I'm very excited to be publishing this story! I've recently gotten really into the Death Note groove so I hope I do a good job keeping L - and all other future characters that may occur - in their respective character roles! The beginning of the story is set pre-Kira case but will eventually enter into the Kira domain. Also, for anyone who's wondering what Mona and her dear friend Sofia look like I'll have a link on my profile so you can check it out :). ALSO! If you were curious I did in fact choose the title because of the Rihanna song; I'm very fond of it. I'll most likely be drawing inspiration from the tune throughout the duration of this story~ Other than that, please enjoy!
Stay
Chapter One
False Identities
Echoes reverberated down the halls of the J. Edgar Hoover building as my heels continuously tapped down against the marble floor. I, along with two other agents from my district, had been recruited from our typical stationing in New York to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's headquarters in Washington, D.C. All we'd been told was that we had been chosen to work on a case that others had yet to be able to solve. Other than that, we were left uninformed and told that the details would be explained at the meeting set for 9 AM on the day of our arrival. We'd landed down at 7, giving us two hours to rent a room for, presently, an undisclosed amount of time, and then find our way to the Bureau.
Pulling up my left coat sleeve slightly I checked the time on my wrist watch; 8:53. "Hey Bello, hold the elevator!" a familiar male voice called out to me as I stepped into the lift. Sighing, I held my hand against the side of the door with slight regret. Being confined to such an intimate space with Hough for eight floors was almost too much to bare. "Thanks," the man with cropped blonde hair said as he slid in beside me and I let my arm fall to my side. He hit the button designated level eight as I casually took a step away from him, pressing my bottom into the silver hand railing. It was only a matter of seconds before he was talking again, and I was hardly surprised. "Let's hope Falk doesn't get lost on the way here; as smart as that kid is he's damn bad with directions." I hummed in agreement, giving a slight head nod as I kept my eyes on the dial above the door that slowly inched past the floor numbers. "How about you? Did you have any trouble finding the place?"
"Of course not, DC is systematically designed to be navigable even by newcomers. Having a basic understanding of its layout keeps even the most moronic of people from getting lost. Streets named after States typically run diagonally and Pennsylvania Avenue is no exception." My stare briefly flickered down to spark with his, challenging him to argue against me. His eyes bulged out as he swallowed hard and looked frantically to the dial.
"Y-Yeah, guess you're right. Stupid question!" I folded my arms over my chest, shaking my head in disappointment. Still just as much a sissy as always. I shouldn't be surprised. The door finally dinged open and Hough couldn't seem to get off the elevator fast enough. I followed calmly out after him, walking past as he hesitated to look down either end of the hall.
"The meeting room is this way," I said casually to him as I continued to stroll towards the large double doors at the left end of the wing. I heard the man's quick footsteps fall into place behind me.
"They're really keeping tight lips on the information around this case; I wonder what it's about." My eyebrows furrowed slightly at his comment, thinking in frustration of how true it was.
"Me too…" I murmured in response, stopping at the receptionist desk just before the meeting room. Pulling out my badge from the inside flap of my coat I flashed it to the woman, saying, "I'm Special Agent Bello and this is Detective Hough, we have a meeting set for today in room H12 at 9 o' clock." The doe eyed woman assessed mine and Hough's badges for credibility then smiled and motioned for us to enter the room. I could feel my partner's eyes fall anxiously onto the back of my head but I paid him no due as I headed to the doors and pushed them pointedly open. I was far too anxious to learn more about the case to waste another moment waiting.
Inside the room was a long mahogany table surrounded by twelve red leather-bound chairs, only one of which had been occupied. At the end farthest from the door a man wearing a plain black suit and a balding head of hair sat with his fingers interwoven on top of the table. Behind him was a wall made entirely of window that looked out over the district area. I took a few steps in and then noticed another man standing off in the corner of the room, wearing an overcoat and hat which hid all of his features. I froze, instinctively reaching for the gun at my waist as my sights narrowed in untrustingly on him.
"Calm down Ms. Bello, Mr. Watari is a trusted member of this meeting," said the man sitting at the table. I turned my suspicious gaze onto him.
"I'm sorry, and who are you?" He smiled almost amusedly before standing up and coming to approach myself and Hough, who had come to be standing beside me.
"I'm SSA Andrew Gray of the Behavioral Analysis Unit. I've called you two in along with Special Agent Falk to aid me in a case I've been forgoing for almost a month now. Mr. Watari is a… third party communicator, if you will, for the final person I've asked in assisting us today. Please, have a seat until Agent Falk arrives."
"My apologies sir," I said with hidden embarrassment before following him back to the table where Hough and I sat opposite each other and Gray assumed his position once more at the head of the table. "So, if you don't mind me asking sir, what exactly is this case about?" He gave another whimsical smile, saying,
"Don't worry, I'll explain everything once I have you all gathered together." I grimaced in annoyance, checking my wrist watch again. One minute past nine. I crossed my legs and folded my arms tightly against my chest. "No need to be so impatient Agent Bello; I'm sure Agent Falk will be here any moment." I glanced wryly up at the older man and briefly wondered how someone so easy going could hold such an impressive title. It almost seemed unfair. There was certainly nothing easy about the work an FBI agent had to do on a daily basis, so carrying such a care free attitude damn near looked like mockery.
"I'm sorry I'm late; I had trouble finding the right room." We all looked up to see a lanky, scrawny man with wiry black hair come bustling through the large frosted glass doors. He paused once past the threshold to actually look around the room. His face was calculating, whirring with new information to process I was sure.
"Glad you could join us Agent Falk! If you wouldn't mind taking a seat, I'd like to get started now," Gray spoke with a slightly heavier tone than he'd used before. From behind their rectangular glasses Falk's eyes landed on the man seated at the table with no sign of shock or distrust, unlike my own reaction. I scoffed under my breath, turning my head away to look out the window instead. It was a dreary day with heavy lackluster clouds hanging low in the sky, which wasn't all that uncommon for the area but still left me with an unsettling feeling. I heard the chair shifting beside me as I assumed Falk was sitting down. I wasn't surprised he'd chosen the spot next to me; even as cold as I could be I was still more tolerable than Hough. Propping my elbows up on the table I laced my fingers and faced Gray.
"We're all here now, please begin," I prompted.
"Of course," the man said in agreement before opening the manila folder that had been sat in front of him. Turning it around for us to view, he fanned out the papers for better display. Four of the sheets housed a photo of a different woman, three of which also had pictures taken of what appeared to be surgical cuts to their lower abdomen. "These four women were all in the last week of their pregnancy when an intruder broke into their home and, while they were sleeping, placed them under anesthesia and performed a caesarean section, removing the child from their womb and stitching them back shut before they came to. When the women awoke, they were left in their beds unharmed and childless." My stomach had entirely fallen limp in my gut, instantly becoming overwhelmed with disgust by this perpetrator.
"And where are these women from?" Falk spoke up, not surprisingly being the first of us to delve into the case.
"The first two are from California," he explained, pushing forward the sheets of two of the women. "The third is from Oregon." I glanced over at the third paper, seeing the photo of another brunette just before Hough took it up to look over. "And the last was from Nevada. Unlike the other women, Carey Young had awoken before the suspect had a chance to begin her operation and was able to fight her off while also getting a good view of what she looked like." My interest peeked, I grabbed for the information sheet of Ms. Young.
"So the suspect is a female," I stated rather than asked as I skimmed over the report Ms. Young had given of the offender. "A 5'6" brunette with brown eyes. Around 135 pounds, early 40's." I looked up at Gray daftly. "This is all she saw of the suspect?" The man shrugged, shifting his stare over to Hough.
"Apparently that's all there was to give. An ordinary description for an ordinary woman."
"Great, this'll be like a case finding Waldo…" Hough griped negatively, and I couldn't help but mentally agree with him.
"Well, that is why we've called you four in today, after all. We wouldn't be needing your help if this were a simple case."
"Who is this fourth member? And why can't they be here themself?" I threw an aggravated glance over to the man who had been silently standing in the corner of the room.
"I suppose it's time I introduce you all – please, Mr. Watari, if you would." The man going by the name Watari nodded his head and stepped forward, placing the laptop he'd been holding at his side onto the table. Lifting the screen up I felt my heart skip a beat at what I saw.
"Is this some kind of joke – or a test?" I demanded incredulously, sitting up straighter in my chair. The screen was a pure white with the exception of a single black letter 'L' stamped boldly in the center.
"I can assure you this is not a ruse Ms. Bello," came the distorted voice through the laptop's speakers. "I am here for the same reason as you – to find and apprehend the suspect at large." I looked up at Gray, positive my face was betraying the calm composure I typically tried to keep. "Hello. I, am L." My hazel eyes moved back down to the screen as I took a calming breath. I couldn't allow myself to get worked up at such a crucial moment. I brought my hands down into my lap, weaving my fingers tightly together.
"Wait, you're L? As in the L?! The world's best detective L?!" Hough shouted, clearly just as shocked by all of this as I was. "Well if you're working on the case why the hell are we here!? Surely you can solve this on your own." I hated to admit that I was again in agreement with him. That had made for too many times that day and it was starting to make me queasy.
"Being who he is, L more often than not is working on a multitude of cases at any given moment. So instead of heading them all and running the risk of stretching himself too thin, he… lends himself, if you will, to already operating teams," Gray stepped in to explain with a sort of simple-ness to his voice.
"Teams who are working on cases he's interested in, that is," Falk corrected in a nearly resentful tone. It sounded odd coming from such a gangly, brainy man. In the two years I'd been working with him I hadn't truly seen him display all that wide an array of emotions. They generally seemed to stop at interest and franticness. I almost began to wonder why then would L's decision to only take on personally intriguing cases bothered him but then stopped myself. Any person with a true sense of morality would be at least a little bothered by that.
"Regardless, he is here to be of aid to us. Now, please let us return to the matter at hand."
"Thank you SSA Gray," L said, and I felt an involuntary chill erupt down my lower back. The thought of working on a case with the world's most renowned detective had never even crossed my mind. "Now, as I'm sure you've all already gathered, our suspect is working in the west coast, most likely California based."
"I'd say the more central to northern part, being their relations to Nevada and Oregon," I added as I slid over the sheets of the other three victims.
"She's only targeting single mothers who live alone," Hough commented and I nodded knowingly.
"Correct, but this doesn't account for much. It of course would always be easier to go after someone who is left unguarded or unprotected," L said, all but throwing Hough's input to the wind.
"I'm assuming this meant none of the home's had alarm systems?" Falk inquired.
"No, they were all lower-middle class women living in below average neighborhoods," Gray said.
"Definitely easy targets," I hummed, lining up the papers to better view them all at once. A few seconds of silence flitted by before I heard L speak again.
"Do you notice something, Ms. Bello?"
"They all have the same general appearance; blue eyed brunettes. The suspect clearly has a preference," I said, looking up at the computer screen.
"Yes, I noticed this too," L agreed shortly.
"Whoever she is would have to have some type of medical background, and with the incisions made to these women's abdomens I'd be willing to bet a surgeon," Falk inputted. For the next hour we discussed the finer points of the case in great detail; ranging from the perpetrators MO to the layouts of the crime scenes. By the end of the meeting, it all but seemed we had the suspect in our grasp. All that was truly left to do was actually go out and investigate the crime scenes and present our new-found discoveries to the California police department. Strangely though, when the idea of flying out to the west coast was presented Gray was quick to draw the meeting to a close, dismissing us of our duty on the case.
"Are you sure you want us leaving so early? What are we supposed to do for the rest of our time here?" Hough asked as Gray began to gather back together the information sheets of the victims. He shrugged before looking up and smiling.
"Relax, I suppose. You're in a new city, why not do touristy things?" I scoffed.
"With all due respect sir, touristy things is not why I flew 225 miles out here."
"Perhaps not, but it can be enjoyable on days off," L spoke up, and I instantly flashed the small camera a warning glare.
"Don't patronize me L."
"No patronizing intended," he retorted in almost mockery and I opened my mouth to shoot off something bitter but he was talking once again before I had the chance. "Thank you for all your help today agents. It was truly a pleasure working with you." Then Watari closed the laptop and lifted it back up securely to his person. I clenched my jaw shut, feeling as if I'd just been made a fool of. I looked between the two men I'd only just met before turning sharply on my heels and heading for the door.
"Uh, hey! Wait for me Mona!" Hough called after me, and I promptly stopped, whipped back around and spat sharply,
"Don't be so casual, Agent. You have no place to be calling me by my first name." Then I turned away once more and continued my heated trek out from the room, past the receptionist's desk, and to the elevator which thankfully I had the pleasure of taking alone. Once on the ground floor I left the building and walked the mile and half back to the hotel I would be staying in for the next three nights.
The moment I was in my room I kicked off my heels, pulled my cellphone from my coat pocket and sat down onto the bed, dialing one of the very select few numbers I had memorized by heart. After the fourth ring the call was answered.
"I'm surprised to be hearing from you so early," Sofia said right off the bat, never one for frivolous introductions. "What happened? Did you finally end up punching Shane out?" I grimaced at the mention of my bothersome partner, Shane Hough.
"No such luck," I sighed, crossing my legs and hunching over to rest my forearm on my knee. "We just got dismissed from the case."
"Ha! What? Already?" my closest friend chortled unsympathetically; a characteristic, strangely enough, I'd always appreciated about her. I had never been too fond of sympathy.
"Yeah, tell me about it – they make us fly down here for three days for a meeting that didn't even last two hours. I'm not sure what they're playing at but I know some higher up's trying to test us on something." I rolled my head to the side, stretching out a kink that had built up in my neck.
"Eh, I think you're reading too far into; like usual. I mean they called the three best detectives out from New York to help on some case. Of course you guys were gonna solve it in no time. Is it really that big of a surprise? Just enjoy your time there, you could use a vacation. Though to be honest if I would've known you'd be there with all this free time I probably would've come too…" I couldn't help but smirk a little at her finishing comment.
"I wish you were here, it'd make all this ridiculousness more tolerable."
"Well, no sense dwelling on my absence and other nonsense. I say you go out and do something – anything really. But by god Mona, I swear if I find out you were sat holed up in your hotel room the entire time I will personally see to that Shane follows you around every day for the next month." My mouth wrinkled into an overbearing frown at the mere thought.
"I wouldn't put it past you either…" I murmured, and I heard a malevolent chuckle come from the other end. "Alright fine, I'll go to the National History Museum tomorrow. Happy?"
"Not exactly my idea of fun but hey, whatever floats your boat." I gave a small smile at this. Most likely if she had come, Sofia would've made a detailed map of every rave in a 20 mile radius then proceed to experience each one firsthand. "Oh hey, someone's at the door so I gotta go. Talk to you later 'kay?"
"Yeah whatever, see ya." I ended the call, holding the phone in my hand for a minute as I thought over what to do next. Checking the time and seeing it was only 10:42 I decided to go for breakfast. Getting to my feet I fitted my toes back into my heels, grabbed the keycard from off the nightstand, and slung my nude colored side purse over my shoulder and headed out the door. I'd been staying at the Park Hyatt, one of the finer hotels in the area. It was true that I enjoyed luxury when I travelled – of course it wasn't a necessity, but if it were possible I didn't see the point in choosing otherwise. I worked hard for the money that I earned, and spending that money how I wished only seemed logical and reasonable.
My room being on the tenth floor, the elevator made a stop on the ninth to let on a raven-headed, tired eyed man before continuing it's decent to the bottom level. I couldn't help but notice the horrible posture of the man, and almost felt an ache in my back for him. I diverted my eyes away though after only a few seconds, not wanting to be caught in my stare.
"Have you been to DC before?" he spoke up in a voice that seemed to match his appearance well; casual and almost lethargic. I glanced at him, keeping my expression light as I answered,
"Twice. Always on business though." He looked at me as well then and smiled. I felt a light flush ignite on the back of my neck. The sight seemed nearly out of place on his unorthodox features.
"I'm always here on business too; what a coincidence." I hummed a yes and gave a small head nod, wondering what possibly his profession could be. "My name's Ryuzaki, by the way." I gave a slight curve of mouth at his friendly gestured and introduced,
"I'm Darcy." His smile grew wider and his eyes momentarily lit up with enthusiasm, as if I'd just said something profoundly interesting or he somehow knew this were only an alias.
"Darcy is it?" My lips fell into a straight line again. "What do you say you and I go for breakfast? My treat." A dull beep sounded as we reached the first floor and the doors opened up, he stepping off before I but waiting for me to pass the threshold too. I opened my mouth to reject his offer but was cut short by the waving of his arm, gesturing me to follow him. "Come on, I know a place that serves the best coffee cake." The sound of Sofia's foulmouthed ranting flooded my mind when I thought of her finding out about me denying him and opting to eat alone instead. I sighed in defeat.
"Lead the way, I suppose…"