Disclaimer: I do not own Detective Conan/Case Closed.

Pairing: KaitoxShinichi

Lure

Chapter 55 - Traces

"I wasn't expecting an actual hotel room," Ai noted as she gazed around the large, open bedroom with two queen-sized beds situated on either side of a nightstand very much the way such furniture was often arranged at hotels. Add a chest of drawers and a television and the picture would be complete.

"I know it looks like a hotel room," Asami said, looking sheepish. "We plan to have a few rooms made out this way because we hope to have guests visiting and maybe to offer this place as a sort of retreat in the future. So a few hotel rooms seemed fitting. This is the only one that's usable though since it's the only one in the main area of the house. The others are going to be in the west wing. Eventually, we want the main house to be, well, the main activity area, and the west wing will be for guests while the east wing will be for family. But again, that's in the future once we actually sort what's going on out."

"It's a great room," Agasa assured her. "Could we get a bigger table in here for our equipment though? We'll be analyzing some samples Shinichi-kun asked us to look into."

"Oh, sure. I'll have Yuu bring you something suitable."

Once Asami had hurried out, Agasa shut the door and turned to Shinichi, the friendly grin falling from his face to be replaced by a concerned frown.

"You don't look well," he said bluntly.

"It looks worse than it is," Shinichi assured him and hoped he wasn't lying. "I'm just dizzy and disoriented, and my head aches like someone's drumming on the inside, but otherwise, I'm fine."

"Since we have a few minutes, I may as well collect your blood sample now," Ai said. She set the bag she'd been carrying down on one of the two beds, unzipped it, and produced a needle and syringe and a few random other things she would need for the collection of blood samples. She sterilized the needle with practiced efficiency.

"Give me your arm," she instructed. "The longer we wait, the more time whatever got into you has time to leave your system. It may already be mostly gone by now, but there's a chance it isn't."

"I understand." Obediently, Shinichi held out his arm and let Ai swab the skin near his elbow.

Ai was quick and efficient with the needle. Shinichi barely felt the prick, though he did feel as the blood was drawn from his arm.

"Asami-san's coming back," Kaito's voice said from Agasa's face, sending a disconcerting jar through Shinichi. It was always a little creepy, hearing the wrong voice come out of a face it didn't match.

Ai quickly stowed the blood sample away.

The door opened, and Yuu followed Asami in, the two of them carrying a simple table between them.

"Will this do for now?" asked Asami. "For your workspace I mean."

"Yes, thank you," Kaito said, once again speaking in Agasa's voice.

"Good. Then let's head down to breakfast. We've got a lot to talk about, and I believe Kudo-kun said you could give us advice on security cameras."

Professor Agasa beamed. "Oh, of course. I can definitely help you there."

-0-

"Hey there, good ta see you guys," Hattori said as Agasa and Ai followed Shinichi and their hosts into the dining room. "You're just in time for breakfast."

Agasa nodded to him. "Hattori-kun, it's good to see you too. And we could use some breakfast. We've been on the road since before sunrise."

This comment made Hattori pause. He hadn't thought about it before, but the Agasa household was far enough away that the professor and his ward would indeed have had to have set off quite early to be here already. However, as far as he was aware, Shinichi had been out cold from their meeting with the "smoke monster" last night all the way to about six that morning. So when exactly had he had the time to tell the professor or Ai about what was going on? Let alone asked them to come over to help?

The only logical explanation was that Shinichi had told them about the Ichimiyas' situation last night before their late night escapade.

Well, maybe it wasn't that strange. He knew that Shinichi often reached out to Ai when he needed something researched. Was she the person Shinichi had been texting all yesterday evening? She could be. And since the little scientist was far too young (in the physical sense) to be traveling alone, she naturally would have had to recruit Professor Agasa to bring her once she'd decided to come. Heiji had to wonder though why she had felt the need to make the trip before she'd gotten wind of their smoke-enshrouded encounter with the person (because naturally it had to be a person, not some mythical cursed beast thing) behind the monster sightings.

It was at about this point that Hattori's thought process was interrupted by the arrival of breakfast. This was a sufficiently attractive distraction, and he soon forgot about his puzzlement (or at least put it aside somewhere in the back of his mind) as he devoted his full attention to the scrumptious spread being offered. If there was one thing Hattori Heiji appreciated every bit as much as a good mystery, it was good food.

They chattered about normal things over the meal because it seemed the polite thing to do, especially when one of the guests was a little girl who had yet to graduate from elementary school. But eventually Yuu remembered the laptop he'd left open on the corner of the table, and the topic of security cameras was duly introduced.

Both Ichimiyas were amazed by the wealth of information Agasa had to share about security systems in general and security cameras in particular. In fact, even Heiji was caught by surprise by just how much the old inventor had to say on the subject. It made sense, he supposed. Agasa was an inventor after all, and Heiji knew that he often worked on things like enhancing camera images, hacking databases and the like for Shinichi, but still… Heiji couldn't quite shake the feeling that something was strange. Considered logically though, he couldn't see anything wrong, so he wasn't sure why his gut was insisting that he was missing something.

Professor Agasa was someone Shinichi had known literally all his life though. If there was something off with the old inventor, Heiji couldn't imagine his fellow detective missing it.

He snuck a look at Shinichi just to be sure. Nope. No signs there that the other detective had noticed anything off. In fact, if Heiji wasn't mistaken, it kind of looked as though Shinichi was more relaxed now than he had been all morning.

Actually, that was a bit strange in and of itself, but it probably didn't count as the kind of strange that a detective needed to worry about.

"You'll still want to install an actual security system eventually," Agasa concluded. "But a few cameras should suffice in the meantime. If you show me around the premises after breakfast, we can see where you should put them and how many you'll need to catch your intruder."

"I would really prefer if Yuu not wander around too much with his head injury," Asami said apologetically. "But I could give you a tour once I get him settled into the library."

"That's perfectly understandable," the inventor assured her with a warm smile that made his eyes twinkle. "Head injuries are tricky. You can't be too careful. Have you considered taking him to a doctor?"

"He refuses to go," Asami said, shooting her husband an exasperated look that nevertheless failed to mask how truly concerned she was. "I keep telling him and telling him, everyone says that you should get checked out if you hit your head even if you feel fine—especially if you lose consciousness. I've heard a lot of terrible stories about people who end up collapsing hours or even weeks later because they thought they were fine and didn't get a proper exam."

Yuu groaned. "Asami, I feel perfectly fine. And I promised you already, I'll let you know the instant that changes. But I'm not going to be run off."

"I think Asami-san has a point," Shinichi said, frowning. "I've seen cases like what she described. It's not exactly common, but it happens. The worst part of it is precisely that a lot of times death would have been prevented if the patient had gotten the proper diagnosis and care in time."

Heiji could have sworn he heard Professor Agasa mutter something that sounded an awful lot like 'pot and kettle' under his breath. The words were so out of character and uttered so quietly that Heiji immediately questioned whether he had just imagined hearing them. He glanced over at the old man in question, frowning.

By the time he looked over though, Agasa was nodding in agreement to Shinichi and Asami both and putting in his two cents. In short, he too agreed that Yuu should see a real doctor about his head injury even if it was only to hear from an expert that there was nothing to worry about. As the saying went, it was better to be safe than sorry.

"All right, all right, I get it," Yuu said, holding up his hands in surrender. "But there's so much we have to do."

"That's what we're here for," Hattori reminded him. "If ya don't mind, you can show us to your library area, give us a quick rundown on how you were thinking of having it sorted, and point us at the books. We can start going through them while Asami-san takes you to the doctor."

Yuu cast around, clearly still hoping for an excuse to stay. "But what about the cameras? We still need to figure out how many to buy and where to put them."

"I'm sure Shinichi-kun could give me the tour," Professor Agasa offered. "Then I can text you my suggestions. A trip into town may actually be beneficial for the camera situation since you can go straight to a store and see if they have what you want in stock. That's faster than waiting for a delivery, especially a delivery all the way out here over bad roads."

"And I'm sure Ken could make any urgent decisions for us," Asami added. "He'd know what we'd like and what we wouldn't. He's not as familiar with where everything is as we are," she added, turning to the detectives and their support crew. "But he does know the completed areas really well, and he's met every contractor we've used. He brings them lunch."

That was good to know, Shinichi thought, making a mental note to sit the chef down for a chat later.

"We should all exchange phone numbers before we forget," he said. "And make sure to keep your phones sufficiently charged. It'll be safer that way."

"Good idea," said Asami.

Numbers were duly exchanged.

"If any of you think of anything else we might need, don't hesitate to send us a text," she added.

"Will do," said Heiji. "Did we forget anything?"

"Considering the information we currently have, I'd say the plan sounds solid," said Ai, startling the adults who didn't know her. "Kudo-kun and the professor will make a round of the grounds and determine where cameras are needed. The Ichimiyas will go to the hospital and, depending on what they learn, they can pick up the aforementioned cameras on their way back. In the meantime, Hattori-san and I will begin going through the contents of the library."

Yuu traded looks with Asami then laughed, reaching over to pat the little girl on the head. "That's very well summed up."

Shinichi tried not to smile at the expression on Haibara's face that said she did not appreciate the head pat but she was going to tolerate it because the man had a head injury and didn't mean to be patronizing.

"If everyone's done eating then, I think we should head out. Yamato-san and his crew are already at work. Some of the other workers will be arriving a little later to resume cleaning and fixing the west wing. For the most part, they shouldn't bother us, but stay vigilant. One of them might be our guy. In the meantime, the library's in the east wing this way. Grab what you think you'll need and follow me."

Shinichi double checked that he had his usual notebook and pen as well as his phone in his jacket pockets. Then he grabbed a mug and refilled it with coffee from the pot on the table. It was getting a little cold for his liking, but coffee was coffee, and good coffee was still good coffee even when it got a little cold.

Thus armed, he set off after the others on their pilgrimage to the villa library.

-To Be Continued-

Note: Have a merry Christmas and a happy New Year!