L
L was not expecting Jack to be... well, Jack.
There were a few times that he had suspicions about Jack being female, or perhaps a male with interests in the same sex. During their conversations over email and instant messaging, she had dropped hints about "cute boys" or that she enjoyed the occasional "eye candy." That last comment was when L had asked her what she was doing at a Pro Wrestling match when they had a case to work.
But even so, a young woman around his age and with her... mannerisms... that wasn't what he had prepared himself for.
When Jack came into his suite's living room, L had taken in her outfit first. All of it contained bright, loud colors. She had a pink T-shirt that had the word "TRICKY" stamped across it in jagged white lettering. Her jeans had holes at the knees and she was wearing yellow leggings beneath them. Her socks were mismatched; one with a pattern of cat heads all along it, the other with peace signs.
Then there was her hair. It was the color of the sky on a cloudless day. It was short—shorter than L's own hair. Some bangs poked out from beneath a black beanie, and a few strands were showing on the sides and at the nape of her neck. On her head was a pair of bright yellow headphones, and since he had seen her, one was always over her right ear, the left remained open to allow her to hear. Its cord traveled to her pocket where he assumed was a media player of some kind.
L remembered Jack talking about how much she loved music. She'd even sent L links to listen to songs during their case, telling him that their lyrics or sound reminded her of their situation. L recalled one song was called "Circus for a Psycho." That one she stated reminded her of BB. After listening to it, he didn't blame her for drawing the comparison.
Now, L was getting a pot of tea going—royal milk tea to be specific. It was the one fact that he had managed to obtain from Jack during their first case. Royal milk tea was something she loved. She claimed that she had it for the first time at her grandfather's house. He often went abroad, she'd said, and so he would bring her back trinkets and goodies from all the countries he went to. After he went to Japan, he wanted to learn how to make royal milk tea himself, he'd liked it so much. So he'd made it for her, and she too fell in love with the beverage.
Jack had told L a lot of stories during their last case. That was the only one he believed was true.
Of course, when she first told him over IM, she'd called it simply milk tea. L had had to correct her. He could still remember the conversation vividly. It was late at night, and the screen of his computer was the only source of light in the room. At the time, they were using a private IM service with screen names to throw off anyone that might see them. L had chosen Masayoshi, which was the Japanese word for Justice.
Jack, meanwhile, had tactfully chosen ButtNugget.
L couldn't quite remember how they got on the subject of her story with her grandfather, but he did remember the conversation that followed.
Masayoshi: He made it the way they do in Japan?
ButtNugget: Yeah. I think so. That's what he said, anyway.
Masayoshi: Then that is considered royal milk tea. It's known as stewed tea back in England. It's considered a British style tea, but it was technically invented in Japan back in 1965. Of course the difference is that in Japan, they make it by boiling the milk with the tea leaves inside, then take them out after. In England, the drink is made by boiling the milk, adding the leaves, steeping it, and then removing the leaves. It's called tea with milk, and in Japan, it's technically considered royal milk tea.
ButtNugget: LOL!
Masayoshi: What?
ButtNugget: You really just know random trivia on milk tea?
Masayoshi: Royal milk tea. And it's hardly random, we're discussing it, aren't we?
ButtNugget: You are so bizarre.
Masayoshi: I hear that a lot, actually.
ButtNugget: I like it.
Masayoshi: That's... not something I hear a lot.
That had taken place so long ago, but it was what they decided to use as their pass phrase to one another, should in the future they had to work together again.
L gently took the kettle and some cups over to the table in the living room. Once they were set he went back to the kitchen for some honey. He wasn't sure if Jack wanted honey or not, but he knew he did. Just as he grabbed some of the little cups the hotel staff had left, Jack's bedroom door opened.
She stepped out, stretching her hands about her head. L noted she'd changed into pajamas. An oversized T-shirt clung to her small frame and the pajama bottoms were too long for her legs—the fuzzy paw-print patterned cloth was bunched up around her feet. She was still wearing those mismatched socks. The other thing she was still wearing were her headphones, though the hat was gone. Her hair was indeed short, and it stuck up in odd directions toward the back like she'd been licked by a dog.
"Oooh, I know that smell," she said, a grin breaking out across her face. "L, you shouldn't have!"
"Call it a peace offering," L said as he headed back toward the living room table. "I understand my rules can be strict and not entirely pleasant to follow."
"Well, it was very gentlemanly of you," Jack said as she followed him.
As she sat down, L noted the shirt she wore now had a violin on it. Beneath its design was the word "Yellowcard."
"Soccer reference? Or another word that is hip with the kids?" L asked, gesturing to it.
"Hm?" Jack was already pouring herself a cup of tea. "Oh, Yellowcard? Nah, they're a band. A good one too. They use an electric violin in most of their songs, really makes them pop." She grabbed one of the little cups of honey and peeled back the seal before pouring it into her cup. "So what were these notes you wanted to go over?"
L reached under the coffee table to the shelf that was beneath the top surface. He placed three cards with writing on them in front of Jack. "How well do you read Katakana?" he asked.
"Eh, it's a bit iffy, but let me see..." Jack leaned forward and looked over the notes. "This is bizarre... 'I know L suspects the police...' All of these seem pretty random. What are they?" She lifted her head to look at him. The light glinted off her green irises, making them shine blue for a moment.
"Notes from Kira's latest victims," L said. "They wrote these out before they died."
Jack put the cards down, staring at them. "Why would they do that?" she asked, voice low. Her brow was furrowed. L could tell she was trying to make everything click, to make sense of it.
"Do you notice anything odd about the notes themselves?" L asked her rather than answer.
Jack focused on the notes again. She frowned and pointed to the top corner of one of them. "This one starts with your name..."
L nodded.
"'L... do you know..." Jack ran her finger along the top line of the page then went to the next. "Love apples? No that doesn't make sense..." She went to the third. "Gods of death... 'L, do you know gods of death love apples?'"
The color fled her face.
"Jack?" L prompted.
Jack's eyes darted to the chair to her right. They had done that earlier. He almost looked to the chair too, but Jack pushed back from the table and shook her head.
"He sent this. He can... Somehow, he can manipulate people before they die," she said. "Who knows, maybe he can even..." Again, her eyes darted to the chair and L saw her throat bob as she swallowed.
"What?" L pressed.
Jack shook her head. "It's a silly thought. Impossible, even."
"This entire thing is proving to be impossible," L said. "What are you thinking?"
"Well, his abilities are already out of the realm of what we see as natural," Jack said slowly, as if she were picking through her words like an omelet full of onions she were allergic to. "He can kill someone with a heart attack without being present—seemingly only with a certain amount of information about them. Now we see he can manipulate his victims before they die. Who is to say that he can't control how they die?"
L blinked. The thought had crossed his mind too, but the way Jack said it—the way she held his gaze... he could tell that this was beyond mere speculation for her. She felt positive about this fact. And there was something else... something she wasn't telling him. He could press, but he had a feeling she would just withdraw. Best to get her to trust him completely first before prodding for more information. If there was one thing about Jack that he did know, it was that she wouldn't just let horrific behaviors such as Kira's just pass. She would do anything and everything she could to stop him.
"I admit, I wonder the same thing," L told her. He could see the relief in her eyes.
"It would just make sense," she said. "So what do you make of this message?"
"I was going to ask you that," L said. "You seemed to have had a stronger reaction to it than I did."
"'Gods of death...' Shinigami is what they're called in Japanese, right?" Jack murmured, looking down at the notes. "Is it a threat? Is he gloating? Either way, it's clear Kira has the mind of an adolescent. The type of jerk you'd play Halo against and would tea-bag when he killed you. I bet he's a camper too."
L looked her over. "What are you talking about?" he asked with a shake of his head.
"More hip lingo, L," Jack said, waving him off. "We need to narrow down your suspects..."
"Believe me, I'm working on it," L said.
"So, what else?" Jack prompted. "Surely you have some more notes about the case that you haven't shared with the police. Let's gossip about all the dirty details." She grinned crookedly at him.
L spent the next hour and a half catching Jack up with just about everything he knew about the Kira case. Most of it she knew from the police records she "peaked" at, but she was very interested in the FBI agents he had employed.
"You ensured to tell them not to give out their name, right?" Jack asked.
This intrigued L. He hadn't told anyone about his suspicions of Kira needing both a face and a name to kill someone. Had Jack come to the same conclusions he had or was this part of what she wasn't telling him? He leaned forward, toes curling around the edge of his chair's seat cushion.
"Why do you say that?" he asked.
Jack rolled her eyes. "Please. Given the information you gave me, you've surely come to the same conclusion. Kira needs both—name and face. Otherwise there are plenty of other criminals that would be dead. Unnamed suspects that have been shown on TV only died after they were caught and their names revealed. Let's get real here, L."
L let out a small breath. She was right. But still, with how she phrased with such absolution perked his interest.
"I did make sure to tell the agents they were not to identify themselves under any circumstances," L said.
Jack nodded, satisfied. "Good. It would probably be a good idea to have any officers working on the case to use aliases. Although, if Kira has eyes inside, it won't do much good."
"If needed, I can have false badges made for them," L replied.
With that, she got to her feet and stretched. She was a bit short, L noted. Perhaps 5'4 or 5'3. She cast him a wink and a smile.
"Well, I'm hitting the sack," she said. "We can keep this up in the morning right? Get a battle plan like the good ol' days."
She started heading for her room.
"Jack," L called after her.
She paused, glancing back at him, a brow raised.
"Tell me, as of now, knowing what we know..." L said slowly. "What do you think he's doing it? How do you think he has this ability to kill the way he does?"
"Kira?" Jack paused, biting her lower lip.
L nodded, waiting.
She glanced to the side. The motion might have been dismissed as her eyes merely wandering as she searched for an answer, but it was too deliberate. Like something caught her attention and held it. When L followed her gaze, he only saw a blank section of the wall.
Jack finally shook her head. "Honestly, it doesn't make sense. Who the hell has the power to just make people have heart attacks? It's already supernatural to begin with. If these deaths aren't logical, who's to say the cause is? Everyone out there is looking for some reasonable way Kira is able to do this. But you... you look at the common denominators. Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth."
"Sir Arthur Conan Doyle," L sighed. "Are you really quoting Sherlock Holmes to me?"
"Don't you think it's fitting?" Jack grinned at him.
And predictable. Jack always raved about Sherlock Holmes during their last case. L found the stories to be drab and overly popular. All of the things Holmes pointed out could be from a nearly infinite number of possibilities. He made people feel unintelligent for things people didn't notice, not so much what they didn't know. L solved crimes with actual evidence and in depth critical thinking. Of course, he also never actually read any of them, but he wasn't about to tell Jack that.
"So what is the improbable truth in this case?" L queried.
"That Kira isn't doing this by natural means," Jack said. There was conviction in her gaze as her face lost its smile and grew serious. "Something weird is going on here, L. I think it will take both of us to stop it."
L considered her words, focusing his eyes on his toes as they rubbed together in thought. "An interesting take," he said, voice low. "Sleep well, Jack."
"You too!" Jack sang.
He heard her door close and he was left staring at her empty cup of royal milk tea.
Something supernatural. The conviction she held in her eyes when she said that... From what he had learned of Jack during their last case, he took her for an incredibly logical person. Certainly, she joked and teased, and sometimes she didn't take things seriously. But when it came to the case itself- when it came to catching BB and putting an end to his killing... she was nothing but facts. Nothing but analytical and intelligent.
Now she was was stating that there was some other worldly cause to all this. That somehow Kira had access to a power that shouldn't be possible. That because it was impossible it was... what? A super power? Was she suggesting that Kira fell into a vat of toxic waste and somehow emerged with new abilities, that he was killing with his mind or...
L bit down on his thumb nail. Jack was hiding something, that much he was positive about. But he knew that she wouldn't hide something from him without good cause. Something was keeping her from speaking openly about it. He remembered her constant glances to the chair. The sudden glance to the wall. She always did it before answering a question he'd posed, or before divulging more of how she thought Kira was doing this or what Kira was capable of.
All this time, L thought that Kira was going to be the only thing he'd have to worry about figuring out. But now that Jack was back...
This complicated things.