Chapter Eleven:
"Detection"
From the state of the body and the odour, Light clocked the time of death of Gretel Grimm within the last couple of days. He held his nose for the immediate moment as Raito crouched down to examine her head wound making sure not to step in any blood. She had been shot at point blank range and there was also a sign of a struggle.
Raito placed a hand on Gretel Grimm's forehead and shut his eyes. "I can see the last image that Gretel Grimm saw just before she died, it's the face of Dragoon. Dragoon is looking at her with a dire expression, but his eyes are not directed at her. They are directed at someone taller than Gretel. I would say just under six feet tall."
Light looked around. Then he saw the shoes and legs of someone laying behind the white couch in the living room where they were. They belonged to a man described about the approximate height that Raito just revealed. And unknown male, not Dragoon, who seemed to be clutching his chest in a death grip, His eyes aghast open as if he had just suffered a massive heart attack. A gun lay next to him, obviously dropped when he began to experience the attack—the murder weapon, perhaps.
"Dragoon!" Light called out. "Hansel Dragoon! Are you here?" Light didn't necessarily expect an answer.
He went to search the other rooms of the condo including the far bedroom when he came across a pile of ash on the floor. He sighed, and knew immediately what it meant. It was the same scene he saw after he discovered Rem's remains in the Main Server Room after she used her Death Note to kill L and Watari to save Misa and himself from exposure.
"Is it Dragoon?" Raito wondered.
"There's enough of it," Light replied. "My theory is the unknown suspect came upon the couple unbeknownst, threatened them, and then killed Gretel Grimm when Dragoon didn't give the man what he wanted. Let's say, Dragoon's Death Note? I don't see it. Then Dragoon murdered the man using the Death Note in a fit of pain and rage. He turned to dust as a result."
"It would fit the dynamics of the scene. And could you blame him? He just got Gretel back and then she was murdered before his eyes. Queries: Who is the assailant and who sent him? And yes, where is Dragoon's Death Note?"
"It has to be near by," Light said.
Raito came over and then crouched near the ashes. He then plunged his hands into it and sifted through the mount. It was large enough to bury Dragoon's Death Note. Unfortunately, Raito found nothing within. He stood up and flicked his hands off.
"There are signs of a struggle," Light mentioned again. "But if the assailant, Dragoon, and Gretel, are dead—where did Dragoon's Death Note go after he used it to kill the assailant? Or, here is another theory. Dragoon may have known the man to allow him inside the apartment, but then the man betrayed them."
"But that leaves more questions than answers," Raito said.
"Exactly," Light said.
"That's good deducing, Light, and I can see you like this sort of stuff. You are very good at it. But you are the son of the former chief of the National Police Agency in Japan, after all."
"When I wasn't studying, I would read a lot of mystery novels, and I've helped my father with a few cases before."
"Elementary, my dear, Light," Raito said. "Undoubtably then, we can conclude a fourth participate in the crime?"
"Could be?" Light voiced. He looked around the condo. No windows were open.
"Hey Light?" suddenly came a gruff voice over the ear clip.
Light held his hand to his ear, the voice startled him. "Ryuk? You can talk to me, too?"
"Yup," Ryuk said. "I can use Raito's ear clip like one of your police communication devices. I'm still on that errand you sent me on, but I've been keeping tabs on you, too, because, well—I'm bored. Anyway, I can see you through the Portable Hole I have, much like a camera, and I'm looking at that dead man on the floor. I wouldn't normally do this, Shinigami aren't supposed to help their handlers, but I can tell you his name. It is or was Lukas Vejdemoa."
"Wait! Why does that name sound familiar to me?"
"Dontcha remember, Light?" Ryuk said surprised. "It was the first name you came across that produced a red x next to it, meaning he was protected from the Death Note. He was a Russian operative double agent working for the Yukaza on an exchange program at the NPA. He was one of many that escaped police capture along with others when the NPA learned that it had been infiltrated after the former chief confessed to his association with the Yukaza. And come to think of it, after you showed me footage of the dead guy from the monster truck incident, so was he. We Shinigami know instantly who owns a Death Note or who has been touched by one. Humans who have produce, let's see…how do I describe it…a kind of scent to guide us to you."
"Are you saying Kei Imafuku touched a Death Note?" Light paused, thinking. "If Kei Imafuku was administered an LSD injection from a Shinigami posing as a human, he would then be able to see that Shinigami and was then influenced by it. Hence, the LSD may have been added to his bloodstream to offset the order by the Shinigami to drive the man to his insanity after his name was written in the Death Note, stealing the monster truck, and claiming it was for Kira. That would make the most sense."
"When it comes to Lukas Vejdemoa, looks like he outlived his protection if he suffered a massive heart attack here," Raito put in. "Ryuk, let me ask you something. Did Lukas Vejdemoa own a Death Note?"
"Yes," the Shinigami said. "He was in possession of one."
"Then that's why Dragoon's Death Note isn't here. Lukas Vejdemoa's Shinigami took it."
"We're getting into some very dangerous territory here," Light said, a little nervous. "Whoever is orchestrating these incidents for my benefit isn't afraid to sacrifice others to cover their tracks. Raito, is the CCTV loop still running?"
"Yes, but I would wager the security guard would be getting a little suspicious by now seeing how we have been in here for a few minutes and haven't moved much in the hall. We better get back outside and, if asked, say we were talking in depth."
They did so, after Raito cleaned up the ash. They didn't want anyone else to see it or wonder about it.
Raito then reinitiated the live footage when Light and Raito returned to their position outside.
Light then played to the camera and knocked on the door, trying the door handle. He had purposely left it unlocked, so when he tried the handle it would shockingly appear insecure.
They walked in, then Light made a call to the NPA—claiming he and Raito had just stumbled upon a potential murder scene while investigating a lead on another case.
When the SIU (Special Investigations Unit) arrived, which included an investigator and a forensic examiner, Light and Raito were questioned about the discovery of the bodies and why they had come to the scene.
Light explained he and Raito were investigating a lead on a separate case and needed some additional information from Special Agent Hansel Dragoon. Pressed, Light had to reveal he was a member of the Kira Task Force.
The investigator seemed okay with it and asked for any inside information about the monster truck incident just for personal interest. Light wasn't inclined to tell him, but did say Kira was the prime suspect in stopping the madman. The investigator seemed happy, almost revealed to know that. Light suspected the man was a fan of Kira and the interest was left at that.
Sadly, Hansel Dragoon became the prime suspect in this double homicide, because his body wasn't found. The unknown suspect known to Light and Raito but not to the detective or the SIU had no identification on him, so it was left up to the investigator to learn the truth about him. Although, Light knew he could save the man a lot of time by telling him the man's name. But then that would only raise questions how he knew.
Light called his father. His father and Matsuda then arrived to the scene.
After the investigator was finished with them, Light and Raito met with his father and Matsuda. Light told them everything they had seen and found. He told them they had gone to Hansel Dragoon's condo apartment to ask for some information on a lead for the Kira Case after he received a call from Dragoon—a lie—and would come back to tell the rest of the task force about it.
"Light, you and Raito, should go home and get some rest," Soichiro said. "We're trained for these types of things, but it's not the same when you actually stumble upon them. You just recently returned from being off from a similar case" —Light knew his father meant the Yukaza Incident— "and I know mental trama can set in if you don't immediately deal with it. When I was chief of the NPA, and when one of my officers came upon a scene like this, I insisted they talk to a therapist when they could. Keeping emotions festering inside will only cause lack of clarity. And when you're writing a report about what you found, take few days before doing so and jot down notes to keep whatever pops into your head fresh. That's how I did it."
"Thanks Dad, I'll do all that," Light said.
But he was not affected by the scene. Surprised by it, but not shocked.
Since becoming Kira, he had become desensitized to a lot of things. But that didn't make him a psychopath, as some would claim. Sacrifices had to make for the greater good, and even though it pained him a little, a little collateral damage was necessary for the world to become a better place.
He recalled he did have some disturbing nightmares when he was first starting out with the Death Note, but they soon passed. They returned for a short time after he returned from being tortured by the Yukaza. But, for the immediate time, he was thankful to Misa for helping him get through those times and get certain things out of his system of a sexual nature. She didn't mind.
Outside the condo building in a side alley, instead of calling a cab, and declining his father's offer for a drive home, Light stood with Raito, and thought to himself in silence. His mind raced, recalling everything that had happened so far. With his left hand at his side, he rubbed his middle and thumb fingers rapidly. Raito said it was an unconscious tick he had noticed from Light. It was reminiscent of when Light was in high school when he used to twirl his pencil during class.
Light wasn't focused on the Kira Case, he was poising theories on who was sending him messages—specifically to Kira.
If some is sending me a message, there are more subtle ways to do it, like when Demetre did in posting his cryptic haiku on the website Kira's Underground, he thought. Someone is playing with me, and they were willing to endanger people's lives even murder to get their message across. If it is this Evangelist person, I want to speak with him—and tell him to stop! He has my attention already. If he wants to speak with me, all he has to do is ask.
Raito remained quiet, but with the connection between them Light could feel Raito within his thoughts, it felt like someone watching him. But as long as there was an understanding to not probe too deeply, he settled for Raito's intrusion.
"Are you okay, Light?" Raito asked. "You've been quiet for the last five minutes."
Has it been that long? "Raito, you are a god, are you not?" The question was rhetorical. Raito cocked his head anyway to give a non-verbally response, as Light looked at him seriously. "I don't know how you do it, but arrange an invitation with the Evangelist for me. Tell him Kira wishes to talk. No more games. All of this is drawing too much attention to me."
"I'll see what I can do," Raito said. "In order for me to find him, however, I'll need to advance my powers. Scourging around to find one person within your human population will set off some red flags in some others. Are you sure you want me to do that? And this poses a risk that the others of my kind who may detect my overreach."
"What kind of a god are you if you can't do even the smallest task for me? Just do it!"
Raito looked annoyed, but agreed anyway.
The Astral Plane god blinked several times, probing inward—billions of minds at one. "I'm trying to reach out, to touch the Evangelist's mind—communicate with him?" All of a sudden, Raito's eyes opened wide and his face contorted as if he had just received a tremendous electrical shock. He cried out and grabbed his head. He stumbled back and hit the wall.
"Raito, what's wrong? What happened?"
"The Evangelist…he felt me and pushed back! He pushed back against a god! Light, he's not what you think—"
All of sudden, in the blink of an eye, Light found himself whisked away to an unknown location. The journey made his head spin His equilibrium gave way and collapsed to his hands and knees, completely disorientated. He felt extremely dizzy.
But he looked up, and saw the distorted image of a man standing before him dressed all in black. His eyes glowering red.
Was this the Evangelist?
Then everything went dark.
To be continued...
