For taking their time and reviewing the first chapter, I would like to thank MissMomo11, mrsLlawliet162 and XxMichyBabyxX very much. Extra thanks go to Jen, who was awesome and helped me make the decision whether to publish the story or not. Believe me, your vote and opinion matters a great deal.
2
Resurfacing
L bit down on his thumb. The monitor of his laptop illuminated his pale face, making it ghostly white. He had just received a phone call from a 55-years-old, soon-to-be retired Inspector, Ichigawa, who was leading the case of Detective Anders. The murder of Detective Anders.
Detective Anders was found dead in his hotel room at 6:30 in the morning by room service. L had suspected that something was wrong when the man had not called him an hour later, like he was supposed to. He tried contacting Anders only once, but when the man had not picked up, L's suspicion grew. Finally, three and a half hours later, a man introducing himself as Inspector Ichigawa contacted L.
L asked where had Inspector Ichigawa gotten his number from. The man replied that the number Anders used to call L was written down on a piece of paper which was found in the room in plain sight, along with another message.
L waited in front of the computer for the police officers to scan the two papers, so that he could take a look for himself. Knees pressed to his chest, thumb running across his lower lip, he thought. Ken Anders was murdered just when he was about to throw some light on the Nameless Girl's case.
As it was, there was only one suspect unless Ichigawa's team finds something in Anders' room that would prove otherwise. L truly thought the so-called Nameless Girl knew very well Anders was after her and decided to do something about it. The probability was alarmingly high, around 90 percent or so.
The short sound of a new e-mail arriving in his mailbox brought L back into the real world. He clicked on the icon and waited for the pictures to load.
The first one was the photo of Detective Ken Anders after he was found. He was dressed in a white T-shirt and boxers, the clothes he had been sleeping in. The white shirt and gray boxers, along with pure white sheets, beige carpet and matching curtains were soaked with blood. There were big and small spots and slashes of blood across the cream walls, floor and ceiling. The body was not missing any limbs, but was covered with cuts from forehead to ankle. There was a gash on the throat, indicating were the sharp weapon sank the deepest. The whole room which used to be spotless clean, was red.
The next one was the scan of the piece of paper with L's number on it. It was written by Anders, there was no doubt about it. The paper was a small rectangle, 2 centimeters (0,80 inches) and 5 centimeters (2 inches), and was one of the very few things in the room that held not even a drop of blood on it.
The last one was a message written in English. The letters were cut out of different newspapers and glued to a bigger piece of paper. It took approximately 0.2 seconds for L's brain to start analyzing it after his eyes had laid on it
C 0 m 3 and P 1 4 y
"A code?" Watari asked from behind the couch. L nodded absent-mindedly.
"The style of mixing letters and numbers to create a sentence, commonly known as 'leet'. But yes, I do believe this is some kind of code, hidden behind the seemingly childish message, 'Come and Play'." He pointed at the screen "The letters C and P are of the same font and size, undoubtedly from the same newspaper and article title. Also, the letter C looks like it has been glued to the paper and ripped off three times before it was attached properly. The numbers are also the same. The rest is unimportant as the letters M and Y are chosen randomly. 'AND' was cut out as a whole, which tells us whoever had done it didn't care." L bit on his thumb again. "C and P… 0314… We must focus on that."
As Ichigawa's men continued to search the room and interrogate the hotel staff, L decided to check the plane Anders used to fly to Japan. If Miss Nameless was aware Anders knew something he shouldn't have, she could also find out that he wanted to pass the information on. She could follow him… all the way to Japan. All the way to his hotel room. And the likelihood of her using the exact same means of transport was 97 percent.
L hacked into the Narita International Airport computers easily and printed the list of all passengers. Anders' name was in Second Class, and that was where L started searching. At first, he did not see anything. A long list of names, male and female. He was about to start looking up every single one of them, when he saw it.
The same plane, the same class. Four seats behind Anders. Marianne Cotton. L was sure that was the one he was looking for.
Mari-anne Cotton.
Mary Ann Cotton. An English serial killer, who had poisoned more than 20 people using arsenic, later arrested and hanged in 1873.
"It seems that our suspect is very sure of herself…" L muttered unconsciously under his breath, staring at the name.
"'Herself'?" Watari asked, a slight trace of shock in his voice "Is it a woman?"
"It's still not hundred percent positive, but that is what I assume." L replied calmly before his voice lowered again "She wants to be seen…"
Just to be sure, he checked that 'Marianne Cotton' for any background and, except for the one mention at the Hartness State Airport in Springfield, Vermont, where she most likely used fake documents, there was no other note. Family, addresses, schools, jobs - nothing. Marianne Cotton existed only for a few hours, on the airport and then on the plane. After getting off, she had vanished.
At this point, L had no doubts whatsoever. The Nameless Girl, who picked the name of another female killer as an alias, was in Japan.
-
"L, this is Inspector Ichigawa."
L took the cell phone between his fingers and lifted to his ear. "This is L."
"Did you see the files we've sent?"
"Of course." L took a sip of his over-sugared tea "I also found the code, but I have yet to decipher it."
"Code? What code?" Ichigawa's voce got louder.
"The code in the message 'Come and Play'." L was only faintly surprised the police didn't catch it right away. The message certainly looked harmless enough, a proof that whoever was behind the murder was immature, cocky and could do something careless in the future, assuming he or she (L was almost sure it was the latter) ever would do anything similar again.
The inspector sighed. "What's the code?"
"C and P, 0314."
"What the hell does that mean?"
"I have yet to decipher it." L repeated calmly. "Did you find anything else?"
"No, nothing. Only… blood. A lot of blood."
"What about Detective Anders' personal things?"
"There was only his suitcase in the closet, but we searched it. Clothes and the usual, toothbrush, cologne, you know," Ichigawa sighed again "There is nothing that could help us go any further. Except… Except for the code."
L did not reply. Instead, he stared at the monitor, at the message. Come and Play. CP 0314. What could that mean? Come and Play. The Nameless Girl somehow found out Detective Anders had something that could help either him or the police, something that could lead to her past, something that could clear out the thick fog around her. Something important. Something that had to be in Anders' suitcase, but was now gone.
Come and Play.
She killed Anders and left a message. She must have known Anders was going to Japan to meet with someone. Maybe she knew that someone was the famous L. Maybe she didn't. Either way, she did not let Anders nowhere near the person he's contacted. And she took that something with her. And left a message.
Come and Play.
"It's not just a message," L spoke quietly to himself, for a second forgetting about the cell phone he was still holding "It's an invitation."
-
"An invitation?" Ichigawa repeated.
"Inspector, have you heard about the Nameless Girl from America?"
"Nameless… oh yes, there were some rumors," the Inspector frowned "But she's most likely dead for five years, if I recall the dates correctly. Why? What does that have to do with-"
"Detective Anders believed he had found some new facts concerning the Nameless Girl; perhaps thanks to whatever he's found, she would no longer stay nameless. Unfortunately, the secret had died along with him, just as the person behind his death wished."
"You think… You think the Nameless Girl came back from the land of the dead after 5 years, followed Anders to Japan and killed him?" even before he finished, Ichigawa knew that it was not as impossible as he made it sound. That didn't make it any less ridiculous, however.
There was a pause on the other end before the mechanical, modified voice came through the speaker in the inspector's private office again.
"It is still not fully confirmed, but yes, that is what I believe." L sounded calm "The suspect left a note inviting us to 'come and play', which means the code must indicate the suspect's location…"
After giving it all a second to think over, Ichigawa had to stop himself from whistling out loud in amazement. He was good, that L.
"If you excuse me, Inspector, I require some time to think about it. I will call you back as soon as I crack the code."
"O-of course." Ichigawa barely had the time to finish as the beep indicating that L had hung up rang though the room. The man stared at the phone in silence before leaning back into his chair and rubbing his face with his hands.
One dead man, a contact number to L himself, a message-slash-code and a theory about an American female killer, who desperately wanted to remain nameless, going as far as to tail a detective half across the globe to kill him. And a lot of blood. Ichigawa had worked for the police for over 30 years, but never, during his whole career… during his whole life, he had never seen so much blood. And it was everywhere…
The shrill sound of the telephone made him jump in his seat slightly and he immediately felt ashamed. He took a second to compose himself before picking up.
"The C looks like it's been glued to the paper three times before it finally stuck." L's mechanical voice greeted him "It is clearly done on purpose, since all the other letters and numbers are attached perfectly. That means the C is actually a triple C. CP stands for Chiba Prefecture, the widest area. The other two are Chōsei District and Chōnan. Chiba, Chōsei, Chōnan. 0314 - Block 03, apartment 14."
Ichigawa was silent.
"The message is an invitation." L explained calmly "The code is the address. Please send your people. It would be best if they were armed and ready for everything."
He was damn good, that L.