“So I imagine you also know why I’m on a leave of absence?”
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“No,” he said, to Misora’s surprise. “I don’t know that.”
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“You didn’t check?”
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“I wasn’t interested. You are skilled, and were currently available, and that was all that mattered—
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unless there was something I should know about? In that case, I could find out in under a minute.”
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“No.” she said, grimacing.
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She had felt like the entire world knew about her blunder, but not even the world’s greatest detective knew. And he had described Misora’s leave of absence/suspension as making her “available.” She had never thought to wonder, but it seemed L did have a sense of humor.
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“Okay, L, if we’re going to stop the fourth murder, we should begin. What should I do first?”
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“What can you do?”
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“I can do what I can do,” Misora said. “I know I keep asking, but if I’m going to look over the scene again.., searching for anything he left behind besides the Wara Ningyo. . .what, specifically, am I looking for?”
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“Any kind of message.”
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“Message?”
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“Yes. This was not listed in the data I gave you, but nine days before July 3 1st, before the first murder, on July 22nd, the LAPD received a letter.”
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“A letter?”
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Where was this going? The LAPD...?
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“Connected to the case?”
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“At the moment, none of the detectives involved have noticed a connection. I don’t know for certain if there actually is one, but I think there is.”
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“What percent?”
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“Eighty percent.”
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Instant response.
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“The sender is unknown—a forwarding system was used, and there’s no way to tell where it was sent from. Inside the envelope was a single piece of paper with a crossword puzzle written on it.”
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“A crossword puzzle? Hunh…”
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“Don’t be dismissive. It was a very difficult puzzle, and no one could solve it. Of course, we could also take that to mean no one applied themselves to it seriously, but it seems reasonable to hypothesize that several policemen working together were unable to solve the puzzle.’’
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I see. So?”
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“Eventually they decided the puzzle was just a prank, and it was thrown away. ..but my information-gathering network acquired a copy through other channels yesterday.”
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“Yesterday…”
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So that was why it wasn’t in the file. Even as Misora was preparing to start her investigation, L had been pursuing the matter from different angle.
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“I solved it,” L said.
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Apparently that hypothesis about the difficulty of the puzzle had a preemptive form of bragging. He must get frowned at a lot, Misora thought. Not that she was one to talk.
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“If I’m not mistaken, then the answer to that puzzle is where you are—The address of the first murder.”
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“221 Insist St., Hollywood? Where I am now? But that means...then.”
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“Exactly. He told them he was going to commit these murders. But since the puzzle was so difficult that no one could solve it, it did not realistically stand a chance of serving that purpose...”
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“Has the LAPD received any other letters like that? Indicating the address for the second or third murders?”
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“No. I checked the entire state of California, just to be sure. I have discovered no other such letters or c-mails. I plan to keep looking, but..
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“Then it might just be a coincidence? No, that’s impossible. If it listed the address exactly, it must be...
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so why nine days before?”
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“The time between the second and third murders was also nine days. August 4th to August 13th. It’s possible the killer likes the number nine.”
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“But there are only four days between the first and second murders... pure chance?”
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“A reasonable interpretation. But it seems worth remembering that time lag. Nine days, four days, nine days. Either way, the killer is the type to advertise his actions to the police. Even if he was just pre034
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tending to be that type of killer, there remains a very good chance that there is some kind of message in the room, something besides the Wara Ningyo.”
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“Hmm... so...”
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Something deliberate.
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A message much harder to understand than the Wara Ningyo... something like a very challenging crossword puzzle. Misora felt like she was at last starting to understand why L needed her help. There was no way an armchair detective would be able to find something like this on his own. You had to see the scene with your own eyes, be able to reach out and touch things... and it required quality over quantity. Someone who could look at the scene from his own perspective, his own way of thinking...
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But she also thought he was putting too much stock in her. If she had to be L’s eyes as well... that was too much for an ordinary I:II agent to handle.
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“Something wrong, Naomi Misora?”
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“No... never mind.”
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“Okay. For the moment, let us cease communication. I have many things I must attend to.”
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“Certainly.”
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This was L, so he was undoubtedly solving several other difficult cases all at once. Cases all over the world. For him, this case was just one of many parallel investigations. How else could he maintain his reputation as the world’s greatest detective?
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The century’s greatest detective, L.
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The detective with no clients.
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“I’ll be waiting to hear good things from you. The next time you call me, please use the number five line, Naomi Misora,” L said, and hung up.
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Misora folded her phone and put it back in her bag. Then she moved over to the bookshelves to start her investigation. There was nothing in the bedroom but the bed and the bookshelves, so there wasn’t much else to investigate.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Not as bad as his killer, but it looks like Believe Bridesmaid was reasonably obsessive himself...” The books were packed tightly onto the shelves with no excess space. Misora did a quick count—fifty-seven volumes. She tried to pull one out at random, but this was rather difficult to do. Her index huger alone proved inadequate, and she had to use her thumb and mime lever principle to pry it Out. She flipped through the pages, well aware that this was pointless. She was just keeping her hands busy while she tried to figure out what to do. It would be nice and simple ml there were a message hidden between the pages of the book, but that was too much to hope for. According to the files, like the light bulb sockets, each page of every book had been wiped, removing all fingerprints—suggesting not only that the killer was extremely finicky, but that the police had in fact gone through all of the books. One could assume there had been no messages.