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She had not heard about it. She was on leave and had been deliberately avoiding that kind of news. Misora had lived in Japan until she graduated high school and was familiar with the term, but hearing it pronounced in English gave it an edge of unfamiliarity.

“I would like to solve this case,” L said. “I need to arrest the killer. But your help in this matter is vital, Naomi Misora.”

“Why me?” she typed. This could be taken to mean either “Why do you need my help?” or “Why should I help you?” but L took the first meaning without a moment’s hesitation. Sarcasm appeared to be lost on him.

“Naturally, because you are a skilled investigator, Naomi Misora.” “I’m on a leave of absence...”

“I know. Isn’t that convenient?” Three victims, he’d said.

Obviously, it depended on the victims, but from what L had told her this case had not yet reached the kind of scale required for the FBI to get involved. She would normally have assumed that this was why he had approached her instead of going through the FBI director, but this was much too sudden. And she had been given almost no time to think things through. But it had been enough time for her to wonder why L would be involved in a case too small for the FBI to notice. She did not imagine he would answer that question over her computer, however.

She glanced at her clock. She had one more minute.

“Okay. I’ll help in any way I can,” Misora typed.

L answered instantly, “Thank you. I knew you would agree.” He did not sound very thankful.

But perhaps that could be blamed on the synthetic nature of his voice.

“Let me explain how you will contact me in the future. We have no time, so I will be brief. First.. First, she had to know the basic details of the Los Angeles BB Murder Cases. On July 3 1st, 2002, in the bedroom of a small house on Hollywood’s Insist Street, a man named Believe Bridesmaid was killed. He lived alone, working as a freelance writer. He had written articles for dozens of magazines under many different names and was relatively well known in the industry—-which means exactly nothing, but in this case appears to have been fairly accurate. He was strangled. He was first knocked out with some sort of drug and then strangled from behind with some sort of string. There were no signs of struggle—all things considered, a smoothly executed crime. The second murder occurred four days later, on August 4th, 2002. This time it was downtown, in an apartment on Third Avenue, and the

victim was a female named Quarter Queen. This time the victim was beaten to death, her skull caved in from the front by something long and hard. Once again, the victim appeared to have been drugged first and was unconscious at the time of death. As for why it was determined that these two murders were committed by the same killer... well, anyone who saw the scene of the crime instantly noticed the connection.

There were straw voodoo dolls nailed to the walls at both places. These dolls were specifically known as Wara Ningyo.

Four of them on Insist Street. Three of them on Third Avenue. Nailed to the walls.

The Wara Ningyo had been covered in the news, so strictly speaking there was a chance of a copycat crime, but several other details matched as well, leading the police to begin treating the case as a serial killing. But if that was the case, that left a very big question—there was absolutely nothing to connect Believe Bridesmaid with Quarter Queen. Neither one of them had the other’s number in their cell phones, neither one of them had the other’s card in their business card holder, and besides, Quarter Queen did not own a cell phone or a business card holder—she was a thirteen-year-old girl. What connection could she possibly have to a forty-four-year-old professional freelance writer? If there was a connection, it was probably through the girl’s mother, who was out of town when the murder happened, but given the difference in neighborhoods and situations between the two, it was still difficult to see

any significant connection. To use a term from an old-fashioned detective novel, there was a missing link—they could not find any connection between the victims. The investigation had naturally focused on this, but nine days later (by which time the media had begun calling them the Wara Ningyo Murders) on August 13th, 2002, the third murder happened.

There were two Wara Ningyo on the wall. There was one less doll with each murder.

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