Chapter 21

Mello held Matt's hand as they walked into L's hotel room, as he could see Matt was still visibly upset about disappointing L. When they walked in, they found he was talking on the phone and Matt sighed relieved he didn't have to face it quite yet. Mello nudged him and smiled.

"He's not going to throw you out or anything like that, you need to relax." He assured the nervous red head and Matt nodded as he set up the second computer to bring up the feeds from the various cameras he and Mello had set up. There were six in all, two on the roof, one watching the front entrance, one watching the back entrance, one in the office and one in the main meeting area. When he had it properly set up so that the screen would go from one camera to the other in sync, he was suddenly aware that L had finished his conversation and his attention was now focused on him.

He turned slowly to face him; the large dark eyes that were staring back at him were completely unreadable and unwavering. He heard the unmistakable sound of Mello opening a chocolate bar and felt the blonde's hand on his shoulder in support.

"L, we got all the cameras up and running as you can see," he started, "And I think Matt did…." He stopped as those eyes slowly moved to him, and he knew L did not want to hear anymore from him. He cleared his throat and took a bite of his chocolate bar, looking down at the floor.

"There is no excuse for not being prepared in the basics of investigation," L began and Matt nodded.

"I understand L and I'm sorry. My only defense is that I didn't think of it as being a crime scene..."

"That was another lapse in your judgment. The entire reason for our going there and setting up surveillance was to look for evidence and set it up so we could find more if it is there. I do not wish to see this type of lapse again, it can be dangerous." Matt nodded and dropped his eyes to his lap, unable to face the fierce stare any longer. L reached over to his intercom and pressed it for Watari.

"Yes, L." he answered.

"I wish to address the police within the hour, Watari." He told him.

"Very well," came the answer and L released the button. He looked back at Matt and allowed a smile to grace his features.

"Now, I must commend you on excellent observation skills in finding the evidence in the first place although I expect no less from you. Mello, I need to see the log."

Matt's eyes moved back up to L's, surprised and happy to find the smile and the warmth that had returned to L's eyes. He nodded and returned the smile as behind him Mello immediately reached into the small pouch he had attached to his belt and removed the small camera, handing it to L.

"I told you not to worry," Mello said to Matt a little later as they ate the late lunch they'd had delivered by room service.

"I know, but unlike you I very rarely piss L off." Mello snorted at him.

"Nice," he said, "You make me sound like a total asshole." Matt stopped eating and grinned at him.

"Come on, Mello admit it. From the time we were kids who was the biggest thorn in L's side, not to mention practically every teacher and administrator at Whammy's?" Mello grinned, pointing his chopsticks at Matt.

"Don't pretend as if you weren't in on it as well and enjoying it!" he accused and Matt laughed.

"Yea, I spent a lot of time laughing my ass off, but everyone knew I was merely the innocent, hapless assistant, being egged on by the instigator." Mello rolled his eyes.

"Hapless? Innocent? Who hacked Roger's computer to play loud gunfire each time he opened a program, adding extra speakers all around the room and a screen that read 'bang bang you're dead'?" Matt dissolved into peals of laughter, remembering the vision of Roger crawling out of his office trying to avoid the "bullets".

"Well he deserved it, remember? He made some comment about holding L up on a pedestal, that we had to remember he was just an ordinary guy with great talents and to stop looking at him like he was something else AND he told us he was only interested in us as heirs, he didn't really care about us!" Mello nodded remembering the conversation the three of them had with Roger. The administrator had eventually recanted what he had said; apologizing for it, citing extreme pressures at the time, but that hadn't set well with the three. They knew better and it was Matt that had come up with his punishment.

They were so deep in conversation that they hadn't realized that L had turned around, listening to that last exchange. He also remembered the incident because he had received a rather violent phone call from Roger demanding he do something with his unruly heirs. He had not known what the cause had been but he had imagined something had set them off. His reaction was to not laugh like he wanted to, and tell Roger he'd speak to them when he had a chance, but as Roger was administrator, it was his job.

The boys suddenly realized that L was watching them, and to their great surprise when they turned to face him, there was a huge smile on his face, his eyes twinkling with amusement.

"I also remember that incident, and only wish that I could have witnessed the result," he turned back to his computer, "One day perhaps I will tell you what I did to Roger as a child." The two looked at L and then each other wide-eyed and then burst into more laughter.

"L, you are connected." Watari's voice suddenly came from the speakers, a picture of the squad room now on the computer. L's eyes immediately sought out and found Light, who was sitting front and center, trying to hide the smile on his face with his hand as he stared into the computer's camera. L smiled back, unknowingly sitting closer to the screen, knowing Light couldn't see it but hoping he'd realize he was just as happy to see him. He enjoyed the rush of warmth he felt gazing at Light and then immediately shut it down to get to work. L's change in posture didn't go unnoticed by Matt and Mello and they grinned at each other as they watched their mentor lean closer to the screen, his head cocked to one side. They got up from the table and stood on either side of L watching the proceedings onscreen.

"Good afternoon, gentlemen." L began and they all answered back, "Light, any word from forensics?" Light shook his head.

"Not yet. I got the evidence to them as soon as I had my hands on the warrant so there would be no question. I asked them to put a rush on it so we should hear something by the end of the day at least." L nodded his approval.

"My operatives managed to place surveillance inside and outside the building. There are six cameras and six listening devices, which are all working and feeding me information as of now. There is no one in the building at the moment, and no one anywhere near it, so it appears our work earlier went unnoticed. If the evidence shows any relation to any of our victims then we have an entirely different scenario to work from."

"L, have we a list of the participants in these meetings?" Aizawa asked.

"Yes, and I am sending them to Light's computer now. I suggest you spend the day checking with the participants of these meetings, and see if they have any useful information. I also suggest you find what person or persons actually run these meetings and get as much information as possible on them as quickly as possible as our next operation is this evening. I will be contacting you again at the end of the day."

"Will Aizawa and I be going with Light this time tonight?" Matsuda asked.

"That is entirely up to you and Light. My operatives will also be there as I have a feeling that once Light goes in and announces who he is and asks for those logs, if our killer is among them, he will act immediately. As we already have them, this is merely an exercise in pushing the murderer into action. Having as much backup as possible would probably be a good idea as we are not even sure how many are involved."

Light had moved to his desk to retrieve the information on his computer. He printed out a copy for each of them and skimmed the pages quickly.

"Your operatives are quite skilled to have been able to accomplish what they did in such a short amount of time," he said smiling into the camera and managed to sneak a wink meant for Mello and Matt, which both young men understood, "We'll get as much information as we can before reporting back to you at the end of the day, L."

"Very good. Watari, the meeting is over." L said and the connection was broken. He turned to Matt and Mello.

"Matt, I need you to find out who is running those meetings and get a complete background check and everything else you can find out about them. I don't trust that the NPA will be as thorough as I know you can be. Mello, we will take turns watching the surveillance cameras, you may begin now." Both young men moved to their positions eager to get started. L unfolded himself from his chair and went to refill his coffee cup watching his two young heirs working diligently as he walked past them, a proud smile gracing his features.

Jennifer had gone home after work and changed out of her uniform into something that was a lot more flattering than what she worked in. It was a simple blue dress with a scooped neckline, cinched waist and a-line skirt but it did what she wanted it to do. She had suggested to Near that they have a sort of picnic on the grounds for dinner instead of eating in the cafeteria again, if he didn't mind eating a little later. He had readily agreed and they planned to meet at 7:00 p.m.

She now made her way past the front entrance of the sprawling mansion and headed for the wooded area behind it. There was a lake, play area for the children and what seemed to be acres of trees. As the sun was beginning to go down, the entire area was lit by pole lamps that resembled old time gas lamps and several lights on the mansion itself pointed in that direction. No one would be able to sneak through the woods to the mansion without being seen, or the other way around.

She found Near sitting on the ground by the lake, setting several rubber ducks adrift in the water. She stood for a moment watching him; had it been any other guy she knew doing that she would have laughed out loud, but for some reason it looked perfectly normal for Near. She watched as he set another duck out on its way, sitting with on leg under him and the other spread out. He sat back, one hand finding its way into his hair, twirling the strands around his finger. She felt a warm feeling as she watched him and it brought a smile to her face. She walked over to him, the basket she carried filled with food, drinks and a blanket.

"Hey," she called and he turned at the sound of her voice. It seemed to him that she was gliding across the grass, the wind gently blowing her blonde hair around her face, the form fitting blue dress billowing around her legs. He suddenly realized he'd never seen her legs, the cafeteria uniform consisting of pants and a shirt. He suddenly felt very warm and there was a lump in his throat that he couldn't swallow away. More importantly, there was an ache in one area of his body that he very rarely even thought about and he felt a blush on his face. He stood up as she got closer, hoping the smile he had would cover up the strange feelings he suddenly had.

"Are you having a duck race?" she asked gesturing towards the lake at the several ducks bobbing in the water.

"No, not really. I just like watching them glide on the water, it's rather peaceful." He answered turning his attention back to the ducks and then back to her and the basket.

"What's in the basket?" he asked and she smiled placing the basket on the ground.

"Well, first there's a blanket to spread out on the grass," she said pulling out said blanket and handing it to him. He looked at it for a moment and then proceeded to spread it out on the ground. She then kneeled on the blanket and began to pull out dishes from the basket.

"I tried to think of things that we could easily eat out here, mostly sandwiches, and finger foods like crisps and pretzels and I brought lemonade." She said as she placed the items on the blanket. She frowned slightly when she saw a laptop sitting on the ground on the other side of where Near stood. He followed her train of vision and picked up the laptop.

"I hope you don't mind, but I had to bring this with me, just in case Ryuzaki needed me for something." He said apologetically and she smiled at him.

"Ofcourse I understand. I wouldn't want you to get into trouble because of something I wanted to do." She said and he knelt down in front of her.

"Oh that wouldn't be the issue as I wanted to do this as well. I just need to make sure I'm ready in case he needs me, not that I think he will." She smiled again and poured him a glass of lemonade as he reached for a sandwich.

"Wouldn't you like to do something else, Near? Like go to the movies or something?" he shook his head as he took a bite of the sandwich.

"I can't, I believe I've already mentioned that I cannot be far away from my work. Besides, I truly have no interest." Jennifer sighed as she poured her own drink.

"It's just that we seem to always meet around food, I just thought it might be fun to do something in which food wasn't involved." Near swallowed what he had in his mouth and thought for a moment. Perhaps this was not such a good idea; she had no understanding of what his life was, what his responsibilities were. It would not be fair to expect her to put up with his limitations.

"Jennifer, you must understand something. I am not able to do the things you are probably used to doing with others. I have never had the desire to be involved in these social activities; I have always preferred to stay to myself. The work that I do, and especially now that Ryuzaki is away, does not afford me the opportunities to do the things that you keep suggesting, but that isn't a problem because I'm not really interested. It will do you no good to suggest we do something outside of these walls because I will not be able to, nor will I want to. If our friendship is contingent on my being able to go out and do these things, then perhaps we should rethink the situation. I would not want to keep you away from doing the things you like doing just to spend time with me."

Jennifer had stopped eating and was staring at Near as he spoke, her mouth slightly open in surprise. When he finished she put her sandwich down and took a deep breath.

"I never said we had to do the things I suggest, I'm just trying to come up with ideas that you might like." She protested.

"I understand this. However, I do not want to keep you from doing things that you enjoy and instead doing things you don't want to do in order to spend time with me."

"One thing you have to learn about me, Near…I don't do anything I don't want to do. Now do me a favor and stop thinking so much and eat your dinner."

"But..."

"Eat!" she said again and he picked up his sandwich and looked back at her to find she was beginning to break into laughter and although he was slightly confused, he couldn't help but join her.