SPOILER WARNING: Do not read if you have not finished the anime/manga. There WILL be spoilers!
Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note or any of it's characters.
You let him escape, didn't you? Mello was far too reckless, and this wasn't the time for that. The plan had already been put into motion, and now it was at risk of falling apart.
"Lidner,"
"Yes … ?"
"Did you tell Mello everything about our investigation?"
Lidner wasn't responding.
"Well?" Near asked impatiently.
"Y-yes … but not about Mikami," she replied defensively.
"Is that so? Then we might still be able to make it. If Mello finds out about Mikami and starts targeting him instead though, our plans will be ruined. So you have to rescue Takada. More importantly, you must stop Mello." It was an order.
"But … "
Near picked up the Mello puppet on the floor. You're so reckless. His rival had kidnapped Takada in order to defeat Kira first, to win the game. He wanted to catch Kira even though he knew what the risks were. What he didn't know was how unnecessary those risks were now.
"Please do it." He spoke with authority, but there was almost a pleading undertone.
"Okay ..." The call ended.
Now he had to contact L, no, Kira, in order to clear any suspicions. Near sighed in annoyance. He didn't need this right now.
"Rester," Near commanded, "Please connect me to L"
"Right."
Even at the orphanage where Near and Mello grew up, the blond had always been impulsive, unpredictable. Near was the planning type, and Mello was the active type. Working together had always been troublesome, but surprisingly productive.
...
"Near, I said listen to me!" Pieces of paper exploded from on top his desk, into the air, and was now falling everywhere around young Near. He finally turned to glare at his partner.
"Oh, so that got your attention, huh?" Mello shouted.
Near sighed. "I was just thinking."
"You've been thinking for over an hour." Mello flared, "Let's just start the project already. The sooner we start, the sooner we finish, and I won't have to waste any more of my life working with you."
"Mello," Near responded calmly, "If you want to start so badly, then just go ahead. I'll join you when I -"
More papers flew off his desk. "Take me seriously, Near!"
Mello did eventually start without Near, and when the latter had finalized his plans and joined Mello, he found himself repeatedly changing it in response to his partner's impulsive undertakings. Mello did not waste time contemplating over every minute detail of something but would act on it and uncover new possibilities as he went. Sometimes, there existed ideas that were simply too unpredictable, even for Near, and one could not merely conceptualize it. One had to discover it.
Their project had turned out far better than if Near had done it alone. His partner had done him a great favor, unintentionally of course, like every favor he had ever done for Near. There were numerous.
...
Near ended the call with L.
Why, Lidner? Why did you let him put all of us, including himself, in danger? He pulled at a lock of hair. Because you trusted him. You trusted his judgment.
Shortly after, another call came in. Gevanni. He had found the location of the notebook, the real one, as a result of Takada's kidnapping, meaning that the one they had tracked this entire time had actually been a fake.
Near twirled his hair with an index. So Mello had done him a favor again. If it weren't for Mello, he would have lost the battle, and the entire team would have all been killed. His plan was faulty from the start, because he couldn't predict every possibility. Mello had to discover them for him. Without Mello, he would have lost.
"Gevanni, did Mikami write anything else in the notebook besides Takada's name?"
"Yes," was the response. "He wrote the time and date of the death, today at 2:33 PM. He also wrote the cause of death, suicide by burning herself."
That confirmed his suspicion.
"Thank you, please continue tailing Mikami for the time being." End call.
Near dropped his head down.
Mikami had Takada burn herself to death instead of just letting her have a heart attack. He should had been in a hurry to write her name down, knowing that the SPK was keeping an eye on him, so there should have been no reason for taking the time to also write a cause of death unless there was something other than Takada to dispose of, evidence. For Mikami to risk exposing himself and the real notebook in order to take care of Takada and any evidence on her, he must have been pretty sure that she actually did have something to write on. No, more than that, he must have been pretty sure that she had actually writtenon it. So Takada must have found some way to contact him. Of course she had means of communicating with both Kira and X-Kira and could have informed them of her movements, but Mello was not so careless that he would just leave her alone with some sort of communication device unguarded.
So the first name that she would have to write, no, the only name that would have even mattered at the time would have been- He had to be dead already. The price of a final unintentional favor.
Another call. Lidner. Near frowned. He did not want to hear what she had to say.
"I'm so sorry," Lidner whispered. Was she apologizing for letting Mello run off with Takada, or was she sympathizing with Near for his rival's death? "I didn't think that Mello would -"
"It's alright," he interrupted, responding to both interpretations before Lidner could reveal which one she had meant. He didn't need to know, because it wasn't relevant to the investigation at the moment.
And he didn't want to know.