Stalemate (A Death Note Story)

Chapter Six: Hereditary

It was late at night in one of L's hotel rooms, and Matsuda, Mr. Yagami, Aizawa, and Nemo were all up looking for clues in the subway tapes of Raye Penber's death.

Nemo was finally let out of the hospital just a few days ago and was back to working with the rest of the group. She thanked L for convincing Yagami to keep her in the investigation, but she didn't understand why.

Throughout the entirety of the investigation, Nemo had knowledge no one else on the task force had. The death note was such a vital key in Kira's operation. But, it was all about who was the person behind the name. While L had his list of suspects, Nemo had hers. She wanted to get to the bottom of it, maybe even see if using her look could help.

She shook her head. 'No, using the book would be too dangerous at this stage.'

Her thoughts were interrupted by Watari offering her an ice cream cone.

"Oh, thank you, Watari. You're too kind." Nemo smiled, taking a lick of her cone.

Watari nodded, walking back over to his computer

L looked over at Nemo, who seemed to be enjoying her ice cream cone. He seemed drawn to her more and more. After her little incident, he was certain that she wasn't Kira, but something seemed off about her. He would never admit it, but he felt a little scared that Nemo wouldn't make it. Heart attacks for women were different from the heart attacks men had, and that very fact eluded her bizarre behavior that day.

He continued to analyze the security tapes.

"It's strange, isn't it?" L took a bite out of his ice cream. "Here, he's holding what looks to be an envelope when he passes through the ticket gate."

Aizawa gasped. "You're right. It's there under his arm."

"But, he doesn't have it when he gets off the train," Nemo said, cutting in. "Wait, is there a possibility that Kira was on that train?"

L's interest peaked. "I find that hard to believe. Why would Kira be at the scene of their crime?"

"Right, but think about it from Kira's perspective. He probably was counting on us assuming that he's pulling the strings far away when he's hiding close by." Nemo rewound the tape. "There's a small shadow in the corner of the screen, just as Raye is collapsing. I believe that's the shadow of Kira."

Nemo left everyone speechless. She took a deep sigh, and walked back to the couch she was on.

L had a small smile on his face. "Your reasoning is spot on, Ms. Kimura. And, to think that Mr. Yagami wanted you suspended from the case."

The morning peaked around the corner, and Watari got a call from the police station.

"Ryuzaki," the old man said, "It's Ukita of the NPA. He says he just got a call from someone at the tip line."

"Right, then give Ukita the number for line 5." L turned over to Matsuda.

"It's ok to turn your phone on now, Matsuda you should turn it on now." L, then, took Matsuda's phone from him.

"Raye Penber's fiance? Naomi Misora."

Nemo jumped at L's words. "Naomi? I know her."

"You know her? She worked under me during the Los Angeles BB murder case a little while ago." L turned towards Nemo.

"I worked with her, and she was my best friend." Nemo looked away. Her eyes began to tear up."This doesn't make sense."

"I'm sorry for your loss," Matsuda said, placing a hand on her shoulder.