"Goodbye Shinichi. Solve that case and come back as soon as you can." Ran hung up the phone, a sad smile on her face.

Kogoro raised his head "Well, where is it?"

"Where's what?" asked Ran, confused.

"Where's the ranting, the 'Shinichi you idiot!', the 'Why can't you come back'?"

"Oh" Ran blushed. "I'm not pressing that anymore, not since I figured out what's really going on."

Kogoro's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know why I didn't see it before, it was so obvious." She sighed. "Shinichi's in the witness protection program."

The 'great' detectives eyes bugged "What!"

"Think about it. Shinichi goes chasing after two guys who look like Yakuza thugs. That night he doesn't come home or even call. In fact he doesn't contact anyone until almost a week later. He calls infrequently and when he does show up, he acts like he's hiding. Every time he's solved a case since, he's specifically asked Megure to keep his name out of it. And you know what a glory hound he is."

Kogoro nodded. Yes, this was odd behavior for the young upstart.

"Those guys in black must have been Yakuza or something. Shinichi got involved in something beyond what he could handle and got put in witness protection. That's why he can only call infrequently and visit a few times a year. If the people in charge find out he's contacting me at all, he could be in big trouble. And if the Yakuza guys find out where he is, he could be killed. He's miserable, but what can he do?"

Kogoro considered this. When she put it like that, it made sense. "So what are you going to do?"

"Nothing" She said, looking out the window "There's nothing I can do. But I love Shinichi, and if he's going to risk his life to send me a phone call every few weeks then it's a safe bet he loves me too. So I'll wait."

And pray she silently added

$S

Because Apotoxin is the ultimate witness protection program. grin

This is the second part of what I had planned for Late Night Insights. If something else bangs me over the head I'll add it, but I'm fresh outta idea for this one. Like the first one it's a character making a logical guess about our favorite detective, though Ran's not as far off as Kogoro.

Crystal Snowflakes: I'm glad. I still can't believe I wrote it

Shyro Foxfeather: (VWG) Danke. Glad you like it so much. (puppy eyes) Any more of "Eye of the Beholder" coming soon

BJ: It's 'On Hiatus'

Me: I can dream

Kisara Koi: Yeah the money issue is a plot hole, and as an authoress I must remove all plot holes Strikes pose

Juliechan: Glad you liked it

YumeTakato: Yeah deep Kogoro is good. Now if only he would stop whapping Conan

Fyliwion: It's hard to tell what's in character for Kogoro, cause most of time he's an ass, but every once in a while he surprises ya

Xeno: danke

MichelleTherese: Well, like I said I try to keep him in character while still making him intelligent. And Can you point me to the overly intelligent Kogoro fics you've read, I don't think I've seen them O.O

SacredAliance: reads Ran's New Love" O.o…..Eep! That was almost exactly what I had going in my head, and no I hadn't read it before I wrote them review. Sorry for the psychic plagerism

Tant: Yeah, Kogoro can have his moment. Now if only he'd have more of them

Ieyre: Actually I was loiking at a Case Closed poll, and "Richard" was voted fave character O.o. As admittedly one of the people who don't like him that much, this surprised me muchly.

SiLeNtTeArDrOp: Second Chapter is here!

Fireblazie: Yeah, Conan will always have the Mouri's to fall back on. Unless of course they discover his secret:-P

Snickerer: Like I said, Kogoro has his moments, just not often enough for my taste. And I imagine if Conan had been listening, he would have a) gone on a major guilt trip and b) Called his parents for some more interaction