were on the way to a hospital when an accident happened and she disappeared after that."

"Wait, hospital?" Shinichi's head jerked up. "What accident?"

"Yeah." Yamamura scratched his head. "Saruwatari's lawyer said that she was mentally unstable and demanded for a reevaluation of the case. So they were on their way to a hospital to get an official report of her mental state. I think that the theory going around is that it was a hoax to help Saruwatari escape." He shrugged; they arrived at a car near the body. "But now she's dead, too. You think that maybe her enemies wanted revenge? Well, I'm going back to the headquarters where we'll be interviewing potential suspects. You want to come?"

"Uh, sure," Shinichi replied.

"What does all of this have to do with Ai-chan's disappearance?" Ran asked suddenly as she walked up to them and eyed Shinichi.

"Right! Haibara!" Shinichi looked at Yamamura.

"Well, she can't be the murderer... So I think that maybe she witnessed the murder and was captured by Saruwatari's murderer?" Yamamura guessed. "We've searched the entire woods area, and we haven't found her..."

Shinichi frowned and cupped his chin to think. "The car that the murderer escaped in, did anyone see it?" he asked.

"Nobody was up at that hour," Yamamura said. "So we have no idea."

Shinichi's eyes narrowed and he sighed. "Let's go interview the suspects."

"Shinichi!" Ran called out.

"Go home, Ran," Shinichi glanced up and said. "And help me send Ayumi-chan, Genta-kun, and Mitsuhiko-kun back." He turned to Yamamura. "Would you send one of your officers to protect Ran and the others? The professor too?"

"Sure, but why – " Yamamura blinked as Shinichi climbed into the police car. Shaking his head, he grunted and motioned for one of the officers to come forward.

"Shinichi!" Ran called out again.

"What?"

"Right now, it's most important to find Ai-chan," she said in a commanding and forceful tone as she walked closer to the car. "You got it? Find Ai-chan. And then when she's back safe and sound... we have a lot to talk about, Shinichi. You have a lot of explanations to give me. Especially how Conan-kun told me that he'd be with the professor when Ayumi-chan came up to me just now and asked for Conan-kun. She said he'd be with me. I told them that he was, but we both know that that's a lie. You should probably thank me for thinking quick."

Shinichi swallowed, nodded, and extended his hand to shut the car door.

"Hey, wait!" Ran shot out her hand to stop the door from closing.

"What? You want to come?"

"No! I want you to get out of the car and concentrate on finding Ai-chan! Not to run off to solve some homicidal case! That can wait later!"

"You don't understand, Ran." He plucked Ran's hand off the car door and slammed the door shut. He wheeled the window down and said, "To find Haibara, we might have to find the murderer first." And the car sped off.

"Miss, shall we go?" the police officer appointed by Yamamura to protect Ran and the Detective Boys asked.

"Shinichi, you jerk!" Ran yelled after the car. "That's not how you find someone...!"