Chapter 2 - Interview

Chapter 2 – Interview

The NPA headquarters building was only a short walking distance away from Kiomi’s house. She went directly after cram school, still even wearing her backpack.

At the front desk an attendant asked her what she needed.

“Is Natsuka-san working today?” she asked.

The man checked in the computer quickly and then nodded.

“I need to speak to him,” she said, “I’m his niece.”

“I’ll tell him you’re coming,” he said in return, picking up a phone. “Do you know where his office is?”

“Yes, thank you.”

She walked down the hallway to her uncle’s office, eyes following her the entire way. Now that everyone had realized the Kira threat was real it seemed everyone was a suspect. She tried to keep her aggravation in check, resisting the urge to look at someone watching her and snap, “Yes! I am supposed to be here!”.

Her uncle opened his door on the first knock, smiling at her.

“Kiomi, I’m glad to see you again.”

“You too Uncle,” she said, returning the smile and closing the door after her so they were in private.

“What brings you here today?” His expression turned apologetic. “I don’t want to shoo you out or anything but the department’s rather busy these days.”

No sense beating around the bush now that he brought it up.

“Actually, Uncle, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”

He sighed heavily, his face going blank.

“Kiomi, you know I can’t disclose information about the Kira case, I’ve said that before.”

She shook her head. “I’m not here about Kira today.”

That caught him by surprise.

“Then, why . . . ?” He trailed off, at a loss.

“I saw the broadcast on TV yesterday. I’m just here because I’m really glad that the police are finally doing something,” she said, setting her backpack in a chair at his desk. She pushed the chair forward all the way so that her backpack was completely under the desk top.

His look was disapproving. “Kiomi, you know that we have been working on this case from the very start.”

“But you were insisting that it was some epidemic, or coincidence,” she said, looking back at him coolly. “It seems everyone’s finally opened their eyes to the truth of these murders.”

She knew she was walking a razor edge here. Her Uncle was very sensitive to her criticism of the police force – a bit would provoke him to talk but if she pushed it too far . . . well she’d done that before. It wasn’t fun.

And of course the biggest problem was keeping her emotions in check. She couldn’t afford to mess this up by letting her hatred for Kira cloud her words and observations. And she couldn’t let memories leak through, crying would be even worse than anger.

Her uncle sighed. “Have a seat.”

It was that tone. She would have to be extra careful. She pulled a chair up to his desk, next to the chair with her backpack. He sat across from her, by his computer.

“What you have to understand is that, even though we’ve seen it ourselves, it’s still not logical for someone to be able to kill with a heart attack without even laying a finger on the victim,” he said.

Kiomi’s eyes flitted to the corner of his office where she knew a camera was embedded. Policemen weren’t watched normally but if anything suspicious came up, there were always tapes that could be looked at. She had to make sure nothing suspicious would be on the camera today.

Carefully, making sure it simply looked as if her hands were resting in her lap, she pulled a small notebook and pencil out of her backpack. The top of the desk hid her actions from view and she opened the notebook in her lap, holding the pencil loosely so the muscles in her arm wouldn’t tighten visibly (she normally couldn’t write with pencils because her grip was naturally tight and she wound up breaking them nine out of ten times; even pens sometimes fell before her grip of doom).

“You’ve seen it now though, thanks to L,” she said.

Her uncle’s mood instantly darkened. It surprised her.

“Well, L has his own unconventional methods,” he said coolly.

“You don’t like him?” she asked, her curiosity genuine.

She was now taking down what they both said in shorthand, making sure to only write while one of them was talking so that her pencil wouldn’t be heard. Normally, there were only about three people, including herself, who could read her writing, and since she wasn’t looking at the paper it would be even more indecipherable. She was running the risk that she would lose parts of the conversation but it was worth it, just in case she lost the notebook somehow. Maybe she was just being paranoid but she felt like it wouldn’t be good if some people found out she was trying to find L.

“I’ve never met him,” her uncle said flatly. “No one has. Well, no one but Watari. And even then I wonder if he’s actually seen L or if he can just contact him.”

Kiomi snorted and made her voice sound unconvinced. “People have to meet him or else he couldn’t work with the police.”

Again, she was treading a knife edge. She could be acting a part but she had to be sure not to lie completely.

“It isn’t that he works with the police,” her uncle said, disdain in his tone, “it’s that we’re forced to work with him. The truth is, on cases like this, the leaders automatically turn to L. He’s solved some of the toughest cases to date, including the Lost Angeles BB murder cases, and now people have come to depend on him in cases like this, regardless of certain other facts.”

Kiomi kept her face carefully composed, not showing her shock. Her uncle never talked about anyone in his line of work like this. He really hated something about L. What would make him . . . ? An idea clicked and she decided to try it.

“Like the fact that L let a criminal be killed on live TV. He even set it up to happen . . . . You think he’s just like Kira don’t you?” she said.

As the last word was leaving her lips she focused on her uncle’s eyes, tuning everything else around her out until the only clear thing left in her vision were his brown orbs. If he would have looked closely, her uncle would have seen her own brown eyes suddenly gain a hint of a crimson glow.

“It’s not that,” her uncle said.

His answer was so smooth, so immediate. Anyone else would have probably believed it. But Kiomi didn’t. In the deepest part of his eyes, red light flashed for a split second. It was enough to know her uncle was lying.

“Let me ask you, Uncle,” she said quietly. “Before L came into the picture, how much did the police know about Kira?”

Her uncle didn’t answer; instead he turned to look at his computer screen, breaking eye contact with her. She blinked a few times to let her eyes adjust to seeing everything in the room again.

“I’m afraid I have to get back to work, Kiomi,” he said, his tone saying that the discussion was over and also proving that she had hit the subject right on the nose. The police hadn’t even known whether or not Kira existed before L came into the picture.

She slipped the notebook and pencil back into her backpack and stood up.

“I’m sorry I took so much time Uncle,” she said. “I’ll leave you and all the police with just one request – make sure Kira dies soon.”

“We’re bringing him to justice,” he said, looking at her once more.

“That’s what I said,” she replied, slipping an arm through one of the straps on her backpack and shouldering it into place.

“Kiomi . . . .” He paused and then plowed ahead, “I know you miss Kyonchi – we all do. But you can’t let that cloud your judgment. If you were to find Kira and kill him you would be no better than him, you have to leave it to the police and the courts.”

“Don’t give me a “revenge isn’t the answer” speech, Uncle,” she said. Her voice remained normal – it wasn’t a threat, just a request. “If you want to race me to Kira, that’s fine. You get there first; he can go to court and get the death sentence. I get there first; he can die on the spot. Either way it’s the same outcome.”

“Kiomi –”

“But let me ask you this,” she continued. “How do you convict someone who kills remotely by a heart attack? What evidence will you present to the court that will guarantee that “justice is seen”?”

“It will work out,” her uncle insisted.

His eyes caught her gaze for a minute and she looked into them thoughtfully. She could see something in them that took her a moment to identify. Fear. Her intent scared him.

“Yes it will, Uncle,” she agreed. “Yes it will. Stop by for dinner sometime, mom wants to see you again.”

Then she left, not waiting for or wanting a reply. She was one step closer to Kira thanks to her Uncle. He had given her the best clue possible, a name.

As soon as she got home she locked herself in her room and turned on her computer. Pulling up her web browser, she typed in “Los Angeles BB murder cases” and hit enter.

It was time to begin tracking down L.

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