Chapter 19: The Breaking

"Here we are," said Watari, as he laid down another box of cables. The entire setup from the last hotel, had been dismantled, and now had to be redone from scratch. "Rose, this may take me awhile. Perhaps you could have a look at the rooms, and pick one for yourself in the meantime?"

Pick a room? That certainly sounded nice, but wasn't he supposed to be watching her?

'But what about keeping me in sight?'

Watari just winked at her. "I don't see the harm in letting you have a walk down the hallway. I'll just be setting up in the west end living room, so please come find me when you're done," he insisted.

Rosemary smiled, and turned down the corridor. It would be nice to pick out her own space, even if she was only staying here a little while. She also liked the idea of someone trusting her not to run off.

'I mean, I guess he could've just let me go, because he physically can't do anything to stop me,' considered Rose. But she did hope he was genuine about putting his faith in her.

Rose knew L was in the East end Living room, (no doubt compiling all his evidence to show the task force that day) so she avoided that room, but the kitchen, the bathrooms, and the bedrooms were all free to explore, and with so many of them, there was plenty to choose from.

As she looked through the bedrooms, Rose couldn't help but be dazzled by how luxurious it all was. Each room was awash in champagne golds, and silky sheets, and pillows. She hadn't really noticed all that when she'd been looking for L. She'd been desperate to find the man, and hadn't had the time or luxury to casually admire any aesthetic. She had just gone through the rooms, as quick as she could, so she could move on to the next hotel to try to find him.

Rosie sighed. 'It would have been nice to have found him in time.'

Still, there was nothing that could be done about it now. On the bright side, at least now she had the chance to admire the rooms in more detail. They really were quite pretty; maybe too pretty actually.

"Definitely too pretty. I don't know which one to choose," she muttered, as she closed the door to another lovely blue suite.

They were all really nice. Maybe L would let her have two? He probably didn't need all of them to himself anyway. But then again she didn't really need more than one either.

Rose looked through door, after door, but it wasn't until she got to the last corner room, that she found the perfect one.

It was by far the smallest suite. It only had a shower in its bathroom, and was the only room with just a double bed. But it was also the most homely of the rooms. It was the softest shade of baby pink imaginable, and there was a hint of silvery glitter all along its walls. It was the sort of Room Rosemary would have given anything for when she was a student; though in between the busted heating, and broken pipes, she probably would have settled for a cardboard box, if it had had plumbing.

But the warm central heating wasn't why she had chosen it (These days it seemed like Rose could barely feel the cold). Instead she chose it because it reminded her of home.

It was difficult to explain, but something about the colours and the quaintness of the room, well. It was almost like she was back home with her mother, who was telling her about Faeries, and reading her 'Cat in the Hat', and making her hot chocolate.

It made her feel…

'Something in my eye,' she thought, as she rubbed away what couldn't have been a tear.

Anyway, it was no question in her mind. Rose quickly moved her bag in, and began unpacking what little she had. With every item she put away, she couldn't help but feel like a princess; this was one of the most stunning rooms she'd ever seen in her life. The light white, and pink made it seem as though the Rose Fairy from her childhood had returned to bless the space. The delicate pillows and sheets looked like they were made from starlight. It looked too perfect to mess up.

'Well almost.' She grinned, and didn't hesitate before jumping on top of the mass of plush sheets, and duvets.

"This is so squishy, it's amazing!" She proclaimed, as she rolled around, sinking deeper into the warmth of the bed. 'I wish I could stay here forever.' Wasn't that a nice thought? To stay in this hotel forever, surrounded by Warmth, and Pink, and L.

'Wait L?' Rose stopped rolling. Was he really that comforting to her?

'I suppose he's not quite what I thought he was, but I don't know if I'd want to be around him forever,' Rosemary chuckled briefly. "Lord knows how angry he'd get at me for stealing all his cake."

She quickly found herself frowning though. 'But still.'

"How long do I even have with him at all?" she wondered sadly. 'At this rate, I'm more of a liability to his case than I am an asset.' She was running out of useful information for the force, and a lot of her leads, had been red herrings. But the thought of having to leave the task force didn't bother her the most. No, there was something that bothered her much more than the thought of leaving the task force.

"How long do I even have at all?"

She felt tired.

…

Light usually had a brilliant poker face. If you saw him walk down the street, you'd be hard pressed to tell if he was angry, or happy, or sad. But as he walked to school that morning, he just couldn't help but smirk, as his plan fell perfectly into place.

Thanks to Ryuk's apple dependence, he had managed to get him to do a full surveillance of his school the other night. Light didn't think they had put cameras there, but if L was willing to bug his own house, it wasn't out of the question for him to do the same to a public building Light frequented.

Fortunately his assumption was correct, and that meant he could proceed with his plan.

He had already written down names in advance in the notebook; ensuring that he would maintain a steady kill count while he was observed. But in addition to that, he would need to kill live criminals, and for that he had the perfect plan.

'As I walk to and from school, I can watch the news on local TVs. Using the paper in my school notebook, I can write down names as I walk back and forth. By ensuring that both old, and new criminals continue to die during my observation, I will prove my innocence,' reasoned Light, who was very pleased with his plan so far.

In addition now that he knew no one on the task force was observing his school. Light was confident he'd be able to carry the Death note pages in public without being noticed.

"At least someone's in a good mood this morning," grumbled the tangled Shinigami. "I don't need to tell you how long looking over your entire school took do I?"

Light continued to smile, not even giving Ryuk a glance. "If you want your entertainment to stay on air, then I'm afraid we had to check. We already know L was willing to bug my house, so it wasn't out of the question for him to take it further. After all, a school isn't nearly as personal as my bathroom."

"Yeah well you still owe me my apples, a double payment now if I'm not mistaken. If you weren't withdrawing them, I would've never agreed to this you know."

Light rolled his eyes. "Yes, you've made your stance on getting involved perfectly clear. I'll buy you some apples after school, there's no time now."

"Seriously? This is the thanks I get? You expect me to wait six more hours, after helping you out twice?" complained Ryuk, as he hopped. "See this is what I get for getting involved, there's no respect from mortals anymore. I am still a God of Death you know? Give me one good reason why I shouldn't just kill you now, and give the notebook to someone else"

"You know it's hard to take you seriously when you're doing handstands right?" pointed out Light. "Besides I already know you won't give the notebook to someone else."

"You're awfully cocky, what makes you so sure?" asked Ryuk.

Light chuckled. "Because Ryuk, you'll never find a human more entertaining than me. Besides…" he turned to the Shinigami. "If you're just going to kill me anyway, I won't bother buying you any apples and you'll just have to wait even longer to get some."

That changed the Shinigami's mind. "Whoa hey now! Let's not be hasty Light, these symptoms aren't getting any better. You said so yourself, I wouldn't really kill you. There's no reason not to get apples," rambled Ryuk.

…

As Watari set up the last computer he glanced at the time, only 8:00, much earlier than he expected to finish. 'I suppose I'm not as slow in my old age as I thought.' What a nice way to start the day.

As he considered this, the old man wondered where Rose had gone off to. He'd started his task hours ago, so she should have come back to the living room by now.

'Perhaps she's just enjoying her new room. I should see where she's gone to,' he decided, as he packed away the spare cables.

There were several empty rooms she could have chosen. It was mainly for practical reasons, they had so many. It was useful to have multiple rooms for storage, and if an investigator wanted to work late, it was convenient to have a place for them to stay. But it did also hold the advantage of giving them all quite the selection, should they want it. Not that L was usually concerned with such things.

'I wonder which one she chose,' thought Watari, as he walked down the hall.

He had only known Rose briefly, but already he was building up a profile for her character. To start with he could tell that she was quite a creative young lady. She seemed to always be drawing, and thinking of ideas, and projects. When he had the time he would have to try to get her some more art materials; perhaps something with colour would be best.

The other thing he'd noted was her cleverness. He could tell she felt put out next to his charge, but she clearly wasn't a foolish girl by any stretch of the imagination. Having formed several schemes to find them, and attempted to go after their chief suspect head on. She was if nothing else, a very determined young lady.

Watari smiled. Most wonderful of all she was kind. It seemed like such a silly thing kindness, especially in his line of work. But if all these years had taught him anything, it was that kindness was invaluable. Watari did not think L would ever understand why Rosemary was so very much against Light's execution, but he was glad that L had the chance to meet someone like that.

Through his logic, L could lose sight of emotions. He was at times, unfamiliar with the notion of mercy. The old man firmly believed that such kindness could only help L be better; not only as a detective, but as a human being. If for no other reason than that, he wanted to try and help the young lady clear her name.

As he walked down the hall, Watari turned left towards the bright blue room with twin beds. It was modern with a slightly Avant-garde design, and reminded him a lot of her bright t-shirts, and jacket. It was exactly the sort of room he thought he would find her in, but when he opened the door she wasn't there. The old man was surprised, but continued to look through the rooms that ranged from calming cream, to loud obnoxious green. It was only in the third however, that he noticed her bag, and belongings.

Watari had never thought she would go for the small ensuite, which he'd planned to use for storage later.

'I suppose there is still much I have to learn about her,' considered Watari, as he pushed through the door.

"Rose," he called softly, in hopes that she would reveal herself; he had no reason to suspect at this point, that she was anywhere, other than the hotel.

"Rose, are you in here? "Looking around he could tell the bed sheets were slightly rustled and the cushions and pillows had been knocked off the edge. But where was the occupant?

"Rose?" he called once more, before finally noticing her out the corner of his eye.

"Ah Miss Green I-" his eyes widened. She looked awful.

Her pale skin looked green, her lips were like chalk, and her eyes seemed wild. She wasn't doing anything, just staring at the ceiling, lying on the bed like a corpse. How long had she been like this? She looked like she hadn't moved in days.

"Rose, are you alright?" he asked, as he gently touched her shoulder. Rosemary glanced at him with her dazed eyes, but otherwise didn't move. She simply lay still, not saying a word.

"Rose?" he asked again, trying to determine what was wrong. Was she ill in some way? Could she even get ill?

"Rosemary! Rosemary!" Watari yelled a little louder. He gently grabbed her shoulders and shook her firmly, to try and get a response.

…

'How long do I even have at all?' she wondered. 'How long do I even have at-'

"Rosemary! Rosemary!"

Hmmm?

Rose had been lying on her bed. She'd been thinking about the future, not intensely, just pondering. Then she had…

What was she doing again?

"Rose, can you hear me?"

'Watari?'

He was shaking her. Why was he shaking her? He was making her dizzy. Rose wanted him to stop. She gently reached forward and grabbed the old man's hands and pushed him away slightly. This took more effort on her part than it should have. Her limbs felt tired, and her head was groggy. She was still for a moment as Watari looked at her with concern. It eventually occurred to Rose to reach for her notebook. With a little fumbling, she managed to pick it up, and she wrote:

'Please stop shaking me, I'm fine.'

The old man breathed a sigh of relief, and seemed to visibly lose tension. Rose had never seen him like this. Just how long had he been trying to talk to her?

Her head really hurt. Had she been dehydrated? Her brain felt like it was trying to reboot, but she couldn't think why.

"Forgive me for touching you Miss Green, but you looked ill, and seemed to be in a daze," explained Watari "Did something happen in the past few hours?"

'Hours?' Wasn't she just packing? Or, what was it? What had she been doing? Was this a joke?

It took her a second to respond before she could write out what it was she really meant. 'What do you mean hours? I was just packing and sat down for a moment. What time is it?'

Watari didn't bother to hide the look of concern on his face. "Miss Green, we've been here for over three hours, the task force will be arriving soon I- Do you mean to tell me you have been unaware of any time passing since our arrival?" He asked gently.

Rose blinked at him for a moment. It seemed like her brain was starting to work again, and she didn't like what she was hearing.

'No. I am not aware of any time passing between our arrival and now.'

Rosemary sat down on her bed, she still felt a little dizzy, but she wasn't focussing on that now. Just what the hell had happened? This was new to her.

Watari was very worried now. "Has something like this happened before?"

She shook her head no. Rose had felt dissociated before, whenever she felt low, or if she focussed on dying; but she hadn't done anything like this before. Rose had never blacked out for no reason, and as far as she knew she hadn't thought about being a ghost or anything just now. All she'd done was lament a little on how the case was going, she hadn't acted nearly as worried as she had at the start of the case unless…

'Could the symptoms be getting worse?' considered Rose. Could it be that now just thinking about something negative, or even thinking about the possibility of…that was enough now? That had to be it. The only link between this, and those previous times were the negative way she felt just before. But if that were the case then…

'I might be running out of time,' she realised. Rose gripped her hair in panic. How long had she been here? A few months now? Didn't Ryuk say the longest he'd seen someone last was a few years? Could it be that her form was so unstable she was already breaking down? Was she already becoming like those other people on the train?

As she considered these possibilities, Watari studied her condition, with a frown on his face.

The old man was beside himself. He had plenty of medical knowledge, but had no clue how any of it could apply to someone dead. She still looked awful. Her skin had always looked pale, but that hint of green hadn't faded, even if that look in her eyes had. This wasn't normal, and she needed help.

"I'm going to get L, please wait here," he turned to the door, but was stopped by her hand tightly gripping his wrist. He turned his head to see Rose rapidly shaking her head no. "Miss Green, I don't know how to help you, L has been looking into your circumstances and-"

Rose cut him off as she made a grab for her notebook. 'Please! I might know what this is, and if I'm right I don't want L to know.'

Watari sat beside her. "Why don't you want L to know?" he asked.

'Because If I'm right then it means I'm running out of time. If I am I can't trust that he won't abuse this.'

Watari looked concerned. Running out of time? As in dying? Did she really think so little of his ward, that she thought he'd encourage that?

"Rosemary I assure you, L does not want you dead. What about this makes you think he wouldn't want to help you? Why do you think you're going to die from this?" he questioned.

Rose looked at him and for a second Watari saw a hint of those wild eyes again. They quickly faded though as she started to write.

'Look my time here from what I know is limited. I've always been a little unstable, and I've had to be careful about what I think, or do. So far I've been able to control it. At first it only happened when I thought about being dead. I'd almost slip out of reality and go somewhere else. Somewhere where there are others like me. But this hasn't happened before; I've never blacked out, and become unresponsive. I've never become dazed, and still been visible, and I've never been out of it for so long. I think maybe I'm becoming less stable, and I think that there's a chance I won't be of help to the case for much longer. Please don't tell L. I'm already a liability to the case; if he finds out I'm running out of time. I don't trust him not to take advantage of that.'

Watari read the note, with a grim look on his face. This poor girl. How long had she known about this? Having to carry the knowledge of your own demise, it was unthinkable.

Ordinarily abusing her weakened state would be out of the question. L was not a monster, nor was he the sort of man to want, or need to threaten people for information.

However this case was a very different beast, than anything either of them had ever tackled. As it was, they didn't have any means of detaining her, and that made her a security risk. They didn't have many leads, and she was their main source of information. Under these kinds of circumstances, if L were to find out her usefulness had an expiration date, then the most logical thing to do would be to…

'Get as much information as possible, by any means necessary.'

The old man sighed, after a moment. It seemed there was only one way for it then. "Rose give me the note."

Rosemary shook her head no.

"Please trust me, and give me that note," he asked sternly. "I won't give it to L."

She hesitated for a second, before she reluctantly handed him the notebook. Watari didn't hesitate to tear out the pages, and rip the paper into tiny pieces. Rosemary couldn't believe what she was seeing.

"I can't promise L won't find out about this. But I give you my word I shall not tell him any details," promised Watari.

Rose smiled.

"On the condition," he continued. "That you tell me if this gets worse. I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong; and if this gets beyond a certain point I will tell L immediately. Do you understand?"

Rose reluctantly nodded. She hoped it wouldn't come to that, but Watari seemed satisfied with her response. She still didn't look good though.

"Are you alright now?" he asked gently.

Rose jiggled her hand from side to side. She was ok-ish.

'Kind of thirsty,' she wrote.

Watari smiled. "Perhaps we should get you a drink then."

…

L was busy typing for their next meeting. He had already tested the trust of the taskforce the first time he brought in FBI agents, so he would need to work hard to bring them around to the idea of involving them again.

'Of course getting their permission may not be enough. After the last incident, it will be hard to convince the FBI to lend me any agents. Without the organisation's backing most agents would refuse on principle,' reasoned L.

Well he knew one agent who would have still done it.

L paused his typing.

In any case it was a risky move. The agent would have to get close enough to Light to see him writing, and after being tailed once it was very unlikely that he wouldn't notice being followed again.

'But even if he didn't, there's still a low chance of success.'

L truly believed Rose when she said she hadn't told Light anything. She was an honest person, and if what she'd said was true, she was definitely Anti-Kira herself. But if Light was anything like L, the knowledge that his actions were wrong is all he would have needed. If L knew a majority of his actions were wrong, he would just always assume the first idea he had was terrible, and go with the second. It wouldn't matter why they were wrong, all he'd have to know is that they were a liability, and that changing them would be the safest course of action. But this is where L was hoping Light may have slipped up though. His first actions from what Rose told him were to write names in advance whilst being observed, and to write the names of current criminals whilst walking to, and from school.

L was almost certain that the first part of that plan had changed, but would light think to change the second? It was still a clever idea, and if Light had already changed one step in his plan, he may not even realise that he was staying true to the second part he did in the original timeline. If that was the case, then sending an agent after him, may give the investigation the breakthrough it needed.

There was one more issue with this plan however, and that was Rosemary herself. She'd certainly made things difficult for both of them. The mature part of L knew it wasn't really her fault, but he couldn't help but feel she'd wrecked a perfect opportunity. The prime suspect was not only aware of her, and the original timeline, but had made moves to correct it. Almost all of her most useful information had been wasted, and it was difficult to say how much longer her timeline would remain 'true'.

'But all of that would be alright, if there were just some way to keep track of her,' he thought. Not being able to restrain her wasn't helping to ease the Task Force's distrust of her one bit, but so far L hadn't come up with any viable solutions. Looking into Ghosts was a wild goose chase to say the least.

L had never been very interested in that part of the afterlife, and after these last few days he would be happy to never look into the topic again. There were piles of useless information and at first L was overwhelmed by just whittling down the numbers. Even after asking Whammys to send him only the most credible of sources, there were still pages of irrelevant ideas, and theories that as far as he could tell were based on nothing.

Looking for Sources that referred to her specific abilities had helped, but only so much. It seemed that a lot of Ghost Lore was at least semi-correct, as she did match a lot of the classic symptoms. He devoted a lot of time in particular to the research of weaknesses, and had already considered ways he could test them. L didn't wish to harm her, but if there was a way to make sure she couldn't leave a specific location, that would go a long way towards clearing her name.

'She was definitely injured with something. The only question is what?'

Her wrist injuries were healing, and they'd only been surface wounds from what L had seen. It could be that this was the cause of her death, but L suspected that they wouldn't be healing if that was the case. That meant that something had been able to injure her, but what was it? The most popular weapons ranged from iron, and fire, to ashes, and love.

L supposed he could offer her a packet of ready salted crisps, but if it did work that could cause problems. Her hands had looked terribly damaged; he could only imagine what the extent of it would be on her throat. L was already thinking of crossing that one off though. She'd been eating a lot of his snacks much to his chagrin, and she hadn't shown any signs of ill health, despite the high levels of salt in most of them. No if salt was a weakness it would take more than a packet of crisps to show results, and as for the others…

Fire wasn't much good since even L was weak to that, but ashes and iron seemed promising. You could get iron jewellery, and he had been meaning to get her some more things anyway. It wouldn't look suspicious with some new jeans, and some shoes.

Of course the downside of that would be L would have to actually buy her things himself. He'd been hoping to just give her his credit card one day, and let her deal with it honestly. But if he let her buy things, he was very unlikely to get the chance to test out his ideas. These days iron was not that common in jewellery, and if it was a weakness, she was very unlikely to buy anything that contained it. But if L went and bought her clothes he'd have to get her size as well. He could probably guess the tops, and trousers she'd wear but undergarments were often more precise in their measurements, and from what he knew couldn't really be eyeballed. Based on what he'd felt when he'd taken her I.D, she was definitely well endowed. But he'd probably have to buy her several bras to get the right size, and he'd have to buy her different styles for different ocassions, and L could already envision the miserable experience that would lie ahead of him. Not to mention the dirty looks he'd get if he went shopping for women's underwear alone.

L was very tempted to just give her his credit card, and forget about testing her. But unfortunately he didn't think he had that luxury. If Rose could be weakened then that was vital information, and would go a long way towards getting the taskforce to trust her again. For the case if nothing else, L would have to make a trip to town. Still, it could be interesting.

He'd never gone shopping for a friend before, and he'd certainly never shopped for a woman. These days he knew what he liked, and didn't tend to deviate much with his choice of clothing, but he knew most people liked to wear multiple styles, and items, and Rose was particularly colourful in her attire. She seemed like someone who would appreciate a wider selection to choose from, and L did like the idea of her being happy.

He was familiar with the concept of having nothing, and knew that being given something by someone you liked could make a world of difference. But then again…

'I wonder if I could just test ashes instead,' reasoned L. People considered him an eccentric anyway, so there was always the chance the taskforce wouldn't even blink if he threw some ashes in her direction. It would save him a lot of trouble if it worked too. And then of course there was always love.

That had been a common weakness listed. It was varied in exactly how it was supposed to weaken her though. Some people said that loved ones could help put someone to rest; others said that those in love were immune to supernatural interference. Regardless it wasn't really something he could test. Rosemary didn't love him.

'But maybe she's loved someone else,' considered L. He hadn't been able to find any records of her family, or friends, but there was at least one person he knew she had spent some time around. Light Yagami.

Rose claimed they were only friends, and they certainly couldn't have been on great terms at this point, if she was working with L on the case. But that didn't mean they had never had a close relationship. If they had ever had strong feelings for one another, and 'love' was indeed a weakness, then L could exploit that. Not that L wanted to think of them having a romance. He didn't think he'd be a very good friend if he approved of her being with a serial killer. Just the thought irked him to be honest.

'Friends should be concerned about one another though,' he reasoned.

His train of thought broke though, when Watari came through the door."L the equipment has been setup, and the task force should soon be arriving,"

"Thank you Watari. How is Rose?"

"… She's been fine."

L looked up. "You don't sound very sure about that."

Watari shook his head. "There was a small incident earlier. But I believe she's feeling much better now," he insisted.

Before L could question this further he felt a small tug on his t-shirt. He turned to see Rosie, but he was not pleased by what he saw. She looked like she was going to vomit. Her cheeks were no longer flushed, and her pupils seemed slightly off.

"You look terrible," said L, as he scrutinised an increasingly uncomfortable Rose. "Can you get sick?"

Rose shook her head.

"Not as far as we know," replied Watari. "But the drink seems to have helped her some," he indicated to the little glass of squash with a bendy straw in it.

L bit his thumb in contemplation. If she was already not feeling very well it was probably for the best if he delayed any testing. Of course this could have been caused by exposure to one of those things.

"Do either of you know what could have triggered this?"

Watari said no, but Rose had a guilty look in her eyes. She wasn't a very good liar.

'And Watari would know as well if she wasn't telling the truth,' realised L. There was something his old guardian wasn't telling him about Rose's condition. L sighed, before turning to Rose.

"Do you think you're getting better?"

She nodded, and gave her drink another sip, before giving him a thumbs up.

It was actually kind of cute.

L turned back to his computer. "If you're sure you're alright I would prefer for you to stay through this meeting," he admitted, before glancing at her. "But Rose, if you're going to throw up. Can you please NOT get it on my computer?"

Rosemary rolled her eyes but smiled. It seemed to L like she was feeling well for the moment at least, and he was glad about that. He'd be happy to question Watari, but with the Task Force fast approaching, it wasn't the sort of conversation he wanted them to overhear. He didn't need to give them more reason to be cautious of Rose.

"Yo Ryuzaki!" Speaking of.

"Hello Matsuda, I hope your journey here was nice," said L with the flattest tone imaginable. Rose couldn't help but giggle at his tone. She may not have understood Japanese, but she could tell how fed up he sounded. L smiled at the sound of her laughing.

"I mean it could've been a little better. I had to run from my apartment, and-"

"Matsuda I keep telling you, no one wants to hear about your train journey. Why don't you just buy a new car like I said?" questioned Aizawa.

Matsuda rubbed the back of his head. "Well my apartment is actually pretty expensive, and my girlfriend, oh boy! She's not cheap either."

Aizawa just shook his head, before looking round. "Hey Ryuzaki, where's Rose? You haven't lost her have you?"

"She's right behind you."

Aizawa jumped, and turned around.

"Or," L looked contemplative, "You know come to think of it, she might have been on the sofa instead."

The rest of the task force chuckled, whilst Aizawa glared at L. "Ha ha, very funny. Is she actually going to be a part of this meeting, or what?"

L nodded. "Since none of you seem to trust her much at the moment. The safest course of action is to keep an eye on her at all times. She hasn't left our sight since the last meeting."

"Aren't you worried about her leaking information though?" questioned Mogi.

"No I'm not worried that she will leak any information. Rose has been under constant watch this entire time, and hasn't once tried to leave. She can't speak at all, and can only write English. I might be underestimating her, but I think that memorising our entire conversation, might be a little beyond her skills at this point," said L, as he kept typing.

Mogi looked a little sheepish now. It did sound like a stupid idea when he put it like that.

"Then why is she attending the meeting?" questioned Matsuda. "I mean if she can't understand anything, it seems kind of a waste."

"Watari, and I are still keeping a watch over her at all times, and that includes this meeting. Aside from that, she's here in case any of our leads match up with her timeline. I'm aware that many of you are not as confident in her predictions now. But at this stage in the investigation she is still our best source of information, and I believe her presence could be helpful," explained L.

They were quiet for a moment.

"I have no issue with her being here," said the Chief. "Do any of you?"

"No chief." "No Sir." "I'm fine with it." They all turned to Aizawa.

He sighed."I suppose for now, we haven't got much choice."

"In that case we should proceed with this meeting," said L.

…

Rose stopped focussing on the meeting early on. It was hard to keep your interest up, when you couldn't understand most of what was going on. But that didn't mean she wasn't still thinking about the case.

There was something about it that had been bugging her for a while now. Even if Light had figured out the timeline was wrong, and had changed a few tricks here, and there. He would never have put the Death Note too far out of reach. Definitely not at this stage, where the risk of it being found was minimal, and he had no way of recovering it, if he gave it up.

No the book had to be near him still. Rose thought it could even still be in his room. The only question was where?

She thought back to Beyond Birthday, and how he'd placed the clues to his next victim, in a book next to some manga. Rosemary didn't think Light would follow that same absurdist logic, but she did think there was an idea here.

If there was a key to where the Death Note was, it would be in plain sight.

'Which means the only way I'm going to find out where it is, is if I go back there,' thought Rose.

But would they let her go back? She'd already given them a lot of false leads, and this idea wasn't even based on any prediction. It was just her own detective skills at work. Rose could always go on her own, but… If she did that, it was sure to shatter any trust that remained between them.