L's room:
On his computer screen, L could see the group in their room. Well, at least four of them, as Caine was sent to the hospital. These four, for as far as they were concerned, thought that L was too busy interrogating the people they caught, so they didn't know whether or not L was listening to their conversations.
"I am growing weary of this drug case." Katie hissed.
"Why? You think I made up what that guy said?" the Green Lantern asked her, "I want to get this thing over with as soon as possible myself, so I'd have these magicians off my back."
"Magicians?" Potter sounded angered, "You think that what we do are some simple tricks?"
The Green Lantern merely sighed at that, while Keiko replied to him: "But they both bring up excellent points. Two of those thugs we caught were wizards like yourself. How do we know you're not setting this whole thing up?"
"How could I be part of this?" Potter defended himself, "I didn't even know of this drug syndicate until L mentioned it to me."
"Or so you say." Keiko replied.
"I know you feel bad about shooting Mr. Caine, but don't take that out on me." Potter told her.
As they continued on, Mello drew L's attention: "L, I think these people might want to hear this."
L nodded, after which Mello spoke through the microphone: "I just finished interrogating these people."
"What did they say?" the Green Lantern asked.
"As you're probably aware by now, Japan used to be part of the Republic of Greater East Asia." Mello explained, "But since their last Program, those who survived their game started a movement in America against the Republic, and as a response, so did many of the Republic's citizens. So it split up, and every country returned to their original states. Unfortunately, not everyone agreed to this result, and most government officials still don't trust the western world."
"So these Japanese clients wanted that drug, hoping they could use it to start all over again." the Green Lantern deduced.
"What I want to know is..." Potter started, "... how did Crabbe and Goyle get mixed up in all this?"
"They were the easiest ones to interrogate actually." Mello told him, "It seems like they were approached by this guy, who introduced himself as 'Niemand'."
"Niemand?" Keiko sounded confused.
"It's an alias, of course. It is also Dutch for 'nobody'." Mello explained, "But as I was saying, this Niemand told them they could be part of something much larger. So he persuated them to talk to their parents, who knew some people, who know some people,... who knew about the security measures of the Ministry of Magic, so they could go in and steal whatever they needed."
"And how did they know they could find Panoramix's formula?" Potter asked.
"They didn't." Mello answered, "They were looking for whatever may be useful. They must've thought this potion was somehow helpful for their cause."
"Which is?" they all asked, almost in unison.
"Crabbe and Goyle don't know, and Niemand wouldn't say." Mello answered, "However, we did manage to let him slip another name. A doctor named Igor Mortis."
"Igor Mortis?" Katie sounded amused by the sound of that name.
"You know him?" Potter asked her.
"No." Katie replied, "But don't you think it sounds a lot like..."
"We made a few cross-references..." Mello interrupted, "... and it seemed like both Niemand and Igor Mortis have often been associated with a mob boss, known as Sardonis."
Everyone shrugged at the sound of that name, but it was the Green Lantern who spoke: "Never heard of him."
"If you haven't kept up with the news of what was happening in Belgium during the eighties, I wouldn't expect you to know him." Mello replied, "Or even this Nepomucenos."
"You mean that masked guy?" Katie asked.
"That masked man was Niemand, in disguise." Mello answered, "He was replacing the real Nepomucenos."
"But who is this Nepo..." Keiko tried to ask, but could never quite remember his name.
"Nepomucenos was a Greek TV-producer." Mello explained, "He tried starting his own TV-broadcasting stations, with which he hoped to embezzle huge amounts of money."
"And he's an associate of this..." the Green Lantern tried to remember the name, "... Sardines?"
"Sardonis." Mello corrected him, "And I am not sure. Although both have had their base of operations in Ravenburg, both even had Lowie Vervoort as their henchman, but for as far as we know, they never banded together. However, since they both ended up in the same prison, it is possible that they met and talked to each other, befriended each other, and even plotted together, about what they'll do once they got out of prison."
As he was explaining everything to the four, L noticed Near had started interrogating Crabbe and Goyle.
"Let me get back to you." L spoke into the microphone before disconnecting it.
"Hey!" Mello exclaimed, "I wasn't done yet!"
"I know." L said, "But until we know more details, we shouldn't give away that much."
"But it looks like Mello was right." Near explained, "From what these two just told me, I got a list of names of other people they've met. They don't know all of their full names, however looking at the list of known assiciates to both Sardonis and Nepomucenos, and seeing all the names they mentioned, Jean-Jacques, Sam Foeter, Serafijn, Staf, Muller, Lowie,... either they do work together, or at least Nepomucenos has got Sardonis' henchmen on his side now."
"Any of these men your inside man?" L asked him.
"I am not sure." Near answered, "Although they did mention there was some kind of assistant to Dr. Mortis. Someone who's helping him making this drug. They don't know who he is, as they've never seen him."
"Have you asked them where their hide-out is?" Mello asked him.
"I have." Near answered, "But they were always blindfolded when they were brought there. They must've thought that Crabbe and Goyle are much likely to snitch on their bosses, deliberately or not."
On L's screen, he got a notice that told him he received a message. He quickly read the message: "It's from the hospital. That warthog and rhinoceros are about to wake up. This could be in our advantage. Unlike Crabbe and Goyle, these two were by themselves. Which means that they know where their hide-out is and how to go there."
"They've been shot, they won't be able to go anywhere." Mello said.
"Maybe." L said, "But since they're criminals, they wouldn't want to stay at the same spot for too long either. So they'll have enough incentive to go to their hide-out, no matter what condition they are in."
"To bad our task-force is now one man short." Near said, "Hopefully our inside man will be of some help."
"Better let them know what we want them to do." L spoke, in reference to said task-force.