"Have you managed to find a connection, Andre?" you questioned, your eyes flicking to his expressionless face.
He shook his head slowly, his features molding until they were a picture of disgust. "The three groups seem entirely unrelated, except for the fact that most members are far above the average wage mark."
"You think that the killer has a vendetta towards the wealthy?" L then asked, his dark eyes betraying his interest in this new case.
"Well, at first glance, yes. But then, if you consider every single person, no," Andre explained, flipping through the stack of papers in his hands.
"What? What do you mean?" you queried, feeling confused.
"Remember, I said most members. There are some who are also below the average mark. For example, Samuel Brunt, a prodigy child who went on to become a freelance expert on Ancient Macedonia barely received any money from his work," Andre said, showing you both Samuel's file.
"So…his killing would suit a murderer who despised…the intelligent?" you ventured, struggling to understand what each of these people had in common.
"Yes," Andre confirmed, nodding slightly.
You looked to L, silently asking him if he could find a pattern in these seemingly unrelated deaths. "Maybe there's more than one motive….or…" L mused, his eyes glancing up and catching yours, "Maybe there's more than one person."
"Two Kira's?" you echoed, considering the concept, "Just like the Japanese Kira's."
L shook his head, "Three."
Your eyes widened at his statement and Andre looked on confused. "What are you talking about?" he questioned, uncomfortable with his sudden unimportance.
"Three Kira's, all working together," you informed him, speaking for L who was lost deep in thought, a finger lightly stroking his lip.
Andre's eyebrows rose and he cursed himself for not seeing what now seemed obvious. "Of course, the three different unrelated groups…a different killer for each one…"
"So, it's now a matter of finding people who fit into each of these categories," you said, tugging at your bottom lip as you stared at the wall.
"Wait! Don't get ahead of yourself! We don't even know if this killer, or killers, even live in America. They could be on the other side of the planet for all we know," Andre reasoned.
"True. However, since it is 56% likely that these killers reside in America, it would be best for us to begin the search here," L formulated, already moving towards the closest computer.
Andre seemed stunned at the ease with which L assumed control of his team. "Soo-Long, could you get the web address of every single site where the victim's names were displayed, no matter how confidential, as well as every appearance broadcast on public TV."
"Yes, certainly," Soo-Long affirmed, rushing off to her own terminal.
You slowly approached L, taking in the information he had already pulled up on the screen. He gestured to the computer beside the one he had commandeered and you sat down in front of it, wondering whether he expected you to immediately get to work. Your lack of movement caused him to raise his head and gaze at you questioningly. You started off awkwardly, "We…just got to a new country…and I…well…I don't really want to jump straight into work…"
He nodded in understanding; you were different to him in many respects. He would rather begin the investigation as soon as possible, not wasting a single second on anything not deemed critical. You, however, were in a new city for the first time and were excited to go out and experience everything it had to offer. "Maybe the investigation will proceed better if you first gain a knowledge of the people in this city," L supplemented, giving you your excuse to leave.
You beamed at him and he complimented you with a quick smile of his own. You stretched over and kissed his cheek before turning and asking Andre to open the doorways for you.
'Where now…' you wondered, making your way down one of the busy boulevards.
You had already spent a few hours wandering around the various sights of L.A., and you were now suppressing your urge to sleep as you explored the city. 'Maybe I should head home now…although he's probably still attached to that computer…'
You laughed and shook your head as you realised that you were feeling jealous of an inanimate object. Lost in your thoughts, you almost overbalanced when a small child collided straight into your legs. "Sorry, miss," the child muttered, before darting around you and running off again.
However, before he could escape again, your hand snaked out and caught his wrist. "Wait. Why are you running?"
The small, brown-haired boy looked up at you and opened his mouth to respond before he was cut off by a panicked voice rushing quickly towards you. "Thomas!"
"Awww," the boy said, obviously aware that his brief minute of freedom had now been ended.
A tall, slender woman came into view and her eyes zeroed in on the tight grasp you had on the boy. Releasing him quickly, you stepped away to show you meant no harm. The woman's great strides brought her to you in no time and she perused you slowly, trying to decide how she should react. After some time, she smiled and her entire face seemed to shine. "Hi, I'm Alexandra. I see you've met my troublesome son, Thomas. Thank you for stopping him, goodness knows how much further he would have gotten if you hadn't," the woman exclaimed, shooting a withering glance at her child.
He lowered his head and mumbled under his breath, knowing that he wouldn't get dessert tonight. "I'm A – Aki," you greeted, catching yourself before you told her your assumed name.
The woman's kind smile was enough to put anyone at ease. Unfortunately for you, that type of effect might prove disastrous. "Aki, is it? You're Japanese, right?" the woman questioned, intrigued by your homeland.
You nodded, "I'm holidaying here. There are certainly a lot of things to do around here."
"Yes, definitely a tourist hotspot. Well, I'm afraid I have to take this little monster home now," she said, gesturing to where her son was making faces up at her, "But if you like I could take you on an unofficial tour of the city, as way of thanks, of course."
You considered her offer. She seemed nice enough and it would be great to get a view of the city from a local's point of view, but you really wanted to see Los Angeles together with L. 'He's probably going to be working on the case most days anyway…' you realised, feeling a small pang of loneliness.
"Yeah, sure. A tour would be brilliant! When would be the best time?" you agreed, smiling brightly.
It wasn't L's fault that he always managed to fully engross himself in his work, that was just the way he was, and you'd be damned if you were going to force him away from his passion. After all, it was your passion as well, just on a smaller scale. "I'm actually free two days from now, if that's okay? I have to work most days, sorry," Alexandra offered, keeping a firm hold on Thomas who was subtly trying to pry himself from her hold.
"Saturday? That's perfect, I'll probably be busy with work tomorrow so the weekend sounds great," you grinned, thinking of the pile of paper that L was most likely waiting for you to peruse back at the headquarters.
She gave you her number and you waved as your new friend dragged her protesting child back to their car. As you walked down the boulevard, you were bursting with happiness that you finally had something non-work related to look forward to.
"Have you found any leads?" you asked straight away as you passed through the doorway to the headquarters.
L barely spared a glance from his computer screen as you entered, but the slight quirk of his lips let you know that he was glad you had returned. Standing behind his chair, you looked up to see that only the white-haired Ackerley and the chief, Andre, remained, bathed in the bright, artificial light from their own computers. "Take a look at the ages and genders of each victim for each of the groups. Doesn't it seem as though each killer also has their own pattern for those they select to eliminate?" L mumbled around a lollipop, and you wondered how he had managed to obtain Japanese sweets in the time you had been gone.
'Probably smuggled them in his pockets,' you thought, chuckling to yourself.
His eyebrow quirked and you realised that he was waiting for you to look through a pile of documents in his outstretched hand. Inwardly sighing, you took the papers and speculated about how many trees this hefty pile would have killed. 'We could probably cut logging in half if he stopped printing out every little thing he found…' you told yourself, grimacing as you noticed the other three piles scattered around L's desk, no doubt also awaiting your inspection.
Quickly flipping through the papers, it took a while for something to register in your tired mind. "Wait…it seems like most of these victims are middle-aged American males…"
"Yes, you're right. There is a clue in there…we just need to figure it out," L said, watching you over his shoulder.
You inclined your head and looked back down at the papers, these killers may have just given themselves away through their biases. Maybe your holiday would be over quicker than you thought.
