At this stage of affairs, Misora had absolutely no idea which room the killer, the man L called B, would come to—here to room 1313, or to Ryuzaki in 404? She’d been pondering the matter every second she could spare, but had honestly been unable to reach anything like a conclusion. And she was still bugged by the a.m./p.m. thing from the third scene... but there was no point in worrying about that now. All that mattered was to convince herself that the killer was coming here, to room 1313, to kill Blackberry Brown, and then to act accordingly. She couldn’t afford to waste time worrying about other people. Or she could put it another way—B would come after her... in L’s place.
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She looked at the clock on the wall.
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The digital display showed nine am. Exactly.
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Nine hours worth of August 22nd had already passed. Only fifteen hours remained. She was not going to get any sleep today. She would have to remain awake for at least twenty-four hours. She wasn’t even allowed to take a bathroom break. Ryuzaki had advised her not to stretch her patience thin... she needed to be able to react the moment someone entered the room. But now it was time to call L again. She took her phone out of her bag and dialed according to instructions. Making sure the door and curtains were closed.
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“L”
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“Misora. Nothing happening here. I spoke to Ryuzaki earlier, mu nothing has happened on his end either, No signs of anything out of the ordinary. I’m starting to feel like we’re in it for the long haul.
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“I see, Don’t let your guard down. As I said before, your backup is in position around the condominium, but if anything happens, they aren’t close enough to respond immediately.”
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“I know”
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“Additionally, a few minutes ago I dispatched two people to the condo itself. I wasn’t sure if they could be there in time, but the weather was on our side. We were lucky.”
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“Eh? But… that means.,.”
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To avoid tipping off the killer, they had not even put security cameras or bugs in the rooms, much less the building and the applied to extra people as well. They couldn’t risk being noticed.
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“Don’t worry There is no chance the killer will notice. One them is a professional infiltrator, and the other one is a professional trickster. I can’t tell you more, since you are an FBI agent, but specifically, a thief and a con-man. I had one posted near each room.”
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“A thief… and a con-man?” What was he saying? Was this some sort of joke?
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“So, Naomi Misora,” L said, wrapping up.
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But Misora hastily stammered, “Um, er, L...” but then she hesitated, not sure if she should ask this or not.
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“You know the killer, right?”
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“Yes, as I said. He is B,”
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“I don’t mean like that... I mean, he’s someone you know personally?” On the 16th, L had said he had known all along that the killer B, and she had sort of known ever since, but two days before, he had said something that changed her guess to conviction. Whatever you do, please catch the killer. The century’s greatest detective, L, would never say that about some ordinary indiscriminate serial killer. And the way his name was just one letter long...
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“Yes,” the synthetic voice agreed.
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As if he didn’t mind being asked at all.
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“But Naomi Misora, please keep that in the strictest confidence. The backup I have stationed near the condo, and the thief and con- man inside it have not been told what case they are working on. They are better off not knowing. Since you asked, I don’t mind telling you, but generally speaking it was also something you were better off not knowing.”
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“I know. Either way, whoever B is, he is a dangerous criminal who has claimed the lives of three people for no good reason. But there is one thing I wanted to ask.”
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“What?”
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“You know the killer, but you have nothing to do with him?” This was...
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To Naomi Misora, this was about the same as asking if you could pull the trigger on a child.
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“I have nothing to do with him,” L said. “To be completely accurate, I do not even know B. He is simply someone I am aware of. But none of this affects my judgment. Certainly, I was interested in this case, and began to investigate it because I knew who the killer was. But that did not alter the way I investigated it, or the manner in which my investigation proceeded. Naomi Misora, I cannot overlook evil. I cannot forgive it. It does not matter if I know the person who commits evil or not. I am only interested injustice.”
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“Only... in justice…” Misora gasped. “Then... nothing else matters?”
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“I wouldn’t say that, but it is not a priority.”
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“You won’t forgive any evil, no matter what the evil is?”
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“I wouldn’t say that, but it is not a priority.”
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“But...”
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Like a thirteen-year-old victim. “There are people who justice cannot save.” Like a thirteen-year old criminal. “And there are people who evil can save.”
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“There are. But even so,” L said, his tone not changing at all, as if gently admonishing Naomi Misora.
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“Justice has more power than anything else.”
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“Power? By power... you mean strength?”
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“No. I mean kindness.” He said it so easily. Misora almost dropped the phone The century’s greatest detective, L. The detective of justice, L. Who solved every case, no matter how difficult... “I misunderstood you, L.”
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“Did you? Well, I’m glad we cleared that up.”
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“I’ll go back to work now.”
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“Very well.”
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She folded her phone and closed her eyes. Whew.
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She did not find herself spinning.
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She had just heard a word that sounded good to her. She’d been told something she needed to hear.
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Perhaps she’d just been manipulated.
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None of her problems had been solved. Her confusion remained. She still lacked resolve. She felt like something had changed, but by tomorrow it would undoubtedly be back to normal. But even so, for the moment, she was not going to make a fast decision, she was not going to turn in her resignation. When her leave of absence ended, she would go back to the FBI. In that moment, Naomi Misora made up her mind. And the killer from this case might make a nice souvenir.
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“So, in one hour, I have to call Ryuzaki... hope he’s okay.” Blackberry Brown and Blues-harp Babysplit. Two B.B.s. Room 1313 and room 404... Had there really been nothing in the third scene that could have eliminated one of them from consideration? She couldn’t shake the idea that there had been. They had not been able to trim the possibilities down all the way because they had not done everything they could, they had not done everything they should...
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“Oh. I see. That’s why Q.Q.?”
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She had hit upon something. The reason why the second victim had been Q.Q., not B.B. The reason he had turned the child over, turning b into q. To prevent the possibility of there being someone else with the same name. The type of message left behind at the first scene... a message pointing not at the place, but at the victim targeted... that kind of message always left the possibility of someone else with that name. Which is why he had chosen Q.Q.—much less common than B.B. Quarter Queen. Misora had no idea how many other Believe Bridesmaids or Backyard Bottomslashes there were in Los Angeles, but she did know that the girl had been the only Quarter Queen. Which meant they were right, and the link had been the Bs, not the Qs.
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B.B.
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But even though the killer had worked so hard to make sure the message could only be one person, why had the final problem allowed for two candidates? She must be overlooking some critical piece of the puzzle. There must be something she should have done...
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The crossword puzzle.
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She had never tried it.
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Now that she thought about it, there were any number of problems she had been putting off thinking about. Not only the problem of which room. If they caught the killer, then everything would be explained, or...
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“...The locked rooms. Did he really just have a key?”
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In that case, he must have gone about his murders after preparing the key in advance... he must have investigated his victims for some time before the murders took place. They had done everything they could to avoid detection, but it was more than possible he knew Misora was waiting here for him...
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“A needle and thread locked room.. .and the needle ended up being a useful hint at the third scene.
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Even if it was just free association...”
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Needle hand. Clock hand.
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And she had been surprised to find that the Wara Ningyo had a practical meaning... the previous scenes had suggested they were nothing but a metaphor for the victims. But they had been counted with the stuffed animals, adding up to the numbers of the four clock sides. So perhaps some of those stuffed animals didn’t belong to the victim... to make sure the numbers matched. Seemed likely.
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Four, three, two... the number of Wara Ningyo was decreasing. The last one would appear at the fourth murder scene.
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If there was a fourth.
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“The final Wara Ningyo... I assume it’ll be placed directly opposite the door? Seems most likely... most significant... but what is the significance? The first thing you see when you step into the locked room…