If I hadn't been acutely aware that this was possibly our last day in Osaka, then I could have been getting very fed up of this damn Nisa convenience store. As it was, it was probably the staff who were getting fed up of us. The store clearly didn't restock anymore than at least every three days - I'd cleared out a whole shelf of the cheap branded energy drinks during our time here. Now I was being forced onto the more expensive Red Bull. Not that I was complaining when it came to taste. Only in the cost department.

And because I was so aware that our time in Osaka could be ending, I'd taken Johnny's advice maybe a little to heart. I wasn't quite daring enough to wear less than my usual skirt, 80's themed tee and boots combo, but I did sneak a few sprays of Mom's Midnight Fantasy perfume. She was the one I'd clearly picked that trait up from. I'd never been a fan of that particular one since it reminded me of strawberries and I'd never much liked strawberries. But I did know somebody who did.

I knew it was ridiculous, but this was L we were talking about. He was far from your average guy. If I wanted him to take notice, then I needed to take desperate measures. So in another bold move, I'd taken Johnny's advice yet again - Christ, the apocalypse must be nigh - and left my glasses at home for the day.

That was easily the one I was regretting most. I could still see long distances just fine without my glasses - they were only for reading and computer work. But because I wore them all the time, I was just so dang used to them. It was like they helped me to focus. Now I felt like that focus was all out of whack.

And all this over a guy. I was spending too much time around Johnny for my own good.

"I'm going to check the back of the store again," L told me quietly. "You wait here. Pretend to be looking at the offers near the registers."

I knew that it would be less conspicuous than us constantly milling about the store together, but I was still very wary about the idea of splitting up. "Just be careful," I told him.

L just gave me a blank stare, like I was ridiculous for thinking he'd do otherwise, then left me at the front of the store by myself. I busied myself with acting like I was interested in the silly impulse buys of chocolate and teacakes. Like I needed anything else sweet. I felt I'd had enough ice cream yesterday to feed a whole platoon.

With every other movement, I allowed myself short glances towards the registers. Working today was the elderly woman with arthritic hands, the same mousy girl from the first day... and then someone new. She'd just opened up the next cash register as I glanced again, chatting along to the mousy-haired girl. She was very attractive with flawlessly pretty features and dramatic, bleached blonde hair. She was also weirdly familiar, though I couldn't quite put my finger on why...

Very suddenly, I felt someone press close up against my back and then lips whisper a mere breath away from my earlobe, "Don't look around. Just act normal and play along."

It took me less than a second to realise that it was L. I felt electricity tingle all the way down my spine. I don't know how I hadn't just keeled over on the spot from his closeness. If it hadn't been for the sense of urgency in his voice, then I probably would have. To be honest, I was surprised I hadn't jumped out of my skin just from his usual silent, vampiristic approach. Bully for me.

Before I could even think how to react, L stepped back away from me and said loudly in a godly awful accent, "Aw geez, honey, I left my wallet in the car."

How I didn't just turn and stare at him in amazement, I have no idea. If I hadn't known that the situation was clearly important, then I would have just burst out laughing. The guy really, really couldn't act.

As it was, I had to get my head together and join in with this stupid roleplay as convincingly as I could. From what I could tell from L's play-acting, he wanted an excuse to get out of here. And fast. That I could work with. I turned and sighed. "Oh, trust you! Come on, we'd better hurry or the parking meter will run out..."

I led us out of the store with L very close on my heels. Even though I was dying to know what was wrong, I knew better than to stand and quiz him in the doorway. So instead, I turned right as we left and carried on down the street, trying to look like I was walking with purpose.

I could see L just out of my peripheral vision, still walking to the side and just slightly behind me. Once we were three blocks away, I started to slow, but L suddenly caught up and took my arm abruptly, forcing my pace to quicken again. "Just keep walking back to the house," he muttered quietly. "We need somewhere safe where we can talk more freely."

That made sense. It was basic detective protocol. Out in the open? Definitely not safe to talk. Of course, that only made me even more concerned to know what was going on, but I knew well enough to bite my tongue. I let L steer me back towards the house. He didn't release my arm until we got inside, so at least I'd gotten one perk out of this.

Only when we got upstairs was I let out of the dark. "The blonde woman working behind the register," L said sharply the moment I closed the bedroom door behind us. "Do you know who she was?"

The question threw me. Though I'd thought she'd looked familiar, I hadn't expected her to be at the thick of L's concern. "Well, I recognised her, but I didn't..."

"That's the woman who was at Jin Tanaka's office the day we got locked in."

I stared at him, the recognition that I'd needed finally flooding through me. Of course! She'd had black hair when we'd seen her then - that would explain the violent dye job. Not to mention why I'd found it difficult to place her. She was the one who'd sent us into the empty office in the first place. She had to be integrally linked to this. Why else would she now be here in Osaka?

"So when she sent us into the wrong office... That wasn't just an accident," I slowly realised, as I recalled the events. "She seemed surprised the moment we mentioned Jin's name. She knew we were lying straightaway! Either she was the one who locked us in and set the office on fire or she warned Jin and he came to do the job himself whilst we were still there."

L didn't even seem to be listening to me. Of course, he'd probably figured this all out himself already. Instead, he cut across me again. "Why didn't you recognise her?"

The question made me falter a second time. "I did. I just... Her hair was different; I couldn't quite place her..."

"I still knew who she was straightaway," L pointed out.

I frowned. "What; do you want me to congratulate you on being a better detective than me? That's hardly news." I didn't get why he was being so insistent on this one small point.

"No, I want you to admit that you're slipping," L counteracted. "You should have recognised her easily. Admit it."

I opened my mouth and closed it again several times before I could say anything to that. What was I supposed to say? Sorry was hardly going to help in this situation. I tried to hedge my way out of it instead. "I wasn't even really paying much attention to her. We'd checked out the staff so many times already; I was concentrating more on the clientele."

"You're lying," said L straightaway. "I saw you looking straight at her. That's why I made you leave - if she noticed you looking for too long, then she would have known that we'd recognised her and figured out who she was."

I suddenly felt really out of my depth and I hated it. I should have recognised her like L did. I knew why I hadn't - it was because I'd been too damn busy daydreaming about our day at Entices. Man, I really sucked as a detective sometimes. "So... you don't think she did realise after all?" I asked in a smaller voice.

"I don't know," said L stonily. "But we have to consider the possibility that she did and that she could now consequently disappear and go into hiding again. You were careless. You should have remembered to wear your glasses."

Oh, so he had noticed I hadn't been wearing them. He just clearly hadn't cared. I was stupid for ever thinking he would. "My glasses weren't anything to do with it," I said, nettled. "They're only for reading anyway."

"Yet your eyes still deceived you," L pointed out. "If you weren't able to rely on your sight, then you should have been able to open your other senses. So close your eyes."

"What? No," I protested. I may have made a mistake, but I didn't need tips from him. Could he get any more condescending?

"Then turn around."

"Huh?" Against my better judgement, I found myself automatically doing as he said, curious as to what he could be planning. What I didn't expect was him to step up close behind me and place a cool hand over my eyes. "Hey, what are you doing?" I spluttered.

My first instinct would have been to pull away, but the fact that it was L made me hesitate and I hated myself for it. Why did I never learn? All I could hope was that he didn't notice how hot my face currently was. Or at least that he didn't think there was anything weird about it.

"You wouldn't close your eyes when I told you to, so I'm doing it for you," said L flatly. "Now tell me what you can hear."

Though I didn't like feeling patronised, I reluctantly obliged and fell silent, concentrating on all the sounds around me. There was the thrum of the central heating running through the old pipes. A couple of birds were tweeting outside my window. Footsteps downstairs - it had to be Grandpa; nobody else was in right now.

"Birds, the radiators, my grandpa moving about downstairs..." I reeled off unenthusiastically.

"What about now?"

I listened again and this time I heard something new. It was a light, plucking sort of sound. It sounded like the click of nails against plastic, only it was deadened by something softer, something with more of a spring.

"You're pulling at the buttons on your shirt. Very enlightening," I said sarcastically. "Is there a point to this?"

L's hand fell away from my eyes as he stepped aside. "Most people wouldn't be able to distinguish such a small and insignificant sound. If you can identify something like that, then you shouldn't have had any trouble recognising the voice of someone you've heard before. The woman was talking to her colleague when you were watching her - if you couldn't recognise her by sight, then you should have been able to by sound."

I felt my face colour as I turned back towards him. I needlessly straightened my jacket and began fiddling with my holster. I felt I needed to keep my hands busy - I could feel anger beginning to build. I knew that L was right and that was the problem. No one ever admitted to being wrong in this business. Especially not me. Yet I knew that I was. I was so angry with myself for it, but getting so severely reprimanded by L was only making me want to direct that anger elsewhere.

"Well, you'd know best," I said dryly. It was childish; I knew. But I couldn't stop it. If it wasn't that, then it would be something worse. Something I couldn't take back.

It was clearly still the wrong thing to say. It was probably the closest I'd ever seen L to being angry. "You're being ridiculous. This is an extremely dangerous case - this woman is somehow partially, if not completely, responsible for the deaths of seven people. I'm just saying that you should pay more attention to what's actually important."

His words made me feel sick. He was completely right. People had died, yet I was still wasting my time chasing after a guy who clearly wasn't interested when I should have been trying to help put a psycho behind bars and get the families who'd been hurt by this the closure that they needed. What was I playing at?

Of course, the teeny bit of pride I had left still refused to let me admit that I was wrong. I felt I was at some point between angry and upset - and definitely leaning towards being stressed out. I bit my lip, tugging harder at my holster. "What do you want me to say? Sorry I wasn't as quick as you were? Sorry I'm not as good of a detective?"

"Don't make this about me," said L flatly. "I'm not the one who's preventing us from solving this case."

That was the last straw. I felt the needle tip instantly towards angry. Without even thinking about it, I'd pulled the Browning from its holster. I had no intention of actually using it. It was a move I'd used as a scare tactic on a few occasions, though I'd never pulled it on one of the good guys before. I couldn't help it - I was just seeing red.

I'd only half raised it, not even aiming properly, though most people would still be at least a little wary of a super pissed off girl with a firearm. But not L. In light of the situation, he seemed surprisingly calm. "You won't shoot me. You're just being even more ridiculous."

Of course, that just pissed me off even more. Why wasn't he the slightest bit nervous? Did he not see me as a threat? Did he think I was just some girl who was more of a hindrance than a help on this case?

I'd spent the last few months trying my hardest to measure up to this guy - and the last several years before that admiring his work. All I'd wanted was just one moment to feel that I might actually be in the same league as him. But I'd thrown that all away by losing sight of what was more important, all because of him. What was it with this guy?

I could feel my hand shaking. I couldn't have aimed even if I'd wanted to. When I spoke, I then found that my voice was trembling too - though I couldn't tell if it was from being angry at L, angry at myself or just angry at everything about this whole damn case. "Don't forget that I helped you to begin with. If I hadn't vouched for you, then you would have been off this case a long time ago. So don't try and make out that I'm the only one who's made mistakes."

"I don't make mistakes," said L coolly. "Some people just don't understand the way I prefer to work. I haven't missed anything on this case and I've never slowed its progress either."

He didn't need to add 'but you have'. The words hung unsaid between us anyway. That was the last thing I needed to decide who I was angry at. It was him.

I clearly wasn't going to actually shoot him. So instead, I flipped the gun round and clunked him none-too-gently over the head with the butt of it. Every single frustration I'd felt with him over the last few months was surging through me. "Well, seeing as you're such a good detective, then why don't you go and solve this damn case by yourself!"

If anything was going to make L angry, it should have been that. Yet, infuriating me even further, he still seemed as annoyingly impassive as ever. All he said was one word, "Fine," before walking out.

I kicked the door shut after him. I placed the Browning safely on the dressing table, then flopped onto the bed. I didn't know if I wanted to cry, scream or throw up. I knew that I'd overreacted on an extreme scale this time, but there was no taking any of it back now.

I'd never quite had such a big issue with admitting I was wrong before. It was just that it was L who had proved me wrong. And that had made me act like a thoughtless, selfish little brat. I was physically disgusted with myself for letting the case take a back seat to my feelings. And even more so for then having too much damn pride to admit it.

I sighed. Just once, I'd like to not make such a mess of things.

XXX

I turned the pages of the book, not even seeing the words that were on it. Anything to keep me from watching the clock. I'd remained in my room since L had walked out. More recently, I'd heard more movement and talking downstairs. Nobody had come up here. I was guessing that L had told everyone we'd had a fight - my family knew better than to disturb me when I was in a bad mood.

When I'd been with Chet, we'd had a few arguments in the house, so at least it wouldn't appear too out of the ordinary. Every time that had happened, Chet had gone downstairs and chummied up to my family, whilst I'd sulked in my room. I wondered if L was doing the same thing. He couldn't really be described as 'chummy', but either way, he didn't come back.

I knew that I should have apologised by now, but how could I face him after I'd so royally screwed up? I needed some way to seriously redeem myself. That was why I'd been hiding out up here until it got dark.

Identifying the woman who was working at the store where the stolen credit card was used as the same one who'd been at Jin Tanaka's office building - and very probably as the one who'd tried to cook us alive - was the strongest lead we'd had on the whole case. Finally, I had a very concrete stepping stone on what to do next. I'd leave L to sulk downstairs and I'd get out and try to solve this whole thing myself. I could be just as good as he was.

I flipped through another few pages of the book and found a candy wrapper stuffed between two of them. I was guessing it was L's makeshift bookmark. It was from one of the hard-boiled sweets that I'd bought him from the Nisa store the other day. Of course, there weren't any left now. He'd been popping them like pills from the moment I'd handed the bag over.

Urgh, I needed to not think about him right now. Case first, always case first. I may not have necessarily followed that so far, but I was damn well going to stick to it now. I slammed the book shut and finally allowed myself to look over at the clock as the lesser evil. It wasn't quite half past nine yet. Screw it. It was dark outside and the store would definitely be closed by now. If I waited any longer to act, then I'd surely go crazy in here.

I grabbed my iPhone, re-fitted my holster and pushed the window open. I didn't want L to know what I was up to - I wanted to prove that I could fix this myself. My first boyfriend Suzil had climbed up through this very window several times when we were dating, so I'd learnt how to climb down too for midnight rendezvous elsewhere. Compromise and all that.

I clambered out and shimmied down the side of the house, using the window sills and guttering for footholds, before silently dropping down the final several feet. I then headed straight for the Nisa store, power walking as quickly as I could without looking suspicious. As I'd suspected, the store was in darkness when I got there. The surrounding area was quiet - anyone out on a Friday night would likely be further up town, where there was more availability regarding night life. On an evening, this street turned into a ghost town. Perfect.

Now I just needed a way in. I scaled my way along the line of stores, looking for a way round to the back of the buildings. That same old rule again - getting in from the back was always easier than the front. Unless you were trying to break into a houseboat that hadn't reversed into port.

I'd been intending to see if I could force my way in through one of the windows, but the back storage entrance turned out to be open. Huh. Maybe that was how our identity thief and possible killer had managed to infiltrate their system - going by this, their security wasn't exactly the best. Of course, I knew better than to just accept that as gospel. For all I knew, the door could have been left open for a reason. I had to be on high alert at all times. Who knew what I could be walking into? Thankfully, I had the weight of the Browning against my hip as my own personal security.

I quietly and slowly let myself in. Everything was in darkness. Keeping my eyes and ears completely open - I'd even put my glasses back on this time, so L could suck it - I navigated my way through the storage area. What I wanted was the staff room. I needed more information on this cash register woman.

I easily found the room I was looking for. As I snuck inside, I noticed immediately that one of the drawers of the filing cabinet on the other side of the room was ajar, a thick folder wedging it open. Eh, it was one place to start. I moved across the room to pull out the folder. It was the personnel files - exactly what I was after.

I had a horribly foreboding feeling that somebody had already been here before me. It just seemed too good for my hunt to be so obviously laid out in front of me. For most detectives, the concept of coincidence barely existed. I was no exception. I felt like I was entering into a trap. Some people may have said that I'd watched too many movies, but believe me, in this line of work, paranoia was a common ally.

But that didn't mean I wasn't going to check it out. If something was just left there for me to find, then I was obviously going to look at it. I used the light from my iPhone screen to illuminate the file. I didn't dare to switch on the actual lights - partly because I didn't want to draw attention to myself if anybody else was around and partly because there was a chance that the lights could be connected to the store's alarm system.

As I turned through the pages, I found myself looking at the familiar faces of several of the staff that we'd been observing over the last few days. Aoi Takagi, the mousy haired girl. Taiji Onara, the guy who always seemed to be checking his watch. Sai Otonashi, the elderly woman... There!

Saya Kurata. I felt my heart jolt with excitement. There was no mistaking her this time. That was the same bleach blonde hair and pretty features staring back at me. I was sure that it likely wasn't her real name, but at least we finally had something that we could work with. According to her employee file, she was only on a temporary contract for one day a week. Fridays, of course. And she'd started working here just over three weeks ago. Bingo.

I then realised with another stomach-turning moment that her name began with 'S'. The love notes that we'd found in Carter Burnham's notes. I felt something slide into place. Maybe she was the girl he'd been having the affair with. If my hunch was correct, then she was definitely involved knee-deep in this...

Blinding white suddenly filled the room as the lights abruptly came on. I winced, shielding my eyes, though it was nothing compared to the twist of my gut. I turned wildly, expecting to see Saya in the doorway - that I really had walked into a trap - but instead, I found myself facing the young dark-haired guy, Taiji Onara. Shit.

I gaped like a goldfish, trying to think of some excuse for why I'd be in here so late at night. I had nothing. I hadn't expected to be caught by a member of staff other than the thief and killer that we'd been chasing - at least if that had been the case, then I could have maybe resorted to using force. But if I didn't come up with something quickly, then I'd be lucky if I didn't get arrested.

Yet apparently, I didn't have to worry about that. Taiji's eyes widened when he spotted the file in my hands. He took one more look at me, then suddenly turned tail and ran. What the hell? "Hey!"

I dropped the file onto the desk and took off after him. He had to be involved in this too somehow. Why else would he run? It wasn't like I was a threat. There was no other explanation for it.

I chased Taiji down three whole blocks, endlessly grateful that there was nobody else about. It had been a while since I'd had to full-on sprint. I had to really push myself to keep up with him. I generally kept pretty active for the most part, but come on, his legs were a lot longer than mine.

He suddenly darted down one of the side roads - no bigger than an alleyway. On one side was a boarded up office block and on the other was my favourite old library. Not. The most important fact was that they were both empty. If I didn't want to be running all night, then now was my chance.

I followed Taiji onto the side road and whipped my gun out of the holster as I ran. He'd slowed slightly - either from exertion or the change of direction had confused him. This was it. "Freeze!" I shouted, as I slowed too, raising the gun with both hands.

It worked. Taiji grinded to a halt and slowly turned to face me, his hands raised. He looked uncertain, but he clearly wasn't dumb enough to try anything when faced with a gun. "You can't shoot me," he breathed uncertainly. "Cops can't shoot unless it's in self defence and I haven't done anything."

He thought I was a cop? Huh. Maybe I still had that air about me. And at least that meant I had an ace up my sleeve. I tried to breathe more evenly. Threats weren't so intimidating when you were out of breath. "Actually, I'm not a cop; I'm a detective. So unless you start talking, then I'm perfectly licensed to shoot you."

I was bluffing, of course. Whether you were a cop or not, everyone was supposed to follow the rule of only shooting if it was in self defence. It wasn't just a rule; it was the law. But Taiji didn't know that I actually stuck by the law, so I could get away with using that to my advantage.

"Okay, okay," he said hastily, his hands raising even higher, eyes now fixed on the point of the Browning. He believed me. Good. Fear always made the interrogation part easier.

"Is your name Taiji Onara?"

"Yes."

"Is that your real name?"

"Yes...?" A mildly confused frown told me that Taiji wasn't as deep into this as Saya was - I was certain that she wouldn't be using her real name. She'd be stupid if she did. If there was one thing I knew from everything we'd learnt so far, it was that she definitely wasn't stupid.

I could feel more pieces of information sliding into place. Things were finally starting to make sense. After originally learning who Saya was, I'd pinned her as an accomplice of sorts to Jin Tanaka. But that was wrong. Saya was the real brains behind the operation. Jin had been the accomplice. And so had Shou. They were just pawns to throw away. Now Taiji was clearly next in line for the role.

"How long have you been working at the Nisa store?" I continued my quizzing.

"Erm, I worked there last summer vacation whilst I was still in college," said Taiji nervously. "Then I started back permanently in January."

So before the Kasagi killer had ever reared its ugly head. Taiji was definitely new blood on this. "What's your relationship with Saya Kurata?"

Taiji blanched at the mention of her name. "I don't really know her that well," he lied. "She hasn't been at the store that long and she only works Fridays..."

"You're lying," I cut across him. "I know that you've been seeing her outside of work." I actually didn't know that, but it was the next logical guess.

"Okay, we've been seeing each other," Taiji admitted quickly, his eyes trained on the gun again. "But it's not what you think. I know I haven't known her that long, but there's something about her; she's just amazing. I could really fall for her..."

Oh, great. The poor kid clearly had no idea. At least I hoped he didn't. Otherwise, he'd be another accessory to murder. From the sounds of it, Carter Burnham, Shou and Jin Tanaka had all had some kind of infatuation with this woman. It was a total There's Something About Mary kinda situation... Except in this case, Mary was a psychopathic bitch.

"So why did you come to the store tonight?" I questioned. Maybe this would give me some insight as to whether Saya knew if we'd recognised her earlier.

Taiji looked shifty. This was where he knew that what he was doing would get him into trouble. "She wanted me to get rid of our employee files. She told me to burn them. We were going to elope without telling our families..."

Oy vey. I really wanted to clonk this guy over the head like I'd done with L earlier on. He needed it. I couldn't believe how stupid he was. I went to make a scathing comment about his latest life choice, but something about his expression made me stop. He was chewing his bottom lip and still shifting his weight from one foot to the other. He wasn't looking at me - his gaze was directed more at my feet. All the knowledge from my psychology degree kicked in at full effect. He was hiding something. There was no doubt.

"What else?" I asked abruptly. That certainly caught his attention. He stared at me guiltily, eyes wide. "There's something else you aren't telling me. You were going to burn the files and then what? What else did she tell you? You're not going anywhere until you tell me."

His face paled noticeably. He knew I had him. His eyes drifted back to my boots as he said in a much quieter voice, "She said I had to help her get rid of some pesky detective. I didn't want to, but she said it was a test. I had to prove I loved her if we were going to run away together."

I frowned. I probably should have been concerned that he'd been sent to find, and most likely kill me - Saya must have known that I'd turn up tonight - but something just wasn't right. Taiji hadn't even known who I was. "But... you didn't know I was a detective. You thought I was a cop."

Taiji blinked several times, confused. "It wasn't supposed to be here. She told me to meet her somewhere else afterwards."

My frown deepened. Saya wouldn't have known where else I'd go after the store. "But if she wasn't talking about me, then who did she want you to..." I felt like the bottom of my stomach had suddenly dropped out. There was only one other person I could think of who they'd be talking about. "This detective," I said sharply. "Who are they?"

"I-I don't know," said Taiji. "Someone Saya found at the store about twenty minutes ago. I think it might have been a guy?"

Oh god... My heart seemed to turn over completely. That meant that L hadn't been sulking downstairs like I'd thought. He hadn't even been in the house. He must have taken my words to heart when I'd told him to go and solve the case himself. It looked like I wasn't the only one whose pride had been hurt from our argument.

If Saya had said that she needed help getting rid of L, then what had she done to him already? Oh god, oh god, this was all my fault. How could I have guessed that L would have actually done as I'd said for once?

"Where are they now?" I practically shouted at Taiji, my hands starting to shake.

He shifted awkwardly. "I can't... I'm not supposed to tell anyone that."

I could have screamed at him. I tried to steady my hands. "Tell me where they are or I swear to god, I'll shoot you!"

Taiji blanched again. I probably looked ready to do it. "Okay! It's an empty storage building, in the far district down past the junkyard. It used to be part of the old Sima warehouse - it has a number four on the front."

Holy crap, I knew where that was. It was right on the far end of town. Shit. It had to be at least ten blocks away. But then it was a good four or five back to the house. By the time I'd gone back, got my car and drove, I could probably have already made it there... Dammit!

I hesitated, feeling anguished. Though I didn't think he was actually that deeply involved, Taiji was still clearly a part of this whole mess. It went against my whole being to just leave him to it without making sure he was taken in by the appropriate forces, but I couldn't just wait here. If anything happened to L, I'd never forgive myself.

"Go straight to the police and turn yourself in," I told Taiji, talking quickly. "I get the feeling you haven't actually taken part in anything illegal just yet, so take my advice and go get yourself cleared before that happens. Oh, and one more thing... I hate to break it to you, but Saya's just screwing with you. This so-called 'test' to prove your love? She's had two other guys commit murders for her already. I'm guessing she used the same line on them."

Taiji gaped at me, opening and closing his mouth like a goldfish. "It... was all a lie?"

I could see his world falling apart just from the look in his eyes. He wasn't a threat to me anymore. "Without a doubt," I said, stuffing the Browning back into its holster. Time was ticking. I didn't have time for this idiot. "So get out now and save yourself. If you don't, I'll know. I know your name and your place of work. And I'll find you if I have to."

I actually saw real fear on his face. Who knew I was that intimidating? He swallowed hard and, finally, he nodded. That was going to have to be good enough. I pushed past him and I ran. I ran harder than I ever had before, forcing myself to my absolute limit. My breath was coming in great, erratic bursts. My chest burned and my leg muscles screamed in protest. But I couldn't stop. I had to go faster. L's life could depend on it. There was no way I could fail now.

I blindly tried counting blocks as my feet pounded against the sidewalk, distantly grateful once again that there was nobody about. I passed one lone walker, but I felt that I was gone before he'd even looked up. I reached the far district of town and finally allowed myself to slow. I felt like my lungs surely couldn't work quick enough to draw in the breath that I needed. My heart was practically beating out of my chest. But I still wasn't done.

I looked around wildly, my eyes desperately seeking out the right building. Saya had really done her homework. Nobody ever came through this part of town - it was even more desolate than the Nisa store and its surrounding area had been. You could do anything here and nobody would ever hear you.

The thought alone made my heart thud even faster, if that was physically possible, so I hastily tried to dismiss it. I needed my wits about me right now. Number four, number four... Where were you, number four?

There. I spotted the large white number peeling from above the door of one of the smaller buildings. That was it. There was no more time to lose. The Browning came back out. I approached the door quickly, but quietly, simultaneously trying to get my breathing under control as well as making sure my footsteps were as silent as possible.

I hesitated just long enough outside the door to take several deep, as-calming-as-humanly-possible-in-the-current-situation breaths. I would have liked to have scoped the place out better first to establish the best point of entry and eliminate as many blind spots as I could, but I'd wasted too much time already getting here. If I had to go in guns blazing, then so be it.

I tested the door to make sure it wasn't locked, then pushed it open using my boot. I entered the room gun first. The first room was dimly lit, causing the industrial metal shelving units to cast creepy shadows about the walls. I kept the Browning raised, constantly checking around me as I moved slowly around the shelves.

It seemed to be empty. I moved onto the next room and carefully checked to the left first. Righties always checked left first. But before I could check everything was clear to the right, a voice suddenly broke the silence, sternly commanding, "Don't move. Now lower your weapon and turn around slowly."

Aw, crap. My stomach lurched sickeningly. Perps only ever gave you orders like that if they were armed too. I did as I was told, lowering the Browning to below waist level and cautiously turning around. Sure enough, Saya was facing me with a gun of her own, pointing it steadily at my head. It really wasn't an ideal situation to be in.

The one thing that did make it better was that I could see L standing a way behind her. To my utter relief, he seemed to be unharmed. Just his usual, bored-looking self. Thank god. Maybe I could commend my running skills on getting here in time after all. If we were lucky enough to make it out of this, then I was definitely going to start exercising more again.

"Put the gun on the floor and kick it to me," Saya ordered.

Again, I did as I was told - slowly, so as not to give reason for any sudden action on her part. I kicked the gun harder than I should have, hoping it would slide past her and that L would grab it instead, giving us the element of surprise that we sorely needed right now. No such luck. Saya stopped it with her foot and then kicked it away from all of us. I watched as it skidded across the floor, into the shadows and out of sight. Boo.

Saya's gun, however, was still trained on me. She motioned towards L. "Stand by him. And don't try anything."

It made sense. Keeping both of us in her sight. I was all for trying to make things harder for her, but I wasn't stupid enough to disobey someone who was armed and likely clinically insane on at least some level. I moved across to stand next to L, attempting to look as innocent and unthreatening as possible, though my brain was running at a thousand miles a minute, trying to come up with some obscure, unexpected escape plan. So far, I had nothing.

It wasn't helped either by the look on L's face. If I hadn't known any better - in spite of the intensity of the current situation - I'd have said that he was still annoyed with me. "What?" I couldn't help but protest defensively.

"What are you doing here?" he hissed back.

I gaped at him. You'd have thought he'd have been a bit more grateful that I'd tried to play hero for him. "Why do you think? I came here to save your ass!"

"And all you've succeeded in doing is getting yourself into this mess too," L pointed out.

I glared at him, completely forgetting where I was. "Well, if you hadn't snuck out of the house, then I wouldn't have had to come here at all."

"You were the one who told me to go and solve this case by myself."

"Yeah, because you pissed me off by being so high and mighty!"

"If you'd paid closer attention to things in the first place, then I wouldn't have needed to scold you."

"Hey!" I jumped at the sound of the other voice. Oh, yeah, crazy bitch with a gun. I'd almost forgotten that Saya was even there. "Stop talking, both of you!"

Our argument seemed to have worn her patience down somewhat - she looked more agitated than she had done a few moments ago. She probably didn't want us conversing whilst we were waiting, in case we managed to formulate a plan in code. But what exactly were we waiting for anyway?

Of course. The only reason Saya hadn't killed L before now was because she wanted Taiji to do it. It was his 'test', he'd said. But if Taiji did as I'd told him, then he wouldn't be turning up here at all. Once Saya realised that, she'd probably just kill us both herself. I needed a way to distract her for as long as possible. If I took care of that, then hopefully, that would give boy genius a chance to come up with some harebrained scheme to get us out of this mess.

Luckily, there was one flaw that seemed to apply to all criminals, big or small - they loved to gloat. They spent time and effort putting their plans into action, so they wanted to talk those plans through so that people would know just how clever they'd been. Some of them just needed a little coaxing into it.

"So is this the part where you gloat and talk us through how smoothly your plans went down?" I said daringly, fixing my gaze on Saya.

She looked almost amused, though her aim never wavered. "You're the detectives. Why don't you tell me?" Okay, so it was breakdown time. That was cool - breakdowns were good for stalling too.

"Well, from the beginning, you were never going to try and pull this off on your own," I said. "This whole thing was all about identity theft. And you wanted to steal from somebody who was dead - somebody who then wouldn't get in your way when you tried using their identity. But first, you needed an accomplice. One who'd be fairly easy to manipulate. So you used your looks and focused on enlisting male accomplices."

Saya smiled, but she didn't say anything, not letting on if I was right or wrong. People were always more eager to point out if you were wrong, than agree if you were right.

"So you began an affair with Shou Tanaka. I don't know why you went for someone who was already in a relationship... Maybe you enjoy the challenge. Or maybe you needed a guy who already had close ties to someone else, so you could really test his worth. You then started seeing Carter Burnham at the same time. You exchanged torrid love notes with him and publicly acknowledged this relationship to Shou's face.

"Shou already had a history of jealousy. He got angry and murdered Carter to get him out of the way. Then there was his girlfriend, Elizabeth... She was the test, wasn't she? You may have goaded him about your other lover, but ultimately, Shou killed Carter on his own. Elizabeth was the real test. You encouraged Shou to kill his own girlfriend - you told him it would prove his love to you; that it was the only way for you to be together. You had to make sure he was completely loyal to you. That he'd do anything for you."

This was all just speculation on my part, based on the similar trial that Saya had tried to get Taiji to undertake - her pawns doing the work for her. But the funny thing about speculation was the more ideas you laid out in front of you, the more everything seemed to fit into place.

"But you pushed Shou too far. He did as you said, but he couldn't handle the guilt over what he'd done. He told his brother everything and, amazingly, Jin took it upon himself to help Shou out. He staged several more murders at random, so that all fingers wouldn't just point to Shou. Shou had no motive to kill Umehito Sashiro or the Hirano couple. Eliminating part of the pattern made it look like there was just a psycho on the loose, rather than Carter and Elizabeth being personally targeted.

"You already saw a lot of Jin, because you were still keeping ties with his brother. But you saw much more potential in him after he killed those people of his own accord, just to try and help his brother's alibi. Shou wasn't any use to you anymore - he was too overcome with guilt. It was obvious he wasn't going to kill anyone else, even for you."

As I was talking, more pieces of the puzzle were starting to fit together. It was like a scene playing inside my head. I could see it all through Shou's eyes, through Jin's eyes, and especially reflected in those alluring dark eyes that were staring back at me.

"So you focused your attentions on Jin instead. You started seeing him behind his brother's back. You did whatever you could to seduce him, to make him believe that killing was good -that it could benefit you both - furthering him into a much darker state of mind. Then, once you were sure you had him hooked like Shou had been, you gave him his test. You convinced him to kill his own brother. You convinced him that Shou was a liability. He knew too much. He wasn't stable anymore. If he told anyone, then it would all be over. He was simply in the way... So Jin did as you asked.

"There might have been a few hiccups on the way, but now, you finally had your accomplice. Jin was much better suited to the task you had planned. With his quickly deteriorating state of mind, it was easy to convince him to murder Sunae Michishio and then bludgeon her until she was unrecognisable, leaving you with the perfect opportunity to take everything that you needed to steal her identity.

"But then we started getting too close. You didn't know who we were when we came to Jin's place of work that day and we didn't know that you were temporarily manning his office, upholding the pretence of him being on temporary leave. But when I told you he'd given us a key to his office, you knew straightaway that we were there to investigate. You were the mastermind behind this - Jin wouldn't have enlisted anyone else himself. All of his colleagues knew that he was supposedly working from home, so it couldn't be work related either.

"You had to act fast. You couldn't wait for Jin to get there and help you get rid of us, so you needed a way to do it yourself. You sent us into an office that you knew wasn't in use and then locked us in, setting the place on fire..."

I tried to ignore the shiver that shot down my spine at the memory, concentrating instead on the facts. After that particular incident, during my time of being in danger of getting thrown off the case, Gibson had looked into the matter of the fire further. Though I hadn't learnt this information until later on, he'd established that there had been no injuries to anyone else working at the offices on that day. That whole section of the building was full of empty offices that hadn't been used for a while, waiting on new renovations. Everyone else had escaped safely as soon as the fire alarms had started sounding.

"After the fire had been taken care of, you snuck back in to find that we'd still escaped. You found my library card, so you were able to discern the identity of at least one of us. From that, you found my address and then broke into my office. You didn't steal anything, because you didn't actually want anything from me. It was just a warning. You wanted to make an impact. You wanted me to know that you knew where to find me."

I closed my eyes briefly, clearing my throat. I didn't go into detail on that particular incident. That was another memory I'd rather forget; one that I'd locked even tighter away. But also just more of a reminder to me that if I was presented with even the slightest chance, then I was going to take this bitch down.

I glanced sideways at L, wondering how much of this he'd pieced together himself. Knowing him, probably all of it and more. He'd angled his face so that his hair covered his eyes again, obscuring what little emotion ever showed in his expression. I was close enough to see that his gaze was fixed on the open doorway behind Saya. I didn't know who he expected to be coming through that doorway to save us, but he was clearly onto something. It was better than anything I had anyway. My only plan was to keep stalling, keep talking...

"A week or so later, when you felt safer again, you had Jin kill and disfigure Mayu Ohba too, in the same way that he had before," I forced myself to carry on. "Why stop at stealing one identity when you still had Jin as a tool at your disposal? You were planning to use both of them, but first, you needed to test one to see how quickly and how well it would be traced if it was picked up on that the credit card of a dead person was still being used.

"By this point, Jin was really starting to lose it. You knew he was becoming a liability, just like Shou had. But it didn't matter, because you didn't need him anymore. You already had the stolen identities that you needed. Maybe you even convinced Jin to turn himself in yourself. Whatever you did, you made sure he wouldn't mention you in any part of his confession - he certainly stuck to that at least.

"You left Jin to it and you left Kyoto altogether. You needed somewhere to test one of the credit cards. Somewhere that was far enough away from the heart of the murders, but close enough so that you could still see where the investigation was leading if you wanted to. So you came here to Osaka and got a temporary job at the Nisa store.

"You used the credit card at your own place of work. Maybe you staged it yourself or maybe you pinned it onto an unsuspecting customer, swapping the card for theirs at the point of purchase. That would have been easy enough with you working the cash register. Either way, you still stuck around here to see what results it produced; if somebody from the investigation would turn up here in the hopes of finding something.

"And whilst you were here, you found Taiji Onara. He was probably enthralled by you the first time he saw you. You enlisted him like you did with Shou and Jin. Now you had a new pawn just in case you needed protection. In case you needed someone to kill for you again.

"When you saw us at the store, you knew that we recognised you, so again you had to act quickly. You didn't know where to find us here in Osaka, so you had to wait for us to come to you. You knew that we'd investigate deeper into the store's personnel after seeing that you were an employee. All you had to do was wait for us to turn up... Which brings us to here."

I realised a horrible second too late that it only explained how L had been brought to this place. It didn't explain how I'd known where to find him or what I knew of Taiji's involvement, since I hadn't mentioned running into him at the store when he'd turned up to destroy their files.

However, Saya didn't seem at all concerned about that. Maybe she expected me to have run into him and guessed that I'd given him the slip after getting him to give up her location. After all, I'd been armed and he hadn't. She'd probably have known that. She clearly had faith that he'd still show up to do her bidding.

"Very good," said Saya, still smiling that creepy, malicious smile. "I can see why they put you on this case."

"To be fair, I was never 'put' on this case. I kinda had to beg for it," I said with an attempt at a casual shrug.

Saya's expression didn't change. She kept her gaze fixed on me, unsure if I was joking or not. "Even so, there's one big mistake you made."

"And what's that?" I said dryly, playing along.

"You should never have come to find me," Saya replied dangerously. "You should have called the cops when you saw me at that store. But no, you had to do it all yourselves. You freelance guys are just so self-righteous."

"Y'know, that's a good point; we do like to do things ourselves," I agreed, ignoring the jibe behind it. "So tell me... Why didn't you do anything yourself? Why find other people to do all the work for you?"

"Because she's a coward," L piped up before Saya could reply. I stared at him. It was the first time he'd spoken since Saya had commanded us to stop talking. And for his first input, it really wasn't the smartest thing to say.

Saya didn't seem to think so either. "I am no such thing," she spat.

"Actually, you are," L countered. "You cooked up this scheme that you found to be so brilliant, yet you were too scared to get blood on your own hands. You let other people take care of the dirty work so that you wouldn't have to worry about doing it yourself."

"Be quiet! You don't know anything about me," Saya snarled.

"Err, Ryuzaki, maybe you should try to be a little nicer to the woman with the gun," I pointed out nervously. I knew that I was the one who'd made the point in the first place, but I'd known where to stop. Even I wasn't stupid enough to outright insult an armed psychopath.

Though apparently, L was. And he clearly wasn't listening to me. "You have the mind of a murderer, but not the nerve. You haven't killed anyone yourself and you never will."

I could see the fury rising in Saya's face. Funnily, she didn't look as pretty as I'd first thought. Angry, she was actually quite ugly. She clenched her hands tighter around the gun, switching the aim from me to L. "Don't push me, boy. I'll prove you wrong; I swear I will..."

I felt the panic build inside me with the movement of the gun. What the hell was L playing at? This wasn't the kind of woman he should be messing with. "Ryuzaki, stop it," I warned.

L continued to ignore me, focusing only on Saya. "Anyone could have done what you did. It didn't take brains, it didn't take guts... All it took was a sick mind and several men who saw you as nothing more than a pretty face. They orchestrated all of this. You didn't do anything - they never needed you."

"They did! I planned everything; they could never have done it without me!" Saya practically shouted. "I was the brains behind this. I'm responsible for all of it!"

How L could remain so calm throughout all of this was beyond me. But he still didn't stop. "You've been nothing more than a trainer guiding her dogs. They did all the work and you just tried to take the credit."

"No! It was all me!" Saya argued, taking a step towards us, a vein throbbing in her temple.

My heart was pounding so hard I could feel it in my throat. L was going to get himself killed if he didn't shut up. I laid a firm hand on his arm. "Stop it now or she'll shoot you!"

Saya didn't even notice me move. Her attention was attuned completely to L. She was seeing red; I could tell from her eyes. She was completely beyond reasoning with. If I didn't find a way to dissolve this situation quickly, then it was going to end very, very badly. I hastily cast my gaze around the room, desperately looking for something, anything, that could help us. As I did, I saw a shadow pass over the open doorway that L had been concentrating on. Was it Taiji? Had he come here after all? That was the last thing we needed.

I tightened my grip on L's arm, silently pleading him to stop talking, but he didn't seem to notice. "She won't shoot me," he said calmly.

"I will shoot. I swear I will, so don't test me!" Saya insisted, taking another step forwards.

I dug my fingers in so hard that my knuckles strained painfully. "L, please..." I whispered.

"If you were going to shoot me, then what have you been waiting for this whole time?" L pointed out loudly.

"I'm warning you; one more word and I'll shoot..."

"You won't. Because I'm right - you're nothing more than a coward," L concluded.

"I'll show you a coward!" Saya cried.

I saw her finger twitch against the trigger and in that moment, I knew she was going to shoot. In the split second I had to act, I did the only thing I could think of and threw myself in front of L.

People say that in critical moments, everything seems to happen in slow motion... It doesn't. It all happened in the blink of an eye. Pain exploded across my chest, slamming me back against L. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't think. My legs gave way as I collapsed into L's arms.

"Gee!"

"Gee!"

"Call an ambulance, quick!"

There were too many voices. All familiar voices. Apparently, dying sent you loopy. That was okay though. Just as long as I could escape the fire that was rapidly spreading through my torso... My vision started to blur. The last thing I saw was ebony and ivory - L's dark eyes and pallid face looking down at me - before I closed my eyes and succumbed to the darkness.

XXX

Author's Note!

I seem to start all of my author's notes with apologies for the delay nowadays. Though in my defence, I wasn't even in the country for half of the time since I last updated this ;D I won't bore you with the details (unless you're nosy like me and want to know what keeps me so busy all the time) but the short version is that too many aspects of life seem to be getting in the way now. This is both a good thing and a bad thing. Bad because I genuinely do love writing and I hate having to make you guys wait. But good because I'm pretty much in my mid-20's, so I'm trying to do as much as I can with my life right now!

I can at least promise that I'll never stop writing, so just because I haven't updated in a while doesn't mean a story's abandoned for good. I just can't promise exactly fast updates and I do apologise for that. All I can ask is that you please don't pressure me over it, because that's happened a lot lately and for the most part it tends to have more of a negative effect on my motivation to write.

ANYWAY that slightly more serious note out of the way and onto the chapter! Once again, this turned out ridiculously longer than I expected. Oops! At least I give you guys long chapters when I DO update, right? T_T And Gee... Ah Gee, why is pride so important to you? I have to say I did get a kick out of making her get all pissy and OTT xD I'm such a bad character momma. But I finally got to writing my breakdown, wooo! I tried not to include ALL of my information in it. So if you spot any loopholes in the case still then chances are they'll be ones I intend to explain in the next chapter :) And I promise there's an explanation for L's behaviour too ;D

And on a final note, I should probably point out that the next chapter will most likely be the last one of this story. Maybe an epilogue if said chapter starts getting too long (which as you can see with me isn't an unlikely possibility!) But I've already started planning out the sequel. As it's looking right now it's most likely going to be called "Clueless". But I'll let you guys know when I get to that!