Three: Untraceable

The next day arrived and with it came Lawliet's decision to keep investigating. Even though he had nothing working for him except his own stubbornness, he got up at dawn and decided to head out to investigate George's most frequented places. He'd even forged school records and a uniform somehow so that he could get into the private academy that George and Cosette studied at.

"You know, Lawliet, I could have actually enrolled you in the school if you would have liked."

"Ridiculous," Lawliet replied, pulling up the tartan pants and buttoning his top before yanking the sweater vest over it. Everything was too big on him, and it, combined with the uncomfortable look on his face, made him look more ridiculous than Wammy's statement.

The old man rolled his eyes. "Just don't go getting yourself into a poker game with an insane killer."

Lawliet gave him a half-glare. "I am far superior to my seven-year-old self, Watari."

And yet, just as childish, Wammy thought.

Lawliet turned, as if reading Wammy's thoughts, but didn't say anything about it. "So…" He mumbled, passing him. "I believe this shall suffice. Let us be off."

"Yes, L, sir," Wammy said, rolling his eyes when the boy wasn't looking.

Lawliet glanced back at Wammy when he stepped out of the car. This was far from a place he enjoyed… a place full of people his age? That was insane! Quillsh almost chuckled at the look on the boy's face which had only grown less and less comfortable as they arrived.

"I have set up an alarm system in your car and office. If I am in distress, I can hit this pin-" He pointed to the pin on his vest, "and an alarm will send you to come and fetch me."

Quillsh nodded. "Indeed. Well, I won't be far away then. Be careful."

"Of course," He replied and then proceeded to slip into the crowd of children… mostly. He still stuck out like a sore thumb with that messy hair and hunched back.

Alone now, Lawliet started scanning the other students' faces. Youthful, bright-eyed girls giggling about this and that and whatnot, and young men talking too loudly about unimportant things. Teenagers were so boring.

Despite the fact that research on George's friends had come up empty, when he spotted them in their little clique, he trailed them from just enough distance to not look suspicious. The problem with being incognito at a school however was that even if one looked the part, they didn't necessarily "fit in," and now he was stuck straining to hear what they were saying over the sounds of the other children.

"Um… 'scuse me," A voice.

Lawliet turned, and his creepy appearance actually made the child jump a little. He was younger than him obviously, about twelve, with a head full of blonde ringlets. He was red-faced and blue-eyed and a bit short, but he seemed like a nice kid.

"Um…" The boy seemed to forget what he was going to say.

"Do you require something from me?" Lawliet asked.

"Ah… oh… Oh, yes," The boy stammered, suddenly remembering. "Yes, you're in the way of my entrance. I need to get inside."

Lawliet glanced to his side at the door. "But… this is the side door."

"Ah… yes…"

"Why do you not go in through the front door?" He asked.

"Well… those other guys are over there…" He mumbled, pointing to none other than George's friends.

"And?" Lawliet asked.

"Well… they like to bully me, so I try to stay away from them is all. George was the only one who was nice to me, and now that he's gone, they won't show any restraint."

"You knew George?"

By the time lunch had rolled around, Lawliet had learned the boy's name was Brandon, and that while he had not known George very well, he was aware of the type of people he associated with. The two sat next to each other, both awkward yet somehow working, like two pieces of a puzzle that didn't fit together by the picture but by the shape.

"His friends are real meatheads," Brandon explained, biting down on his sandwich. "They obsess over parties and sports, and they're idolized for doing it too. It's pretty typical. I imagine every school in the world has people like them. George was different though. Yeah, he was a meathead too, but he was nice to me. We hung out on occasion. I'd see him around, you know. When the pressure to maintain my grades got too high, I'd go out and usually find him around town, you know."

Lawliet could tell right away that the boy was avoiding something. He was skipping around something, but he knew that to pry would mean to blow his cover.

"He was alone? I mean, most of the time those guys are always together right?" Lawliet asked casually, biting down on a chocolate-covered strawberry he had brought for lunch.

"Well…" He thought about it, choosing his words. "George was kind of their king, I guess you could say, so their little antics failed to impress him sometimes. He'd go out and find more intense… rushes."

"You mean drugs."

Brandon looked at Lawliet, trying to read him but finding the language to be one with which he wasn't familiar. "I don't know."

Of course he knew, but that answer gave him the answer he needed. "Oh, well, all right then. Sorry, it's just that when someone says 'rush' that's what I think of."

"Why?"

"Well, that's what my mother refers to when she takes her pills," Lawliet lied without blinking an eye.

"Oh. Yeah, I know what you mean. Moms can be awful."

"I suppose so."

"By the way, I didn't catch your name. I guess I was so happy that someone was talking to me that I didn't think to ask."

"It's Christopher."

"Oh, well, all right then, Christopher. I don't feel like I've seen you around here before. Are you new or something?"

"Oh, yes. I just started today, but my father's a business mogul, so I don't know how long I'll be here. We move around so much. There have been times that I've been in a school for a single day before moving on to the next one."

"That's terrible! How do they expect you to make any friends that way?"

"Well, if you'll look at me, you'll see I'm not really the friend-making type," Lawliet replied with a shrug. "My uncle says that I'm strange."

"Well, I won't lie, you are a little frightening at first glance, but I think you'd fit in quite well with those children who listen to that dark music."

"I'd rather not spend all my time vomiting poetry," Lawliet replied flatly, leaning his head against the wall. "People who spend their time dwelling on their own problems are just wasting their lives."

"That's so true," Brandon nodded in agreement. "There's so much fun to be had anyways. With rich parents like ours, we have all the free time in the world. My parents don't even notice I've left the house most of the time."

"So you sneak out for fun?" Lawliet questioned, feigning as much innocence as possible.

"No. I sneak out to go to the fun. There are parties all down the circuit. My friends and I generally get together and play D&D, but sometimes we go to the parties. They let anyone in really, as long as you bring something."

"Alcohol?"

"That's what we bring, yes. Some people bring other stuff though. Pot, cocaine, you name it, I've seen it."

"Seems we rich kids have nothing better to do than blow our money," Lawliet smirked a little ruefully.

"Well, it's not our money."

"I suppose that's true…"

He spotted Cosette across the schoolyard with her friends and sighed inwardly. Maybe that bias of his had convinced him of her innocence to the party scene. There was a possibility she knew more than she let on. Of course, she wasn't going to tell him now, not after he had revealed himself as L.

That was so stupid.

When the school day had ended, Lawliet slipped away into the crowd. He'd managed to vanish from Brandon's side without too much concern, and while he hadn't learned much… well, surely his information had to equal to something. He just hadn't solved the equation yet.

George was a party boy, and he may or may not have been into some heavier drugs, more likely the former. He was rarely at home because he was partying, and he was also nice to the unpopular kids, despite how his friends enjoyed bullying. So… George didn't seem to be insecure, just longing for the new rush… Then again, Brandon didn't mention any other children. Maybe… just maybe Brandon knew more. Maybe Brandon was involved. It was usually the least suspected one, wasn't it?

He didn't have any evidence, but he'd definitely keep it in mind.

Quillsh was waiting in the car around the corner, and Lawliet crawled in, silently in thought. "Let's go to the house," He said quietly once he'd shut the door.

Quillsh nodded and started the car. "So, have you made any progress, Lawliet?"

"Possibly," He responded.

"So you're not going to tell me?"

Lawliet gave him a sideways glance, looking very much like a raccoon. "I will give you the information once I have processed it. I do not know whether or not what I've learned today will be useful or not… Hum…"

He glanced out the window as Quillsh put the car into drive and spotted George's friends once again. Whispering. One of them passed something discreetly to another. It looked like a scrap of paper and a small bag of some sort of substance. "Wait, Watari," L whispered, rolling down the window as quietly as he could.

"Why are you giving me this?" The boy complained loudly.

"Look, after what happened, I just… I don't want it anymore. You know where we'll be hanging out tonight," He looked at the piece of paper he'd given to the other boy. "You gonna meet us there?"

"Yeah, fine," The other boy grumbled, hiding both things away in his left pocket. "You gonna bring some good stuff?"

"As long as it's not that stuff, I'll hook you up."

"Cool. See you then."

They parted ways, and by sheer luck, the one with the address walked by Lawliet's car. Lawliet's quick hands slipped in and out of his pocket without notice.

"Drive," He hissed, rolling up the window.

Quillsh, despite Lawliet's harsh command, didn't floor the gas, instead choosing to drive out slowly so they wouldn't be noticed.

"So, what's the address?"

"Oh… it's that big mansion across town," Lawliet grumbled. "That old one that was abandoned several years ago, the one by the forest. Rich teenagers feel the need to party in mansions even now, I suppose."

"Will you be attending?"

"It depends," Lawliet replied, holding up the bag of powder. It sparkled a bit in the sunlight. "I need to find out what this is first. I have a feeling the contents of this bag might have been a good friend to George… a better friend than his real friends, surely. It's odd though… I don't recognize this stuff. We've dealt in cases with drugs before, but this certainly doesn't look like meth or heroin or cocaine… I… don't know what it is. I'll need to identify it. Good thing we built that chemistry lab back at Wammy House."

"I suppose so. Just don't go tasting it."

"I would never do something so foolish."

Lawliet was in the lab for a good hour and a half before Quillsh decided to try bothering him. Just as he went to open the door, it opened on it's own and out stepped Lawliet, shaking his head and yet looking somehow a bit excited.

"Very puzzling… but this would explain a few things… Hmm…"

"What's going on, L, sir? Did you identify the toxin?"

He glanced back at him, thumb on his lips. "No."

"You don't seem to distraught over it."

His lips spread into a grin. "I didn't identify it because it's unidentifiable."

"What?"

"I've never seen it before because it's a new type of drug. One that even the government probably doesn't even know about. In fact, I'm 92% sure the government in any country doesn't know."

Quillsh was stunned. "Then perhaps Mr. George was part of a ring of drug peddlers. Maybe he and his friends were making the drug. One of them felt they'd gotten in too deep and decided to destroy the evidence, aka Mr. George Altair."

"It's a good theory, Watari," Lawliet nodded, "however, I doubt that's what happened. His friends' mental strength is about as strong as their moral strength. If one of them had killed George, he would have confessed, or at least there would have started to crack up. I believe George was a user, but not a seller. He probably gave this bag to his friend for safe keeping."

"But Lawliet, it said in the autopsy report that there were no drugs found in his system."

"I checked that as well," Lawliet's face lit up, and it was almost a little creepy. "It doesn't show up on any tox-screens, any drug tests, not even in the blood. It's unidentifiable, and on top of that untraceable. While I don't think the drugs caused his death, the stabbing he received did that, perhaps they have something to do with it?"

"I wouldn't know, sir."

Lawliet paused, thinking. "I need to find out the drug's effects. Shall we take a ride to the prison and see if any of our local death row inmates would be willing to test it for us?"

"I don't know if they'd let you…"

"Oh, yes they will," Lawliet shoved his hands in his pockets. "I am L, after all. It's at the point where the police force comply with whatever I request now, considering I've solved some of their most mysterious cases. I'll have them film it, and you'll watch it live from here and keep me up to date on what's happening. I, in the meantime, will slip off to the party and do a little more investigating. I'll see if there are any other people using it, see if I can find a maker, those sorts of things. I don't know why, but I have a hunch, Watari. Quote me on this when the case is solved. The one who killed George Altair is the one who makes the drug."

"I'll… keep that in mind, sir."

Watari didn't like this plan. There was a lot of danger, a lot of risks… Lawliet would be clear across town from him should something happen. He'd have no one to come and fetch him should trouble arise… but the boy didn't know how to take no for an answer, and after all of Lawliet's success in his plans, Quillsh had reason to believe he'd be okay.

Lawliet handed Quillsh the bag. "Call up the station the way we always do. Disguise your voice. I'm going to go about disguising the rest of me. Also, I'll need your keys."

"You're not old enough to drive."

"I'm also not old enough to tell the police how to do their job, but I have. Bad children don't get rides from their parents to parties like the one I'll be attending. If you're uncomfortable with me using your car, I can always buy one for myself."

"Then do that," Quillsh said flatly, though in his head he was relieved that he'd have a getaway car. "I've seen what unfortunate luck comes from vehicles that you use in some of our previous cases, and I won't have my car getting destroyed in the name of L."

"I'm assuming you won't be leaving it to me in your will then," Lawliet chuckled, it always being a strange sound for him.

"Definitely not."

(A/N: Had four pages of this sitting in my hard drive for awhile but no inspiration to work on it led me to forgetting about it. Decided to try and get back in the game by finishing this chapter, and while it's a little short, I'm glad to be able to update. As always, thanks for reading.)