The Whitechapel Case
Fox-Trot-9

PG-13
Horror/Suspense/Mystery (How-Catch-'Em)
Disclaimer: I don't own Ghost Hunt or Death Note.

Part 2: The Connections
Chapter 1

Day 2—Daybreak on April 10th. Nothing unusual going on—except for Noll, that is. When he opened his eyes at the sound of birds chirping outside, he found himself lying on the sofa in the private study, not remembering when or how he got there. He sat up and looked around. Nothing unusual here. Then he remembered last night in the kitchen, where he saw the letter magnets on the refrigerator. He got up, went into the kitchen expecting to see those magnets of Gene's name on the refrigerator and saw...nothing. The magnets were back in their column. Noll looked at them. He could have sworn he saw them moving around last night, that they phonetically spelled Gene's name. Could he have dreamed all that weird stuff last night? No, he couldn't have. Gene must have moved them back.

Noll thought of kicking himself, because he forgot to set up a camera to catch these magnets in motion; but he thought otherwise. No use punishing yourself on an empty stomach. He got out the Lucky Charms box and opened it. Mmmmm, nothing better than some good-old Lucky Charms to fill an empty belly in the morning. Then he remembered he needed a bowl and looked for it, which turned out to be quite an expedition. He hadn't been in the Davis House for almost eight months, and the bowl he needed seemed to have been moved by a prankster—or by his parents. God knows why they kept moving their kitchen utensils around. He looked in the upper cabinets—nope. In the lower cabinets—ah, there it was, on the second shelf where the big and small bowls were. Then he needed a spoon, which he got from the drawers, this time on the far end of the kitchen. Then, he needed milk—obviously in the refrigerator. And there it was, unopened and full of the good white stuff. Then, he figured he needed a glass to pour the milk in, which he found in the upper cabinets. He knew that those would always be in the upper cabinets, no matter how many times his parents moved the kitchenware.

He poured himself a healthy amount of the good stuff and drank it. Gah! That was the most sour-tasting milk he had ever come across, since Gene blackmailed him to drink the horrible stuff on losing a bet. He checked the expiration date—April 30th! Three weeks from now! Either this batch of milk was mislabeled, or it wasn't pasteurized; so he fished around for a marker in the private study and wrote SOUR in capital letters on the milk container. Then he looked at his incomplete breakfast on the table. He thought of eating it dry, but he checked to see what else he could use as a substitute for milk. Water—too bland. Orange juice—nope. Prune juice—hell no! Then he saw a bottle of champagne in the refrigerator and thought about it—maybe. He heard of the rich folks having this poured onto their meals, from steaks to cereals, so he gave it a shot at his Lucky Charms. He uncorked the bottle and poured the sparkling brew on the cereal and heard the bubbling, crackling noise of exotic tastiness. Then he corked the bottle and put it back where it was.

Then he looked at the concoction. Alcohol in the morning, just like the Englishmen of old. Hopefully, his parents would understand. He dug out a spoonful of the exotic concoction and ate it. Mmmmm, no wonder the rich folks sometimes preferred their cereal with champagne. Then he got another idea, a better one. Why not have Mai serve ice-chilled tea, so he could pour it over a bowl of Lucky Charms? That would definitely surprise Mai; she'd probably say, 'How could you eat that? Are you crazy?' Boy, he'd love to see the shock on her face; it would be priceless, that's for damn sure. That is, if he returned to Japan. That left him deep in thought.

Just then, Luella came in and saw Noll, then the milk on the kitchen counter. "Noll, why is that not in the refrigerator?"

"It's spoiled."

"Dear me. I guess I'll have to return it, then." Then she looked at Noll's bowl full of cereal and... "You're eating cereal with water?"

"Champagne, actually." There was no need to lie about it, after all.

"Champagne? But that's alcohol! You shouldn't be drinking alcohol in the morning!"

"I'm not drinking it; I'm consuming it."

"You shouldn't be having alcohol at your age, period. Now give it to me."

"It's all right. I can handle it." Luella looked at him like he had eaten cyanide pills for breakfast. "It's an acquired taste," he added.

"Oh, please, darling, don't tell me you acquired such a taste while you were away."

"I did. It's actually quite good."

Luella gaped at him. "I can't believe this. Lin...actually lets you drink alcohol?" That's when the man in question walked into the kitchen. "Lin, you have a LOT of explaining to do!" The Chinese man had just arrived at the wrong place at the wrong time.

God, Noll, he thought. Why do you have to be such a pain?

BIG trouble for Lin. Lucky for him, just as Luella was about to launch into a scathing interrogation, Martin walked in and calmed her down. "Luella, Noll is old enough to make his own choices. You can't just choose for him as if he was still an eleven-year-old."

"But he's still underaged. I just don't want him to get in trouble, that's all."

"Noll will stay out of trouble, because he has Lin to look over him." Martin then turned to him, giving him the eye. "You'll keep him out of trouble, right Lin?"

"Yes, sir."

"See? Lin is still the right man for the job."

It was a paper-thin assurance, but Luella thought it was better than none at all. Then she added, "And no fooling around with women, either, Noll."

But before the kid said anything, Lin cut in. "Actually, he already has two girlfriends."

"Lin, you son of a—" Noll held back before something vulgar came out. Then he felt his cheeks starting the burn. Lin had pulled off one hell of a low blow.

And Lin smirked at that. That's payback, he thought, for not letting up yesterday.

Noll seethed in silent anger, gritting his teeth, standing up and...

"NOLL, DON'T—" said Lin.

...Bending the spoon till its head fell clean off.

"Noll, don't do that," said Martin. "You know shouldn't do that."

The kid sighed, knowing his father was right. He had let his emotions get the better of him. Again. Not since the Yoshimi case had he lost his temper, and the fact that he lost his temper just a day into this case told him something he didn't want to acknowledge, something personal, something that cut too close to the bone, something he feared. He also sighed, because he hadn't used his psychokinetic powers since his brother's death, and that depressed him. He missed him so much. So he stalked back into the private study.

Lin followed. "I'm sorry, Noll. I didn't mean to—"

"Next time you decide to humiliate me," he said, turning around and thrusting his finger at the man, "I'll bend your finger like I did that spoon, got it?"

"Your powers only work with inanimate—"

"Lin, don't you know the meaning of giving me my space?"

The kid was worked up, all right.

Instead of arguing, Lin just nodded. Things could have been way worse, though. At least he didn't try to fire me, he thought. If telling Noll's parents about his relationship with Mai and Masako was a cheap low blow, getting fired by a minor was the equivalent of castration. Though Lin didn't want to admit it, he knew that Noll had all the cards shuffled in his favor. "Noll, where are you going?"

He was at the door getting ready to leave. "I'm going out."

"Why? You just got here."

"Lin, if you don't know why, then maybe I should've had Mai come with me, instead of you," and he walked out the door to get his much-needed space.

Lin just stood there, wondering what he meant. Luella and Martin came over.

Luella said, "Who's this Mai? Is she one of Noll's girlfriends?"

"Uh...Yes...I think. I'm not sure."

"Now, Luella, don't pry into the boy's business. He's a man, now. Is that right, Lin?"

"Yes, sir."

"Oh, and if you don't mind my asking," continued Martin, "who is the other girl?"

Lin sighed. This was going to be a long second day on the case.

(To be continued...)

A/N: Here's the first installment of Part 2: The Connections. It's only a short chapter to start it off. But I promise you that the next couple of chapters will raise the hair on the backs of your necks.