Case Closed Fan Fiction ❯ Going Down ❯ The Basics of Human Nature ( Chapter 9 )

Going Down

Disclaimers: I do not own Case Closed/ Detective Conan. Whoo boy. Never thought I would say that, did ya?

I have great news. I have to thank all of those who reviewed in this story and in Vindicated with prayers for Brianna.

She woke up! XD

So in celebration of her waking from her coma- I announce that this story is officially dedicated to Brianna and all the wonderful people who helped pray for her recovery!

Thanks so much!

LAST TIME ON GOING DOWN

“You sure you can handle this on your own?”

“I called Jimmy.”

Richard felt it was about time for a good drink.

“I apologize for Vivian,” Booker smiled pleasantly.

Why hide your obvious grief?

“You can’t take him away!”

“What if Conan doesn’t wake up?! Will they pay me for having to watch him die?!”

“If you can hear me, I’m sorry.”

“The Kudos aren’t as good of actors as they claim to be.”

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Chapter Nine:

The Basics of Human Nature

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“Pretty much all the honest truth-telling there is in the world is done by children.”

-Oliver Wendell Holmes

xxx 

The moon was bearing over the bright streets of Tokyo. The city was alive with color and noise, save for one hotel room. It was dark inside. Moonlight played through the glass window, as if trying to peek and see what caused such a gloom.

But Booker pulled the shades shut- keeping out the nosey moonlight.

“Put the phone down, Vivian,” said Booker wearily returning to the bedside chair yet again.

Vivian bit her lip, fresh tears brimming around her usually bright eyes. She set the phone on the receiver again and pulled her hurt inward. Mrs. Kudo drew up the covers around her and pulled her knees tight to her chest- as if releasing them might cause her to fall. Fall where, she wasn’t sure. But she wasn’t about to let go and find out.

The tears blurred her eyesight. She fought against them bitterly. “Booker. Please. Come to bed.”

Booker shifted in the wooden chair again. The moonlight that managed to peek through outlined the discomfort on his face. “I’m fine.”

“But I’m not, Booker. Come to bed.” She said again, her voice coated with fresh hurt.

He didn’t answer. Instead Booker bowed back into the shadows- fanning sleep. Vivian pulled her knees tighter against her. So hard it made it difficult to breathe.

“Put the phone down, Vivian,” Booker’s voice emerged from the shadows.

Vivian blinked and looked to her hand which did indeed hold the creme colored phone. She put it down on its hook and looked to Booker- hoping to see some sort of gratitude or appreciation in his features. All she saw was blackness.

Vivian rested her head against her knees. More tears rose up and Vivian suppressed them by biting her tongue. “This is wrong. This is so very wrong.”

She waited for Booker to argue but he remained silent. It was so quiet that Vivian almost felt alone in the room.

“He’s our son,” Vivian pulled her knees even closer still, her voice threatening to give out. “Jimmy is our son. Not Rachel’s. We should have every right...”

“She doesn’t know that,” said Booker at last.

“She doesn’t know anything!” shrieked Ms. Kudo. She slapped a hand to her mouth after realizing what she had done and began to weep uncontrollably. Her sobbing filled the room with incredible grief.

“You said,” Vivian sputtered slowly through heavy sobs. “That he’d come back to us. You said that at the first sign of danger you’d take him back...”

“Vivian,” Booker’s voice made an attempt at being gentle. “It wouldn’t have mattered. There’s nothing you can do, in cases like this.”

“Shut up!” Vivian spat. “Don’t talk as if you care. You don’t! How could you be so heartless?! He’s your son too.”

“I know who he is, dammit!”

Booker’s shout rocked the room into silence again. Vivian could see his outraged face, sketched in silver light. And Booker could see her horror-stricken face with tears still pouring silently down their laid out streams. Tears dripped on the white sheets unnoticed.

“Vivian...” Booker said gently, his rage ebbing away. “I’m sorry.”

Vivian’s bottom lip trembled and she quickly buried her face into the hotel pillow. Booker rose from his chair and moved to her- rubbing her shoulders gently. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

Vivian moved her face away from the pillow and looked up at her husband. Fresh tears moved to replace the dried ones.

“I don’t want to leave him here, Booker,” Her voice cracked, soft like a child’s whisper. “I want to take our boy home.”

Booker smiled and stared to the closed window. He looked as if he could see through it still.

“We can’t. He’s happier here.”

Vivian sat up so suddenly that Booker had to look to her. “Then let’s stay too. Why do we have to leave?”

“Us staying here could draw unnecessary attention to Conan. We aren’t unknown, Vivian. Sadly, we would be recognized,” Mr. Kudo explained, eyes going to the window again.

“Then let’s disguise-...”

“You can’t control yourself around him, Vivian,” Booker murmured. “Neither of us can.”

“But-...”

“It’s too risky. We will cry his name... eventually. Be walked in on- or our voices will slip.” Booker turned to face his wife. He took her gently in his arms and held her close to him, as if he was holding a fragile dove. Vivian wept on his shoulder.

“You’re a fabulous actress, Vivian, my love. But if you were good enough to fool your own heart, I wouldn’t have married you,” Booker whispered softly in her ear.

Vivian finally smiled and held Booker tight in return. The cold room suddenly got a bit warmer- and the moonlight receded beneath the covering of a cloud.

“Now Vivian,” Booker smiled touching her hand and moving the phone back, “Put the phone down.”

She sighed softly and let Booker guide her precious phone back to its hook, for hopefully the last time.

xxx

“Ah. There you are, Richard.” Meguire chuckled taking the detective in an awkward side hug. His hand that was clenched over Richard’s shoulder was trembling unnecessarily. That how Richard realized that the man was nervous.

It was strange, Richard thought as the Inspector dug him through the familiar police station that he had left several years before. It was strange that the longer he was working on this case the more his ears picked up sounds, the wider his eyes had become, the more sensitive his nose was. He was remembering things of his younger sleuth days that with suddenly awakened detective senses suddenly found less inane... less worthy of the dusty closet.

“I brought the detective, Richard Moore,” Meguire announced upon their entry. For once Richard was not possessed with egoism.

He could feel the tension thicken in the back room as he entered. It was already small- it probably would have made Rachel a decent walk-in closet for sure. But as a room it failed. It served sunlight through a tiny skylight in the ceiling but it offered the efficient computer equipment needed for this difficult case.

In the room already stood two of Meguire’s boys, Richard recognized them by their dark blue uniforms, and a young woman. The woman stood between the two police officers, nervously twirling a strand of straight auburn hair through her forefingers. She straightened herself when Richard and Meguire entered, her hands instinctively moving her glasses back up the bridge of her nose.

“Miss Ashita?” began Meguire.

“Please,” she bowed quickly, eyes quickly returning to Meguire’s face. “Call me Elinor.”

“Miss Elinor,” Meguire corrected himself and returned the bow. “Am I correct in knowing that you are a lip reader.”

“Ah yes,” Elinor murmured, looking rather sheepish. “Not professionally. I’m an interpreter between sign languages. Japanese and American sign languages. But yes- I did learn to read lips.”

Meguire rose a brow, obviously unable to actually comprehend what she was saying. She was studying Meguire’s face with quiet patience. And suddenly Richard saw it.

“You’re deaf.”

Her eyes hadn’t been on Richard’s face but his word had not gone ignored. She had seen enough out of the corner of her eye to understand his comprehension.

“Why yes,” She smiled. Her smile had a slight unearthly feel to it. It was very heartwarming.

“But how can you speak?” Meguire muttered darkly. “You speak very well for someone who can’t hear...” He suddenly rose his voice as if she had just now gone deaf on him. “Are you sure you are deaf?”

Her eyes narrowed at the Inspector. For one who was so nervous earlier, her sudden composure was astonishing. It was clear she had just found what Meguire said insulting.

“How can I speak? You immediately assume that because a person’s deaf that they incapable of communicating?” Her hands began moving but Richard was unable to decipher what the movements meant. She went with such speed and emotion on her face that Richard quite suddenly felt deaf himself.

“I am not profoundly deaf,” she said her hands slowing their dance. “I can hear the sounds of cars when they honk their horns.” Elinor slammed the heel of her right into the palm of her left- reenacting such an action. “I can hear nearby birds should they chirp near my ear,” Her index and thumb finger moved in the motion of a beak. “And I can hear you breathing heavy,” Her flat palms mimicked the movement of his diaphragm. “Seeing as I clearly have embarrassed you, Inspector.”

She smiled again but did not give the now red faced Meguire time to respond, “I can read lips, sir. That’s how I hear. And practice is how I speak. Lots and lots of practice.”

“You are very good at it,” Richard nodded.

“Thank you.” She said cooly in response.

I like her, Richard smiled. She’s spunky. Like Eva.

Richard found himself frowning again. He quickly tried to change his thoughts, No. Not Eva. Like Rachel, dammit. Rachel.

“Let’s get to work then,” Meguire said loudly and then turning his face from her, he grumbled a few unnecessary remarks. By the look on Elinor’s face, she could already guess what he said.

Meguire popped in the security tape. But he paused looking between Richard and the other occupants. When he nodded, the two other boys left the room. The lip reader didn’t seem to notice their departure until one brushed past her shoulder. She suddenly looked less calm and less sure of herself.

“Take a seat,” Meguire motioned to the two folding chairs that sat awkwardly in the center of the room. Both Richard and the Lip Reader took their seats.

Meguire held his finger above the play button but did not press it. Instead he waited to make sure they were ‘listening’ before he continued.

“Our conversation is being recorded, so please, just repeat whatever you see the lips moving on the tape say, alright?” Meguire explained. “You are watching the security camera from a elevator that crashed a few days ago. I’m sure you know the one.”

Richard bowed his head. Elinor seemed to notice. A blush crept across her face. “So everyone on the tape is dead, right?”

“Almost everyone,” Meguire muttered. “But you don’t really need to know the details- just tell us what you see, alright?”

“It doesn’t happen to show,” Her face blanched a flour white, “...the crash, does it?”

“No,” said Meguire curtly.

Relief surged color back into Elinor’s face. But Richard kept his head bowed and didn’t look up until Elinor’s soft voice spoke again.

“I may not be able to understand everything.”

“What do you mean?” muttered Meguire. There was a fair amount of irritation in his voice. Elinor didn’t seemed bothered by it. In fact, she hadn’t heard him at all. She was staring intently at her hands kneaded into her lap. Her yellow skirt rippled as she shifted with modesty. She looked up again, but not into Meguire’s face but straight into Richard’s eyes.

“I guess I mean, I’m a detective,” She smiled and Richard’s heart heaved. “Sometimes, the answers are hidden... and if you want me to find them inside a security tape- it’s quite impossible. People turn their faces, cover their mouths, speak in accents. I know many tricks of the trade but all in all, I’m just a detective studying faces.”

“Well,” Meguire scratched his head and the girl’s eyes returned to him. “Just try your best then.”

“Thank you.” She said gratitude shining in her eyes and not her voice.

Meguire blushed and then quickly pressed the play button. Static danced across the tv screen yet again. And suddenly Richard realized he would have to watch Conan fall all over.

The tape started in the same fashion except now they had a new audio- a soft feminine voice in the background interpreting the flapping of the victims’ lips.

“Hello. Hello.” Elinor began as the elder man, recently identified as Jirashii’s brother, and the first woman greeted. “How was work today?... well better than.... she turned away from the camera.... that’s good.”

The shrewd business man entered next. The conversation had gone in a similar fashion but Elinor commented that their faces were more strained, as if they didn’t enjoy his company. Meguire seemed to take that to heart, scribbling fiercely in his notepad.

There was silence in the room as the elevator made it’s quiet invisible decent on the tv screen. To the viewers it only appeared to be uncommonly small room with a lot of people cramming it for no apparent reason at all. Except perhaps to die, which in all but in Conan’s case they did.

And then it got interesting. Ms. Tokiko and Naoki entered, and Richard leaned closer, matching Elinor’s words to their moving lips.

“I hate him,” Naoki spat entering the elevator. He turned around, lips away from the camera’s view momentarily. But Ms. Tokiko was still in perfect view.

“Well yes. Don’t worry. We’ll be through with him soon.”

Richard’s eyes widened. Naoki turned back around, unaware he had an audience.

“...sure you can manage it? My father knows his way around a court room. Do you really think we can get him?”

They were probably speaking softly on the elevator. The other occupants in the elevator didn’t seem to notice at all. But with Elinor as their ears, Naoki’s and Tokiko’s wicked plan came to life in full blown audio.

“As long as you play the part,” Ms. Tokiko straightened her blouse. “Your father’s company is failing anyway. By pinning him with child abuse, you get the company’s money a few years in advance.”

Naoki puckered out his bottom lip like a spoiled child, “But you get it.”

She looked down at him. A soft smile had curled on her lips. “Only for a year or so. Then you can get a job and we will be married.”

Richard found himself suddenly repulsed. He looked away quickly making note to make sure all of Rachel’s dates were with boys at least two or three years distance of her. This woman was old enough to be his mother.

Elinor seemed even more disgusted than Richard though. It must have been the American in her. Honor and respect were gained by age in Japan but in America such a thing was outlawed. Richard could tell by the way Elinor’s voice rattled that she was not pleased.

“Yes.... my love,” Elinor winced as if the words had stabbed her.

To both Elinor and Richard’s delight their conversation stopped. Mr. Ritani had entered the elevator. There were a few how-de-dos but nothing exceptionally excited. And then came Conan’s cue. Elinor gasped with sympathy at the sight of the eight year old squeezing himself into the elevator.

“Don’t stop,” Richard snapped at her. “Keep going.”

She didn’t see him. Her hands were to her mouth and tears formed in her eyes.

“Please don’t tell me,” She whispered to herself. “Don’t tell me the boy was on there when it... when it...”

“Lady!” Richard stood up. Elinor’s eyes shot to his lips. “You are here to interpret. So do it.”

Elinor studied his face a moment more and then dried her eyes, nodding. Meguire rewound the tape so Elinor needn’t ask. And for the third time, Conan entered the elevator.

Suddenly Richard couldn’t hear Elinor anymore. Instead he heard the hiss of an elevator’s door open and the voices of the victims echoing though his head. Richard closed his eyes and he could see them, the victims welcoming Conan into the hellish elevator with open arms.

“Come on, kid. You’re almost there.” Ritani cheered as the boy suddenly took his hand. Conan was laughing triumphantly as they pulled him in. Someone in the elevator said sorry to Jirashii. Richard heard Kasei telling him to take the stairs.

“That was close,” Conan sighed. “Rachel would kill me if I took any longer.”

“You could have run down the stairs. Good exercise,” Naoki grumbled.

“Why don’t you run down twenty flights?” Conan retorted angrily. “It’s good exercise.”

Naoki shrugged and took to his wall again. Ms. Tokiko tightened her grip on his shoulder. Conan noticed it. He eyed them suspiciously but then lowered his gaze.

“Man, I’m tired,” he announced sitting down in the corner.

“I’d bet.” Ritani smiled down at him. His briefcase swung from his arm lazily. Conan eyed it and then smiled. “Wow, mister. Why carry such a heavy thing like that?”

“Heavy?” Ritani smiled again. “No, my boy. This briefcase is quite empty.”

Conan raised an eyebrow. “Then why carry it?”

Ritani’s face fell slightly. He looked suddenly terribly sad, eyeing the numbers above the elevator. “Because I was tricked.”

The elevator suddenly lurched to a sudden halt. The amusement on everyone’s faces suddenly turned to discomfort when the elevator didn’t regain it’s decent. There was talking... lots of talking. Lots of lips moving.

Conan was looking up at Ritani. Ritani’s lips were obscured from view. Conan went suddenly very pale.

“The elevator’s not going to start up again is it?” Conan said very softly.

“No.” Ritani muttered. “It will drop.”

Screams. Lots of screams. Conan threw down his glasses in a whirl of fast forward motion. His hands bled. A curve cut into his hand.

“Alright. I’m counting on you, Richard... Rachel. Don’t screw this up.”

There was a airless drop and then an incredible noise jolted Richard back into the world of the living.

“You alright there, Richard?” Meguire said from above him.

Elinor was looking downward too. Richard could see the static dancing on the screen once again.

The detective tried to pull himself to his feet but a pain stabbed his head as he rose, fighting his efforts. Elinor and Meguire helped pull himself upward.

“What happened?” Richard couldn’t help to utter, rubbing his neck.

“You passed out.” Elinor answered simply. Richard gave her a look that she translated quite well with a testy look of her own.

“So... What did I miss?” He chuckled, not really intending to.

Elinor shrugged, eyeing the tv with certain longing. “There were too many people in the elevator. After you passed out, it was practically impossible to interpret...”

“And when did I pass out?” Richard moved on to rubbing his head now. “I can’t recall.”

“I guess,” Meguire answered with her, since Elinor could not hear his voice to cue her to stop. “Right after Conan (the little boy) moved to his (the) corner.”

Meguire sent Elinor a swift glare but just as quickly took it back. “Do you need a doctor, Rich? You don’t look too well.”

“I’m fine,” Richard responded, startling Elinor- who hadn’t turn to see what Meguire had said.

But despite Richard’s pleas, Meguire sent him home anyway. But not without compromising a copy of the tape in his possession. When Richard finally took leave of the office it was raining outside again. Elinor was standing out there, umbrella in her hand. Richard acknowledged her with a nod and turned to flag down a taxi.

“You know the little boy personally, don’t you?”

Richard turned. The bewilderment on his face confirmed Elinor’s suspicions.

“What about it?” Richard grumbled, careful not turn away from her.

“He gave you a message. He cut it into his hand. That message was for you, wasn’t it?”

“I guess,” said Richard. Elinor smiled again.

“It’s very simple. The puzzle piece you are looking for,” Her eyes studied his face and stopped at his eyes. “I live in a different world than you Mr. Moore. In the world of the Deaf, we see things that the hearing can’t see sometimes. And that message he left you, is in English.”

“English?” Richard repeated dumbfounded.

“I can’t be sure of what it is, but check it out anyway. Us detectives need to stick together sometimes, right?”

Richard returned her bright smile. He suddenly realized he was getting very wet. He groaned.

Elinor walked past him, flagging down a taxi before he could. But before entering she turned and flashed him one last smile and one last secret.

“That boy had a different look in his eye. An older look... And tell Rachel that I think,” Elinor winked at Richard. “That little boy was quite fond of her.”

And for just a split second, Richard could have sworn he saw Conan again. But then Elinor was gone, the taxi she was in speeding off into the dense and typical traffic of a Tokyo’s rainy day.

“English,” Richard said again. “Alright.”

And finally a yellow cab decided to stop. “Where to,” the driver snapped through his rolled down window.

“Home,” replied Richard absentmindedly as he entered the cab.

“Great. I’d love to. But I usually only pick up girls to go home with me, buddy.”

“Oh sorry.”
To Be Continued... Please R & R!

Yet again I have to thank all who prayed for my cousin Brianna. She has woken up from her coma. I can’t thank you all enough for your prayers.

So yet again, this story is dedicated to Brianna and for those who prayed for her in her time of need. I can’t thank you all enough.

I sound like a broken record. :insert bewildered look:

Anyway- we are just about two or so chapters from the end now. Aren’t you all excited?

I really like Elinor’s character. Although she is minor and only appears in one chapter- she certainly makes notice of herself. And she also tells Richard the key to unlocking Conan’s mystery. She is quite spunky indeed.

Any reference to the Deaf community might have been a bit stretched to my benefit. I know they have interpreters between sign languages- but it is extremely rare that you find one who’d be able to interpreter sign languages and be able to lipread something as complicated as Japanese. I guess it could be done- but man, then Elinor is some amazing woman.

I probably didn’t address this clearly enough in the chapter but I don’t want anyone getting the wrong idea. Not all Deaf or hard of hearing can lipread. Oh, and raising your voice usually doesn’t help much either. It just irritates them. Trust me. I don’t like it when people treat me that way with my hearing loss.

I hope I didn’t insult any Deaf readers. I tried to keep as true to their culture as I could with Elinor.

Anyway, thank you all for reading. I hope you enjoy. And please remember-

With a keen eye for details, one truth prevails.












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