"This was delivered to us by a man named Watari. He said it was for you," said a waiter, who had arrived at the investigation Team's table with a triple deck trolley of assorted sweets.

"Thank you," said L. He began to lick the chocolate off of an extremely large donut.

"What? No fair!" whined a young boy who had watched the trolley come with a look of murderous envy.

"No one said you couldn't bring your own food," said L through a mouthful of chocolate cheesecake. He gazed over his field of confections, and finally decided on a plate of cookies. He picked up the plate, and began to pop them into his mouth like so much popcorn.

Soichiro , who had learned to expect such behavior from L, simply asked, "Are you going to investigate with us?"

"No," finished with his cookies, L started on a box of pastries. Soichiro watched him for several seconds, then shook his head and left.

Light had decided to start his investigating with the table that Kaito Yammamoto had been at, as he thought it most likely that he had been stabbed. Although the table was not small enough for him to have been stabbed by the majority of the people sitting at it, the person on either side of him could have done it easily. The person to Kaito's left was his wife, and to his right was the Vice President of his company.

"Okay, we'll use the good-cop bad-cop routine. I'll be the bad-cop, and you'll be the good-cop. Unless you want to be the bad-cop, which you would probably be better at because your bigger and more threatening..."whispered Matsuda as he and Aizawa approached the Vice President.

"Matsuda, I don't think-"

But they had already arrived, and Aizawa was forced to stop as to not be overheard. The Vice President was a tall, thin faced, handsome man, who wore a stylish suit and red tie. He appeared calm, cool, and collected as he sipped his bubbling champagne.

"I suppose you are going to ask me some questions?"

"Yeah..." said Matsuda, slipping on a pair of sunglasses in an attempt to make himself look tougher, "What's your name?"

"Shoseki,"

"And where were you at five o' clock tonight?"

"Right here..." Shoseki raised his eyebrows.

"Very suspicious... do you know that there was a murder right here a little while ago?"

"Yes, I am aware of that," said Shoseki, who, surprisingly, was not cracking under Matsuda's invasive questions.

"And are you also aware, Mr. Wiseguy, of the fact that because Yammamoto is dead, you will become President of his company?"

"I can see how you would naturally suspect me, but I assure you, I had nothing to do with it."

"Do you know of anybody that could've done this?" asked Aizawa, intervening before things could get out of hand.

"No."

"What was your relationship with Kaito like?" asked Aizawa.

"We were never close friends, but we respected each other on a business level."

"Which would make it easier for you to kill him!" Matsuda shouted, leaning across the table to look Shoseki in the eye. He opened his mouth to say more, but instead pulled himself back up and looked at Aizawa.

"But... if you didn't know Kaito at all, it would be even easier."

Aizawa sighed. "Matsuda, I have already explained to you that because we were on the left side of the room-"

"Like that proves anything!"

"Ahem," Shoseki cleared his throat loudly, "I can see that you have some internal problems to deal with here. If you need me again, feel free to ask any question you like," the man walked away, as if their lack of organization had somehow insulted him.

""Hmmm..." Aizawa sat down, as Matsuda ranted next to him," He doesn't seem like the murderer, but there's no doubt that he would benefit the most from Kaito's death." He watched Shoseki begin to chat with some stiff looking business-men. Surely it had to be him...

Light had not chosen to question Kaito's wife, Yaeko, because he thought that she was the most likely suspect, but because he thought he could get more information out of Shoseki after he had been shook up by Matsuda a little bit.

Yaeko was extremely pretty, with sharp features and an even sharper red dress. Her mascara was running for obvious reasons.

"You're accusing me of murdering my husband?" she demanded.

"I am not accusing you," Light lied, "I just want to ask you a few questions regarding-"

"I don't know anything! Why don't you just call some real cops!"

"We are real cops," Light said softly in a desperate attempt to sound sympathetic, "We can catch your husband's murderer if-"

Yaeko slapped Light across the face.

Light pulled his head back into focus, messaging his cheek. "I'm just-"

She slapped him again, and this time it really stung. Yaeko shot him a threatening look, then, with a wave of her silky black hair, spun around and stalked away.

Light continued to message his cheek. This is going to be harder than I thought...

Hmmm... Everything matches up. thought Near. He was on the overhanging second floor, looking down on the guests. He looked back at the guest list he had borrowed, then back at the party-goers. His original plan had been to find out if there was anyone in the building who hadn't been counted, because this would mean that they had snuck in, which would mean that they didn't want anybody to know that they were there, which would be extremely suspicious. But, seeing as everyone was on the guest list, the murderer was simply blending in with the crowd. That meant that Near was going to put plan B into action. Plan be was much more fun... for Near.

"Here you go ma'am, enjoy," Mako said with a smile. Service with a Smile. That was what the boss wanted.

As Mako (who was a waiter, in case you didn't pick up on that) handed out the last plates of the third course, he noticed his friend Hiraku by the kitchen.

"Do you feel bad about what we did?" Mako asked jokingly.

"Oh yeah. Absolutely horrible." Hiraku laughed. "It's not that big of a deal."

"Oh yeah? You just wait until Chef finds out." then, seeing Hiraku's look of skepticism, he added, "Which he will."

Hiraku looked at his watch. "My shift ends in two hours. I'll be out of here before he knows what happened."

"No one can escape from Chef's horrible wrath!" said Mako.

They both laughed, then Mako walked off to wash his hands. Washing your hands between every single trip was annoying, but better than being sued by some germophobe. He pushed open the door to the washroom.

Standing before him was a very deranged looking man with long blonde hair. His eye twitched violently, and he was trying to suppress what would have been a very, very scary smile.

"AA-"

Mello hit him soundly over the head with a crowbar, and he fell to the ground. With the speed and efficiency of a veteran Mafia member, Mako was quickly bound and gagged.

Mello emerged from the bathroom wearing a waiter's uniform that was surprisingly similar to the one Mako had been wearing. Mello was about to go and fulfill his new duties, when he remembered a very crucial part of his plan. He pulled out a sticky note, quickly scribbled something on it, then stuck it to the door.

The note read, Out of order

L had eaten his way through the first deck of his trolley of sweets, and was having a tea break before he started on the second. He was bringing his cup back down when all of sudden, he snatched up his saucer and threw it like a Frisbee between the second and third decks.

"Ow!' a little boy cried (the same one who had been whining before, L realized), rolling out from under the trolley, sucking his bruised knuckle.

A look of great curiosity was in L's owlish eyes, "How did you get under my trolley?"

Eager to explain his feet of skill, the boy got to his feet and replied, "When there were a bunch of people walking by, I hid behind them until they were close enough, then I dived."

"I was watching those people for that specific reason. You must have-"

"Waited until you were taking a sip of tea so the cup would block your view of the floor?" the boy beamed.

"You're much smarter than most boys your age."

"I know," the boy said smugly.

"You must also really enjoy sugar."

The boy licked his lips. "Yes."

"I could give you some," L took a sip of his tea to build suspense, and then finished, "For a price."

The boy began digging in the pockets of his slacks, "How much?"

"I was thinking of a trade," L pointed across the room, "You see that man over there? His name is Light Yagami. I need you to observe him for me."

The boy followed L's finger, then turned back, "How come?"

"I believe he is up to something."

The boys eyes lit up, "Does this have something to do with the murder?"

L looked away, and bit his thumb, "Possibly."

The boy gasped," Do you think... do you think he's the-"

"I don't know. That's what you need to find out"

The boy, looking as though he could have a heart attack at any moment, rolled under a table and was gone.

The Investigation Team returned to their table in defeat. Light had sent Matsuda to go get him some ice, partially because his cheek stung like crazy, and partially because he wanted Matsuda away so he could think.

"Well, Shoseki is still the primary suspect," said Aizawa, "But we couldn't get anything out of him."

Soichiro frowned. "I didn't come across too many people that-"

Panting, Matsuda ran up to the table."Guys! Come look at this!"

The Investigation Team followed reluctantly (apart from an intrigued L), knowing full well that Matsuda had slight tendency to exaggerate. Matsuda led them up the stairs, down a hallway, and into what looked like a second kitchen. It was dimly lit, and a single faucet dripped in the corner. Written on the wall in thin, spidery handwriting were the words: The one in white has struck tonight.

All eyes turned to L, in his white shirt, tie, and suit jacket. He continued to stare wide eyed at the writing, silently, as if it was in some strange foreign language.

"And the plot thickens," Matsuda whispered.

Author's Note: I hope you liked this chapter more than the first one, because I definitely liked it more than the first one. Please REVIEW with comments, criticism, praise, etc.

Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note or any Death Note characters.