Chapter 3

I am soooo sorry for the late update I was veeeerryy busy with, umm, hehe ^_^'

Chapter 3

Heaven Harbor smiled as she closed up the book store. "I have to go home and make some dinner for the family, hopefully they haven't been snacking all day," she told herself and shoved the work keys into her pocket. She turned on her heels and headed down the steps and onto the side walk.

"E-Excuse me.... Could you help me?" a person asked, the desperate tone of voice caught Heaven's attention. She turned and spotted the person lying under a tree, looking pale and sickly. "Hey, are you okay?" Heaven asked, concern obvious in her voice.

She looked around, not spotting anyone else that could help, so she rushed over to the figure. Her eyes widened when the person wrapped their gloved fingers around her throat.

"W-What...?" Heaven sputtered and struggled to breath, black spotted her vision. Her attacker kept their finger wrapped securely around the woman's throat as they sat upright. Heaven blinked her eyes and grabbed onto the person's fingers, trying to pry them off her neck but her strength was diminishing... everything went back. Jack the Ripper release the woman so that she just fell over, hitting her head hard against the sidewalk. The attacker pulled out a knife.

"A deaf policeman heard the noise,

And came to arrest the two dead boys, If you don't believe this story's true, Ask the blind man he saw it too!"

—-

Your ___ eyes flew open, chasing away any lingering memories of your nightmare. Why it scared you so much... you couldn't remember. Slowly you rolled over onto your side and groaned, stretching as you did so. Your alarm clock read 10:35 a.m. and you were supposed to meet up with Near at 11!

"Why didn't my alarm go off?!" you shouted and threw your blankets off, practically jumping out of your bed. You yanked on any clothing that was in reach and grabbed your phone.

'One message, dang it' you thought and pressed the electronic to your ear. Rather than hearing L's synthetic voice like you had expected to, it was Near.

"After you left yesterday, the SPJ and I checked out the firs three crime scenes and have already come up with a list of a couple suspects or people who were seen around with the victim the day they died. We work very quickly and efficiently.Today I sent Rester and Halle to go and interview these people along with a warrant.

Gevanni on the other hand is checking out a poem that was left at the scene of the crime for the sixth victim that was killed last night. Due to this, it will only be you and me to check on Pilot Pajama, Dee Dairy, and last night's victim Heaven Harbor's murder scenes. Try not to be late," Near's clever voice said in your ear.

You shoved your feet into shoes and rushed out the door, with one shoe not completely on. Now you tapped the front of your foot on the side walk so that your foot slid in then you put the phone in your pocket.

"Try not to be late," you grumbled under your breath and climbed into your car, slamming the door shut behind yourself. You adjusted the mirrors and peered into the back window as you set the car into reverse.

"Try not to be late, who are you? My father?" you continued to gripe as you headed out to the address given to you.

—-

You shut the car off and climbed out while examining the small house that belonged to the victim Pilot Pajama. Most of the grass had died on the front lawn and you could almost call the front of her house a 'desert'. All the leaves had fallen from the dreary, dry, dull looking tree in the front lawn and a couple of shingles seemed to be about ready to fall off the roof.

"Not very well kept," you said to yourself and pulled out the file that had been given to you.

You slowly started walking to the side of the house while you opened up the file to Pilot Pajama's section. 'Pilot Pajama... part time janitor at nearby middle school... part time greeter at Wal-Mart... age 45.. widow.. no children' you read, only skimming and reading little bits of the information.

"Poor woman, could barely support herself," you whispered and closed the file slowly. Your were so preoccupied by your thoughts that you didn't notice the yellow tape that blocked off the area or Near who was currently squatting down looking thoughtful.

"You are late," said avoice, causing you to jump. You looked over at Near with wide ___ colored eyes and ducked under the tape before walking over.

"Am not," you remarked and held out your wrist so that he could see that your watch read 11 'o clock. He didn't even spare a glance at your watch, instead he turned his gray eyes to you.

"You are late by thirty seconds," he said plainly, causing your hand to twitch. You bit your bottom lip to keep from snapping back at him or saying something you would regret.

"I'm sorry Near, but it was only thirty seconds," you said slowly and deliberately. Since it was

obvious he wasn't going to stand up, you squatted down beside him and study the ground. Down at this level, there was a metallic stench to the air and there were deep red blood stains in the clay and dead grass.

"I meant to ask you, what happened to your hand?" Near asked, changing the subject. You

looked down at your bandage wrapped hand, taken aback that he changed the subject so quickly and that he seemed to actually care for your well being... at least a little bit.

"I cut it on some glass, it's just stings a bit," you replied and blushed lightly. You weren't sure

why you blushed, it's not like he had said anything to embarrass you. Near nodded a bit

then curled a strand of his colorless hair.

"Were you able to make any connections or come up with any ideas after studying the file

yesterday?" he asked. You sighed softly and shoved some of your ___ colored hair out of

your face.

"So far, all of the murders have taken place outside... not inside, and also, all of the women being killed have been lower class citizens," you supplied slowly, sounding unsure of yourself. Near nodded in conformity then pulled out a second file.

"The first thing you said was true, but not the second. Last night Heaven Harbor was murdered and she is not a lower class citizen. She is in the middle class and she was murdered just outside a book store that she worked at everyday for a whole two years," he replied. You frowned considerately and looked towards Near. Is that just a coincidence or is the murderer actually building up?

"Are they going higher and higher in the social classes?" you asked, concern dripping in your voice. If this person continued to go higher in the social and wealth rankings, it would only be a matter of time till the killer would start killing cops, investigators, and possibly even L. He stopped twirling his hair for a moment, and pulled a marble out of the pocket in his pajama shirt.

"It is too soon to determine if that is true, but that is an interesting thought. Also, the morgue was able to determine that the bodies were damaged with a butcher knife," he replied. You nodded and stood upright before ducking under the bright yellow tape. Near followed you, ducking under the tape.

"I dismissed the police but the only change that was made to the scene was the removal of an apple," the albino explained and looked around the scene of the crime. You squatted down beside him and studied the clay soil.

"With soil such as this, you would expect to see foot footprints from the rain the other day, the ground would have been soft, allowing footprints to be formed by both the killer and the victim. Why would the victim even be outside during such a thunderstorm?

Wait..." you supposed and picked up some of the muddy brown, moist soil between your

fingers. A frown crossed your face and you held out some of the soil to

"Near. Take a look at this, the soil initially looks the same as the rest of the soil around here but once you actually pick it up, there is a bit of a difference. When I arrived I had picked up some of the soil in the front of the house, that soil had been more worn down," you said and slowly you raised the soil to your nose.

"This soil is new, I'm positive that it is. Is there any records of Pilot Pajama buying new soil recently?" you asked and opened up the file. Near looked at the soil in his hand, he raised it up to his face and sniffed. It did have a new smell to it, much like when the lawn workers would lay down new mulch, there would be a distinct smell to it.

When Near looked up at you with his silver, gray eyes, there was a small smudge of mud on his pale nose. You lightly reached over and brushed the mud off his nose then looked down at the mud in your hands.

"I'm thinking that maybe the murderer, Jack the Ripper, laid down some more soil of the same type in order to cover their tracks, and then with the rain, the soil became moist and filled up the footprint, hiding evidence of them being here," you explained with a frown. 'This killer has really thought things all the way through,' you thought.

Near nodded and twirled a strand of his hair. "Saying that, we have to see if there is maybe something that the killer has dropped," Near responded then began to crawl around on all fours rather than standing. Your jaw dropped, you couldn't help it. It was like a scene from the Exorcist. His arms and legs moved in jerky, unnatural movements as his white pajamas became muddy.

"I swear that if your head starts to spin around, I will kick you," you told him and studied the ground for any hairs or pieces of fabric. Near stopped crawling around for a moment and looked up at you with a curious look in his eyes.

"Why would you kick me?" he asked and blinked his grey eyes several times. You placed a hand on your hips.

"Because you look like the freaking exorcist who is pretty creepy," you told him with a huff. He gave you a confused look, obviously not understanding.

"What is the Exorcist...?" he asked and turned his gaze back to the ground. He picked up a strand of hair off the ground with his gloved hands and studied it.

"It's... an old scary movie.. aw never mind," you sputtered, stunned that he hadn't seen the movie. You walked over to him and studied the hair.

"The Exorcist huh?" Near mumbled to himself and held out the hair so you could see it. You eyed the hair, it was very long and you were pretty sure it wasn't an animal hair.

"We need to have that analyzed, it could either be Pilot Pajama's or someone else's hair," you told him. Near stood upright out of his awkward sitting position and placed the hair into a bag.

"You are correct," he started to say but was cut off by a phonebuzzing. Near held the phone up to his ear with two fingers, much like his mentor had.

"Gevanni," Near said simply and ducked under the yellow tape and out of the crime scene area. You followed close behind him and tilted your head when Near put Gevanni on speaker

so that you could hear also.

"The poem, or in this case, part of a poem left by the killer at Heaven Harbor's crime scene doesn't have a known author or title, but it is commonly known as 'Two Dead Boys'. There are dozens of orphan verse versions and differences in recitation of the poem.

This version is from 1950; the orphan verses including the one left at the scene, come from a study in 1850, but they were clearly older because the children had learnt them, not invented them. There is a very similar rhyme in the Bodelian Library at Oxford University, which has three headless men in it - it is dated 1450; this appears to be the origin of this nonsense rhyme but it could go back further. The whole 1950 version goes as follows:

One fine day in the middle of the night,

Two dead boys got up to fight,

Back to back they faced each other,

Drew their swords and shot each other,

One was blind and the other couldn't see

So they chose a dummy for a referee.

A blind man went to see fair play,

A dumb man went to shout "hooray!"

A paralyzed donkey passing by,

Kicked the blind man in the eye,

Knocked him through a nine inch wall,

Into a dry ditch and drowned them all,

A deaf policeman heard the noise,

And came to arrest the two dead boys,

If you don't believe this story's true,

Ask the blind man he saw it too!

It is filled with plenty of paradoxes, but I don't think it means anything for the case. Perhaps it was just to throw us off or send us on a wild goose chase," Gevanni said with the poem in his hands. He crumbled the paper in disappointment and tossed it aside. Near nodded and replied,

"Understood, but I don't think we should give out at the poem just yet." You tapped your foot thoughtfully with a frown.

"When I was in college, we had to study that exact poem. It makes me wonder just how old this 'Jack the Ripper' could be. Maybe they aren't that much older than us?" you thought aloud and looked up at the sky. Near twirled a strand of his white head and nodded thoughtfully.

"Gevanni, I have to call Rester and Halle," he said then hung up. His grey eyes considered the phone as he hit the buttons so that the phone started ringing. "This is Halle," said a familiar female voice since the phone was still on speaker. You looked at Near to see that he was looking expectantly at you.

"Um, hey Halle. Near said that you and Rester are checking out the suspects, Are any of the suspects around 25 like Near... or maybe got out college recently?" you asked. Halle was silent for a moment, and you heard papers being shuffled through.

"Any of them could remember the poem from their college years, or maybe they just found it.

There is no guarantee that our suspect is young," Halle replied. Even though she doubted your train of thought, she continued to shuffle through the papers.

"Our suspects who are of younger age," Halle said then listed the names of several suspects. Near made sure to place each name into a file in his brain, to remember for later.

"Also Near, I wanted to mention that we have gotten a letter signed by Jack the Ripper... no one should know we are working on the case other than the Japanese Police and I don't believe they would send a prank letter," Halle continued. This sent shivers up your spine.

"I have left it at your house Near, a package came with it. You two should check it out while Rester and I finish up in this house.... Rester I suggest you close that drawer right now if you don't want to be seen as a pervert," Halle said then ended the call.

You didn't know if you should be disturbed by her last statement to Rester but you frowned. Of all the names that Halle has given you, one stuck out the most. This woman would have a pretty good motive in your opinion.

Your trains of thoughts were cut off when Near stood and placed a pale hand on your shoulder. Out of surprise, you nearly jumped a foot in the air and looked up at him with wide ___ colored eyes.

"We are going to my house," he said with a small smile on his face. You had figured Near to be a serious person who never showed emotions, he had even said himself that he had complete control over them... yet here he was with a small smile. You had a feeling that he was making fun of you for jumping.

"You are driving, I'm not allowed to because of my posture and how I grip the steering wheel. I'm am forbidden to drive because I am a danger to others," he said and the smile quickly vanished and Near turned, heading around the house to your car.

'A danger to others?! Do I really want him in my car?' you thought and twitched.

"H-Hey, wait up," you sputtered and rushed after him. You climbed into the driver's seat and buckled up, you peered over at him.

"Buckle up," you scolded. His grey eyes studied you then he studied himself, he was currently squatting in the passenger seat. For a moment you thought he wouldn't listen, but

slowly the boy uncurled himself and sat normally which you found shocking. He buckled himself up then pulled his knees to his chest since he couldn't squat.

'Okay, not sitting normally but close enough' you thought and grinned at his discomfort. You started the engine and backed out of the driveway. As you drove, Near would point which way to go silently. The silence was killing you and so you opened your mouth to speak to the

detective but he decided to talk before you.

"What do you know about letters that had been sent during the Jack the Ripper case in

1888?" Near asked, twirling a strand of his white hair. You glanced in his direction briefly

before returning your eyes to the road.

"Over the course of the Ripper murders, the police, news papers and others received many

hundreds of letters regarding the case were sent during the Jack the Ripper cases, some

of them gave suggestions to help catch the killer, some listed some possible suspects,

and some claimed to be Jack the Ripper. Three of these letters in particular are prominent and were believed to possibly be the real Jack the Ripper- the 'Dear Boss' letter, the 'Saucy Jacky' postcard and the 'From Hell' letter.

The 'Dear Boss' letter was initially considered a hoax. It was the first letter to be signed Jack the Ripper, and mentioned that he would "clip the lady's ears off". Eddowes' ear appears to have been nicked by the killer incidentally during his attack which sent panic around England. The letter also contained a threat, but the letters threat to send the ears to

the police was never carried out.

The 'Saucy Jacky' postcard contained handwriting that was similar to the 'Dear Boss' letter. It mentioned that two victims were killed very close to one another, a "double event this time", which was thought to refer to the murders of Stride and Eddowes. It was postmarked 24 hours after the killings took place, long after details were known by journalists and residents of the area, making the postcard questionable as to whether it was from the real Jack the Ripper or not.

The 'From Hell' letter was quite different from the other two letters. The handwriting and style was unlike that of 'Dear Boss' letter and the postcard. The letter came with a small box with half a kidney preserved in wine inside. Eddowes' left kidney had been removed by the killer, the writer claimed that he 'fried and ate' the missing half of the kidney. Dr. Thomas Openshaw determined that the kidney was from a human and from the left side, but he could not determine age or gender so it is still unknown if it was actually Eddowes' kidney," you replied, glancing in your rearview mirror. A frown crossed your face; this black car seemed to have been following you for some time now.

"I have a reason to believe that this letter and package that we have received will copy one of those three letters because the killer has copied the Ripper's way of killing and has killed all women, possibly the 'From Hell' letter since a package was sent with it," he replied and glanced into the mirror on his side of the car.

The windows were tinted so he couldn't see the driver but he had noticed that the person seemed to follow the two of you long before you had.

"___, I think we should try to get away from that car if it is possible," he suggested and stopped twirling his hair. You nodded and turned swiftly onto another street.

"Near, I don't know the streets on this side of the city," you snapped as the car followed your turn with screeching tires. The boy unbuckled his seat belt and reached over, grabbing the

steering wheel.

"Let me drive," he suggested with a smirk. Your ___ colored eyes widened and you shook your head, tightening your grip on the wheel.

"No way! You told me not so long ago that you aren't allowed to drive!" you snapped. He raised his white eyebrows and glanced into all the mirrors.

"You just said you don't know the streets," he reminded you and very slowly, you released the wheel. It scared you that he was driving the car from the passenger seat, not even asking you to move over or let him get into a better position to steer the car. He jerked the car to the right onto another street, then the left. 'They aren't giving up' You thought and patted about your car to try and find your gun.

"Hold on," Near said suddenly as the black car came up behind the car and rammed its bumper. You cursed as the car was jostled but Near managed to keep it in control.

"Near," you warned and then the black car rammed yours again. Multiple curses escaped your lips and you reached over, holding your arm out so that the unsecure, not buckled up boy beside you didn't go flying through the windshield.

"Near, you get us out of here or I am taking the wheel back!" you threatened, panic rising in

your throat. Near didn't seem as scared as you were though, he just seemed calm like usual.

The detective glanced towards the mirrors again, jerking the wheel to the right, at this point, the black car lunged forward again. The enemy's car hit the corner of your car, sending it skidding and spinning. Your stomach did flip flops as you shoved Near with enough force to send him sprawled in the back seat of your car because there wouldn't be enough time for you to buckle him up.

"Near, cover your head and back of your neck," you ordered, out of breath. You bit your bottom lip hard causing it to bleed. 'At least Near is safe' you thought warily as you made one last attempt to stop the unavoidable. The car slammed into a light post, sending a shower of glass into the car. The impact caused the airbags to inflate.

The world spun around you and black spotted your vision. You inhaled a shaky breath and looked through the shattered window, catching a glimpse of the retreating car and the license plate. You weren't sure how hurt you were but you didn't care, you turned painfully to see Near with just a couple scrapes. This sent relief flooding through your body and then the world went black.

Near quickly flipped his phone opened and called an ambulance before calling Rester,

Halle, and Gevanni.

"___?" he asked quietly and carefully climbed out of the back through the broken window, it was a miracle he hadn't hurt himself. He yanked your door open and reached out to touch you but then let his hand drift back to his side.

Near has no medical experience and he wasn't sure to what extent you had been hurt, he didn't want to move you and cause more pain or make your conditions even worse. Carefully Near leaned forward, pressing two fingers lightly to your neck.

'You accepted the case knowing that your life would be in danger and I had been ready to

sacrifice you, just another playing piece in my game against the Ripper... but now.. now I

don't think I could do that,' Near thought to himself as sirens echoed through the air.

Near had thought he had control over his emotions, he had been careful to isolate himself from people, yet you had seemed to slip your way around his defenses.

"You better be okay," he told you quietly and twirled a strand of your hair rather than his own.

—-

You woke to the soft sound of the news, a heart monitor beeping steadily to your right, and a sound you couldn't quite put your finger on just yet. It was content, almost rumble. You blinked your ___ colored eyes open, straining against the lights that shone in them. It took a

while but your eyes managed to adjust to the hospital lighting. You turned your eyes towards the direction of the strange sound.

'Ah, snoring' you thought to yourself and eyed the albino. He had pulled a chair up to your

bedside and papers were scattered about the bed sheets, pertaining to the Jack the Ripper

case. This didn't surprise you though; you had expected him to work on the case no matter

what, though you certainly hadn't thought he'd work here.

What surprised you the most was the fact that the white haired boy had his face buried in his arms and was currently snoring. 'I guess he actually does sleep' you thought, mildly amused.

"Near?" you asked with a hoarse voice. The boy apparently hadn't been in a deep sleep because his body twitched in that unnatural way of his and he peered up at you with grey eyes. He tilted his head at you.

"While you were sleeping, I watched 'The Exorcist'... it was quite interesting," he said and sat up in his usual, odd squat. You blinked and couldn't help but burst out laughing; causing pain, but it was so worth it.

"I don't think I crawl around or look like the Exorcist at all," he said and blinked his grey orbs at you. You grinned at him tiredly and shook your head a bit. Now that Near had figured that you had cheered up, he explained your injuries and informed you that you had come in and out of consciousness for two days.

He had also mentioned that he had reported to L all the recent events. Near wasn't sure how long he would lie to you, and not tell you that he was really L. He blinked then continued to inform you about the situation.You would be able to leave the hospital by the end of the week.

"And you?" you asked and studied his face and hands since that was the only skin visible. He shook his head. "

Just a couple scratches and some glass in my hands that they had to remove. I'm okay thanks to you," he said and stood from the chair.

He crawled about the room then over to the window before peering out, some toys of his sat on the window sill. Near picked up a stack of tarot cards and sat down on the floor, he started to build a house out of tarot cards.

"Several murders occurred during your recovery time. Dixie Disney, Vikke Valentine, and Karma kiss were all killed. Same cause of death as the other victims. At first they were choked then a butcher knife was used to slice their necks and mutilate their bodies... I am 60% sure I know who the murderer is.." he started but was cut off by the door of your room being slammed open.

This caused the house to topple over. You both looked towards the door and a fond, small smile crossed your face.

"___, are you alright?" asked your friend as he rushed over to your half of the room. He set down the bouquet of flowers and grabbed your right hand gently.

"I'm fine Matsuda," you assured your worried friend then turned your gaze back to Near. The albino lightly shoved the cards back into a pile and flipped over the top card, he studied it.

"As I was saying, I am 60% sure who the killer is. I also examined the letter and package that was delivered to my house. Furthermore, I have found another interesting fact about the killings," he replied.

I shall post the next chapter much sooner than this! (Hopefully)