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1: Dead Man Walking
Edogawa Conan was not enjoying the movie. He thought it was boring. Beside him, Yoshida Ayumi clutched a tissue in one hand and the popcorn in the other. A tear rolled down her cheek as the woman on the screen told her boyfriend that she had to leave him forever.

Conan hated soppy movies. Crying women were awful. He liked films with crime and mysteries. Why weren't there more intelligent shows where man falls into the path of crime with a sleuth detective slowly uncovering the trick the criminal has set up?

"It's so sad," Ayumi whispered. She leaned closer. "I'd hate to leave someone I loved."

Conan flashed her a nervous smile and slid further down in his seat. Why were girls always so silly and romantic?

The picture on the screen had changed. The tearful woman was now out in the street. People went hurrying past as she stood on a corner crying.

And that was when it happened.

The screen went blank.

Suddenly, a man leapt to his feet shouting angrily.

"That was him! I saw him! He's supposed to be dead!"

The theater lights were turned on. The angry man ran up the aisle and disappeared through the exit.

Loud voices broke out around the theater. Everyone was complaining. People got up and started to leave. "I want my money back," grumbled a woman.

Conan got up and dashed up the aisle as well, with Ayumi reacting barely quick enough to catch up with him. Conan rushed out the theater and looked around the foyer as Ayumi came following behind. The angry man was standing in a corner, mopping sweat from his face with a handkerchief. His cheeks were red.

"Looks like we've found another mystery," Conan commented to Ayumi.

"But, Conan-kun, don't you remember what Megure-keibu told us?" she protested. "We're not supposed to get mixed up in any crime before informing him!"

But Conan wasn't listening. He rushed up to the man, leaving a sighing Ayumi helplessly following.

"Excuse me, oji-san," he began. "I couldn't help hearing what you said in the theater... about seeing a dead man in the movie..."

The stranger glared at him, his voice trembling with shock. "There was a man walking down the street in that film. He was in the background, but I'd know him anywhere! He's supposed to be dead!"

Ayumi scratched her head. "But if he was dead, how could he be in a movie?"

The man looked confused. "That's what I'd like to know!"

"Isn't it possible you made a mistake?" Conan pointed out. "Maybe you just thought you saw someone you knew. Or maybe it was someone who looked like the dead man."

"You don't understand!" snapped the stranger. "It was Wang. He stole all my money!"

"Then shouldn't you call the police?" Ayumi asked him politely.

"They wouldn't believe me," the man groaned. "Nobody would!"

Conan held out his card. "Maybe I can help," he suggested. "I'm... I mean, er, we are good at solving mysteries."

The man stared at the card. "What would you know about detective work?" he scoffed. "Who are you anyway?"

"Edogawa Conan," he answered calmly, "tantei-san."

"Edogawa..." The stranger mumbled to himself the familiar name. "That kid who's always with that famous detective? Hm..." He sounded impressed and put Conan's card in his pocket. "Well, if you can find out how Wang got into that film, and if you can track him down, I'll pay you. Here's my card. Give me a call tomorrow and come to my office."

Ayumi desperately pulled Conan aside. "Conan-kun! We can't!"

But Conan took the man's card. "It's a deal," he promised.

When the man had gone, Ayumi tugged Conan's sleeve. "Conan-kun, we promised Megure-keibu-"

But she never finished.

A terrified scream broke out from above.

One of the theater attendants called from the top of a narrow staircase. "Get the police! There's been a robbery!"

Without waiting, Conan raced up the staircase, Ayumi at his heels.

The staircase led to the projection rooms. A door hung open. The projectionist was stretched out on the floor, groaning.

And the movie had been ripped from the projector.

How can a dead man appear in a movie?

What has happened to the million dollars he's stolen?

Why are so many people fighting to protect their sinister secret?

It begins with a night at the movies. Suddenly, Edogawa Conan and the Shonen Tantei Dan are swept up in an unsolved murder. And an unseen enemy is watching every move they make.

Can Conan unlock the baffling riddle?

Can the Detective League outwit a shadowy criminal?

Or will they become his next victims?
~~~~~

A word from WBoon

Greetings, dear readers...

Edogawa Conan and the Shonen Tantei Dan are called in again to solve a baffling mystery. And there's more danger and excitement on every post.

Those of you who've followed my previous story must have wondered about the Ayumi x Conan relationship I portrayed, wondering if I'm going to established this innocent but impossible relationship further, or if Genta will get a girlfriend, or if Haibara really likes Mitsuhiko. Well, in this new fan fic, you'll discover more about our young detectives.

Please send me your suggestions and comments on how I could improve the story/writing style. Hopefully, I can pick up some interesting story ideas and use them in my fan fic.

So, get ready for thrills, as we start solving exciting cases.

Your mysterious friend,
WBoon
~~~~~

Conan stroked his chin and stared at the mess in the projection room. The movie dangled lifelessly from the projector. Strips of film lay tangled on the floor. Someone had scattered cans of films everywhere.

Ayumi watched as Conan checked for clues. Even in the gloomy room, one could see the uncombed structure of his hair. It was always cut rather short, especially at the sides, which seemed to make his ears stick out. And because one part of his hair sprouted up from the top of his head, it looked like a peg-like shape is sticking out from his scalp.

Conan slipped some twisted pieces of film into his pocket. Ayumi was so shocked that she stopped breathing for a while. She quickly rushed towards him in both panic and frustration. The little muscle in her cheek twitched near her beauty spot. It always did when she was angry.

"Conan-kun, it's not nice to steal!" she hissed.

The projectionist staggered to his feet. He was a young man, his face covered with pimples. He rubbed the side of his head and looked around in horror.

"What happened?" Conan asked him.

His eyes had a dazed look. "I don't know..." he began. "One minute I was in here along, screening the movie, the next I heard someone come in."

Conan had his notebook and pen ready. "Did you see who was it?" he demanded.

"I couldn't," the young man moaned. "He had a stocking over his face... like bank robbers do..."

Conan scribbled quickly and looked up. "Are you sure it was a man?"

The projectionist shrugged and rubbed his head again. "It all happened so fast." He stared at the ruined film hanging limply from th projector. "How can I run that movie again?" he cried in despair. "Someone's chopped it up!"

"Conan-kun!" demanded a voice. "What are you doing here?"

Inspector Megure was framed in the doorway. He approached slowly, careful not to step on any strips of film. Another uniformed officer followed.

"We were watching the movie when it happened," Conan explained. "It looks like someone wanted to make sure that nobody could ever see it again."

Megure shot him a suspicious look. "And have you found out why?"

Ayumi was about to answer, but Conan elbowed her quickly. "Not yet, Megure-keibu-san, but I'm working on it." Which, he told himself, was the truth.

The inspector rolled his eyes. "I don't want you getting involved in anymore danger." He herded Conan and Ayumi outside and gave them a farewell wave. "I know you did a good job with many cases before, but I'll handle this from now on, okay?"

As they hurried down the stairs to the foyer, Ayumi's temper was simmering. "Conan-kun, you should've told him about the man who wants to hire us," she argued. "And the man called Wang who's supposed to be dead."

"I'll tell him later," Conan winked, "when we have all the facts."

They were too busy talking to notice a young woman watching them from beside the popcorn counter. She worn a denim jacket and jeans. She turned away and quickly punched a number into her mobile phone.

"A boy and a girl..." she whispered. "The police seems to know them..."
~~~

Conan sent messages to the rest of the Shonen Tantei Dan. He called them for an urgent meeting the following afternoon at the headquarters.

It was located at the corner of Class 1-B in the Teitan Elementary School. Once, it was where the class pet goldfish was kept, but after it died, due to a unfortunate event with a bottle of sodium, the League's form teacher, Miss Kobayashi, let the five take it over for their detective club. Now, the cramped concrete-walled corner-space looked more like a police squadroom. Ai Haibara's collection of criminal records bulged in box files stacked on a shelf. Photographs of sinister criminals glared down from the wall behind her desk.

The corner had its own view through a window by the side that stares into the carpark. On another small window by the sliding door at the front of the classroom was a big sign, designed by Ayumi with her crayons. It announced:

Junior Detective League
We investigate anything
No case too big or too small

The wooden stand that the Detective League shared was an old wooden table with other wooden planks nailed atop it, where Conan had carefully placed the strips of film, sealed in plastic bags, alongside copies of the morning newspaper.

When everyone had arrived, he rose to speak.

"We have just been given a very important case," he announced. "And we are going to be paid to solve it."

"Wow..." Kojima Genta gasped. He was wearing his favorite shorts and a loose green tee shirt.

Conan handed out the newspapers.

"The case is famous already," he continued. "Ayumi and I were in the theater when it started. Someone cut up a movie and stole part of it."

Before Conan was allowed to continue, Genta, along with Tsuburaya Mitsuhiko in his khaki, flat-front pants and a fitted camouflage tee, stood up almost immediately and stomped their feet on the flooring. "You were in the theater with Ayumi?!" both exclaimed.

"Did you try and do anything funny?!" demanded Mitsuhiko.

Conan shot a glance at the two over-imaginative boys, then at Ayumi, who was wearing a mauve halter top and a tight blue skirt that road on her hips. "It was a dumb movie called My Lost Love," he added with a sour expression.

"Conan-kun hated it," Ayumi told Haibara, who was reading the story on the newspaper.

"I probably would have, too," mumbled Haibara quietly to herself. She was leaning against the wall in her green tank top that was covered with butterflies - black ones. Her navy jeans clung to her slender, lean legs.

"I was going to see it next week," said Genta, before blushing immediately, having to realize what he had said. "Fuko wanted to see it!"

Mitsuhiko frowned. "Who's she?"

Ayumi winked. "Didn't you know, Mitsuhiko-kun? Genta-kun's got a girlfriend. Nurashi Fuko!"

Genta colored. "She lives next door, that's all!"

Haibara continued reading the paper. Her real name was Miyano Shiho, formerly a forced Black Organization member that has joined Conan in his fight against the men in black suits.

"Who wants to hire us?" she looked up and asked. She could be considered the one who relate to Conan the most in the League, and she's also the chief detective of the team.

"Mr Muniko," replied Conan, holding up the business card he'd been given by the stranger. "He's a big businessman. He was watching the movie, too, but when it showed a scene filmed in the street, Mr Muniko said he saw someone he knew in the background."

"Who?" asked Mitsuhiko.

"A dead man, a man called Wang," Conan explained. "Mr Muniko said Wang stole money from him."

"But if Wang is dead, how could he be in the movie?" Genta frowned.

"That's exactly what Mr Muniko wants us to find out," Conan told him. "And that's not all. This is where the case gets very mysterious..." Conan dropped his voice and leaned forward. "It was right in the middle of a street scene when the screen went blank. Someone had gone up into the projection room and wrecked the film. So nobody could see it again."

Mitsuhiko began to pace up and down. "So your theory is that someone sabotaged the film before anybody else could identify Wang?" He nodded. "That makes sense."

"But how would anybody know that Mr Muniko was going to be in the theater watching that movie?" Genta demanded, turning his cap backwards.

"Maybe someone followed him to the theater?" probed Haibara.

"It's possible," agreed Ayumi. "But when we were in the projection room, Megure-keibu arrived." She gave Conan a frosty stare. "And Conan-kun didn't tell him about our talk with Mr Muniko."

"That means we know more about the case than the police," Conan grinned. "And we're going to know even more about it very soon. I called Mr Muniko after school and we have an appointment with him at his house in one hour's time."

"Megure-keibu will be furious!" protested Ayumi.

"No, he won't," Conan shrugged. "As soon as we get some more facts, we'll share them with him. Meanwhile," he held up the plastic bags of film, "we have some clues. These pieces of film were left behind in the projection room. Once we get a photo of Wang, we can see what he was doing in the movie and get more clues."

"We could join them together and look at them on the school projector," suggested Mitsuhiko.

Conan nodded. "Great thinking, Mitsuhiko."

As the conversation was going on, Haibara had crept up by Conan's side. "Kudo, this case sounds like it might be too dangerous for them," she whispered by his shoulder. "We're supposed to be looking for a dead man who isn't dead. What if somebody doesn't wants us to find him?"

"Then we'll get the police to help us," Conan reassured her. "Daijoubu*. This case won't take long to crack. We've got three days off school next week so we can wrap it up really fast... before anyone knows we're even working on it!"
~~~

The Return of the Translations!
* It's alright

Conan phoned for a taxi to take them to Mr Muniko's house. For their size, fitting into a single cab was possible.

Minutes later, they left their part of the city behind. Soon, the taxi was climbing into a hilltop estate. Conan gazed out at big houses in tree-lined streets. At last, the taxi came to a stop in front of large metal gates supported by two stone pillars.

Everyone got out and peered through the gates into a dark garden. The large house was almost lost to view behind thick trees and dense shrubbery.

"What a creepy place," Ayumi shuddered. "Are you sure Muniko-san lives here?"

Conan pressed a button on the gate and a woman's voice answered through a small, metal speaker. "Muniko residence."

"Muniko-san is expecting us," he replied. "I'm Edogawa Conan and I've brought the Shonen Tantei Dan."

With a heavy metallic click, the gates swung open. Lights suddenly blazed along the pebbled drive. In the distance, a huge white house seemed to float in the eerie moonlight.

"He must be very rich," Haibara observed.

As they walked up the drive, the big gates swung shut behind them.

It was just then that a small gray car nosed into the curb outside. Behind the wheel, a young woman wearing a black wind breaker and blue denim jeans picked up her mobile phone. "They're seeing Muniko now..." she reported. "Five of them..."
~~~

The pebbles crunched beneath their feet as they approached the floodlit house. The front door opened and a maid stood at the top of the steps.

"Follow me," she greeted them.

She led the way along a marble corridor and held open the door to Mr Muniko's study. Shelves of books reached up to the ceiling on three sides of the room, and Mitsuhiko wondered if anybody had ever read them. Curtained windows occupied the other side.

Mr Muniko rose from behind his huge teak desk and checked his gold watch.

"You're on time," he commented. "That's good. I hate to be kept waiting. Remember that," he added sternly.

Conan introduced the League and Muniko waved them to the chairs near his desk.

As Mitsuhiko took out his notebook and pen, he stole a glance at the man. Muniko was aged in his fifties, Mitsuhiko guessed. His skin was blotchy and his long, hooked nose gave him the impression of an eagle. But it was Muniko's eyes that held Mitsuhiko's interest. They darted suspiciously from one junior detective to the next.

"It is vital I find Wang Felix," Muniko began and returned to his chair. "He stole one million dollars from me. He told me that he was going to start a business, but it was a lie. Then, he conveniently disappeared and the next I knew, he was dead. That was two years ago. But after seeing that movie, I now have reason to believe he is very much alive." Muniko thumped the desk with his fist. "And I want my money back."

Haibara broke the silence in the room. "We'll need a photo of him," she requested calmly.

"I only have one photo of him so I've made copies of it for you," Muniko reached into a drawer and produced a handful of color prints. He passed them across to Conan, who handed them round to the others.

Ayumi studied the grainy snapshot of a bald-headed man in his thirties. Only a long, curved nose marred his handsome face.

"That's how he looked when I last saw him," Muniko explained. "He'd changed his appearance a little in the movie, but I could still recognize him. When someone steals a million dollar from you, you never forget their face!"

Conan was scribbling notes. "How did Wang Felix-san die?" he asked.

Muniko leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling. "His car drove into a lake one night and he drowned. However, his body was never found. But the police were satisfied that it was an accident..." He paused, gathering his thoughts. "Either that, or it was suicide."

Mitsuhiko looked up from his notes sharply. "Were there any witnesses? Did anyone see the car go into the lake?"

"No, because it happened very late at night," Muniko told him. "If I remember correctly, somebody who'd been jogging in the area rang the police. He said he'd heard a loud splash, and when he went to investigate he'd seen the car floating in the lake before it sank."

"If it was still floating, then Wang could've got out, right?" asked Genta.

Muniko cleared his throat angrily. "Young man, I'm only telling you what I can remember. Maybe this car sank immediately. I don't know."

Haibara changed the subject. "Where did Wang Felix-san live?"

Muniko shrugged. "All this happened two years ago. I've forgotten. But I remember going to the address he'd given me and there was no trace of him."

Suddenly, Muniko leaned forward. A hard look came into his eyes. "Now that you are working for me, I will place two conditions on you. Firstly, you will report to me everything you learn. The minute you discover any important information, I want to know what it is. Is that clear?"

Conan nodded nervously.

"Secondly," Muniko insisted, "you will not involve the police in this investigation. As you are not professional detectives, you don't have to tell them anything, right?"

Mitsuhiko nodded. He'd learned quite a bit about the law from his experience as a Junior Detective, but something about Muniko's orders made him very curious. "Why do you want to keep the police out of this?"

Muniko scowled at him for a long moment. Then, his face relaxed.

"I'm a businessman," he explained, stroking his long, beak-like nose. "I don't want any bad publicity. I own a lot of companies, and any stories in the newspapers about this investigation might damage them."

Then, he stood up. "Well, we all have work to do." He fixed Conan with a fierce look. "I expect to hear from you very, very soon..."
~~~

They walked down the long, pebbled drive. Ahead, the front gates were already swinging open for them. The streets beyond looked deserted, although Genta thought he'd heard a car driving away when they left the house.

"What do you think?" Conan asked Haibara.

"I don't think we should trust him," she replied almost immediately. "He's our client, and he's hired us to do a job, but there's something about him that doesn't seem right."

"I agree," snapped Ayumi. "And I don't like people who try to stop us talking to the police. It means they've got something to hide."

"But it's a very interesting case," Genta reminded her. "Imagine Wang Felix-san stealing a million dollars from Muniko-san. I wonder what happened to all that money?"

"Maybe that's why he died," Mitsuhiko suggested. "Somebody else wanted it."

"Probably," Conan agreed. "Some people would do anything to get their hands on money like that..."

Haibara studied Wang's photo as she crunched along the drive. "And there's something else," she began. "Don't you think Wang Felix-san looks... familiar?"

"You mean, you think you've seen him before?" Ayumi probed excitedly.

"No," Haibara put the photo away from her eyes. "I couldn't have."

Conan shrugged as they reached the gates. "I'm sure I've never seen anyone who looks like him - have you, guys?"

Mitsuhiko shook his head. "But Haibara's right," he added. "His face is kind of familiar."

Behind them, the gates automatically clanged shut and they were alone in the shadowy street.
~~~

The next day at school, when Conan and Mitsuhiko took the strips of film to the audio-visual room, a major setback awaited them.

"I can't run these through our projector," said Mr Menoshi, the teacher-in-charge. "Our projector runs 15-millimeter film, and these strips are 35-millimeter. Only theaters can run 35-millimeter film."

He held the strips up the to the light. "And even if I did have a 35-millimeter projector, I still couldn't run these. They're too badly damaged."

He pointed to the holes along the edge of the film. "These are called sprockets. A projector has teeth that grip the sprockets and pull the film past the lamp. That's how a projector screens a movie. Twenty-four single frames are pulled past the lamp every second," Mr Menoshi explained. "But these film strips are twisted so badly that the sprockets are torn. There is no way any projector could ever screen them..."

SOUNDS AWESOME!! 

These chapters surprised me a little, truly.
At first, I didn't expect it that Conan and Ayumi were in a cinema alone, nice idea.
Second, there are some few little faults I saw so far..:

1)

He sounded impress and...

- It should be "sounded impressed...", shouldn't it?

2)

"I don't want you to getting involved in anymore danger." (Megure)

- I think you forget the 'you' here...

3)

Hopefully, I could can pick up some interesting story ideas and use them in my fan fic.

- Think that's right this way...

Third, there's something that I don't feel right about or let's say something I don't like so much...
See, there's a great (?) businessman who takes the service of the detective boys as he sees someone he knew in the movie who was supposed to be dead... And this man stole him one million dollars...
Wouldn't it be typical (normal) for him to first go to the famous detective Mouri Kogoro than to the detective boys that are quite unfamous?
And if you would say that if Mouri is involved, the case is no real (pure) detective boys case, you could arrange it that way that Mouri doesn't want the case or he don't know any further so that he gives the case away to the detective boys...
Or something like that~

---------

But this are only suggestions... 

Waiting for the next chapters~

akai-kun wrote:Third, there's something that I don't feel right about or let's say something I don't like so much...
See, there's a great (?) businessman who takes the service of the detective boys as he sees someone he knew in the movie who was supposed to be dead... And this man stole him one million dollars...
Wouldn't it be typical (normal) for him to first go to the famous detective Mouri Kogoro than to the detective boys that are quite unfamous?

True, but you must consider some factors:

1. It was not too long after Muniko left the theater that Conan approached him. It would be natural for him not to immediately call Mouri after the episode he had in the theater, not to mention that Conan rushed after him almost immediately.

2. If I recall correctly, it was almost a few hours later in the afternoon when Conan and the rest headed to Muniko's house. This gave Muniko even less time if he was to call Mouri. Even if it's a day later or so, one could say that Muniko might had not even thought about Mouri, especially when Conan had called him after school on the phone.

But, the story-logic is not solid at that. And I tend to mistype some words occasionally due to my rapid typing. That's why I need you readers to look out for me. Ah, well. Keep your suggestions coming!
~~~

"We need a plan to handle this case," said Mitsuhiko, when everyone met at the headquarters late that afternoon.

"My uncle works at the newspaper," Ayumi told the others. "I'm sure that he'll help us. Ai-chan and I could go down and look up the old files. We might be able to find out more about Wang-san's death," she suggested.

Haibara agreed. "That's a start. We might be able to find out exactly what happened to him from there."

"And whether if the car floated before it sank," Mitsuhiko cut in. "And whether if Wang-san had time to get out before it was too late!"

Conan leaned forward and held up his standard issue Junior Detective League notebook. "I made some calls today," he announced. "I rang the theater and found out who made the movie. It's a film company called Hoshi Pictures. I've got their address and phone number. I'll go over and talk to someone. Maybe they'll even have a copy of the film and they can show us the scene that Wang-san appeared in."

"Mitsuhiko and I have been doing some thinking, too." Genta arched an eyebrow. "We'd like to go back to Muniko-san's house and have a look around."

Mitsuhiko nodded. "We'd like to know what goes on up there, and who visits him, and whether he knows more than what he told us!" He then reached for a big piece of colored cardboard. He drew up a chart of the things they planned to do. "It's Saturday morning tomorrow so we'll have lots of time to work on the case. By tomorrow night we should have lots of answers..."

Clutching his hand into a fist, Mitsuhiko raised it up, readied to shout their motto. "Shounen Tantei Dan..."

"OH!" the rest, save the two 'mature' ones, shouted along, with Conan only raising his hand because his arm was pulled up by Ayumi.
~~~

Yoshida Ayumi's uncle was a thin, stooped man with a kindly face. "Fuyu-san is my mother's older brother," she replied Ayumi's inquiry about him when they met him in the foyer of the newspaper building. "He's one of the editors."

Even on Saturday morning, the newspaper office was busy. People hurried about. Mobile phones shrilled and the air was filled with urgent voices.

Fuyu arranged for their security passes, and then led them along one corridor after another. Somewhere in the distance, they could hear the rumble of the printing presses.

"We print part of the Sunday paper today," Fuyu explained. "Of course, the main paper won't be put to bed until midnight." He looked over at Haibara, assuming she didn't know better. "That's newspaper jargon," he grinned, to which Haibara smiled back lightly. "Being put to bed is when the paper is ready for printing. And when the paper is put to bed, we can go to bed, too."

He opened a door and they entered a room crowded with shelves and cupboards. "We keep all the old newspapers in here. They're on microfilm nowadays. You have to view them on a special machine." He turned on the microfilm and the screen lit up. "Now, what's the story you're looking for?"

"Two years ago," Ayumi told him, "a man called Wang died when his car drove into a lake."

Fuyu nodded immediately. "I remember the case. Very puzzling," he mumbled as he checked in a thick book. "Two years ago, in August..." He crossed to one of the cupboards and pulled out a spool of film. "It was big news for a week or so."

He loaded the spool onto the microfilm machine and began turning a knob. Suddenly, the front page of the newspaper appeared on the screen. Beneath a photo of a dark, murky lake was a big headline that read:

MAN DIES IN LAKE TRAGEDY
Businessman Wang Felix, aged 37, is believed to have drowned when his car plunged into Okutama Lake last night. Police arrived shortly after midnight following an anonymous phone call.

The girls read the story in silence. Halfway down the column was a photo of Wang Felix, easily recognizable by his bald head and big nose. According to witnesses, Wang had left his apartment at around nine o'clock that night.

"I'll make a copy of it for you," Mr Fuyu said, and a photocopier whirred into life.

He spooled the microfilm forward to the next day's paper. Alongside a photo of police divers in the lake was a bold headline that screamed:

CAR LOCATED, BODY NOT FOUND

By the time her uncle had switched off the machine, Ayumi was armed with a stack of photocopies.

"Arigato, ojisan," grinned Ayumi.

He returned the microfilm to its cupboard. "It was such an odd case," he mused. "Much more to it than met the eye. At the time, there was a strong rumor that he'd been killed somewhere else and his car dumped in the lake to make it look like an accident. Others believed that he'd faked his own suicide in order to disappear. But I guess we'll never know..."

"Where is Okutama Lake?" Ayumi asked him. "I've never heard of it."

"Just lying above the Ogochi Dam," Fuyu replied. "It is an important source of water for the city of Tokyo. Nobody really knows how deep it is. If Wang's body is in it, chances are it will never be found." He shuddered. "It's a desolate place, especially at night, and a good place to stay away from."

He leaned back on the desk and studied the two girls curiously.

"I won't ask why you're interested in the case, Ayumi-chan, but let me give you some advice. It might be very dangerous to go round asking questions again..."
~~~

Meanwhile, Mitsuhiko and Genta were watching Mr Muniko's house. They had set out on their bicycles at sunrise when the streets of the city were quiet. After the long ride up the hill, they had found a small grove of trees to hide in. They propped their bikes behind a thick trunk. The canopy of branches cast deep shadows around them.

"This is the best time of day," Genta sighed.

"It's all right for you," Mitsuhiko grumbled. "You're a morning person." He yawned and shook his head. "I only come to life after noon."

The tree-lined streets was empty. The white mansion basked in the early rays of the sun, the lush lawns and gardens peaceful behind the high, barred gates. The pebbled drive sparkled.

The first hour passed slowly. The maid polished the front door handle, and then returned inside. Later, a man who looked like a gardener appeared. He started pruning bushes and sweeping up leaves.

Mitsuhiko stifled another yawn. Genta was about to tease him when the sound of an engine sent them scurrying for cover behind the trees.

A small gray car labored up the hill and crawled past the gates. A young woman in a denim shirt and jacket was driving. She parked the car further along the street and stepped out. She darted behind a thick hedge and watched Muniko's house through binoculars.

"Who is she?" Mitsuhiko wondered aloud.

"And why is she watching that man's house?" Genta toyed with his cap. He frowned. "She must have something to do with the case, otherwise she wouldn't be here. Do you think we should talk to her?"

Mitsuhiko shook his head. "Let's just see what she does first..."

They didn't have long to wait...

A sleek car emerged from behind Muniko's house. As it moved down the pebbled drive, the front gates swung open automatically. The car turned into the street and they caught a glimpse of Muniko behind the wheel. He was talking on a mobile phone, and his face looked angry.

The young woman moved fast. She sprinted across to the gray car and leapt inside. Seconds later, she gunned the engine and drove off in the same direction.

"What's going on?" demanded Genta.

Mitsuhiko headed for his bike. "I don't know. But one thing's for sure. Muniko-san might be very interested in finding a dead man, but somebody else is very interested in him. The question is, what does it all mean...?"

They mounted their bikes and started on the long ride back to headquarters.
~~~

On the other side of the city, a taxi had just drawn up in a bleak street of old factories. No sooner had Conan got out than he froze. Across the road, outside an old warehouse with HOSHI PICTURES brightly painted on the wall, was a police car.

Conan pulled back into a doorway. He watched as Inspector Megure stepped out into the street and walked to the car, followed by two other officers. When the police car had driven away, Conan entered the building.

Inside, the old warehouse had been transformed with gleaming glass and steel. Spotlights illuminated a wall of movie posters. Timber floors glowed with a rich golden sheen.

The young woman behind the front desk looked up nervously.

"I have an appointment to see Tanaka Teruo-san," Conan told her. "I spoke to him on the phone last night. He'll be expecting me."

The woman dialed a number. "I'll see if he's still got time," she blurted out.

Conan leaned forward on the counter. "What's happening? Why were the police here?"

The woman's eyes widened with shock. "There's been a robbery," she gasped. "When we came in this morning, we found a window had been smashed and one of our movies stolen."

Conan shoved his head even more forward against the counter. "Was that movie My Lost Love?!"

"How did you know?" a man's voice behind him asked suspiciously.

akai-kun wrote: SOUNDS AWESOME!! 

These chapters surprised me a little, truly.
At first, I didn't expect it that Conan and Ayumi were in a cinema alone, nice idea.
Second, there are some few little faults I saw so far..:

1)

He sounded impress and...

- It should be "sounded impressed...", shouldn't it?

2)

"I don't want you to getting involved in anymore danger." (Megure)

- I think you forget the 'you' here...

it should be like this: "I don't want you involved in anymore danger."

3)

Hopefully, I could can pick up some interesting story ideas and use them in my fan fic.

- Think that's right this way...

Third, there's something that I don't feel right about or let's say something I don't like so much...
See, there's a great (?) businessman who takes the service of the detective boys as he sees someone he knew in the movie who was supposed to be dead... And this man stole him one million dollars...
Wouldn't it be typical (normal) for him to first go to the famous detective Mouri Kogoro than to the detective boys that are quite unfamous?
And if you would say that if Mouri is involved, the case is no real (pure) detective boys case, you could arrange it that way that Mouri doesn't want the case or he don't know any further so that he gives the case away to the detective boys...
Or something like that~

---------

But this are only suggestions... 

Waiting for the next chapters~

[/quote]

This is a good story; can't wait to see the next chapter.

For more than two months now no update...

Waiting for updates~

Read your first 2 posts with fanfics my only complain is that you have a very long story. Because some poeple might just say oh no. This is long boom then they gonna leave this thread but for those people who want to read this. Do that this fanfic is pretty cool

Detective Boys, revived! Sorry for not writing nor updating for the longest time, but school (and a few other distractions like Spider-Man comics and video games) got the best of me. Ah well. I finally have time (and the interest) to get this old goat going again. Big apologies to the really loyal fans who still show interest in my work after I just dumped this aside. ^_^" Let the case continue!
~~~~

Slightly startled, Conan swung round to find a short, worried man glaring at him. His black tee shirt and jeans were hopelessly crumpled.

"Oh, that's easy to explain..." Conan shot him his most charming smile. "I saw my friend Inspector Megure outside. He's investigating the damage to the same film a few nights ago in the theater."

The man relaxed and held out his hand.

"Well, if you know Inspector Megure, that's okay, I guess. I'm Tanaka," he introduced himself. "I directed My Lost Love."

'So you're the one who made that dumb movie,' Conan almost said, but bit his tongue just in time.

Tanaka led him down corridors lined with huge posters of movie stars. They passed through a small studio crowded with lights and pieces of scenery.

Eventually, they reached Tanaka's office where the director flapped his arms angrily.

"It's crazy what's happening to my film," he said. "We'd just started sneak previews in one theater when someone ruined the print. And then last night, somebody broke in here and stole the other ten prints before we could send them out. It was supposed to start screening in ten different cinemas tonight."

"But now it can't," Conan remarked.

"That's right. It will take us weeks to replace those prints," Tanaka told Conan as he entered his office.

"What a shame," Conan said, hoping he sounded sincere. "That was the film I was working on for my school project. Now I guess ˆnobody can see it," he probed.

"Well, I can show you the out-takes," Tanaka offered.

He crossed to an editing machine and switched it on.

"There are the shots that we didn't use in the final movie, the ones that didn't turn out so well for whatever reason."

Conan chose his words carefully. "It was such an interesting movie," he began, forcing himself to sound truthful. "There was one scene I thought was very good... the scene where the woman cries in the street."

Tanaka beamed with pleasure. "It's nice to hear you liked it so much."

He crossed to a pile of film cans and opened one. "Yes, here we are. Act 2 Scene 12."

He loaded a roll of film onto the editing machine and images flashed onto the small screen.

"Every shot we film is called a take," he explained, assuming Conan could use the notes for his supposed school project. "Sometimes we shoot six takes before we get the one we really like. We shot four takes of the street scene, so I can show you the three out-takes."

Conan pulled up a chair and watched three different takes of the same scene.

"In this take, you can see how the camera wobbled a bit in the middle," Tanaka pointed out. "In this one, the camera is too late focusing on the star. Her face is too blurred, so we couldn't use it. And in this one, the star didn't cry properly."

Conan jumped up excitedly. "Can you play that one again?" He asked. "And can you slow it down?"

Tanaka spooled back and ran the take again in slow motion. Halfway through the scene, a grin gradually crawled across Conan's face.

In the background, a man was standing in a doorway. He was only visible for a fleeting moment before the camera moved past him. His bald head was covered with hair, but there was no mistaking Wang Felix's long, curved nose.

"In the shot we chose for the movie, which was the next take, that man steps out of the doorway and walks down the street," Tanaka recalled. "He didn't seem too happy about the camera being there."

"Where did you shoot that scene?" Conan asked him.

"Downtown," Tanaka told him, checking some notes in the film can. "In Asakusa. Six months ago."

He played the scene again and Conan squinted at the screen. "There's a sign near the door... it looks like... TaitÅ

Yeah, that's a nice continuation of the case~
Your last sentence was just WIN...
Great cliffhanger, wants me to read more chapters soon!!!

But for now, thx for continuing, that chapter simply was great!
And no typos or little errors in it (as far as I can see), so a perfect success.
Also, what's really interesting in that chapter is the new development of the client, Muniko-san.
For me, it seems like he really wants to kill that Wang Felix. But to if I'm right with this assumption, there must be a greater plot coming up later (soon), won't it?

Well, but let's take that aside. After this long-waited for update, I really can't wait for the next chapters anymore~ 

Keep it up!

Thanks for the quick reply, akai. Sit tight, here comes the next chapter!

Oh, and thanks for the little note you add to your sig. I appreciate that a lot. Sorry I never read your fics. I barely have time to work on mine! Dx
~~~~

    Mitsuhiko and Genta were assigned to visit the place where Wang had lived at the time of his disappearance. The address was stated in one of the newspaper stories. When they arrived, they discovered an old apartment block set back from the street in a walled compound. The paintwork was peeling, one or two windows were broken, and the concrete in the car park was cracked.

    Genta wrinkled his nose. "Would you lend a million dollars to someone who lived in a place like this?" He didn't wait for Mitsuhiko's reply. "I wouldn't!

    As they entered the compound, an elderly man emptying trash into metal bins looked up from his work. "Who are you looking for?" he called.

    Mitsuhiko and Genta walked to where the old man waited by the foul-smelling bins. "Good afternoon, sir," Mitsuhiko greeted him. "We're actually not looking for anyone who lives here now, but someone who used to live here."

    "Wang Felix, am I right?" The old man wiped his hands on his trousers and took a swig from his water bottle.

    Genta was shocked. "Uncle, how did you guess?"

    "You're the second one today," the old man told them. "There was a young woman here earlier."

    Mitsuhiko's skin tingled with excitement. "What did she look like?"

    "The woman? Young... pretty... all in clue," the janitor recalled.

    "She had a gray car, right?" Genta asked.

    "Yes, she drove it in and parked. She was full of questions about poor Felix. Did I know where he was, had anyone been looking for him, that kind of stuff."

    "Did you know him well?" Mitsuhiko probed, doing his best to ignore the stench of rotting rubbish.

    "Not to talk to, but I knew him." The old man's weathered face crinkled into a toothless grin. "I've been the janitor here for twenty years, and I can tell you everything you want to know about someone just by their trash. If you want to find out about a man, look in his trash can. Trash talks louder than words."

    "And what was in Wang Felix's trash can?" Genta prompted him.

    The old janitor slammed a lid back onto a metal bin. "He didn't eat at home, and he never had any visitors, so there were no food scraps. It was mainly all newspapers... newspapers and newspapers... all about money."

    Genta brushed a fly from his face. "You must have been shocked when Wang Felix died?"

    "Do you know what?" The old janitor dropped his voice. "He removed all his belongings before he died. Almost like he expected to die. When the police came and opened his apartment, it was empty. Just a shell. Nothing left."

    "Some people said he didn't die," commented Mitsuhiko. "They said he just disappeared."

    "I know," the old man cackled. "I remember all the gossip. There was one man. A Muniko-san. He came here lots of times. He wanted to tear the place apart. He said Felix owed him a million dollars."

    "Do you think Wang Felix planned his own death, just so he could keep the money?" Mitsuhiko asked. "Or do you think he knew that someone wanted to kill him?"

    "I don't know, but I'll tell you something," the janitor whispered. "When Felix vanished like that, a lot of people got very upset. Someone even tried to break into his apartment one night. So whatever his secrets were, they were very important to a lot of people. But what really happened two years ago?" The old man shrugged, picked up his broom, and began to move off. "Nothing would surprise me. Nothing..."
~~~~

    Asakusa was jammed with traffic. Human traffic. Conan strolled past colorful shops and busy restaurants until he reached a narrow little building that seemed to lean against its neighbors for support. The number, 76, was printed on its door, just as the out-take showed him earlier. That wooden front door, however, was locked. The shop window beside it was shuttered. Conan stepped back and looked up at the single floor above, where shutters covered the long windows that faced the street.

    Apart from the number by the door, there were no other signs or nameplates - nothing that told him what the building was used for, or who occupied it.

    'It's a real mystery,' sighed Conan. 'I wonder what goes on inside?'

    Then, a crowded restaurant in the next building caught his attention. But before he could see if he would gain any information from the people there, an awfully familiar gray car caused him to dive for cover behind a truck as the vehicle nosed into the curb.

    A young woman in a denim shirt and jeans got out and hurried towards the front door of number 76. Her denim jacket was slung over her shoulder. She glanced around quickly, turned a key in the lock, and disappeared inside, closing the door without noticing the observing little boy.

    'That must be the woman Mitsuhiko and Genta saw this morning at Muniko-san's house,' Conan gathered his thoughts as he ducked down into a squatting position. 'But what's she doing here? Maybe Wang Felix had been to see her when they made that film. Tanaka-san said that Wang-san didn't look too happy about seeing a camera outside. She could be the one who stole the movie! Looks like we're starting to crack this case wide open. Might as well get back to headquarters before she sees me. Can't let her know that I've been here.'
~~~~

    Ayumi sat in her bedroom, watching Haibara boot up her computer. With both her eyes fixed on the screen, Haibara still noticed that the framed photo of Edogawa Conan was no longer propped up in its usual place on Ayumi's desk. In fact, it was nowhere to be seen.

    "Ayumi, is something the matter between you and Conan?" Haibara shot bluntly, her pupils unmoved.

    Ayumi shot her a startled look from behind, but said nothing. Sunlight streamed in the window and glinted on her hairband.

    "I was just wondering if something was wrong, that's all," Haibara shrugged. "When you're together, you seem kind of... different... almost like you don't like him anymore."

    Ayumi laughed nervously. "Of course I still like him... he's a good friend."

    Haibara grinned gently. "Just now, at headquarters, you were looking at him as though you wanted to hit him."

    Ayumi looked away, her eyes seemingly growing weary as her eyelids slowly retracted.

    "I just wish he'd listen to me sometimes, that's all," she replied in a hollow voice. "I mean, he never listens to me. He's always so stubborn. He just does what he wants to do."

    "Like not ringing Inspector Megure?" Haibara persisted.

    "Exactly!" Ayumi spun her head round to face Haibara's back. "Conan thinks he knows everything! He thinks he's so clever! I don't think he has any idea how dangerous this case is becoming."

    "Well, do something about it," Haibara challenged her with a smile.

    Ayumi was silent for a moment. Then she jabbed her head atop her palms with her elbows rested on her thighs. "There's nothing I can do!"

    Haibara simply continued smiling as she entered FELIX WANG into a search engine.
~~~~

    At six o'clock, everyone gathered at headquarters and shared the afternoon's discoveries. Haibara sat beside Ayumi with a hand above her arm. Conan listed their findings on the class whiteboard.

    "It looks like Wang Felix had a lot of secrets," he observed.

    "And the woman in the gray car is one of them," added Mitsuhiko. "I wonder whether she's working for him?"

    "It looks like it," Conan began, "but we can't be sure. For one thing, if she is working for him, why did she go back to his old apartment and ask the janitor such a lot of questions?"

    "And you saw her at Asakusa at TaitÅ

    Ayumi leapt up. "We can't go to the lake now," she protested. "It'll be dark when we get there and my uncle said it was dangerous at night!"

    "That's why we have to go there now," argued Conan. "Don't you see? Wang-san disappeared at Okutama Lake at night. So we have to go there at night, too, so we can learn what it was like. It's called reconstructing the crime."

    While explaining the reason of their risk, Conan turned away and scrambled through a backpack he had brought to the headquarters earlier, pulling out a set of five standard issue Junior Detective League Flashlight Wristwatch the club members had placed in Professor Agasa's possession when the batteries were dead.

    "Till then, put these on, you'll need them tonight," he commented subtly.

    Haibara knew all along that there was no point arguing with Conan when he was in this kind of 'mood.' She and Ayumi took their watches in silence, but Haibara could see the shadowed feelings in her friend's eyes.

    Conan led the way to the corner bus stop. "Bus 44 goes along part of the Ogochi Dam," he explained. "It passes very close to Okutama Lake."

    "We should've taken a taxi," Genta complained. "It's faster and easier. I hate buses."

    Mitsuhiko rubbed his palm down his face. "If it's not food, it's always something else..."

    The bus rumbled through the city traffic and eventually turned onto the old dam. The jungle closed in around them as a feeble moon rose in the darkening sky. Ayumi looked out the window and shivered.

    "There's nothing to worry about," grinned Genta. "My said that in a few months' time, this whole area is going to be cleared for a new housing estate and a shopping center."

    "Maybe, but we're here tonight!" groaned Ayumi, staring out at the black veil of trees.

    Conan studied a map of the area with Mitsuhiko. He signaled for the driver to let them off at the next stop. They stepped down into the dark, lonely landscape. A bed of water laid peacefully against one side of the dam while powerful yet coordinated gushes of water poured from the other side in almost a synchronized manner. A narrow, unsealed road, little more than a dirt track, wound off into the night and onto a forested jungle nearby from the right of the dam roof. Beside it, a rusted sign had fallen from a pole.

    When the gang got close enough to read it, Haibara read the words JUNGLE-DANGER-KEEP OUT out loud, but calmly.

    Conan flicked on his watch. "Let's check that out first," he suggested as he began heading down the old road. "If anyone's gonna make themselves disappear from the face of the Earth, a jungle seems to be the appropriate place for me. Just watch for snakes."

    Soon, the dense rainforest gave way to stunted trees. They passed small clearings, piled high with rocks and rubbish. Rusted remains of ancient equipment were littered among the trees like skeletons.

    "I thought you said this used to be a reservoir?" Genta asked. "It looks more like a..."

    "...A quarry." Haibara answered. "I remembered a news article on this place. The quarry's been closed for almost a hundred years. What happened was that they were blasting rocks here in this jungle, but they accidentally uncovered an underground river... possibly from the Okutama Lake."

    "That's right... the accident of 1908," Conan remarked suddenly, stroking his chin. "The discovery of the water source killed them when the water rushed in. Lots of men and horses were trapped in the quarry before they could get out."

    Ayumi shivered. "I don't think I want to know about that. There must be ghosts everywhere."

    "The ghosts wouldn't be here," joked Genta. "They'd all be under the water."

    Ayumi aimed a pinch, but he ducked clear.

    Then, The road began to slope down.

    "I guess this is where it started to run into the quarry," Conan said. "In the old days, horses and carts would have brought the rocks up."

    Suddenly, the road took a sharp turn and the trees thinned. Before them, a vast pool of black water stretched as far as the eye could see. The lip of the gigantic crater was fringed with twisted trees, some hanging over the sinister water as though they were mourning the dead. The moon seemed to float on its surface, a place silver disk rippled by the breeze. It was the eeriest sight they had ever seen.

    There were no sounds, no signs of life. They might well have been the last living things on the planet.

    Conan trained his watch on the road ahead. It ran along for a few meters before it dipped into the water and vanished. As he passed the flashlight over the inky water, a treetop was visible just beneath the surface, its branches waiting to snag unsuspecting swimmers.

    Ayumi shivered. She was a powerful swimmer - the most powerful amongst the League, in fact - but there was no way she would swim in water like that!

    "This must be where Wang Felix's car entered the water," Conan told them. "He probably drove down this road and straight into the quarry."

    Ayumi stood mesmerized by the scene before her. "What a horrible way to die," she breathed.

    "If he died that way," Mitsuhiko reminded her.

    Conan walked forward to where the inky water lapped the top of the road.

    "Would his car have floated before it sank?" he speculated. He knelt down and plunged his hand into the water. "It's like ice. So even if Wang-san did get out in time, could he have swum back to safety?"

    "That depends on whether he was injured, and how far he had to swim," Haibara observed. "I mean, if the car was speeding when it hit the water, it might've sunk too far away. But..." She paused and looked over her shoulder. "There was a sharp turn in the track back there, so it couldn't have been going too fast."

    Conan slipped his hand out of the water and aimed his watch to the far side of the road. "Let's have a look over there," he suggested.

    "Wang Felix-san died two years ago, Conan-kun," Ayumi protested. "There wouldn't be any clues left now. I think we should go back."

    But Conan was already pushing his way through a dense crop of tangled bushes into a small clearing. He shone his watch on the ground.

    "Look!" he shouted suddenly. "Tire tracks!"

    Everyone ran across and stared at the deep grooves in the soil.

    "What are you saying, Conan?" asked Mitsuhiko. "Do you think there were two cars on the night Wang Felix died?"

    Genta gave a scornful laugh. "But the police could've made those tracks when they were looking for his body," he argued. "And lots of other cars could've come up here since then."

    "Ah," said Conan quietly. "But if they had, they would've knocked those bushes down... wouldn't they?"

    Everyone looked from him to the mass of tangled bushes. Conan was right. The tire tracks could only have been made before the bushes had grown so big.

    Suddenly, Mitsuhiko darted to the edge of the quarry. "Hey, what's this?" he called.

    He reached down and pulled up a twisted black shape that had been lying by the water's edge.

    "What is it?" asked Ayumi.

    Conan stepped forward and untangled it. "It's an old wetsuit... like divers wear to keep themselves warm in deep water."

    Then, his eyes lit up.

    "Maybe Wang Felix was wearing it when he drove into the water."

    Genta snorted. "Or maybe it belonged to the police divers." Then, he froze. "Did you hear that?"

    Conan rolled his eyes. "Stop trying to spook us, Genta. There's no one else here."

    Somewhere in the gloom, a twig snapped. Seconds later, a bush rustled behind them. It was only then was Conan alerted that it was no prank. He scooped up a stone and tossed it towards the sounds.

    A gunshot blasted the air. Leaves showered from a branch above their heads. Everyone dived for cover and switched off their flashlight wristwatches. The silence was broken only by the sounds of their breathing.

    A minute passed, then they heard footsteps running off through the scrub. Somewhere in the distance, a car drove away.

    "They've gone," Genta sighed in relief.

    Mitsuhiko got to his feet. "Somebody must've followed us," he said in a low voice. "Somebody who thinks we're learning too much."

    "Next time we mightn't be so lucky," gasped Ayumi as Haibara gripped her hand.

    Suddenly, there was the crunch of a heavy shoe and a shadowy figure rose up out of the darkness. A torch flashed on and held their terrified faces in its powerful beam. Ayumi screamed.

    "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," said a familiar voice.

    More torches stabbed the darkness as Investor Megure, Officer Satou, Officer Takagi, and Officer Shiratori stepped closer.

    Genta shot them a dazed look. "How did you guys know we were here?"

    "Conan-kun called us," said the Inspector. "He asked us to meet you at the jungle."

    Conan gave a quick shrug. "I figured we might need help," he said.

    Ayumi ran across and threw her arms around him. "I should have trusted you," she whispered against his ear.

    And even in the weak moonlight, everyone, including the then smiling Haibara, saw Conan's cheeks burn red.

    Inspector Megure cleared his throat loudly. "I think we should discuss this case at headquarters," he said. "My headquarters, Conan-kun, not yours," he added with a tight smile, one that was replied with an awkward one from Conan.

    Inspector Megure led the way back along the abandoned road to where three police cars were parked.

    "Whoever took that shot at you must know of another way through to the quarry," he remarked. "If they had come along the old road they'd have seen our cars. They must have thought you were alone out here."

    They drove back to the city in silence, the only sound coming from the police radio. The cars drove into the police car park and Inspector Megure escorted everyone upstairs to one of the interview rooms.

    "Now," he said curtly when everyone was seated, "you know I don't approve of you doing your own investigations and taking dangerous risks. However, Conan phoned me and gave me a good idea of what's happening... and you guys did helped me out lots through and through."

    He pulled out his notebook and flicked through it. "As I understand it, Muniko-san hired you to find Wang Felix-san after he saw him in that movie that was stolen."

    "Yes," said Mitsuhiko. "And everything we've learned so far proves that Wang Felix-san is still alive. He's in hiding somewhere."

    "And he doesn't want Muniko-san to find him," added Ayumi. "That's why we think the woman in the gray car is working for him. She's been following us everywhere."

    "Maybe she was the one who stole the movie," suggested Haibara. "Maybe she was the one who tried to shoot at us at the quarry tonight."

    "And if she's not working for Wang Felix-san," said Conan, "then she's trying to find him for somebody else."

    The inspector checked his notes. "You told me you saw this woman going into Asakusa, at TaitÅ

    They left police headquarters and waited downstairs for a bus. Conan paced up and down.

    "I've got a lot of thinking to do," he mumbled.

    "We all have," said Haibara quietly.

    "Should we stay on the case or give it up?" Genta pondered aloud.

    "Let's have a special meeting at headquarters," Conan suggested. "I'll call you all tomorrow."
~~~~~

    The next morning, Ayumi woke early. Every Sunday, she'd swim laps at the local swimming pool. She was already the school swimming champion not long ago, and she had set set her sights on being even better - or, as she put it, "the best swimmer in the whole wide world."

    Bright sunshine flooded the pool when she dived in at nine o'clock. By then, the pool was already crowded. She had been swimming for half an hour when she became aware that something was wrong. Someone was swimming closely behind her, so close that every now and then she felt a hand brushing against her foot.

    She glanced back angrily, but caught only a brief glimpse of a hand in the foaming water. Swimming goggles covered the person's eyes.

    She swam faster, cutting through the water briskly until she reached the opposite end of the pool. But before she could turn round, powerful hands had pinned her arms to her sides.

    "It would be so easy to drown you... Ayumi-chan," said a menacing voice behind her.

    She tried to struggle, but the pressure on her arms increased. She trod water desperately to keep her head above water.

    "Nobody can help you," said the voice. "The pool attendants think we're just two friends having a chat."

    She couldn't see her captor's face, but the voice was a man's.

    "W-w-what do you want?" Ayumi gasped, tears beginning to leak from her eyes.

    "This is just a friendly warning," the stranger taunted her. "Ayumi-chan is a smart girl. She wouldn't want anything to happen to her or her friends, would she? Then stop looking for Wang Felix. If you don't, you might meet up with... an accident."

    Ayumi felt the pain in her arms as the man tightened the grip.

    It would be a shame if someone found you floating in the quarry," he warned. "You'd only have yourself to blame if you force me to do something unpleasant."

    The stranger was dragging her down. For a brief moment, Ayumi felt the water close over her head. Then she was pulled up, coughing and spluttering, and the voice continued: "Now, don't turn around. Just stay where you are and count to one hundred."

    Suddenly Ayumi's arms were free. She gripped the edge of the pool, trying to stop her body from trembling. She heard the stranger swimming away.

    And when she had finished counting and turned round, the sun-drenched pool looked as normal as it always did.

    It were as though nothing had happened.

    She hauled herself out of the water and went to change, her stomach churning with fear.