Introduction

My short novels about the legendary detective Codename L are based upon L aka Ryuuzaki aka L. Lawliet from the Death Note manga/anime series. I try to draw the reader into the case L is investigating by first writing the plot, then give the reader time to react and draw his own conclusions and then let you read the conclusion. If you have ever seen Law & Order, you know what I mean by this.

Yours,


Seigi

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Dover Harbour district (Great Britain): March 20th 2003, 11:40 PM
A tall man in a long brown coat hid under a balcony, sheltering from the rain. The darkish alley in which he lingered was dim lit by a single light pole, casting eerie shadows upon the walls and floor. Garbage containers and overstuffed bins were stacked against the walls. The only sound heard was the rain clashing unto the ground and shattering upon the metal cap of the light post. His face was briefly lit up as he drew breath from a cigarette. Then footsteps turned around the corner in the distance. The tapping sounds of fancy footwear drew near and finally a man of normal posture wearing a similar coat but then in black stepped out of the shadows into the sparse light. The man in brown threw down his smoke and exhaled his nicotine filled breath: "Your late" he said disgruntled. "I was delayed" he got as an answer from his counterpart. The brown man pulled a thick brown envelope out of his right pocket. "Here it is" he said. The man in black accepted the envelope and judged its contents by its weight. He pulled out a small white envelope and handed it over to the man in brown in exchange. The man in brown put the white envelope in his pocket and turned around, he said as he started walking the other way: " 'Till next time"

Dover Police Dep.: March 23rd 2003, 10:30 AM
Angry voices and disappointed faces filled the room. Chairs and benches were shoved aside as people confronted each other in angry discussion. Such was the extend of the heated commentaries upon each others performance that a fight seemed immanent. "Silence!" an authorial voice then shouted and as if stricken by lightning everyone went quiet as all gazes were now fixed towards the door. "When you are done I would very much like your attention towards the screen now, thank you." The policemen instantly obeyed this order and grabbed seats to sit down. A beamer started shining its intense light upon the wall. The light was turned off and a clear image of a burnt-out building appeared.

"Right, last night the compound we were trying to invade suddenly blew up as tactical went in. We received a tip from an informant that this particular compound was being used as a chemical lab used to produce and distribute XTC. A large load was to be shipped out last night. Upon this we decided to go tactical and roll up the lab and make arrests. As officers entered the building it seemed deserted. Approximately forty seconds after entry an explosive device inside the building was triggered and blew up killing five officers and wounding three more. The building was rigged with chemicals and went up in flames. The fire department are still looking for two unaccounted for officers among the piles. Any questions so far?"

The man proceeded:

"This is the second time these blokes have given us the slip! Without some kind of breakthrough here..." Before the police officer could finish his sentence the door opened and someone came in the room. He stepped directly towards him and whispered something in his ears. Upon hearing this the man's face turned white as he had seen a ghost. He thanked the man that brought him the news and turned his attention to the room. "People, they have found my informant...he's dead"

MSN conversation between L and Chief Detective Spears, March 23rd 2003, 2:14 PM
L: Glad to hear from you again Detective Spears. I heard you have a difficult case this time.
Lionell: Not so glad on my side I'm afraid. We have a big problem over here, a drug syndicate has eliminated our informant and seems to beat us at every corner. In thirty-two years of service I’ve never seen it so bad.
L: Do you need my help?
Lionell: I don't like to say it but yes we need help desperately. They are winning this war.
L: I'm sending you a small file. Install it onto your notebook and bring it with you to work. Send me everything you have on this case.

Dover Police Dep. March 24th 2003, 9:30 AM
Chief Detective Spears walked into the room where his detectives were already waiting for him. Many of them brought in coffee with them which left a very distinct odour in the room. Spears put down his notebook on the table and opened the screen. He started up a small program and then turned the notebook around to face the room. "Listen carefully he said, not a word!" he said. The screen went white and then a big Germanic L sign appeared in the centre. A voice then spoke:"Greetings people from the Dover Police department" The voice was scrambled and sounded alien to most of the detectives. Not one of them could not help feeling astonished about what their Chief had brought to them. The voice proceeded:

"I am L, a private detective. I help law enforcement solve difficult crimes all over the world. Detective Spears has asked me to look into this matter and see if I can be of any assistance. An informant has been killed and several officers were killed during an ambush."

"...an ambush...?" rumoured through the room. "Silence!" detective Spears commanded.

"I have concluded based on these actions that the criminals have their own informant inside the Dover Police. Your narcotics department is very small but I do suspect that it is one of them. Judged on the last information we received from the informant a series of drug shipments will take place between the 26th of March and the 29th of March, this gives us 4 days. We will let the Narcotics know that we plan to roll up this transport on the 28th of March. We will monitor their actions and if they cease on the 28th of March we will know that it is one of the four Narcotics officers. Naturally we cannot allow these transports to continue and the other departments should be made aware that we will hit the transport on the 29th of March. That is all for now, thank you."

The screen went black and detective Spears closed his notebook. "You heard him, get a team together and arrange for a civilian car to do the monitoring."


MSN conversation between L and Chief Detective Spears, March 24th 2003, 20:18 PM
Lionell: Do you think this will do it?
L: I do not think that any of the officers in narcotics is the informant. Anyone would know that doing such a thing in such a small department would lead to disclosure very quickly.
Lionell: What are you thinking then?
L: Your department is the largest at the moment and is thus the safest for an informant to operate in. You have friends in the other department’s right?
Lionell: Yes, what should I do?
L: Tell them to post news in your department stating that their department has been informed. But leave it at that, the officers in those departments will not be informed about this action.
Lionell: I see, so if the perps don't show up on the 28th we will know for sure that the informant is someone from my own dep.
L: That is the plan.

Downtown Dover, Mayer Butcher shop, 28th of March 2003, 10:12 AM

"When do we go?" Narcotics detective Aimes asked. He and several other officers stood around a white van. Detective Spears drank coffee from a paper cup. "We don't he said, we're hitting them tomorrow." Aimes gazed at him for a moment. "Tomorrow? But they said we went tonight!" Spears grabbed his phone and fiddled around some with the tiny buttons. He then placed the phone on his ear. "Any movement?...Keep them in your sights" then Spears ended the conversation and put the cell phone in his pocket. "Who was that?" Aimes asked. "Observation team" Spears answered. "We're not going tonight"

Phone conversation between L and Spears 28th of March 2003 10:50 AM
Lionell: I regret to inform you, the crooks aren’t moving, looks like the informant could still be a narc!
L: No, this only reinforces my theory. The informant just informed his contact that they shouldn't move tonight to put the blame on the Narcotics department to try and throw of the attention to someone else then him.
Lionell: Possible, but we still haven't got a clue who it could be.
L: We'll have to wait until the 29th.
Lionell: Then why tonight's effort?
L: I needed to see how fast the informant could inform his contact.

Dover Police department, 30th of March 2003, 11:15 AM
The officers in the room were fighting again because of last night’s disappointment. "Even L can't solve this!" "We will never catch them!" were common phrases. Spears setup his notebook again. A message from L appeared on his screen and he turned the notebook towards the room. The officers had nothing to fight over anymore and slowly they took a seat.

"Greetings detectives, these last couple of says were most fruitful despite the fact that you may not realise it. We have seen how fast the informant could inform his contact and I conclude that he can do within twenty-four hours. The informant tipped you about the drug lab on March 18th, however the informant only had a single contact within the police department namely detective Spears. Which meant that only when detective Spears announced that the drug lab existed and they were going to raid it, did the informant take action to inform the criminals? This could only have been on the day itself. Furthermore the past few days has taught us that the informant is not in Narcotics but in this department, to be more exact; in this room right now.

The room became restless and the people rumoured.

We did not inform any other officer in the other departments about the 29th of March except this one. This must mean that the informant is one of you. Since no other officer except this department knew of the action on the 29th they could not have been the informant. Furthermore I have studied the rotation service of this department. All officers on duty were accounted for and placed on scene or at this department. All the email and phone traffic to and from this precinct have been reviewed and no one inside could have been the informant. Of the twelve officers in total a third is off at any one time. These five officers at that time have had the opportunity to inform the contact. This group was the same group that was off on the 18th of March. Currently another group is off duty so the informant is in this room at the moment."

Other officers came into the room and read the names of the five suspects to come forward. They were taking into separate rooms for interrogation.

L's office, April 1st 2003, 3:00 PM
L was licking a lollipop. He looked at all the files of the officers in question and the interrogation reports.

Detective Ingle
Age: 29
In service since: 1998

Interrogation report:
Suspect was lead into room, seemed afraid. Asked if he wanted something to drink, he took water and an aspirin. Suspect was asked where he was at the time detective Spears informed the squad about the raid on the chemical lab until the actual raid itself. Suspect gave his mother and girlfriend as alibi, they confirmed they were out of town at that time and didn't return until after the raid. The suspect was asked if he had money problems. Suspect admitted that the he found it difficult getting around because of his age.

Detective Hayes
Age: 51
In service since: 1971

Interrogation report:
Suspect was lead into room, seems stressed. Asked if he wanted something to drink, he took water. Suspect was asked where he was at the time detective Spears informed the squad about the raid on the chemical lab until the actual raid itself. Suspect answered that he stayed at his home watching TV and surfing the web. Suspect was asked if he had money problems. Suspect said that the police are underpaid and it is difficult for anyone on the force to make a living.

Detective Hughinouth
Age: 36
In service since: 1995

Interrogation report:
Suspect was lead into the room, she seemed calm. Suspect was asked where she was at the time detective Spears informed the squad about the raid on the chemical lab until the actual raid itself. Suspect said she visited a friend in Oxford, he confirms this. Friend, Henry Jester, was investigated and showed no ties with criminals. Suspect was asked if she had money problems. Suspect said that the pay is to low and she needs to do additional work to get around.

Officer Slythe
Age: 36
In service since 1996

Interrogation report:
Suspect was lead into the room, no impression. Suspect was asked where he was at the time detective Spears informed the squad about the raid on the chemical lab until the actual raid itself. Suspect answered he spent the entire time with his wife and two children. They confirm this. Suspect was asked if he had money problems. Suspect admitted he found his wages to low to get around but that his wife has a job and together they earn enough.

Officer Kinsle
Age: 42
In service since 1987

Interrogation report:
Suspect was lead into the room, seemed stressed. Suspect was asked where he was at the time detective Spears informed the squad about the raid on the chemical lab until the actual raid itself. Suspect answered he was with his wife and daughter all the time. They confirm this. Suspect was asked if he had money problems. Suspect said he did not experience any financial problems.

All phone records were investigated, nothing in the interest of this case came forward. All computers were ceased and investigated, Officer Kinsle was found to possess child pornography on his notebook. This was clarified after talking to his former chief with vice that it was for an old investigation.

Phone records:
Ingle: Did not use the phone on specific dates
Hayes, Dover - Hayes, Dover: Once for three minutes
Hayes, Dover – Lawless, Bailiff office, Dover: three times for five minutes
Hughinouth, Dover - Hughinouth, Carlisle: 2 times ten minutes
Slythe, Dover - Slythe, London: Once for two minutes
Slythe, Dover - Callgirl centre, Dover: Twice for two minutes
Kinsle, Dover - Kinsle, Dover: Once for one minute
Kinsle, Dover – Plant-a-Tree Garden centre, Dover, once for two minutes

Email:
Digital forensics uncovered the following suspicious email:
From: hayes.marcel@hotsmail.com
To: hymnefortwo@yazoo.com

Subject: Tomorrow

Body: Tomorrow

Date sent: March 28th 2003, 9:31 PM

MSN conversation between L and Chief Detective Spears, April 3rd 2003, 1:10 PM
Lionell: What do you think? We need to investigate further?
L: It is a difficult case.
Lionell: Maybe we need to investigate the burnt out remains of the lab?
L: No need, I have enough information at hand to solve this case.

L made up his mind about this case. Do you?

L geeft zijn conclusie over één week (zondag). Je hebt tot die tijd om zelf uit te vissen wie de dader is. (De Informant)

Ah, opgelost. Leuk, mag wel vaker :3

En waarom praat L via MSN, ik krijg dan een beetje zo'n verkeerd mental image XD

Edit: (Ah, nu ik er weer eens over nadenk, zit er misschien toch een gat in mijn deductie. Misschien toch op het verkeerde spoor? Morgen toch maar weer eens over nadenken ^_~)

Het is mijn bedoeling om dit regelmatig te doen

P.S. Ik heb wat kleine typfoutjes en herhalingsfoutjes eruit gehaald. Ik heb ook perongeluk een naam twee keer gebruikt . Nu klopt alles, ik was eigenlijk een beetje te gemeen met afleidingsplots, ik heb 1 woord veranderd dat het makkelijker zal maken. (kleine tip)

Dit is natuurlijk een opwarmertje, de echt moeilijke zaken komen nog

Ik heb het gelezen. Ik ga proberen het uit te vinden! Ik ga dit ook aan mijn vriendin doorgeven, vind ze vast wel leuk om te doen.

Als iemand hier weet wie de informant is, niets zeggen! (doe maar in spoilertags)

En het lijkt mij echt leuk als je dit vaker zal doen! ^^

edit:
Ik heb het volgens mij opgelost...maar ik weet het niet zeker.

..ik zal dan maar niet de poll invullen, omdat ik het eerst wel zeker wil weten.

Ik moet je aanraden toch de poll in te vullen, of te wachten tot de oplossing en daarna de poll in te vullen. Dit is voor mij een indicatie of het plot te makkelijk of te moeilijk is en kan ik het daarop aanpassen zodat het de volgende keer beter/leuker wordt.

Ik heb liever dat je je oplossing voor je houd tot zaterdagavond/zondag. Dan mag je wat mij betreft je eigen uitwerking hier wel neerzetten.

Seigi
Ok. Ik heb het ingevuld!

En ik was niet van plan mijn oplossing hier neer te zetten..we willen niet dat iemand het leest en er zelf niet achterkomt ^^;; )

OK, je mag je redenering nu neerzetten. L zal zijn oplossing morgen bekendmaken. Even een paar regels voor nu en in de toekomst:

Om iemand als verdachte naar voren te brengen ben je 4 dingen nodig. Motief, gelegenheid, middelen en onomstotelijk bewijsmateriaal of getuigen die hem/haar op het plaats delict plaatsen.

Lukt het je niet met het bewijsmateriaal dan wordt jou redenering een verdenking van iemand. Dit betekend niet dat je automatisch verliest, als niemand anders een verdachte kan aanwijzen dan kijk ik automatisch naar de verdenkingen. Is jou verdenking het meest logisch geredeneerd dan win jij dit denkspel.

Dus voor een verdenking:
Motief, gelegenheid, middelen.

Voor een verdachte:
Hetzelfde maar met onomstotelijk bewijs of getuige(n).

Conclusion

Dover Police Department, Mess Hall. April 4th 2003 9:00 AM

All the individual departments had gathered in the mess hall for a briefing. Detective Aimes from the Narcotics brigade stood in a corner, looking around with suspicion. All officers were informed just before of the informant within the Dover police and they were all rumouring with each other. A large screen was set up against the wall on a podium.

Chief detective Spears stepped up onto the podium. "Officers of the Dover Police!" he started. The room turned its attention towards Spears. "As you were informed this morning, we are searching for an informant who is leaking information to a big drug syndicate. To this end we had to hire a special detective to help us with our investigation. He will address you shortly."

Spears stepped down and not long after that the screen turned bright white. A large black L sign faded in.

"Good morning officers of the Dover Police. This is L. The last couple of days I have investigated the Dover informant case. I have gathered evidence and reports and based on that information I have reached a conclusion."

"I have concluded that the informant was offered money in exchange for information because no other motive presented itself. It is a fact that the Dover police are severely underpaid. Based on the lack of suspicious emails and phone calls I further deduce that the meetings between the informant and his contact take place in person. However I have tested their ability to exchange information and when pressed on time the informant had no choice but to send an email"[i]

[i]"It is clear that Detective Hayes is the informant that seeks contact with the criminals."

Shouts and yells suddenly erupted in the mess hall. People stood up, reacted in anger and started name calling. Others took hold of Detective Hayes. Chief Detective Spears had to demand silence before L could continue.

[/i]"Detective Hayes had ample of motive, the poor salary, the multiple long phone calls he had with a bailiffs office. The email he sent was dated on March the 28th, a day before the planned raid. The email said: "tomorrow" which was enough for the contact to be alarmed. Further more, he was in the group that was absent on the days of the actual raids. It is only a matter of time before find out which person sticks behind the mysterious "hymnefortwo" email address. Have you anything to say Detective Hayes?"[/i]

Hayes lowered his head in disappointment and disbelief.

"I have spoken with the District Attorney this morning, if you confess he will prosecute you only for the leaking of information, not the deaths of the officers."

Hayes looked up at the screen. "Alright then! I did it! I gave them the information and I emailed them. I don't know anyone of them, they just gave me an envelope with money and I gave them one with the information!"

The people in the mess hall whispered among each other. The officers holding Hayes wanted to carry him away. L proceeded:

"Please wait before you take him away. The police informant inside the drug syndicate was a Narcotics Officer. It is not standard procedure that other departments know who informants are from other departments. Detective Hayes could not have known the identity of the police informant."

The room showed full attention now towards the white screen

"There was only one person who ever showed to have knowledge of the informant’ identity. I have deduced already that the Narcotics officers themselves are innocent thus...Chief Detective Spears, you have passed on this information to Detective Hayes!"

The room burst out in anger again. People accusing each other, others were screaming outrage. The Chief Detective an informant? No way! One officer raised his voice: "Why would the chief hire you then?"

L waited a bit for the room to settle.

"That has puzzled my mind too for five minutes. I can only come to one conclusion; Chief Detective Spears wanted it to stop now. He could not allow this to continue and wanted a friend from the past to end it."

Several other officers rushed in from outside the room, pistols drawn. "Put you gun on the ground!" an officer yelled at Spears. Spears slowly took the gun from his holster and placed it on the ground.

"Now remains only the question; why did you partake in such criminal proceedings?"

Before L could finish the sentence an officer yelled: "Hidden gun!". Spears kneeled down and reached for a weapon near his ankle. "Drop the gun!" another officer yelled. Spears put the gun to his head and pulled the trigger. A thundering noise deafened all ears in the room, a flash of bright light burned the eye's. As if stricken by lightning, Chief Detective Spears lost all strength in his body and fell to the ground, dead.

A District Attorney walked over to the body. He kneeled down and examined Spears for a moment. "He's dead" he finally confirmed. The room remained quiet in disbelief. The DA stood up and said: "L, thank you for your help, such a waste, such a waste.

The black L disappeared and the screen turned black.

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Dit was nog een simpele verhalen met elkaar vergelijken en bewijs toevoegen. Bereid je hersencellen maar vast voor want de volgende keer wordt het puzzel geblazen!

L will be back in:
L and the return of the Zodiac.

Crap. Was dit helemaal vergeten ^_~'

Hmmm. Ik heb hem niet (helemaal) goed. Eerst even uitgaan van je oplossing: ik heb eigenlijk je verhaal te slim ingeschat en heb nooit overwogen die e-mails en telefoontjes als bewijsmateriaal te beschouwen In elk zichzelf respecterend detectiveverhaal krijg je nooit beschuldigende bewijs zo naar je gegooid (zoals die e-mail), dus niemand gelooft erin als je het werkelijk voor je krijgt ~_~.

Oftewel, ik heb veel te ver doorgedacht ^_~

Mijn deductie was als volgt:

- de verdachtste was Spears zelf, omdat hij a) de identiteit van de spion wist, b) de informatie als eerste verkrijgt en c) vanwege zijn positie makkelijker contact buiten de afdeling kan maken (alleen mensen hoger dan hem zouden hemzelf kunnen onderzoeken).

- De 5 "verdachten" had ik eigenlijk al afgestreept. Waarom? Er werd te weinig informatie over hen gegeven. Naja, te weinig, dat e-mailtje en de telefoonrecords vond ik alleen maar red herrings ~_~ Ik heb serieus nog even namen zitten googlen, of er niet een geheime code in zat of zo.

- Het gat in mijn deductie was dus dat er geen echte reden was voor Spears om L in te schakelen.

Maar volgens mij zitten er ook wel gaten in jouw verhaal, die het moeilijker maakten.

Zoals: het vakantierooster dat niet werd uitgelegd.

De groep was volgens jouw verhaal vrij op 18 maart, 22 maart (de aanslag) en 29 maart (de mislukte bust). Hoe de dagen tussendoor zijn verdeeld, wordt niet duidelijk gemaakt en daarin is een groot gat, die het mogelijk maakt Spears als enige schuldige aan te wijzen, of met een onbekende handlanger (ook in het departement). Spears kan namelijk informatie doorgeven aan een van de mensen in de andere vrije dagengroepen (bijvoorbeeld op 19, 20 of 21 maart), die daarna hetzelfde doet als Hayes in jouw oplossing. Een baas die zijn werknemer zelfs op een vrije dag belt is zeker niet raar, zeker niet als er zulke zaken worden behandelt.

Dan heb je Spears als de enige informant, met een onbekende werknemer als tweede.

Maar ja, het initiatief is leuk, ik hoop dat de volgende wat meer "echt detectivewerk" wordt Als je Ellery Queen's verhalen gewend met hun Challenge to the Reader, dan denk je echt te ver met dit verhaal ^_~'

Dit is wat ik had geredeneert: De emails met de onderwerpen 'tomorrow', was gestuurt door Hayes en nog iemand op de 28ste. En de 28ste had Spears een telefoontje gepleegd en ook 'tomorrow' gezegd. Dus ik dacht dat dat er vast iets mee te maken had.. ook is Spears de gene die informatie als eerste te horen krijgt.

...

dat was eigenlijk mijn enige rede om Spears en Hayes te verdenken xD;;

Ook verdachte ik Aimes...omdat hij toen met Spears was en beiden 'Tomorrow!' enzo zeiden (ik dacht dat het een soort code woord was tussen die twee, die gelinkt was aan de emails..). Maar dat had ik dus fout.

Ik weet niet of mijn redenering klopt though! Te weinig bewijs enzo (ik richtte mezelf het meest op die emails ^^;; ) ..dus het telt denk ik meer als een verdenking. Maar ik had het wel goed over Spears en Hayes hoera.

Een goede detective moet ook rekening houden met de intelligentie van de schrijver en het feit of de schrijver een amateur of echte detectiveschrijver is en vanuit zijn standpunt beginnen redeneren.

PS: @Seigi-kun: Dit was NIET aanvallend bedoeld, want mijn deductie was zelf verkeerd, maar ik ga die niet posten aangezien ik het risico loop om uitgelachen te worden door, Aniway's grootste detective nerd, Satoshi (Ash) . Ik wil niet overkomen als Watson altijd doet bij Holmes.

Hey, ik heb nog nooit iets van hem gelezen, dus ik kan moeilijk zeggen of hij een goede detectiveschrijver is of niet. En dan ga je natuurlijk in full power mode eraan beginnen ;P

En toen Seigi-kun dit had geschreven in een later bericht:



Streepte ik al helemaal al die telefoontjes en zo door ^_~''''

Het enige wat je nu kunt doen is je reputatie redden door zijn volgend verhaal op te lossen . Alhoewel ik niet weet hoeveel je aan je reputatie als detective nerd/freak hecht .

Proberen doe ik sowieso, want zulke dingen zijn altijd wel leuk om te doen. Heck, ik ben al blij als er een Mickey Lost 't Op in de Donald Duck staat ~_~

(maar ik trek me nu even terug met mijn The Canary Murder Case, goede oude Golden Age detectives met haar gesloten logica en zo XD)