Behind red tinted cellophane11
Reject did as B asked, but didn't want to suffer in the heat in a sweatshirt so she dug through the closet and pulled out a short, never been worn, gray tank top.
Reject stepped back into the living but didn't see B in there. She popped her head into the kitchen but he wasn't in there either. She finally gave up looking and went and sat down on the smelly couch.
She lay back resting her head on the back of the couch but then suddenly the phone rang and Reject was jerked back up from the couch. B had always had told Reject never to answer the phone no matter who it was, and Reject would always let it ring.
But this was much different from the normal phone calls, this one kept calling. Reject had let it ring for a solid 20 minutes and was beginning to get irritated. She finally decided she'd had enough and she got up off the couch and strode over to the phone on the wall and picked it up.
"Hello…" Reject asked in an irritated but still polite tone, though she really wanted to say 'ya know, when it rings for 20 minutes and no one picks up that should indicate that no one's home'
"Ummm…hello?" at first there was silence but she heard shuffling on the other end.
"…Hello R, I don't believe I've ever spoken to you before" a synthetic voice spoke, and Reject's eye widened as far as they could possibly go.
"…L" She would know that computer generated voice anywhere, as her voice stuttered in both surprise and horror. At this point she was already flustering her mind trying to think of what to say, and she could only hope that L wouldn't pick up on the panic in her voice.
"…Well uh…this certainly is a surprise a-as well as an honor sir… god that sounded lame! He is not going buy it…" there was a brief silence then she heard something that sounded humming.
"Hmmmm…I find your intellectual mannerism refreshing…pardon my asking, but were you one of the orphans by any chance?" He said in a manner that was best fit for a science professor.
"W-well no sorry…I-I was the house j-janitor" Reject tried her best to keep her voice from stuttering, but unfortunately she was doing a terrible job of hiding it.
"Hmm, Interesting..." the synthetic voice replied which caused Reject to tremble so badly she almost dropped the phone. She took a deep breath and gathered what little courage she had.
"Well…you know my story so let's hear yours, why are you contacting me? I'm not one of your orphans and I'm most certainly not one of your protégés" She asked confidently putting a great deal of effort to keep herself from stuttering.
There was another silence and another methodical hum which sounded a little too human even for L, and she gathered that he was probably doing it to make her feel less intimidated by him.
"I require some information from you, are you willing to share?" the voice said blankly.
"Well that really depends on the information you plan on acquiring" Reject replied nervously fidgeting with the phone cord.
"…Have you had contact with B" Reject instantly cuffed her hand over her mouth to keep herself from gasping over the phone before issuing a quick "no" in response.
"…Very interesting" the hum in his voice suddenly stopped and was replaced with a robotic tone.
"No sorry I haven't seen B since he left the orphanage and that was 4 years ago" Reject said hoping L wouldn't catch her in a lie.
"If you haven't seen or talked with B since he left, who has been living with you?" Reject was now cursing herself for that mistake and she to think fast or there would be hell to pay.
"No one really, I have a boyfriend who shows up every once in a while but other then that I live alone" Reject said hoping that was enough and luckily it was when he started humming again.
"Hmm fascinating…might I ask who your boyfriend is?" the synthetic voice replied but sounded slightly more like a concerned parent then a detective, but Reject knew exactly who to pick.
"His name is Francis…please, don't get mad at this but…he told me he worked for a crime lord" She said confidently knowing that there was a partial truth in her lie.
"Hmmm that's certainly troublesome…but luckily there are only two crime lords in your local area…and I have been monitoring one…do you perhaps mean Francis Marquez?" there was definitely a tone of concern in his voice now mixed in with computer generated voice.
"Don't know I haven't known him long enough and hasn't told me his last name" Reject answered trying to sound as honest as she could.
The humming stopped again and some how Reject was getting the feeling he was starting to suspect something.
"That's interesting…and when was the last time you saw him?" he asked in his cold mechanical voice.
"I don't know…3 maybe 4 days ago…he came by to borrow money but when I told him I was broke he beat the crap out of me and almost killed me" She said cautiously still keeping it partially true and L seemed to be accepting it.
"Are you alright now?" the digitally altered voice asked with more worry and concern leaking through.
"Yeah I'm fine…luckily the guy above me heard the commotion and came down…he took me to the hospital" it wasn't too far from the truth which is why it came out so casually.
"Hmmmmm…well I guess that's good I suppose…but reiterating what I was originally talking about before…are you sure you have had absolutely no contact with B?" the synthetic voice asked with the relaxing hum returning.
"And reiterating what I told you before, I haven't seen him and I probably never will, ok" She adopting tone that was just as stoic as his. There was an ere silence that lasted for about half a minute that made Reject feel quite anxious.
"Hmmm…very well you've made it clear that you have no part in this…I do thank for your time R…though I must ask you if anything does come up…could you please contact Naomi Misora" he said in a wistfully electronic voice.
"Ok but before you go L, can I ask you something"
"Certainly R what is it you wish to know?"
"Are you watching me?"
"…"
"Well, are you?"
"No…Do you want me to?"
"No"
"Then there is nothing to be worried about"
"Good"
"Why would you be worried about whether or not I'm watching you?...Are you hiding something?"
"No…I just really don't feel comfortable knowing that someone is sitting by their computer watching me take my clothes off…sorry to say it L but you're a man and 90% of all men are perverts…I don't want your voyeur self watching me in the shower"
There was yet another brief pause which was then followed by something that sounded like a wine that then stopped abruptly.
"Well…I guess I should be going, thank you again for your time"
"It was my pleasure…It's not everyday that a world famous detective randomly calls you up" Reject said with a bit of a giggle and was rather shock to hear L also give a little laugh.
She hung up the phone and went over to the couch to sit down. She leaned back on the couch and let out an enormous sigh of relief. She was just about to doze off when she heard the door to the apartment open.
Reject cracked one eye open only to close it again when she felt something very hard and very cold hit her in the forehead.
"It's too damn hot…even for me" B said breathlessly walking into the apartment. He was still shirtless and appeared to be holding a small tub of strawberry ice cream.
Reject looked down to see a similar tub in her lap only hers was peanut butter instead. She smiled without looking up at him and she jumped when he came and sat down beside her.
"God your jumpy today, a lot more jumpy then normal, and haven't even given you a death threat today" B said looking at Reject with a suspicious glare.
"I'm fine B, it the heat's just making me a little disoriented that's all" She quickly replied flashing a crooked smile.
"Reject…you haven't even touched your ice cream yet…" B said pointing to the unopened container in her lap.
"I-I'm f-fine B, n-nothing's wrong, everything is fine-" Before she could react, B had stood up and sat behind with both knees bent on either side of her and his arms locked around her trapping her in his embrace.
"Reject is hiding something…She needs to tell B what it is" his voice was gentle despite his iron grip around her. She did struggle but her attempts to free herself proved to no avail.
"Tell B what your hiding" his voice was low but persistent. His icy cold lips latched on to the back of her neck, and she was undone.
"O-ok…I-I'll t-tell you" Reject shuttered uncontrollably in B's death grip around her body and his cold lips on her shoulder.
"I talked…"
"...to L"