Chapter 5 - The Unexpected

Sinking deeper into the soft cushion underneath him Shinichi throws his arm over his eyes and ignores the noise that was trying to grab his attention. A slight sleepy thought went threw his mind. 'Ran will deal with whatever it is.' The thought brought a slight smile to Shinichi's face. Having such things taken care of for you was one of the rare benefits to being physically seven years old.

The noisy intrusion gave one last effort to draw him away from sleep then stopped. One thought went threw Shinichi's mind once he realized it ended... 'sweet bliss'.

Shinichi however was quickly proved wrong as the jarring noise once again intruded into his odd haven of obliviousness. Once again said annoyance piped up and demanded his attention.

With a groan Shinichi cracks open one of his eyelids. Ugly. Flowers. They were obviously ment to please the eye, to give those who beheld them a sense of peace. At the moment he couldn't think how anyone in there right mind could think that such cheerful things were even remotely attractive. Squinting his one open eye he trys to think what this thing was that was blocking his vision. Upon closer inspection he notices that the oddly familiar flowers had a series of hardly noticeable lines. Closing his one eye he groans. It was the back of the den's couch. He must have been completely exhausted in order to fall asleep on that old thing.

Once again the sound that had woken him intrudes. This time however Shinichi was able to identify it. It was the house phone.

The young detective turns his head wearily and looks towards the other side of the room at the grandfather clock. It was one in the morning.

Shinichi sleepily picks up one of the spare couch pillows and half heartily throws it in the general direction of the phone. "It's. One. In. The. Morning. Leave. A. Message." He croaks out at the phone which was out of arm reach and throws his arm once again over his eyes.

The caller however ignored his unknown request and the phone began to ring once again. Sighing wearily knowing they weren't going to stop calling till they received an answer Shinichi sits up and drags himself across the rug covered floor to the other side of the room.

With his luck it would be one of his parents. They had a very bad habit of forgetting the time difference.

Shinichi picks up the receiver and puts forth an effort to sounding at least semi coherent. "Hello..." ,he croaks out groggily.

"Shi... Shinichi?" He quickly recognizes Ran's voice. It breaks with an almost undetectable sob.

Suddenly wide awake the detective presses the receiver closer to his ear. "Ran are you alright? What's wrong?"

Another sob reaches his ears. "It's D- Dad he's... He's been arrested." Clear crying comes across the line. "I don't know what to do. The inspector says the evidence is clear and his hands are tied. He has n- no choice but to hold Dad."

Shinichi knew the clueless detective was many things but a criminal wasn't one of them. "What is he being charged with? Whose in charge of the case, Ran?"

Another sob comes across the line. "M- murder... Inspector Meguire is leading the investigation." Ran takes a fortifying breath. "Shinichi I really need your help." she pleads.

Sighing deeply he says, "You don't even have to ask, Ran." Thinking quickly, "Here's what I want you to do. I want you to call your mother as soon as you get a chance and tell her the situation but before that if Inspector Meguire is there I'd like to speak to him first."

Ran takes a deep breath and says, "The inspector went back to the crime scene to look for more evidence."

"Okay give me the address I'll call a cab and meet him there." Shinichi quickly grabs his notebook and a pen from out of his jacket pocket. There are a few benefits to falling asleep in your clothes.

"Th-The crime scene is at the Eastern Pacific Shipping company's office building. Dad was working on a case for the owner this morning. It's the office building near the warehouses." Ran says. "I'll call ahead and tell the inspector you're coming."

"Okay thanks Ran." In a attempt to reassure her Shinichi adds, "Don't worry about your father too much Ran, just call your mother for now. If there is any evidence that proves his innocence I'll find it for you okay?"

With barely a whisper Ran replies, "Th-thank you, Shinichi."

Sitting inside the back of a cab Shinichi wishes, not for the first time tonight, that he had a warmer overcoat. The one he was wearing was currently a couple years old. He bought it on clearance shortly after the winter before his encounter with the syndicate and he hadn't had a chance to wear it in frigid weather like this. It was fine for many things he suppose but the material was just alittle too thin for comfort in the snow covered city .

Crossing his arms and breathing into his hands he watches the blackened windows of homes and businesses go past as the cab slips threw the silent and deserted snow covered streets.

The cabby took a hint early on and was blissfully silent. Shinichi was thankful for the quiet. He had enough problems without having to make small talk with a complete stranger.

What was on the forefront of his mind of coarse was the murder Kogoro was charged with. Being in contact with him constantly gave the young detective a good sense of who his enemies were and if he dared to count the people put away or 'wronged' by SLEEPING Kogoro the list was nothing short of staggering. To say that Shinichi wasn't feeling the usual glee at being presented with a good mystery would be a gross understatement. If Kogoro was imprisoned because of a grudge from one of the cases that he, Shinichi, solved he didn't know if he'd ever be able to look Ran in the eye again.

Another problem that was bothering him was the side effects of the 'medication' that Haibara gave him. He grimaced as he remembered Ran's reaction when he had that bout of chest pains this morning. Well at least he had the small comfort that Sonoko didn't manage to begin her 'cure all' chicken soup. Last thing he needed was a case of food poisoning on top of everything else.

Abruptly Shinichi is taken out of his thoughts as he's suddenly lurches forward as the cab comes to a complete stop. "Where too from here?" The cab stopped just outside the guard station of the address he had given the man.

"Here's fine." Shinichi looks over at the toll and gives the cabby the allotted fare plus a healthy tip. Anyone willing to work at this time of night and in this weather deserved a tip. Bracing himself Shinichi opens the door of the cab and is assaulted by a blast of overwhelming cold. It was clearly well below freezing.

Huddling into his overcoat the young detective rushes over the icy sidewalk to the door of the guard station and knocks.

The door opens and a wave of heat hits Shinichi's recently chilled cheeks. A hat covered head pokes out and glares resignedly at him. "Another one is it? Get in quick." Shinichi quickly enters the toasty guard booth. Inside there were two guards. One glancing at the monitors and the other picking up what looked to be a clipboard.

Coming towards him the hat covered guard flips over the top sheet of the clipboard and mutters "To many damn visitors." Clearly annoyed the guard hands over the clipboard and points to the top of the sheet. "You'll have to sign in before I let you threw the checkpoint and I'm going to have to see your badge to prove you belong here."

"I'm sorry but I don't have an official badge. I believe the Inspector officially labels what I do as Consultant work." The guard looks even more annoyed at this. "The Inspector will vouch for me."

As Shinichi signs the top space of a sheet labeled 'Guest registry' the hat covered guard picks up a thick overcoat that was thrown over the monitor console. "I'm going to have to double check with the officer about that. I can't let just anyone in this area." He glared at Shinichi. He clearly was placing blame on the teenager's shoulders for having to go out into the cold.

Shrugging slightly to himself Shinichi follows the guard out into the weather for a third time that night.

Briefly Shinichi wondered why the guard station was so far from the buildings till he spotted what was clearly a turtarrier, one of those molded bits of concrete that was usually placed at the top part of a parking space.

As the two walk past one of the buildings Shinichi manages to spot what was clearly two unmarked police cars between a couple of buildings. 'Great I wonder what other detective I have to deal with. Suddenly a thought occurs to him. Speaking of dealing with detectives, Hattori is visiting tomorrow. I better leave him a text message and tell him what's going on.'

Reluctantly lifting the side of his overcoat Shinichi reaches towards his right hand pocket of his uniform and rummages around for his phone. The young detectives brows scrunch up in confusion when the familiar weight of his phone isn't found. He quickly checks his other pockets and lets out a frustrated breath. It must have fallen out when he fell asleep on the couch.

'Damn, Haibara's little pills must be affecting me more then I realize. I usually check to make sure I have everything.'Shinichi rounds a corner of another building into what was clearly a alleyway. It had a rather large dumpster and Up ahead he could see where the police taped off a lighted doorway. He quickly closes his coat with a frustrated sigh as he continues to follow the guard past the dumpster. 'I wish Ran had called me on my cell I would have... remem... remembered... it...?'

A chill totally unrelated to the weather races down his spine. 'My phone... Even if my phone was in the couch I would have still heard it... the cushions are not that thick. Why didn't Ran call me on it?'Shinichi's mind suddenly races. His senses on high alert. 'It might be cold but there's a clear sky tonight. The weather is definitely not a factor. She knows I hardly ever answer the house phone...'

Realization hit Shinichi suddenly. 'That wasn't Ran who called me...THIS IS A TRAP!!' He quickly looks up at the guard ahead of him and catches the man glancing over his shoulder. If he hadn't been looking for it he wouldn't have caught the slight measuring glance. This guy was paying too much attention to him for a normal guard. The thought only confirmed what he just concluded.

Suddenly coming to a decision Shinichi takes a couple more steps along with the guards then he quickly turns to bolt when he comes face to face with a gun barrel.

Looking up beyond the weapon the young detective's shocked gaze meet the icy blue glare and sneer of his so called killer. "Hello Detective."

Author's Notes: I am really sorry about not updating this in so long. I tried to force the story to follow my original idea and it just wasn't working. I guess I'll just follow my muse from now on instead of my head and hope the story doesn't turn into a piece of crap. Anyways thanks again to those that reviewed. I really enjoyed reading the comments and I have to say they do help motivate.

- Oddly enough I had no idea what those concrete things in parking lots were called so I looked up (Parking lots) on wikipedia. I found the actual official word for the things (along with a few unofficial ones) and decided to include it sense this chapter was in Shinichi's point of view and he tends to know useless details like the word (turtarrier).