Okay let me apologise for the wait, my internet has been down :( I'm sorry you guys! I hope this chapter really makes up for it! Reviews are welcome! :D
Chapter Two
Chosen
Please destroy this laptop within twenty-four hours.
L.
Naomi Misora sighed.
Again? Could he not have chosen anyone else? And how about sending me a lovely coded letter instead of me destroying my brand new laptop again!
God knows what she was going to tell Raye. It had been her anniversary present from him. He'd bought her it as her last one had been... ahem... stolen. Secretly though, a tiny bit of her was thrilled that she had been chosen again by L. She bet that didn't happen too often.
But the rest of her was annoyed. She was going to have to lie to Raye again, use up her holidays from the FBI (Which she didn't get many of anyway) and on top of that, get another laptop. Not to mention where the hell her last L escapade took her. She had been thoroughly freaked out by a man, assaulted in an alley way, had to have civil conversations with said freaky man who had later been revealed as the killer they were searching for, and finally, when she thought it was all over, she was assaulted yet again at the station by a guy who looked exactly like Beyond.
Sheesh.
I wonder where this'll take me...
Sighing, Naomi rose, shrugged on her clothes and proceeded to hack the Funny Dish server. This time the second block of the second section.
"Ah, Misora-sama." The synthetic voice came from the laptop, bringing back memories.
Here we go again. She thought. This time though, she spared herself from embarrassment as she typed in;
"Hello again, L."
Rather than greet him out loud when he could not hear her. The calligraphic 'L' floated in the middle of the screen and she suddenly felt bad for her laptop, remembering how the same L had practically stared at her as she destroyed her last one.
I'm sorry you poor thing.
"I'm glad you're awake. I apologise for requesting your assistance again, Naomi Misora, but as you did such an astounding job last time, I have come to ask of it again."
This time at least Naomi wasn't angry or pissed with the detective. During the LABB murder cases, Naomi had warmed to the synthetic voice that had checked in on her from time to time, and quickly gained respect for him.
"So you're asking for my help again?" she double checked.
"If you will Naomi Misora. I didn't know who else to trust."
Even though it was synthetic, Naomi caught some emotion on the last sentence. Loneliness...? But then a thought struck Naomi.
"L, you said you didn't know who to trust. You didn't know me before hand on the BB murder cases, so why do you need somebody you know now?"
She thought she heard a sigh.
"You are very perceptive, Naomi Misora, as I knew you would be. I have a suspect recently lifted sentence from prison, spotted around the vicinity around the time of murder. As soon as he's out, murder strikes? It's a low percentage, but I'm not taking any chances."
L-lifted prison sentence? He called me... That means...
"Naomi Misora?"
"L, do you suspect... Beyond Birthday?"
"Indeed I do. Only a two percent chance, but still. I understand if you are not willing to take the case."
B-Beyond...
Naomi was worried about seeing the strange man again.
I don't know if I could take anymore of his crawling, his absurdness... what am I saying? I... I can handle him.
Naomi shook her head, then answered with;
"I shall do it."
"Thank you Naomi Misora-sama, I knew you could do it."
Naomi wondered why she had harboured any negative feelings towards the man. He was polite and kind-
"That's why I took the liberty of giving you leave of absence again."
Oh. That was why.
"Do not worry; I will have you re-instated again when the case is over."
Quite angrily, Naomi punched in a reply.
"What have you told them?"
It was more of a command than a question.
"Just something about you screwing up a case again. But once this is over, I'll have Watari say it was our mistake, and re-insane you."
She gritted her teeth. Over confident, over prepared little...
"Who is Watari?"
"He works with me. My right hand man if you will. My main eyes."
Ah, so the main pawn then.
Naomi was quite happy and shocked that L had revealed that to her. If it had been before on the other case, she didn't think he would have shared that information with her.
"I want to thank you again Naomi Misora-sama, for helping. I shall give you the number to call me if you need to, and the address of the apartment block and the victim's floor and number of room. Please ring me on the given number when you arrive at the scene for more details concerning the case."
After memorising the information, Naomi turned off the computer and gave it a last, wistful glance, the pulled on a jacket and headed for the crime scene.
I'll... destroy it later.
It was three days after the murder when L had contacted Naomi Misora and she had arrived on the scene, so the police were not there. The floor of the victim's apartment was empty and so was the actual apartment.
Though L had probably arranged for that to happen.
Taking out her phone, Naomi tapped in the complicated number for L.
"That was very swift Naomi Misora, well done."
So he still had that phone just for her calls.
"Thanks. So what am I looking for this time as there hasn't been any other murders linking to this one."
"Well this time could you look if there's anything that links in with the LABB murder cases please. Check if there is anything between this murder and the previous ones. If Beyond has done this, there would more than likely be some similarity between the two cases, given his finicky nature."
"Okay, check."
"Thank you Naomi Misora, you don't know what this means to me."
And then the synthetic voice was gone.
Naomi was touched. It seemed the Beyond Birthday meant something to L, and that this case was a big deal to him.
And she had been entrusted with it.
Oh Lord. Well, she would try her best.
Hesitantly, she opened the door to the apartment, and walked in to immediately be in the cream coloured living room/kitchen. It was very open area. Pictures of Greg were framed and on every shelf available, some of him with others, but mostly of him on his own.
Cause this guy didn't love himself. Okay, time to go over the facts.
Naomi sat down on the cream coloured couch and hoped that Greg wouldn't mind. She pulled out some files and pictures concerning the case out of a big brown envelope that had been handed to her by the receptionist in the lobby as she had entered.
The first was a file on Greg Walker.
Full Name: Greg Thomas Walker
Well, it was a B.B or a Q.Q. It wasn't even alliterative, so no similarity there.
Age: 29
Parents: Thomas Walker – Deceased. Marie Walker – Alive.
Occupation: Lecturer
Girlfriend of two years: Nancy Crenshaw
Best friend: David Johnson.
Well before, none of the occupation or past mattered. It was the names mainly, and age had only mattered for the second victim as she was a child to represent q.q. So there wasn't really a similarity there either.
Was it possible that he had dropped the name thing? It could be plausible, seen as though this is a different case. But what would his aim be this time? Last time the B.B and the Q.Q was to make L suspect him, to say to L "Ha, it's Beyond Birthday!" Then burn himself to death beyond recognition so that L couldn't prove that fact, therefore making the case unsolvable. And endless chase to catch someone who no longer existed.
This doesn't seem like Beyond Birthday's style though. If it was him, he'd want us to know it was him. He'd leave a clue behind that was painfully obvious it was him, but it would be hard to find. Like the bookshelf clue at the first victims house on the last case. If I found something like that this time, it would have to be Beyond. No one else would be so... difficult? Maybe he left something around the house...?
According to the file, poor Greg had been stabbed repeatedly forty-four times. Over the face and chest. The knife in question was then later found in the right pocket of Greg's jeans, wiped clean of any DNA at all.
Naomi considered whether the lack of DNA on the knife could be a similarity, or if she was gripping at straws.
Switching the file for the photograph, Naomi headed for the bedroom door, opened it, then stepped over the threshold.
Start with the actual murder scene...
The room was big, larger than an average single room. In the middle was a gigantic king size bed. Wardrobes lined the walls, and one big window with a window seat allowed the whole room to be illuminated.
Glancing at the photograph revealed that the corpse had been laid out on the bed in a five pointed star symbol. Whether Greg had fallen asleep like that or the killer had put him down like that remained a mystery.
But from her past experience with Beyond, Naomi knew that the placement of the body could be important. So she had to assume that the killer had placed him like that. But what could the five pointed star achieve?
Suddenly a wave of worry washed over Naomi. She wasn't sure she could do this. Last time she had almost been handed the answers on a silver platter by the killer himself, so she was bound to have gotten the answers right. And she had only figured out the Wara Ningyo on a whim. By accident. And it had almost been too late.
L knows you can do this, he said so himself.
Yeah but...
No buts! This case seems extremely important to him, and he chose to put his faith in you! So pull yourself together woman. If not for you, then for him.
Naomi lifted her head, slightly weirded out by the internal conversation she had just had with herself, yet feeling a lot better, and began to march towards the bed for some clue hunting, absent minded-ly running her hands along the smooth wall as she did so.
Suddenly she stopped. Her fingers had run over an indent in the wall.
Naomi stared at it.
No way.
It was the exact same height as the wara ningyo.
N-no. The police would have known and at least have taken photos of them if they had been there. Besides that, L would have definitely informed me...
Oh God now she was over thinking things. It had probably of been a nail indent to hang a picture up. Of Greg no doubt. And he must've taken it down for some reason.
Perhaps I should inform L, see what he thinks. No, what I need right now is someone who knew Greg Walker's flat well and could just make sure what the indent is from. I don't want L thinking I'll freak over the slightest little similarity...
She had three options. Option A) Greg's girlfriend Nancy. Naomi had assumed that the receptionist downstairs was Greg's partner by the way she was bawling like she had lost a lover. But her name tag had read 'Maggie'. It would seem that Greg was a bit of a player if he had other girls strung like that. Naomi would have to find out more about that. A motive for killing?
Option B) Greg's mother, Marie Walker. Surely she went round to visit her son? Though it was common for the men to go to visit their mother's house instead, simply for the ease of it for her, and the gentlemanliness of it. It was a slim hope but Naomi could try.
Option C) Greg's best friend David Johnson. Apparently the two men had received numerous warnings about noise and boisterous behaviour. Especially when there was a game on TV. Perhaps he had been round so often, he knew about what used to be there. But maybe he'd been so drunk he's couldn't remember? Maybe he hadn't been in Greg's bedroom at all? With a game on TV, why would he? Naomi didn't know, but it was worth a shot.
But maybe this is no story to the indent/ It could just be a nail sized dint. But it's worth checking out. Who knows if Beyond has been here and done this?
She was about to decide who of the three close people to Greg to ask about the possible implication of Beyond being the one to do it, when she heard a noise. A soft little 'click'. It sounded like the front door being locked.
Naomi's heart raced. She had another key in her jacket pocket of course, it was the one she had used to get into the apartment in the first place. The person outside had effectively locked her in. Or at least until she unlocked the door. But who was it that had locked it? The apartment block knew that someone was going to be clue hunting for L, and had been told to stay away from the apartment. So the person must know that Naomi was in here, so then they would know that she must have another key to get in the apartment in the first place.
So why lock her in? If they knew she could get out again in a jiffy, what was the point?
There was a rattle as the door was pushed, as if they were trying to get in themselves. Or most likely making sure the door was securely locked water tight.
Naomi gulped and slowly exited the bedroom, then silently crept towards the door, stopping a little while away from it. She was close enough to make out mumbles on the other side. They sounded like hushed curses.
He's swearing like a trooper. Naomi thought as she realised it was a man's voice.
"It's because you've just gone and locked it you bloody idiot!" a second voice sounded loud compared to the first, causing Naomi to jump in surprise.
There's two of them?
Naomi was confused. If they were trying to lock her in, they should have walked off by now instead of standing there arguing about the fact that it was locked.
So...that's not what they are trying to achieve?
"W-well, I didn't know it was open did I! It's a-a bloody crime scene, I would've thought they'd have locked the damn doors!" the first voice tried to defend himself.
The second man sighed. "Give me the key, I'll do it."
There were some grumbles from the first voice, then another 'click'. That was when it finally hit Naomi.
They're coming inside!
It was too late to try and hide. She had been too wrapped up in listening to them. It was mostly an open area flat anyway, she wouldn't know where to hide.
"Okay, this is it."
They were going to see her. Naomi gulped.
Friend or foe?
I bet you can guess :D Thank you so much for you AMAZING reviews! You guys are so kind! A special thanks to .You for that really lovley review, you kept me smiling the rest of the day! It makes me so happy when I know people are enjoying my story so please review! :D
