A/N: Real life is still kicking my butt, so I am way behind on reviews. I am seriously sorry.
Thanks, as always, to miladyRanger for betaing. Warnings in the end-note!
Chapter 38
Most people saw Nakamori Ginzou screaming his head off at KID heists while the rest of the Task Force attempted to pile KID and assumed that was the whole of what the Task Force was and did. Those people were, of course, idiots.
The KID Task Force was an interdepartmental special group that had been started when KID targeted a member of the Tokyo bureaucracy's property; it had been intended as a temporary measure to calm one of the people who decided police funding down. That was how Nakamori, who had been and still was assigned to Fraud, had ended up in charge. Obviously they hadn't stopped KID, but Nakamori had gotten a handful of his cape, just for a second, and Harada and a few others had figured out the date, if not the time, of heist from the first riddle. That had been enough to establish them as experts, and after local police bungled a few other heists, to get the Task Force formalized and positions on it made into official assignments. The initial requirements never changed, though-any officer could volunteer with the approval of a supervising officer, and in the case of Task Force vacancies supervising officers could also volunteer their staff.
Which is to say that heading up the Task Force involved training people of all ages from multiple departments to play nicely with one another and also to catch a felon with unholy skills and a taste for large-scale practical jokes, while keeping a special eye on the ones who'd been assigned to him as punishment, because there were always a few. To be fair, sending a guy out to get humiliated by KID, which was generally what happened to Task Force members on their first heist, was a pretty good way of dealing with an officer who'd screwed up in a way that wasn't easy to officially punish beyond a reprimand. But it still made things tough for Ginzou. He had to keep track of who was doing what work for the Task Force and how long, for payroll reasons, which would be easier if payroll didn't need him to turn in separate forms for each department. He also needed to do basic training with every new person that came in, even the people who were only joining temporarily for punishment or because they were curious; people at least needed to know about how to deal with the sleeping gas.
The point was, being on the Task Force wasn't easy. Ginzou still missed it.
When they were actively preparing for a heist, or winding down from one, the KID Task Force operated out of a set of desks in a corner near where the Fraud Department was. On a normal week, Nakamori would usually just work out of the desk he used for Task Force duties, and so would a few of the other more established members. Plus, there were sometimes one or two rookies in and out with reports about upcoming exhibitions at the Beika Museum or at Suzuki properties in general, because KID had a few patterns.
Now, those desks were being used by some sort of drugs task force, since KID was on official hiatus, and the only way Ginzou had to talk to his entire Task Force was email. Which was a crap medium when it came to getting morale back up. Text didn't properly convey volume.
Also, the only thing that was really going to wipe the melancholy looks he'd seen floating around off of anyone's faces were reassurances like, "Don't worry, KID'll be back," and that was not a good thing to send through the police email. Work emails got stored someplace and sometimes read, apparently; Aoko had explained it to him once after he sent her a chain email from his work account. The upshot was that he wanted his men to stop being upset but not enough that he was willing to get fired over it.
So he was stuck at his desk, going through a massive backlog of reports about a fraud gang that was targeting elderly cell phone users.
People are screwed up, he thought, settling into his desk chair. Wonder if I should get coffee now, or later.
"Ginzou-san?"
Ginzou turned around. And stared. "The f*** are you doing here?"
Chikage just stared back, so Ginzou clarified.
"I invited you to a police function once, Chikage-san," he said patiently. "Once, and you turned me down by saying a bunch of things I don't think I should repeat around my co-workers. Even Toichi-san looked shocked, and he insulted my job as a way of greeting me."
Yeah, 'Arrested any innocents today, Ginzou-san?' Ginzou thought, not quite nostalgic. I do miss the guy, but sometimes I wonder why we were friends. He paused. Oh, wait, he babysat Aoko. That's why.
"I had a sudden urge to see what my tax dollars were doing," Chikage said primly.
"Try again," Ginzou drawled.
Chikage's smile wavered for a split second. "I had a bit of an adventuresome morning, and I felt the need to see a familiar face in a place where I could check for latex masks without violating a social norm?"
"Still not buyin' it," Ginzou said. Though that one sounded a little more genuine than the last one. Weird.
"Can't I just visit a friend?"
"I'm on the clock here," Ginzou muttered.
"So you are," Chikage said blithely, smile almost creepily wide. "I won't be here long."
Ginzou sighed. "Is there a reason you came, then?"
"I was just...curious," Chikage said, a bit more serious now. "About how it is, with the Task Force on break."
Ginzou grimaced. "It's slow, and the men are discouraged, you know how they get."
"I don't," Chikage said. "Tell me about it."
What followed was one of the oddest conversations Ginzou had ever had with Chikage. And not really even a conversation, either. He just...blathered, for at least ten minutes, about the exact ways in which each member of the Task Force had reacted to KID going on break. Harada cracking down on the new recruits, Kusakabe swearing at the printer every time it broke, Miuta getting quiet and solemn, Yoshida drinking enough coffee that he was actually affecting the department's overall stock...and Chikage just listened. She didn't look interested, exactly. She made noises at the correct times and nodded at pauses but she didn't have that expression she got when Ginzou started talking about, say, KID. Her eyes weren't even really focused. But she was definitely paying attention, and Ginzou wasn't sure why.
"You just listened to me talk about the Task Force for, like, ten minutes," Ginzou said. "Are you sick?"
Chikage shook her head. "No, it's just nice, listening to someone else's concerns."
Well, that's strange phrasing if I ever heard it, Ginzou thought. "Hey, did you ever work things out with Kaito?"
Chikage's face did something strange. It wasn't quite happy enough to be a smile, but Ginzou would have forgiven someone who didn't know Chikage well for making the mistake.
"We've gotten closer," she said. "He's talking to me again. And I think...I think, after today, it might be better."
"What happened today?" Ginzou asked.
Chikage straightened, just a bit. "I did him a favor."
"Kaito's pretty thoughtful for a kid his age; I'm sure he'll be grateful," Ginzou reassured her.
Chikage muttered something under her breath.
"What?"
"Oh, nothing, nothing!" Chikage said quickly, waving a hand. "So, have you still been looking for Saguru?"
Ginzou blinked at the abrupt change of topic. "After they moved the investigation to Nagano, we pretty much shut things down here, and once that turned out to be a false lead...well, the superintendent general didn't make a lot of noise about reopenin' it."
Chikage made a humming noise.
"There's only so much he can do without people startin' to cry favoritism," Ginzou said.
"I suppose so," Chikage said, looking much less somber than the situation called for.
"What do you know?" Ginzou demanded.
"Oh, me?" Chikage asked. "I know all sorts of things. For instance, Murasaki-shikibu wrote The Tale of Genji, and-"
"That's not what I meant," Ginzou interrupted.
"But it's all I'm telling you," Chikage said. She paused, looking thoughtful. "Or, perhaps, I'll say that Kaito will be home soon."
"Will he?" Ginzou asked. "I don't suppose you know anything about where Edogawa Conan and Hattori Heiji are?"
Chikage grinned at him. "If I knew anything about that, why would it be your business?"
"I-I-" Ginzou shut his mouth. I can't very well spill Megure's entire conspiracy theory to her!
Chikage's grin just widened, and it actually reached her eyes this time. "I do hope the rest of your day goes well, Ginzou-san."
"I hope you start making sense someday," Ginzou replied.
"Live in hope, Ginzou-san," Chikage encouraged, as she turned to leave. "By all means, live in hope."
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Konosuke Jii was not a bar owner by vocation; if anything, The Blue Parrot was a retirement job for him. Granted, if he'd actually meant to relax, he really should have chosen literally any other industry besides food service, but relaxation hadn't ever been his true goal. People met at bars, had conversations, drank enough to speak more freely than they might otherwise. If you wanted to gather information, they were the best place to go.
And if you really wanted information, well, you just set up a bar of your own and gathered all the information to yourself.
Besides, now he had a good place to play pool and poker that would always let him in, no matter how often he won or how many people accused him of cheating. He'd never cheat at pool! (Cards, now cards were another story, but really, anyone who played poker fair was missing out on half the game.)
He didn't work full shifts anymore most days, but today was inventory day and he'd been in since early morning.
They'd understand why he needed to sit down for a little while when they were as old as he was, particularly if their knees hurt as often as his.
And then, a familiar face stepped into the slightly brighter lighting around the bar, and Jii accepted that he wasn't going to be having much of a break.
He stood up, knees still tender, and gave a bow, restaurant proprietor to guest. "Hiroshi-san, I didn't expect you tonight."
Agasa Hiroshi laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his neck, fingers tangling in the curls gathered there, his most obvious tell.
This isn't just a friendly visit, then, Jii thought, concerned. "Have a seat," he offered aloud.
"I think I will," Hiroshi said, uncharacteristically serious. "Jii, do you have any idea where your godson is?"
Jii raised an eyebrow. "Hiroshi-san, you know there's a reason we don't discuss those sorts of things."
Definitely not a friendly visit, he corrected mentally, gesturing to the nice young girl who was bartending to bring them both something to drink.
Hiroshi's expression tightened. "I'm aware," he said, looking away for a second. "Part of our agreement when I started providing you with inventions is that I wouldn't ask too many questions, and you wouldn't give me information that might incriminate me. But he's got Conan-kun with him."
"That's what this is about?" Jii asked, in some surprise. "I would have thought it would have been about Shinichi-kun."
"Shinichi-kun!" Hiroshi exclaimed, startling badly enough that he nearly fell off of his seat, his voice loud enough to turn heads across the bar. "What makes you think he has anything to do with this?"
Jii gave him a sharp look for drawing attention, and Hiroshi ducked, his head, sheepish.
"The young master never outright said Shinichi-kun was involved, but some of the things he's said about the detectives he won't identify that he's currently working with were fairly identifying," Jii said.
Hiroshi shook his head. "Oh, I'm certain that was just Conan-kun, he does take after his cousin…"
He was rubbing the back of his neck again. There was a good reason that Jii never played poker with Hiroshi-he couldn't bluff.
"So, Conan-kun and Shinichi-kun are involved," Jii corrected.
Hiroshi gave another high, nervous chuckle. "Ah, yes, of course, that's how it is."
"Hiroshi-san, please don't insult me like this," Jii sighed, as their drinks arrived-beers, by the look of them.
Hiroshi slumped. "I really can't tell you this," Hiroshi said. "You really don't want to know."
"You know, the young master told me something interesting last time we spoke," Jii said slowly, pausing to take a sip of his drink. "He said that Shinichi-kun's trouble and the young master's trouble might be of the same variety."
Hiroshi frowned. "I was under the impression that your godson's trouble was the police. Which isn't the same kind of trouble at all."
Jii waved a hand, as if to dismiss Hiroshi's words. "Oh, he can handle that kind of trouble easily enough. Particularly with the use of your-"
"I believe we agreed not to go into detail about that," Agasa interrupted, voice firm.
Jii sighed. "Regardless. If that were my only concern, I wouldn't worry nearly so much. There is...another matter. One more dangerous, and best not spoken of where others might listen."
Hiroshi blinked, then his eyes narrowed. "This is starting to sound uncomfortably familiar."
"How familiar, exactly?" Jii pressed.
"We are in public," Hiroshi said, with probably the most discretion Jii had ever seen the man display.
"Mmmm…" Jii weighed his words. "Well, years ago, Toichi-sama came back from...work, describing a brief sojourn into a American gangster movie set in the 1930's; the young master has described the same."
"Kuroba-sensei also-" Hiroshi breathed, then shook his head. "That is...quite familiar, yes. Shinichi-kun encountered such a thing once, and Conan-kun has been chasing after them ever since."
"Conan-kun is in elementary school," Jii said, frowning.
Hiroshi avoided his gaze. "There are mitigating circumstances."
"Oh, really?"
Hiroshi's expression hardened. "Your godson breaks the law. Leave it alone, Jii-san."
Jii didn't like leaving it alone, but Hiroshi had a point. This could only end in a fight, and barfights were far less fun when you owned the establishment you were wrecking.
"So, the younger generation has pulled ahead of us in collaboration, it seems," Jii said, tugging at his moustache. "From what I've been told, they're in Nagano in the moment."
Hiroshi slumped slightly in his seat, and finally took a gulp of his drink. "All I was told is that something had gone wrong and they wouldn't be able to return straight to Tokyo safely." He took another drink. "The Kudous are amazing people and old friends but I wish they'd tell me things."
"Tokyo should be safe for them now," Jii said. "From what I understand, there was a matter of someone waiting at the airport, but that's been taken care of. Perhaps not in the most cautious way possible, but it's taken care of."
Hiroshi opened his mouth, looking ready to ask a question, and then closed it again. "I don't want to know more, do I?"
"Likely not," Jii said amiably. Chikage said that what she did was safe, and I hope to heaven she was right. But I really don't want to tell the story to one of my more anxious acquaintances and have him agree with my every worry about it.
He glanced around the bar. "I believe business is slow enough that, given everything that is happening, I can justify leaving the floor for a bit. If you'd like to come with me to my apartments, perhaps we can work out a slightly more open sharing of information?"
Hiroshi regarded him for a moment, then sighed. "Can we bring the beer?"
Jii grinned. "It's my bar. And what's more, I believe there are leftover bar snacks in the refrigerator that we can take with us. If we're going to discuss unpleasant matters it might as well be over food."
Hiroshi frowned. "I'll be scolded later if it's anything unhealthy…"
"By who?" Jii demanded. "Did you find yourself a wife in the week and a half since I last saw you?"
"By Ai-chan," Hiroshi corrected, shaking his head.
"She's in elementary school, too!" Jii said, throwing his hands up in the air. "Heaven's sakes, Hiroshi-san, it's like you attract miniature adults."
Hiroshi made a very interesting face at that. Jii decided he was better off not asking. In the end, he didn't actually want to know.
"Just stay here and I'll get the food," he sighed.
Hiroshi nodded, and settled innocently at the bar, sipping at his drink and looking for all the world like the kind of person who didn't blow up his own house regularly.
This was why Jii ran a bar. You could meet up with all kinds of people.
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A/N: Warnings for blink-and-you'll-miss-'em maladaptive coping mechanisms and discussion of canon-typical child-endangerment.
For anyone wondering, when I say maladaptive coping mechanisms, Chikage is using Ginzou as a distraction from how terrified she was of Vermouth in this chapter, similar to how Kaito used Eisuke as a distraction after fighting with Chikage some chapters back.
Next chapter will be back to the boys in Nagano. But there were some interesting things happening in Tokyo, and also I felt like Nagano was getting slightly claustrophobic, so I shifted the action for a chapter.
Finally, thank you guys so much for all of the lovely reviews. I am catching up as quickly as I can but things are a bit messy at the moment, so just know that I appreciate all of them and will get to them individually ASAP.