Point One
It took Sayu two days to notice that she was being followed.
She could have blamed it on jet lag, but really, it was obvious from the beginning. He might have been dressed in a button-down shirt and jeans instead of leathers, but he was definitely the blond man from the plane. That head of hair, and the characteristic aggressive stance, were enough to identify him even now, out of the corner of her eye and twenty feet away.
She lifted the magazine she was browsing to hide what she was doing and gave him an once-over with her eyes. He's carrying one pistol and possibly a knife. Doesn't he go anywhere unarmed? He had a cell phone pressed to his ear, and whatever the person on the other line was saying, it was making him scowl. Or it could be a ruse, to make me think he's deep in conversation, when he's really watching me.
His voice rose a bit and she heard, "don't care what he…" before he quickly lowered it again. As she set down the magazine, he spat a short goodbye into the receiver and hung up, his eyebrows knit. He caught Sayu looking at him and glared at her before seemingly remembering what he was supposed to be doing.
She took a deep breath. Well, let's see how this goes. She smiled brightly and walked over to him.
"Hello," she said.
His eyes narrowed. "What do you want?"
She shrugged. "I was only wondering what you're doing here…your name's Mello, isn't it?...I mean, a mall on a Saturday? Aren't there other things you'd rather be doing?"
His scowl deepened. "Maybe I'm shopping."
"You're not carrying any bags," she pointed out. "Unless the chocolate bar in your pocket counts as shopping."
Mello rolled his eyes. "And this is why I never do something like this for L again," he muttered.
"L? You mean the detective?"
The look on Mello's face was priceless. Sayu bit her lip. Did he really think I wouldn't pick up on that? Sometimes it helps that everybody thinks I'm the stupid one of the family. "Look, Mel…"
"It's Mello," he gritted out.
"Mello. I don't really care what you're up to. Just don't try to convince me that you're not up to anything."
She walked away before he could respond. Point one to Sayu, she thought. Now I've only got to find out who Ryuzaki really is.
Mello waited until she was gone before he dialed L's number.
"Yes?" L answered without preamble. "Mello, what's going on?"
Mello looked around. "That girl's smarter than you think, L. She already figured it out."
There was a sigh. "Perhaps if you weren't so…flamboyant…"
"Listen, L. You knew I wasn't cut out for covert operations. You should have sent Matt."
"I need Matt here." There was a pause. "Come on back. I'll have to talk to Light about her. I'll be waiting. If you're not back by three this afternoon, I'm going to send Watari out to find you."
Click.
