Naomi, Raye... and a special guest.

[americanagent]

[It's been years since Naomi last saw this particular penitentiary. Or any penitentiary for that matter. Prisons had become a thing of her past when she had retired from the FBI. Still, there is something familiar in the air that never quite leaves her system - the old way of seeing things, and the old way of thinking. She feels more at home now, walking toward the barbed wire fencing, than she has in years of shopping along the LA streets, carrying bags of groceries, and winter clothes, or summer clothes.]

[She's still thinking as she walks - one step, and she's thinking of London, two and she's thinking of the areas surrounding it - especially Essex. Three, and she's thinking of poisons, delivery systems...]

[And she's counting her steps as she walks, waiting for Raye to ask her again if she's sure she wants to do this, and remind her that she's no longer an agent, and that England is outside their reach anyway. But there's a thought in her head, lodged hard, and she can't shake it lose. So she holds her packet of photographs under her arm and she walks on.]

Comments

[americanagent]

I can't imagine you do. You weren't very good company even before I knew you were a serial killer.

[Naomi watches him closely, though all he's really doing is watching her back. Aside from the chewing. His stare is so steady it's almost unnerving.]

[Maybe it actually is unnerving.]

And it's Penbar now.

[backupcorrupted.livejournal.com]

[nods very slightly]

Naomi Penbar. At least one of us has been keeping busy.

I saw your ring, but I did not want to be presumptuous.

[He lifts one bare foot and scratches the back of his other heel with his toes, still looking at her steadily, without blinking, and wonders what's in the package. She couldn't possibly have come all the way here just to insult him. That would be a very odd thing to do.]

[So.]

I believe the proper question is: to what do I owe the pleasure?

[americanagent]

I...

[holds up the envelope]

I need your help.

[backupcorrupted.livejournal.com]

...Help?

[For the first time, Beyond's eyes drop away from Naomi herself to the envelope in her hand. His help. Was that some kind of a joke? Or did she really need him... well, no reason not to play along and find out.]

[He looks back up to her face, eyes wide.]

I see. Another case, is it? I didn't think you would want to work with me again, Naomi. I'm flattered.

[americanagent]

[lowers her head slightly, and then raises it again, meeting his gaze]

Yes, a case. But no one else sees what I see. You are the only one...

[she pauses, and shakes her head. No. If her instincts had been right... if she had guessed properly what motivated him... if she was correct about who that young man had been, the one she met when the case had ended...]

[If all of these things are true, then appealing to his vanity was not the way to secure his cooperation.]

No. There is one other person who could help me. But there is no way to contact him.

[backupcorrupted.livejournal.com]

[He doesn't miss the small pause in her appeal, that quick reversal of direction. And she didn't seem to be lying, either, which must mean that...]

[He knew who she meant. There could only be one person even remotely comparable. How she knew to lead him there didn't seem to matter at this point. She knew, and she was right - there was no way of contacting him, short of drawing him out of hiding, which of course she couldn't do - and so she'd come here, to him.]

[Beyond's hands grip the bars suddenly with enough force to rattle the door, and for the first time in a very long while, he laughs unexpectedly.]

[It sounds dry, like cracking bones and sand.]

You're a very clever girl, Naomi. You did the right thing. All right, I can help you, if that's what you want.

And here - I will not even charge you for it.

[americanagent]

[Naomi nods, watching him for a moment before she opens her envelope,]

[She isn't under the illusion that she managed to fool him. No, he would have noticed her change of direction - but it probably didn't matter. If he was trying to be L, or beat L, or whatever it was that he was trying to do, even now... it wouldn't make a difference whether he sensed her manipulation. He wouldn't be able to resist. And anyway, it was true regardless of her reason for saying it aloud.]

It began in London.

[backupcorrupted.livejournal.com]

[tips his head and brings his hand back up to his lips, chewing on a different nail this time]

That's strange. London is not within your jurisdiction.

[...but it was within his. In the back of his mind Beyond runs over what she'd just told him, implying that this case, whatever it was, was puzzling enough to not be obvious to most people - no one else sees what I see.]

[That was actually kind of funny, when he thought about it. He could definitely relate.]

[The point being that if this was a case only she could see, one that she could only expect help on from Beyond himself, it would very likely be one that would raise flags for L as well. No doubt he'd already gotten wind of it by now, if she had - London was very close to "home".]

[Why that would interest her, he couldn't say, but her motivation didn't interest him anyway.]

[americanagent]

[pauses for a moment]

I have no jurisdiction. I've retired. But since no one else sees it, I have no choice.

[she pulls a photo from the envelope.]

In the past nine days, there have been 48 deaths in the London area and surroundings. All of the dead have been criminals of various levels of notoriety. It began with... seemingly random criminals, everything from purse-snatchers to multiple murderers. But in the past few days, the rate has increased, and the type of criminal has become somewhat refined. They've become increasingly dangerous. Increasingly notorious. Gang leaders, serial killers, multiple rapists.

[She takes out a photograph and holds it up]

This was the first to die. He was a local petty gang-leader.

[backupcorrupted.livejournal.com]

[he looks at the photograph carefully, but he doesn't recognize the face in it, nor can he determine anything from it. The man is definitely dead; his lifespan is spent.]

[Which itself proved nothing.]

[But... killing criminals? He could think of a number of reasons why someone would want to do that. An inside job, an outside one. It didn't really make a difference to him. But there was something more interesting there... 48 deaths was a staggeringly large number for such a short period of time.]

[Assuming it was murder at all. That was her only reason for being here - she needed validation for her theories, and who better to get it from than another killer, one she knew personally?]

I see. An interesting place to start. If there is someone behind this, they're obviously very determined.

[His eyes flick up to Naomi once again, scanning over her face.]

But isn't there something very important that you've neglected to tell me?

[americanagent]

[Naomi presses her lips together. This is the part she dislikes. In part because it usually ends with people saying that she is thinking too much, or reading too much into it. Even Raye thought she was imagining things. But she couldn't be. 48 was too many, criminals too specific, and the location too precise.]

Some of them have been killed in public, with witnesses. No one touched them. There is never evidence of a struggle. And...

[If anyone could see the patterns she sees, it would be him. Or L. But L is not an option, now.]

...the cause of death for each of the 48 has been identical. Natural causes.

[She turns her head up.]

Heart attacks. One died on live television during his trial.

[She shows another photograph.]

Peter Godfrey.

[Naomi watches him for a long moment, her gaze steady.]

Beyond. Rue. Everyone I come to with this information tells me it must be a coincidence, but it can't be! There have been too many, and the targeting too precise. And it's escalating. It began with two in a day, but most recently there have been as many as nine. At this rate, we'll reach a point where a dozen or more are dead every day, and still they say it is a coincidence!

[backupcorrupted.livejournal.com]

[Beyond stays silently watching her face, now looking quite determined, and keeps his fingers to his lips although he's long since ceased biting on his nails.]

[Forty-eight dead criminals in nine days, courtesy of forty-eight identical heart attacks, and all centered around the London area. Objectively speaking, it couldn't possibly be a coincidence. It was almost an instinctive feeling that told him so; Naomi had to be right about that.]

[What's more, if that was true, if it really was murder, it would definitely be a case that L would want to keep track of. He was likely looking into it as they spoke. Nine days was more than enough time for it to come to his attention, even if he wouldn't move on it yet.]

[And yet... was it actually possible to kill someone that way? He tried to remember. There were a number of ways to induce cardiac arrest, but they would require immediate contact, or traces of evidence at the very least. Presumably nothing obvious was left behind, which meant that whatever it was wasn't obvious... or not there at all.]

[He hadn't experimented with that method of death before. It seemed so low-key, it never even crossed his mind. But even so, he wasn't sure if he could have done it like this. It didn't quite sit right.]

[Beyond lowers his head slightly, not noticing, or caring, that his hair fell into his eyes and slightly obscured his vision of the newest photograph (definitely dead) or Naomi (alive, but desperate). Even so, he keeps his eyes locked on to her.]

Naomi Penbar. I do see what you mean. The odds of it being coincidence are not very high at all.

[americanagent]

[Naomi is a little irritated at how much of a relief that is. Really, she shouldn't be going on the word of this crazy person. But for some reason (not for some reason. for every reason.) she trusts that he'll be honest, and as helpful as he can, on this case. Because L would. Because whatever there is between the two of them - and she doesn't know, or care to know - he can't turn his back on something like this.]

[She takes a deep breath and nods.]

I've... gathered photographs of every one of the victims, as well as their crimes.

[She slides the photos back into the envelope and holds them out to him]

I've also included ten people I think may be at high risk. Crime lords, killers... people who are notorious at roughly the level that these deaths are working at now, and a level or two above.

If you can find a pattern...

[She shakes her head.]

I've gotten this far. But there doesn't seem to be any connections to be made.

[backupcorrupted.livejournal.com]

[He narrows his eyes at the envelope for a few seconds before accepting it carefully, almost gingerly - and nearly dropping it at first, but he quickly compensates by pinching the edge as tightly as he can, which causes the envelope to shake slightly.]

[For a split second he gives Naomi a reproachful look, but quickly turns his attention back to the matter at hand as he opens the envelope and slips out a few of the photographs. The top one was a dead man, but the ones behind it appear to still be alive when he looks through them.]

[It was an odd thing, but he didn't need to look at a living person to know how much life they had left in them. A photo or film worked just as well. Looking at these potential victims, none of them seemed to be dying within the next year or so. Her predictions weren't correct, or at least not immediately so.]

[Using only two fingers, Beyond holds one of the photos up in front of him with his other hand, completely obscuring Naomi's face. It almost looked like she suddenly had the head of a grizzled Irishman.]

True patterns are often very difficult to find.

Naomi. What made you choose these men as potential victims? Just their notoriety?

[americanagent]

[For a moment, she falters, trying to read his face. It's difficult, considering that half his face is a mess of scar tissue. He looks... unimpressed, which means there may be something wrong with her logic. Or it could mean he's just being obnoxious. He's always been an annoying person.]

[Naomi takes a deep breath.]

Their notoriety. Their crimes. Multiple homicides. The third one raped and murdered five teenage girls. The fifth is involved in drug dealing, but is believed to be responsible for multiple deaths in the past few months as a result of territory disputes. All in London or the surrounding areas. And...

[pauses for a moment. This was the most difficult part of her theory - the part she was least sure of. But...]

They've been covered in the media recently! I haven't confirmed that all of them have been covered, but several of them I had noticed, because the cases were so disturbing. And then within a day or two, they were gone.

[She steels her gaze, and looks at him.]

These are the worst of the recent offenders covered by the British media.

[backupcorrupted.livejournal.com]

[It was a little amusing the way she still asserted herself in the face of uncertainty. It would be impossible to explain to her his reasons for doubting her theory, even if it is sound... perfect, even, if not for the tiny fact that these men were not meant to die in the coming weeks. Even if their deaths were attempted, it couldn't possibly succeed.]

[Fate was an annoying thing when dealing with criminal investigations.]

I see. If there is a killer getting his information from the media they are either very stupid or very clever.

[He replaces the photo he's holding with another one, bringing it back up to the same position in front of Naomi - she was a young Spaniard now, which was only slightly more flattering. After a moment, he lowers the photograph slightly and looks at Naomi directly.]

If you truly believe this is a murder case, Naomi Penbar, I would like you to ask a question... no, two questions.

How are these murders being committed, and why is this method being used?

[americanagent]

[Naomi blinks.]

[How is she supposed to answer something like that? Isn't she here specifically because she has no way to answer it?]

[Of course he did ask her to ask it, not to answer it. But that doesn't make any sense - if he wants to answer it, he can just answer it without being asked. Unless he's just trying to make her think about it, but she's already thinking about it, which is why she came to begin with.]

[...this is one of the reasons she's never liked this guy!]

[Naomi sighs.]

Well... why?

[backupcorrupted.livejournal.com]

[inclines his head a bit, watching her unblinkingly for a moment, and then looks back down at the photograph]

That's a very good question. I don't know. If I were going to threaten criminals with some form of retribution, I would not use heart attacks.

[No, that part didn't make sense. In a way, it was the only piece that didn't fit - serial killings, sure, criminals, there were plenty of reasons to get rid of them. But the way it was being done would be very difficult to pull off... if not altogether impossible.]

[Identical heart attacks. It seemed too... natural. Obvious. Why go to the trouble to make it look that way?]

...Unless I wanted to cause confusion.

However, I will point out that unless you can find suitable answers to these questions, it will be very difficult to convince anyone that this is murder. Heart attacks are generally understood to be natural deaths.

[americanagent]

I know that. But this is obviously unnatural.

[Naomi shakes her head. There has to be something. What would be the purpose? If the killer wanted it to look natural, he - or she, or it - wouldn't be killing so many, so quickly. But if they weren't trying to cover it up, then why such a difficult method? And how...]

[She turns her head down in thought. Her wheels are a little squeaky from lack of oil, from rust - years of tending house and babysitting her friends' children. But it's a little like riding a bicycle, in a way. She could never really forget.]

Confusion... or to make it look like something it isn't.

[But what? If not natural deaths, then what?]

[backupcorrupted.livejournal.com]

[The elements of the "case" seemed almost familiar somehow, but a little out of focus. Fragmented. Not his own. An obviously unnatural killing spree painted with completely natural looking deaths, so natural as to be out of place. How was that possible, and why...?]

[Beyond shuffles through the photos again, finally landing on a dirty English fellow - Harlan Sully, not due to be dead yet for three more years. An obvious choice of victim, but not a possible one. He stares at the picture as if it would produce the answers by itself.]

[Too obvious, or not obvious enough? No... that wasn't right. Natural, but unnatural. Too natural, or not natural enough? That was better... but which was it? It was irritating not to be able to tell, and he couldn't help but wonder if the golden boy had figured it out already. If only he had more access to information. Damn it.]

[And that's when it happens - for a moment, Beyond is actually shocked, although it's a sight he's seen before. The odd preternatural fizzing away of a victim's vital information. His name, Harlan Sully, remained, but his life... it was impossible but...]

[No, that wasn't possible. You couldn't kill someone before their time, he knew that. It was a certainty. He himself was proof of it. Still here. Alive. An experiment proven, or failed, depending on how you looked at it.]

[Quickly, he shuffles to one of the other potential victims, but their vitals remained. Six years and two months left. Another one, ten years, eight months. It was as clear as it always was, which could only mean that it wasn't a malfunction of some kind - Harlan Sully was dead.]

[Dead with three years left.]

[Beyond glances at Naomi, almost having forgotten she was even there, and then back at the picture of the newly dead. Was it possible... did someone out there have the power to kill utterly, without regard for natural order?]

[If there was, Beyond instantly knew two things: first, this was without question a murder. And secondly, he desperately wanted to meet this person, or people.]

[...and there was something else as well. Naomi herself had said it - This is obviously unnatural. And then, the point was to make it look like something it wasn't... of course, natural. Everything it obviously wasn't.]

[If it wasn't natural, and it wasn't possible, then there was only one option left. Beyond lifts his head again, looking at Naomi with an oddly determined gaze.]

Naomi. You are correct. This isn't natural - it is murder. I'm quite sure of that.

[americanagent]

[Naomi blinks at his sudden surge of certainty, and the determination in his stare. If that's what it is. Truth be told, it's a little difficult to guess what his expressions mean, since he doesn't have very many of them.]

[She can't help but feel slightly relieved. She had come with a certain goal in mind, and it appeared to have been achieved. Her theory had been confirmed by the one mind she knew of, impressive enough to see past appearances, and driven enough to bother with the murder of criminals in another nation.]

[Even so, there's something about this case that troubles her. It troubles her even more, because it seems to have stumped Rue - or Beyond, or whatever he was calling himself these days - as well. She had watched him read a doorstop of a novel in less than five minutes - she had watched him mastermind a crime that near confounded her and L alike.]

[And she had been an excellent FBI Agent. She knew this, though she let herself forget sometimes, in her life with Raye. She let Raye forget most of the time. She had been knowledgeable and effective, informed. She had excellent instincts, and she was educated in the finest schools of two of the most advanced nations in the world. So, she had watched him and, in retrospect, she knew that everything he'd done, everything that had seemed random, or weird, everything that made no sense, had been orchestrated, manipulated, thought out in advance. He had led her and prodded her - he even got her to sit in that ridiculous pose, and it took months to break that habit.]

[...she had been an excellent agent, and she was intelligent, and she was capable, but he was something she had never encountered before, and hadn't encountered since the case had ended. Sheer, unfiltered genius - a mind as powerful and untamed as a damn hurricane. In truth, she's probably older than him, and she has a hell of a lot more experience, but she has this weird feeling that he probably knew more than half of her old colleagues combined. And really, wasn't that why she came to him, when she couldn't contact the only person who would have known even more, whose mind was just as great, maybe even greater?]

[It absolutely was. Which would be much more comforting if he didn't look as lost as she felt.]

[Naomi frowns, watching Beyond's shadow on the stone floor, and then his hands against the photographs.]

Yes. That's what I thought. But what could have this effect, particularly administered...

[She shakes her head]

A poison? It can't be delivered by air, the precision is too great.

[backupcorrupted.livejournal.com]

[He hears her speaking, understands her words, but ignores them - poison? No, this wasn't natural. It wasn't normal. It was...]

[Well, a little like he himself, wasn't it? This sight he had, that he had lived with until the idea that it wasn't common was such an alien concept, something that had shaped the way he viewed the world. And everyone in it.]

[If he could see their lives, was it possible that there was someone who could take them? The man who had died on live tv, at the trial, Godfrey... no one had touched him, she said. Maybe no one had to. Maybe simply seeing was enough. The media reports alone would be more than useful in that regard... and wasn't that what she had said, as well?]

[How unfair. Why couldn't he have been able to do that?]

[One thing was for sure, however - if his suspicions were correct, Naomi would have no chance of solving this case, retired or no. It simply wasn't possible by normal criminal standards. It was a perfect crime, utterly.]

[A crime that not even L could solve, perhaps.]

[...fuck this guy, whoever he is.]

No, that is true.

[He begins to put the photographs back into the envelope, then stops.]

[On the other hand...]

[When Beyond looks back up at Naomi, his expression has changed again. Not really, because it doesn't, but his eyes seem to shine a little brighter than they normally do, which isn't very much to begin with. And maybe his posture isn't quite as bad, although it's still very terrible.]

Naomi, this question is a difficult one. Perhaps we should think of it from a different angle. Not the means, but the motivation. Going back to what you said before, about making it look like something it's not.

How would you describe these deaths?

[americanagent]

[How would she describe them?]

[Naomi stares past Beyond at the wall, running through the facts in her mind. The causes... they looked natural, but of course they weren't. They looked...]

[She shakes her head.]

They look natural, but they can't be. Even so, the killer can't be trying to make it look natural - I thought of that, but if they were, they would certainly not kill so many people so quickly. It's almost like they want to be noticed, like they want--

[she frowns and dips her head. Like they want the attention? But no, in her experience, a serial killers looking for publicity would leave a signature, or contact the police. Usually both. Then what?]

[backupcorrupted.livejournal.com]

[He nods a little as she speaks, looking rather like a teacher trying to coax the correct answer out of a struggling pupil. When she finishes he begins chewing on his thumbnail again, watching her face intently.]

You're right, Naomi. There has to be some way to reconcile the abnormal rate of deaths with their natural appearance. If you look at it logically, there isn't any possible way for a normal person to be able to do this.

[It had always been a little tiring waiting for the intuition of others to catch up with his own. In most cases the wait was a futile one, but he knew Naomi better than that. She was very clever, even if someone else was pulling the strings.]

But I think you may be wrong as well.

[A little tug here, and there... there wouldn't be any way for him to keep up with this "case" in his position, but it just might be possible to use her as a point of contact. A proxy. Her curiosity was already piqued, enough so that she came here to see him. She would want to see this through. Her determination was impressive.]

[If he really wanted, he might even be able to guide her from here. In this place he was confined, but she could move freely, doing what he needed of her. A puppet master in his cell, leading the investigation by a thread.]

[The irony was not lost on Beyond. In fact, he quite enjoys it.]

[But it would be difficult to arrange, and there was no guarantee that she would be led a second time. Or third, depending on where you started count.]

[americanagent]

[Wrong? How could she be both right and wrong? He would be referring to some specific thing, then - different points of her statement, some right and some offbase. Which parts?]

[Suddenly, she has an annoying urge to sit with her knees pulled up to her chest. But she refuses to indulge it.]

[She drops her head, staring at the dull grey stone under their feet.]

This person. He doesn't want to be noticed, not as a person. He isn't looking for publicity, exactly, but...

[What?]

[Killing criminals. Natural causes, or apparently so. And could it really even be one person? How would that be possible, if it were -- no, that's a sidetrack. It doesn't matter for the moment. Find the motivation, and then the method. She closes her eyes, thinking...]

[They're making it look like natural causes, but on such a massive scale that--]

[She blinks, and lifts her head.]

They're making an unnatural event look natural. But why? It's too obvious that it's murder - soon, even the skeptics will have to agree if they keep going at this rate. It isn't to cover up that it's a murder. It's to cover up the nature of the murders. To make it look as though it's the work of...

[What? The work of...]

[She stares at him, feeling a little sick.]