Behind the Scope

Chapter 14: Completing the Puzzle

Yusaku stared at a piece of paper in his hand in silence. He was shocked. That paper made him shocked. The novelist turned his attention towards his son who was sitting at the edge of his bed.

"Why?" finally he asked the boy.

"Why did he give that? Probably because his life is targeted too," Conan answered. "I know you must be quite shocked with this, Tou-san. I was shocked too when I first saw that result." The detective sighed, remembering the content of the paper in Yusaku's hand with Kid's message and insignia at the bottom part.

A gift for you and your parents, Tantei-kun. Use it wisely.

'Damn you, Kid. Always so unpredictable.' Conan sighed once again. He did not know how he should react to the thief's gift. His gift was so precious, true, but Kid never gave him something as important as this gift so openly. Usually he would use a secret code or secret message with his confusing riddles, but this gift was bold, to the point, and clear. It was a solid proof, an undeniable evidence that told him the truth about Lily Mizushima and Yuriko Adams. Conan did not have any idea how the thief manage to obtain their fingerprint—okay, maybe it was easy to get Lily's fingerprint, but Yuriko? She was supposed to have died 4 years ago, but despite of that, Kid was able to get her fingerprint from her things in New York. It seemed that the thief was more resourceful and more skilled than he had thought.

"Tou-san, do you remember Yuriko Adams's case?" Conan asked his father. Yusaku nodded.

"Actually, I have a complete file on that case. It's here in the library," the novelist added.

"That's even better. I'll go get it." The boy got up from the bed and headed to the library, leaving Yusaku alone with Yukiko in their bedroom. The former actress looked unsure. She did not know what to do. She was surprised knowing that a dead woman actually was still alive. she felt exactly like that time when she just discovered that Sharon was alive. She was surprised, shocked, happy, and sad altogether. Not only that, she was also confused with the sudden gift from the phantom thief and at the same time, she was excited with this situation. Kid never gave anything so obvious like this before, without tricks, riddles, or codes. As far as she knew, Yusaku always had to solve the thief's riddles to get something important like this fingerprint test result.

Tonight was really a shocking night for Yukiko and Yusaku. For their son too. Conan rushed towards Kudo residence soon after he had read the gift from Kid at Agasa's house. The boy was in urge. He insisted to talk with his parents in private while carrying a booklet envelope which turned out to contain an important document from the phantom thief.

"Do you think we can trust him, Yusaku?" Yukiko asked. "Do you think that result is true?"

"If it comes from Kid, then it should be true. As far as I know, Kid never lies about things like this," Yusaku replied.

"It's true then? That Lily Mizushima is Yuriko Adams?"

"I guess, but we will know for sure if we look into Yuriko's case again," Yusaku answered. "You know, Yukiko, I remember Yuriko Adams was a hunter, skilled in firearm and archery."

"Are you saying that Mizushima-san could be the sniper?"

"Exactly, but let's wait until Shinichi gets the file for us."

A few minutes later, Conan returned to his parents' room with Yuriko's case file in his hand. The boy read the file first; Yusaku did not really need that since he still remembered the case clearly. Once Conan had finished reading, he gave the file to Yukiko so that she could learn about Yuriko as well. While Yukiko read the file, Conan started to discuss the case with his father.