Near or Far

SPOILERS: All manga, all anime, L's true name, Another Note, Law and Right, Truth and Justice, Motive and Mayhem, Hell and Healing.

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Near or Far

Chapter 4: Hyper Vigilance

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Mello was dumbstruck. He sat there, gaze settled blankly on the wall, where they were projecting the contents of L's computer screen. The logfile, in a simple courier font, carefully detailed every action Matt had taken on Near's security system in the week prior to their disappearance.

The truth of it had settled like a stone at the bottom of his stomach.

"I should have seen it," Mello said weakly. "I should have known. The signs were there. He was possessive, he was taunting Near every chance he got... how did I not see it?" he sighed weakly, rubbing his hands over his face.

"Near should have seen it," Light replied with a soft frown. "Look at the access record for this file," he suggested, looking over L's shoulder.

A few keystrokes later, the file on screen had changed. Near had kept the file open for an extended period of time, the very day they had disappeared.

"This file is locked against writing," L said softly, biting down on his lower thumb. "The only thing he could have been doing is reviewing it."

"He must have been looking for something," Light agreed. "What does the general security log file look like? Maybe someone was trying to hack in and he was tracing the breach."

L flipped through a few files, looking at things. "There is no evidence of an external attack, or that any resources have been compromised. There is no reason to be worried about such a thing. Perhaps Matt's behavior had changed significantly in the recent days. It's possible he was creating a psychological profile."

"File usage is a pretty abstract way to go about it," Light replied with a frown, "but I suppose it's possible."

"Near's system is Unix based," Mello pointed out. "If you're signed in as an administrator or power user, changing the permissions on a file is simple. What if Matt was using Near's login to edit the files?"

L bit his lower lip roughly. "Let's see if there have been any failed login attempts for Near's username before we consider that," he insisted, and brought up yet another security record.

And there it was in glaring, capitol letters. Two failed login attempts. One more would have locked Near out of his own system. Someone had hacked Near's mainframe from the inside. The server L was looking at was on a closed network, no access to or from the outside -- in fact, it had been physically brought to the hotel room for them to access the information.

The blade was sitting in a small rack in the living area, several fans pointed at it, cords running to L's laptop, on which the WIFI was disabled.

"He's going to kill Near," Mello whispered weakly.

"We'll stop him," Light replied firmly, folding his arms over his chest. "He took Near alive, there has to be a reason for that. There's still a chance Near hasn't been killed yet, and we're going to bank on it. We're going to search him out, find him, and get him the hell out of there."

"And then we'll lock Matt up and throw away the key," L grumbled, biting down on his thumbnail again until he tasted blood. He grimaced, pulling his thumb away and banishing the taste with a sugar cube.

Light sighed heavily, running a hand through his hair. "I think it's time to run our own profile on Matt," he decided quietly. "Talk to us about him, Mello. We need to know as much as we can about his recent behavior."

"I'll do better than that," Mello replied, getting up and going to sit next to L. "I'll give you access to the security footage," and he took the laptop, typing in a series of commands, until they were in the proper directory. "Every file in there is of Matt. I'm... gonna go down to the church and pray for a while," he sighed.

"Keep your phone on," Light replied softly. "Just in case."

Mello nodded. "I will," he promised, and bowed to them both before hurrying from the hotel room. He wasn't sure how much help he could be on this one. It was a tough case, to say the least.

Three hours of prayer and another hour speaking with the priest had Mello feeling a lot better. Talking about it, praying about it helped him to step back, to separate out his emotions. To leave things up to God, to trust in Him to ensure that the proper outcome would arrive.

There was only so much a man could do, after all, and the comfort was enough to keep him from another relapse. He returned to the hotel, settling in the living area to have dinner and go over a little of the footage with L and Light.

Mello explained what behaviors were enforced by Near's rules, and the reasoning behind them, which further helped separate out the more significant behavioral patterns.

What they found when they were done, three days later, was absolutely perplexing.

"There's no indication of an inclination towards violence. None. Even when he's angry, he keeps it in check easily," Light observed quietly. "There's no body language of aggression, and we certainly haven't got any footage of him attempting to hack the server."

"It is peculiar," L agreed quietly, "but he has always been very good at lying."

"Maybe he's treating it like an undercover," Mello suggested. "He's always been good at those, too."

"It's possible that he completely owns the persona of Near's slave," Light agreed quietly.

"Pet," Mello corrected, a little more curtly than he'd intended. He got a raised eyebrow from both L and Light, and scowled in return.

"Pet," Light agreed. "If he were taking on the persona as a means of going undercover, it's possible that this is all masked behavior."

"Even so," L replied quietly. "He would display aggressive body language when he was alone," he pointed out. "Not all of these cameras are reported on the system."

"He might not have known about some of these," Mello agreed. "Especially the one in the garage. Near didn't tell him about any of the external cameras, and while he told Matt about the infrared sensors, he said nothing about the video feed. The garage is rarely used, anyway, so infrared is sufficient to determine unusual activity levels."

"So Matt wouldn't likely question it," Light agreed, and brought up a garage video again. "But here, again, he's relaxed. It's almost as if he's asleep standing up."

L's eyes narrowed as his thoughts suddenly deepened. A scenario ran through his mind, and he gave a quiet hum. He rose then, heading into the next room and getting another laptop, bringing it back. He linked out to the video server from his own building and brought up some files, scanning through them silently.

Light and Matt joined him, watching over his shoulder. These cameras were on all of Near's weak security points -- including several in the garage. L had never told Near about them, of course. That would defeat their purpose.

"Asleep standing up," L said softly, and zoomed in on Matt's face during one of his smoke breaks, "is precisely what he is."

"Hyper vigilance?" Light asked.

"Perhaps," L agreed. "We will examine this footage in more detail," he decided, and settled in to do just that.

Every smoke break L had on file, Matt made a phone call, talked a little while, then hung up, smoked, and looked as if he were fast asleep.

L brought up the bedroom footage from Near's files on the other laptop and found, much to his surprise, that Matt was lying awake in the bed every evening. The entire evening.

"Hyper vigilance," L agreed at last. "Matt is the kidnapper."

Mello cursed, but resisted the urge to throw things. Barely.

Light sighed softly, leaning back in his seat and letting his gaze settle on Mello, watching his reaction carefully. He was more than a little surprised when Mello came to the sofa and collapsed to the floor, draping his torso over Light's legs.

"I can't deal with this," Mello announced weakly, hiding his face in his arms.

"I'm sorry," Light replied, and settled a hand on Mello's head gently. "Maybe you should go back to the orphanage until L and I have settled this."

"I can't just abandon Near," Mello replied with a heavy sigh. "He would never abandon me, and I won't do it to him."

That brought a soft smile to Light's lips. "Then we'll help you to deal with it as best we can, but I think the best thing you can do, for yourself and for Near, is to pray."

L gave Light a rather odd look. Neither of them were religious, or believed that religion, in general, was real. Still, the psychological effects of faith were strong enough, and after an internal battle to keep his mouth shut on the subject, L returned his attention to the computer.

Now it was time to track Matt down.

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A/N: Short chapter, yes, but I'm finding myself fond of making them short. Especially when it's something of an emotional roller-coaster for poor Mello. D=