SailorStar9: With Chapter 44 uploaded, this is Chapter 45 of this fic. (Sighs) Guys and girls, is it too hard for you to leave a review, instead of just putting this fic up on your favorited list and story alerts?
Pairings: Established!Furuya Rei (Amuro Tooru)/Mizuno Ami
Disclaimers: I own absolutely nothing, except this plot and pairing.
Chapter 45: Conan Cornered in the Darkness
Time passes...
"He isn't answering." Fumio noted, outside the gaming sale as he tried contacting Conan on the Detective Badge.
"He's not answering his phone, either." Mitsuhiko added, his hand-phone getting a dial tone.
"Maybe he went to eat by himself." Genta pointed out. "I'm hungry." as if on cue, his stomach growled.
"He isn't you, Genta." Fumio deathpanned.
"But the sale has already started." Mitsuhiko looked into the games store. "What should we do? We got the new one!" he whooped in victory about half an hour later, the quartet having bought the gaming cartridge they wanted.
"Conan-kun's still not here?" Ayumi looked around. "I'd feel bad for him if he couldn't buy a copy of the game."
"He'll be fine." Mitsuhiko assured. "There were still plenty of copies on the shelves."
"I can't take it anymore!" Genta exclaimed, his stomach growling loudly. "I'm going to get something to eat." he ran off.
Fumio, Mitsuhiko and Ayumi sighed in unison.
"Conan's still not here?" Genta returned with a bun in his hand. "He probably went to get lunch himself."
"There are still two more hours before noon." Mitsuhiko reminded.
"But, seriously." Fumio hissed, reactivating the Detective Badge again. "What on earth happened to him?"
"I'm worried." Ayumi stated. "Let's have Ai-chan look into it."
"Edogawa-kun?" Haibara was in front of the computer in Professor Agasa's house. "Got it." she pulled out four separate windows. "I'll track his phone's GPS. No signal? In that case..." she leapt off the chair and pulled out a drawer. "Uh oh, his spare glasses are with the Professor for maintenance." she muttered, seeing the empty space that the spare spectacles used to occupy.
"This is the Mouri Detective Agency." Ran took the call. "Ai-chan. Conan-kun? He hasn't come back yet. He's not with you?"
"I'm not interested in modern games." Haibara replied, pulling her sweater off the back of the chair. "Tell Edogawa-kun to call me if you hear from him."
"What do you mean?" Ran blinked. "Ai-chan!" she shouted down the receiver right after Haibara hung up.
"Ai-chan!" Ayumi beamed, the last member of the group having joined them.
"Since he's not answering his phone, I don't have a choice." Haibara reminded. "But we might want to contact the police."
"But all the Detective Boys are here now." Mitsuhiko declared. "Let's try looking for him ourselves for a little bit."
"And Conan might've just gone to get lunch by himself." Genta suggested.
"Why are you still hung up on that, Genta?" Fumio sighed.
"Where did you part ways with him?" Haibara asked.
"This way." Ayumi pulled Haibara off, the three boys following closely behind.
"This was the place, Ai-chan." Ayumi led Haibara below the bridge.
"That's right." Mitsuhiko confirmed. "This is where Conan suddenly told us to go on ahead."
"There weren't any eel or hamburger vendors." Genta noted.
"Something must've distracted him." Fumio concluded.
"True." Haibara agreed. "He might've seen or found something."
"Like what?" Ayumi asked.
"That's what we're going to find." Fumio replied. "Ayumi, can you can Haibara-san search that side?" he requested, pointing to the sidewalk. "The three of us will search the other side. Did you find him?" he shouted across to the girls after some time, to which both girls shook their heads.
"Where did Conan-kun go?" Ayumi wondered. "Maybe we should call the police."
"Wait." Haibara spotted a locksmith repairing a broken door in the back alley of a law firm.
"Fixing the lock?" Mitsuhiko echoed, the group having gathering in front of the law firm.
"He was called early this morning by a resident of the building." Haibara replied, after asking the locksmith.
"Is that what Conan-kun saw?" Ayumi asked.
"Maybe there's a really good restaurant inside." Genta suggested. "I guess not." he corrected when Fumio pointed to the law firm signage.
"Maybe it was a thief." Mitsuhiko guessed.
"It doesn't like like they told him, but it's conceivable." Haibara looked at the locksmith.
"Maybe we should call the police." Ayumi noted when her Detective Badge started beeping.
"Ai-chan?" Ran took the call when the detective agency's phone rang again. "It's you, Dad. A funeral?"
"Conan!" everyone else chorused.
"Where in the world are you?" Haibara demanded.
"Don't shout." Conan sighed. "I don't know where I am, either. Apparently, I haven't been buried yet, though."
"What does that mean?" Haibara hissed.
"Judging by the size, I must really be in a coffin." Conan switched on the wristwatch flashlight. "Someone placed a board over stacks of cardboard, creating a false bottom. I'm in the small space underneath."
"What?" the rest of the Detective Boys exclaimed in horror.
"What are you guys doing?" Conan asked, finding that he could not reach into the gap between the cardboard to pull a suitcase that was stuck in the gap.
"We followed the alleyway you entered to the rear entrance of a building." Haibara answered.
"That's the place." Conan grinned. "There was a burglary happening inside that building, and..." he was cut off when his surrounding started to move and he realized he was inside a hearse.
"What's wrong, Edogawa-kun?" Haibara shouted down the Detective Badge.
"It's a car." Conan answered. "This coffin is inside a car. I'm inside a hearse. I smelled incense and felt the chill of dry ice, too. There's no mistaking it. This is a false bottom coffin. And somebody's body is above me."
"Let's look for him right away." Ayumi insisted.
"If he's in a hearse, we'll find him in no time." Genta agreed.
"I'm not so sure about that." Fumio remarked. "Nowadays, most hearses are ordinary sedans, instead of the old-fashioned hearses. Finding him won't to so easy. Haibara-san, call the police."
"Wait, Fumio." Conan cut in. "They need more information. There's a good chance that place was a funeral home, so..."
"Got it." Haibara cut Conan off. "I'll look into it. Let's slit up and look for him." she pulled out the crematoriums' information on her cellphone. "If a funeral just ended someplace..."
"I see." Mitsuhiko realized. "Conan might be inside a hearse that just left."
"But if that's true, then he's headed towards..." Ayumi gasped.
"Probably a crematorium." Haibara concurred. "That's why we need to hurry."
"Guys." Ran arrived as the group were making calls to the crematoriums. "I was so worried." she exited the taxi. "Where's Conan-kun?"
"We found him." Fumio reported. "The problem is, he's in a hearse right now."
"A hearse?" Ran echoed. "This place..." she saw the law firm sign.
"He hired the Sleeping Kogoro?" Mitsuhiko echoed after Ran informed them about Mouri's new job.
"The lawyer Asada?" Haibara asked.
"Yeah." Ran nodded. "He came here early this morning."
"Could it related to the robbery Conan described?" Mitsuhiko realized.
"Seems like it." Haibara smirked.
"But he just called to say he might be attending the funeral with Asada-sensei." Ran recalled. "He asked me to bring his mourning clothes just in case."
"Is this the place?" Haibara showed Ran the address.
"Yeah, this funeral home." Ran confirmed.
"Then, there's no time." Fumio insisted and the group entered the waiting taxi.
"What?" Mouri echoed in shock after the Detective Boys informed him about what happened to Conan. "Conan's inside a coffin? And you're saying the will is inside, too?"
"That's what Conan said." Fumio confirmed.
"He said it's inside a small paulownia wood box." Ayumi supplied.
"That's it." Asada Kimihiko remarked. "That's definitely it."
"Dad, what about the funeral?" Ran asked.
"It just finished." Mouri replied. "The hearse and his family left for the crematorium."
"Excuse me." wasting no time, Fumio hurried over to the reception counter.
"You mean the culprit means to incinerate the body and the will?" Mouri realized.
"Without the will, his fortune will be divided evenly among his children." Asada stated.
"Then, who's the culprit?" Mouri mused.
"Apparently, there's only one hearse that left the funeral home today." Fumio reported after querying the counter clerk. "I had them call the crematorium. The hearse should be getting there anytime now, bit it hasn't arrived yet."
"Where are you right now, Edogawa-kun?" Haibara switched on her Detective Badge again.
"Where am I?" Conan echoed, using the cut glass from his broken hand-phone to cut the rope binding him. "I wish I knew. We stopped again. We've been stopping and moving slowly, at about one minute intervals."
"Maybe they're late because they've stopped by places where the deceased has connections." Asada reasoned. "From big businesses to small workshops, the chairman was a popular man."
"Connections?" Mouri mused. "Like branches and business partners of the Karahashi Group? Check that out immediately. I'll head directly to the crematorium. If that's what they're doing, we can easily beat them there." with Ran and the kids in tow, he hurried to the awaiting taxi. "Hello, Inspector." he placed a call to Inspector Megure.
"We made it." Mouri panted for breath as he ran into the crematorium.
"But something seems weird." Ran noted.
"This is Asada." Asada voiced from over Mouri's cellphone. "Mouri-san, the chairman's hearse has stopped at one of our branches. However, because of bad weekend traffic, they've decided to cancel the rest of the visits and head directly to the crematorium. They should be arriving soon."
"Look at this." Haibara indicated the signboard that informed guests about the cremation.
"The annex?" Ran blinked.
"That must it be." Mitsuhiko pointed to the hall annex.
"Wait!" Mouri called out, just as the coffin was rolled into the cremation site.
"Stop the cremation?" Karahashi Kozo repeated after Mouri placed the order to stop the cremation.
"What are you talking about?" Karahashi Mitsuyo demanded.
"That detective doesn't have a clue." Karahashi Eisuke scoffed.
"Conan-kun is inside." Ran insisted. "There's a child inside that coffin."
"Looks like you know what we're talking about." Mouri stated, seeing the siblings' expressions.
"Impossible." Kozo protested.
"Then, will you let us open the coffin?" Inspector Megure entered the scene. "We're with Section One of the Metropolitan Police Department." he flashed his ID badge. "This is a potential kidnapping. Takagi, Chiba."
"Excuse us." with the coffin opened, both Takagi and Chiba set the body aside and tried to find the fake bottom.
"He's not here." Takagi reported.
"In fact, this coffin doesn't have a false bottom." Chiba corrected.
"What's going on, Mouri?" Inspector Megure questioned.
"But that shouldn't be." Mouri was confused.
"Edogawa-kun?" using Fumio's back as a cover, Haibara called Conan over the Detective Badge. "Where are you, Edogawa-kun?"
"Haibara, can you hear me?" Conan shouted down the communicator after the hearse passed through a tunnel.
"What?" Mouri echoed as the kids returned to the taxi. "There's another hearse?"
"That's what Conan-kun said." Ran nodded. "It was probably parked in the funeral home's underground parking lot."
"Takagi." Inspector Megure turned to his subordinate.
"Is this the funeral home?" Takagi placed the call. "Inspector, there really was a second hearse. It's an old-fashioned hearse they sent to be scrapped this morning. It was parked in the underground parking lot."
"Where are they taking it?" Mouri asked.
"The person who arranged it wasn't working today." Takagi answered.
"Ai-chan?" Ran took the call when her cellphone rang. "You're chasing down Conan-kun's hearse?"
"I see." Conan noted, after Ayumi related the situation to him. "This one's scrap? We just turned right. Then left. Then straight. And another left."
"Turn right, then left." Ayumi repeated. "Go straight, then left again."
"I see." Haibara remarked. "The incense, dry ice and cardboard in the box was garbage too. You weren't trapped inside a coffin. And the stopping and going we thought was them making stops was..."
"The engine of the piece of junk hearse." Conan concluded. "It was just a coincidence. And there was a reason for this. I'm starting to see what's going on. There were multiple culprits there."
"I see." Haibara realized the same thing. "That's why... but they all had alibis."
"They probably..." Conan guessed that all three siblings had their phones off the receivers to give the illusion that they were talking on the phone. "And during that time..."
"They met at the crime scene." Haibara finished.
"We stopped." Conan reported. "It's a crosswalk."
"After leaving the funeral home, they went through a tunnel." Haibara was poring through the map on her cellphone. "Then right, left, left. After that, they hit a crosswalk."
"We're moving." Conan said. "We're at a train crossing now."
"This must be it." Haibara beamed. "I know where they're going."
"They're headed for the Kuriniji Scrapyard." Inspector Megure declared. "Hurry."
"Conan-kun!" Ayumi hopped off the taxi, the group having arrived at the scrapyard.
"Could that be..." Fumio pointed to the hearse car in the compressor.
"Stop!" Mouri ran inside the scrapyard with Takagi right behind him. "Stop the press machine."
"Stop the machine!" Takagi shouted, Murakami Yasuo immediately pressing the stop button.
"We were too late?" Inspector Megure was stunned as the headlights shattered under the pressure.
"Don't kill me so fast yet." Conan chided, walking out from behind the compressor. "That was too close." recalling how he had used the power-enhancing kick shoes to free himself.
"Where's the will?" Mouri reminded.
Taking the chance, Conan snuck behind the compressor and shot Mouri with the tranquilizing dart.
"Conan." using the voice-changing bow-tie to replicate Mouri's voice, Conan presented the resolution with everyone present on the scene. "Here it is." Conan walked out of his hiding place and handed the will to Asada.
"This is definitely it." Asada confirmed. "This is the newest version of the will the chairman rewrote."
"What a shame, Eisuke-san." still mimicking Mouri's voice, Conan continued. "You stepped on some gum, didn't you?" he ran out from behind the wall. "The smell and stickiness is all over my phone."
"Kozo-san and Mitsuyo-san." using Mouri's voice, Conan added. "You were there, too. You counted on us to assume that siblings who hated each other wouldn't verify each other's alibis using a classic trick."
"What about the proof?" Kozo demanded.
"Inspector, please inspect the will for fingerprints." Conan requested. "If I'm correct, in addition to the deceased's, Asada-sensei's and Conan-kun's, you'll find their fingerprints as well."
"Is that true?" Inspector Megure questioned.
"Since they planned to dispose of or rewrite the will, they touched it with their bare hands." Conan continued. "They wanted to confirm its contents as soon as possible. Am I wrong? The three of you likely colluded on the condition that the fortune be split evenly or be rewritten in your favor. You hid the will in an unused hearse along with Conan who you planned to eventually release without realizing it was being scrapped today."
"It's our father's fault." Kozo hissed.
"You can't be serious." Mitsuyo snorted. "I can't believe he's leaving his fortune to his secretary... no, his lover!"
"You can't expect us to allow that." Eisuke glared.
"You put a child's... Conan-kun's life in danger over that?" Ran snapped. "You're the ones who have done something unforgivable!"
SailorStar9: Any OOC-ness is regretted, by the way. *Sighs* Don't you just hate plot bunnies sometimes? Read and review.