Chapter 38
Near tried to rebuild his fort made of dice now that his hands had stopped shaking. He had received enough information from Yagami to prove it had indeed been Mello running this kidnapping, and he'd had the extreme pleasure of telling this L what a fool he thought he was. He had thrown in the imposter's face how much the original L had accomplished with nothing to go on and how he'd done nothing in 5 years which was why Near would share nothing with him and find Kira without him. Near had told him that he expected nothing worthwhile from either him or the task Force, how he handled the kidnapping proved that. Then hell had erupted as all around him his SPK began to die. One by one they dropped until only Halle, Rester, Giovanni were left. It had to be that Mello had somehow gained access to some of the names of the members of his team and killed them. Kira would not be aware of them yet and if that had been the case, he also would have died. There was enough of the old Mello still alive that he could not bring himself to kill Near. He had felt Mello would try to remove obstacles in his way, but didn't think he could have done it so easily and quickly. He had never seen anything like this before, it was all he could do to not let the horror he felt show or come thru his voice as he had still been connected to L2. With his force shrunk to almost nothing he found he now had to deal with L2 and share information no matter how dangerous and annoying it could be.
Now he sat trying to get control of himself from what had happened and move forward. He knew Mello had to have changed, but somehow he didn't think he would have gone this far. He was going out of his way to make sure that Near not only knew it was him, but that he knew how to use the notebook now that he had it.
L2 had given him information on the notebook, some of the rules and how to use it. However, it didn't explain how Kira could simply write a name in the book with just a face. How did he discover the names? How did he discover L's name? This L2 didn't seem to know, along with the many other things he didn't seem to know. Or maybe he just didn't want to let Near know how much he did really know. He would worry about that later, right now he had to find Mello and that notebook.
Matt looked up from the computer when he heard Christine's office phone ring. She was at the infirmary at the moment so he reached over and picked it up.
"Dr. Thompson's office." He said into the phone and was just as surprised to hear Roger at the other end as Roger seemed to be to hear him.
"Matt, is that you? Where is Dr. Thompson?"
"She's in the infirmary with Sandy. She came back from the hospital today after having her tonsils out so she's checking her over."
"Ah, I see. Well, please have her come to my office when she returns. And tell her to bring any pictures or information she might have on Near and Mello."
"Information on Near and Mello? Why, what's going on?" Matt asked suddenly concerned.
"It's none of your business, Matt, just give her the message." Roger answered and hung up.
"Asshole!" Matt shouted at the phone and slammed it down. Christine walked in just as he did, the sound reverberating thru the office.
"Someone piss you off, Matt?" she asked going to her chair and sitting down.
"Roger" he answered and she laughed.
"Oh, what else is new? What is his problem today?"
"He wants you to come to his office and bring any info or pics you have on Near and Mello." her eyes widened.
"What? Why would he would pictures of them all of a sudden?" she asked standing up.
"I don't know, but I don't like it and I wouldn't bring him anything until we find out." Matt said also standing up. Christine nodded her agreement and walked out, Matt on her heels.
When she arrived she knocked on the door of his office and walked in without waiting. She couldn't stop her heart from pounding with fear of what she was going to hear when she got there, she couldn't figure out what was going on.
She was even more confused when she opened the door and found Roger at his desk, along with two Japanese men. They stood and bowed as she walked in.
"Glad you got my message quickly, Dr. Thompson" Roger started as she walked in, then he noted Matt behind her. "I don't think any of this concerns you, Matt." He said. Matt stood behind Christine as she sat in a chair across from Roger's desk.
"If it involves Near and Mello, it most certainly does." He snapped back. Roger stared at him for a moment and then sighed.
"Alright, I guess it's true. These gentlemen, Mr. Aizawa and Mr. Matsuda, are from the Japanese Police Force…" Christine and Matt's head moved almost as one as they stared at the two men seated at Roger's left. Neither one of them contained the fury they felt staring at two people who probably had something to do with L's death. The two officers seemed to flinch back in their chairs.
"What are they doing here, Roger?"" Matt practically growled out, making Christine reach for his hand to try and calm him down.
"Well they worked with Watari and L and they were following a few leads which led them here. I thought that since both Watari and L are dead it wouldn't harm anything giving them the information they needed." Christine stood up, her own fury beginning to overtake her.
"What information, Roger?"
"About what we do here, the type of children we have here. They had been to see our old student Linda and showed me these…" he gestured to pictures on his desk, the ones Linda had drawn so long ago of Near and Mello.
"I told them who they were and that they had been next in line for L, but that Mello had left. I thought perhaps you could give them some more insights on them since you were very close to them as their doctor and perhaps you had pictures…." Christine had moved before Matt could reach out and stop her. She had run to Roger's desk, leaned in, and had punched him as hard as she could in his mouth. Roger's head snapped back against the chair, blood flying from his lip. Matt ran to her and grabbed her, pulling her back before she hit him again.
"You BASTARD how could you be so stupid!" she screamed at him, fighting against Matt to get back to him.
"These idiots are responsible for L's death, he died because they were too incompetent and now you're handing them Near and Mello? You're going to get them killed too!"
she continued to scream.
The police officers had jumped to their feet when she had struck Roger and now they were both staring at her with wide eyes.
"We aren't responsible for L's death! It was Kira!" the younger of them said in halting English. Christine lunged at them and only because Matt was stronger did she not connect.
"I suggest you get the hell out of here before I let her go. You're not getting any more information from us." Matt said to them, his voice deadly. They looked to Roger who was still in shock and holding his mouth. They quickly bowed, grabbed the pictures and ran out of the office. Matt finally let her go once the officers were safely out of the building. He looked at Roger who was frantically looking for something to put on his mouth.
"I can't believe you attacked me like that Dr. Thompson!" he mumbled around his hand. "This will cost you your position, you had no right…" Matt sat on his desk and leaned into him.
"No it won't. She was right. If I had a gun I would have blown your head off for what you've done, rather than split your lip. The only reason L is dead is because he obviously let himself be known to those idiots. And now you've done the same thing to Near and Mello. If anything happens to them because of your stupidity, Roger I will personally hold you responsible. As far as Dr. Thompson's job, it's fine. You're not going to say anything about it to anyone or you'll be the one leaving this institution and most likely not standing up. Don't test me on this, Roger. You have no clue to the extent of my reach."
Roger stared up at Matt in surprise and shock. Never in all the time he had known him had he seen him act like this; never heard the deadly sound to his voice. He looked down at his desk; perhaps he had said too much, he hadn't thought it would be wrong to be honest with the police. Aren't they on the same side? He looked back at Matt, grimacing at how hard his blue eyes were staring him down still, then he nodded. Matt smiled at him, but there was no humor in it.
"I'll bring you some ice for your boo-boo." He said as he led a still trembling Christine out of the office and slammed the door behind him. Matt got her back to her office and closed the door behind them before saying anything.
"Are you alright?" he asked her as she sat at her desk, her entire body was shaking. She shook her head.
"My God Matt, what has he done? Everything L and Watari worked so hard to create, Near and Mello..he's jeopardized everything!" Matt had never wanted to smoke so much before, but he ignored it.
"I know it sounds bad but let's think about it for a minute. He didn't tell them their real names, he doesn't know them. He knew L's because L was the first, but since then L wouldn't allow anyone to know the real names except for Watari. All they really know is where they've come from, the fact that Whammy's is not just a regular orphanage and that they're both out there somewhere. It probably won't take even them very long to realize that Near is the one heading the SPK, though. But that won't do them much good without knowing his real name." Christine looked up at him, tears in her eyes that she wouldn't allow to fall.
"They didn't know L's real name either and yet somehow Kira killed him. Somehow he got it from what they did know of him. " Matt nodded and sat on the desk.
"I know, but there's a piece missing somewhere. Somehow Kira can find out people's real names without being told, that's the real mystery here. What Roger did was unforgivable and stupid but I don't think he's going to cost them their lives." Christine nodded and took a deep breath. For the first time she realized her hand hurt. She looked down and saw her knuckles bruised and torn from where she had hit Roger. Matt looked at it as well and burst out laughing. He went into her treatment room and came back with gauze and peroxide.
"Damn Doctor Thompson, you should have told me you were hiding a killer right hook." He said as he began to clean her knuckles. She looked up at him and started laughing with him. She realized that for the first time one of her boys was actually taking care of her and it gave her a warm feeling all over. When Matt finished he covered it with a bandage and then sat down and looked at her seriously.
"I think everything is going to be fine, Dr. Thompson, even with what that idiot did. Near isn't alone and he's nowhere near those idiots on the task force. As for Mello, well if he managed to survive on his own and get to where he is now, nothing is going to stop him until he's done what he's set out to do. I really believe that, so you have to."
Christine smiled then reached out and hugged Matt to her, suddenly very glad he was here with her and not out chasing Kira with the rest of them yet.
"Thank you, Matt I need to hear that. " she said and then pulled away. She looked at her desk and the files Matt had been working on and shook her head.
"No, these can wait. Come on, we need to get away from here for a while. Let's go into town and get something to eat." Matt smiled his approval.
"Great! Smoking or non-smoking?" he asked and Christine laughed.
"This time smoking, you deserve it." She answered and his grin got wider as they went out of the door.