Chapter 22: Cold Case, Post-Haste
"So, where are we going, exactly?" asked Ran with a yawn as she gave Shinichi an early breakfast, which he opted to eat at the island counter. They'd woken up around four o'clock, which gave them plenty of time to get ready.
"We're going to the place Hori Kenzo supposedly disappeared from," said Shinichi as he dug into the food in front of him. "He was working for a ramen place at the time, and made a delivery to an apartment somewhere, but didn't come back even though his shift wasn't over."
"'An apartment somewhere'," Ran repeated groggily. "Do I need to prepare for a hike?"
"No, it should be near the station—it's Nagano City, after all. I can't imagine anyone building an apartment complex in the mountains, when most of the people who live there are likely to work somewhere within the city boundaries."
"Don't they have hotels in the mountains?" asked Ran with another yawn. She took a cup of coffee from the pot, not even bothering to ask if Shinichi was okay with that. He was, of course—she was the one who made it after all, and in that body, she needed it as much as he did.
"Hotels are for tourists," he said, taking a sip from his own coffee cup. Then added thoughtfully, "And for people trying to get a night away from their spouses." He knew of at least two occasions when Kogoro had done just that, and more than five occasions when his own mother did the same.
"Anyway, if you went to take a vacation in an area known for its mountain shrines, would you want to stay at a place in a city that looks similar to the one you already live in?"
"… I guess not," she replied, rubbing at a spot on her neck. She was waking up properly now, and her words came less slurred than they'd been just a few minutes ago. "So, I take it we're going to both the apartment and the ramen shop?"
"That's the plan," said Shinichi. "I just hope the shop still has someone working there who remembers Hori-san."
They finished breakfast fairly quickly, and started getting ready for the trip ahead of them.
xXx
Ran and Shinichi took the 6:15 bullet train. It would take a full hour and a half to reach Nagano, and if it was for anything else, Shinichi might have felt guilty for forcing Kansuke to be awake so early to meet them at the station. As it was, he just couldn't bring himself to feel bad about it, even when they saw the inspector scowling at them from the other side of the gates.
"Alright, kid," he said when they got close, completely ignoring Ran for the moment, "what's this all about?" Shinichi gave the inspector an innocent look he was certain the man saw right through.
"Didn't I say it in my text?" he asked. "I'm working on a project." It was a line that only really worked with someone like Takagi, but he hoped Kansuke wouldn't ask too many questions. To ensure he wouldn't, he followed up with, "But if you really can't do it, maybe I should just ask Morofushi-keibu to help instead." Kansuke's eye flashed angrily.
"I never said I couldn't," he growled. "I just don't understand why it has to be so early."
"The sooner I start, the sooner I finish," said Shinichi as he put his hands behind his head in a carefree manner. He hummed. "Maybe I should call him anyway, so you can go back to sleep if you really need it that badly." He started to reach for his phone. Kansuke irritably swept his free hand through his hair.
"Look, kid, I'll help you—just don't bring up that bastard again, got it?" Shinichi beamed at him and nodded. Kansuke sighed heavily and turned away, muttering darkly to himself, to call for a cab. Ran crouched down next to Shinichi.
"You do know he's probably going to tell Morofushi-keibu about this later, right?" she whispered. He nodded.
"Yeah, I don't doubt that for a second," he agreed. "But we won't be here when he does. I don't mind if Morofushi-keibu knows we were here looking for something, but letting him see me work without someone like your dad to guide, he might get more suspicious than he probably already is." He glanced at Kansuke's back while the man tried to find an unoccupied taxi. "It's safer with Yamato-keibu."
"Why's that?" asked Ran with a frown. "He's just as smart, isn't he?" Shinichi grimaced.
"Yes, but their personalities are what's at play here. Morofushi-keibu notices everything, and mentally catalogues the information. Yamato-keibu does the same, but with one key difference: Morofushi goes over everything in his head at once, while Yamato focuses on one thing at a time, ignoring anything that isn't related to what he's thinking about." At least, that's how it looked to Shinichi, and he took the gamble that Kansuke was exactly what he seemed to be. It wasn't hard to come to that conclusion—the one-eyed inspector had a sort of blunt honesty about him that made it difficult to see him as anything else.
"What're you whispering about over here?" asked the man in question, startling Ran and Shinichi out of their contemplations. Ran stood up and greeted him with a polite bow.
"Conan-kun was just telling me about how you two met," she said, thinking quickly. Kansuke made a noncommittal hum as he looked at Shinichi before returning his sharp gaze to Ran.
"And? Who're you?"
"This's my cousin, Shinichi-niichan!" said Shinichi in his child voice before Ran could respond. "He came with me since everyone else was busy."
"That so?" asked Kansuke. He looked Ran up and down before coming to some sort of conclusion privy only to himself.
"Nice to meet you," said Ran, holding out her hand. Kansuke eyed it for only a moment before briefly gripping it.
"Yeah, likewise," he muttered before letting go and turning around. "C'mon, then. I got us a cab." Ran and Shinichi exchanged mildly amused looks. He'd unknowingly proved Shinichi's point. Ran and Shinichi followed a few paces behind him. Ran's expression was slightly disconcerted, but Shinichi couldn't ask what was wrong with the inspector so close, so he reached for her hand and squeezed it.
Kansuke continued grumbling after they climbed into the cab, and looked sourly at the two teens in the backseat before giving a destination.
"I'm sure you've no objection to getting breakfast first, right?" he said, tone daring them to object. Ran and Shinichi exchanged glances and quickly nodded their heads. He'd agreed to lend his help, after all, and they had made him get up early; neither of them particularly wanted to deal with a Kansuke that was grumpier than usual.
Kansuke gruffed out their destination to the driver while Ran absently reached up to pull on the brim of the cap she was wearing. Shinichi made sure no one noticed before gently nudging her side. She flinched and brought her hand back down, clenched tightly on her lap.
The destination turned out to be a little breakfast place that was pretty close to where Shinichi wanted to go. Despite attempts to convince him otherwise, Kansuke ordered for all three of them. It wasn't until he was nursing his coffee when he finally spoke.
"Alright, kid," he said without looking up from his mug, "dunno what you want to snoop around a condemned apartment building for, and I don't really care at the moment. But why do you need me there?" Ran tensed up at the mention of Shinichi's target, and quickly sent him an accusatory side glare. He'd forgotten to tell her about the location.
"Because it's condemned—you just said it," Shinichi replied. "Isn't that the sort of thing a police inspector should worry about?" Kansuke huffed out a dry laugh.
"You were gonna go even if I said no, right?" he said. He tipped his mug back and downed the rest of the coffee. "So what's even the point of my being there?"
"It's better to have the police there and not get caught than it is to be caught without the police," said Shinichi lightly, as if everyone should have known that fact.
And maybe, he thought, I might be able to ask you some questions about the case twenty years ago.
"Besides, you wouldn't have said no," he said, daring to tease the man in favor of a slightly lighter mood—Ran's aura was starting to get a little uncomfortable, and he couldn't risk nudging her this time, since Kansuke was looking at them. Kansuke leered at Shinichi.
"You don't know that—I could very well have said no," he said, prickling a bit at Shinichi's assertion. "So would Koumei—"
"Except that he'd have agreed to it if he learned you refused," said Shinichi, unable to keep the smugness out of his voice. Kansuke scowled at him before grumbling something about needing to use the restroom without even responding to that last comment; because Shinichi was right, even if he'd had no intention of calling up Morofushi in the first place.
As soon as the inspector left the table, Ran turned angrily on Shinichi.
"We're going to a condemned apartment?!" she hissed.
"It's fine, isn't it?" he asked. "We're going during the day, after all, and we have a policeman with us. No one should bother us—anyone staying there illegally would be very foolish to try."
"That's not the point!" she said, brows pinching together in a way Shinichi recognized with a little surprise.
"I promise, it's not haunted," he said. She winced: so he'd guessed right. "There're no such things as ghosts—I've said this before, right?" He'd said it multiple times, actually. She flushed and averted her gaze with a small frown.
"… You can't prove it, though," she murmured in a small voice. Shinichi raised an eyebrow, ego bristling a bit.
"I'm pretty sure I have, though?"
"But you—"
Whatever she was about to say, Shinichi didn't get to hear it since Kansuke chose that moment to come back from the restroom.
"Time to go," he said, standing just beside the table. "Let's get this over with."
Shinichi bit back his irritation, resolved to prove once again that there were no ghosts. Ran had better pay close attention, since it was a guarantee that nothing supernatural would show up while they were there.
Of course, as they walked along the street towards the apartment in question, his initial irritation cooled. Ran was Ran, after all, and she would continue to fear the supernatural no matter how many times he proved it didn't exist. That, and it wouldn't do them any good for him to focus on that instead of the reason they came in the first place.
"S-so," said Ran, breaking the silence, "why was the apartment condemned?" Kansuke gave her a disinterested shrug.
"Same reasons any building's condemned, I suppose. And it'll have only gotten worse with neglect in the past ten or so years it's been standing there."
"I heard they found out the construction company that built it was using questionable materials that they imported from an unknown company overseas," offered Shinichi. "They only built a few buildings with that stuff, but when the government found out, that was the end for them."
"You seem to know a lot about it already," said the inspector as they rounded the corner. The building was in view, now.
"That's 'cause I looked into it before coming here. But there's only so much reading old articles can do, though," Shinichi said as he eyed their quarry.
This is the last known place Hori Kenzo was before he disappeared, Shinichi thought grimly. That was twenty years ago. The building itself was condemned around twelve years ago, which means any possible evidence left from then was probably destroyed by the residents here during the eight years leading up to the building's vacation. He supposed it could have been worse, and he'd definitely found evidence from poorer prospects than this, but it wouldn't be easy.
They stopped in front of the building, thoughtfully regarding the degraded exterior before entering. Ran hung back, nervously following behind everyone. She didn't relax even after stepping inside, despite there being a sufficient amount of daylight streaming in through the broken windows.
Shinichi frowned, looking around at the thick carpet of dust, wondering just where he should start. It wasn't a guarantee that the victim was taken from the building itself—the actual abduction could have occurred between here and his workplace.
"See anything interesting, kid?" asked Kansuke as he also eyed the carpet of undisturbed dust.
"At the moment?" said Shinichi as he spotted the stairwell. "Just that no one's been through the front lobby in a long time." The inspector let out a short huff of a laugh.
"Yeah, I noticed."
"I bet this place was pretty full when it was open," commented Shinichi as he carefully moved to the back of the lobby, trying not to kick up too much dust.
"Of course it was," said Kansuke as he also moved further into the room. "Since it's near the densest part of the city." He coughed as he kicked the dust around. "Why?"
"No reason," said Shinichi, taking note of the shoeprints near the back door. They weren't very old, but not too fresh, either—a week old at the very least. He prepared his next line of inquiry. "I bet that ramen place we passed on the way here got most of its customers here." There was a noncommittal grunt. "Do you know if they're any good? What was it? Dragon Ramen, right?"
"What? Oh, yeah, I guess," said the inspector. He sounded distracted. Shinichi turned back to see what was going on. Kansuke had his phone out, and from the looks of it, he was checking his messages. "I think I ate there once, but it'd have been when I was in high school." He closed his phone again. "I don't much remember the taste, and it's probably different nowadays anyway."
Shinichi tried his best not to be disappointed—he hadn't expected the man to have ever eaten there in the first place, after all, much less during the time the victim worked there. He glanced over at Ran, who was still loitering by the doorway.
"Maybe we'll stop by there for lunch, if we take long enough here," he said, sweeping his gaze back across the area. There wasn't anything of interest here, besides the footprints of a possible vagrant passing through.
"I'm gonna have to pass on that," said Kansuke as he tucked his phone away again. "When you're done here, I've got something else to look into."
"I thought you were off today? If you got called in for a case, then—"
"Kid, if I'd been called in, I'd've told you to wrap it up or save it for another time," came the gruff reply. "It's nothing urgent."
"If you're sure…" Shinichi glanced back at the stairwell and pointed at it. "Is it okay if I check upstairs?" Kansuke scowled, though the expression wasn't really directed at him.
"… Fine. Bring your cousin with you," he said, jerking his head towards the doorway. Ran flinched.
"M-me?" Her eyes were so wide, Shinichi wondered if they might pop out.
"If I try to go up there, we'll be here all day," he snapped. "As his cousin you need to take responsibility. Unless you're afraid you'll run into the more dangerous type of squatter up there?" The last was said in a slightly mocking tone, as if he thought men above the age of twelve shouldn't be afraid of anything. He didn't, of course—Shinichi was almost certain he said it because he was in a bad mood. Whatever the reason, Ran bristled at the comment, expression turning defiant.
"Of course not!" she said firmly.
"Then get your ass up those stairs," Kansuke growled.
"Yes!" said Ran, almost instinctually. She rushed past the inspector and followed Shinichi into the stairwell. Shinichi schooled his expression, a smug smile attempting to pull at the corners of his mouth.
"Weren't you just complaining to me about coming to such a scary place?" whispered Shinichi as they climbed the dusty stairs. There were week-old footprints here, too. "Why'd you tell him you weren't afraid?" It was meant in jest, but Ran set her jaw resolutely, a sulky expression forming on her face.
"I'm not afraid of people," she said, tone firm. He tried not to chuckle.
"I already told you there are no ghosts," he said, the topic of their earlier conversation coming back to mind. "I can prove it again, if it'll make you feel better."
"… Right," she said quietly, half-heartedly. He frowned.
"What's wrong?"
"… Nothing. I'm just a bit tired, I guess." She kept her eyes on the stairs, not bothering to look his way.
We did wake up early, he thought absently. And I bet all this dust isn't helping anything.
They climbed the rest of the stairs in silence, stopping at the third floor. The week-old footprints continued on upstairs, so if anyone was still here, the third floor, at least, was empty.
"What are we looking for, exactly?" asked Ran as she stared down the dusty hallway. Cobwebs lined the corners of the ceiling, and Shinichi knew without having to look that she was squirming at the thought of running into the weavers' descendants.
"The address Hori-san delivered to was listed on the police report," he explained. "I just want to take a look at the room." She cast a skeptical eye down the decrepit hallway, looked back at him, and shrugged.
"Okay, then." It seemed she'd decided to stop trying to understand what was going on.
The room in question was located halfway down the hall. As they stopped in front of it, Shinichi suddenly wondered if it wasn't locked. It was something he'd forgotten to consider. He reached out and tried the handle.
The door slowly creaked open, the rusty hinges' protests echoing in the empty building.
He peered inside.
As he'd expected, the room was bare, thickly blanketed in undisturbed dust. There was nothing—no furniture or random items left behind. Just some trash no one bothered to throw away. He stepped carefully into the room, dust clouding up despite his caution. Once again, Ran hung back in the doorway as Shinichi carefully walked around the perimeter of the room to complete a cursory scan of the place.
He irritably clicked his tongue.
"There's nothing here," he sighed as he walked back into the hallway. "I didn't expect there would be, but it's still a bit…" His shoulders slumped. Ran gave him a sympathetic look.
"So, we can go now, right?" she asked hesitantly. He shook his head.
"Did you see the footprints on the stairs coming up here?" he asked. She frowned.
"… Yes…" she said slowly, cautiously. "Don't tell me you want to follow them?" He gave her an apologetic smile.
"They go up, but don't come back down," he said solemnly. "And they're a week old at the very least. I just want to confirm whether it's a vagrant or not—you can stay here if you want." She bristled again.
"Why would I let you go there alone if there's actually someone up there?! What if it's someone dangerous?!" She sounded mad. Shinichi blinked owlishly up at her, completely taken aback.
"… I'm not a child," he said sharply, anger welling up in his chest. "You know that. You never stopped me before Tropical Land." She gaped at him.
"That's not—" Her voice cracked. "That's not what this is about! Before Tropical Land, you were this big!" She gestured to herself, and Shinichi ignored the cold, sinking feeling in his chest. Something must have shown in his expression because immediately after those words, her eyes widened and she covered her mouth.
"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean—"
"It's fine," Shinichi sighed, too emotionally drained to keep being angry. He turned to the staircase and started walking. "Come if you're going to come. Stay here if you're not." There was silence for a few moments before the sound of footsteps behind him signaled Ran rushing to catch up.
They climbed the stairs in strained silence. Ran cleared her throat.
"I really didn't mean to say that," she said quietly. "At least, not the way I said it." Shinichi peered over his shoulder and took stock of her guilty expression.
"… I also jumped to some conclusions…" he mumbled. "I'm just… I'm tired of having to act like a grade-schooler, and I'm tired of being treated like one, and I think I took some anger out on you. I'm sorry." He kept his gaze trained on the dusty trail of footprints in front of him.
"… So," said Ran after a few beats of silence, "what are you expecting to find up there?" Shinichi latched onto the change of topic.
"Probably not a dangerous criminal," he said, getting that worry out of the way. "The prints indicate an adult shoe, but the size is a tad small—possibly a woman, maybe a teen male…" He frowned up into the stairwell as they passed the fourth floor. "Since they never came back down, it could be a runaway case—unhappy teen or wife, maybe—or a drug addict, which I doubt since the prints are fairly steady.
"They aren't running from the law—again, the prints are steady and indicate a calm walk rather than a panicked run…" They passed the fifth floor. Ran was very quiet as she listened to him theorize out loud. He contemplated the possibilities.
"My best guess is a homeless woman with nowhere to go, since a homeless teenager, while not impossible, is highly improbable."
"Why homeless?"
"Well… I guess it could be an amnesiac, but barring that—I can't think of a good reason a sober woman who's not on the run would hole herself up in an abandoned building. Or—well, I guess it could be an unusually small man, too." The last comment, which he'd said in a lighter tone, brought a small, nervous laugh out of Ran's tense demeanor. He hid a relieved smile.
The prints stopped at the sixth floor and disappeared down the hallway. Ran tensed up again. There were even more cobwebs here than the first and second floors, and Shinichi counted no less than nine fresh webs immediately near them. He supposed the squatter wasn't bothered much by such things.
Their quarry led them all the way down to the last room on the left, where a strange smell mingled with the musty scents of dust, mold, and rotting wood. Shinichi frowned, tried the door handle, and pushed open the door. It squealed on its hinges as the smell got stronger and… more familiar. Ran gasped.
Nestled in the far corner of the room, a dead body sat waiting for them.