Chapter 38

Light printed out yet another report on his progress on the gang murders which was pretty much nothing. He was frustrated by the lack of traceable clues and the complete silence of any witnesses or gang members brought in for questioning. Matsuda had warned him that this was often the case and not to loose too much sleep over it but he couldn't just let it go. There had to be some way of bringing at least some of the people involved in that carnage to justice. He took the report, had Matsuda read it over and signs it, then he took it and headed to the Deputy Director's office to deliver it.

He waved at Soichiro's secretary and knocked on the door before walking in. Soichiro sat at his desk, the phone in his ear. He looked up and waved his son into his office, a smile gracing his face for just a few moments before his attention went back to the phone call.

Light came in, closing the door behind him, and sat down to wait for his father to finish the conversation. Whoever he was talking to was doing most of the talking, as Soichiro simply seemed to be listening and not adding anything to the conversation. Light couldn't resist a chuckle at his father's expense as he watched his father's eyes roll to the top of his head signifying this conversation was ridiculous.

"Yes, of course I understand. I'll have someone look into it and get back to you by the end of the day…absolutely…I know how difficult it must be for you…yes, I will get back to you by the end of the day. Yes…..good-bye." He slammed down the phone and turned to look at Light.

"Someone meets the Director at a cocktail party and decides her missing dog is worth my time. Ridiculous…" he said and Light laughed.

"Sorry, Dad. I guess the Director must have told her you were the perfect man for the job." He said and his father scowled.

"Having to deal with making nice to the Director's cronies is a part of the job I don't care for at all!" he said and then took a deep breath, "Now, what can I do for you, son?"

Light stood up and handed him his report.

"Our progress report on the gang murders at the waterfront," he said, "Obviously we haven't made very much progress, but I'm keeping on it." Soichiro skimmed over the report then sat back in his chair, appraising his son.

"Light, I'm sure Matsuda told you how difficult these cases are. Witnesses are afraid to say anything, gang members certainly aren't going to say anything. We have at least five of these cases sitting on the books right now that have completely stalemated. Now I'm not telling you to give up on it, absolutely not, but not to waste a lot of time on it when you have other important cases to work on. Go back to it if you get any more clues, but we very rarely have any arrests on gang cases."

"Yes, he told me, but Dad I think we can get at least a couple of the people involved in this. We found partial finger prints…there may be more…we can't let them get away with this!" Light countered and Soichiro nodded.

"I know how you feel, but experience tells me that you will never get a hit on that partial fingerprint, nor will you ever find enough evidence to convict anyone."

"So we just write this off? All that carnage I had to wade through just goes unresolved?" Light was getting angry, the people responsible had to be brought to justice, why wasn't his father realizing this?

"You need to calm down, Light, I'm not your enemy here. I'm not telling you not to continue to work on it; it would be a poor police department that didn't try to resolve this case to the best of its ability. However, when gangs decide to kill each other, they make damned sure there's no evidence left behind, and no one willing to talk. You can't bring people to justice without evidence."

"We must have arrested members of these gangs before, why can't we just go through their arrest records.."

"And do what, Light? There is no proof as to which ones were there that night. We have a pretty good idea which gang it was, and are aware of many of it's members but there is no proof that they did it. I could have them all brought in on suspicion and their lawyers would have them out before the sun set. This isn't the first time this has happened." Light ran a hand through his hair in frustration, he knew all this it was his case after all. But he couldn't stand the thought that these people were laughing at the police, knowing they couldn't be touched.

"There has got to be something we can do, someplace we haven't looked, this isn't the way it should be!" the words were echoing in his head, reminding him of similar words he had said in frustration before…he quickly brought his mind back to the present, that way of thinking didn't help anything.

"Well, you do have access to the greatest mind in criminal cases. Perhaps he could find time to lend a hand in this? This is not his type of case, I imagine gang murders are not generally in his sphere of operations, however I am sure if you asked him…."

"No, this is my case. I will solve it if it is meant to be solved." Light answered immediately. L had his cases, and he had his own. He would not go to L simply because he was having difficulty.

"It was not a slight to your abilities Light, you are brilliant in your own right. But he does have a lot more experience and has a perfect record. You may also after you've been at this a while, as I believe you are just as intelligent. You proved that during the Kira case." Light's eyes narrowed as he leaned across the desk towards his father.

"I said no, Dad. I don't run to you to fight my battles around here and I'm not running to him to solve my cases. If it's to be solved I'll do it on my own." Sochiro stared into his son's eyes and realized this subject was closed as far as Light was concerned.

"Fine, I understand Light. Now, onto happier topics. What time shall we arrive for dinner?" He watched as Light visibly relaxed, stood up from the desk and then smiled at him.

"Whammy says dinner is at 7:00 so plan on arriving around 6:30."

"Good. You're mother is looking forward to finally seeing your place and Ryuzaki. Sayu is also quite excited to see her brother who has managed to forget where he used to live."

"Sorry. I've just been so busy the past couple of years." Light apologized.

"Yes, I know, son. I am sure we will all enjoy catching up this evening. Now, I must get back to work and so do you. I will see you this evening." Light nodded and went to the door. He stopped before he opened it and turned back to face his father.

"Look, Dad I'm sorry if what I said before upset you."

"Not at all, Light. I have to forget who you are living with and think of him only as your partner. Ofcourse you are not going to take advantage of your relationship. I should apologize for suggesting it." Light smiled and nodded, and then went out of the office.

Matsuda was waiting for him in the hallway outside of the office door and approached him excitedly.

"Light, have you seen that new traffic officer? I think her name is Suki or something like that, have you seen her?" Light shook his head.

"Not yet. Why, is she attractive?" he asked and Matsuda nodded.

"Oh, man Light she'll make you drool…..well…probably not but that's a good thing because then I won't have you as competition. I'd certainly lose if you were." Light laughed as they walked down the hall together.

"No I certainly won't be competition for you, Matsuda. So, have you spoken to her yet?"

"Nothing more than hello and excuse me but at least it's a start, right?"

"Absolutely. Maybe tomorrow you can work yourself up to real sentences."

"Come on Light it's hard for me. It's never been a problem for you, they just fall all over you but me, I have to work at it."

"Matsuda, I'm sure you will do just fine. Listen dinner's at 7:00 so come about 6:30, okay?"

"Good, gives me a chance to go home and clean up a bit. Maybe next time you invite me to a dinner I might actually be able to bring a date!" Light smiled at his friend and patted his arm.

"I have no doubt, Matsuda. Come on we still have a full day ahead of us." He said as they headed back to their desks, not missing the happy smile Matsuda had flashed at him.

L had told Near to take a break and get ready for dinner so he was alone in his office. He'd been trying not to think about the upcoming dinner; as much as he did enjoy company from time to time, it was a bit nerve wracking to think Light's family was going to meet his family. He could never be sure exactly what was going to go on with his heirs, and it had been a long time since he'd spent any time with Light's mother and sister. They had visited him in the hospital but that was relatively brief. He'd always wondered what they thought of his relationship with Light, they had never seemed upset with it; as a matter of fact Sachiko seemed to almost dote on him when she was around him.

He sighed and scanned the information coming across his screens. He had done a little checking on Light's gang murder case, just to see what was happening. He knew Light was unhappy with the lack of evidence on the case. He also knew Light would not come to him for any kind of collaboration, but perhaps if he just happened to see a few items that might help and brought it to his attention. Then there was the problem of Light's pride. If he offered him any kind of help on that case, Light would probably take it the wrong way and get angry. He knew how he'd react if someone did the same with him. He snorted, no one would dare, he was L after all. At the same time he didn't want Light to become totally frustrated with his first case completely on his own; it had already upset him terribly emotionally, he didn't want it to make Light doubt his abilities. L had to laugh at that thought, Light doubt his abilities. No more than he himself would doubt his own abilities. But he had been frustrated by cases, he knew what a debilitating feeling he got when it happened. If he could help Light avoid that he would, he was sure Light would understand.

He uncurled from his chair and padded out into the living room. He was always aware of the extremely plush carpet they had because it always felt good under his constantly bare feet. He stood for a few moments letting his toes play with the carpet for a few moments while he decided what to do next. He realized it was uncommonly quiet in the apartment knowing the boys were there and he wondered what they were up to.

He walked down the hallway to Near's room where he knocked, and when he got no answer he opened the door and peeked in. He could hear the shower running in the small bathroom on the other side of the room so he knew what he was doing. He closed the door and went to Matt and Mello's room. He knocked and waited a few moments, not wanting to open the door to something he really didn't want to see. After a few moments he opened the door and found the room completely empty. He closed the door and went back into the living room. They had probably gone out together while he and Near were working. He would have Mello sit down with him tomorrow and work with him one on one and see how he handled himself. Matt he knew was much more into the computer operations of things, so he wasn't too worried about working too deeply with him, but he would test him on a few computer surprises he had run across recently when tracking several criminals.

Looking at the clock he realized he had another hour or so before he expected Light to come home. He decided he would go and visit Watari; something he had not done in quite a while. Coffee and conversation with his mentor was very inviting to him right now.

When he walked into Watari's apartment, he found him on the phone to the caterers, telling them what time he expected to pick up the food, and that he was expecting that there were be no less than two servers coming along with the food. He listened with an amused expression on his face; apparently someone was not giving Watari what he needed to hear and was being told so not very gently.

While he waited he walked into the kitchen and prepared himself a cup of coffee and walked into the room he and Watari used for such occasions and sat on the floor by Watari's chair. A few minutes later Watari joined him, a cup of tea in one hand, a platter of small snacks in the other.

"I apologize for not acknowledging your presence earlier L, but there were a few last minute things that needed to be sorted out." L smiled at him as he sat in his chair beside him.

"That's fine, Watari, I overheard. I hope I'm not interrupting anything by coming in like this." Watari shook his head as he took a sip of his tea.

"Of course not. I welcome the moment to sit and relax before the festivities this evening. Is there anything bothering you, or is this just a visit?"

"Just a visit, everything is fine. It occurred to me that we have not had the time to simply have a talk between us in quite a while. I have missed it." Watari smiled warmly at his ward.

"Yes, so have I."