End Games

Chapter 38:Shadow

It was raining. Misa sat on the couch of her penthouse watching the water pour down the windows with mild apprehension. The faint rumble of thunder in the distance caused someone to shift beside her. She looked down at the small boy snuggled against her, entangled in sheets as he slept peacefully. Like she'd done many times before, she brushed his hair fondly with her fingers and then leaned down to kiss the top of his blonde head, managing to do so without disturbing the boy.
The door opened and she turned to see Halle coming into the apartment.
"Hey-" The older woman lowered her voice when she saw that Mello was sleeping"-I have news. Can we talk now or should I come back later?" She asked, looking at Mello.
"It's OK, he won't hear us. He's sleeping pretty heavily," Misa responded.
"Alright...we did some investigating and I believe we found some good leads on Quillish Wammy's whereabouts," Said Halle as she took a seat across from Misa.
"Really?!"
"Yup. It was quite easy actually, he's a big name, and not only that, he also runs a chain of orphanages for gifted children. It's called Wammy's House."
"Wammy's House... an orphanage for gifted children?" Misa repeated thoughtfully. "Sounds interesting... Ok, so what next?" She asked, secretly grateful that she wasn't calling the shots on this one.
"The main branch of Wammy's House appears to be in Winchester, England, so I dispatched Marcia there to look for him but...-" Halle passed her a yellow envelope "-Stephen came up with something very interesting...see for yourself."
Misa looked curiously at the envelope and reached for the contents inside. "What are these papers?" She asked.
"A few months ago, Stephen was assigned to investigate a terrorist group that committed several major bank heists throughout the world. This terrorist group was particularly clever and evasive, but he told me that they were recently caught mid-robbery at London Bank! That's an impressive feat given that some of the best ICPO agents had been unable to track this group, let alone catch them in the act, but anyway... Stephen wanted to know the name of the detective assigned to this case and..."
"And?" Misa asked, anxiously.
"He wasn't able to find that out because according to those papers, the detective's identity is 'highly classified.' Naturally, he thought it was odd, so he got some footage from cameras around London Bank. Look at that circled image," Said Halle, pointing at a picture mixed in with the papers.
Misa fumbled with the papers as she studied the picture of an old man in a trench coat, wearing a hat, and glasses. Her yes lit up. Based on that attire and what she could see of the old man's face, it was unmistakable that she was looking at...
"Look familiar?"
"Yes, yes! I'm almost positive it's Watari! So then the unknown detective working on this case is L?"
"Exactly, my dear fiancee had it right!" Confirmed Halle with awe. "It all adds up."
"Right! ...but what doesn't make sense to me is, why would L be working with the ICPO? As far as I know, L hates them and would never want to work for them. The ICPO also doesn't like L because of what happened three years ago with the hazmat thing... why would they be collaborating now?"
Halle frowned for a moment, thinking. "That's a good point... beats me... but hey, maybe he's working with them so he can get closer to finding you? You said yourself that he's persistent."
Misa scoffed. "Yeah, but the L I know only does what he wants and what's convenient for him. I doubt he'd ever work with the ICPO. He would rather drop to his knees and beg for my forgiveness than give up his freedom as a detective, that's for sure. Besides, I haven't heard anything from Ferraro about L working with them."
"I know but... I still have a hunch. Will you trust me on this?" Asked Halle.
"Yeah of course!" Said Misa. "It's not like I've come up with anything better..."
"Good, because I already dispatched Clover to London... we should have an answer by tomorrow."
"Oh..." Said Misa going silent all-of-a-sudden. She looked at Mello's sleeping form tucked next to her.
Halle followed her gaze and gave her a reassuring smile. "He's going to be happy when he meets his father, don't you think?" Asked Halle.
"Yeah. Maybe... but I'm worried." Misa confessed.
"Hm? You're not happy about seeing L again?"
"No, no, I am! I'm way too happy to see him again, but...you know things might get complicated..."
"Uh, it'll be fine. He's not even gonna be back for another two weeks right? That's plenty of time to plan your first meeting with L. If things go smoothly then we'll tell him about it, but if they don't, well there's no need for him to know this is happening right?"
"Right... I suppose you're right. But if he does find out about this, I'm going to have a lot of explaining to do."