BB Strikes Back: Prologue, Part Two

It's early morning in Winchester as the sun peeks its way through the windows and into a small room. Almost no furniture to decorate it at all, except for a lone computer and a living chair with claw feet. Carpet is worn in spots where there seems to have been incessant pacing along it. Other parts are as though they had hardly been tread upon. There's no closet for clothes to be kept, not even a dresser or so lowly as a cardboard box. No lamps other than a single ceiling lamp to light the room apart from the sun and moon. It's quiet, almost too quiet, well, for a normal person that is.

But the resident of this room was certainly not a normal person. His name was L. He never brushed his hair. He didn't even think to dress himself or take a bath on his own accord. He never even took it upon himself to get his own food or beverage. A spoiled child with no sense of hygiene, most people would guess, but this was the best detective of the age. And this morning, he would be called to action once again.

His ever-faithful father-figure and servant, Watari, came into the room with a cart of L's basic necessities: strawberry shortcake, an unsuspecting cup of Early Grey tea with twenty-five packs of sugar mixed in, but also one more item with a letter attached. Watari wheeled the cart to L's side, and just as the detective was about to take his brand of breakfast, his personal assistant pointed to the mystery item first. "You might need to take a look at this before you begin your first meal of the day, L," Watari suggested, lifting the small envelope to him. "It's from the police station in Los Angeles."

L took the envelope from him willingly and turned it upside down so that the heavy object inside would fall into his other hand below. The item inside was a watch, but not just any watch. It shone brilliantly in the filtered morning light, perhaps freshly polished. A ring of diamonds surrounded the face of the clock, not a single one missing, clean as a whistle. L took the wristband of it, holding it between his thumb and forefinger to avoid getting too many of his own fingerprints on it. There was one problem with the watch though; it wasn't running. L brought the little timekeeper to his ear to listen for any other signs of activity, but none were found, no sound. The hands were very exact though on one time in particular, 6:15. Did this mean anything? Perhaps the letter might elaborate on it.

L pulled the piece of paper from the envelope and read it in a matter of seconds, almost as though he didn't even look at it, but Watari knew of his master's uncanny reading speed. "Did you find anything helpful in your reading," Watari inquired.

L eyes broadened, but still not so much as a ray of light or sparkle. Something dark loomed over him as he replied to his butler. "This is familiar, Watari. The police were sent this item without an explanation. I can only recall one instance in which it happened, but the item was a crossword puzzle, not this." He sharply inhaled a moment, but Watari had no trouble picking up where L left off.

"There has also been a reported jailbreak from California State Prison.... It's B," uttered the old man. He lifted his hand to his forehead and rubbed his brow a moment; he had known B while he was a child at his orphanage. While the child was impersonal and incompatible with everyone else, he still somehow felt responsible for created the monster, and all L could do was come to the rescue with his own thoughts concerning their new case.

"That's who I thought this was. So I see he managed to escape.... and this happens right after we bring Kira to justice. Interesting.... Had he known anything about the Kira case, he must have heard the news, determining for himself that clearly Kira wasn't enough of a challenge," explained the master detective, taking a sip of his tea. "But if I remember right in working with Misora, that led to the scene of the first murder."

Watari nodded, but he left L to do the rest of the work by himself. L worked alone for the most part; to be even more honest, he enjoyed it. He held the watch up to the light and pondered it. "6:15..... that was the time of last murder BB attempted when he set himself on fire, but it's more than his calling card. It's a clue... to a possible address?" He turned his attention to his computer, typing 615 in the search bar for addresses in Los Angeles. Needless to say, too many options came up. "Now, what could I use to narrow down the list," L wondered. Once again, his reading skills came in handy. His eyes flew over the list of addresses in Los Angeles, beginning with a house number of 615.

In a separate tab of his computer, the sleuth pulled up a separate search for murders that had recently occurred in the same city. A small handful came up. Between the two searches, L came across a match, which happened at 615 Clockstop Circle. The murder victim's name was a middle-class female in her forties, named Belinda Bethpage, but few details were released about this particular murder. L sensed some fear behind the writing of this article, but obviously, it couldn't be a threat. BB looks for patterns, not going into threats with any possible witnesses. The reporter for this murder in particular was not in danger, but one identical detail remained. The Wara Ningyo dolls, nailed into the walls the same way they had before.

"The name pattern is the same. The Wara Ningyo are the same. "Clockstop".... He's hiding the clues better than he used to, but 'six-fifteen'..... That must have been incredibly convenient for him," muttered L to himself, slowing taking bite after bite of his cake. Of course, L would write this off as a coincidence, but something about it was too spooky. This was years after the last BB case, and all of these elements happen to present themselves: name pattern; number from the time of the last murder attempt coinciding with the address of the first murder victim; and the watch.... but where would BB get such a fancy watch? Surely, it was worth hundreds, or even possibly thousands.

He called Watari pack into the room, and his helper was there before the end of a minute. "Yes? How may I be of service," Watari asked, bowing politely, sensing the importance of role for his next errand.

"Watari, could you take this watch to get appraised by a jeweler? Also, after it should be appraised, is there any way we could track down the original owner? I know BB wouldn't just steal anything like this," L requested, sipping more of what became the lukewarm sugary goodness down his throat. To that, Watari merely nodded, and putting down the cup, L daintily plucked the watch up from the makeshift table beside him and returned it to the envelope before handing it back. Not a word more, and the servant made himself scarce from the house and into the city streets of Winchester to see an appraiser.

With some extra financial convincing as only the inventor could do, the appraiser had no issue making the watch his priority. A few hours later, the watch's worth was deemed lower than originally though. While it seemed clean and clear as silver or potentially platinum, it proved to be nothing more than stainless steel. Not exactly a precious metal. What had made it appear to be valuable was its coating of silver polish that BB must have used to clean it to a spotless shine. The diamonds were also fallen short of what was thought to be their original identity. Nothing but cubic zirconia, not even worth over seventy pounds. Also, since it wasn't even working, its market value was even lower.

The appraiser offered to repair it for more money, but Watari refused politely and took the watch away for further investigation in regards to its owner. This would take more than simple figuring though. Being international records, finding the watch's original owner required more digging, not that the dynamic duo hadn't thought of this sooner. Yet by the end of the day, the owner was finally determined, to everyone's horror and awe.... Backyard Bottomslash. Misora had been right in the first place without anyone thinking about it.... a watch really was missing, along with Bottomslash's left arm.

But where had BB kept it hidden all of this time? He was in jail for years! He couldn't have taken it with him. At the same time though, what did it matter?.... But did BB have an accomplice? That was the question, but L was quick to rule out the possibility and dismiss the rabbit trail that would send them down away from the real matter at hand. "B never was one to make friendships, no less someone that would offer to help with his crimes. But we need to get back into contact with Misora again if we can," the world's best detective declared.

A call went out to FBI headquarters, trying to get a hold of Naomi Misora once again, but to no avail. She was happily married three years prior, and she had recently given birth to a baby boy. As a new mother, she was taking more time off for her new role in charge of the child's welfare. L's hopes were dashed, and it was back to the search for an American set of hands and eyes.

No other FBI agents presented themselves as viable candidates to assist with the new set of cases. But what about former FBI agents? How would L even find a registry? How else? All he had to do was ask the proper authorities. As the world's ultimate authority for justice, L got exactly he had wanted. The list came in an email, but most of them had been nixed from the bureau for misconduct that even L wouldn't tolerate, well, except for one. A certain case of insubordination and redirecting an investigation apart from the original orders.

This was a high degree case of theft. Millions of dollars had been lifted from government agencies. The case had gone on for months, but no a single wink of luck in sight. Just one assumption: that the thief was employed by the government. The bureau had some leads about potential employees, but one detail seemed to slip even them. The fact that it was around election season for a new president. Campaign money seemed like an idea someone would want so much money for, but all the campaigns looked the same from advertisements. Mind you though, these were added to notes later. Observations taken from the agent, not official notes that were taken into consideration. Then again, these were the old copies the agent had made of the documents concerning the investigation and scribbling his/her own thoughts down on, or so it seemed. Only months later did the thief get caught by Agent (last name).

Nonetheless, (last name) was required to turn in his/her badge and leave the bureau. A controversial approach that put the bureau at risk. Copying confidential reports and documents. And taking the missions into his/her own hands. Even if the culprit was successfully captured, breaking protocol was not tolerated, not of this caliber.

While L didn't favor the idea of being upstaged, he couldn't help but want this go-getter on the case. L had returned to give L his second round of pure sugar by the time L had come to a decision. "Watari, I am choosing former Agent (first name, last name) to pursue BB. While I recognize that he/she went beyond her own jurisdiction to solve this case, I think I know how he/she figured out who the thief was.... It all boils down to time, place, and what might be a typical schedule. The questions were complicated, but the answers were rather simple.... Well done."

"I respect your decision, Master L. I will fetch his/her contact information immediately," Watari promised, leaving the candy cart at once to complete his task. L was in the room by himself once again for a minutes, left with his own thoughts.

"That's how I figured out who Kira was. No one believed me at first, but I knew I was right. Perhaps there were other factors that would make for many other suspects, but to me, it felt too obvious. Light was bright enough to cover his own tracks. He knew who to kill to win favor with the people of Japan. His intelligence couldn't be rivaled by not too many others apart from myself. All I had to do was honestly ask myself if anyone else could possibly be ingenious enough to follow through as carefully as Kira did. Light seemed like the type to consider anything. Kira needed to. Kira's best personal advantage would have been to make it on the task force. Light acted modest about it, but I could see through his altruism. No one is that pure. No one, but only a self-made god could possibly think such a thing or feel such sentiment."
"For me, it was simply a matter of looking into the rare characteristics necessary to pull of the scheme. If (first name, last name) can think in this manner as I have he/she can see through my eyes, BB's eyes, and stop him once and for all."

Watari entered back into the room with L's sought-after information, to which Master L simply replied, "Thank you, Watari. I believe a test is in order."