Chapter Text
His name was Akai Shuuichi.
Conan sat cross-legged on the couch in the agency's office, staring down at the thick wad of files that Takagi had subtly given him yesterday during a case. Ran was at karate practice and Kogoro was out gambling or something, and today was one of the few days he didn't have anything planned during the afternoon, so he had to take advantage of this rare free time. Otherwise he'd have to look through these files during the night, and he'd like to keep the healthy sleep schedule he currently has.
The papers slightly wrinkled under his fingers as he gripped it tighter. He was looking at the face of the man who was his second main Vermouth suspect, or who he now knew was named Akai Shuuichi. He wasn't wearing a beanie in the photo - it seemed to be a driver's license picture - but he knew it was the guy. Honestly, he didn't know how Takagi was able to get all of this. There was a page for each passenger that was on the bus (except for Agasa and the kids) with all of their general information - like name, age, address, occupation, and so on - along with any cases they were involved in, basically all the police had on file for them. It was much more thorough than he had expected and probably even needed. There were a lot of profiles that he most likely didn't need, but he figured it was better safe than sorry. Maybe they would become useful; maybe Vermouth was someone completely different than any of his suspects.
Conan flipped through the files - even Jodie and Araide were there (well of course they were, it would be weird if they weren't). That Jodie one would be useful. He sat forward and placed the stack on the table. This had gotten him in an investigative mood. There wasn't much more he could do about this Akai guy or Jodie right now, but, instead of focusing on the fake disguised Vermouth, he could try to look into the real one. Way back from the Haido City Hotel incident, Pisco must've gotten that purple handkerchief from another member and Hiabara had pretty much confirmed that Vermouth was at that party. And so Vermouth had to be that blonde foreign actress. Well, since Vermouth could disguise, she could've been any of them, but she was still the most suspicious. He could investigate her and maybe get some information.. if only he knew what her name was...
It felt like ages since that incident had happened, and there's no way he'd remember the names of the suspect from a case he solved months ago. He could probably just look it up - she was famous - but there were tons of blonde foreign actresses; it could take way too long. Conan looked down at his phone, resting on the table. And he was much more tempted not to when there was a much faster and easier option. He reached down and grabbed his phone, scrolled through his contacts until he found Takagi, then called him.
Takagi answered and greeted him. He heard some vague commotion in the background, probably just the generic chatter of the police station, but it was fading away. He assumed that meant Takagi was walking to a less crowded area of the station. That was good.
"You got the profiles, right? Is there anything wrong?" Takagi asked.
"Oh, no." Conan quickly said. "Those were great actually. There's just something else I want you to do."
"Oh?"
"Remember that whole thing at the Haido City Hotel? Where that one politician got murdered?"
"You were involved?" He muttered, instead of an actual answer (well, it still was an answer since that proved he remembered it). "Ah, that's right! You were the one who tipped us." He realized. "Anyways, what about it?"
"I was wondering if you could get me information on all the suspects, or the people that had the purple handkerchiefs."
There was a pause on the other end, then Takagi sighed. "Again..?" He sounded more resigned than anything.
Conan felt a little bad. "Well actually I really just need it for that one actress, the blonde foreign one."
"Oh, you mean Chris Vineyard?"
Well, that was easy. "Yes, that's exactly it!" He shouted excitedly. (Well technically he wouldn't know if that was it, but that sounded about right and he trusted Takagi.) "Honestly I just needed her name. I could probably do the rest myself. And if you remember the names of the rest that would be nice too."
"Ah, of course I do!" Takagi sounded considerably happier. "They're all pretty famous. I can do that."
"That's great! Just give me a second." He got up and relocated to the desk. He found some sticky notes and a pencil, wrote down the name Chris Vineyard and circled it. "Alright I'm ready."
"Okay, hm..." He paused for a second to remember. "There was.. Nanjou Mika, Mihei Yasuo, Tarumi Naoya, and Tawara Yoshiharu." He listed off as Conan wrote them down. "There was also the culprit Masuyama Kenzou but we think he died in that fire accident..." Conan didn't even bother writing down that name. He knew enough about him.
Without thinking, he said, "He was killed actually."
For a moment, Conan felt his heart leap into his throat at what he just accidentally told Takagi, but then he remembered. Takagi had already proven himself to be useful and trustworthy (except for him telling Sato..). The man already knew well enough about the organization to be in danger, so what was a bit more? It may even be more beneficial than not. He deserved to know things.
"Huh?"
"Yeah, he was a member of the organization, actually. Gin killed him."
"He was..?" Takagi said quietly. "Wait, Gin?"
"You don't know..?" Conan slowly asked. "I didn't tell you this?"
"No? Not as far as I remember."
"Huh. I could've sworn I did..." Damn, he really needed to tell Takagi things. "He was the guy who shrunk me, along with his partner Vodka." He didn't go any further; that was for another time.
"Hm." Takagi hummed in acknowledgment. "So, is Chris Vineyard involved with them too?"
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure she's a member. But there's a chance it could be one of the others."
"Does this have to do with the busjacking as well..?"
"Yeah." He confirmed. He debated telling him why for a second, before remembering that Takagi deserved to know things. "Long story short, she was disguised as someone on that bus and may or may not be on to us."
"Eh..!?" Takagi muttered in surprise. "She is..! Isn't that bad?"
"Well I'm not really too sure... If she is, she hasn't done anything about it. I need to look into it."
"I see..."
There was a pause. "Anyways, you can't tell anyone about this."
"Of course!"
"But, thanks. That should be all. You should get back, don't want Megure to think you're skipping work."
"Ah!" Takagi exclaimed, not even questioning how Conan would know. "Yeah, bye then."
"Bye."
Conan hung up the phone then ripped the sticky note off. He folded it up, placed both in his pocket, then stood back up with determination. He had classified files to hide from Ran and research to do after all.
"Professor, I'd like you to look into something for me." Conan asked him.
They were both standing next to the kitchen counter, after agreeing to meet during the afternoon, after the detective boys were done bothering Conan. And that might just be for the better. Since it wasn't immediately after school, Haibara was down in the basement, and therefore wouldn't be there to hear this discussion. She had gotten a lot better after that outing (although she was still wearing some vague disguises, just not having to do with her hair, rather she wore hoodies more often - it was less eye catching and far better than hats, since the hood could be taken on and off much easier; he wasn't sure why he didn't think of that), but she still wasn't a hundred percent, of course. He wasn't necessarily opposed to her being involved - if she happened to be there he would still tell Agasa - but he didn't know how she'd react to knowing he was still investigating into this. So, he figured it might be better she didn't hear.
"What is it?" Agasa asked.
"I want you to look into Chris Vineyard."
Conan had told Takagi that he could handle it, but he soon realized he actually couldn't... Investigating someone online was much harder (and more boring) than he anticipated. While he could surely do better than the average seven year old, he was really only able to get the bare bones information. His parents taught him how to shoot a gun but not the ins and outs of online investigation, after all. So why not leave it to the professionals.
Agasa looked a bit confused. "You mean, that actress..?" Conan nodded. "Why though?"
"I'm pretty sure she's Vermouth." At least he was able to confirm that. The others were seemingly uninvolved like he suspected.
Agasa's expression quickly shifted to surprise. "Eh!? Really? Are you sure?"
"Wait, who's Vermouth?"
"She's that member Haibara told me about." Conan answered absentmindedly. He could've sworn that Agasa knew about Vermouth, but he didn't care enough to think any further. "The really dangerous one, that's also kinda on to us."
"No way... Someone like that's on to ya? No wonder you've been all grumpy lately, Kudo."
"Yeah..." He paused.
Wait, Kudo?
Conan then realized the 'Agasa' that had spoken sounded quite different and was also Osakan accented. It had also come from behind him, rather than where Agasa was. Curiously, Conan looked over his shoulder.
Hattori Heiji was right there.
Conan just blinked. "Huh!?" He exclaimed, pointing a finger at him in shock. "Hattori!? What are you doing here!?"
Hattori didn't even look a single bit sheepish. "Ah, your neechan told Kazuha you've been acting all gloomy, and then Kazuha told me so I came over to see what was up!" He said all too cheerfully. "But man, I never thought it'd be like that."
"Wait, wait." Conan interrupted, stopping Heiji before he could just completely change the subject. "How long have you been here!?"
He didn't necessarily mind Hattori knowing about Vermouth, but he wasn't expecting it to be this soon.
"Since before ya were here."
Conan glanced over at Agasa, but the man just gave him an apologetic look.
"But," Agasa began, "how do you know Chris Vineyard is Vermouth?"
Conan couldn't be mad at him for long, thankful he brought the conversation back on track. "Oh, I looked into all the other suspects from the Pisco incident, but she was the only suspicious one. She went on a break and hasn't been seen ever since. She'd need to be away for a while if she was disguised as someone around us. She's also blonde and foreign like Haibara said Vermouth was." He answered. "But, I can't be sure.. which is why I want you to look more into it." He looked at Agasa.
He nodded. "I see. What do you need?"
"I dunno." He shrugged. "Just whatever you can find that seems like it could be useful."
"Alright." Agasa looked a little unsure, yet determined.
"There's someone, isn't there?" Hattori suddenly said. Conan turned to him, confusedly. He had an ominous smirk on his face. "Ya said she was disguised as someone around ya. Ya have someone suspicious in mind, don't ya?"
Again, Conan was fine with telling him about Vermouth, but he feared what Hattori would do if he knew about Jodie and Akai and all that. "N-no, not really..."
"A blonde foreign woman, maybe?" Hattori continued on.
"O-of course not!"
"Really?"
"Could it be.." Agasa began - Conan didn't like where it was going, "Jodie-sensei?"
Damn it.
Conan whipped his head over to Agasa and gave him a large, angry stare, trying to convey 'Shut up!' with just his eyes.
"Jodie?" Hattori repeated. "Who's that?"
Conan intensified his stare, but it didn't work.
"She's the new English teacher at Ran's school." Agasa answered.
"Hey!" Conan whispered at him to try and get him to stop, but it was already too late.
"Okay!" Hattori exclaimed. "Let's go visit her then!"
"Hey!" Conan said louder, but it fell on deaf ears.
Hattori turned to Agasa. "Do ya know where she lives?"
Conan knew her address, thanks to Takagi, but there was no way he was telling him that. Hopefully, after realizing Agasa didn't, Hattori would give up!
"No, but I'm sure I can get it from Ran-kun."
Damnit Professor! Conan was now regretting not telling Agasa how dangerous Jodie truly was.
"Great!" Hattori said.
Conan just groaned in defeat, knowing there was no way out of this. But then he suddenly realized. After figuring out Jodie may not be Vermouth, his whole plan was to investigate further, and, by all means, this was the perfect opportunity.
"Actually, Hattori," he spoke up, "there's no need."
On the elevator ride up to Jodie's apartment, Conan was starting to second guess himself.
Earlier, he had jumped at the chance to go investigate her, but, now that he has time to think, he realized this was still a terrible idea. Every other time he had come across Jodie, it was in a public place, but now he was willingly going to her house. He was about to go into a potential, extremely dangerous Black Organization member's house. He was starting to feel his heart rate speed up, and the shame at his utter stupidity for going along with this. Jodie could do anything once they were in there. Maybe this was even the chance she was looking for.
"Hattori," Conan said, trying not to sound too scared, "I think this might be a bad idea."
"Huh?"
"I mean, think about it. We're going into her house. She could be a very dangerous Black Organization member, and we're going into her house." He was starting to sound more frantic.
Hattori just glanced at him. "Don't worry about it." He shrugged, effortlessly ignoring his worry. "I'm sure it'll be fine."
"But-"
Conan was interrupted by the elevator doors opening. Hattori walked out. Conan caught sight of Jodie's apartment door further down the hall, making him feel two times worse. He stayed in the elevator.
Hattori looked over and lifted an eyebrow at him. "Ya coming?"
"Really, I don't think we should do this."
"C'mon, if she tries anything I'll just beat her up. I'm the top in my Kendo team y'know. And you've got all yer fancy gadgets too."
"But- she's- and we're just-" He sputtered.
Hattori sighed, suddenly seeming a bit more serious. "I doubt one if them would be stupid to try and kill someone in their own house. It'd be too suspicious and I'd make too much of a fuss to let her get away with it." He walked over to Conan and put a hand on his shoulder. "We'll be fine." He sounded more sincere this time.
Conan felt some of the tension release - Hattori was right. "Alright." He headed out of the elevator.
The two stopped in front of Jodie's door.
"We're only here to check things out." Conan reiterated. "Don't do anything weird."
"Yeah, yeah, I know." Hattori looked down at him. "So, what're we gonna tell her when she asks why we're here?"
Conan just paused and blankly blinked up at him. "You don't know?" Hattori shook his head. Conan started to feel his nerves go up again. "But you're the one who suggested this idea! I thought you would think of something!" He said intensely, but still hushed.
"How should I know!? I haven't even met her before!"
Conan let out a frustrated sigh. "Fine, let's just leave then. I don't want her to get suspicious."
"C'mon! We can't just leave after we've come this far!" He slapped the wall for emphasis.
However he didn't hit just the wall - he also happened to hit right onto Jodie's intercom button. It rang and she answered. "Hello? Who is it?"
Conan felt his soul leave his body.
Both of them were overcome with panic, just standing there, frozen in fear. Before it became too long to be suspicious, Hattori took the initiative. He picked up Conan and lifted him up to the intercom, forcing him to come up with something.
For a moment, the anger and betrayal he felt at Hattori overrode his fear, giving him the confidence he needed to respond. "Ah, i-it's me, Conan."
"Cool kid! What are you here for?"
He was terrified again. "I- um, I just wanted to, uh, v-visit..?"
If Jodie noticed or cared about how he sounded, she didn't comment on it. "Oh, okay! Just give me a second. I was in the shower."
The intercom clicked off and Conan felt the relief of the century. He let out all the tension with one big, shaky breath. But that relief didn't last long. With each passing minute he began feeling worse and worse. He tried not to think about what they had just done and distracted himself with whatever happened around them - some of the complex's residents had walked by and Hattori had tried to have some small talk with him - but it proved to be futile. By the time ten minutes had passed, Conan had paced around the hallway more times than he could count. For some reason Jodie seemed to be taking her sweet time.
"Man..." Hattori drawled, leaning against the wall by her door. "How long is she gonna keep us waiting?" He sounded bored and incredibly calm; Conan wondered how.
And then the door clicked open. Jodie appeared wearing just a bathrobe with her hair freshly wet. "Hi! Sorry to keep you waiting!" She looked cheery and inviting but to Conan it was just threatening. "Oh! Is he your friend, cool kid?"
Conan froze up at being addressed, but thankfully Hattori answered. "Yep! It's nice to meet ya!"
"Come in!" She opened the door further and beckoned them in. Conan was only able to follow after a push from Hattori. "I don't have anything I can cook for dinner, so why don't we go out somewhere?" She suggested. It was as if she didn't want them in her house for long - as if she was hiding something.
"Sure." Hattori agreed.
"Okay! I'll go get ready, so you can go wait in the living room."
Before she could leave, Conan gulped and steeled himself. He had a reason for coming here and he wasn't going to let his fear overcome him. "Can I use the restroom first?" He asked.
"Ah, me too." Hattori bashfully went with his plan.
"Sure! It's right there." She pointed to a door by the entrance.
"Thanks." Conan said before scampering in, Hattori following after him.
As soon as the door closed Conan let himself breath. The two quickly lost their cheerful expressions, replacing them with serious ones. No words needed to be said as they immediately began their search. Hattori went to the shower and Conan went to the sink counter. There was a hair dryer laying there, plugged in. He touched it and it felt warm, yet he clearly remembered her hair being completely wet. He climbed up and began looking through the bottles. He wasn't sure what he would find, or what he was even looking for. Maybe something that would confirm she was Vermouth, or confirm she wasn't. He then looked up, noticing the mirror had an edge to it, meaning that it could open. He pried it open, and blanched at what he saw.
Its back wall was completely covered, many photos pinned onto it. Photos of himself, Ran, and Shinichi (from the school play). There were others, but the majority of the photos were centered on either of them. There was one of his that had 'cool guy' written on it, although it seemed to be a part of the photo itself instead of actually written on which was weird - at least he knew where that nickname came from. There was one of Ran too that had 'Angel' written similarly on it.
Conan had never felt this creeped out before.
Well, if he wanted to try and disprove Jodie being Vermouth, this certainly wasn't helping her case.
Whatever this was, it seemed important. He brought out his phone and quickly snapped a picture. He then pocketed it and turned around. "Hey, Hattori." He quietly whispered. "Look."
Hattori looked over his shoulder and Conan pointed at the photos. Hattori blanched as well. "Yikes." He muttered. "That's creepy..." He looked back down at whatever he was investigating. "I found something interesting too."
Conan hopped off the counter and stepped over, looking down at a drain covering with hair on it. He felt kind of gross and stalkery looking at it, but was much more intrigued by what Hattori had noticed. Mixed in with Jodie's long blonde hairs, were dark - black, or dark brown; he couldn't tell - short hairs, that were clearly not from Jodie.
She was living with someone, or rather...
"She's hiding someone." Hattori voiced.
Conan nodded in agreement, thinking about what this could mean. Usually, one would think this was a boyfriend or significant other, but he didn't think it would be that lighthearted or simple. This could be another Black Organization member that needed to hide out for a while. And with that hair color, one specific person came to mind: Akai Shuuichi. And that brought along a horrible, ominous thought. What if they were working together, what if they were both members?
No. Conan shook his head to get rid of the thought. He was getting ahead of himself. Those hairs could belong to anyone, it was a very common color in Japan after all. Some normal person she knew could've just spent the night for some normal reason. This didn't mean anything yet. He'd have to look for other signs that someone else was living there.
"We should go." He whispered to Hattori. "We've spent a while in here."
Hattori nodded. They flushed the toilet and turned on the sink for a bit to avoid suspicion then left. Thankfully, Jodie wasn't waiting right outside the door or something. He half expected she would. As Hattori headed toward the living room, Conan glanced at the entrance. Aside from his and Hattori's shoes, most of the others seemed to be Jodie's, most. There was one pair of joggers - they didn't look to differ much in size from the others, but they didn't look like a women's pair either. But that still didn't mean they weren't hers.
Conan filed that away and followed after Hattori. He passed a couple more doors and got to the living room. There were a couple couches (Hattori on one of them) and a TV. It looked quite nice, peering out at the city below through a large window, with a sizeable kitchen next to it, with the normal amount of dishes for one person in the sink.
Conan knew that teachers didn't make the best salaries, so why did Jodie have such an expensive high-rise apartment? With apparently two bedrooms too? Things weren't looking too good.
"Hi guys!" Conan had to suppress a flinch as Jodie appeared. "I hope you weren't waiting too long."
"Nope, just got here." Hattori cheerfully said.
"Great! Let's go!"
"Man.. that teacher's really suspicious." Hattori flicked up the camera SD card he stole off Jodie, then caught it again with his hand. "Taking those pictures of us and pretending to have a bath..."
It was already dark out, a few hours after they had left to get dinner. Well, ultimately they didn't succeed in that. Some guy had fallen to his death right after they had walked out the building. It happened to be someone they had seen earlier, so after getting the suspects alibis and investigating the victim's room, Conan and Hattori quickly had it solved. Even with Josie's presence, it went quite smoothly, aside from Hattori being a bit too obvious and forward with his suspicions at one point, giving Conan some heart palpitations.
"Yeah..." Conan noncommittally replied.
He had his phone open to that picture he took of Jodie's photos. That, along with the pictures she was taking during the case was very worrying and, again, not helping her case. One would think she was just adding to her collection, but something just felt off.
"She must've showered before we came but then took another one to buy more time." Hattori continued. "Maybe to hide something.. or someone." He smirked down at Conan, pointedly giving him one of those detective looks.
"Yeah..."
Those hairs and signs of someone else living at Jodie's were definitely concerning, but he was still more worried about those photos. He looked down at his phone, taking note of the writing a part of his and Ran's photos. It was strange. Why and how would it be within the photo, and not written on it. It just didn't make sense.
He squinted even further down at the picture, glancing over the rest of the photos, noticing something more. The edges of the pictures didn't line up with the edges of the actual photo itself. The majority of the edges were just slightly incongruent, giving the photos a slight slant. It was almost as if.. almost as if, she had taken pictures of pictures. But.. why? We're those photos someone else's? We're they Vermouth's?
"Anyways, ya shouldn't hafta worry." Hattori said. He had actually paused for quite a bit. Conan was just too preoccupied with his recent revelation to notice. "I took the SD card from her camera and she doesn't even look like that actress ya mentioned." He held up the card between his fingers like a prized jewel, before he suddenly went rigid and adopted a sheepish expression. "Or.. ya said she can disguise, right..?"
"Yes, she can." Conan gripped the sides of his phone, still reeling. She could disguise, like, for instance, as a man with black hair who liked to wear beanies, quite easily.
"Then it's gotta be her!" Hattori clenched his fist in determination. "She could probably just change that much real easily! I bet we can find something on her now!"
Conan finally decided to tune into the conversation. Hattori seemed pretty dead set on investigating Jodie further, but was that even a bad thing? No, it definitely still was. While his suspicions on Jodie were lessening by the second, he still couldn't completely remove her from the list because of this one clue. Besides, he still didn't even know Jodie's goals or what side she was on. But should he tell Hattori his recent findings and set his sights on Akai instead? That was bad too. He didn't want Hattori setting his sights on anyone.
"Don't do anything rash, Hattori." He settled on, levelling Hattori a serious glare.
"I know, I know." Hattori didn't sound serious at all.
That was concerning, but whatever. He trusted Hattori well enough. But maybe he should get him back to Osaka, just in case.
"Anyways are you sure you're good with keeping her waiting?" He said, remembering a very angry call Hattori got from Kazuha during the case.
Hattori was confused at first, before he realized and horror dawned on his face. "Shit, I forgot about Kazuha!" He took off down the street, then looked over his shoulder and yelled, "If she does anything else suspicious, call me!"
No, Conan thought as he watched Hattori's back become smaller and smaller. Jodie wasn't the suspicious one anymore.