Disclaimer: Death Note? Not mine. Damn.

David Duddins stared unblinkingly at the television, contentedly stuffing another fistful of Doritos into his mouth as he leaned further forward in his seat. This was good stuff - who needed the entertainment channels when the news was this exciting?

Duddins had been avidly following the news lately. For the first time since those weird Locked Room Murders in Los Angeles, a really interesting story was unfolding. Having been unemployed after losing his computing job almost a year ago, Duddins had little else to do but follow the news. He felt privileged in some strange way, to be able to devote so much time to following some more recent stories - this particular headline had grabbed his attention instantly, not least because it was related to something he had a fair bit of knowledge about: computers. He felt connected to this story somehow. He knew… he knew about this. He had a theory about it. In fact, he felt he could be close to solving the mystery. Far closer than the police were, anyway. And for the first time since his late teens, he had a similar minded flatmate to discuss his theory with.

"Hmm…" Duddins nodded knowingly at the screen as the report ended. "Very interesting."

"Wha…?" his new flatmate, a young man named Elric, frowned, perplexed. "Shorry - musht've misshed shumfing…" The tall, skinny man swallowed his mouthful of chocolate peanuts, poking a bony finger around the packet for the next one. There weren't any left.

"That story about the guys who escaped from that prison in California, right? It's getting pretty exciting."

"Those…? Oh! The men you were talking about last night?"

"Beyond Birthday and Dustin Prince, yeah."

"Why? What did they do now? One of my peanuts rolled under the sofa, so I wasn't listening."

"Right, right. Well, what it is is that… You know how the police hadn't released a photo of that Beyond Birthday guy, right? I mean, they only managed to get a real fuzzy photo of him when he was a kid when he did those murders too, right?"

"Hm? Oh… Yeah, I think so…"

"Right. Well, they can't now."

"How come?"

"Well, that's just it - his file's just disappeared off the database. The central database, not just a local one. And they hadn't made any copies, either. A whole load of other files have been corrupted too, but Birthday's is the only one that's completely gone."

"Ohhh… So… Do they know how that happened, then?"

"So far, all they'll say is that it looks like a virus - they don't seem to have a clue. But police databases shouldn't be able to get viruses that easily."

"… No, you're right! So… Hey - you know about computers and stuff - what do you think happened then?"

Duddins drew himself up in his stained, saggy armchair importantly. Elric had only been staying with him for the past day and a half, but Duddins was already beginning to like him. Elric appreciated his intellect, understood that his theories were sound. Plus, Elric didn't seem to be particularly clued up himself, which always helped.

"Well… I reckon it can't just be a regular virus - the protection on police computers would be too tough for it to get through, like I said, right?"

"…Right."

"In fact, I don't think it's a virus at all - not even one that's been placed. I think someone has definitely hacked into the system, deleted Birthday's file, then corrupted it to make it look like a virus."

"Ohh… Wow."

"Yeah. And you know who that hacker is, right?"

"Umm…"

"It's Birthday, isn't it? Obviously. I mean, he's got the motive, right? He doesn't want people seeing his photo - it'd make it easier for people to spot him. And you'd have to be really smart to be able to hack into the police database without being traced, and Birthday's a genius, they say. Got an IQ of… 200 or something."

"219. Er… I think you said it was 219..."

"Hmm? Oh. Yeah, yeah. I must've mentioned it last night, right?"

"Right."

"So… I mean, I think I could hack the database, so he definitely could, right?"

"Right."

Elric leaned over and daintily plucked a Dorito from Duddin's bowl as the huge man droned on and on about his theories. Most of what he was saying was reasonable enough, Elric thought, running his tongue lazily along the edges of the chip. Sometimes even accurate. He was fairly sure, for example, that Duddins hadn't been exaggerating when he'd said he'd be able to hack into the police database. From what little he knew of Duddins, Elric had determined that his skill with computers would make that feat possible… although he may not have been able to do so and remain as untraceable as the mystery hacker. It had been the fact that Duddins had been fired from his job for hacking into another company's files that had first attracted Elric to Duddins to begin with. That, and the numbers.

David Duddins - 9 days. Well… approximately. From what 'Elric' had found out in his research, his new flatmate was only 34 years old, but, thanks to his stupendously unhealthy lifestyle, had the physical fitness levels of a man at least twice that age. He was huge - not surprising seeing all he did was sit and snack all day, getting up from the TV or computer only to fetch more beer and snacks. He was competent enough with computers to be able to do most things with them, and more than keen enough to show his expertise given any opportunity.

He was perfect.

Beyond Birthday smiled serenely and nodded at whatever Duddins had just said. He wasn't listening. He was in hiding. Elric Lawliet - he hadn't been able to resist - would take over from here; travel the world on Beyond's behalf. First, however, Elric Lawliet would need a passport. Beyond could make one himself, of course, given the equipment to do so, but it was far more fitting for his purpose - and entertaining - to have someone else create one for him… For Elric. Duddins had already shown a huge interest in the ongoing adventures of Beyond Birthday anyway, and had hinted at wanting to get involved with the case, hadn't he?

How deliciously ironic.

"…but the police are so useless, aren't they?" Duddins droned. I mean, it's obviously Birthday, right?"

"Right," said Elric, knowing full well that it can't possibly have been. It was a good job that Duddins would be working on the case from this side…

Why had L deleted that file, anyway?

--

"L."

Two slender fingers deftly pushed the buttons that connected and disconnected incoming transmissions in quick succession. He could keep this up all day if he had to, and Watari knew it. Why did he have to be so persistent? L knew what was coming anyway. And he was sure Watari already knew what his answer would be. Why did people feel the need to ask questions they already knew the answer for, to talk about things there was no need to discuss? It was done now - the file had gone. He'd corrupted a few files to make it seem virus-like, but even an idiot would figure out sooner or later that it simply wasn't the case. He'd been careful to remove only B's file though. The obvious conclusion to draw from that particular action, once it had been determined that the files had been hacked, would be that the hacker had been B himself. Not only did that deter the police from following up any other potential hackers, it was also kind of a fun idea.

The ghost of a smile swept across the young detective's lips. This was going to turn nasty sooner or later, he just knew it - but that was no reason not to have a little fun for a while…

Author's Note: It took me so many attempts to write this chapter, it's ridiculous. Hopefully it will all make sense now...

Again, apologies for the sporadic updates (or lack thereof...) Sorry. :(