Detective Yoko - The White Dove 『Detective Conan』

Chapter 19 - The nightmare of the cellar

   Conan turned his torch towards the ground, where the lines of dust were forming. He followed these lines to the handle. He tried to pull on it, but his childlike strength wouldn't allow him to open the trapdoor.
  -Didn't Agasa-hakase give you a new trick? asked Yoko.
   -Yes, I did! My elastic braces!
   These braces could stretch, so he could hang them wherever he wanted. And that's what he did. One end on one of the lights against the wall, another on the handle. Then the young boy pressed the button, and the group discovered the stairs.
   -Above all, keep quiet! ordered the boy with the glasses before climbing down.

   The access to the basement was rather deep, with no lighting at all. Or rather, a fine light was visible. It passed through a door, which Conan opened cautiously.
   -A cage! he exclaimed.
   -Why would there be a cage in a basement? asked Genta.

   Ayumi directed the light towards the cage and shouted as she grabbed the former pupil's arm.
   -Someone's there! Look in the bed!
   -Ayumi! Don't shout! ordered Yoko, standing in front of the door.
   The latter was not reassured by the situation. The person in the cage, long hair and barbed wire, as if he'd been there for ages, started screaming, which frightened everyone.

   Someone's !
   -Someone's coming!
   Almost at the same time as the person's scream, another one arrived. Certainly the person who had originally been in the kitchen.
   Conan directed the children behind a locker, and the two former schoolboys put their hands over the mouths of Ayumi and Genta respectively. Yoko shivered as much as she was scared.
   -You've been having nightmares again. You poor thing... but it's been five years already! Try to forget... because the dead never come back!
   Dead? If I'm not mistaken... Ayumi had said something about murder...
   A metallic noise was heard just after the lady with the long grey hair had told the one inside to eat.

   Genta swung his arm to free himself from the embrace of the girl with the tied hair. But he hit a broom on the side, which fell. Or almost. Conan caught it before it could reach the ground.
   -The seal! Yoko whispered, looking up from the locker.
   But no-one could catch him, and he fell with a loud metallic clang.
   -I have a feeling that my rat from earlier didn't come alone! Come on! Get out of there! There's no point in hiding...
  
   Conan! You're not going to.... !
   The smile on his "brother's" face told him that he was going to reply. Good idea or bad idea?
   -Are you saying there's no point in hiding? But that applies especially to you! I saw in the office earlier a photo of you with the owner who was murdered five years ago, and next to him, probably your son! Yes... the man in the cage! In five years his appearance has changed, but the mole under his eye has remained! The moment I entered this house, I felt a strange atmosphere!
   Conan explained that he had heard that the family had moved out, and yet, in this house, there was both water and electricity. He also mentioned the hidden entrance outside, where they had come in.

   -Who are you?!
   -Edogawa Conan! And I'm a detective!
   He emerged from his hiding place, facing the lady.
   -In this situation, there are only two possible solutions. Either you murdered your husband and kidnapped your son, who saw the whole thing. Or your husband was killed by your son!
   He began to explain his deduction. The famous son had killed his father, and his mother had covered it up to protect him. But the weight of the murder was too much for him, and the cries heard in the neighbourhood were coming from him. The lady didn't want her son to be a criminal, so she locked him up.

   Throughout, Yoko remained on her guard, standing in front of Genta and Ayumi to protect them.
   -Shut up! shouted the elderly woman, charging at the detective.
   The girl with the glasses pushed the young boy and found herself against the wall, with a knife above her.
   -... Do you have any idea what your son thinks...? she said, trying not to tremble.
   The lady turned her head towards the cage. At that moment, her son ordered her to stop before confessing to the murder. He had failed his school entrance exam for the third time, and when his father called him rubbish, he lost control of himself and killed him. His mother wanted to convince him to keep quiet, that the statute of limitations would soon run out.
   -If you stay like this, you'll escape the room, but never your conscience. Do you want your son to carry this heavy burden for the rest of his life?
   The lady wept at Conan's words.

   Morning came. The two inhabitants of the house turned themselves in. Mitsuhiko was found asleep outside the house. The children were reprimanded.

   -What's this? Another haunted house?!
   -Yes! Ayumi's found it again! announced Genta
   -This time it's at number twenty-one on Second Avenue... it's the Eto house! Ayumi explained
   She added that the house was full of dodgy books and that the boy who lived there had disappeared.
   It sounds a lot like Conan's house when you put it like that...
   -Conan, it's not your house that's full of books by any chance... Yoko almost laughed.
   -... Eto... a house full of books... Wait a minute! It's Kudo you should have been reading! Panicked Conan