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 3: The Usual Suspects
Chapter 5

Day 3—Madoka took off her coat, draped it around the back of a chair and sat at the table, watching the two men eat their grinders sandwiches, their faces hard-set and grim, their eyes somber. She found it disconcerting, even for Lin, whose taciturn disposition put a damper on most light-hearted occasions. It left her wondering what must have transpired during her absence. It must have been really heavy, she thought. God, I hope it had nothing to do with Somina Gavvers; I don't know what I'll do if it turns out she did it.

The thought left her unnaturally silent.

Which Lin noticed. After he finished eating, he said, "Madoka, what's wrong?"

"Oh! No, it's nothing," she lied. "I was just going over some of the findings in my head," and she got up, went over to the computer station where she compiled a stack of printouts containing dossiers and photocopies of news articles; she said, "Okay, I've done some research in a different tangent just to cover all the bases, but before I reveal my findings, I'm kind of curious what you guys were talking about. Did either of you find anything from the Robert Coltraine case of any relevance to our case?"

Lin glanced at Carmyne's direction as if to ask permission to reveal his sources, and Carmyne acquiesced with a nod of his head. "Father Carmyne and I were discussing the events after Robert Coltraine's exorcism, during which he gave me the seven diary pages missing from the original nine found in the public records, totaling sixteen pages in all."

"Wait, are you talking about the missing diary pages from the late Father Bowdern?"

Lin nodded; then Carmyne added, "And combine that with Lin's findings, we came to the conclusion that all the clergy involved in that exorcism—at least the ones we could verify—died of unknown causes, starting with Archbishop Joseph Ritter in 1967 all the way to Father Walter Halloran in 2005. And although all of them died of unknown causes, Joseph Ritter was the only one that showed no signs of blood loss, while the rest starting with Father Raymond J. Bishop's death in 1978 onwards show those signs."

Oh my God, this is crazy, thought Madoka, oblivious to her own gaping mouth. "You mean, Reynard Malders was behind those deaths, too?"

"I'm afraid so," and the old man sighed again, resigning himself to the horror of it all. "It's beginning to look more and more like the Kira case with every detail we manage to uncover. But believe me, it gets worse, much worse."

You're kidding me, right? What could be worse than that? she thought, taking her seat between the two across from them. "Please don't tell me you actually believe in Noll."

Both men looked at each other, neither of them knowing what to make of her question, then back at a distressed Madoka biting down on her lower lip.

Carmyne said, "Believe what?"

"I mean, do you believe Noll's implication that Somina Gavvers had anything to do with Gene's death? I know he has his reasons, but it's unthinkable; I've known her since middle school. She would never do anything like that to Gene, never! Please tell me you guys don't believe that; otherwise... I don't wanna go there."

Neither man expected that out of the woman, especially Lin; in fact, he was taken aback a little. Rarely had he ever found Madoka so distressed over anything, let alone over anything Noll had said. Damn it, Noll, if you don't start learning how to be more considerate to others, I'll make you learn the hard way, if I have to! He said, "I have no reason to believe it. I don't even think he was in his right mind when he reached those conclusions—at least, not since his run-in with Reynard at the asylum yesterday."

"I can tell you're upset," said Carmyne.

"I'm more than upset; I am pissed off. When he implicated Somina, I honestly thought I was gonna explode. If Martin and Luella weren't there, I would've screamed at him! God, if he ever says something like that again, I'll show him a piece of my mind next time!"

That last outburst was enough for both men to keep their mouths shut. Hell hath no fury like an angry woman, and Madoka was one angry woman.

Noticing this, she regained her composure. "I'm sorry. I'm venting on you guys; I didn't know what came over me."

"That's all right, Ms. Mori," said Carmyne, "it's all right. Better to let out all the anger now than to keep it locked up; grudges have a tendency to wear you down the longer you keep it inside. Believe me, I know."

"Thank you for understanding. But I'm worried about it, too. I mean, I don't think Noll's right about her, but..." And then her words drifted off into silence. There's always a chance he could be right, Madoka; he's rarely ever been wrong in his life. If only I knew about his suspicions before hand, I would've talked about it with him, but then... Then... God, I don't even wanna think about it!

"I don't think she did it," said Lin, reading her expression.

She looked at him and said, "You really think so?"

He nodded. "For once, I think Noll is wrong in at least one of his deductions."

That seemed to do the trick; the scowl on her face brightened into a semblance of good cheer, and she was smiling her usual smile again. "Unlike someone I know, at least you have good manners. I guess I taught you well, didn't I?"

Lin opened his mouth to say something but got tongue-tied. For the second time today, he could not respond to something she said, and the way she said it put several inappropriate thoughts in his head, making him divert his gaze in embarrassment. But after a bit, he looked up and gave her the slightest hint of a smile; embarrassment wasn't too bad when connected to her.

Which wasn't lost on old Father Carmyne. He said, smiling, "You're lucky to have her, Lin. Few men get to meet their better halves."

That earned the old man a death glare from Lin, causing the father to raise his hands in a placating gesture.

"Now, now, Lin; what did I tell you about manners?" Lin looked at the woman to his right, then at the old man across from him leaning back from his glares. "Come on, Lin, you need to lighten up a little; otherwise, you'll turn into Noll. You don't want that now, do you?"

Lin shook his head, then looked at the old man once more, then back at Madoka before he finally decided to relax, much to Carmyne's relief.

After dodging that bullet, the father said, "All right, back to business. Anyway, as I was saying, it's much worse than even I could've realized."

"How much worse?" said Madoka, dreading his answer.

The old man opened his mouth to say it, but nothing came out, as if the facts of the preceding conversation with Lin was too big for him to divulge without him choking on his own words.

So Lin said, "It's about Evan Moore's possession of the death ledger."

Her eyes widened at that. "No way! Are you serious?"

Lin nodded his head. "In 1965, during his editor's internship in St. Louis, Evan Moore interviewed Joseph Ritter on the Robert Coltraine exorcism, and I think he obtained the ledger from there. He took the ledger with him to England afterward and kept it hidden until his death."

"Okay, so that's that, then. Well, who got it afterwards? Who has it now?"

"I'm still thinking on that, but I have an idea who he is."

Carmyne said, "Care to tell us who that might be?"

Silence. Lin took his time before deciding on his next move, weighing the pros and cons between letting it ride or waiting a little longer before he told them. Then he said, "I can't tell until we verify some things."

"Wait, what do you mean by 'we'?" said Madoka.

Lin didn't say anything; he just kept silent, but Madoka figured it out.

"Wait a minute, does this have anything to do with Noll?"

Again, Lin didn't say; he merely shook his head with a knowing glance.

"Okay, seriously, Martin talked to me about this last night. We need to be more open with each other about our findings; communication is key, you know. Otherwise, you and I are gonna be in big trouble when Martin finds out."

"You mean, if he finds out," said Lin.

Madoka crossed her arms across her chest. "Since when did you start scheming behind Martin's back?"

"Now don't jump to conclusions, Ms. Mori," said Carmyne. "I'm sure Lin has legitimate reasons for doing this. Right Lin? You do have a good reason, don't you?"

"Yes, I do. And yes, those reasons include Noll. We need to find the whereabouts of this missing death ledger, but I don't want to compromise anyone else's safety by revealing who might have it. As far as we know, Reynard Malders is still looking for that ledger, and from Noll's account of Lean Gordon's death, I have every reason to believe that he will stop at nothing to get it."

All was silent after that. Neither Madoka nor Father Carmyne could think of anything to add to that, while the steady downpour had ceased with the last few drops easing off over their heads, leaving a wake of silence as absorbing as Lin's words.

Madoka sighed, then said, "You're dead-set on this, aren't you?"

Lin nodded. "If you feel you have to tell Martin about this, then do it; but don't tell Luella about this under any circumstances. I don't want her any angrier at me than she already is."

"Don't worry, I won't tell her; and if Martin asks, I'll tell him not to mention a word of this to her. But please, please, keep Noll out of trouble this time. He really scared us back there when we saw Noll on the floor like that; I never want to see Luella panic like that again. So for my sake, for Martin's sake, and especially for Luella's sake, please don't let that happen again. Okay, Lin?"

Lin paused for a moment. He then did something Makoka never expected of Lin in her wildest dreams; he actually reached out and placed his hand over hers, giving a gentle squeeze and letting it rest there. "I will."

Silence.

The contact wasn't more than a few seconds, but in those seconds, butterflies filled Madoka's stomach, and her heart rate sky-rocketed to infinity and beyond. And for a scant millisecond of that time, Madoka thought she heard the words, 'I do' in place of 'I will,' making her jaw drop without her noticing.

Only when Lin let go did she realize what she was doing, and she clammed up and blushed. When the shame went away, she said, "Wow, Lin, I didn't expect that out of you."

Lin was about to respond when he noticed Carmyne looking intently on the couple, all smiles from his eyes to the dimples in his cheeks.

Madoka followed Lin's gaze and stared at the old man in silence, barely knowing what to say.

So the old man spoke up, "Besides church services, I can do marriage ceremonies as well, if either of you are interested."

Madoka said, "That'd be gr—"

"That's none of your business," said Lin, giving the father a menacing glare.

"Lin, that's rude!" But then she rolled her eyes, thinking, Ah well, Lin will always be Lin; it was very nice of him to do that though. I wonder how Mai's handling Noll at the moment; I hope she's having an easier time with him than I have with Lin, but knowing Noll, I doubt it.

Nevertheless, Carmyne got the picture, leaning back on his seat and raising his hands up in surrender—and feeling the intensity of Lin's glare between his eyes, where he felt a slight headache coming on.

"All right, that's enough, you two. Let's get back to the case," and Madoka got up and stretched for a bit before sitting down and assuming her role in the investigation. Lin and Carmyne followed suit and got with the program. She said, "Okay... Is there anything more I need to know about before I start?"

"Well, besides who Lin has in mind for hiding the ledger," said Carmyne, "we don't have anything else to show. But you said you went on another tangent in your research. Can you explain what you meant by that?"

"Sure," and she picked up her stack of papers and thumbed through them. "I wanted to cover the Robert Coltraine exorcism from every possible angle, and I mostly came up with documents that didn't have anything to do with either that case or our case. Then I came across a missing-persons report from the Metro Police in Washington D.C. dated January 18, 1975; the name listed as missing is Arnold Coltraine, a nephew of Robert Coltraine from one of his cousins. Now get this: when I did more research on him, I found out he had a history of delusional psychosis in his medical reports, much of it centering on thoughts of someone or something controlling his thoughts, feelings and even actions. At first, I didn't know if this kind of delusion was prevalent among family members or only pertained to Arnold, so I did more research on Robert Coltraine's medical files. They were hard to find and harder to get, but I managed to get the information."

"Robert Coltraine's true identity was off the public records," said Lin. "How could you get information on him, when his name is supposed to be a pseudonym?"

Madoka smiled at this. "I have my ways of getting it. Now, here's the weird part," and she flipped through a few more pages and said, "Robert Coltraine and Arnold Coltraine both had a history of these delusions when they were young. If you accept Noll's assertion that Reynard used mind control on others, then Robert had these delusions during his childhood years, making him susceptible to Reynard's influence. The same goes for Arnold Coltraine, though he had them years later in his middle teens. The difference between them is a matter of degree: for Robert, he had a latent version of these delusions that disappeared as he grew older; but for Arnold, his delusions were much stronger, only getting worse as he grew more violent from his teens into his early twenties.

"As such, Arnold was admitted to the Psychiatric Institute of Washington (*) in August 1, 1974, where he stayed until he disappeared from the premises on January 15, 1975, three days before police filed a missing-persons report on him. But even during Arnold's confinement at the hospital, a lot of the nurses and staff there heard him talking to someone when they left him alone after they administered his medications. During the five months he stayed there, the doctors asked him who Arnold was talking to, to which he always replied, 'To God.' Now, I'm not sure what you two were talking about before I got here, but I think that corroborates Noll's idea to the letter. What are your thoughts on this?"

At first, Lin and Carmyne just sat there dumbfounded, both wondering how far-reaching Reynard's influence extended. One thing was certain, though: some details of Noll's reasoning were faulty, but his general premise was correct. In the end, neither man could fathom the extent and said so.

But Madoka wasn't done yet; she flipped another page and continued, "Okay, besides Arnold Coltraine's medical records, I also researched his academic records. As it turns out, before he got admitted to the Psychiatric Institute of Washington, he was a medical student in Georgetown University's School of Medicine (**), working on his bachelor's degree in surgery and dermatology. Now what are your thoughts?"

Now there was no doubt. Lin and Carmyne looked at each other, before turning to Madoka again. For Carmyne, this newest development proved to be a curve ball that he struggled to account for. But for Lin, he found the endless circle of happenstance starting the close; for him, if there was a perfect candidate that fits Martin's supposition of a murderer with anatomical knowledge, Arnold Coltraine provided the closest fit.

But he had to make sure, so Lin said, "From Martin's own notes on this case, is Arnold Coltraine left handed?"

Now it was Madoka's turn to be awestruck. "Yeah, he is. Lin, how in the world did Martin know that? I mean, he couldn't have known about Arnold Coltraine, could he?"

"He didn't have to. He worked his way to that conclusion from the other side of it, by studying the autopsy photos of the victims."

She bit her lower lip at this fact, saying, "I see," and then she arranged the papers and placed them in a manilla folder before getting up and heading to her workstation. There she loitered for a moment, touching the manila envelope sandwiched in between the leaves of an empty file folder, thinking of the most inexplicable development in the last hour since her return from the Clocktower Cafe. She took out the envelope and said, "Uh, Lin, will you come with me downstairs to the lobby area? I need to talk to you with Somina Gavvers about something that just came up."

Lin got up, saying, "Is this about Noll's suspicions about Somina Gavvers?"

"No, it's not that. At least, I don't think so. I'll fill you in on the way to the lobby. Then we'll talk to her."

"What's that you're carrying?" said Carmyne, getting up as well. "Maybe it has some bearing on the case?"

"No, I don't think it's related to the case. This is something between Lin and myself." And Martin and Luella, by the looks of it, she added in her thoughts.

"Do you want me to come with you? You seem rather perplexed at something."

"Don't worry; we'll be back in a few minutes," and without further ado, Madoka headed through the double doors with Lin following close behind, leaving the old man standing there perplexed and curious. And, to some extent, rather worried.

Heading down the stairs past students, professors and casual visitors, Lin noted Madoka's silence throughout much of the way down, as she barely talked or even looked at him, merely keeping her gaze to the floor. And on stealing glance after glance at the rigid set of her face, the look of puzzlement and worry in her eyes, he looked at the manila envelope with a bulge in it, containing something inside. He asked, "What's wrong?"

Madoka halted at the last landing before they reached the lobby, holding on to the envelope in sweaty palms and still keeping her thoughtful gaze to the floor. She said, "Lin, do you remember how it used to be ten years ago during our first three months with Luella and Martin?"

"Yeah," he said, wondering where that question came from. "I still remember those phone calls in the middle of the night, but that was ten years ago. Why bring it up now?"

As if to answer him, she held out the envelope. "I received this from Somina Gavvers after I came back from the Cafe," and she showed him the back of the envelope without a postal stamp or a return address. "It has the sender's name, 'R. Ruvie', and the names of the recipients, 'To Martin Davis and Luella Davis'. Apart from that, I don't know if this is a prank or something serious, but something tells me that it's serious. I just don't know what that might be, though."

"Did you ask Somina who gave it to her?"

"Yeah. She said a handsome man gave it to her for safe keeping, until someone close to the recipients on this envelope could take it to them."

"Did she mention the person's name?"

"I think she said, 'Giovanni' or 'Gevanni' or something like that. Anyway, I can tell there's a tape in this thing, so I'm assuming this Giovanni guy wants to show us something. But this R. Ruvie guy—I know I heard of that name from somewhere before, but I can't exactly pinpoint where. Lin, do you have any idea who Giovanni or R. Ruvie are?"

Lin drew a blank, and shook his head, then added, "Did Somina know anything about either one?"

"Nope. She has no idea who they are. In fact, she asked me if I knew anything about either of them, but I said I had no clue. But since it's addressed to Luella and Martin, I'm hoping they know something of at least one of these guys. Then I noticed—" She stopped; her expression became more thoughtful and worried.

Lin waited, then said, "Noticed what?"

"I'm not sure. When I asked Somina about this Giovanni guy, she just clammed up on me; I could tell she was upset about something, though. I have to ask her again," and without waiting for Lin to reply, Madoka went down the last flight of steps to the ground floor of the lobby, heading straight for the reception desk where Somina finished re-cataloguing this morning's book returns.

Lin followed close, feeling something urgent pushing at the back of his mind without having the slightest clue what it was.

When she reached the reception desk, she asked Somina the same question pertaining to Giovanni and got the same reaction. Somina stood there, silent as a clam, which worried the hell out of her friend.

"Come on, Somina, you need to tell me what's wrong, so we can help you."

Somina just stood there for some moments, seemingly caught between a dilemma of telling her or not, with the same indecisive air that Madoka knew to be out-of-character for her. To Madoka, she seemed perturbed, even paranoid in her evasive silence. Then it hit her.

"Somina, you were late today. That was the first time in a long time since I ever saw you late for anything in my life. Is there something you need to tell us?"

At this, Somina blanched and gulped before finally nodding her head. For a spell, she remained silent, then said almost in a whisper, "I know this sounds weird, but I think someone's trying to frame me or suspects me of something."

"W-what do you mean by that?" Silence. "Does it have anything to do with Noll?"

"I don't know exactly, but I feel he suspects me of something. Did he say anything to you?"

At this, Madoka sighed. "Yeah, he did. He flat out accused you of killing his brother, Gene, while he was in Japan."

At this, Somina gaped and said, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on a minute. He actually thinks I killed his brother?"

"Yeah, that, or he thinks you played a part in making that happen."

"But that's crazy! I never even went to Japan. I bought a plain ticket to take a vacation there, but I had too much work to do that time, so I gave you that plain ticket, remember? Did you tell him about that?"

"Noll didn't even give me a chance to explain, before he nearly stormed out of the room to confront you. It took Luella yelling at him for him to change his mind, but he was still adamant on finding out one way or another."

"Hence, the little scene he caused when Noll collapsed on the floor of this lobby. Wasn't he using that psych-psycho... I don't know what it's called."

"Psychometry. And yeah. I know, I know, it's really messed up, but it gets worse. He recounted the time when Lean Gordon went missing, and you won't believe what he said afterwards."

"You're kidding. What did he say?" Somina said.

"He said that Reynard Malders took on the form of Martin Davis and killed Lean Gordon soon after you left this library, and I suspect that he thinks you had a hand in it."

This left the librarian silent for a spell, not knowing what to say to that. "Geez! That boy must really have a hard-on for me, doesn't he? If it was under different circumstances, I'd be quite flattered, but this... I-I just don't know what to say to that!"

"Then don't say anything, until I get him straightened out," Madoka said. "Before today ends, Lin and I are gonna have a little talk with him, and we'll have you cleared of all this."

"Well, good luck on that, because he seems really keen on me for some reason." Somina stayed silent for some time, looking for something to do around her desk and finding nothing to occupy he time. So she resigned herself to confiding in her friend with a sigh and said, "Listen to me, Madoka. I'm... I'm kind of scared to say this out loud, because some people might be listening in on me as I speak, but I think I'm being tailed."

"You think someone is following you?" Lin said.

The librarian took notice of the tall man for the first time and nodded her head. "I don't know who, though, but I get the feeling that someone is following me."

"Or keeping a close eye on you?" Madoka said.

"Yeah. It's really scary. I was late today, because I thought someone tailed me on my way here. I couldn't pinpoint where or even how he followed me, and I only caught a glimpse of his car when I turned a corner and looked in my rearview mirror. So I took a different route to shake him off my trail, but he kept tailing me throughout my drive and forced me to double back to my house before he finally let up. That's why I was late coming here. But then that same guy who was tailing me walks in here and gives me that envelope with a tape in it and tells me to give it to anyone who knows Martin and Luella personally."

"This Giovanni guy?"

"Yeah. I'm telling you now, this whole thing has me spooked."

"Don't worry. I'll mention this to the cops on our team. Maybe they can provide you with some protection, since it seems like you need it right now. Can you describe what he looked like when he came here?"

"Yeah. He kind of looked like an older version of Noll, actually. He's around Noll's height, has black hair, and I remember light blue eyes the most. He even has the same fashion sense as Noll, wearing a black suit and tie."

"Anything you can tell me about his demeanor?"

Somina paused a bit to think, then said, "Well, he came across as aloof to me at first, but when he talked to me about that envelope," and she pointed to the envelope in Madoka's hand, "he sent shivers down my spine. He was deadly earnest when I questioned him about it."

"What did he say?"

"He said that Roger Ruvie and the Davises were acquaintances at one time and wanted to bring an urgent message to them on something important. He didn't say what it was, though—just said that confidentiality was paramount. Do you have any idea what it means?"

"No, though it kind of worries me. I mean," and Madoka glanced at Lin, remembering their earlier conversation on the landing, "whoever's been tailing you also has something in it for Luella and Martin."

Lin got the message and said to both women, "We'll see about that. Also, does this library have security cameras we can look into?"

"Yeah, why?" said Somina.

"We can review whatever footage they have and see where this Giovanni headed to after he left the premises. Can you give us the tape recordings?"

"I'll have to contact security to do that, but I know they phased out the tape recorders a few years ago. Whatever footage they have on the cameras are saved as download files onto the restricted servers. I can access them and burn a copy of today's recordings onto a CD for you, if that's what you need."

"That would do, yes."

"Okay, good," Somina said, before clamming up once again as if the whole world was eavesdropping on her.

And just like before, Madoka noticed and said, "Somina, what's wrong?"

The librarian wavered as if running a million important things through her head. She then looked Madoka dead in the face, almost catching her friend off guard, and said, "You're not gonna believe what happened last night. I was gonna tell you this morning, but the way Noll acted toward me has me worried."

At this, Madoka sighed, feeling sorry for her friend. "I know, I know! After you left to take Mai's photo, Noll told me to be extra careful around you before I went upstairs. And he was adamant about it, too. After everything I've done for him, he's still as cold as ever. And that's on top of all the crazy things he's been up to today!" Again, she sighed, then said, "But enough of Noll. Lin and I will talk to him later. What did you wanna talk to me about?"

Here Somina shifted her gaze on the countertop of her reception desk, letting the calm mask drop from her face in a flood of emotion. She nearly broke down, saying, "I... I had a nightmare about Noll's brother this morning. I... I... Oh my God..."

Lin and Madoka moved.

"Somina, it's okay," Madoka said, moving around the reception desk to comfort her friend amid the turning heads and concerned looks of library patrons.

Immediately, Lin walked up to the gathering crowned and said, "She's fine. She just had a rough trip coming over here."

"Is she sick?" one patron asked, amid the murmurs of fellow patrons.

"She's not. Just leave her alone for now." And on Lin went, answering questions and placating worries and discounting rumors concerning today's events, especially the ones surrounding Noll's collapse earlier.

Amidst the ruckus, Madoka said, grabbing onto the woman's trembling hands, "I'm here for you, okay? Please don't be scared. Just let it out, and I'll do my best to understand, no matter what it is." All the while, Madoka felt her heart beating a million miles a minute at the thought of Noll's accusation bearing any sort of truth.

After a time, Somina regained her composure and said, "It's Eugene. I saw Eugene's death. I have no idea how I can say this without accusing myself, but I was in that car. I don't know how, but I was in the driver's seat of that car, and I... I... I saw everything as though I was there! Like I was right in the middle of doing it, but you've gotta believe me, Madoka! I didn't kill him! I didn't! You've got to believe me!"

Here, Somina broke down in a flood of tears over her friend's shoulder, while Madoka tried everything she could to hold her own composure under the weight of a horrible possibility. Madoka comforted her friend in a motherly embrace, thinking, Damn you, Noll, I hope to God you're wrong!

Back in the restricted section of the top floor, Madoka, Lin and Father Carmyne sat down on both sides of the table with Somina Gavvers in between. All four were silent for several minutes, as though the hollowed winds of Judgement Day would sweep them up any second now. At least for Somina, however, it gave her a moment of respite, as she was just beginning to relax her trembling hands.

"Are you all right, Ms. Gavvers?" Carmyne said, reaching over across the table to place a comforting hand atop the woman's. "Do you want us to start? Or should we wait for you to recover?"

"No. I just want to get this over with," she said, sniffling her nose a bit at the residual strands of guilt tugging at her. "I'll be fine. Don't worry."

I hope so, Madoka thought. Looking at her friend so distressed sent a subtle jab through Madoka's chest, so she reached over the table and placed a comforting hand on the woman's shoulder, trying her best to ease Somina out of her worries.

"Don't worry about me," Somina said. "I'm just a little shaken up, that's all."

With that, Madoka inhaled and exhaled, then placed Somina's impromptu CD compilation in her laptop and spent the next several minutes fast forwarding and then rewinding the footage from three main camera angles overlooking the lobby area of the library. One camera angle overlooked the the front entrance, another overlooked the reception area with some audio, and the last one overlooked the sidewalk of Katherine Street with a perfect view of the Croydon Central Library's front facade.

After skimming the footage, she rewound the the CD to the first video feed overlooking the double door entrance of the library where several visitors came and went.

"There, stop it," Somina said, and Madoka paused it.

On the screen was a screenshot of several visitors coming in and out of the library lobby, and one man stood out in a black suit and tie of the the same description Somina had given them. He was in mid-stride, his gait confident and seemingly of a man who knew what he was doing.

"Do you think that's the man?" Madoka said.

"Yeah, that's him. And he has an envelope in his hand, too," and the woman pointed it out in the clutches of the man on the screen. "Hit play. See what happens next."

And so she clicked play, and the video showed the mysterious man walking straight to the reception desk and looking straight ahead. The camera shot followed the man a few more feet before the screen switched camera angles. Now it showed the camera shot of the reception desk overlooking the back of Somina's work place, where Somina herself greeted the stranger.

"Why, hello, sir," Somina said in the shot. "I've never seen you here before."

"That's because this is the first time I have entered these premises."

"Oh! Well, in that case, do you want a tour of this—?"

"No," the man interrupted, setting down the envelope with the tape in it, before taking out a wallet with his credentials on it and showing it to her in full view of the camera shot; the camera then zoomed in for a closer look at his credentials, as he said, "My name is Stephen Giovanni of the Special Provision for Kira, acting under orders to give this envelope to the recipients Martin and Luella Davis."

"Stop it," Somina said, and Madoka paused the video.

All four exchanged nervous looks, before peering at the video screen. Madoka's blood ran cold and goosebumps raised on her forearms at the thought of anyone connected to the C.I.A. or F.B.I. (let alone anyone connected to the infamous Kira case) sending a message to anyone she knew; and one look at Somina told her she felt the same way. Carmyne gulped and wrinkled his brows, not realizing that he was breathing through his mouth instead of his nose, much less sweating at his temples.

As for Lin, he found himself at a loss for how to account for this development. With Madoka, Somina and Carmyne looking at the computer screen, he said, "Madoka, we'll have to talk to Luella and Martin about this later, but I need to clear something up, first."

"What is it?" Madoka said, then paused, knowing exactly what that 'something' was. "Wait, you mean what I said just before we went down the stairs?"

"Yes. You rarely ever bring up past events if they're not relevant, let alone something that happened such a long time ago. What made you bring it up?"

Both Somina and Carmyne were puzzled.

Before Madoka could speak, Carmyne cut in. "Bring what up?"

Madoka faced Carmyne, wondering if she should keep quiet for the time being until Luella, Martin and the rest came back, or tell about it now. But the more she thought about those late-night phone calls and the arguments between Luella and Martin over them, the more she wavered.

In the end, Madoka looked to Lin for guidance, who shook his head. So she said, "It's... complicated. It's not something I'm comfortable bringing it up just yet; and I don't think Lin's comfortable about it, either. We'll wait till Luella and Martin come in."

"Does this have anything to do with Noll?" Somina said, looking at her friend. "Because I hope not."

"I don't know. Maybe, maybe not. None of us will know, until Luella and Martin tell us what's going on. They should be coming back here soon," she said, checking her watch. It was 11:45 a.m. She thought, They should have been back by now. What's keeping them?

While Madoka debated whether she should go down stairs to see what's keeping them or not, Somina grew anxious thinking over Noll's actions. What could lead such a discriminating mind as Noll's to single her out when she had no connection in Gene's death past a nightmare? Could it be that she had a psychic connection to the woman in that car? Or was it something else? There you go again, she thought to herself, making unverified connections. But she had to make sure, so she said, "Madoka, I need to clear something up. And yeah, it's about Noll."

"Okay, what is it?"

"Did Noll witness Gene's death the way I witnessed it? As in, from behind the wheel?"

Her question yanked Madoka from her thoughts, and made Lin and Father Carmyne turned to her with nervous expressions.

Madoka said, "Well, not exactly. He witnessed it from Gene's perspective. What makes you bring that up?"

"Wait," Lin said. "How do you know about that?"

"Nobody outside this investigation knows how Gene died," Carmyne added. "How did you come across this information?"

"I got it from a nightmare I had last night. I... I can't really explain why, though," she said, then sighed. "No wonder Noll suspects me. If he saw me behind the wheel from Gene's perspective, he probably saw me clear as day before I—" She corrected herself. "I meant, before that woman ran Gene over. Oh God, I keep implicating myself when I know for a fact I wasn't there!" Here, she buried her face in her hands. "If he puts me under a lie detector test, I'd probably fail it, too."

"Come on, cheer up. It's not that hopeless."

"Yeah, but—"

And before she completed her sentence, the latch clicked open, and the door swung out to reveal none other than Noll. He then gave Somina a long hard look, sending chills down her spin, as though he were trying to gauge the honesty of her words by the reactions on her face.

Which was pure terror. Somina found herself grasping the edges of her seat, looking everywhere except in Noll's direction, as the kid walked up to her. "Please. I didn't do anything, okay? I didn't—"

"I'll ask the questions, not you."

"Oh, no you don't," and Madoka bolted out of her chair and blocked Noll's path, grabbing him by the shoulders. "What makes you think I'll let you near her after you threatened to force a confession out of her? Let me tell you something. You don't just go running at the mouth, you don't jump to conclusions, and you don't threaten anyone during an investigation, got that?"

Silence. Lin, Carmyne and Somina looked on in utter shock, as though they had never seen Madoka so worked up—which was partially true.

Lin got up from his own chair and placed a hand on Madoka's shoulder, calming her down enough to let go of Noll. He then leveled his own glare at him, saying, "Madoka has a point, Noll. Were you listening in on their conversation?"

"Yes."

"Why?" It was Madoka, who crossed her arms over her chest. "So you can confirm your theory that Somina did it?"

"What makes you think I still think she's guilty of Gene's death?"

"First, you flat-out accused her, then you threatened her, and then you come barging in here after listening in on our conversation. Basically, everything you've said and done up to this point makes me question your motives."

"And how do you know what my motives are?"

"That's the point, Noll," Lin said. "We don't know what your motives are, let alone what you're thinking."

At this, the kid sighed. "Lin, if you don't know my reasoning for being so cautious around her, maybe you should question why you're still on this case."

Right then, Carmyne stood up, saying, "Stop, all of you!" Everyone stopped and stared at the old man, still breathing hard from his outburst. "There's no need for any more tension in this room. I've had enough of that this morning, believe me. We're not here to get into petty arguments; we're here to work together as a team, is that clear?"

It took some moments for his words to sink in, but one by one, Lin and Madoka resigned themselves to more civil discourse and sat down at their seats, while Noll remained standing. Now with all eyes on Noll, who had yet to take a seat, he had their attention.

Silence. You could literally hear a pin drop.

"Listen, Noll, we need to work together in this case," Madoka said, "but we can't do that unless we share what we know. Martin said it himself: No more secrets. So please, tell us what's on your mind. All of it, so we'll all be on the same page."

And so the kid collected himself, as if he were trying to explain a concept to a bunch of dolts. He said, "Last night, Gene was trying to tell me and Mai who killed him, which means he knows who did it, as well as who and where to get it from. Based on that and Reynard's own admission of killing Gene at the insane asylum, I knew Reynard Killed him, but not how he killed him. I ruled out the use of a death ledger, because it's still missing, destroyed, or someone else has it; if Reynard is still actively looking for it, then he believes someone still has it and is currently using one or more accomplices as proxies to help him find that ledger. And from Terry Haller's information of using torture to reprogram people into mind-controlled proxies, I suspected that Reynard Malders used a similar method to reprogram accomplices to seek out information on the whereabouts of the death ledger."

"So you thought I was being mind-controlled?" Somina said. "Is that why you acted the way you did?"

"Exactly. If my actions made you think you were under suspicion, it wasn't my intention. And after listening in on your conversation, I now know you had no willing connection to the death of my brother."

"Wait, what do you mean by 'no willing connection'?" Madoka said. "You still think she's connected to it somehow?"

"Yes."

"How is she still connected to all this, Noll?" Lin said.

"Through her dream last night," he said; then he moved toward the table and grabbed a nearby chair, seating himself right beside Somina. "Ms. Gavvers, you said you dreamed of that vision during the night, correct?"

"Yeah, I did. I woke up at around midnight afterwards, and I couldn't get back to sleep because of it."

"When my brother died, I woke up from the same vision but from Gene's perspective, which means I only witnessed what Gene saw up to the moment he died. I couldn't see what happened afterwards, but you did. That's why Gene led me to you, because you had a psychic connection to Reynard Malders (however slight) at the time of Gene's death."

"Yeah, but I don't know this Reynard Malders guy. I've never met him in my life!"

"That's because when you met Reynard, you mistook him for someone else."

"Noll," Madoka cut in, wondering along with Somina, Lin and Carmyne what the kid was up to, "you seem to be on to something. Where are you going with this?"

Noll then turned to the perplexed trio sitting at the table, saying, "You were all there at lobby when I collapsed. I told you everything I knew, so you should be able to figure out the rest."

And one by one, they did. First Lin, then Madoka, and finally Carmyne, knew the connection and were struck by the sheer logic of it all. Somehow, someway, through the harrowing events of this morning, Noll had done the impossible. He had completed the chain!

"What are you talking about?" Somina said, peering at her table mates, utterly confused. "I don't understand."

"Then let me refresh your memory. When I went to the lobby, I used psychometry to get a residual reading from the tile floors, because I needed to know the circumstances of Lean Gordon's death back in 2007. You were the last person to see him alive, before he disappeared under mysterious circumstances."

"I know. The police questioned me for hours on end, because I got my facts wrong. I thought Martin was already at the library when I met him just as I was leaving, but—" At that moment, a horrible realization tugged at her, sending a stab of horror through her heart. "Martin... Martin was still on the way. His car wasn't even in the parking lot! But I met him just as I was leaving the library, so I don't—no way! Are you saying I met Reynard disguised as Martin?"

"Yes, which explains why Lean Gordon disappeared under such mysterious circumstances, until one of his shoes with his foot still inside was found in a lake years later. Now do you remember any specific details of that encounter?"

"Um... Well, it was raining, and I noticed his clothes weren't wet, even though he had no umbrella, so I gave him mine before running to my car. I thought nothing of it, until I noticed that Martin's car wasn't parked on the curb or anywhere near the library. So I called him on his cellphone, and when he picked up, he was still driving, and he told me to stay where I was. In all my years, I've never heard Martin so frantic. And when we were questioned, he and I had a hard time explaining it all to the police."

Noll stayed silent for some moments, rolling Somina's account through his head against what he remembered (still fresh in his mind) of his psychometric reading of that night, and it all checked out, every detail she said corresponding with everything he knew. "At least part of this makes sense," Noll said. "If Reynard Malders impersonated my father to get to Lean Gordon, then he could also have impersonated you to get to Gene. And on top of that, Lean Gordon and Gene both disappeared under mysterious circumstances and were found later in a lakes. The M.O. is the same, but there's a slight difference in the circumstances. Why would Reynard wait over a year to kill my brother two years later? It doesn't make sense."

At this, Lin said, "Maybe Reynard didn't have a reason to kill Gene yet when he killed Lean Gordon."

"That is," Madoka said, going on Lin's train of thought, "until Gene went to Japan. Maybe his presence in Japan posed a threat to Reynard; it gave him every reason to kill Gene in Japan."

"But why?" Noll said. "Why kill Gene, when I specifically remembered Reynard saying I was supposed to die there?"

"Maybe he just lied to you, Noll," Carmyne said, "to throw you off his trail. Demons can do that, you know."

'Yeah, but that still doesn't explain why Gene went to Japan in the first place. I know Gene said he was invited for an exorcism ceremony, but I don't think that was his true goal. Otherwise, Reynard wouldn't have killed him; he would've gone after me first for my association with Lean Gordon and left Gene alone."

"Wait a minute," Lin said, getting up from his seat and staring at his charge as though Noll had hit a nerve. "Are you saying Gene went to Japan using the exorcism invitation as a cover for investigating the murders of Reynard Malders?"

"Yes."

"But why go to Japan?" Madoka said, getting up from her chair. "None of Reynard's murders occurred in Japan."

"Until Reynard killed Gene, that is," Noll said.

"But you're forgetting something, Noll," Madoka said. "Somina said she only had that dream last night."

"That's why I asked her to come here later today, when everyone involved in this case is here to observe what I have planned."

"And what is your plan?" Lin said. "After that stunt you pulled at the Allenshire asylum, I'm not too keen on following any of your plans, unless you tell us exactly what's going on."

"I will when everyone gets here."

"But there's one you don't know yet, Noll," Madoka said. "Before you arrived here, something else came up that none of us can account for."

At this, Noll looked at her. "What's that?"

"A man calling himself 'Giovanni' came here and gave Somina a package directly addressed to Luella and Martin, and that's why we brought her here."

"She also compiled the footage of this man's visit on a CD," continued Lin, "and when we reviewed it, we found out this man was affiliated with the S.P.K., the Special Provision for Kira."

"In other words," concluded Madoka, "the C.I.A. and the F.B.I. have an interest in Luella and Martin's involvement in this case."

"But what does that mean?" Noll said, staring at Lin and Madoka, at a loss to account for this unexpected link in a seemingly endless chain of mystery and secrecy. "How are they involved in this?"

"I don't know. None of us knows. That's why we're waiting for them, so we can find out."

Silence hung in the air after Madoka's words. Everyone (Lin, Madoka, Carmyne, Somina and Noll) just waited, absorbing the absolute silence of the moment, their thoughts full of doubts, fears, hopes and the four formidable constants that hung over their weary heads like fog—Reynard Malders, Arnold Coltraine, Gene Davis, and the wildcard that is the S.P.K.

(To be continued...)

A/N: After a long hiatus, I have finally returned with a brand new chapter for this story... I hope it was worth the long wait... I've already started the next chapter, so hopefully that will get posted within this week or early next week... This is actually turning out to be quite exciting... I already know what I'm going to write in the next two chapters, and it will be awesome... Just you wait... Till next time, see you later, folks...

P.S.: What do you guys think of it so far?

(* Psychiatric Institute of Washington. See "Psychiatric Institute of Washington" on Wikipedia.)

(** Georgetown University School of Medicine. See "Georgetown University School of Medicine" on Wikipedia.)