Chapter 5: Dressed for Death

So sorry for the delay: as it turns out, clues are hard, and I'm terrible at writing murder cases. Try to enjoy, anyway.

The professor didn't know what to make of the scar on Ran's chest. On closer inspection, inside the ring were three evenly spaced puncture marks. He inferred it might be a clue to whatever procedure was used on her, but it was only a guess, so they were no better off than when they started. He thanked her for showing him, and informed them he would attempt to form plausible theories from the new information. Then he disappeared back into his lab, presumably to tell Haibara the new update, leaving Ran and Shinichi alone again.

"Well, now that that's done," said Ran brightly, "what would you like for supper, Conan-kun?"

"I was thinking I'd just have rice," he said. He didn't want to put too much of a strain on her since she'd worked all day.

"If you want rice, I could make curry," she offered. He held up his hands.

"No, really. You're probably tired, right?" He thought back to how shiny everything at his house looked. She shook her head.

"I'm fine. Curry is easy, anyway, and growing boys need more than just rice." She headed for the door. "Unless you just don't want curry?" He knew he couldn't argue with her, so he relented.

"Curry's fine." She smiled at him and they went back to his house. She disappeared into the kitchen, leaving Shinichi alone in the library to ponder about the scar. He couldn't come up with any feasible reason for it to be there other than that it somehow had to do with how she got this way. He sighed. He'd been sighing a lot lately.

When supper was ready, Ran called him into the dining room. Once again, there was only one plate. At his questioning stare, Ran smiled uncomfortably.

"I'll eat in a little bit," she promised. "I've got a few more things to take care of in the kitchen, first."

"If you're sure," he said slowly. "I could wait for you." She shook her head.

"It's okay: go ahead and eat, Conan-kun. The sooner you're done, the sooner you can finish your homework." He hid a dry smile. His kiddie homework was the least of his concerns right now, but he didn't voice this train of thought. Instead, he innocently chirped an "okay," and dug into his dinner halfheartedly while he continued to draw up and discard theories.

When he finished, he brought his dishes into the kitchen where Ran was busily scrubbing away at a large skillet. He handed her his plate and spoon, then looked around. There was another plate of curry rice next to the stove, presumably waiting there for Ran to finish washing the other dishes. He thought it a bit odd that she was doing dishes before eating, but since she told him she would eat later, he didn't protest. Instead, he told her goodnight and headed for bed.

Once again, he lay awake for several hours, staring numbly up at the ceiling while all his discarded theories danced around in his head, taunting him. Then he had a thought. He sat up slowly, staring at the wall now as the vague idea turned into a single solid question. Just how many people has this happened to?

He turned the question over and over, wondering why he hadn't asked it before. Probably because something like this would've been on the news, unless, of course, any others were also keeping quiet like they were. Just to be sure, he unplugged his phone and did a quick search. "People missing for two weeks turn up claiming to be a different person." When that didn't pan out, he deleted the last part. 'People missing for two weeks turn up." He got a bunch of kidnapping stories. He added, "with no memory of missing period." There were maybe one or two articles about missing persons with amnesia. He growled in frustration. He checked the time. He couldn't call Takagi, but he might be able to get away with texting Heiji a question as long as he didn't give out too many details. He wanted help, but he didn't want the detective of the west poking his nose in on this. At least not yet.

Carefully choosing his words, he messaged Heiji, asking him to look into missing people who turned up again later with no memory of the time they were missing. He sighed when almost immediately, he got a call.

"Hattori?" he asked wryly. "I texted you for a reason."

"Kudo, did something happen? What's with this weird text? Does it have something to do with neechan?" He was pushy as usual, but he did sound genuinely concerned.

"No, it's just… wishful thinking, I guess? I had the thought, and I just wanted to cover all possibilities, that's all. Like what if she does turn up with lost time?" It wasn't exactly a lie. She had turned up, just like that. He heard a sigh on the other end, the sound crackling a bit in the receiver.

"Damn, ya got my hopes up," said the Osakan. Shinichi smiled wryly.

"Sorry to disappoint."

"Don't worry, I can at least look into such cases over here. You'll hafta figure out how to get that info from Tokyo."

"I was going to call Takagi tomorrow," he replied, rubbing his eyes. "I only just had the idea, so it's a bit late to call him now," There was a pause on the other end. Then,

"You're gettin' enough sleep, right?" he asked, unusually concerned. "I know it's hard, but you can't find her if you don't take care of yourself." Shinichi allowed a tired smile.

"I'm… I'm fine, Hattori. I was just about to get some sleep when the thought hit. I'll go to bed when I get off the phone." Heiji relented, promising him any updates, and hung up. Shinichi plugged his phone back in and sighed. Maybe this would go somewhere. He actually felt good when he drifted off into sleep.

The next morning, Shinichi called Takagi before heading down for breakfast. He picked up after only the second ring.

"Conan-kun? I was just about to call you!" Shinichi blinked in surprise.

"You were?"

"Yeah. It took a while, but that lead you got? We caught Ran-san on camera entering an alley but not leaving it, and a red minivan leaving the scene. We've got people looking into the alley in question, but after so long I doubt there'll be any evidence left." Shinichi hummed thoughtfully.

"Did you get the license plate of the van?" he asked. There was an exaggerated sigh.

"Yes, but they turned out to be fake," the officer replied. "We followed it for a while on traffic footage, but we lost it somewhere in Shibuya." Shinichi made a mental note of the place and continued listening. "Anyway, I don't know how you figured out that Ran-san went that way, but we're on the lookout now. It's the first real lead we've had, so… thanks." Shinichi smiled.

"I only wish we'd discovered it sooner," he said truthfully. "Anyway, there's another question I'd like to ask that's… unrelated to our case."

"As long as you're not badgering us about Ran-san, anything!"

"Can I get a list of missing persons that have turned back up?" There was a long pause as Takagi processed the question.

"Uh… yyyees," he said, sounding unsure. "Why do you want that?"

"Just a project I'm working on. Also, can you narrow the list down to just the ones who have no memories of the time they were missing?"

"That's… oddly specific, but…" He hesitated. "I can look into it if you promise me two things."

"Shoot."

"Don't tell Megure-keibu, and… please don't call about Ran-san anymore unless you have another lead." Shinichi grinned.

"You've got it," he promised, and Takagi hung up.

With that taken care of, and in a considerably better mood, Shinichi went downstairs to be greeted by pancakes and a glass of milk. His face fell slightly at the lack of coffee, but he straightened up again: he'd gone without coffee before and he could do it again. He startled a bit when he heard Ran humming tunelessly in the kitchen.

I guess being tone deaf is genetic, he thought, half amused, half sad, because Ran had such a good voice before all of this… this nonsense, regardless of how many times she denied the fact. The humming stopped. Either she realized what she was doing, or she was experimenting without realizing anyone could hear her. There was a sigh, followed by the sound of running water.

Not wanting to disturb her, Shinichi ate in silence, letting his mind wander to the thought he'd had last night and wondering just what would come of it. He wasn't sure which was more frightening: the thought that there might be others this was happening to, or the thought that they were alone in this. Ran came in just as he finished his milk.

"Good morning, Conan-kun!" she said, smiling down at him. "Did you sleep well?" He nodded.

"Yeah, and I called Takagi-keiji. They found the footage of you going in and the van coming out of the alley, so their division's taking over the investigation. They lost track of the van, though."

"That's still good news, though, isn't it?" asked Ran happily as she took Shinichi's dishes. "They're bound to find it again." He nodded enthusiastically and hopped off his chair to get ready for school. Ran smiled at him and disappeared back into the kitchen. As soon as she was out of sight, his smile faded into something more contemplative as he went back upstairs to get ready for the day.

The remainder of the week yielded similar results: theories danced around in Shinichi's head all day, he'd go to the professor's to be told they had nothing, then he'd return to his house to find a different room sparkling clean, and Ran seemingly okay with everything. When Saturday came around, he was more than ready to tear out his hair in frustration. He'd promised to take Ran shopping for her own clothes to wear, so perhaps being in a different environment would trigger some new ideas.

Shinichi fished around in his closet for an old baseball cap for Ran to help keep people from recognizing her as him, and soon after they departed for the Beika Department Store. When they arrived, Ran looked longingly at the girls' clothes before being pulled towards the men's section by Shinichi. He silently vowed to himself that he'd take her shopping properly once they fixed everything and Ran and Shinichi both were their proper selves.

He supposed the good thing about all this was that Ran occasionally shopped for him, so she already knew his size and wouldn't have to actually try anything on. She sullenly glanced around at the clothes until she found a few geared slightly more towards her taste without being too ostentatious: a pink button-down, a light blue pullover, a red sweater, a few pairs of jeans, among other things. Before they got to the counter, she worriedly pulled Shinichi aside.

"Conan-kun, how are we going to pay for this? My wallet's missing; it's probably with whoever did this to me," she whispered. He put on one of his childish smiles.

"Don't worry, I've been saving the allowance my mom gives me for a while now," he assured her. She gaped at him.

"Conan-kun, I can't take your money!" she exclaimed. "You were saving that for something, right?"

Not really, he thought.

"Just books. It's fine, really. Okay Ran-neechan?" She looked down at the clothes in her arms, then back at Shinichi, brows bent, before reluctantly agreeing. He gave her some of his cash, and they checked out. As they were about to leave the building, there was a scream from upstairs. Shinichi jerked his head towards the sound, cursing the timing under his breath.

"Stay here," he said, and before Ran could stop him, he was off like a shot to the floor above. As he leapt up the last two stairs, he rounded the corner and nearly rammed into Sera Masumi. Without stopping to say hello, the two of them rushed towards a small growing crowd of people near the dressing rooms. A woman was standing near one of the rooms, her hands pressed against her mouth to keep more screams from escaping. They slowly inched forward towards the open dressing room until they saw what caused the commotion. A middle-aged man was lying on the floor, hands curled towards his neck, lips blue, completely motionless. Sera moved in to check his pulse, and shook her head.

"Somebody call the police," she said, turning around. "And nobody leave. This man's been murdered."

As they waited for the police to arrive, Shinichi inspected the scene. The first thing he noticed were the scratches on the man's neck. A closer look revealed blood and skin under his fingernails. There was a thin line around his neck, indicating strangulation. He looked around. Where was the murder weapon?

"Say, Conan-kun," said Sera as he continued his search, "what're you doing here?" Shinichi didn't even spare her a glance.

"Isn't it obvious? Of course I came here to shop. Why else would one be at a department store? Why did you come here?" Sera chuckled and scratched her cheek.

"Point taken. But where's your stuff?"

"Downstairs. Look at this strangulation mark," he said, pushing Sera back on track. "It's a bit thin, isn't it?" She leaned in. The sound of patrol cars grew outside.

"Hey, yeah, you're right." She looked around. "Where and what caused that?"

"I'm not sure, but we'll find out. There's a security camera facing this hallway. This could be over fairly quickly." Sera nodded.

"Perhaps we won't be needed. Has there been any news on Ran-kun?" Shinichi glanced up at her. There was genuine concern on her face. He decided to share what the police knew.

"They caught her on camera entering an alley, and a minivan leaving the alley. That's it. It's not much," he offered. He'd rather she didn't know everything. She was… unpredictable, and he wasn't entirely sure how she'd handle that knowledge on top of trying to get him to unmask himself. Thankfully, she seemed to be too concerned with Ran's disappearance to even try catching him slipping. She hummed thoughtfully just as the police came upstairs.

Inspector Megure's frustration at Conan's appearance was very apparent, though he relaxed a tad when the boy didn't press him for details about Ran's case. He and Sera relayed their information, and a quick check of the CCTV footage revealed three people who went into the dressing room area around the time the victim did. While officers were rounding up the suspects, Takagi read out the report so far.

"The victim is Yamada Asao, fifty-three; he owned a loan firm. Cause of death appears to be suffocation by strangulation. The murder weapon is thought to be thinner than a rope, but thicker than a piano wire, and it's nowhere to be found. The lack of a weapon and the claw marks on his neck indicate this was a homicide." He closed his detective pad and faced the inspector. "The CCTV footage indicates three people entered the area around the same time as Yamada: two females, and one male."

"Hmm…" grunted the inspector thoughtfully. "Three suspects and no murder weapon. Perhaps a body check—"

"I don't think so," said Shinichi and Sera in unison. They looked at each other, and Shinichi motioned for the girl to continue. She cleared her throat.

"They've had time to discard the weapon," she explained. "I would check the areas they went to after leaving the dressing rooms." Megure nodded, Takagi taking a note for when they questioned the three suspects. Just then, the other officers came in with said suspects in tow.

The first was a tall, tanned man in his mid-forties, name of Takahashi Fuyoki. He was complaining loudly about being taken in, and when the situation was explained, and the body was revealed, he spat out a "serves him right." He went on to admit he was the deceased's employee, and that Yamada treated his employees like trash.

The second was Matsuda Keiko, a small, timid thing in her mid-twenties. When asked if she knew the victim, she revealed that her brother had taken a loan from him and had been unable to pay him back. She swore that if she'd known he was here today, she would've shopped somewhere else.

The last was Harada Akiko, not much taller than Keiko, early thirties. She was much more vocal about being dragged up here. She revealed that she took a loan from Yamada, and when she'd seen him here, went to ask him for some extra time. She also revealed that the man had kept hinting at an alternative form of payment, much to her obvious disgust.

"Ah-le-le~? All of you have bandages on," said Shinichi innocently. "What happened?"

"Ah, this?" said Takahashi, reaching for the band-aid on his cheek. "Yamada-san tripped me the other day, the bastard, and I fell on my face."

"I cut myself chopping vegetables," said Harada, holding up her finger. "But I don't see how that's relevant."

"I was careless and smashed my hand into a counter corner," said Matsuda quietly, holding up her right hand. "There was a nail sticking out, so it broke the skin." Takagi winced in sympathy.

"Where did you go after leaving this area?" asked Megure.

"What is this— are we being suspected?!" snapped Harada. "I only came to ask for a time extension: it's got nothing to do with me!"

"You had a motive," pointed out Takagi delicately. He flinched when she glared daggers at him. "We just need to know for reference." She sighed, rolling her eyes.

"Fine. I went to the restroom. Happy?" A motion from Megure, and an officer went to inspect the area.

"I went to the restaurant a floor up," said Takahashi. "I was waiting for Yamada-san to finish here."

"I didn't like the clothes I got, so I kept shopping," said Matsuda. Two more officers left to check the respective areas.

All three officers came up with nothing. Shinichi hummed thoughtfully to himself, as did Sera.

"We're missing something," Sera murmured, glancing down at Shinichi. He nodded. Then, an idea hit him.

"These hangers… they're wire, aren't they?" he asked slowly. Sera nodded, understanding glinting in her eyes.

"Wanna check the CCTV footage again?" A nod, and they were off.

As it turned out, Matsuda Keiko's right hand was clearly visible on the recorded footage— with no bandage going into the dressing room. Shinichi took note of the dress style, and the two detectives prompted the police to search the hangers with those dresses. They found an oddly bent hanger among them that tested positive for blood both where the man scratched at his neck, and the edge of the hanger; presumably the murderer's blood. Confronted with this evidence, Matsuda broke down and admitted her guilt.

"He killed my brother!" she cried.

"Your brother?"

"Yes, my brother. He committed suicide when he couldn't pay back his loan."

"If he couldn't pay back his loan—" Takagi began.

"If it was just that, I wouldn't have done it," she said, cutting him off. "But I found out that he kept raising the interest rate every time my brother got close to paying him off. He bled him dry, and it killed him! He wasn't a man; he was a demon!"

As Matsuda Keiko was arrested and escorted out of the building, Sera came to stand beside Shinichi.

"You sure your stuff's okay? I know you said it was downstairs, but someone could have taken it."

"Nah, it's fine," he answered as he headed for the stairs. She followed him. "R— er… My cousin's watching it for me." Sera stopped.

"You have a cousin?" she asked incredulously. Shinichi turned and blinked, wide-eyed, up at her.

"You don't?" he asked as innocently as he could, adding just a hint of shock.

"… Touche…"

She followed him down the stairs where he bid her goodbye and ran over to where he left Ran. She looked utterly relieved to see him.

"Conan-kun, what kept you? Even the police are here," she said as she glanced out the door at the flashing lights, tugging nervously at her cap.

"Ahaha… Someone was murdered. But we caught the culprit," he said. He snuck a glance back at Sera who stood rooted to the spot several yards away. She was staring hard at Ran and Shinichi. "A-anyway, let's go." Ran nodded, and they left the department store before Sera could get too curious.

When they got back to the Kudo house, a familiar car was parked in the driveway. Shinichi muttered an "aw, great," and Ran involuntarily stiffened beside him. Subaru was back.