Defective

Findings

Near's face returned to its emotionless state. He closed his eyes. "He knows me."

"Near," Gevanni began but was quickly hushed.

Near lifted his right arm and began to twist a single tuff of hair. "It's true he knows my name. Perhaps he took the information from somebody. Maybe he came to the conclusion on his own. The former is likely true. I haven't known of Deneuve for long, but I can say with confidence that he doesn't draw his own conclusions. I was able to come up with this theory because he knows me by name. Nobody, not even Deneuve, would be able to find out who I am. If I had to guess, he's actually getting fed information."

Halle arched her eyebrows. "You think somebody is willingly giving out information about you?"

"You raise a good argument. Perhaps, the feeder is already dead. Not many people know me by Near. Perhaps Mello. Maybe even L, but it's unlikely." Near looked down. "But this is merely speculation. He may draw his own conclusions. I am certain that he knows people though. He knows my name. He might know L's name. He may know Mello's."

Near looked back up. He cocked his head to the left and glared at the wall, deep in thought."Call Deneuve back!" he suddenly shouted.

Restor was on it. He grabbed the voice modifier and redialed the number. Deneuve's logo reappeared on the screen. The answer came quickly.

"It's about time you call back."

"What information do you have about me?"

"Oh, not much. Only a name. But you shouldn't gave it away so easily."

"Who is telling you this information? Who feeds you, Deneuve?"

"Near, if you know that I won't answer, why would you ask?"

Near glanced to the screen and grinned. "L told you. L has been feeding you. Am I correct?"

Fifteen seconds of silence. Then he spoke up. "I suppose that your accusation is correct.

Near silently congratulated himself. "Deneuve, what do you hope to accomplish in our conversations?"

There was another moment of silence. "I need to meet you."

Without skipping a beat, Near responded, "Why?"

"Because of the defective." The line dropped and the screens returned to black.

*****

"You underestimated him! Just like you underestimated me!" a shrill voice said.

"Yes. You are correct. With almost no forethought, he immediately linked the two of us. Deneuve and L. I suppose he is fit to be L's sucessor.

Deneuve stood in the center of a dark room, the only light coming from the computer monitor, displaying Near's logo. One could only see his outline. He was a young man, likely in his twenties. His accomplice sat in the corner.

"He needs to find me. I don't know how he will, but I'm excited to see how this plays out. It'll be more fun than the Kira case. Don't you agree," he turned his head to a figure under dark shadow. All one could tell is that she was a young woman.

"He'll find you out quick. He was able to catch Kira, without dying, unlike somebody..." she rose her pitch at the last word.

"I remember, and thank you, once again. I just hope Near has the sense to look where his investigation led him."

"Well," the young lady said, "he can do it. I think he might be smarter than you, a very difficult feat."

"He is, without a doubt, more intelligent than I am, but he lacks initiative. He's afraid to get things done. Mello, on the other hand, was not. That's what would've made Near and Mello the greatest investigation team on the planet, easily surpassing me."

The lady nodded.

"If I had to guess, Near thinks this is a versus match, when its more of a game of tag. He's pursuing me with intent to gain information. I am not pursuing him. I am trying to keep my secrets safe. Not only that; Near has only pursued criminals. I, however, have pursued other investigators.

"What makes that a difference?"

"Let's just say that he needs rethink everything he does. Near won't find me. But he needs to know about the defective."

"Is he still hunting for it?"

"It's likely."

"Well, why don't you just go and tell him? It doesn't have to be in front of people."

"I cannot. Meetings don't work well, for obvious reasons."

"That's right. Well, why are you always running from him?"

"He's not the only one hunting for me. But he needs to be the one to find me. And to find you."

*****

"He wants to meet me." Near uttered. He looked to the ground, not wanting to look up. "Because of the defective."

"He keeps bringing up something that's broken. Does it have to do with the Kira investigation? Is something broken?" Gevanni asked.

"Deneuve wouldn't know about something small malfunctioning. If something did break, it would be major. Something that we would likely know about." Near pondered. "Then again, he wouldn't tell us if we knew."

"Near," Halle uttered.

"Yes?" He looked up to see Halle glaring intensely at him.

"How does he know about you?"

Near looked at the floor and hugged his knees. "He knows because of L."

"But he died."

Near met Halle's glare with a similar one. "If I had to guess, Deneuve knew who L was before he died. Despite his words and implications, I don't think he knew L personally, merely information about him. Deneuve was probably conducting his own investigation on L while he was dealing with Kira. L gave away his identity to the entire Task Force for the investigation. It would've been easier finding out who L was. He was way to exposed. Understood?"

"Yes."

"Now that all the questions have been answered, I would like a moment to myself please." Near said expectantly.

Gevanni, Halle, and Restor all complied without a second thought and strolled to the back of the main room. They filed through one at a time.

As soon as they left, Near sprung up. He stepped toward the monitors on the wall and fell back to the ground. On the ground in front of him was a laptop. The laptop that had control over the room. He hit the power button and the screen woke up. The blue light shone onto Near's face, giving him a ghostly look. He put a finger to the mouse pad and slid to the right side. His moust hovered over an icon called "L". Just beneath that one was a similar one titled "Eraldo Coil". Finally, under that one, was one titled "Deneuve". Inside each icon was information on each detective that Near was able to gather himself; it wasn't a wikipedia type aritcle. More like notes.

Near clicked on "Deneuve". The screen flashed white and opened a document. The document had little information. All it had was a birthday, a single skill, and a likely IQ score. Near saw the document was two pages. That's different... Near thought to himself. Perhaps Restor found something else about Deneuve. Maybe Gevanni. He's taken initiative lately. Halle even.

Near feared what he might see. Despite having taken on the world's most dangerous criminal, Kira, and won, he had never been all that courageous. He was scared of disaster. He feared disorganization. He cringed at the thought of ignorance.

On the top of his forehead was a single bead of sweat.

Reluctantly, he scrolled down to see the next page.

Typed in unusually small print was more information on Deneuve. From an unusual source. It was a message.

They beat me.
-L