DCMK: Heavy Silences (8/10)

[what_we_dream]

Title: Heavy Silences (8/10)
Series: Magic Kaitou/Detective Conan
Pairing: None
Rating: PG-13
Notes: Follows Slip and Fall/Pride Goeth Before

Summary: "We would like Kid delivered by the 24th. For every day you're late, one bright face vanishes from the world." Children kidnapped, Nakamori has only one place to turn for help. Kaitou Kid.

If there's one thing Kid's picked up from this whole horror show, it's that Nakamori has depths with which he never credited the man. The thief first caught an inkling of it in his call to Toshibu, in the immediate willingness of the man to risk his career for the Inspector. That was the nudge that started the ball rolling, but it's picked up speed quickly. Considering the incident at Tokyo General more thoughtfully gave it a damn good kick.

At the time he'd been so grateful to get away with his secret intact, so worried about Aoko connecting the dots, not to mention still wounded, that it never occurred to him to give more than a passing thought to how the Inspector got off the hook. How he'd gotten away with having the Kid escape after he cleared the room. Kid had chalked it up to luck or slackness, but really that was just slackness on his own part.

Nakamori somewhere, somehow, had some big guns to pull in on his behalf. And with the Inspector busy organising the squad, Kid's the only one available to see they take up his cause and strike while the iron's hot. No one can ever say he doesn't pay his dues, although admittedly it's not a question which comes up often.

It would have been easier to do, of course, if all the pertinent files hadn't been pulled by Higashiyama's investigation. But Kid has nothing if not a memory for facts, and it's no trouble to reel Toshibu's number up out of his mind. Arrange for copies of the files to be handed over at the front desk to a young man in a white shirt and slacks asking for Toshibu's files. So easy it's laughable, really.

He reads the pages crammed in the corner of a tiny café, air thick with the smells of coffee and baking. Toshibu, who's pretty clever for an old acquaintance of Nakamori, has pulled him not only Nakamori's reports – which are pretty thin on the ground – but the replies, and even a couple of circulars not strictly for the attention of the Squad but relating to the incident all the same. Nice.

The reports read like a map of a barely camouflaged battle. Mark the theatres of war between Section Two Superintendent Higashiyama and Tokyo's Superintendant General Arakawa. The protagonist, wandering through the pages seen through the eyes of others rather than reporting himself, is Nakamori. It seems an entire intricate campaign took place around about the Inspector without his notice – or at least acknowledgement. Some reports in particular catch his eye, as he reads over the running commentary on his time in hospital with voyeuristic interest. Interest which churns into a kind of appalled frustration as he reads further.

XXXX/11/11

To: Tokyo Superintendent General Arakawa Hideki

CC: Tokyo Police Division One Superintendant Tsutomi Kiyosuke

Kaitou 1412 was wounded last night in an attempted heist and is currently being held at Tokyo General Hospital in a private room on the 4th floor. His condition is reported as serious but not life-threatening. Round-the-clock guard duty is being filled by the Kaitou Kid Task Force, with an additional Press barrier at the main entrances supplemented by Section Two officers.

… Inspector Nakamori has relayed to me that Kaitou Kid is not currently in custody, a questionable decision. It is my intention to see that Kaitou Kid is read his rights and arrested at the earliest possible opportunity…

Higashiyama Yuki

XXXX/11/13

To: Tokyo Superintendent General Arakawa Hideki

The Police barrier has been reduced and is now drawing solely on the members of the Kaitou Kid Task Force. While Kaitou Kid remains under guard, his condition is still reported as unconscious and likely to remain so for a further few days. He is also currently not under arrest, and I await Inspector Nakamori's report with interest…

Higashiyama Yuki

XXXX/11/14

To: Tokyo Superintendant General Arakawa Hideki

CC: Tokyo Police Division One Superintendant Tsutomi Kiyosuke, Police Division Two Superintendant Higashiyama Yuki

…

As for kaitou 1412, designated Kaitou Kid, he is currently in a solitary room in the intensive care ward of the Tokyo General Hospital. Long-term prognosis is uncertain. Owing to the legal and physical difficulties of taking such a patient into custody, he is currently being guarded by four police officers at all times, but is not under arrest. Arrest will be carried out when feasible…

Nakamori Ginzo

XXXX/11/14

To: Tokyo Police Division Two Superintendant Higashiyama Yuki

As Inspector Nakamori has substantial experience in this case, I advise careful consideration of his suggestions. We certainly don't want Kid hospital-bound for any longer than absolutely necessary, which the stress of arrest might cause…

Arakawa Hideki

XXXX/11/15

To: Tokyo Police Superintendant General Arakawa Hideki

CC: Tokyo Police Division One Superintendant Tsutomi Kiyosuke

I have removed Inspector Nakamori from his position as head of the Kaitou Kid Task Force. He has repeatedly stalled rather than carry out my orders – effectively refusing to place Kaitou Kid under arrest. He has failed to report in on a regular and mandatory basis, and has purposely put himself out of contact.

Nakamori has turned in his weapon and badge and has been stood down until further notice. As the Kaitou Kid Task Force will be disbanded as soon as the thief is handed over to police custody, he will remain in effective quarantine until that point. I can tell you frankly, sir, that unless directly ordered there will be no place for him in Section Two…

Higashiyama Yuki

XXXX/11/16

To: Tokyo Police Division Two Superintendant Higashiyama Yuki

CC: Tokyo Police Superintendant General Arakawa Hideki

If you're unwise enough to throw out Nakamori, I will find a place for him in Section One.

Tsutomi Kiyosuke

XXXX/11/18

To: Tokyo Police Superintendant General Arakawa Hideki

CC: Tokyo Police Division One Superintendant Tsutomi Kiyosuke

Please find attached the preliminary plan for Kaitou Kid's transfer from Tokyo General Hospital to the medical ward in the Chiba Maximum Security Prison. Transfer will take place the day after tomorrow, November 20th. The Kaitou Kid Task Force will be disbanded at midnight of the 19th, the transfer being effected primarily by Section Two officers with their chief removed the reliability of the Task Force is questionable…

Higashiyama Yuki.

XXXX/11/19

To: Tokyo Police Division Two Superintendant Higashiyama Yuki

CC: Tokyo Police Division One Superintendant Tsutomi Kiyosuke

I strongly advise you to reconsider removing Inspector Nakamori, now that Kid is once again on the loose. I might point out that it was only after his departure that Kid was able to escape. Whatever the reason behind his escape, better judgement may have been called for in the handling of this incident…

Arakawa Hideki

It's clear from the reports and the events themselves that Nakamori has, or at least had, the tacit support of Arakawa. How he managed that is a question for another day, when Kid has more time for historical studies. For whatever reason, Arakawa supported Nakamori over Higashiyama, when the latter's claims were – smugness and self-importance aside – almost certainly more valid. And he did so with the Superintendant of Section One, if not behind him, at least in his general vicinity. Of course, the files in Kid's hand represent a serious weight in favours pulled in. Quite possibly Nakamori has reaped everything he had owing, and more. But it's something to go on, nonetheless.

Kid packs everything up in his bag and then pauses, considering. Phoning would be so much easier. But this isn't exactly the kind of conversation you can have on a payphone and besides, he doubts he would get through before next week. No, this will take a little work.

Well, it's something to keep him busy at least.

He checks his watch. 3:30.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Kuroba Kaito has been in the Tokyo Police Headquarters four times. Three with – or looking for – Aoko, the fourth on a school trip.

Kaitou Kid has, of course, been here rather more frequently. However, despite the fact that the building is nothing new to him, is in fact so well-visited that it has lost its capacity to inspire more than a smidgeon of nervousness, he has never been on the top floor. It's less the security than that he's simply never had a reason to go. The Superintendant General makes no decisions in the direct running of the Squad, and any larger changes are bound to reach the thief's ears soon enough. Sheer interest in power has never factored into it: Kaitou Kid controls more with a snap of his fingers than the Superintendant General can call up in a day.

That, at least, is the illusion he's grown so used to projecting that he no longer even notices himself doing it.

He was expecting more trouble getting an appointment. Was expecting even the possibility of having to sneak his way into the office and bluff from there. He is thus surprised when his request with the secretary for a meeting – made more just to scout out the situation than of any real hope – is agreed to immediately. Is more than surprised. Is pretty damn suspicious.

Kid is ushered into Arakawa's office pouring all his energy into his part, burying himself deep under the skin he's pulled on, and from beneath it watching with flint-hard eyes. He's expecting a mountain of a man, an impressively impassive surface, a man in the Hattori Heizou dormant volcano mould. He's wrong.

Arakawa Hideki is a wizened husk of a man with dark skin that looks tough as leather and wiry steel-grey hair twisted around his head in a sparse bird's nest. He wears his expensive suit badly, sinking down into the folds of cloth like a turtle into its shell, cuffs bunched messily up away from his wrists. His hands, resting on his desk, are gnarled and twisted as tree roots. As if they were broken in some horrible accident and healed crookedly. In his right is a pen hovering above a pile of complex forms, the fingertips stained yellow.

Kid takes all this in in a split second, even as he crosses the plush office in even – if slightly stiff – strides, stepping around a large table surrounded by half a dozen rolling chairs. He walks straight up to the large desk, set centred in front of a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows.

"Good afternoon, Lieutenant Oogawa," says Arakawa in an old man's roughened voice.

"Sir." Kid stops in front of the desk, clicks his heels together and salutes crisply. Arakawa nods, eyes already dropping to cast over the files in front of them. Kid's eyes follow as if drawn by a magnet. The Superintendant General's desk occupies the precarious space between order and chaos, and Kid has the sense he maintains that balance with ease. Although there are several files open and multiple additional papers, faxes and memos scattered around, there is an overall impression of method. The usual impediments of a personal desk – photos, paperweights, pencil holders – are completely absent. Absent, Kid feels, more owing to practicality and the desire to expand the available surface than a minimalist aesthetic.

"I seem to recall," says Arakawa in a dry tone, "that the last time you were here you came to deliver a petition. Seemed to believe it might be mislaid if you submitted it through the proper channels."

Read: Higashiyama, thinks Kid. It doesn't take much imagination to piece together the circumstances and the nature of the petition, but Kid doesn't press his luck.

"Yes, sir," he says.

"Well then." Arakawa tidies up the pile of papers he's been reading through, and with his eyes no longer on them Kid is careful to keep his own away. "What can I do for you today, lieutenant?"

And now comes the tricky part. "The Inspector is a busy man," he begins, purposely not meeting the Superintendant General's eyes, allowing for just a hint of conspiracy between the two of them. "Sometimes, tying up loose ends slips his mind." You know what I mean, says his tone, sewing implications in between the words. Despite his failure to capture Kid – which Kid doesn't hold against him – Nakamori's a good cop. Unfortunately, he's also picked up a strong sense of fair play somewhere along the line, and that's never a benefit in office politics unless it manages to get you on the right side of others who are not quite so backwards in the game of flag-waving.

Arakawa says nothing, weaves together his gnarled fingers and rests them on the desk, pen drooping between them like an overly-long cigarette.

"I'm sure it will be brought to your attention very soon, sir, but I thought I might just … give it a hand."

"And what is it, lieutenant?" Arakawa asks, crisply. His tone completely fails to suggest where he stands in regards to this irregular meeting, but Kid knows how to deal with poker faces. Even ones as good as this. He ploughs right on.

"There have been several breeches of conduct in Division Two, sir. Breeches of conduct instituted at the order of Superintendant Higashiyama, and directly affecting Inspector Nakamori and the Kaitou 1412 Task Force."

Arakawa does not precisely move, but seems to harden in his seat, sitting still as stone with eyes hard as granite. For a small man, he projects a tremendous weight. Kid respects the skill required, respects it all the more since it's almost certainly not a conscious effort but simply a natural attribute. "That's a serious allegation."

"Yes, sir."

"Would you care to elaborate?"

Kid pauses, shifts as if in nervousness. "Superintendant Higashiyama has ordered an internal investigation on the Task Force, including a seizure of our records. He has also temporarily put the Squad on leave, ostensibly due to the kidnappings. As you are aware, sir, while he has the power to order us stood down, only Internal Affairs may conduct an investigation of a Squad's files."

"Thank you, lieutenant," says Arakawa, in a tone which suggests he needn't state the obvious. Chastised, Kid – Oogawa – continues, sticking more carefully to the facts and leaving interpretation alone.

"The Superintendant has also ordered wire taps on the Inspector's phone, and possibly those of other members of the Squad." Wire taps he could not have had approved, Kid is careful not to state. "In addition, there has just been an incident on the roof of Mitsukoshi in Ginza."

Arakawa's eyes flash, but Kid cannot tell whether he's heard or not. He's sure Higashiyama wouldn't have been so quick to broadcast his catastrophe, but if Hattori Heizou has been contacted all bets are off. The Superintendent General says nothing, but he's listening with his eyes, and so Kid continues.

"A teenage boy – Hattori Heiji," he drops the name casually, "has been shot with a tranquiliser rifle, at the Superintendant's express orders. He was then arrested, despite Inspector Nakamori's continued protests. I can assure you, sir, there were no grounds for arrest. Or the assault," he throws in, as a parting shot.

Arakawa moves at least, dislodging himself in a series of small movements like a landslide. He breaks his hands apart with a twist of effort and taps the end of his pen on a blue memo. "And now?" he asks, vaguely.

Kid pauses, but there's only one answer he wants to make to that, and he makes it. "The medics were arriving when we left; I assume Hattori-kun has been taken to the nearest hospital along with the Superintendant."

Arakawa's face indicates this is not the information he asked for. "Where is Inspector Nakamori, in the midst of this upheaval?" No sarcasm, but a frosty casualness which is more worrying.

"I'm not sure, sir," he replies with some honesty. The Inspector could have left the storeroom… He fends off the question with his one ace. "We all have a lot on our minds."

"Of course," allows Arakawa, sympathetically. There is no sympathy in his eyes, only hard watchfulness. "It's commendable that you came here to speak to me given your current situation," he adds, Kid fighting not to narrow his eyes. He's definitely beginning to regret coming. This man is too damn sharp by half.

"It's important to keep busy," he says flatly. "Sir," he is forced to add, almost having forgotten, not used to speaking to a superior like this. You're falling out of character, his mind screams at him. Get the hell out.

"I have some hopeful reports from Section One," a couple of taps of the pen. "Our best men are on the case."

"Thank you, sir." Kid keeps his tone neutral, in an Is this interview over now? kind of way.

"Very well. I will look into your claims. Give my regards to Inspector Nakamori."

"Yes, sir." He salutes, long and stiff. Arakawa gives a vague nod, and he turns to go. He's stopped halfway out of the room.

"Oh, one more thing, Oogawa."

"Yes, sir?"

"How did Higashiyama come to have Hattori shot?"

Kid turns halfway, aware of the eyes on him long before he can see them. "He mistook him for Kaitou Kid, sir."

"Really?" drawls Arakawa, eyes boring into him like a drill. "How unfortunate."

"Yes, sir." Poker face, poker face, poker face. He's had worse. He's shaken worse. He's deceived worse. If he keeps repeating it, it might become true.

"Very well."

Kid slips out of the room, with a ridiculous feeling that he's just slipped a noose. Completely, utterly, ridiculous. Of course.