Best Laid Plans, Chapter 7
Title: Best Laid Plans
Chapter: Prologue, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
Rating: R
Summary: On November 5, 2004, L saw the trap Light set with Misa and Rem and narrowly sidestepped it. What followed was a series of plans to expose Light as Kira and turn a key tool against him, though escaping the specter of death would be a difficult proposition.
Characters: Misa, Ryuk, Light, the Taskforce, and a surprise reference.
Word Count: 4,281
Warnings: Heavy references to drugs and a scene with a lot of blood and bodies.
Disclaimer: Death Note and recognizable characters belong to Ohba/Obata. This story contains details and background stories I have given to individual characters. As a result, any character details that differ from canon is the result of my background stories and not a lack of knowledge about canon. Any comments correcting me or debating with me on this will be deleted without reply.
Author's Note: Now we're getting into more of the meat of the story. More screwed up stuff will happen from here on out.
Chapter 7: The (minor) devil you know
November 12, 2004
Tokyo
3:04 p.m.
Ryuzaki had proven useful for something after all.
Misa reached into the front pocket of her purse for her keys, brushing a finger against the business card of Hisayo Hayashi, the president of Hayashi Models herself. She was excited, bubbly even, to take Misa on as a client personally. She had so many ideas for where to take her career and Misa couldn’t help but be excited with her.
She practically skipped down the hall on the way to her apartment, cradling her portfolio and a folder with a few formal papers. Her appointment book already contained a big magazine photoshoot in the Izu Islands and an audition for a small role on a comedy show.
The Goddess of the New World would be on TV. She liked the sound of that.
Misa reached for her keys and stopped at her door, putting the key in the lock. If this day was going to be right, there had better have been another envelope under her door. She slowly opened the door and revealed a manilla business envelope right by the doorstep. On the front was simply written “Misa” with a heart.
Misa closed the door and scooped the envelope off the floor, seeing Ryuk coming through the wall in the corner of her eye.
“Well, well, well, I guess Light did come through for you,” Ryuk said.
Misa hugged the envelope, feeling a stiff piece of paper inside almost like a photo. She immediately pulled away and moved over to the couch. Light gave her something besides a DVD this time; hopefully something she could hold onto and study for a while without it melting.
She dropped her bag and portfolio on the floor and sat down on the couch, fingernail going under the corner of one sealed flap and ripping it open. The envelope was tough, though she noticed her hands were shaking. She took a moment to breathe and went back to the task a little calmer until the top of the envelope was open. She reached in and felt a glossy photo. Her finger tips carefully gripped the photo and slowly slid it out of the envelope.
Instantly, she saw the face of the father in Canada who was beaten to death; eyes open and his forehead and cheeks dripping with blood. Misa gasped and put down the envelope for a second. She looked at it again, but realized his eyes were open normally and not gaping open like a corpse. He was almost smiling, or rather sneering. Dead bodies don’t do that.
Misa slowly pulled the photo entirely out of the envelope, seeing a black letter board over his chest; the telltale indicator of a police mugshot.
Her mouth gaped open
“He was a criminal?” she practically yelled.
This guy she felt so sorry for and had nightmares about was a criminal? She stared at the photo, her face beating with heat.
“Well whaddaya know about that,” Ryuk said with a hint of a snicker. “Light would send you stuff on a criminal.”
There had to have been a decent explanation for this. She turned the photo over and saw a small piece of paper taped on the back with typed writing.
“Check your email,” the note read. “Burn this note after reading.”
So Light did have something else in mind. She hopped up from the couch and went over to the bed, snatching up her laptop and sitting back on the couch. Misa had 11 email addresses she used for various purposes. Light didn’t specify which one, but he probably wouldn’t have sent it to her work address or her address for shopping and online stuff.
She checked one address for normal correspondence email, looking in the inbox and seeing one blank sender line. The subject “Guess what happened today” with an attachment. Usually she ignored emails like this; they could have had a virus on them, but this one seemed really well-timed. She clicked on the email, immediately greeted with the same photo she got in the envelope. This was indeed the message from Light. There was no introduction message, nor was there any message telling her the email would delete itself but she couldn’t be too careful. Three PDF documents were attached, one listed on top of the other.
Misa clicked on that one first, opening what looked like a scanned document, all of it written in English, though she recognized the smaller version of the same mugshot. Her cursor lingered over one section and showed a black box with a Japanese translation.
The letterhead read: “Royal Canadian Mounted Police - Leduc Detachment: Criminal Record Sheet.” Her stomach dropped.
She almost immediately noticed all of his last name but the first initial had been clipped out, only leaving a gray box. His first name was spelled “Emil” and his middle name was “Alain,” which sounded really French. She took another look at the mugshot, only now noticing the same gray box on the letter board. She did see the date of the arrest: 04/12/86.
Misa looked further down, seeing the same date listed on the top of the box for his criminal history: drunk and disorderly conduct, simple assault, disobeying a police officer. It looked like he got drunk and was arrested for fighting, really stupid but she kept reading.
The list continued: a few more simple assaults, one assault with a deadly weapon, one resisting arrest. All of these were listed for the mid 1980’s, but the list continued to the 1970’s: breaking and entering, theft, destruction of property, possession of a controlled substance, vandalism. This guy had a long record; a repeated troublemaker. How many guys like this had she heard of once and written their name down?
Misa suddenly closed the box and clicked on the next PDF file. Another scanned document came up in English and the cursor again brought up a Japanese translation. She immediately recognized the same letterhead from the previous document, but this one was a straight narrative.
L-/Amos: Memo 6/20/86
She almost didn’t want to read further, it was clear this document was related to the murder investigation. She wanted to skim it, but there was probably information in here Light wanted her to know about.
A thorough search was done of separate shed structure on the property at 236 Holman Court at the Oak Ridge Mobile Home Park, the L- residence on 6/19…Two metal toolboxes were found on one of the lower shelves on the left hand side of the structure near the back end, one was opened and seen to contain seven sandwich bags filled a quarter way with a substance that was easily identified as dried marijuana leaves….The second box contained five white, printed sheets that appeared to be sheets of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD)…Further laboratory testing will be needed to confirm…Earlier search of the residence found a strongbox in the top shelf of a closet in the main bedroom containing $256.45 in bills and coins and $195 in American bills…
This really wasn’t good.
Early last year, Insp. Marlowe established case files on five individuals who reside or are connected with the Oak Ridge Park on suspicion of trafficking in drugs and illegal arms. A file was established on Mr. L- mostly containing notes on rumors in the area, though no probable cause was ever found to arrest and search…Mr. L- did have an extensive criminal record of mostly violations and misdemeanors…In January of 1972, he was convicted of Theft and Breaking and Entering stemming from a car break-in…He was given a one year sentence at Drumheller Institution and was let out six months early for good behavior…Since then he had only had a few offenses, mostly Drunk and Disorderly or Simple Assault…His record has been more active since November of 1985...Court records indicate he plead Guilty or No Contest to most charges and received mostly small fines or time served with overnight detention…The park has gained a reputation as a hotbed for activity by motorcycle gangs… Mr. L - was not himself affiliated with any gang, though his name has come up a few times in interviews with known gang members…Mr. L- was sometimes known by the nickname ‘Rodent’ and rumored to be a reliable supplier of small, or recreational doses of marijuana and LSD…
Misa’s dropped her head back on the couch cushion with a groan. She just couldn’t read any more. She saw Ryuk out of the corner of her eye rooting through the fridge, though she saw one red eye sneak a peek in her direction, a chuckle sneaking out.
“I don’t even want to hear about it!” she snapped.
An apple dropped to the floor.
“What, I didn’t say anything,” Ryuk said, bending down and picking the apple from the floor.
Misa rolled here eyes.
“And close the fridge door,” she said.
Ryuk did as instructed and walked back to the table, though she could feel his eyes on her and it irritated her. Or maybe she was feeling overly defensive now; she had a right to be. Misa wanted to curse out Light again, but she just didn’t have the energy.
No, this couldn’t be all there was. There had to be a point to this besides being made to feel sorry for a criminal; a drug dealer, a troublemaker, a thief probably killed by another criminal for doing criminal things…and leaving behind three little kids.
Maybe the kids were better off without such a lowlife father.
She felt awful the moment she realized what she was thinking…but she shouldn’t have. He should have known better; you don’t do things like that when you have kids. The kids should have been taken away and put in nicer homes…away from dad…what kind of dad was he anyway? What did it matter! He was probably abusive, he was probably a drunk who beat his kids. Isn’t that what criminals did to their kids?
The words played back in her head; what the rough guy on the news program said.
“He was like the greatest dad…two of the sweetest people you could ever meet.”
It was weird hearing a tough guy’s voice crack like that.
“…now there’s three little kids don’t have a dad because of this…”
Misa pried her head back up and made herself read the rest of the document. Light had to have had a purpose in sending her this crap. The rest was the same report; details on how this guy was a lowlife, details on how this might have gotten him killed but no one knows anything yet.
Misa closed out of the document. The third one remained; maybe this would finally explain why Light had been sending her this garbage. She clicked on it, seeing the same letterhead but only one page and brief writing.
To: All departments involved in the L-/Amos case
From: Insp. Gus Harrison
I understand that Emil L- was known to most of you and most are familiar with the rumors of his activities, some of which have apparently been confirmed. Such experience will lead one to form certain opinions and that is normal. However, I will ask that you please be careful where you voice such opinions from here on out.
At the initial call I overheard some comments being made at the scene and within a few feet of the squad car where Mr. L-’s three young children were located. I have spoken to the constables involved in this and I want to make sure this incident isn’t going to repeat itself.
There are children involved in this and those children will be interviewed in the station and likely in the courtroom. I’ve spent some time with all three of them; they’re scared, they’re in shock, they loved their dad, and at least one of them saw things no kid should ever see. What is a case to you shattered their worlds. I want you to keep this in mind before you voice any opinions.
-Harrison
Misa closed the PDF and then clocked out of the email. She knew she should go back in and take notes; there was a possibility the email might delete itself. Instead she shoved the laptop onto the couch and got up. Misa didn’t look over at Ryuk, but already knew he was staring at her.
A nice hot bath sounded pretty good right now.
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4:52 p.m.
The water was starting to get cold and the bubbles had turned to a milky skin over the surface. Misa brought herself to more of a sit, the splashing of water echoing behind the curtain was the only sound in the room. The quiet felt nice, anything besides hearing her own whimpers and sobs echoing back at her was a preferable sound.
How long had she been in there? She really didn’t care, nor was she in a hurry to get up. Her head ached, her eyes stung, she wasn’t able to think. That was slowly changing. The colder the water got, the more her numbness started to break, and the more she realized she would have to face what she just read.
No, she was ready to face it, she wanted to face it, but she had no idea where to start.
The thought produced a few more sobs, her eyes stung again with some leftover tears. She felt like she had been crying for over a year, no she hadn’t been crying. She stopped crying months ago, but here she was again. It felt horrible, it hurt, it made her feel helpless again. A few more sobs pushed out the thought and she fell silent.
“Why, Light!” she tried to yell, but it only came out in a whimper. “You were supposed to help me, not bring stuff up like this! Why are you doing this?”
There had to have been a reasonable explanation for this. Maybe he was testing her, telling her to show no mercy to criminals. No matter how many kids they have, no matter how nice they might be, criminals need to die, that is the will of Kira. Maybe he wanted to see if she was truly strong enough to be his consort. But what would he do if he found her lacking: she knew the answer to that question, but the police were watching that copy of the Death Note.
If he wanted to write her name down, would he be able? But she had the Shinigami Eyes. Maybe he would make her pass along the notebook to someone else if she wasn’t suitable as goddess. Who else would he send the notebook to? Kiyomi? That thought made her want to write Miss Slutty To-Oh’s name down immediately, but that wouldn’t be a good idea. Maybe he would send it to another supporter, but he knew Misa was more devoted than any of them. Misa had the Eyes now, he needed her to kill L sooner rather than later.
Then again how bad of a criminal had this Emil L. guy been? There was nothing in there about him killing or raping anyone. He sold drugs…but pot and acid were party drugs. College kids used these, photographers used these. Most models and executives snorted coke at parties; her former manager used to snort coke in the ladies room on a regular basis. Pot and acid were beneath them
Kira didn‘t like drugs, Light would want drug dealers punished. But then this guy only sold drugs to other bad people, though maybe those drugs were sold to kids. She remembered she didn’t hear of too many small-time drug dealers being punished. Maybe Kira was after big time drug traffickers and people who sold heroin and cocaine. In Japan, you could go to prison for many years for even having a small amount of pot on you. Maybe in Canada it was different; maybe it was not as serious a crime, but maybe Light wanted it to be a crime punishable by death everywhere.
Misa understood if Kira wanted to get rid of the really bad criminals first and then go after the small ones, but there were still a lot of murderers and the like out there.
Misa’s eyes went wide with a sudden realization. Kira really hadn’t killed that many minor criminals, but she was writing down the name of anyone even mentioned to commit a crime. Maybe that was the message; Light only wanted her to kill really bad criminals and he was not happy she was killing so many minor ones.
Minor criminals weren’t really hurting that many people and they could be reformed; they could be reformed and maybe go back to their children. Bad criminals should get the death penalty; they would lose their kids anyway if they were executed. Or maybe minor criminals would stop doing what they were doing if they saw bad criminals getting killed. Light could have killed a few minor criminals before to test its effectiveness in deterring crime, or he could have done it because L was on his tail and he wanted to throw off suspicion.
Or maybe he was testing her to see how strong she was, maybe he was seeing if she could still kill criminals even if she knew they left kids behind…even if one of them “saw things no kid should see.” She pushed that thought out of her head with a grunt; she was sick of crying.
Misa gave a frustrated whine and covered her face with her hands. What could she do?
She would only write the names of those who had committed serious crimes for a few days. If that wasn’t what Light wanted, he would send her another message. That was it, that was the answer!
Misa pulled her hands away and nodded, a smile sneaking out. She knew what she needed to do.
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November 14, 2004
Tokyo
2:27 a.m.
There was another envelope under the door. Misa stopped and stared at it for a second.
It had been two days since the last one. Since then she had only been writing down the names of serious criminals and now Light was sending her another message. Maybe he wasn’t happy with her, or maybe he was sending a naked photo of himself as a reward. She giggled at the thought, but that still didn’t seem like Light.
Misa reached down and picked up the envelope, feeling another photo inside…no a few photos. Maybe these were criminals he wanted her to punish in particular.
She sat back down on the couch and carefully opened the envelope, reaching her fingertips in and feeling photos inside. She then slowly pulled them out, immediately greeted with the sight of her mother’s face coated in blood.
Misa wanted to scream, but she took the photos out without a sound and pried the second one from the back. It was her dad; head bashed in, blood everywhere. She laid out both photos on the coffee table, feeling like she was crying but the tears never came out.
Her parents eyes were now open, both held black placards at their chests.
“You needed to know the truth Misa,” Light’s voice suddenly said. “Mom and dad were criminals. They sold drugs. They both deserved to die.”
Blood poured from the photos and ran like a river across the floor in front of her. She was now standing in her parents’ living room; mom and dad’s bodies piled on top of each other.
“They needed to die. The world will be a better place without them.”
She was standing over them, a lead pipe clutched in her hands dripping blood. Blood ran up to her ankles. She looked again; mom and dad weren’t there; instead she saw the body of a man with a long, black braid and a scraggly goatee. Emil L.; skull caved in, floating on a river of blood.
“You killed them Misa. Show no mercy, they were criminals, their children are better off without them.”
She saw a dark figure out the corner of her eye; a small child peeking out from the kitchen. She couldn’t tell if it was a boy or girl, but it was staring at the body and crying.
“Daddy! Daddy!”
Misa’s eyes shot open, seeing her apartment from the glow of her red lava lamp. Ryuk was lying on the ceiling, sleeping. She shifted, realizing she was lying down in her bed.
Just a stupid dream, she thought to herself; blinking her eyes hard to stop the tears from coming.
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November 16, 2004
Tokyo
9:15 a.m.
“In the past four days, there has been a noticeable shift in the killings,” Aizawa said. “As Ryuzaki said before, there were around 11 killings a day, now that number seems to have dropped.”
L dipped a small section of his plain cake doughnut in his coffee, watching the doughnut darken and crumble.
“Go on,” he said, not looking up.
“On the 13th, five people were reported dead from mysterious heart attacks. That number was eight on the 14th and six were just reported for the 15th,” Aizawa continued.
“And their criminal histories?” L said, picking up the doughnut and lightly licking dripping coffee from it before licking off the crumbling cake.
“That seems to have changed as well,” Aizawa said. “All of them were suspected or convicted for capital offenses or major felonies; eight for murder, three for murder and sexual assault, five for sexual assault, one for heroin trafficking, and one for trafficking sex slaves.”
L bit off the rest of the sagging section of doughnut. The eyes of the rest of the Taskforce were locked on him in an uncomfortable silence.
“The strategy appears to have changed for the time being,” L said between mouthfuls. “The Fourth Kira is mixing up his routine, either by his own choosing or on the instruction of Kira. He is trying to throw us off, or at least make us think we need to look in other directions. It is a clear ploy; Kira knows better than to think we will immediately fall for this, but I believe this is leading to something. Kira might instruct or have instructed the Fourth Kira to change patterns. These patterns may be leading to something, but we need to keep our eyes on the matter at hand.”
L picked up another doughnut from the plate on the desk and looked through the hole at Aizawa, seeing him look at him uncomfortably for a moment.
“Do you think it’s possible that Kira chose another person to write down the names?” Light said, leaning back in his desk chair.
“It is a potential factor we need to be aware of, but it’s too soon to tell,” L said, taking a quick bite from that doughnut and putting it back in the box. “For the time being we need to conclude that it is unlikely. We certainly need to keep our eyes on this development, but not get too caught up in it.”
The rest of the Taskforce nodded, including Light. Light’s attention went back on the computer, hiding a small bit of aggravation.
Misa changed her killing pattern. There were a number of reasons why she did this and all related to how he had not contacted her in over a week. She was getting bored and wanted to spice up the routine, she thought there should be variation to throw the Taskforce off. The worst case scenario was she was going to kill fewer and fewer criminals until she killed no one just to spite Light for his lack of communication. Misa was absolutely loyal, but in some ways she was unpredictable.
No, the worst case scenario was that Misa had been arrested and L was having someone else write names down to throw off the case; changing the pattern to lead the case to any direction he wanted. Maybe this was what this change reflected. Light knew he had to get in touch with Misa soon, but maybe that’s what L wanted. Maybe L set this whole scenario up to see if he would try something; change the pattern so drastically that Light would suspect something off and then wait for him to make a move.
Light had to do something; he had to make some contact with Misa or else see where she was being kept. How could he do this and not set off any of Ryuzaki’s traps? He had to get Rem to kill L once and for all. He had to communicate with Rem that Misa was in danger. Changing the conversation to Misa right now would be a bad move, it would make him look like he was moving to the trap.
He had to think this one out and come up with a plan soon.
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November 16, 2004
Izu Oshima, Japan
1:10 p.m.
Misa’s bag vibrated in the black sand. She took another sip from her soda and leaned over from her chair, looking up to see the crew setting up the lights again. Lunch time was almost over and shooting would begin again soon.
She reached into her bag, keeping her sweatshirt over her shoulders. It was a little chilly out, but she was used to doing bikini shoots in cold weather; such was the nature of the business. She pulled out her cell phone; a new message from an unknown number. She gasped and smiled.
Misa opened the text:
You have done well, Misa. Stay on your present course.
Love always <3
She kissed her phone and giggled, feeling warm inside.
Chapter: Prologue, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
Rating: R
Summary: On November 5, 2004, L saw the trap Light set with Misa and Rem and narrowly sidestepped it. What followed was a series of plans to expose Light as Kira and turn a key tool against him, though escaping the specter of death would be a difficult proposition.
Characters: Misa, Ryuk, Light, the Taskforce, and a surprise reference.
Word Count: 4,281
Warnings: Heavy references to drugs and a scene with a lot of blood and bodies.
Disclaimer: Death Note and recognizable characters belong to Ohba/Obata. This story contains details and background stories I have given to individual characters. As a result, any character details that differ from canon is the result of my background stories and not a lack of knowledge about canon. Any comments correcting me or debating with me on this will be deleted without reply.
Author's Note: Now we're getting into more of the meat of the story. More screwed up stuff will happen from here on out.
Chapter 7: The (minor) devil you know
November 12, 2004
Tokyo
3:04 p.m.
Ryuzaki had proven useful for something after all.
Misa reached into the front pocket of her purse for her keys, brushing a finger against the business card of Hisayo Hayashi, the president of Hayashi Models herself. She was excited, bubbly even, to take Misa on as a client personally. She had so many ideas for where to take her career and Misa couldn’t help but be excited with her.
She practically skipped down the hall on the way to her apartment, cradling her portfolio and a folder with a few formal papers. Her appointment book already contained a big magazine photoshoot in the Izu Islands and an audition for a small role on a comedy show.
The Goddess of the New World would be on TV. She liked the sound of that.
Misa reached for her keys and stopped at her door, putting the key in the lock. If this day was going to be right, there had better have been another envelope under her door. She slowly opened the door and revealed a manilla business envelope right by the doorstep. On the front was simply written “Misa” with a heart.
Misa closed the door and scooped the envelope off the floor, seeing Ryuk coming through the wall in the corner of her eye.
“Well, well, well, I guess Light did come through for you,” Ryuk said.
Misa hugged the envelope, feeling a stiff piece of paper inside almost like a photo. She immediately pulled away and moved over to the couch. Light gave her something besides a DVD this time; hopefully something she could hold onto and study for a while without it melting.
She dropped her bag and portfolio on the floor and sat down on the couch, fingernail going under the corner of one sealed flap and ripping it open. The envelope was tough, though she noticed her hands were shaking. She took a moment to breathe and went back to the task a little calmer until the top of the envelope was open. She reached in and felt a glossy photo. Her finger tips carefully gripped the photo and slowly slid it out of the envelope.
Instantly, she saw the face of the father in Canada who was beaten to death; eyes open and his forehead and cheeks dripping with blood. Misa gasped and put down the envelope for a second. She looked at it again, but realized his eyes were open normally and not gaping open like a corpse. He was almost smiling, or rather sneering. Dead bodies don’t do that.
Misa slowly pulled the photo entirely out of the envelope, seeing a black letter board over his chest; the telltale indicator of a police mugshot.
Her mouth gaped open
“He was a criminal?” she practically yelled.
This guy she felt so sorry for and had nightmares about was a criminal? She stared at the photo, her face beating with heat.
“Well whaddaya know about that,” Ryuk said with a hint of a snicker. “Light would send you stuff on a criminal.”
There had to have been a decent explanation for this. She turned the photo over and saw a small piece of paper taped on the back with typed writing.
“Check your email,” the note read. “Burn this note after reading.”
So Light did have something else in mind. She hopped up from the couch and went over to the bed, snatching up her laptop and sitting back on the couch. Misa had 11 email addresses she used for various purposes. Light didn’t specify which one, but he probably wouldn’t have sent it to her work address or her address for shopping and online stuff.
She checked one address for normal correspondence email, looking in the inbox and seeing one blank sender line. The subject “Guess what happened today” with an attachment. Usually she ignored emails like this; they could have had a virus on them, but this one seemed really well-timed. She clicked on the email, immediately greeted with the same photo she got in the envelope. This was indeed the message from Light. There was no introduction message, nor was there any message telling her the email would delete itself but she couldn’t be too careful. Three PDF documents were attached, one listed on top of the other.
Misa clicked on that one first, opening what looked like a scanned document, all of it written in English, though she recognized the smaller version of the same mugshot. Her cursor lingered over one section and showed a black box with a Japanese translation.
The letterhead read: “Royal Canadian Mounted Police - Leduc Detachment: Criminal Record Sheet.” Her stomach dropped.
She almost immediately noticed all of his last name but the first initial had been clipped out, only leaving a gray box. His first name was spelled “Emil” and his middle name was “Alain,” which sounded really French. She took another look at the mugshot, only now noticing the same gray box on the letter board. She did see the date of the arrest: 04/12/86.
Misa looked further down, seeing the same date listed on the top of the box for his criminal history: drunk and disorderly conduct, simple assault, disobeying a police officer. It looked like he got drunk and was arrested for fighting, really stupid but she kept reading.
The list continued: a few more simple assaults, one assault with a deadly weapon, one resisting arrest. All of these were listed for the mid 1980’s, but the list continued to the 1970’s: breaking and entering, theft, destruction of property, possession of a controlled substance, vandalism. This guy had a long record; a repeated troublemaker. How many guys like this had she heard of once and written their name down?
Misa suddenly closed the box and clicked on the next PDF file. Another scanned document came up in English and the cursor again brought up a Japanese translation. She immediately recognized the same letterhead from the previous document, but this one was a straight narrative.
L-/Amos: Memo 6/20/86
She almost didn’t want to read further, it was clear this document was related to the murder investigation. She wanted to skim it, but there was probably information in here Light wanted her to know about.
A thorough search was done of separate shed structure on the property at 236 Holman Court at the Oak Ridge Mobile Home Park, the L- residence on 6/19…Two metal toolboxes were found on one of the lower shelves on the left hand side of the structure near the back end, one was opened and seen to contain seven sandwich bags filled a quarter way with a substance that was easily identified as dried marijuana leaves….The second box contained five white, printed sheets that appeared to be sheets of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD)…Further laboratory testing will be needed to confirm…Earlier search of the residence found a strongbox in the top shelf of a closet in the main bedroom containing $256.45 in bills and coins and $195 in American bills…
This really wasn’t good.
Early last year, Insp. Marlowe established case files on five individuals who reside or are connected with the Oak Ridge Park on suspicion of trafficking in drugs and illegal arms. A file was established on Mr. L- mostly containing notes on rumors in the area, though no probable cause was ever found to arrest and search…Mr. L- did have an extensive criminal record of mostly violations and misdemeanors…In January of 1972, he was convicted of Theft and Breaking and Entering stemming from a car break-in…He was given a one year sentence at Drumheller Institution and was let out six months early for good behavior…Since then he had only had a few offenses, mostly Drunk and Disorderly or Simple Assault…His record has been more active since November of 1985...Court records indicate he plead Guilty or No Contest to most charges and received mostly small fines or time served with overnight detention…The park has gained a reputation as a hotbed for activity by motorcycle gangs… Mr. L - was not himself affiliated with any gang, though his name has come up a few times in interviews with known gang members…Mr. L- was sometimes known by the nickname ‘Rodent’ and rumored to be a reliable supplier of small, or recreational doses of marijuana and LSD…
Misa’s dropped her head back on the couch cushion with a groan. She just couldn’t read any more. She saw Ryuk out of the corner of her eye rooting through the fridge, though she saw one red eye sneak a peek in her direction, a chuckle sneaking out.
“I don’t even want to hear about it!” she snapped.
An apple dropped to the floor.
“What, I didn’t say anything,” Ryuk said, bending down and picking the apple from the floor.
Misa rolled here eyes.
“And close the fridge door,” she said.
Ryuk did as instructed and walked back to the table, though she could feel his eyes on her and it irritated her. Or maybe she was feeling overly defensive now; she had a right to be. Misa wanted to curse out Light again, but she just didn’t have the energy.
No, this couldn’t be all there was. There had to be a point to this besides being made to feel sorry for a criminal; a drug dealer, a troublemaker, a thief probably killed by another criminal for doing criminal things…and leaving behind three little kids.
Maybe the kids were better off without such a lowlife father.
She felt awful the moment she realized what she was thinking…but she shouldn’t have. He should have known better; you don’t do things like that when you have kids. The kids should have been taken away and put in nicer homes…away from dad…what kind of dad was he anyway? What did it matter! He was probably abusive, he was probably a drunk who beat his kids. Isn’t that what criminals did to their kids?
The words played back in her head; what the rough guy on the news program said.
“He was like the greatest dad…two of the sweetest people you could ever meet.”
It was weird hearing a tough guy’s voice crack like that.
“…now there’s three little kids don’t have a dad because of this…”
Misa pried her head back up and made herself read the rest of the document. Light had to have had a purpose in sending her this crap. The rest was the same report; details on how this guy was a lowlife, details on how this might have gotten him killed but no one knows anything yet.
Misa closed out of the document. The third one remained; maybe this would finally explain why Light had been sending her this garbage. She clicked on it, seeing the same letterhead but only one page and brief writing.
To: All departments involved in the L-/Amos case
From: Insp. Gus Harrison
I understand that Emil L- was known to most of you and most are familiar with the rumors of his activities, some of which have apparently been confirmed. Such experience will lead one to form certain opinions and that is normal. However, I will ask that you please be careful where you voice such opinions from here on out.
At the initial call I overheard some comments being made at the scene and within a few feet of the squad car where Mr. L-’s three young children were located. I have spoken to the constables involved in this and I want to make sure this incident isn’t going to repeat itself.
There are children involved in this and those children will be interviewed in the station and likely in the courtroom. I’ve spent some time with all three of them; they’re scared, they’re in shock, they loved their dad, and at least one of them saw things no kid should ever see. What is a case to you shattered their worlds. I want you to keep this in mind before you voice any opinions.
-Harrison
Misa closed the PDF and then clocked out of the email. She knew she should go back in and take notes; there was a possibility the email might delete itself. Instead she shoved the laptop onto the couch and got up. Misa didn’t look over at Ryuk, but already knew he was staring at her.
A nice hot bath sounded pretty good right now.
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4:52 p.m.
The water was starting to get cold and the bubbles had turned to a milky skin over the surface. Misa brought herself to more of a sit, the splashing of water echoing behind the curtain was the only sound in the room. The quiet felt nice, anything besides hearing her own whimpers and sobs echoing back at her was a preferable sound.
How long had she been in there? She really didn’t care, nor was she in a hurry to get up. Her head ached, her eyes stung, she wasn’t able to think. That was slowly changing. The colder the water got, the more her numbness started to break, and the more she realized she would have to face what she just read.
No, she was ready to face it, she wanted to face it, but she had no idea where to start.
The thought produced a few more sobs, her eyes stung again with some leftover tears. She felt like she had been crying for over a year, no she hadn’t been crying. She stopped crying months ago, but here she was again. It felt horrible, it hurt, it made her feel helpless again. A few more sobs pushed out the thought and she fell silent.
“Why, Light!” she tried to yell, but it only came out in a whimper. “You were supposed to help me, not bring stuff up like this! Why are you doing this?”
There had to have been a reasonable explanation for this. Maybe he was testing her, telling her to show no mercy to criminals. No matter how many kids they have, no matter how nice they might be, criminals need to die, that is the will of Kira. Maybe he wanted to see if she was truly strong enough to be his consort. But what would he do if he found her lacking: she knew the answer to that question, but the police were watching that copy of the Death Note.
If he wanted to write her name down, would he be able? But she had the Shinigami Eyes. Maybe he would make her pass along the notebook to someone else if she wasn’t suitable as goddess. Who else would he send the notebook to? Kiyomi? That thought made her want to write Miss Slutty To-Oh’s name down immediately, but that wouldn’t be a good idea. Maybe he would send it to another supporter, but he knew Misa was more devoted than any of them. Misa had the Eyes now, he needed her to kill L sooner rather than later.
Then again how bad of a criminal had this Emil L. guy been? There was nothing in there about him killing or raping anyone. He sold drugs…but pot and acid were party drugs. College kids used these, photographers used these. Most models and executives snorted coke at parties; her former manager used to snort coke in the ladies room on a regular basis. Pot and acid were beneath them
Kira didn‘t like drugs, Light would want drug dealers punished. But then this guy only sold drugs to other bad people, though maybe those drugs were sold to kids. She remembered she didn’t hear of too many small-time drug dealers being punished. Maybe Kira was after big time drug traffickers and people who sold heroin and cocaine. In Japan, you could go to prison for many years for even having a small amount of pot on you. Maybe in Canada it was different; maybe it was not as serious a crime, but maybe Light wanted it to be a crime punishable by death everywhere.
Misa understood if Kira wanted to get rid of the really bad criminals first and then go after the small ones, but there were still a lot of murderers and the like out there.
Misa’s eyes went wide with a sudden realization. Kira really hadn’t killed that many minor criminals, but she was writing down the name of anyone even mentioned to commit a crime. Maybe that was the message; Light only wanted her to kill really bad criminals and he was not happy she was killing so many minor ones.
Minor criminals weren’t really hurting that many people and they could be reformed; they could be reformed and maybe go back to their children. Bad criminals should get the death penalty; they would lose their kids anyway if they were executed. Or maybe minor criminals would stop doing what they were doing if they saw bad criminals getting killed. Light could have killed a few minor criminals before to test its effectiveness in deterring crime, or he could have done it because L was on his tail and he wanted to throw off suspicion.
Or maybe he was testing her to see how strong she was, maybe he was seeing if she could still kill criminals even if she knew they left kids behind…even if one of them “saw things no kid should see.” She pushed that thought out of her head with a grunt; she was sick of crying.
Misa gave a frustrated whine and covered her face with her hands. What could she do?
She would only write the names of those who had committed serious crimes for a few days. If that wasn’t what Light wanted, he would send her another message. That was it, that was the answer!
Misa pulled her hands away and nodded, a smile sneaking out. She knew what she needed to do.
------
November 14, 2004
Tokyo
2:27 a.m.
There was another envelope under the door. Misa stopped and stared at it for a second.
It had been two days since the last one. Since then she had only been writing down the names of serious criminals and now Light was sending her another message. Maybe he wasn’t happy with her, or maybe he was sending a naked photo of himself as a reward. She giggled at the thought, but that still didn’t seem like Light.
Misa reached down and picked up the envelope, feeling another photo inside…no a few photos. Maybe these were criminals he wanted her to punish in particular.
She sat back down on the couch and carefully opened the envelope, reaching her fingertips in and feeling photos inside. She then slowly pulled them out, immediately greeted with the sight of her mother’s face coated in blood.
Misa wanted to scream, but she took the photos out without a sound and pried the second one from the back. It was her dad; head bashed in, blood everywhere. She laid out both photos on the coffee table, feeling like she was crying but the tears never came out.
Her parents eyes were now open, both held black placards at their chests.
“You needed to know the truth Misa,” Light’s voice suddenly said. “Mom and dad were criminals. They sold drugs. They both deserved to die.”
Blood poured from the photos and ran like a river across the floor in front of her. She was now standing in her parents’ living room; mom and dad’s bodies piled on top of each other.
“They needed to die. The world will be a better place without them.”
She was standing over them, a lead pipe clutched in her hands dripping blood. Blood ran up to her ankles. She looked again; mom and dad weren’t there; instead she saw the body of a man with a long, black braid and a scraggly goatee. Emil L.; skull caved in, floating on a river of blood.
“You killed them Misa. Show no mercy, they were criminals, their children are better off without them.”
She saw a dark figure out the corner of her eye; a small child peeking out from the kitchen. She couldn’t tell if it was a boy or girl, but it was staring at the body and crying.
“Daddy! Daddy!”
Misa’s eyes shot open, seeing her apartment from the glow of her red lava lamp. Ryuk was lying on the ceiling, sleeping. She shifted, realizing she was lying down in her bed.
Just a stupid dream, she thought to herself; blinking her eyes hard to stop the tears from coming.
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November 16, 2004
Tokyo
9:15 a.m.
“In the past four days, there has been a noticeable shift in the killings,” Aizawa said. “As Ryuzaki said before, there were around 11 killings a day, now that number seems to have dropped.”
L dipped a small section of his plain cake doughnut in his coffee, watching the doughnut darken and crumble.
“Go on,” he said, not looking up.
“On the 13th, five people were reported dead from mysterious heart attacks. That number was eight on the 14th and six were just reported for the 15th,” Aizawa continued.
“And their criminal histories?” L said, picking up the doughnut and lightly licking dripping coffee from it before licking off the crumbling cake.
“That seems to have changed as well,” Aizawa said. “All of them were suspected or convicted for capital offenses or major felonies; eight for murder, three for murder and sexual assault, five for sexual assault, one for heroin trafficking, and one for trafficking sex slaves.”
L bit off the rest of the sagging section of doughnut. The eyes of the rest of the Taskforce were locked on him in an uncomfortable silence.
“The strategy appears to have changed for the time being,” L said between mouthfuls. “The Fourth Kira is mixing up his routine, either by his own choosing or on the instruction of Kira. He is trying to throw us off, or at least make us think we need to look in other directions. It is a clear ploy; Kira knows better than to think we will immediately fall for this, but I believe this is leading to something. Kira might instruct or have instructed the Fourth Kira to change patterns. These patterns may be leading to something, but we need to keep our eyes on the matter at hand.”
L picked up another doughnut from the plate on the desk and looked through the hole at Aizawa, seeing him look at him uncomfortably for a moment.
“Do you think it’s possible that Kira chose another person to write down the names?” Light said, leaning back in his desk chair.
“It is a potential factor we need to be aware of, but it’s too soon to tell,” L said, taking a quick bite from that doughnut and putting it back in the box. “For the time being we need to conclude that it is unlikely. We certainly need to keep our eyes on this development, but not get too caught up in it.”
The rest of the Taskforce nodded, including Light. Light’s attention went back on the computer, hiding a small bit of aggravation.
Misa changed her killing pattern. There were a number of reasons why she did this and all related to how he had not contacted her in over a week. She was getting bored and wanted to spice up the routine, she thought there should be variation to throw the Taskforce off. The worst case scenario was she was going to kill fewer and fewer criminals until she killed no one just to spite Light for his lack of communication. Misa was absolutely loyal, but in some ways she was unpredictable.
No, the worst case scenario was that Misa had been arrested and L was having someone else write names down to throw off the case; changing the pattern to lead the case to any direction he wanted. Maybe this was what this change reflected. Light knew he had to get in touch with Misa soon, but maybe that’s what L wanted. Maybe L set this whole scenario up to see if he would try something; change the pattern so drastically that Light would suspect something off and then wait for him to make a move.
Light had to do something; he had to make some contact with Misa or else see where she was being kept. How could he do this and not set off any of Ryuzaki’s traps? He had to get Rem to kill L once and for all. He had to communicate with Rem that Misa was in danger. Changing the conversation to Misa right now would be a bad move, it would make him look like he was moving to the trap.
He had to think this one out and come up with a plan soon.
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November 16, 2004
Izu Oshima, Japan
1:10 p.m.
Misa’s bag vibrated in the black sand. She took another sip from her soda and leaned over from her chair, looking up to see the crew setting up the lights again. Lunch time was almost over and shooting would begin again soon.
She reached into her bag, keeping her sweatshirt over her shoulders. It was a little chilly out, but she was used to doing bikini shoots in cold weather; such was the nature of the business. She pulled out her cell phone; a new message from an unknown number. She gasped and smiled.
Misa opened the text:
You have done well, Misa. Stay on your present course.
Love always <3
She kissed her phone and giggled, feeling warm inside.