Chapter Three

                                    

                                          
Barely three weeks had passed since I first joined the task force. Between then and now, so much had happened. Chris and I had gradually grown more comfortable with the members of the task force - and vice versa. Not long after first being introduced, we'd all become good acquaintances (I wouldn't exactly say friends. After all, it's kinda hard to bond with someone over a serial murder investigation). Sometimes we went out for drinks after L dismissed us for the day, making small talk and chatting idly about our different lives in an attempt to get to know each other better. Out of all of them, Matsuda was undoubtedly my favourite - just like I'd predicted. He was sweeter than sugar and had a surprising sense of humour for a police officer. At first glance, he was a shy goody-toe-shoes whose primary objective was to live up to his superiors' standards. But after a few sips of alcohol had successfully loosened his tongue, he was providing hilarious banter and cracking semi-offensive jokes.
                          
On the odd occasion, I could even find myself sharing some quality time with the Chief, Soichiro Yagami. He didn't come out with us very often, which was understandable - he had a family to get back to and he was determined to spend as much time with them as possible in the current circumstance. Nonetheless, as little as I saw him, the few conversations I shared with him were quite refreshing.
                          
Sometimes I wondered how much his wife and children actually saw of him. The Kira case was extremely demanding and we all put in a hell of a lot of hours. I didn't mind, of course. I had no place better to be and no one to come home to, so it wasn't exactly an issue when I stumbled back to my hotel room - either drunk or weary with exhaustion - and slept like the dead until the next morning. The same applies to Chris. But out of the five police officers who worked alongside us, only one was unmarried and that was Matsuda. It must be tough to find the balance between work, family and something of a social life - but they all managed to balance it perfectly. Personally, I thought they all deserved a hell of a lot more credit then they received, and I reiterated my opinion by buying the rounds every once in a while. Those nights were always the best.
                          
However, like with all great things, it had to come to an end. This short period of normalcy was cut short when the news came in from the US.
                          
Twelve FBI agents were found dead in the Kanto region of Japan, all of whom died on the exact same day in the exact same way. Cause of death: Kira, obviously. Who'd have thought it, huh?
                          
According to forensics, all twelve men were in prime health at the time and there was no real reason for a heart attack to have occurred. Furthermore, over half of them had no history of heart conditions or diseases that were prone to cause heart attacks within their immediate family. Logically, it made no sense for them to die in the way they did, meaning that the only person we could point fingers at was everyone's favourite serial killer.
                          
Naturally, as soon as L caught wind of what occurred, he jumped straight into investigating, ergo we looked into it also. We focused on one specific agent - Raye Penber - who had been the first of the twelve to die. L claimed that starting from the beginning was our best option to find any hints eluding to Kira so that's exactly what we did. He'd requested the security footage from Shinjuku station - the last location Raye Penber visited - to review and see if there was anything sketchy going on around that time.
                          
Seventeen hours later, we still hadn't come to any conclusions and all the task force members were on the verge of death (figuratively).
                          
"This is torture." Chris said in a strained voice as he craned his neck, the skin under his eyes appearing stretched and slighty bruised. "It's killing me. Actually killing me."