Dialogue Essay: Lost One

"You can play with that Rubix cube all you want, but the outcome will remain the same, H," L told me. It was only a few days after we had reached Arizona, and long after I had finished the puzzle.

"Yes, but I'm trying to beat my time of ten seconds," I answered, twisting the cube to make it into a rainbow of colors before turning it back into its completed form.

L, who sat in the chair next to mine, alerted me, "The conference at the ICPO has started. You might want to pay attention. I'll have to be talking soon."

My lip twitched, "I know how to sound like you. I've done it before, and no one suspects a thing."

He responded, "It's not that. We might gain information."

I sighed, spinning my chair in circles, "I've researched this case nonstop and they have nothing other than criminals are still dying from heart attacks and that this has turned into an international crisis."

He requested, "Please, be quiet so that I can hear." He turned the volume on his laptop to full.

A man said, though we could not see them, "There have been fifty-two deaths that we're aware of, and that's just in the past week. Every single one of them involved a heart attack. They were all criminals who were either being held in prison or who were wanted by police for outstanding crimes, and I think it's safe to say, there are other deaths who are unaccounted for."

A second man replied, "In which case, the death toll could be well over one hundred." Everyone started whispering to their neighbors before quieting down.

A third intervened, "At any rate, these were criminals who were probably facing execution sooner or later. Perhaps we shouldn't-"

The first interrupted, "Why should it matter whether it's a criminal or someone innocent? Last...

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... me and take over as me when I'm gone. If you are gone as well, then you cannot take over as L. That is why I must protect you from anything that is coming to hurt you. Not only so that you can take over for me, but so that you will not have to be so paranoid about how every person is out to get you until you are me," he said.

I asked, no longer angry, "Is that how you feel? Like you have to look over your shoulder everywhere you go?"

He paused, and then told me, only turning his head enough to look at me out of the corner of his eye, "Come on. I don't want to keep the helicopter waiting. I can't eat anything on there, so the faster we get to Japan, the better." He walked out of the room.

I walked after him and whispered, "Of course, Lost One." I might have said it quietly, but I somehow knew he had heard me. Still, L ignored his nickname and kept walking.