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This screams trolling by Gosho. Seriously, "the second-in-command of the boss appears?" That's a sledgehammer to the face of even those who are unversed in DC mysteries. Between Kanenori and Hyoue, the red herring levels are off the charts. Your first impression is more likely to be correct—Gosho typically finds a purpose for his red herring characters, so it's doubtful that Kanenori's just a wandering chef, and nothing else. He's, in all probability, not Rum, either (if he is, then we're retreading the Bourbon arc... people definitely won't be happy 'bout that). Thus, he's probably a BO member who has a relationship with Rum similar to Chianti's relationship with Vermouth.

As much as I want to pass it off as a red-herring....I'm gonna stay neutral on this matter and simply say that he is a BO member(since we had enough indirect hints from Gosho that Wakita is most likely BO related), without completely dismissing the possibility that he could be Rum. I'm still obviously leaning more towards(and prefer) Wakita being a member with some antipathy between him and Rum...but it's really hard to say. Not that it's confirmed yet, but I still think that Rumi is a very obvious Asaka suspect too, and it does seem to me like she will end up being Asaka as well. EDIT: Since the actual translation is "Close associate of the boss", rather than "second-in-command", Wakita could still be another BO member, who sees Rum as weak and that the boss still bets on him(according to the "Pirate's spirit" comment) and who is a close associate to the boss(according to the Yaiba comment), which is Gosho's way of creating a red-herring by playing with the truth rather than outright lie.

Just a warning, this post will be a little long. Okay, I just finished reading through this entire topic, and there are a lot of good theories on here. But a thought occurred to me a few pages ago which has developed into a completely new theory in my mind. First, let me explain where the idea came from. It was the combination of a few things, actually. The first thing that started the genesis of this theory was how people made references back to the development of the Bourbon arc; specifically, the parallels to Gundam. The next thing that helped my mind develop this idea was the repeated mention of the appearance of Lum and whether it was what Aoyama-sensei was referring to with the Animal Crossing hint that Rum had appeared. The final element that spawned this theory was a single mention of the fake name Akai used while undercover with the Organization, Moroboshi Dai. The idea? Well, if analyzing Gundam turned up significant clues pointing towards Bourbon, maybe analyzing another anime could point us toward Rum. What anime? Urusei Yatsura! A quick rundown for anyone not familiar with UY. Basically, Moroboshi Ataru was a normal guy who was going out with a girl named Shinobu until aliens showed up and he was chosen at random to be the Earth's champion in a game (basically tag) that would decide the fate of the world. His opponent was Lum, daughter of the alien leader. He won the game, and Lum became obsessively infatuated with him, leading to various hilarity and crazy situations, as well as the first and funniest anime love triangle I ever saw. Obviously Rum is a parallel to Lum, so to figure out who Rum is, we need to analyze the other characters. The next important character is Moroboshi Ataru. Moroboshi . . . As in Moroboshi Dai. Meaning that Akai is our Ataru. Before his involvement with the Black Organization (which is the clear parallel to the alien invaders), he was in a relationship with Jodie-sensei, making her our Shinobu. So who is Rum/Lum? The other point of the love triangle, the member of the Black Organization that "Moroboshi" was involved with, Miyano Akemi! "But wait! Akemi is dead!" you say? Allow me to explain by unfolding the series of events. The Miyano family were important members of the Black Organization. The parents were researching a mysterious drug for the Organization. Of the two children, it was the younger, Shiho, who was chosen to succeed them in their research (presumably having shown some scientific aptitude at an early age). But the eldest child of such an important family would not be a mere grunt within the Organization. Just as Shiho undoubtedly received scientific training from an early age, Akemi would certainly have been taught other skills that would be useful to the Organization. After the "death" of the parents, Miyano Shiho was continuing research on the same mysterious drug they were working on, but all she had come up with was an untraceable poison, which she herself said was not the intended purpose of APTX-4869. I'm fairly certain that Haibara has also admitted she knew little of what went on in the Organization beyond the confines of her lab, mostly just what her sister told her. Now, Miyano Akemi is a skilled member of the Black Organization who has worked her way up through the ranks, both by virtue of her talents and her relationship to such an important family within the Organization. But, seeing her sister's research stall, she and Anokata came up with a plan to motivate her. What if her beloved older sister was in danger and her life depended on the completion of APTX-4869? But even that didn't get the desired results, so they had to go one step further, both to demonstrate that their threats were not empty and to try to scare Shiho into making APTX-4869 into what it was meant to be, and Miyano Akemi had to die. It was at that point that the plan was set up for the robbery case. Akemi would commit the robbery with a recruited team, kill them, and in turn be "killed" by Gin. The robbery went off as planned, but then one of the recruits betrayed Akemi and disappeared with the money before she could kill him. In disguise, she hired Kogoro to find him. After recovering the money, she didn't count on the fact that Conan would be able to track her, so the scene to fake her death was modified on the fly. She and Gin improvised a scene in which she did everything in order to free her sister from the Organization for the sake of the witness, which she upheld with her "dying words." She was most likely dosed with puffer fish toxin or something similar, which can give the appearance of death, even fooling a medical professional without an absolutely thorough examination, and rigged with blood packs. When Gin shot her, he used blanks and the blood packs were detonated and, combined with the puffer fish toxin taking effect as she laid before him, made it appear even to Conan that she had been shot and killed by Gin. Her body was then switched out for someone similar in appearance prior to the autopsy and before the effects of the puffer fish toxin wore off, probably by a disguised Organization member sneaking into the morgue. I can imagine a scene in which they claim to be delivering a body inside a body bag, then switch it out for Akemi after dosing the watchman with something to knock him out. (Most likely, the original plan was for Gin or some other Organization member to make an anonymous call to report the body to make sure she was found while still under the effects of the puffer fish toxin and could fool the preliminary examination on the scene.) This scenario also answers a few questions I have had about things in the course of the series. It explains why Gin is so ready to believe Akai Shuichi is still alive, because he has carried out a faked death very similar to Akai's. She would fit the feminine description of Rum, and possibly even the strong build description as she does look rather athletic and fit, or perhaps a strongly built man as well as the old man were used as stand ins to keep rumors of her as Rum reaching her sister. Likewise, I believe the fake eye was a rumor she herself started for her sister's benefit, so Shiho couldn't deduce that she was Rum and spoil the plan to motivate her research. As for why Akemi/Rum did nothing with the information that Conan admitted to her that he was Kudo Shinichi as she was "dying," I'm sure she reported it directly to Anokata once she woke up. Rather than killing him outright, she was probably told to observe him, and may even have appeared in various disguises a few times to do so. At that point, they may not have been certain that his de-aging was caused by the APTX-4869, or (more likely) they wanted to see if there were any other effects on APTX-4869's victims that suffer the de-aging side effect before killing him. When Shiho disappeared, Anokata and Rum would have figured out how it happened and suspected she might have gone to Conan for help, which is why the Organization was looking for her in Beika specifically and why Bourbon was sent to build an association with Kogoro, with whom Conan is staying. Yet, even after "Shiho's" "death" on the Bell Tree Express, Haibara still showed up, so even though none of the other Organization members knew who she really was, her presence probably would have been reported. So finally, Rum decided to take action and disguised herself as a new teacher's aide at Conan and Haibara's elementary school, Wakasa Rumi, to get close and do what needs to be done. She is now simply waiting for the call from Anokata to kill or capture Haibara and/or Conan. This would explain Rumi's ruthless behavior once Shonen Tantei was locked in the cellar in the case with the robbers from years before. It would also explain why Rumi doesn't trip Haibara's Black Organization sense as her sister would know just how to play her without setting off any warning signals. It would explain why Rum would give false impressions of her appearance even within the Organization. As for her age making it impossible for her to have killed Kohji 17 years earlier, not necessarily. It is possible that she, like Vermouth, doesn't age normally. I would also note that I have a sister (yes, blood related) who is 17 years younger than I am, so that much age difference between siblings is nowhere near impossible. With that in mind, she could be significantly older than Shiho, plenty old to have committed the murders 17 years earlier, which might have been one of her first big assignments. And, if Akemi lied to Shiho about everything else, why not her age as well? Plus, if you take the Urusei Yatsura connection one step further, it could lead to another major revelation. After all, who was Lum? The DAUGHTER OF THE ALIEN LEADER! That's right, if the UY theory turns out to be true, then Anokata could very well turn out to be either Miyano Elena or Miyano Atsushi, having faked their own death in the lab explosion! I think I might develop this part of the theory further in the topic about the identity of Anokata tomorrow. So, that is my new theory. I have tried to present it with a well thought out defense, and to answer the biggest questions it raises, but if anyone has anything to counter it, or to add to it, I am still open to ideas, so by all means let me know! I look forward to seeing everyone's responses to this theory!