L frantically searched for his strawberry short-cake that he had hidden in the back of the fridge, behind the ketchup. He began to throw everything out of the fridge until he found it.
"Ryuzaki?" Misa inquired. "What are you doing?"
L looked over at her; she was wearing a small red night gown. He shut his eyes immediately. Living with Light and Misa was hard. Especially now that Near and Mello moved in. Watari thought that a concentration of the best detectives in the world would be the better alternative to a Kira. Kira was finally gone. The Task Force Headquarters cost too much money to maintain, so Watari forced them to live in a mansion with a jet-hanger and helicopter pad in the back yard.
"I am searching for my cake." L said, biting his thumb so as not look at Misa.
It was 3 AM, and L thought he was the only one up. He had been researching the latest case Watari sent to him. Kira was back. Or at least someone was trying to imitate Kira. The differences were a series of poisons of wealthy business men and only wealthy business men. The murder had used different poisons, and each led to a seemingly natural death. However, police reports said that each victim had a trace of something in their system. L decided this murder was trying to simulate that they had a power like Kira's. Also the murders were occurring in New York.
"Okay." Misa said and left the kitchen.
L now had two mysteries on his hands. Someone had eaten his cake. His top suspect was Mello. Mello was a bit of a prick, and he had an addiction to chocolate bars. L decided to eat one of his chocolate bars and observe Mello's reaction. He tip toed into Mello's room. On the bed was Mello and….Matt. L knew they were close but he didn't know this much…
L decided if he were Mello, he would but his chocolate somewhere close, like in the nightstand drawer. Sure enough, three chocolate bars were there. L took one and snuck off.
L then decided he would take something from everyone. Then everyone in the house would have had something stolen, and each would find go searching for the thief, the real thief who was not L, would then confess so make everyone stop. He crept into Near's room and stole Near's newest obsession: a Transformer's deluxe action figure. The toy could literally transform like in the movies. Wammy bought it for Near for Christmas. Near was in the process of dissecting it and then remaking it. L took it, and hid it.
Next L went into Light and Misa's room. Misa was already asleep again. He took her weird voodoo doll she kept on her nightstand. He took Light's watch. He hid them all in the same place and then shuffled back to his room.
The next morning everyone awoke in an uproar. "WHO THE HELL ATE MY CHOCOLATE BAR?" Mello screeched. "Whoever stole my watch." Light said darkly. " Probably he same person who took my toy." Near said, frowning. "MY DOLL!" Misa cried. "Someone ate my short-cake."
Everyone looked at Matt who hadn't lost anything. "It wasn't me!" He said realizing the circumstances.
"Well anyway, we have a bigger mystery to solve. Thirty-one murders last month, 1 a day. They all seemingly happened as though Kira did it." L said.
"But we got rid of him." Near said.
"Exactly, and this person isn't Kira. The murder wants us to think they are Kira however, they are using poisons that create the affect of a natural heart-attack or stroke or other things. But every victim has a trace of poisonous substance, which can only mean a single serial killer is doing this. Also every victim is a business man."
"How come L is so unconcerned with the stolen stuff?" Mello said. "He obviously took it all."
"No, someone ate my shortcake." L said.
"SO you decided to get back at us all by stealing our stuff?" Mello challenged.
"Not at all."
"I think it was Mello." Near said. "Only he is that despicable."
"Who the hell asked you Near?"
L had successfully begun to turn everyone against each other. Eventually someone would confess to taking his cake, and he could return their things.
"L is right! We need to focus on the case at hand." Light said. They all moved down to the basement, which had been fully equipped with computers and technology for crime solving. L, as the ring leader of the team gave everyone their orders.
"Light I want you to work on the case in general as I will. Near I want you to focus on possible people who could be committing this crime. Mello I want you to work with Misa and Matt on a plan to catch the criminal."
Matt and Misa had become the physical investigators. Misa had an acting ability and charm that allowed her to get in with suspects. They called her the "Face". Matt had the brains, so they called him the "Brain", he would help Misa figure out where to go when things went off course. Mello was the supervisor, he watched, and created the plans. They called the team collectively the "triple M" team.
Near had an uncanny ability to narrow down suspects. He would figure out all the people with motive, and ability to commit the crimes and then collaborate with Light and L to figure out who it actually was. Then the Triple M team would go in and execute a plan to catch the suspect without tipping them off they were being investigated.
Several hours later Near had narrowed it down to several suspects. Suspect number 1 was Melanie Starcrest. She was a business woman working for a company that 77% of the victims had worked at. Melanie was not married, and she was a member of a lot of women's rights guilds which made her suspicious considering all the victims were men. Melanie had a high rank, and almost all the victims had been replaced with women, especially if the job was higher up. The second suspect was a man who worked at the same company. About 37% of the victims had been men who were above him in his field. However, unlike Melanie, Jim Mason was not suspicious in any other way.
"I am 83% sure that it is Melanie Starcrest. And I am 17% sure it is Jim Mason." L said after reviewing Near's report in detail.
"I personally think it is more likely Mason." Light said. "We shall see."
The first thing to do was fly to New York. On the jet they formulated their plan.
Misa's alias was going to be 'Jenny West'. She and Matt (Mark Summers) were both going to apply for a newly open job as Melanie Starcrest's business partner. They were going to be interviewed by Melanie herself. They had set up their fake credentials so that Mark was considerably better for the job. The objective was to see whether Melanie was so feminist she would let it jeopardize the efficiency of her company.
"Hello Miss West."
"Nice to meet you!" Jenny said enthusiastically. Misa was acting as a business professional, who was slightly ditzy.
"So tell me why you are interested in working for this company."
"I just….really like your logo." Jenny said, completely serious. Matt was feeding her words. She had a earpiece in and a camera in one earring for L and the rest to watch Melanie. She had a microphone in the other earring.
Melanie chuckled, "No seriously."
"I actually really want to work here because I noticed the amount of women in high positions, and that is really important to me."
"Since you mention it, it is important to me as well." Melanie smiled. She had long red hair, and thick framed, rectangular glasses. She wore dark lipstick, and no other make-up.
The interview continued, and nothing suspicious was said. Mark went in next. His suit-coat buttons had a camera and mike. "Nice to meet you!" Mark said enthusiastically.
Melanie nodded. The interview went normally until the very end. "Don't get your hopes up Mr. Summers. I think I have already woman for the job."
Matt met Misa back at the hotel. Melanie had been analyzed as a 100% feminist, who cared more about the advancement of women than she did her company. The next step was to figure out if her methods were violent.
Misa burst into the hotel room. "WE DID IT!" She sang, "Melanie called right away and hired me."
"Good work. Mello have you mapped out a plan?"
"Yes. Have you decided to confess about stealing our stuff?"
"Whoever ate my cake it the one who stole your stuff."
"Well I hate cake!" Mello said. L decided it was not Mello, because he was too vocal about his concern for his chocolate bar. He decided it was not Light because Light wouldn't have stolen. He decided it wasn't Misa because she showed no signs of guilt when she saw him searching for the cake. He decided it was either Near or Matt. L called room service and asked them to send up a cake. He did this before Matt came into the room, and while Near was solving a puzzle and had not been listening to that back and forth with Mello. When the cake arrived L asked Matt if he wanted any.
"No thanks man." L decided this statement could mean one of two things. "No man I ate your other piece." Or "No man I don't like strawberry short cake."
L decided he could ask Near, because Near would immediately catch on to his trick. He left the cake out.
Misa started work the next day. Her objectives were to establish whether Melanie or Jim had ever supported Kira. Also Light had mentioned that a key time for poisoning would be around lunch time when everyone was eating food. L had countered that she could have slipped it in their coffee at any other point in the day, but it was still a key point.
Matt was going to be disguised as an employee, and we was going to observe Jim and Melanie as they moved around throughout the day. A murder was occurring every day so surely one of them was going to poison someone.
During the lunch break, Misa sat with Melanie. She sighed loudly.
"What is the matter?" Melanie inquired, forcing a smile.
"Oh…It's just sometimes I really miss…Kira." Misa said. The look of shock in Melanie's eyes excited L the observer. He bit his thumb, feeling they were getting close.
A/N : If you liked this story, don't worry I will try to add a new chapter every day. Check out my page for a story centering around Misa :p! Subcribe! Review! Favorite!