Failure (A Death Note/L Love Story)

Chapter 8

This piece goes here.... What about this one? Here? No, obviously not. Oh, it goes here, I thought as I solved a puzzle I had recently bought in my hotel room. I was using it to keep my mind off the case.

The killings continued, yet the agents reported no suspicious activity. Their week was almost up. I didn't even care that I would lose the bet; I wanted to catch Kira! I was so sure at least one of those suspects would have done something to give them a chance of being Kira, but they were all squeaky clean. It was irritating me. I didn't want to go back to square one. We barely had a square one to work on as it was.

I was snapped out of my thoughts by the three beeps I heard from my laptop. I saw Watari on my screen. L's insignia popped up next to it. "H, where are you?" his computerized voice came through the speakers.

I almost fell rushing over to the computer and sat in the chair at the desk. I turned on my mic and made my signature "H" appear on their screens. "I'm right here, sorry," I apologized.

"What is it, Watari?" L asked.

"Three more heart attack victims, but the circumstances of their deaths are different from what we've seen thus far," Watari explained. I raised an eyebrow at this. Different? How?

L voiced my thoughts, "What do you mean by different?"

All he said was, "I'm sending you both a copy of a letter as well pictures taken at the scene."

L and I said simultaneously, "Okay." A file appeared on my screen, and I quickly opened it. I frowned at the letter written in Japanese. Couldn't it have been English for once? I did manage to make out most of the words. It seemed the victim was afraid of what Kira would do to him. There was also a few pictures. The two that stood out to me was a pentagram written in the man's blood, and a different man who had escaped his cell, ran into the faculty bathroom, and died there.

"He keeps breaking the pattern," I noted.

"It sounds like he was afraid Kira would find him," L said, referring to the letter. "It's believable that our victim might've been genuinely afraid and wrote this, but we know Kira can control the time of death. What if he can also determine the actions in the moments leading up to death? In which case...."

I finished, horrified, "These three were an experiment! He was trying to see if his powers worked!"

"H, get in here. I need to speak the police," he told me. I sensed the urgency in his voice. I closed my laptop and turned off the mic before running to L's room.

As soon as he saw me walk in, he said, "Chief." I stood behind him and looked at the video feed of the detectives in the Task Force area.

"Hm?" Yagami managed, a little surprised.

"We can't release details of these men's deaths to the media. As far as they are concerned, these are just heart attacks. I have reason to believe that Kira was performing some kind of test using these criminals. If that's the case, we'd only be giving him the results if this information is leaked to the public," L explained.

Yagami agreed, "Right. I understand."

There were a few whispers going around, but. I made out one man saying, "So, now he is experimenting on his victims?"

Another replied, "Horrible."

Yagami frowned, "He is playing with people's lives, as if all this was just a game. It's unforgivable." L sent his well wishes to the police and turned off the cam and mic.

He stared at the letter and pictures on the screen. He put his finger to his lip. It was a habit he had when he was trying to decipher something. We both knew there was something hidden in there somewhere. He mumbled, "If Kira really is using criminals as test subjects, what is he trying to achieve?"

"Well, this is a game, isn't it?" I asked. He looked up at me, his eyes saying to continue. "I mean, we just go in circles. We figure something out, he backtracks and foils every scenario we thought of. This is just another new strategy of his. If he can change the events leading up to their death, then who's to say he can't make them die in a way that isn't a heart attack?"

L nodded thoughtfully, "You're definitely on the right track, but I have a feeling he wouldn't change how they die every often unless it would benefit him. Heart attacks are like his signature. He wants the credit. Still, he is trying to make it a bit more difficult for us." He looked back at the screen, deep in thought. "If Kira used those criminals as an experiment of sorts, it means he's about to start something."

I questioned, "And how terrified should we be about it?"

"Scared enough that we need to find out what it is through these clues," he replied. "If he moves now, there's a good chance the FBI would notice someone acting suspiciously."

I shook my head, "The FBI will only be here a day or two more."

"Then, I'll extend the deadline. I'll say there might be a break in the case."

"No, you're risking their lives even more. If they haven't found anything by now, then they aren't going to. It's a bad idea," I argued.

He countered, "It's necessary."

"Even then, we've learned Kira must be a master of disguise to have gotten away with this for so long. Will he really mess up now?" I doubted.

"Maybe. I'm not sure," L shrugged.

"He's clever. He knows what he's doing. He's figuring things out fast. We need to be careful about how we go about this," I warned.

L assured me, "We'll catch Kira no matter what." That's what I'm worried about.