I've got a question for you all.
Do any of you have pets?
And if so, do any of your pets act like they're on some sort of crazy pill?
Believe it or not, yesterday I was quietly sitting at my desk doing...computer things...(can't remember),
and out of the blue came my cat hurtling into my room with a mouse in her mouth!
She loves giving me presents, and of course most of the presents she brings me tend to be alive...
So yes folks...I have a live mouse running around my room somewhere.
I have not been able to catch it yet...
Should I kill my cat?
(Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note, but I am now the proud owner of a field mouse somewhere in my room. -_-)
Mission 1: Find the Suppliers
Mello kicked up the sawdust on the ground with his boots, leaving behind a trail of bare concrete. He watched the dust effortlessly float along the small breeze he discovered near a vent. It sucked up the sawdust like a vacuum.
"Looks like the ventilation systems around here are still in operation, which means somebody was here."
Matt took note of the new discovery and then pulled out a cigarette. They were in an old butcher's shop that went out of business years ago, so he didn't have to worry about getting any looks from those who thought his habit was disgusting. Mello occasionally would give him the look, but then again, Mello gave the disgusted look to almost everyone he knew.
"Start knocking on the walls. These places are known for having secret rooms." He lit his cigarette. Mello did just that. He stepped closer to the back wall behind the broken counter tops, and started to knock in different places, waiting to hear for a certain sound. While Mello was doing his search, Matt decided to go check the back room where all the meat had been stored. As he walked in, he was hit with a blast of cold air. There was no hum of the freezer being in operation, but it must have recently been working to still have such a chilled temperature.
"This place smells like shit." Mello voiced his opinion as Matt started to look around.
"What do you expect from an old butcher shop?" Matt kneeled down over some debris. There wasn't any meat left in the freezer, but what were left were bits and pieces of parchment and bones. The bones were most likely from the cows, but the parchment could have been old recites, either from the butcher shop itself, or from the sales of the drugs. Not taking any chances, he pulled out two separate baggies and collected both the parchment and the bones. Every piece of evidence was important to the case, even if it was the remains of an animal.
"There's nothing here." Mello walked in to watch Matt finishing up his collection. Matt stored the evidence inside of his vest and adjusted his goggles.
"Shall we move on to our next destination?"
"What's the next place?"
To answer Mello's question, Matt had to pull out his PSP. He tinkered with it for a couple of seconds and then found what he was looking for.
"Exit 78, off of chambers. 42nd lot."
"What does that mean?" Mello pinched his nose. The smell was starting to get to him.
"That means we are going to investigate an old body farm."
"Please tell me you are joking…" Mello wanted to gag. A body farm was the last place he ever wanted to go. Body farms were used at universities to study the decomposition of the deceased. Which meant there was a good chance a dead body was going to be there, and it was going to be undergoing decomposition. It was going to smell awful.
"I find it more interesting that this place has gone out of business. How could a body farm loose enough income to have to shut down?" Matt scratched his head.
"I think L is doing this on purpose," Mello ignored Matt's question. He didn't care about how the body farm lost its funding. The fact that he was being sent to one must have been his punishment for upsetting L's precious Alice.
"Do you think we'll get to see a decapitated head? I've always wanted to know the decomposition process for a severed head."
Mello grumble under his breath and started to chew on the inside of his cheek. There were days like these that he wondered why he ever befriended the red head with goggles.
Alice flipped to the next photo and rested her head on the back of her hand. Her frown deepened as she tried to concentrate. She had been looking at the photos for what seemed like hours. There had been at least twenty of them, and this was her third time going through them, just to see if she could pick up anything new. What she had gotten so far were little bits and pieces of irrelevant knowledge, such as who smoked a pack of cigarettes every day, or who had a nervous twitch to them that they couldn't control. It was the little things that made her search all that much more frustrating. So she stopped looking at the ones that didn't hold much importance to the drug case, and focused on the few suppliers she had photos of. L had told her about each of the men in the photos and he pointed to the ones specifically who he thought were the suppliers. What Alice really wanted to find out was their location. It didn't have to be an address explicitly, but at least something like a landmark or number that could possibly help L to find these men. Unfortunately she hasn't been able to find anything about their whereabouts yet.
"This is getting frustrating," she huffed.
"You're doing an excellent job Ace." L encouraged her. Alice would have appreciated his encouragement had he not been focusing his attention on his computer and sounding unenthusiastic. She gave a heavy sigh and fell backwards onto the bed. Her head softy landed on the pillow behind her. She was defiantly starting to feel the effects of not sleeping. It had to have been two in morning.
"If you're tired Ace, then you should get some sleep," Near said from the floor. He was still in his original spot in the corner, but this time he was watching a television screen. He was going over some of the surveillance footage for the case.
"I'm falling asleep already." She closed her eyes.
"There are plenty of unoccupied rooms in this hotel that you could sleep in," L suggested. Alice thought about sleeping in her own room, but ever since she got that scare from Doug, she didn't feel too comfortable by herself at night.
Wait!
That was it!
She could talk to Doug and find out where the suppliers went! Why didn't she think of that sooner? She shot up from her sleeping position and rolled off the bed as quickly as she could. L watched her as she zoomed towards the door. He didn't think his suggestion would have gone over so well with her, but at least she was showing more enthusiasm then before. A good night's rest would certainly make her happy. As she ran out the room, Near combed through his hair for another strand to twist. His anxiety seemed to grow stronger after L and Alice returned to the room, but he would never voice his feelings out loud. He still didn't have an answer as to why he was feeling so shaken, and there was no use trying to explain it to either Alice or L. His only coping mechanism he had was the screen in front of him. Work was his only way out of his meandering thoughts.
Not caring which room she went in, Alice chose a room three doors down from the control center. She had to be far enough away for Doug to feel comfortable enough to come out. Ghosts were temperamental about who they showed themselves to, and even though L or Near could not see him, that didn't mean he wasn't shy around them. If Alice was a ghost, she would surely be intimidated by L and Near. They had the kind of stares that made goose-bumps appear.
"Doug?" She gasped out his name as she shut the door behind her. She had to turn on the lights since the room was pitch black. When she didn't get a response, she decided to make her voicelouder. "DOUG!"
"How did I get here?"
Alice turned around sharply and found Doug standing in front of the only window in the room. He looked a little dazed, as if he had gone on some wild ride.
"I called you here," She answered his question when she felt confident that he would stick around. It was yet another trick she learned on her own. She could call upon the dead whenever she wanted, and they would have to come. It was like saying Beetlejuice three times in a row. The only problem with the trick was that she could not force them to stay. If they wanted to go, they had every right to disappear.
"You can do that?" Doug was amazed. Alice felt smug for a moment, enjoying the expression he had. But her moment of appraisal would have to wait. She had more important matters to discuss with him.
"Do you think you could find out where the suppliers have gone?"
"Suppliers?"
"Yes, they moved, and now we don't know where they are." She gave a short explanation. She didn't think telling him it was her fault they moved was important.
"Why do you think I know where they are? It's not like I haunt them or anything." Doug looked away while crossing his arms. The curl of his lip told Alice he was lying through his teeth. He looked rather pleased with himself.
"Have you tried taking over any of their bodies?"
"Can I do that?" Doug sounded eager.
"Some ghosts can, but I don't sense that kind of strength from you." She let him down. "But if want to get back at these men, then how about telling me where they are."
"What can you do?"
"I can get all their butts sent to jail."
"I'd rather haunt them. It's more fun."
Alice started to bite her bottom lip. She had to convince Doug to tell her where they were, but he didn't seem to want to cooperate. If he wasn't going to tell her, then she was just going to have to use the big guns. She never liked telling the dead this, but she felt it was the only way to convince him.
"Listen Doug, the longer you stay here on earth, the more attached you become. At some point you will never be able to leave and you will be stuck drifting among the crowds that can't see or hear you. Do you want to be stuck here forever?"
"What do you mean stuck?" He started to sound terrified. That was the kind of reaction she was hoping for.
"You came to me for help because you needed to resolve some mistakes you made in your life. When those mistakes are taken care of, you are supposed to move on. Pass over. Take the final plunge to the unknown. Excreta, excreta,"
"Where do I move onto?" He asked the question that every ghost seemed to continually ask her. She must have heard the question over a million times, but unfortunately she had no idea where they went. She wasn't sure if they went to heaven or got reincarnated into fish. As much as she would have loved to give him something to be optimistic about, she could not.
"Hopefully someplace nice,"
Alice watched him with anticipation. He was mulling over Alice's last words. She scared him, that was for sure, but did she scare him enough?
Matt had to pull his boots out of the mud each time he took a step. It made an odd slurping sound every time he pulled out, and then a splat when he drove his foot into the ground. Suffice to say, he did not like it. Not only were his boots getting dirty, but he ran out of cigarettes the minute they got there. Having to trudge through the mud made him crave a cigarette more than ever.
"Will you hurry up? Stop making that ridicules face!" Mello shouted from the other side of the large mud puddle. He had already made the journey through the mud and was well on his way deeper into the abandon body farm. It smelled just like he thought it would, but the bright side was that he didn't spot any decaying bodies around. If the place was taken care of after it lost its funding, then more likely than not, the place must have been cleared of the dead; either by disposing the bodies, or relocating them to a different farm.
"These boots were custom made! Why couldn't I have waited in the car?"
"Fine! You want to be a pussy? Then go back to the car!"
Matt was almost persuaded by the offer, but he automatically knew he would feel guilty for letting Mello do all the work himself. And there was nothing more obnoxious then having to feel guilt. So weighing between the pro and cons, he pushed forward through the mud and made it across the puddle. Mello didn't say another word as his friend approached him.
"Just out of curiosity, did you call me a pussy?"
Mello made no attempt to respond to that question. Instead, he pointed to a large sewer pipe coming out from the ground. It was dripping off a steady flow of water right into the mud.
"The runoff from the pipe is the reason for this mud. That was put there purposely so intruders would have a hard time getting in."
Matt pointed down at the trail of footprints he left behind after he walked out of the mud. "I'd say their security system was pretty ingenious. Even if they didn't catch the guy at the entrance, they sure could have used his trail he left behind to follow him."
Mello nodded his head to agree and then took a look around at his surroundings. The place looked awful even without the decaying bodies. It was converted into an unlicensed trash heap. This meant that anybody who wanted their trash gone without the help of a garbage truck would bring their crap to the abandoned body farm.
"If this was the only visible entrance, then they must have had a secret one to get in and out without the trouble of going through mud. Let's spread out and look along the fence lines" Mello gave his order. Matt frowned and started to feel his fingers twitch. Usually he was all for helping Mello and taking orders, but the body farm was massive. It was once used to hold hundreds of decaying bodies in more than one scenario, so obviously they were going to need the space. Who knows how many acres it could have been, but Matt sure didn't feel like making a full circle around the borders just to find some silly hole in the wall.
"That will be too much work. Why don't we find the places they would most likely gather and look for clues,"
"Were not here to find evidence of their dealings, we're here to find out where they have gone. Finding the other entrance will at least give us a starting point to their little race."
"But the more evidence we find about their drug sells, the better the chance we have to get them sent to jail. You know as well as I know the court system in America is littered with snakes. As long as we have a strong list of charges, we won't have to worry about the trial taking a million years."
"We won't have to worry about the trials at all if we don't find them!"
"L is doing more than enough work to locate them. Our job should be to look for more evidence!" Matt did not back down. Without his cigarette's, he certainly didn't want to do more work than necessary.
"The fool has nothing to go on! He has to relay on the local police to find them, and we both know what a wonderful job they have done for us so far!" Mello fought back, referring to the inexcusable money under the mattress moment.
"And you think some stupid hole in the wall will tell us where a small group of criminals went?"
"You're just being lazy! You don't want to look for the second entrance because it will be too much work!"
"I'm being practical! The less time we waste here, the more time we get to look at more important locations!"
"A real detective doesn't just look around a room and call it good! They study that room from top to bottom until they are certain they have gathered all the evidence they can find!"
"If you haven't noticed Mello…" Matt spread his arms out. "This is a body farm, which means acres of land we would have to explore! We certainly don't have the time or the resources to cover all this!" Matt's voice echoed.
"You indolent piece of…!" But before Mello could finish his insult, a gun was fired from a distances. Matt and Mello ducked for cover behind one of the giant tires among the piles of trash. They were caught by surprise, and it showed by the expressions they were making. Mello quickly pulled out his gun and got it loaded. Matt followed in suit, making sure to adjust his goggle so they wouldn't block his vision.
"Hey Mello?" Matt's breath came out shaky.
"What is it?" Mello peeked around the tire. As soon as he got a visual of the scene before him, another fire was shot and he was forced back behind the tire. But he did manage to see three men hiding behind other various pieces of trash. There could have been more, but he didn't have that long to look.
"Maybe we should have checked if there were still members here…"
Mello sneered at the thought of Matt being right. Matt could easily see the temperature rise in Mello, and it wouldn't be long before Mello got trigger happy. Luckily for Matt, if Mello killed them all, then he wouldn't have to fill out any of the paperwork when they got back home. There was nothing more excruciatingly boring then having to fill out paperwork.
"You can all bow down to my greatness." Alice walked into the room with her hands up in the air, as if she were waiting to catch the compliments. Both L and Near stopped with what they were doing to see her sashay into the room like a primadonna.
"I thought you went to get some sleep? It's almost four in the morning," L checked the time.
"No no sir, I was doing a little research of my own." Her chin was held high. She had a smile so smug, it nearly inflated her head.
"What research would this be?"
"The kind where only my abilities can accomplish and I'll be happy to say they were successful."
"Oh?" Near said next. "And what were your results?"
"I know where to find the suppliers," she beamed.
"Impressive!" L was excited, but he didn't give away his excitement so soon.
"Yes, I know." She flipped some of her hair back. It wasn't often L would give her real compliments, so she was going to milk it for all it was worth.
"So where are they?" Near finally stood up after hours of doing work on the floor. The muscles in his legs rejected the movement at first, but the ache subsided as quickly as it had come.
"They are…uh...well I don't know exactly, but Doug said he would show me where they were."
"Doug? You ghost friend?" L wondered.
"That's right. He knows where they went, and he could lead us to them."
"Could we meet him?" L pulled away from his computer. There was nothing on his screen that interested him anymore.
"What?" Alice was taken aback. L couldn't possibly see Doug, and Doug was so intimidated by L and Near, that there was no way he would ever show himself. She could always force him to come, but she knew he wouldn't stay.
"Would he be willing to tell us directly?" L asked once more, believing Alice truly didn't hear his first question.
"I would like to meet a ghost." Near sounded eager. Alice looked back and forth between the two boys, wondering if she should even try.
"Is there a problem?" L grew worried after seeing her brows crease.
"I don't think Doug would want to speak to either of you."
"Why is that?" L tilted his head. The act looked innocent, but Alice knew all too well how malevolent L could be.
"He's just really shy." Alice lied, not wanting to hurt her new boyfriend's feelings.
"That's too bad; I would have liked to have seen a ghost." Near was disappointed.
"Would he be willing to go on camera?" L made another suggestion. Alice rolled her eyes.
"You won't be able to see him, he's a ghost silly."
"Yes, but there are other ways to prove his existence,"
"Like what?"
L got up out of his chair and shuffled over to the girl. She thought he was reaching for her hand, but to her shock, he reach inside of her front pocket of her pants and pulled out her cell phone.
"L!" She blushed like mad after he got the phone.
"Calm down Ace, I'm going to give you Mr. Alchi's number. You need to call him and tell him you are on your way over."
"Wha…? Why?"
"For my experiment to work, there has to be another person, and since Douglas won't show himself to us, then I'm sure he won't have trouble showing himself to you and Mr. Alchi."
"What experiment? Will I have to do anything dangerous?"
"Absolutely not, all I will require is a basic understanding of mathematics."
Alice felt the phone being slipped into her hand. L Pushed the call button and moved Alice's arm so the phone was pressed against her ear. He held it there for safety measures. He also didn't mind holding onto her hand. That certainly was a bonus.
She didn't know why he was guiding her. It wasn't as if she was incapable of moving her own arm. At least, she thought she could move it. She wasn't willing to try yet after noticing her legs felt like jelly. Was that L's fault she couldn't move properly?
Alice heard the phone ring once. It didn't take long for Zeek to answer, "Hey phone person, who's calling?"
Alice immediately was thrown into a good mood. Hearing Zeek's voice made her realize how much she missed his laid back personality.
"Zeek, it's me, Ace,"
"Hey little elf! What's going on? You would not believe the kind of service this hotel has. I can order room service whenever I want and this butler dude brings it to me! He even brought me a computer so I could play my game!"
"That's great Zeek," Alice gently smiled, reminding herself to thank Watari later.
"You bet it is; I've been up all night getting my kingdom back in order. The Emerald forest has got a serious sprite infestation. The little buggers keep stealing my potions. Wait…" Zeek paused. "It's really late, why are you calling?"
"I'm going to come visit you." Her smile grew.
"That's awesome! We can take down these sprites together. I'm sure Doug won't mind if you play LoveHearts again."
"Sounds like fun," she giggled. She then felt L's hand squeeze her own. It was his signal to end the conversation. "Alright Zeek, I'll see you soon," and before she could even hear Zeek's good-bye, L hung up the phone.
"Hey, you didn't have to do that," she whined as she watched L close her phone. L swiftly put the phone back into her front pocket and then reached in his own to pull out a key. Without saying another word, he grabbed her hand and plopped the key onto her open palm.
"This will get you into Zeek's room," he instructed. Alice gasped.
"You have Zeek locked up?"
"I couldn't have him running around this hotel freely."
"He wouldn't do anything wrong!"
"I'm sure he won't, but you can never be too cautious."
Alice ripped her hand from his and clenched the key into her fist. She gave L a look that clearly showed she was angry, and then stormed out the door to go find Zeek's room. Thankfully the room number was on the key, so she didn't have to worry about asking L.
"I'm going to go kill some sprites with Zeek!" She shouted on her way out. L found her little outburst to be charming, but he didn't dwell over it for long. He had his side of the job to do, which meant he was going to need Near's help.
"Near, grab your laptop and come with me, we are moving the control center."
"Yes L."
Matt checked the pulse of the last man Mello shot. There was nothing to indicate the man was alive, so Matt pronounced him dead. He should have known anyway since there was blood shooting out of the guy's head, but he had to be professional about the whole ordeal, so he made the effort to check all the men. Originally there had been three, but as time when on and more shots were fired, Mello managed to take out ten. Now all that was left were a pile of dead bodies. Ironically, this would have been a good place to keep them since it used to be a body farm. Matt wouldn't be surprised if there were still other decaying bodies lying around. If he had to take a guess, he would say the body farm was used for hiding the drug dealer's kills. That would explain the smell and why the men who were killed were so intent on protecting the place.
"Your aim is always impeccable." Matt smirked as he forced himself up from his squatting position. Mello only gave Matt a grunt for a response. Taking compliments for Mello was like celebrating his own birthday. He could care less. "Well now that we've managed to kill a horde of men, how about we move on to the next place? I'm getting bored of the body farm,"
Mello sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. He knew there was nothing left at the body farm too. Having massacred ten of the gang members, he was able to acclaim a couple dozen articles of evidence from their wallets and pockets. He even got a few cell phones. And judging by the direction they were coming from, he could assume that was where the second entrance was.
"How should we dispose of them?" Mello pointed to the scattered bodies. Matt rubbed his chin to think.
"Calling the cops would make us have to explain ourselves, and that would take too long. Let's just make this look like a fight between two gangs," he proposed.
"Sounds good to me," Mello agreed. Matt smiled and went straight to work. It didn't take long for his plan to come together. By the end of the night, the place looked as if a war between two rival gangs had taken place. A couple guns here, and few article of clothing there, and voila, the scene was staged.
"Did you have to give that guy sunglasses?" Mello stepped back to get a better look at Matt's work.
"Hey, just be thankful I didn't match those sunglasses with a scarf."
"Ugh," Mello looked away, not wanting to discuss it any longer. "Where do we go next?" He quickly moved on. Matt promptly pulled out his PSP and made the necessary clicking noises to come up with the answer.
"Here we are," he said. "We are going back into the city. Luther Street, off of Pebbles and 23rd. Looks like we get to investigate a pawn shop."
"This better be worth it." Mello grumbled as he began his walk towards the direction of the second entrance. He wasn't going to walk through that mud again. It was bad enough he got a little blood on his boots.
"Well at least the pawn shop won't be abandoned. I'd like to finally have a friendly chat with somebody without having to shoot them." Matt followed right behind Mello.
Alice stood poised in front of Zeek's door. With the key in her hand, she waited quietly to hear any noises coming from the room. She wanted to know he was in there. She wanted to hear his voice on the other side of the door. When she finally heard Zeek's boisterous cheer, it compelled her to quickly unlock his door. She was inside the room in a matter of seconds.
Her first observation was of Zeek sitting on the floor with his legs crossed into a pretzel. He had large headphones covering his ears and a laptop on his lap. He was quiet at first, but it didn't take him long to start shouting various indiscriminate combat attacks. Several included swinging a whip while others had odd names that strangely resembled brands of bath soups. But shrugging off Zeek's odd gaming jargon, she swooped over and reach out so she could tap him on the shoulder. Zeek whipped off his headphones and gave Alice the biggest smile. She never felt so happy to see somebody smile other than Watari.
"Little elf! You came!" He held out his arms. Alice gave into his offer for a hug and got down on her knees so she could wrap her arms around his torso.
"I can't believe I missed you this much!" She was amazed at how nice the hug felt. It was as if she was reuniting with her best friend after being apart for years. She wondered if reuniting with Eric would feel the same way.
"I missed you too little elf. Shall we celebrate our togetherness with some sprite hunting? I've got a wicked crossbow for LoveHearts that I think you'll enjoy."
Alice pulled out of the hug and gave Zeek a pat on the shoulder. Hearing Doug's name reminded her of what she was really there for.
"Speaking of Doug, I was hoping you could help me with something."
"What do you need?"
"I was going to call Doug and see if he'll talk to us," she gave him a simple answer, because she didn't even know what L wanted her to do. She assumed there was a camera somewhere in the room and L would call her with more instructions.
"You can do that? You can get Doug to come talk to us?" Zeek got exited.
"I sure can, but I just wanted to make sure you would be okay with it."
"That sounds awesome!" she wasn't surprised to hear. "I want to talk to my buddy! Is he here now?"
"Not yet," she cracked her knuckles. She didn't need to wait for L's order. She assumed he was already watching anyway with the camera. Taking a deep breath, she concentrated on Doug's appearance. "Doug, time to come say hello to your friend!"
The room fell silent for a moment, and Alice wondered if her little trick had finally failed her, but a flash of light caught the corner of her eye. The light faded as fast as it had come, and it left behind the spirit she had been hoping would make an appearance. Doug stood in front of the door with a look of confusion. It was his second time being summoned, and Alice could tell he still wasn't sure how it was happening to him.
"What's going on now?" he wondered, eying Zeek like a cornered rat. Doug looked terrified, which was not what Alice had expected. Zeek was looking around the room as if he expected to see Doug pop up in front of him. Alice wondered if Zeek could see the dead since he was able to sense Doug a couple times before. But now that Doug was there, it was clear to Alice that she was still the only one who could see the deceased. She couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.
"Is he here? I'm getting those weird vibes again." Zeek finally focused on Alice after giving up his search. Alice gave one last look to Doug to make sure he wasn't going to run out the room like a scared child. Doug may have been petrified, but he looked like he was going to stay, so Alice answered Zeek.
"He's here, but I'm not sure how much longer he's willing to stay."
Doug ruffled his hair and made a noise between a grunt and a whimper. "Why are you doing this to me?" He gave Alice a pathetic look. Alice snorted.
"Stop whining and talk to your friend."
"But it's my fault he almost got killed!" Doug got more pathetic. Alice started to feel a stab of pain between her brows. She rubbed the bridge of her noise to relief the pain.
"So don't you think apologizing would be a first great step to forgiveness?"
"Forgiveness?" Zeek interrupted the two unknowingly. "What's my buddy got to be sorry about?"
Doug looked away in shame, as if he suspected Zeek could see him. Alice rolled her eyes. Usually she was sympathetic to the dead, but hearing Doug's sad excuse for not talking to Zeek made her want to slap him. Just because he felt bad about almost killing his friend did not mean he should just live the rest of his life moping about it. Alice wanted Doug to move on, and he couldn't very well do that with that sort of weight on his shoulders.
"Doug wants to tell you he's sorry for putting you in danger."
Doug gasped and pointed a finger at Alice.
"Hey! Don't just start putting words in my mouth!"
Alice would have waited for Zeek's response, but Doug was pissing her off even more.
"I'm trying to help you! Say you're sorry and get over it!"
"But you made me sound like a robot! I would never just apologize without putting some heart into it!"
"Then what the hell do you want me to say?" Alice tossed her arms up. Zeek didn't have a clue as to what was going on with her.
"The vibes in this room have gotten pretty sour; maybe you two should calm down and take a deep breath."
Alice clicked her tongue to try and do exactly what Zeek told her. The breathing part was easy; the calming down part was not. Doug merely crossed his arms and turned his back to them. Alice convinced herself that it was just Doug's way of calming down.
Suddenly the phone in Alice's pocket started going off. She retrieved it quickly, knowing it was L. She could gladly use a break from her deep breathing exercises.
"Good timing," L heard Alice answer her phone.
"I would agree." L did the last finishing touches to connect his computer to the router. The room he was in was dark, but the computer coming to life made for a useful light source. "You seemed like you were getting pretty upset with this Douglas fellow."
"Yeah well, he was being difficult." Alice snorted hotly. She obviously wasn't through being angry yet.
"Well I hope you can make amends with him, because I would like to work on our experiment soon."
"Yeah sure," She didn't sound convincing, but L ignored it. "Just tell me where the camera is."
"There is no camera."
Alice was quiet for a moment, soaking in the last few words L had told her. Then she went off on him.
"Are you telling me that you have Zeek locked up, but there are no cameras in here watching him? How the hell did you know I was fighting with Doug? Do you have this placed tapped with microphones or something?"
"Yes, there are microphones, but their purpose isn't to be recorded. Instead, they are connected to speakers in the room adjacent to the one you are in now. I am currently positioned behind the wall you are facing away from."
L watched as Alice did a full circle before she came to a stop facing the wall he had told her about. There were many changes L had made to the hotel, and of course he couldn't go without a one way window somewhere inside of the building. Usually he added the window to the interrogation rooms, but he had a change of heart after knowing he had to keep Zeek somewhere. Thus Zeek's room was watched over by Watari with the use of the one way window.
"I don't understand. All I see is a large painting of an old bakery."
"That would be the window."
"You're kidding me," Alice gapped, getting closer to the window. Zeek watched her with curiosity as well, unsure of Alice's new behavior.
"Joking is not one of my strong suits." L had to admit.
"Well this place just keeps getting weirder…" Alice knocked on the painting.
"Not as strange as your argument with a dead man."
"Fine, were even." Alice smirked, not knowing L's hand was placed right over Alice's behind the window. The little moment allowed L to smile for the first time in weeks.
THANK YOU ALL FOR READING!
SpringBorn, Bree Renee, hikari-hime 01, nadzuke eno mono, tootsiepop101, NiiNiiChii, BibiNyan, Rainbowed-Sunned-Spirit, jssjessica, ShnieseAce, Guest, CrazyinAbottle, HybridRebellion, Vampirekittiz, RedVelvetPanda, NotAStalker, Harvey the Wonder Hamster, Sofia10Soccer, freaksforever, Spark of the forgotten, and ZombiChirp. (THANK YOU ALL FOR HELPING ME REACH MY DREAM OF OVER 1,000 REVIEWS! I'm like shaking...I'm not sure if its from the ten cookies I just ate, or the concussion I got from fainting after I saw the review count, but either way I wanted to thank you for supporting me! YOU ALL MAKE ME SO HAPPY! and strangely more accident-prone...)
Sakura Ichigo Morihiko: Sweet! I'm getting better at this. xD This next riddle I've actually heard before, and I'm not sure if it was you who asked me or not. The answer is darkness, but to tell you the truth, this riddle could have more answers, such as blindness, cataracts, and alcohol. The more alcohol you consume, the more blind you are of your actions. hehe~
Kashagal and Natures Ruler: *Raises arms up in the air* I'm fine! I'm fine! No need to worry because I can promise you I'm not going anywhere until I complete this story. I've made a pact to myself that I will finish this till the end! To make sure I stick to that pact, I post a chapter within a two week period. =D
Yumeno: Do you want recommendations from this site, or books in general? If you want to know some from this website, then for Death Note, I recommend AnimeRANDOMNESS's "Shortcake". She hasn't updated in a while, but I'm sure with some encouragement, she will. There was a MelloXOC story that's been completed that's really good. It's called . "Subtract, Add, Unite and Conquer" written by Miss Bright. As for books, if you haven't read the plum series by Janet Evanovich, then you must! It's hilarious and always puts a smile on my face.
Forever-Buckskin: Congratulations for making it all the way through my story so far! I know its long, so I hope my story didn't keep you away from anything important. Thank you so much for your kind words! You made me a very happy author! xD
Angel Ayame: Am I the Death Note queen you are referring to? *tries to comprehend*
uniquename200's NEW ACCOUNT: I would be delighted to read your story! In fact I've already read the first chapter and was hooked to read more. It's not easy to pull a reader in for the first chapter, so I commend you for that. I promise to read the rest soon, but I'm curious about whether you either just want my opinion or some advice as well. I don't want to come off as some know-it-all and think my story is any better, because I know it's not. But from one writer to another, I would be happy to give you a review that could be helpful.
Konran: I'm not sure if you made it this far, but I wanted to tell you that I do appreciate your review. The spelling/grammar stuff is actually something I've been trying to work on since the start of this story. I know how bad I am at it, and I probably should get an editor for this story instead of trying to edit it myself. I'm not a very good editor, but aside from my pathetic attempts to make my story free from misspellings, I understand your thoughts about Alice's personality. I wanted to make a character who had a personalty that stood out among the Wammy house, and making her irresponsible and illogical did just that. Shes the opposite of my personality, there's no doubt about that, which is probably why I created her. Also, L's out of character antics are something I've been trying to work out as well. L is the hardest character for me to write about. Since he was going to be my love interest for this story, I knew I was going to have to tweak his personality a little just to get him to fall in love, otherwise my story we go nowhere. But I completely understand what you meant by his multiple scenes of smiling, and hopefully as this story has progressed, I've managed to tone that down. Again, thank you for helping me understand what I should work on. If I never got reviews like yours, then I would never be able to improve myself as a writer. =D (Sorry, long response.)
Speckles719: I haven't had the time to make the cookies yet, but I get the feeling I'm going to love them. I love jam and I love cookies. Putting the two together sounds like a mix between amazing and delicious, so I can't wait to get started on those! Every recipe you've given me so far has been amazing, and I know I've thanked you about a hundred times, but I'm going to thank you a hundred more for sharing them with me. I don't have that many cook books, and I can never find any good recipe's online, so you are my favorite source so far. I Also wouldn't want a monster cookie to take over the universe. Sure he would make a excellent snack, but as a ruler? I'm not so sure. xD
