Near Death
Chapter 2
Puzzles
"Misa Amane…" he knew that name he just couldn't recall where in his history he had retrieved it from. "Misa Amane, age twenty-seven, accused of being the second Kira, All charges against her were lifted after ten days of surveillance and intense interrogation," the man on the screen read aloud. Near felt a chill roll down his back. "The second Kira?" Near thought to himself. "In what way did she kill herself?" The silhouette paused for a moment and then said, "She fell off a bridge into speeding traffic".
After taking in the details he had just learned he realized why her name was so familiar."What did you tell the press?" Near asked almost automatically. . Misa Amane was a famous model/actress so Near knew that the press would be all over this case. "We distracted the media by claiming it was an accident, that she was driving her car and popped a tire so she pulled over then was hit by a passing vehicle causing her to be flung off the bridge" the man on the screen explained. "You know that won't last long, I assure you the press will dig deeper and deeper and once they realize there is no evidence for that fable of yours they will jump to conclusions left and right". "Of course sir, we are prepared for any and all questions they might have" the man said reassuringly.
But this in no way settled Nears nerves, he has dealt with celebrity cases before and it just makes it that much harder to investigate. "But sir some of us have reason to believe it wasn't suicide" The silhouette said in a hushed voice as if it were a secret no one else in the SPK had the right to know. "What would make you suspect that?" Near asked loudly as if to remind him he was the only one in the room. Without warning a picture of Misa Amane's crushed corpse appeared on the screen. A car had hit her torso and legs after she had fallen onto the street and it would appear as if though she had fallen off the bridge on her side.
Near understood immediately why one might think it was suicide but any trained forensics specialist or detective knows that 81% of all jumpers dive headfirst. "Well this is odd, but it doesn't prove your theory". Another photo of Misa's body appeared on the screen this time a side shot. Near gasped, there was a bullet whole, the object had completely penetrated one side of her skull, but based on other photos there was no exit wound. There was no way she could have shot herself in the side of the head and fallen the way she did. And according to another recent study four out of five women that commit suicide using a gun shoot themselves in the heart."I need an autopsy report as soon as possible check for any other signs that might lead us to her attacker" Near said in a raised tone of voice.
"But sir," "what is it?" Near asked, "There is one more thing we need you examine". Another window popped up covering the previous images. It was a note written on loose-leaf paper.
"Takada may have been his world but he was my life and he
Didn't do anything wrong or
Kill anyone without good reason he was justice and maybe I am just
Mellow dramatic but Light means more to me than life itself".
"It was found in her pants pocket, our guess is that whoever killed her forced her to write this, we have made out various phrases that could be hidden inside of it but none of which appear to have any significance to the case".
Near read it once and could already solve the obvious riddle. It is the first word in each line he thought to himself. "Takada didn't kill Mellow" Near thought aloud. "Exactly, but what does that have to do with the case?" the man on the screen said. "It doesn't matter, I'll figure this out on my own, all I need now is an autopsy report" Near said as he lowered his head and began to twirl his longish white bangs. "Yes sir I understand" the man responded.
The monitor then made a clicking noise as it went black. The printer began to run off all of the photos and collected data. Near stumbled out of his seat to retrieve the papers. "Takada didn't kill Mellow, Mellow as in Mello?" he thought aloud. He placed the papers on the table next to the tray that held the no longer hot tea.
Near grabbed a cup and began to pour the chilled liquid. Near knew that whoever wrote this note had intended for him to see it. In addition, the fact that Misa had been accused of acting as the second Kira made it even more likely to reach him. "Takada didn't kill Mello". As he sipped at his tea, a tear he had managed to hold in escaped his eye. "Mello".
Authors Notes:
Yes, I realize that in the original story Near knew that Misa was the second Kira. However, for my story line to flow correctly I had to make him completely oblivious to it. And I promise to explain why he didn't know about it in Ch.3
Please feel free to criticize, or compliment if you are that kind of person, any feedback is good feedback especially during the early development of a story.
I hope you enjoyed reading the second chapter of the not at all cheesily named
"Near Death" series.