The Whitechapel Case [abandoned]

Part 1: The Hypothesis (Chapter 4)

The Whitechapel Case
Fox-Trot-9

PG-13
Horror/Suspense/Mystery (How-Catch-'Em)
Disclaimer: I don't own Ghost Hunt or Death Note.

Part 1: The Hypothesis
Chapter 4 

Day 1—The old man found himself back in his chair looking at the three men in front of him. He didn't know if he actually screamed or not, but the startled looks on their faces told him something went down. After rubbing at his eyes, he leaned forward over his desk and rested his head on his fingers, trying to clear his mind of the painful horrors of his visions.

To Noll, this act confirmed his suspicions. True, he had his doubts, however fleeting, when he first told Bert that he wanted to meet his superior for questioning, but now he knew he had his man. And all the stuff in his office—from the file cabinets left open with many folders removed to the boxes on the floor, to the pictures and clippings stuck to the walls—told him the old man was his ticket to solving this case, though he didn't know how yet.

"Jake, are you all right? You don't look too good," said Bert.

"I'm fine. I'm just tired," he said. "What time is it?"

"It's five-thirty. You should be clocking out in thirty minutes."

"Not yet. I still have to stay here a little longer, because you told me to expect a few disgruntled cops to turn in their badges and guns."

"Well... Not exactly. Noll, here, told me to tell you that."

"And why did you tell him that, young man?" said Jacob, turning to the man in question, wondering how the hell the kid got the courage to pull that lie over a group of cops.

"Because I think having so many people on the case creates more problems than it solves, but that's beside the point."

"And what is your point?"

"I need you to answer me a few questions, if that's all right with you. Lin, Bert, will you excuse us for a moment?" said Noll, as he got out his black notebook with a few questions already written in it and a pen.

Lin and Bert obliged and left the room.

"And close the door." Which Lin did.

Jacob raised his eyebrows, then looked Noll hard in the face. "What's the meaning of this, boy? Surly, you don't suspect me of any of these murders, now?"

"I never said I did."

"Do these questions pertain in any way to the murders?"

"I don't know, but that's what I want to find out."

"All right. Begin."

"When did you call Martin Davis to change the phone number of the house?" said Noll, reading off of his list of questions.

"I called him on December 24th of last year, 2009."

Noll copied the answer down, verbatim, as he would do for the rest. "And why did you want him to change that number without letting him notify me about it?"

"You mother told me to. She didn't want you to stress over that while you were in Japan."

"Why did you tell Martin that his source (which is you) had to be anonymous?"

Where are you getting at, boy? he thought. "Because I," said Jacob, choosing his words very carefully, "didn't want any word to leak out to the press that I allowed him to assist in this investigation for the safety of himself and his wife. When I briefed Bert, I specifically told him to leave your father and your own involvement off the official record."