Once again, thank you for the ever loyal XxMichyBabyxX, candy-is-epic and mrsLlawliet162. Double thanks for Scarlet-Red-Wings for help with the mistakes! You guys are so awesome in your awesomeness, I can't express it.
5
Encounter
6:57 PM
L found himself feeling rather bored. After an hour of gathering everything he could find on Kaosu - which resulted in seven sheets of paper, most of the space taken up by detailed descriptions of the murder scenes and victims' backgrounds, along with only one picture of her from a local newspaper. The amount on Kaosu herself was, as it had been in the beginning, practically non-existent. The only solid details were the gender (female), age (23-25 years old) and nationality (American). After seeing the photograph of the female mannequin at apartment 14, L had deduced that, at present, she had green eyes and, as the wig suggested, either dyed her hair quite frequently or used wigs - she could have either blonde, black, brown or red hair at the moment. As for her personality, L could only underline the points he already knew of - bravery, arrogance, immaturity, cruelty. She seemed to believe she can do whatever she wished and will remain free. She believed there was no one worthy being a challenge for her. Well, she was mistaken. At the same time, L had no doubt in his mind that catching her was simply a matter of time. 'At present it is she who drops clues,' he mused, taking a large bite of his doughnut 'But she will make a mistake very soon, and even the slightest slip is enough for me.'
6:59 PM
L's eyes did not move away from the monitor nor did he blink as he finished the doughnut and licked the icing off his long fingers. The website 'playthegame' was still seconds away from opening. Just a few seconds away from a new clue… or, L suspected, something else. Something more.
7:00 PM
The white and red letters faded away and a new set appeared, this time big white letters forming the message --
PLEASE TURN YOUR SPEAKER AND MICROPHONE ON
Below, italicized red and big white letters said --
Ready…
Set…
GO!
The lines faded away into the black background. Then, the screen flashed suddenly, black going to white, then back, and a window opened on its' own accord. A view from an Internet camera.
L could see the end of a wooden desk, a green computer chair next to it and a round red carpet on the floor behind the chair. On the left side, a slice of a bed could be seen, but the covers were missing. The walls were white, but no other furniture was in view, probably moved away from sight. In the back of his mind, L had to give Kaosu some credit - she must have taken the furniture out of the camera's sight so that L could not identify them with any particular hotel. He had been in possibly every hotel in Japan, so he would have recognized the furniture. The computer chair and the red carpet also seemed somewhat out of place. Another half a point on Kaosu's account.
At first, no sound came through the speakers; then, L caught the noise of door shutting and, at the upper right corner of the window, a pair of bare feet and a white hem of a bathrobe appeared. The person crossed the room in only three long strides and took a seat on the chair at the desk. L watched with the thumb already between his teeth.
The person was definitely female, clad in a white fluffy bathrobe that was loosely tied, hugging her figure not too tightly thus hiding it. The visible, V-shaped piece of skin that peeked out from under the hem was a light olive color, a seaside tan hue within. The camera view stopped right below the chin, the face remaining hidden. The woman entwined her slender fingers and rested them next to the computer keyboard. She crossed her legs under the desk.
"Are you L?" the woman's voice was quiet, composed, with a hint of child-like curiosity. She spoke in English, with a clear American accent.
He activated his microphone along with the voice-changing device. "Are you Kaosu?" the detective asked back in the language she used, deciding not to answer any of her questions yet.
"Yes, that's what I call myself now," she said; from the tone of her voice, he deduced she was smiling. He saw the muscles of her neck move as she spoke. No jewelry.
"Why did you contact me?" L finally had the chance to ask the question he really wanted to, and realized too late it was a wrong one.
She did not give him time to correct himself. "Why, I believe you contacted me," her voice indicated the smile had widened. Perhaps turned into a smirk.
"I merely followed the clues you had left." His voice was blank. Let her think highly of herself just because she had baited him once. Let her be so full of herself.
"Good job, by the way. I was hoping Anders' little sidekick would prove to be… capable." She paused slightly "Actually, you're not a sidekick, huh? I guess it's the other way round, you being the number one detective and all."
"So you have looked my name up." It was a statement.
"I doubt that 'L' is your name. If you meant the alias, yes, I did look it up. Had to prepare myself, right?"
The camera was raised a few inches, showing the woman's chin and lips. The lipstick she had on was an intense red color, the corner was lifted in a small smirk.
"Would you like to see more?" Kaosu purred, giving him a peek of her straight white teeth.
He remained indifferent. "You must realize that, by leaving so many direct clues, your arrest is only a matter of time."
"I said so in my note that I'm not very intelligent," the blood red lips stretched as the smirk widened "But I'm not very dumb, either. It's not like I, oh, forgot that your number was left on Anders' nightstand in plain sight, dropped my little invitation right next to it, or recorded my performance accidentally."
"Then why did you do it?" that also was the question he wanted to find an answer to; luckily, Kaosu was there, in person, to give it to him. No notes, no video tapes.
"Oh? Isn't that obvious by now?" without a warning, Kaosu leaned towards the camera, her whole face in view "I want you to catch me, Detective."
L did not know why her appearance had surprised him so much. He had dealt with a whole lot of criminals, both male and female, and all of them differed in everything, from the crimes, through style of committing them, to appearances. Some were highly unattractive, others quite good-looking. Some had complicated reasons, others were simply insane.
He was right about the eyes.
Although she could not see him like he could see her, Kaosu's vivid dark green eyes were staring right into his black ones. Her arched eyebrows were barely visible beneath the slightly wet stands of reddish hair that clung to her forehead. Her small, a bit flat nose fit in her square face almost perfectly, along with her brilliant red lips. The color of her complexion had the same light olive hue. The slightly wavy, moist red hair fell through her shoulder and reached the surface of the desk upon the sudden movement.
"You want to be caught." L repeated, sounding perfectly unmoved. He would never let her know how her statement had caught him off guard and confused. No, he was supposed to make her feel that way, not the other way around. The moderated voice made him sound more like a robot than an actual human being, a fact which he was quite thankful for.
"Of course I do!" Kaosu grinned. "As much fun as I'm having, I get bored easily and want to end the game when it no longer holds my interest. It's natural. But…" she trailed off, a mischievous glint sparkling in her eyes. "I will not waste the remains of my time being bored."
"I can trace this connection and have your address in no time," L stated boldly, watching her like a hawk, waiting for a reaction.
But she kept smiling. "Oh yes, I have read about that. I wouldn't do that if I were you, however."
His eyebrows rose. Was she attempting to order him around? Again? "Why is that?"
"Well, because by the time you have the address and tell um, that policeman who is after me where to go, I'll be long gone."
"That is hardly an obstacle." He countered. "You cannot see me, I might be passing the address right now."
"But you're not." It did not sound like an accusation, not in the least.
"I am curious." He admitted. "Now that there is direct contact. But I am tracing the connection as we speak and will have the address in a matter of seconds."
"Yes, but you will not give it to anyone before I log out."
Yes, she was attempting to order him around. Him, the number one detective in the world. L almost smiled. "What makes you so sure of that?"
"Because I haven't left you a clue yet." She put her elbows on the desk, her chin resting atop her entwined fingers. "I killed again, Detective."
The boldness of her statement made L blink. He had dealt with a wide variety of criminals, with and without regrets. Cold-blooded killers, who acted like murder was yet another sport discipline. Criminals proud of their work. But she, she said it with such lack of emotion that it still managed to make the detective shift in his seat with interest. She said it like it was no big deal, which for her, it probably wasn't.
It made him want to catch her as soon as possible.
"I killed again, and I can show you where the body is."
"You really aren't very intelligent, are you?" L decided to use a different tactic, to show her that she does not set up any rules in the pursuit. He wanted to anger her, so that she would say something she shouldn't, something she would severely regret and something that will be her downfall. "You think I won't find a person that has gone missing recently?"
Once again surprising the great detective, Kaosu acted oppositely to what his intentions were. She burst into laughter.
"My God, no!" she laughed for a few seconds before calming down, though amusement shone in her green eyes brightly. "No, no, no. I told you I looked you up, didn't I? You're L, the world's number one detective - of course you will find anything or anyone if you start searching. That is…" the amusement turned into a devilish flash and all of a sudden, the beautiful woman turned into a sly monster. "If that thing or person exists."
L needed only a very short moment to catch on. "You killed an illegal immigrant."
Kaosu's demeanor returned to her previous one and she clapped her hands "Marvelous! I knew you'd be good," she cheered. "Oh L, you truly are the one I was looking for," she purred, leaning in slightly with a coquettish smirk.
L's eyebrows rose, but he did not react in any other way. "So, in exchange for letting you safely log out and move to a different location, you will show me the location of your latest victim."
Kaosu leaned back with a feigned disappointed expression. "Believe me, Detective, I would want nothing more than that, but you see…" she sighed. "I cannot send you a postcard if I don't have the address."
"I will not give it to you."
"And I expected only that. That's why you will promise to wait a bit and I will send my postcard to mister, uh… You know, the Japanese police guy who is after me."
"The Inspector." L supplied; he was certainly not about to give Ichigawa's name to a serial killer. Something told him Kaosu wasn't faking it, that she really had trouble remembering the name; he positively hoped so, or else this intelligent woman would turn out to be an idiot after all.
Her eyes lit up. "Yes, yes, the Inspector, Ichi-something. I have it all written down somewhere." Kaosu made a sheepish face. "I'm not very good at remembering faces and names. I'm lucky that yours is only one letter long," she winked and held up her thumb and index finger in the shape of an L. "Very cool."
Suspicion confirmed. Memorizing names and faces was difficult for her. "How do I know you're not lying?"
"I'm not, Detective," for the first time, the smile slid off her red lips as she stared at the camera lens, straight at L, her expression solemn. "When I promise, I promise." Then the smile returned, but it was small and sad compared to the ones she had sent earlier. "I understand you're wary of trusting a person like me, but I-"
Something in he demeanor snapped and she leaned in once again, lips twisted in an arrogant smirk and eyes narrowed "If you won't, you'll never find that immigrant. And if you won't find him, you won't find the other body. Because it's all linked. Besides, even if the police is on it's way, they will never catch me. I will not get caught," she hissed out the last part, glaring.
L gave her a few seconds to put herself together. He too had to analyze the sudden change of attitude. From the calm, melancholic state she went near berserk in only half a second. That could be the proof of her mental instability or a personality disorder.
Kaosu sat back with her eyes closed and ran her fingers through her hair, releasing a calming sigh. She glanced to the right, then back at the camera.
"It's late, Detective."
Involuntarily, L glanced at his own clock. 7: 09.
She must have somehow sensed his skepticism. "Remember, I still have to move my things to a different hotel." She grinned cheerily. "Don't worry, though, we'll talk some more if you want. I'm always on at seven. So…" she blew a kiss towards the camera, smirking charmingly. "See you tomorrow," she purred.
The screen went black once again.
-
L was known for his bluffing. Being a detective as famous as he, it was only one of the many assets in his arsenal; and, as all of his assets, this one was perfect.
He had to admit, though, that she was a clever woman. Yes, she did chose one of the more known hotels to stay at, but it was a hotel away from the city center. The hour was convenient, too - with people on their way home from work, it was inevitable for one to get stuck in a traffic jam. Even the police.
He had a laptop connected to the one he'd used for communication long before 7 pm, the tracing program running since 4. He had Kaosu's current exact address, with the hotel name, floor and room number, at about 7:01. And he had sent it to Ichigawa at plus minus 7:02.
However…
A group of policemen arrived at the East Hotel in Yokohama, armed and ready to capture the serial killer known as Kaosu. There was also a searching party scanning the area around the hotel. The team entered the building and went straight upstairs, 4 men going by the elevator while 5 other took the stairs. They used the universal key to open the door and bargained into the room, guns raised.
The room was empty.