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 10

When Noll took his seat next to Mai, everyone else looked at Madoka as she got out a manila folder, taking out a thick slab of papers. She said, "Noll, I'm sure you remember the Urado case, since I asked you and your friends to investigate it. I was thinking of inviting them to take this case,"—Noll glared at her—"but I didn't, okay? I only invited Mai, so don't worry."

"Don't worry? You ask me not to worry when you've just added another one to a growing list?"

"I know, and I'm sorry; really, I am. I had no idea you went through all that, and I know you have every right to be angry at me, but please hear me out first, okay? Please. Pretty please." Noll relented, to which she said, "Thank you. As many of you don't know, I've been on this case since January of this year, and I found out a lot. When I originally went to Japan, it was to see if the murders in England had anything to do with the Kira case. Based on Mr. Davis's findings, I was led to believe that Kira committed all these murders, until the Kira investigation finally bagged their man on January 28th of this year, as you all know. I know you're all thinking it was prosecutor Teru Mikami (*) who's behind those murders, but you're wrong. Just try and guess who it was. Anybody wanna take a stab at it?"

Nobody took that stab.

Until Noll said, "It was Light Yagami (**), wasn't it?"

Everyone gaped at him; they couldn't believe Noll would accuse such a straight-laced genius and were about to reprimand the Hell out of him when they saw Madoka's reaction.

Madoka looked positively awestruck. "How did you know that? Everyone in the Kira case used aliases, and it was a clandestine investigation. There's no way you could have known their real names."

"I didn't have to; the press had a field day when the supposed culprit was caught, and everyone on that case had their names revealed on live television, as well as in print."

"They were rumors, Noll. And the news reels and papers reporting it were impounded barely a day after they went out. The NPA kept it all secret till they were ready to give it, which was just a month ago."

"Except for the radio broadcasts. They didn't impound those, because not too many people listen to it for news anymore."

Mai listened to everything Noll said and discovered one of the reasons for his eccentricities. He was so damn adamant about not turning on the radio-clock in his office during office hours, for he wasn't listening to music: he was listening to find the whereabouts of his brother. That's why Noll and Lin stayed late into the night at the office so often. Noll was trying everything he could do to find Gene, when the news of Kira's capture was aired.

Madoka eyed Noll. "I see. But that still doesn't explain how you knew it was Light. Few people outside that case know about that, even now." (A pause.) "Wait a minute, did you actually investigate that case while you were in Japan? Did you contact the Kira investigation directly?"

Noll smirked that all-knowing smirk of his. "No; I just made a few deductions with a little research to back them. I never believed it was Teru Mikami, even when they said he was their man. I knew this, because Kira had a very distinctive profile. Judging from Kira's messages aired on the news, he needed to be someone with immense charisma and personal drive, someone who could convince others to follow his lead and copy his actions. And since it took six years to apprehend him, despite the efforts of half the world's law enforcement, he needed immense cunning, someone who could plan ahead and anticipate the actions of even the best opponents. And he needed close access to the police, so he could manipulate them.

"I see none of these in Teru Mikami. He was a follower, not a leader; in fact, he openly supported Kira on live television once, though it wasn't widely publicized. And he lacked the cunning to plan so far ahead, let alone cover his tracks that led to his arrest on January 28th. And though he was a prosecutor, I seriously doubt he had any deep connections to the police. However, Light Yagami fulfills all these requirements. He had leadership, becoming student body president of Touou University, one of the top universities in Japan. He even had a perfect score on the entrance exam. And he knew how to manipulate the police and thereby escape their suspicions, because he had their trust. He built that trust by assisting them in a major fraud case in 2003, bringing down one of the biggest financial institutions involved in money-laundering. And his father was the chief of the NPA at the time, as well as the leader of the Kira investigation. Light had everything at his disposal, which he used brilliantly."

Everyone gasped in disbelief. But none more so than Mai. She thought she knew Noll well enough through the cases she had with him, but now she wasn't so sure. What's driving you to do this, Naru? she thought. Why do you act like this? What are you thinking? She wanted answers, but deep down she didn't want to know, and that scared her.

"Noll," said Albert, "how much do you know about that case? You obviously know far more than me and Jacob, combined."

"That's all I know. It was informal research taken on a whim."

"That's one hell of a whim, kid," said Bert.

"I'm impressed, Noll," said Madoka. "But there's a lot that you and everyone else in this room don't no." She then thumbed through the pages until she reached the right one. "What I have here is the transcript of my interview with Shuichi Aizawa (***), the current chief of the National Police Agency in Japan after Soichiro Yagami's death (****), as well as a detailed profile of Kira himself. Noll's profile does follow all the findings of the Kira investigation. But besides this, Mr. Aizawa told me of three unusual incidents when they apprehended Teru Mikami and Light Yagami in a warehouse. After he and his team thwarted Mikami's attempted suicide in the warehouse, in which he tried to stab himself with a pen, Mr. Aizawa said that he saw his eyes glowing. And when he interrogated him, he said Mikami stared him down with those eyes again. He said he couldn't sleep for days afterward from dreaming about them."

Chills went up the spines of Jacob and Noll.

"The second incident was when they pursued Light out of the warehouse; his partner, Touta Matsuda (*****), had shot Light before he fled, and they both found him dying near the staircase of another warehouse. He said they saw Light trying to write something on a torn sheet of paper with his own blood, but he died before he could write anything legible. They had tests done on that sheet, all of which had inconclusive results. Mr. Aizawa said he made his own test with it but wouldn't tell me the results."

"Did you ask him why?" said Martin.

"No; I don't think he would've told me, even if I did."

"Did they leave a sample or a photo of this sheet of paper?" said Noll.

"Mr. Aizawa didn't allow me a sample, but he did give me a photograph of it. It's in the folder with the rest of the papers." She then flipped through more sheets of the transcript before continuing, "The third incident occurred when Mikami died in prison on February 7th, presumably of a heart attack, but the jury's still out on that one. Nobody really knows how he died; some say he committed suicide, but there were no self-inflicted strangulation marks on his neck, no ingested poison in his blood, and the guard on duty didn't see or hear anything unusual when he died. Noll, did you come across anything like this in your part of the case?"

"Yes, I did. All twelve victims of the 1979 William Street case, including Jennifer Cooley and Callie Meiler, as well as Evan Moore the year before, had similar inconclusive deaths."

"And," added Martin, "six of the twenty-three deaths from the current case—Lindsey Havershim, Alison Craton, Janis Wexler, Martha Anderson, Lesley O'Conner and Mindy Feraway—are still inconclusive. Do you think the Kira case has any connection to our own?"

Madoka said, "On those grounds, yes."

Everybody tensed on her answer; for Jacob and Albert, both sweating bullets, it was a nightmare come true all over again. Another worst-case scenario.

"Hold it," said Laurence, "are you telling us Kira was behind the murders here in England?"

"Or someone like Kira."

"Do you think," said Terry, "this someone is a copycat?"

"I was thinking about that on the plane ride. But after hearing Noll's input, I don't think so."

"Then what do you think?" said Father Carmyne.

"I'm not sure. You see, it all hinges on how Kira and the spirit from this case killed their victims. So far, I'm drawing a blank. And that still doesn't explain how the two other killers from this case, this woman and this older man Noll mentioned, tie into this. Does anyone here have any ideas?"

Nobody said anything, not even Noll. But he was thinking about her words, rolling the possibilities round and round in his head. No smoking gun yet; this was harder than he thought. In his analytical mind, he knew without a doubt that all planned murders had a means to an end. In other words, every planned murder needed two things: an intent and a means to carry out that intent. He knew the spirit's intent was to fulfill its sick-twisted designs of revenge. But the means to do it still eluded him. He knew the answer was there somewhere; even a supernatural murder needed some means, some method, to make it work. There just had to be a method to all this seeming madness. Noll cursed himself for not finding it yet.

"Nobody knows," said Martin. "Can you by any chance give us something to go on? Anything that can shed some light on this?"

"Actually, I do... I think," and she got out a CD from the manila folder. "This disk contains some compelling footage. I had Mr. Aizawa make a copy of it after he showed me the video. It's a compilation of four videos in one. The first one involves the deaths of two criminals, the next two involve the deaths of two news anchors, and the last one involves the deaths of three cops. Noll, may I use your laptop for a bit? It will just be for a bit." When he assented, she popped out the old disk and popped in the new one. "Now, I have to warn you before I show this. The footage is really graphic, so if at any point anyone here feels uncomfortable, then you don't have to watch. You can listen if you still want to, but you don't have to watch."

"Don't worry," said Terry. "After going through everything Noll showed us, I think most of us can manage it."

Mai wasn't managing too well, though. She gritted her teeth and dug her fingers deeper into the sofa cushion, thinking, Breath, Mai. Just breath, and you'll be fine. I hope. She gulped.

"We'll see when you watch it," and Madoka clicked play.

On the screen were four black letters that spelled the word, KIRA, in capitals against a white background. Silence. Then an ominous voice said, "I am Kira, the divine judge of good and evil. If you do not believe me, then I will prove it to all you doubting masses. At seven o'clock tomorrow night, two criminals shall die at the Tobiwaka Penitentiary, Seichi Machiba and Seiji Machiba. Do not even try to protect them from my wrath; if you do, you shall suffer the consequences for acting as accomplices. These two have committed wrongs against humanity, and so they shall have justice enacted over them for the sake of all that is good and just. For I am Justice. In me is the hope for all humanity's salvation from the horrors of evil; through me is the way to the straight and narrow path of righteousness. Follow me; walk not along the path of the wicked. Heed not their works, nor their lies. Heed the words of your Savior."

She paused it.

Again, everyone was shocked, but none more so than Jacob and Father Carmyne. Guilt pulled on their hearts. Those words spoke to them like a sermon to a guilty conscience. They remembered how they were forced to abandon Reynard Malders in that cave. The two were boys then, barely at the beginning of manhood when such a heavy weight had been placed on their shoulders. It was a burden they carried with Evan Moore and Lean Gordon, their bonds strengthening as their fortitude grew weaker, till one by one they were taken. With just two left, their burden grew on ever-weakening shoulders. How much more before their backs broke? How much longer before they get crushed? Neither wanted to know.

As for Noll, he was less shocked and more angry. He found himself glaring at the screen, remembering his conversation with the spirit in the insane asylum. He squeezed his fist till his knuckles were bone-white, which Madoka noticed.

"Noll, it looks like you have something to say about this."

"I do. When I talked to the spirit possessing Ms. Fowler, I noticed the same string of rhetoric. Kira and Reynard Malders think along the same lines; they both think themselves righteous in their convictions, though what drives them are completely different. Kira had noble ambitions and used his means, whatever they were, to lead people to righteousness as he knew it, while Malders killed out of retribution for what he thought was an unforgivable sin exacted against him. Their methods were the same; the difference between them is the difference between fighting for justice and fighting for gain."

"Do you really think," said Jacob, "that Reynard Malders could be capable of something like that? What if he wasn't in his right mind, or maybe it's another man?"

"The Reynard Malders you knew is dead. What I saw back their was a monster."

"That's exactly my point."

"Mr. Meiler, I'm sure you've seen more than your fair share of monsters, but don't let your past feelings for an old friend cloud your reason."

The old man squeezed his hand into a fist. "And what about you? Your foolishness almost cost you your life."

"At least I'm not in denial about it."

"You don't know the meaning of denial, boy!"

"Will you two please calm down?" said Martin. "This is a house, not a boxing ring. And for God's sake, Noll, don't put people down." (Noll glared.) "Even when it's the truth, never put people down." Then Martin sighed. "Continue, Ms. Mori."

"Noll, you're only half-right in this one. Believe it or not, Mr. Aizawa told me this was a copycat. He said there were several copycats his team apprehended, and all of them had the same method of killing. But he noticed there was a slight difference between the copycats and the original. The next two videos will show why," and she fast-forwarded it and clicked play.

On the next video were three anchors reporting on the six o'clock evening news of the Taiyou TV channel. One was a man with two women on either side of him. The usual talk of the day's events, mostly centering on the Kira murders, began like clockwork.

"Hello everyone; this is Akibono Akitoki reporting live on today's edition of Taiyou 'No-Spin' News. With me for discussion are Hitomi Inuzane and Chiyo Chaya. Now we begin with yesterday's killings, the double murders of the sibling convicts Seichi Machiba and Seiji Machiba. That message was the biggest development the NPA could hope for. Ms. Inuzane, let's start with you—"

Akibono stopped and looked shocked for no reason. He was sweating profusely and panting.

"Mr. Akitoki, are you all right?" said Chiyo.

He wasn't all right. He knew that for a fact, as his strength rapidly left him with the stopping of his heart. With everything he could muster, he rose from his seat. But no sooner had he risen, when he fell like a sack of potatoes onto the table.

"Oh my God, what happened?" said Hitomi.

"He's dying! Someone get an ambulance!"

"Oh God!"

"Check for a pulse; just put your fingers to his neck. Will you people do something, instead of just standing there like a bunch of idiots? I swear to God!"

The video kept playing, and Madoka didn't stop it. Soon the next video popped onto the screen. It was just a few minutes after the first broadcast on another channel on Tokyo TV. This time, two men were flanking one woman in the center. Things were getting interesting, indeed.

"Hello, again. This is Hideo Kurasawa on the news alert, and we've just received word about our friends from the Taiyou channel. This is not a setup; this is real. Anchorman Akibono Akitoki has just suffered a heart attack and is now being rushed to the Chugai Hospital as I speak. Mr. Eiji, what does this mean for the safety of the press?"

No sooner had Hideo spoken when he himself felt something inside him go terribly wrong. For him, it was really quick; he fell backward into unconsciousness in no time.

"Dear God, not again!" said Mr. Eiji. "Someone help me pick him up! Damn, this guy's heavy!"

"Ah shit!"

"You there, call in an ambulance; you got a cellphone on you?"

"Yeah, I have one, but it's out of batteries!"

"Get me another one! And hurry, man; he doesn't have a lot of time!"

"Does anyone here have a working cellphone in this building?"

Madoka paused it.

Everybody had turned white. Luella was beginning to tremble to the tempo of her trembling nerves, as Martin held her close trying not to show his fear and failing at it. Albert and Jacob had seen this before, but they never got used to it. Madoka was biting her lower lip, trying to steady her nerves, while Mai squeezed ever tighter onto the sofa cushion and began to sweat. The only two that seemed to keep their composure were Lin and Noll, though it was tenuous at that.

"Do any of you notice something here?" said Madoka.

"Yeah," said Bert, "the victims aren't criminals but innocent lives."

"Exactly. Whereas the original Kira had rules he stuck to without fail, this one didn't have that discipline. In fact, this one flat-out lied to everybody."

"Yeah, but there's one other thing I noticed. I want to point out something else to you. Besides being in the newsroom with three people, there is one thing they have in common." Bert pointed at the screen. "You can see their names on the nameplates on both tables. My guess is that he needs to know a person's name in order to kill. I just don't know how knowing someone's name can kill someone."

Noll had been thinking about it the whole time. In particular, he'd been comparing it to the Orikiri-sama game from the Sakauchi case. "I think I got it."

"Tell us what you know," said Madoka.

"There's only one way to kill someone by using a name. And that's by cursing them. But sometimes curses need a few more things to make it work. Besides knowing a name, you need to know what that person looks like. You can get that by actually seeing them, or by having a representative object, like a photograph or even a doll, as Voodoo requires. Also, curses sometimes involve a word or two on how that person should die. But more importantly, for all of this to work, you need a medium to write it on."

Believe it or not, Mai made another connection. "You mean, like ahn omamori (******)?" said Mai in accented English, much to Noll's astonishment.

For a second or two, he could hardly speak, but he regained enough of himself to answer, again forgetting to answer in Japanese. "Exactly. Only in this case, it's reversed. Instead of having the name of a deity on a strip of paper wishing good luck, you have the name of a person on it wishing bad luck or worse."

Mai felt another chill go through her.

"The only question I have is what type of curse it is."

"You're on the right track, Noll," said Father Carmyne, "but I think it's something different. I think it's more like a ledger or log of some kind used to record names and other particulars. In Christianity, especially in the Catholic sect, there are usually two ledgers used to record this. You see, everybody's name is in both ledgers. One records people's sins, while the other records people's virtues; your fate (either Heaven, or Hell, or Purgatory) is determined by the number of sins to virtues. Do you see what I mean?"

"You're saying it's something else besides a curse?"

"Curses are man-made. No matter how devastating they are, they have limits; those limits are set by mortals. What I'm saying is that whoever committed these murders must have had something wholly supernatural, something not conceived by human minds, something that shouldn't even be within the power of a mortal, let alone in possession of it."

"Then where do you think they got this ledger?"

"God knows... And I am not joking; I'm damn serious."

Noll sat silent, thinking of his conversation with the spirit back in the asylum: "You don't know what fate is. You have never felt its weight in the palm of your hand..." What was the spirit talking about? thought Noll. Was he just making things up, or was he describing an actual object that you can hold in your hand? It was a ledger; the spirit was talking about a ledger, an object of supernatural or paranormal or even diabolical origin that allows the user to decide the fates of mortal humans. He leaned back into the sofa and turned to the father. "Your right. When I talked to the spirit in that room, he was describing a ledger, a death ledger. He used it to control others to kill people."

The father felt something lurch in his stomach. It's not too often he regretted being right, but now he hated it.

Silence ensued.

"Noll, Father Carmyne," said Madoka, "what you said makes sense, but there's a problem with it."

"And what's that?" said Noll.

"It's in the last video. By the way, do any of you still remember the incident at the Sakura TV station?"

"I'd be surprised if someone didn't remember it," said Terry. "Is that connected to this, too?"

"I'm afraid it is. Try and spot where the problem is," and she clicked play.

The screen switched to the last video on the disc, showing the front facade of the station. An armored truck, the kind that holds millions in money and gold, had smashed through the doors of the station not too long ago. There was panic in the street, much of the commotion audible through the speakers. It was pure pandemonium out there.

"Are we on? Come on, man, are we on?" said an announcer outside the camera's view, "Yes? Good. This is Tanaka Kouki of NHN Golden News on the most recent turn of events. As far as I know, we still don't know who drove that armored vehicle into the Sakura TV station. We are doing everything we can to have it covered without endangering our lives. I've also just received news that nobody inside that building was seriously hurt; luckily, this happened after seven o'clock in the evening on a Sunday, so very few people have any reason for being out here tonight."

The sound of a police car came through the speakers, the car itself parking just in front of the entrance where the armored truck was.

"Ah, we have the police coming in just now. They're rushing over here to check on the driver of that armored vehicle and anybody else who may have been involved in that crash. They're coming out of the car as I speak and... GOOD GOD! What just happened?" (Inaudible mumbles.) "Holy shit. Sorry, folks; pardon my language, but we just saw the two officers that came out of their car just collapse right in front of us. This has never ever happened before."

"Hey, maybe we should help them," shouted a far-off voice.

"Later; I'm in the middle of doing an announcement... Sorry folks, but there's been some technical difficulties with our equipment. So far, there might be two, maybe three, casualties in this altercation, should the driver of that armored vehicle be unable to help himself...Oh, what's this? Another person has come up to help the two that are fallen. No, I correct that; he's trying the gain access into the building... Oh, no! NO! DAMN IT, NOT AGAIN!..." (More inaudible mumbling.) "Sorry folks, but that...that other person just collapsed in front of us. Hey, is an ambulance on the way?" (Inaudible mumbling.) "When?" (Inaudible mumbling.) "It should've been here by now."

(Inaudible mumbling.)

"You idiot, that's the wrong address; you got two of the numbers switched! God, you are an idiot! Turn off the camera; we gotta help these guys..."

She stopped it.

Everyone sat there, silent and stiff. This footage was six-year-old news but still carried the horror that had dug itself into the minds and hearts of millions who watched.

Mai was one of those millions, barely eleven years old when she first saw that footage; her mother was still alive then. At that age, she was a child and still is to some extent at sixteen. That fateful Sunday, it made her lose her appetite, and when she went to bed, she couldn't sleep. That event was a turning point in her life; that night, she had the first truly horrifying imaginings a child her age could've imagined. Her room didn't feel safe anymore; she kept seeing awful things rising from under the bed, ready to munch on her. That night, at midnight in fact, she went to her mother's bed and slept in her arms. But even that didn't help; the monsters still capered and taunted and leered at her, coming closer and closer. And she found herself gripping her mother's torso, her eyes shut tight, her mind repeating a silent prayer. She felt that way then, and she felt that way now as she clung to Noll.

"Mai. Mai, let go of me."

Only then did she realize what she was doing. Mai jerked off of him like a rocket from the launch pad, her face as red as a beet. "Sohrry, I didn't mean to do thaht!"

"Oh, that's all right, dear," said Luella, smiling at her. "Think nothing of it. You may cling to your Noll as much as I cling to my Martin over here." Then she winked at her.

Mai was finding deeper shades of red by the second. "Thahnk you."

Sniggers fluttered through the room, relieving the tension of before. Until...

"This is no laughing matter," said Noll.

"Geez," said Madoka, "you don't have to be such a sour puss all the time."

"That's beside the point." He then leaned forward and pointed to the screen. "Rewind it to the moment just before the two cops were about to leave their car and press play."

Madoka did so. "Did you notice something? Because no names appear on this footage."

"Pause it."

And she did so. On the screen were two dead bodies next to the car and one person trying to get into the station.

Jacob was leaning forward as well, scrutinizing the image with his sharp eyes and racking at his old brain to spot a clue, even the slightest indication of one.

"Who's the one going into the station?" said Noll.

"He was Hirokazu Ukita (*******), a member of the Kira investigation. He was the first member to get killed."

"You have any idea why he was out there?"

"He was trying to get to Soichiro Yagami, who drove the armored truck through the front doors." Madoka looked at him. "Noll, what are you thinking?"

Silence; not another word from Noll, as he thought of his next question. "Did Mr. Yagami survive this incident?"

"Yeah, he did. Mr. Aizawa said Mr. Yagami was out of the truck, though you can't him see inside the building. It looks like you're on to something, I can tell."

And he was. While everyone looked at the screen stumped, something was nagging at Noll, trying to call out to him through the picture. Then he had a brain wave. "I think I figured it out." (Everyone turned to him.) "If everyone who appeared in this shot died, then I can safely assume that who ever killed these people was watching this as it happened. If that's so, then the announcer, the people that were hounding him behind the camera and the people inside the building, including Soichiro Yagami, must have lived through this because they weren't seen; they were all hidden from view. If they were all hidden from view, then their names were hidden from view."

"That would make perfect sense," said Jacob, "except that nobody in this shot had nameplates. And even if they did, look at the picture quality; I highly doubt a television screen would show a name plate at night clearly enough to be legible."

"And," added Madoka, "you have to remember that every member of the Kira investigation went under an alias. Even if a killer were to have seen a name, it wouldn't be the real one."

Again, Noll smirked that all-knowing smirk of his. "If that were the case, none of the cops in this shot would've died. Let me explain. Let's assume that writing a name in a ledger is a supernatural way of killing; that's a given. But this still has limits; you need to know the name and the picture of the person you want to kill. If that's the case, then wouldn't it be easier to have a supernatural way of seeing a person's name?"

"Noll, where are you going with this?"

Noll sighed. "I'll explain this in as few words as I can,"—and he looked at Mai in particular—"so everyone here will know what I'm talking about. Ms. Fowler was possessed when I talked to her in the asylum. And when she attacked me, I saw a change in her eyes, which were focused on me as the spirit got ready to possess me."

Goosebumps formed on Jacob's skin, and his heart began to race, as the awful visions came rushing through him again. In particular, he remembered the horrors of the 1977 case, when his first partner (Thomas Mathesen) was mortally wounded. He remembered going up the stairs of the warehouse, dreading what he might run into. Until he passed a door that was slightly ajar and opened it. And there he was: the man in the white suit. Turning around until he faced him dead in the eye. And those eyes were glowing with all the rage of an inferno from Hell that left him shaken to the core. His knuckles shone white as he gripped at his knees again.

Father Carmyne said, "Noll, are you talking about the evil eye?"

"Yes, but given it's implications, I wouldn't call it that."

"Then what would you call it?"

"The Eye of God."

"But that's blasphemy!" The father stood up. "The Eye of God has nothing to do with murder!"

"You're right, it doesn't. Unless that power is in the hands of a mortal."

"And you expect me to believe that?"

"Sit down, Anthony," said Jacob. "He knows what he's talking about. Your religious convictions are hindering you," and he stared his friend back onto the sofa. He then leaned forward and eyed the kid across from him. "Noll, I've been a cop for almost half a century, but your conclusions have shaken me more than almost everything I've suffered since the death of my wife. Are you saying that my long-dead friend, Reynard Malders, has been orchestrating a thirty-year conspiracy to kill me and Anthony (and all those who've come to know us) in an act of vengeance for something that happened over sixty years ago? Is that what all this boils down to?"

Believe it or not, Noll smiled. "That's what I've been trying to tell you. I'm glad you finally have my understanding."

"Oh, I've got your understanding all right, now that you've pieced together enough of the puzzle. In fact, quite frankly, you have me awestruck. In two days—two days—, you've managed to connect all the links that have eluded us for almost fifty years, since I falsely arrested Benny Fashanu. No wonder Lean Gordon took a liking to you."

"You said 'us'. What do you mean by us?"

Jacob looked at Father Carmyne to his right, then back at the kid. "Noll, there's much more to this than you know," and he looked at Luella and Martin.

Noll followed his gaze and stared at his parents, for the first time at a loss for words. The moment had come; like it or not, now it was time for Martin to spill the beans.

(To be continued...)

A/N: And here's the next instalment of The Whitechapel Case... Hope you got a picture of how much of a genius Noll is in this chapter, because he's kind of like L from Death Note, though there are many subtle differences between the two... Anyway, hope you enjoyed it, and don't forget to comment... vote, if you like it... ( ^_^ )

(* Teru Mikami from Tsugumi Ohba & Takeshi Obata's Death Note. See Death Note on Wikipedia.)

(** Light Yagami from Tsugumi Ohba & Takeshi Obata's Death Note. See Death Note on Wikipedia.)

(*** Suichi Aizawa from Tsugumi Ohba & Takeshi Obata's Death Note. See Death Note on Wikipedia.)

(**** Soichiro Yagami from Tsugumi Ohba & Takeshi Obata's Death Note. See Death Note on Wikipedia.)

(***** Omamori. See Omamori on Wikipedia.)

(****** Hirokazu Ukita from Tsugumi Ohba & Takeshi Obata's Death Note. See Death Note on Wikipedia.)