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Kisaki Eri made her way through the crowds of journalists blocking the hospital entrance.
“How was your daughter saved?”
“Did they get the culprit yet?”
“When will your daughter talk to the press?”
Eri made am mental note to have the taxi drop her off in the garage next time, while she repeated “No comment,” for the umpteenth time. She should have expected this.
The only thing she wanted to say, publicly, was ‘thank you’ to the unknown who had managed to pull off the rescue. But even this would be a mistake. So she put her public persona to the front, automatic replies of “No comment” to any question tossed her way.
A few steps away, Mizunashi Rena, recently returned to the screen after a hiatus of several months, was talking into her mic. Eri sidestepped to avoid being directly in the line of the camera as Mizunashi undoubtedly had planned.
“After Mouri Ran’s miraculous rescue, her family are still waiting for her to recover. Meanwhile, Kudo Shinichi, the Heisei Holmes who had been challenged by Mouri-san’s kidnapping never made an appearance. Are rumors true that he is dead or has gone abroad?”
Eri didn’t let her steps falter. She had had planned to rip the kid a new one once he turned up at last. But he hadn’t. If the rumors were true and he really couldn’t, wouldn’t, Ran would be devastated. She kept her Queen of the Courtroom face intact as she entered the hospital lobby.
The security check in front of Ran’s room was thorough, including a stinging cheek pinch. She automatically added ‘Who are they expecting to appear in disguise?’ to the long list of unanswered questions surrounding her daughter’s kidnapping. She stopped for a second before opening the door, letting the pain and fear that had been besieging her in the last few days drain away for the moment. One gibbering idiot in Ran’s life was more than enough. When she was finally ready, she purposefully went through the door and, as soon as she was certain it was closed, turned to face her daughter, braced for the shock of her near-lifeless body.
The back of Ran’s bed was half-raised, and her daughter was fast asleep and looking more at ease that she had been since she was rescued. A curly-haired young woman Eri had seen maybe three times was sitting on the bed behind her, cradling Ran in her arms. One of her hands was resting protectively on Ran’s belly, the other held Ran’s free right hand. Her left hand was still immobilized for the ongoing infusion.
Eri paused. Her mind instantly jumped to this conundrum that was so much easier to deal with than Ran’s injuries. Or the fact they were public knowledge.
Sonoko and Conan had both insisted Ran would feel safe with her. This … intimacy was unexpected. Both Sonoko and Conan hadn’t mentioned anything of that sort. But, … what did she really know about her daughter’s life? They spend maybe a week of holiday together each year, had coffee a handful of times. She might be a wonderful lawyer, but in the last four days, Eri had torn into herself for not being there when her daughter needed her. She had asked all Kami to give her the chance to make good on her failures.
The woman looked up and Eri noted the red-rimmed eyes, as well as a fleeting emotion, maybe fear, passing through them.
“Kisaki-san, I don’t believe we’ve really met before,” the woman said. “I’m Sera Masumi, a school friend of Ran’s.” Her voice was pitched low.
Eri gave her a short, formal bow. “Kisaki Eri.” A school friend?
“How is she?” Eri asked after a moment. Scanning her daughter, she noticed the even breathing, a face no longer frozen into a scowl. Pain was still there, though. She looked peaceful, and Eri felt bad she was going to disturb that peace with the interview. But the police were out of usable clues and they needed to catch that man!
“One nightmare, maybe three hours ago. They woke her up for it. She was clearheaded and we talked a bit before she fell asleep again.” A pause. “She is very weak.”
Eri nodded. This matched up with what the nurse told her. They kept Ran sedated still to give her body much needed rest.
“Ran asked to be woken up before I leave.” Sera added after a moment.
There was an air of defiance about that statement. Like she expected to have it denied.
Eri nodded thoughtfully, her eyes on the window. Even under normal circumstances, she would have had no idea how to feel about a woman in love with Ran. Now, still feeling on the brink of losing her daughter, she knew even less how to act. Her inner lawyer didn’t want to trust the stranger, part of her feared this was a situation easily exploited. But still… Ran looked far better than 12 hours ago when Eri had left to catch 3 hours of sleep before a long day in court. Now what was the cautious way to proceed?
“Do you still have some time before you must leave? Satou-keiji ask me to be here so Ran can make a statement. Maybe it would be easier for her if, …” She stopped, her mind having caught up with the fact that she was thinking out loud and had just asked a minor, someone she didn’t know, someone who seemed to care a lot for Ran, to listen to a statement that could only be horrid.
When she looked back to the bed, Sera nodded with a stubborn expression on her face, making it impossible to back out of this ill-advised idea.
A flash on her phone announced Satou-keiji’s arrival.
When Eri came back with the nurse to wake Ran up, Kogoro and Conan-kun where waiting outside the room, next to Takagi-keiji. She exchanged a look with Satou, who shook her head.
“I think,” Eri began, “Ran would prefer to make her statement without Conan-kun listening.” Takagi and Kogoro both nodded in agreement while the boy stared at her angrily. “If Ran wants more moral support, Sera-san is willing to stay close.”
Conan flinched.
“Maybe you two should take him to the cafeteria.” Eri’s eyes met both Takagi’s and Kogoro’s.
Kogoro bristled as was to be expected. He always hated her ordering him around. He was about to make his protests plain but Eri cut him off. “Don’t make it harder on her, please.”
Clenching his jaw, Kogoro picked up the boy before he could react and started down the corridor; Conan squirmed and tried to free himself all the way.
Satou breathed a sigh of relief and made a shooing motion for Takagi to follow. “Men,” she murmured under her breath before turning to Eri, smoothing out all emotion from her face.
It took Ran a few minutes to focus after she opened her eyes. Eri heard Sera whisper “It’s ok, you’re safe now,” just before Ran’s eyes fluttered for the first time. Ran’s hand squeezed Sera’s, and Sera whispered some more. She though she caught “your mother” and “Satou-keiji,” so it seemed Sera was telling Ran who else was there.
Ran blinked, her eyes searching.
“Okāsan,” she whispered, her voice raspy.
Eri took her hand as it left Sera’s to grab hers and sat down on the chair next to the bed.
After a moment of silence, Ran tried to speak but Eri couldn’t catch the rasping, near silent words. She grabbed the beaker on the nightstand and poured out a glass of water with her left hand, her eyes never leaving her daughter’s face, her right hand firmly holding her daughter’s.
Ran’s hand was shaky as she lifted the glass to her lips, but both Eri and Sera knew better than to offer help.
“Ran, “ Eri began after her daughter put down the glass and glanced at Satou. “Satou-san needs you to make a brief statement.”
Ran nodded grimly. “Yes.” Her breath caught.
Eri didn’t catch what Sera did, but Ran’s breathing evened out again.
“You want Sera-san to stay?” Satou asked.
Ran nodded. “If it’s okay… with her…” Ran turned her head slightly as if to look to Sera for confirmation.
“It beats trying not to think about how bad it might have been.”
Eri was left with no choice but to give her consent. She had been plagued by nightmares herself ever since she’d heard about Ran’s disappearance, even worse after the first video went live. She wasn’t confident about having an unfamiliar face lingering around during the proceedings, but if that’d provide her daughter enough comfort to help her through it, she saw no reason to deprive her of that.
“Going straight to the point, Ran-san, what do you remember?” Satou had her notebook open, seemingly ignoring everything going on between Ran and Sera. Eri didn’t doubt she noticed everything.
Ran took a breath, scrunching her nose for a moment. “I got a strange text…”She trailed off.
“It said, if I wanted to see Shinichi and the person important to him, I should look behind the pavilion in the park behind the school.” Ran’s voice trailed off again. “I didn’t know what to think.” She lowered her eyes.
Eri automatically filed her reactions as “shame” like she would in any cross-examination. Jealous about that detective otaku being interested in someone else, her lawyer’s mind supplied.
Holy shit.
Sera’s mouth compressed into a thin line, her eyes drawn together. If looks could kill …
Eri observed in silence as Sera’s anger started to affect Ran. Sera instantly got herself under control as she noticed. When Ran turned her head to look at Sera, she only caught the tail end of the shutters going down. There was a moment of silent communication between them that Eri, for all the years she'd spent dealing with unforthcoming witnesses from across the stand, couldn’t read. Another point on the list of open questions she'd been accruing.
“How stupid of me,” Ran said, sounding stunned, still looking at Sera. “So stupid.” Sera opened her mouth to say something, closed it again. Ran turned away, jaw clenched, anger and self-loathing in every line of her face. Still not moving away from Sera, still accepting the embrace. She might be angry at her, but she still feels safe, still feels supported, Eri’s inner lawyer commented.
Silence.
“Ran-san, what did you do after you got that text?” Satou-san prompted, exactly seventy one seconds after. Eri found herself counting the seconds like she did in the courtroom.
“I walked out through the park, along the path to the clearing … There was a car…. ” She stopped, face reddening. “I'm so stupid,” she said with emphasis, as if she’d told herself that a thousand times already. Like it was old news, not like the moment before.
Eri couldn’t hear Sera’s whispered reassurances.
“You are my daughter, you are not stupid, “ Eri stated firmly. “Though sometimes, your judgment might be a bit off.”
Ran scowled at her. “Same thing.”
“No.”
Satou cleared her throat.
“Sorry,” Eri said, squeezing her daughter’s hand.
“Can you tell us more about the car, maybe describe it?” Satou had her pencil poised.
“It was yellow….. I… didn't think of looking at the plate number…” Ran’s lips seemed to form the word ‘stupid’ again, but Satou asked about details, and Ran calmed down as more emerged. An older model, a Toyota, a scratch on the right-hand side, like it had been scratched by a tree. A missing hubcap.
Satou grabbed her mobile and typed in a few words. The missing hubcap would probably make it easy to find the car on security videos, Eri thought.
Ran had her full attention on Satou now, ignoring both Eri and Sera.
“When you came closer to the car, what happened then?”
“The … backseat door was open…. Someone was lying…. under the car…. He seemed really put out…. Was cursing….,” Ran continued, her eyes starting to lose focus.
A poignant pause followed. Sera exhaled audibly amid the silence. A moment later, Ran did, too.
Ran shook her head, impatient with herself. “I asked if I could help…. He asked for a 6er spanner… His tools were scattered across the back seat… I didn’t think it odd…”
“Remember to breathe, Ran-san,” Satou softly advised as Ran once again failed to string her words together. “What happened then?”
“I couldn’t find it right away… heard him move and looked harder… it was on the other end of the backseat… I put my bag down, and reached for it.” She scowled again. “I'm so stupid… So stupid….” she repeated.
“Ran.” Eri felt like she was missing something here, but still, she wanted to reassure her daughter.
“He pushed me in, closed the door, and then some sleeping gas put me under before I had a chance to break the windows.” Her right hand touched her left elbow, as if she remembered she tried.
“Sleeping gas.” Satou repeated.
Ran winced. She tried to turn away, but Sera’s hands gripped her shoulders, wordlessly encouraging her to go on.
“He bragged about the trick to me before…” Ran’s voice trailed off again.
After a few breaths, Satou prompted, “Do you remember anything from the moment you woke up?”
“I was tied to a steel barrel… There were some pipes welded to it.”
Satou nodded, urging her to keep talking at her own pace.
“He was waiting for me to wake up… Must have been staring at me the whole time.” Ran shuddered.
“He liked it… Liked every second of what he did to me,” Ran’s voice held a mixture of horror and utter disbelief. “Then he took a look at the mobile he used to record it all…. Said I wasn’t bleeding enough…. He pulled out a knife and--”
Eri suppressed a shudder. The short video sequence had been devastating enough, but listening to Ran laboring, trying to make a statement about what happened to her….
Ran’s hand shivered away from her mother’s hand, moving it protectively over her belly.
They all heard Sera’s teeth grind as she did.
Did she just say “I’m going to kill him?" Eri wondered. Ran turned to Sera again, a look of shock on her face.
“The perp,” Sera amended in a reassuring tone of voice and Ran gave a wry smile in return.
What?! What am I missing here? Her inner lawyer reacting to the suspicious scent, Eri could hardly wait to ask a few questions as soon as Sera left the room.
---
“There you are,” Masumi grimly greeted Conan-kun, Mouri-san and Takagi-keiji as she walked over to their cafeteria table and sat down with them. Conan’s coffee was untouched.
“Satou-san wants to talk to Mouri-san and Takagi-keiji.” Both men got up, but Masumi grabbed Conan’s hand before he could follow along.
Takagi gave her a thankful smile as he hurried out.
“Give her some time. She would still try to smile for you,” she told Conan.
He grimaced. His small hands made equally small fists.
“Even though she asked me—while we were alone—if I was lying to her as much as you do.” Masumi’s words were clipped.
His eyes darted up to her face. A flash of panic and self-disgust, instantly hidden behind a childlike “I never lie,” they both knew was untrue.
His fists turned white.
Since she had tricked him into answering to ‘Kudou’ three months ago, he had turned up the pretense around her. Until he broke script earlier that day. As he did now:
“How bad…?” His voice shook, trailed off.
“What do you think?” she shot back, “you saw the video.”
Her anger didn’t surprise him. “Even the life-stream,” he whispered with a suppressed shudder. “Every f*** second of it until the text came…” He broke off abruptly.
Masumi was stunned. She couldn’t even begin to imagine the agony, the helplessness.
“What did she say that made you so angry?” His voice held no emotion, his body was still. Waiting for the axe to drop.
She looked away from him. How sure was she that this little twerp was Shinichi? 99,99%.
“She wouldn’t have walked into the trap if she’d been sure about you.”
He closed his eyes, trying to contain the anger and despair welling up in him.
Masumi pitched her voice barely above a whisper, just enough to keep the next set of words between themselves. “He told her that Gin gave him five days to kill Kudou Shinichi. If he didn’t manage that, he’d have at least fun with her before he died.”
Conan flinched, but showed no surprise at the mention of Gin.
He knew. He knew they were involved. That … callous idiot! She pressed her palms to the table to curb the impulse of hitting him. Hard.
“Wait, he told her about Gin?” his face froze in horror for a second.
Before she could react, he said “Toilet, sorry Sera-neechan,” jumped up from his seat and was gone within seconds.