Disclaimer: I do not own Detective Conan/Case Closed.
Lure
Chapter 56 - Bread Crumbs
They were introduced to the villa's library-to-be, which was already shaping up to be just the kind of room that they were going to need a crowbar to pry Shinichi out of, a certain disguised thief thought with no little fondness. But they each had their own jobs to do yet, so the books still had to wait.
Agasa and Shinichi escorted the Ichimiya couple out to the front of the house and saw them off, providing them with a list of electronics shops deemed promising by the old inventor.
Once the couple had gone, Agasa took Shinichi by the hand (to the latter's blushing exasperation) and cheerfully demanded he be given that personal tour he'd been promised now.
"Something about the way you said that makes it sound perverted," Shinichi grumbled, trying and failing to tug his hand out of Kaito's grasp.
The magician wiggled his eyebrows at him. "We could certainly arrange for that to be the case."
Shinichi blanched. "Please don't look at me like that while you're wearing someone else's face. And especially not with the face of my oldest neighbor. It's extremely disturbing. And creepy."
Kaito laughed but conceded the point.
Shinichi turned and began leading the way around the building. "We'll start with the entrances. Then we can go through the west wing."
"Sounds good."
-0-
Elsewhere, Hattori had found himself apprehended by Haibara the moment everyone else was gone and dragged up to the guest room that she was sharing with Agasa. Once there, she whipped out a needle and syringe.
Hattori would like you all to believe that he didn't find that sight terrifying.
It would be a lie.
Heiji might face murderers and other violent criminals on a regular basis—so much so that it had become a matter of course, but very few of them had ever struck him as even half as intimidating as Haibara Ai.
Oh he liked her well enough. Heiji trusted Shinichi's judgment, and Ai was one of Shinichi's closest friends and few true confidants. She had also more than proven herself to be both highly intelligent and trustworthy.
But she was also just a teeny tiny bit creepy. Part of it was the disconnect between her mind and body, which was much more apparent than it had ever been with Conan (who, despite his maturity and intelligence, had still had his naïve and childish sides). More though, it was just the cold, knowing vibe she gave off as someone who had lived through things he could never truly understand and who had done things he probably didn't want to know. That and her very real skill with crazy advanced poisons made her more than a little intimidating.
Watching her draw his blood with the swift efficiency of a practiced medical professional didn't help.
"Now tell me what happened when you got yourself knocked out," Ai ordered.
"Ya make it sound like I got myself knocked out on purpose," Heiji grumbled.
"You certainly didn't avoid it," she replied without batting an eye.
"Neither did Kudo," Heiji protested.
"So you were equally careless," the little scientist said blandly. "You must be proud. Now talk."
Heiji opened his mouth to argue some more then shut it again. Realizing that he would most likely lose any further debate on the issue, he surrendered and did as he was told.
-0-
"Seriously, no offense to our illustrious hosts and all, but their security really sucks," was the great Kaitou KID's not particularly humble but definitely well-informed opinion after Shinichi had introduced him to the various entrances to the house. "I could've gotten through this level of security when I was six!"
"…I'm not sure if that's the best way to measure their systems," Shinichi observed.
The disguised thief snorted. "Calling it a system is being far too generous. If anything, it's the lack thereof. I mean seriously, who replaces the locks and their doors and completely forgets the windows?"
Shinichi winced. "That…was pretty careless. But to be fair, those windows looked pretty well rusted shut. I wouldn't have known they could open either if we hadn't tried them. And there weren't any signs that they'd been opened before we tried them either, so they're probably not the intruder's point of entry."
"Yet," the thief said dryly. "Why exactly did they think it was a good idea to move in again?"
"They thought their presence would deter further vandalism. And no, I don't think that was a good idea either," Shinichi said before Kaito could comment on that particular line of reasoning. "But what's done is done, so there's no point harping on about it. I'm sure they regret taking the risk now too."
"I suppose," Kaito agreed a bit grudgingly. "And I guess I can see why they didn't want to install the cameras until they got further in their renovations. It certainly looks like they're going to have to make do with a handful of temps for the time being. How about we stop for a bit so I can send them their updated shopping list?"
Shinichi, who had been growing progressively more fatigued but who hadn't wanted to admit it, was more than ready to agree to the thief's proposal. Their walk had brought them to the villa's expansive back porch. It didn't contain any furniture at the moment, so Shinichi sank down onto its steps. Sensing Kaito's eyes on him, he did his best not to look as out of it as he felt, but he suspected that he wasn't doing a very good job.
His suspicions were proven correct when Kaito reached over and ran a hand through his hair, coincidentally (or, more likely, by design) locating the bump on the back of his head.
Shinichi flinched away from the touch despite himself.
"You should have gone to the hospital too," Kaito said sharply.
The trace of real anger in his voice made Shinichi swallow his instinctive urge to insist that it was nothing.
"I'll ask Haibara to take a look when we get back to the library," he promised instead. "Though really, I'm pretty sure it's just a bruise. I wasn't knocked out or anything."
"I suppose you hit your head on thin air hard enough to bruise it."
"I got it when the others tripped over me," Shinichi explained. "Asami-san thinks her husband's rifle hit me when he fell."
Kaito stared at him for a long moment then started to laugh.
Shinichi's expression grew flat. "What?"
"That's just like you," the thief declared, amusement mixed with exasperation and fondness rich in his voice.
The detective's brows furrowed. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Have you ever counted the number of times you've been hit in the head by something that someone lost a hold of?"
"Who counts things like that?"
"That's my point," the thief said smugly. "Most people wouldn't have to count. It's the sort of event that most people run into maybe once or twice in a lifetime. You, on the other hand, have to think about it and tally up."
Shinichi opened his mouth then shut it again. He couldn't exactly argue the point because, like it or not, Kaito had a very valid point.
Kaito finished his texting and took a seat beside Shinichi. The detective noted with a certain level of bemusement that, even though the thief was still wearing Professor Agasa's appearance, he didn't feel like he was sitting with the old professor. Part of it was the simple knowledge that this was Kaito and not his elderly friend, but it was also something more subtle about the way the disguised thief was sitting. His body language right now just said Kaito and not Professor Agasa.
"It's amazing how you can do that," he commented out loud.
"Do what?" Kaito asked curiously. "Since everything I do is amazing, I won't know what you're talking about unless you elaborate."
Shinichi rolled his eyes, but he couldn't suppress a fond smile. "I was just thinking about how it sometimes seems like your impersonations are more about subtle things like posture and the way you move as opposed to just appearance. If you asked me a few years ago, I would probably have assumed that the appearance was more important. But now I'm not so sure."
Kaito hummed in thought. "Naturally they're both important, but if I had to pick, I'd say you're right and the attitude trumps mere appearance. You can identify someone you know well from a distance from the way they move even when you don't get a good look at them. The same is true in reverse. When someone you know is moving oddly, they'll stick out to you even when they look right, and you'll start paying more attention and wondering—which, needless to say, is not what an impersonator wants."
"Was this sort of thing always something you were interested in?" Shinichi asked. "Or did you start studying it because of your night job?"
The thief paused, giving the matter some serious thought before responding. "That's a good question. And I suppose the answer would depend a bit. Studying people's body language has always been a bit of a hobby. It's kind of a necessity for a magician to be able to read his audience. But it was also because knowing how to walk unobtrusively through a crowded room or other place where I wasn't supposed to be opened up whole new worlds of possibility for my pranks."
Shinichi let out an involuntary snort of laughter at that. "I should've guessed. I guess acting would have been a natural extension of that."
The 'inventor' flashed a grin that was all KID. "Indeed. There are a lot of tricks you can only pull if you can act. That, and Dad always told me that a magician's Poker Face is one of his most important tools. That always stuck with me."
Kaito's grin took on a slightly melancholy edge, and Shinichi reached over on an impulse to grasp one of the magician's hands with his. The gesture would definitely have looked a little strange to Hattori if he happened to wander out here and see, but Shinichi figured that the chances of that happening were low enough that he could dismiss it.
Kaito sighed and stretched, and it suddenly became more apparent that "Agasa" had grown vertically as opposed to horizontally, as he was much more prone to doing. Then he laced their fingers together and flashed him a grateful smile that warmed his eyes and rendered Agasa's face practically unrecognizable (which might have been creepy if it hadn't been Kaito, who Shinichi trusted implicitly these days right down into his very core).
"The actual impersonating stuff was a later interest," the thief went on, tone growing light again. "Dad taught me the basics, but I honestly didn't pay much attention to that part of what he went over with me. I picked it up fast though, and I have to say, the prank possibilities just kept multiplying. There's nothing quite like the thrill of pulling off a perfect impersonation and acquiring your target with no one else the wiser."
"But you prefer the thrill of the big reveal afterward?"
"That's awesome too," Kaito agreed. "But what I find most thrilling these days," he said, wrapping an arm around Shinichi and pulling him closer so that he could murmur low into the detective's ear in his own voice. "Is being able to spirit you away from right under our various friends' long noses and sweep you away to my lair where I can kiss and hold and make love to you to my heart's content."
Shinichi blushed and pushed the taller man away a little, ordering his body not to melt the way it wanted to. "We still have some more things to look into," he reminded his partner. "You have to see the inside of the west wing."
"Ah yes. I'd almost forgotten. First though, with all this talk of acting, I thought it might be a good time to mention that I identified the man you couldn't contact. The one who claimed to see the monster in the basement."
"The one who wouldn't answer his phone when we called?" Shinichi checked. "Does that mean you were able to reach him?"
"Well, sort of. I reached his mother. He lives with her in an apartment in the town at the foot of the mountains. He does odd jobs like the construction work he did here. But he's currently out of contact because he took his girlfriend, who he met because they're both part of an amateur theater group, on a cruise to Hawaii."
"To Hawaii?" Shinichi echoed, startled. "And he's already left?"
"Yep. Just like that. It's quite a long cruise too—a whole month, in fact. His mother was quite excited. She thinks he's planning to propose and hopes that she'll have a daughter-in-law when they get back and grandkids by next year."
Shinichi blinked. "That's… Well, I'm happy for her, but that sounds like a really expensive trip even for someone with a more stable employment situation."
"Indeed," the thief agreed. "According to his mother, his last job paid exceptionally well. He was really happy about it."
Shinichi's sapphire eyes narrowed. "Wouldn't his last job have been the one he had here?"
"The lady didn't actually know what his last job was. But the timing would suggest that it was this one—which we both know he didn't even finish."
"And he was happy with the job?"
"As a clam."
"I don't suppose he said anything to his mother about the monster he saw?"
"Not a word."
And that, Shinichi thought, was telling. It was possible that the man had kept the story to himself because he hadn't wanted to worry his mother or because he didn't think he would be taken seriously, but, somehow, Shinichi doubted that that had been the case. That left them with some rather less innocent possibilities. Combine that with the man's apparent interest in acting, well… The picture was coming into focus.
"I don't suppose you checked whether he really went on that cruise?" he asked.
"As a matter of fact, I did," Kaito replied, looking smug. "And he did."
Shinichi's breath left him in a puff. "Well, that narrows things down a bit at least." Then he stopped, frowning. "Wait a moment. When did you even have time to talk to the guy's mother? I only told you about him last night."
"At eight," Kaito pointed out. "I had plenty of time. Esepcially since a certain someone hung up on me to go hairing off after an unknown and potentially dangerous monster man. I needed something to do."
Shinichi blushed and looked away. "Sorry. I…didn't mean to worry you."
Kaito's gaze softened, and he gave Shinichi's hand a squeeze. "I forgive you. But promise me you'll try to be more careful."
"I will," Shinichi promised, and he meant it.
"Good. Now how about showing me this infamous west wing?"
-To Be Continued-