What a Shame (Detective Conan Fan-Fic)

Chapter 5

"I got your message."

"Well, yes. That was kind of the point." Haruna's face scrunched up as a familiar blonde foreigner walked towards them. "I wouldn't put a message in your pocket and not expect you to look at it."

The woman rolled her eyes, an amused smirk on her face as she stopped in front of the mother and daughter.

The three were at a park near where the mother and daughter pair lived. It was quiet, and there wasn't much foot traffic. It was a place where they wouldn't be disturbed. 

"Hi, Auntie Sharon!" Reiko waved cheerfully and grinned up at the woman known as Sharon or Chris Vineyard. 

Sharon looked down at the child, a genuine smile gracing her face. "Hello Reiko. It's nice to see you again." She pulled the girl in for a quick hug. "I only wish it were under better circumstances."

Reiko frowned. "Mhm." 

"So," Haruna crossed her arms. "I take it you know what I wanted to talk to you about?"

Sharon rolled her eyes, pulling away from Reiko and crossing her arms as well. "You know, I do wonder how the two of you always manage to see through my disguises."

"It's a gift," Haruna shrugged nonchalantly before looking at Sharon seriously. It was an expression that didn't really suit her. "So," she started pointedly. "Is the doctor that you disguised as still alive?"

"Who knows?" Sharon replied loftily, avoiding the drilling eyes of Reiko. The girl always seemed to be able to see the truth with a single glance to the eyes. 

"How comforting."

"I like to think so."

Reiko stared between the two women with a blank expression on her face. There was a growing tension between the two, and Reiko couldn't help the frown that began to form. 

While she certainly didn't approve of her Auntie Sharon's work, she still cared for the woman, and she knew her mother was the same. The two women had been friends for years, and Sharon had become a constant in Reiko's life ever since she had been born. 

It was moments like these, however, that Reiko wondered how the two always seemed to get along so well, especially with Haruna's disapproval towards committing crimes. 

Then again, Haruna had once been a criminal herself, so it wasn't as though she could judge all that much. 

"Here," the American actress broke the tension by handing her friend a large envelope filled with documents. "It isn't everything, but it should be enough to satiate at least a bit of that never ending curiosity of yours."

Haruna opened the envelope and flipped through the documents briefly before releasing a resigned sounding sigh.

"You know," she started, sounding awfully tired. "Sometimes I really wish that you'd stop working for them…"

Sharon, to her credit, only smirked. "If I did that, then where would you get all of your insider information?" The woman, who was also known as Vermouth, switched her attention to look towards Reiko who had been staring between the two curiously. "Now, enough of that. I believe that it has been a while since the last time I brought my niece out for ice cream."

Reiko's eyes sparkled, and she began to bounce on the balls of her feet as the two adults watched her with amused expressions. If there was one way to get her to actually act her age, it was definitely ice cream. It was her favorite food and was the perfect thing to get if you wanted to bribe her. In fact, her cousins often bribed her whenever they needed her to keep a secret.