I do not own Detective Conan/Case Closed.

Through the Lens

Chapter 1: Faxes

For 3:15pm on a Friday afternoon, the sounds of the Metropolitan Police Headquarters were more subdued than usual. Several eyes glanced over to the fax machine while still others looked toward the doorway: their hunched shoulders indicating their tension while waiting for news.

Megure-keibu sat in his office, four faxes spread in front of him arranged in the order of the date they'd been received. For the past four consecutive days, faxes had been sent to the department having started on Monday of that week in the following order:

Monday's fax: 'If you police officers don't protect him, he will die.'

Tuesday's fax: 'He has saved you police officers before. It's time you save him.'

Wednesday's fax: 'He has brought many killers to justice. His own killer needs to find justice.'

Thursday's fax: 'Without his help, people would have died. If he dies, more will follow.'

The ambiguous nature of the notices had left the department baffled. The sender clearly felt a semblance of concern for the person they sent the faxes for. But the question was: did the person want the police to stop the perpetrator from harming the person in question? And if that was the case, was this a warning that something had happened or that something would happen? Or perhaps both?

While there was little to go on, there were still key pieces of information that the police had discerned from the messages.

The "victim" was male. He was presumably in danger, though not necessarily immediate. There seemed to be an urgency in the tone, but at the same time, if the faxer had wanted the police to protect "him" then the sender could have sent out more information.

Sometimes perpetrators sent out a warning as a means to challenge the police. Other times they sent out warnings because they didn't really want to hurt others. The person who was sending the faxes could very well be the same person who was planning on hurting the would-be victim. Trying to enlist the police's help before someone got hurt happened once in a blue moon, but it meant that it was still a possibility. While the Metropolitan Police Department was not ruling out these possibilities, Megure-keibu's gut instincts told him that the sender was someone different than the person who was after the "victim" mentioned in the faxes.

At the same time, he had a feeling that if the police didn't do something soon, the one sending the faxes would. It was as though the person who was sending the faxes felt little faith in the police but felt that they needed to be notified and given a chance. If they failed, Megure-keibu didn't want to think of the outcome.

Another significant clue was that since the faxes had been sent to the police, and the sender had used "keiji-tachi" in the first and second faxes (indicating the plural you for the police department) the victim was someone who was in some way associated with the police. The potential "victim" could have indicated that a police officer or detective had saved the department, but the wording was a bit off for it.

The third fax had thrown them for a loop. It had seemed that the "victim" in question had died when it said "his own killer needs to find justice" indicating that the person the sender was talking about had already died. With the arrival of the third fax, the police department had scoured for dead bodies in the area, but there had been no murders, suicides, or unusual deaths the past two days.

Yet the fourth fax said, "If he dies…" which didn't follow the same timeline. Whoever was sending the messages could have just been indicating that there was likely to be a killer and the would-be-killer needed justice.

Many questions arouse, but the arrival of the fourth fax left them baffled. Was the person dead or not? With this enigma eluding them, they had followed a more tangible lead.

Someone who brought killers to justice and someone who had saved the police pointed to two people in Megure-keibu's mind: Mouri Kogorou and Kudou Shinichi. However, the last fax, the one that said, 'Without his help, people would have died,' seemed to point more to Kudou-kun in Megure-keibu's mind. While Megure-keibu would be the first to admit he felt that Mouri-san seemed to carry around a death curse, Kudou-kun had had a similar effect. However, the difference between the two was that even though he was sure that Mouri-san had saved his fair share of people, he knew that Kudou-kun had been in situations where his quick thinking and his knowledge had saved lives.

"Sleeping Kogorou" acted more after-the-fact. Kudou-kun thrived in the heat of the moment, his brilliance being able to save and help others.

Additionally, the way that the sender had mentioned that the person had saved the police also alluded to Kudou-kun. He had been nicknamed, "The Savior of the Police Force" in some newspapers, once again making Megure-keibu feel that Kudou-kun was the person the faxer believed to be in danger.

There was also the nagging suspicion, as Takagi-kun had pointed out, that the third fax could mean that someone had tried to kill Kudou-kun, and the reason the high-school detective had been so allusive for so long was due to hiding from his own would-be murderer.

Unfortunately, Megure-keibu hadn't been able to get in touch with Kudou-kun since they'd received the last fax. He'd discussed his concerns to his subordinates, and despite all of their best efforts, they had been unable to reach the elusive teenager. They'd even had Satou-keiji call on the Mouri Detective Agency landline and speak to Ran-kun in a roundabout way to see if she'd heard from Kudou-kun lately, but she had only said he was working hard on a case and hadn't had time to call recently.

"Megure-keibu," Shiratori-kun spoke from the office doorway, interrupting Megure-keibu's thoughts. Shiratori-kun's voice strained as he gripped a sheet of paper in his hand.

"Another message?" Megure-keibu asked, standing and meeting Shiratori half way.

"A picture...with a warning. The warning said: 'Time's up.'"

One look at the picture, Megure-keibu understood the strain in Shiratori-kun's voice. The photographer had zoomed up close upon the face featured in the photo. Even without the cryptic warning, the photo itself left Megure-keibu feeling unsettled with the strange intimacy of the angle. The fax had come through black and white, but Megure-keibu didn't need a color picture to know that the serious look of concentration in those eyes was a brilliant shade of blue.

The thoughtful face was familiar and beloved from all those in the police department. It was therefore no surprise at the urgency at Megure-keibu's next orders.

"Get Edogawa Conan-kun under police protection! Now!"

Next Chapter: Phone Frenzy

I already have a good bit of this written, so if I'm slow to update, send me a message to remind me. Since it's already mostly written out, I plan to update once, maybe even twice a week. Hope you enjoyed the first chapter!

~ Jelp