The Mello Code

Hal had been given a very specific time for contacting Near. He was also the only person to have requested the questions in advance, hence I was a little surprised when he still agreed to speak with me. Once I\'d finished speaking with Century, there was still half an hour to go before I could speak with Near. Hal suggested therefore that we visited Roger.



Until then, I believed that Roger still lived in Wammy\'s House. He doesn\'t. He lives in a gorgeous little house around the corner. If it was anywhere else, it would have been called a cottage, but that seemed the wrong word for it in the middle of a city, particularly when it was part of a terrace of similiar houses. Apparently the foundations and some of the main walls were from thirteen century almshouses on the same spot. There was a back wall that was fifteenth century but, on the whole, the house was much more modern. Rebuilt in the early seventeenth century and constantly updated and modernised since then. Yes, I was in love with Roger\'s house.



Though only in his early seventies, Roger appeared much older to me. Extremely gracious, he invited both Hal and I to sit, then served us himself with tea. His table had little lace doilies and his china teaset matched. I spent the entire interview terrified of dropping my cup and saucer. It looked expensive.



Matti: Thank you for talking to me, Mr Ruvie. I have been asked to enquire about your honest opinion of Mello and Matt.



Roger: Ah! A rather complex subject. *ponders for a while* They are both very fine, young men with enough time to fulfill their potential.



Matti: Do you like them as people?



Roger: Like all of the children there, certain qualities had to be brought to the fore, which does not necessarily engender likeable personalities, but which does heighten their ability to pursue justice in an unstable world.



Matti: So you don\'t actually like them?



Roger: *sighs* They are very young and rather too energetic for me.



Matti: So it\'s more a case of them wearing you down rather than actual dislike?



Roger: *nods*



Matti: What are your views on Mello?



Roger: Professionally?



Matti: No, your personal views.



Roger: Utterly obnoxious.



Matti: Oh!



Roger: Mello is a dangerous man. Whilst that can seem very glamorous to you young folk, it pays to strip back the layers and see it for what it truly is. I have to take responsibility for the fact that we raised and unleashed a monster.



Matti: Ok. What are your views on Matt?



Roger: It is impossible to say. How can you form an opinion on someone whom you never met?



Matti: ...



Matti: Pardon.



Roger: Don\'t get me wrong, I raised him. I was in daily contact with him between the ages of 3 and 18, then lesser contact thereon, but I never met him. An utterly repressed personality, with the ability to manipulate anyone. No-one will ever get close to Matt, because he knows precisely what they are doing before they even try and so creates obstacles to thwart them.



Matti: Right. May I ask what you think of their partnership?



Roger: Potentially the best detective team in the world.



Matti: I believe that Silvia, who asked this question, was referring more to their love and, erm, sexual relationship.



Roger: Times have changed. I understand that such things are entirely acceptable in the world today.



Matti: Yet you aren\'t comfortable with it personally?



Roger: It is not something I wish to consider.



Matti: On a related note, why did you never confess your love for Mr Wammy?



Roger: ...



Matti: I apologise if I startled you.



Roger: Dear girl, things like this did not happen in my day. There were no, ahem, homosexuals before the 1960s, when it was all drugs and licentious behaviour. It just didn\'t do. They might have had homosexuals on the Continent, but certainly not in England.



Matti: Do you regret not having told him?



Roger: *distant gaze* Wammy knew.



Matti: Your feelings weren\'t reciprocated?



Roger: As I\'ve said, such things did not happen. It is not a matter of reciprocation. It\'s a matter of decorum.



As Hal and walked back around the corner to Wammy\'s House, she asked me to remind those reading that Roger is an old man. He can sometimes be a little bitter in his views, as regret clouds them. She has personally heard him speak very fondly of both Mello and Matt and it\'s her belief that he envies them. As for the comments about Wammy, Hal and I were speculating on them all the way back to her office and the laptop. Our deduction is that something did happen, hence Roger knowing that Quillsh did reciprocate, but we think it was merely a conversation that did not make it even to a kiss. We concluded that they let social conventions of the time get in the way.



We waited a few minutes, before calling Near promptly at the time pre-arranged. Hal had spent those minutes telling me how Near should and shouldn\'t be addressed, which meant that, by the time I heard him, I was really nervous. Near sounds American in a different way to Hal. I knew in advance that he\'s from Kansas, so I assume that that was his accent. Moreover, the fact that he just sounds bored is really off-putting. I\'m stating this in advance, so you understand how intimidating this conference was, especially considering the questions I had for him. Please note that Near had sight of these previously, which was possibly a mistake on my part.



Matti: Hello, Near, thank you for talking to us.



Near: What possible need have your people to know the answers to these questions?



Matti: They are interested in you.



Near: ...



Matti: You have many fans within this community.



Near: How do they know of me?



Matti: Though the Death Note manga and anime series.



Near: Ah. *pause* These are not the questions that I would have asked given this opportunity to ask questions.



Matti: Maybe, but these were the questions that were asked.



Near: Right.



Matti: If there are any that you do not wish to answer, you may skip them.



Near: What do I feel towards Matt and is he, or could he be, suitable of taking my place as L? It Matters lacks the drive and application to be L. He has the intelligence. If he wants to apply himself, he can solve puzzles extremely swiftly and accurately. He will do it calmly and unemotionally, but with a certain level of recklessness that gets the case solved in the quickest way possible. That is not always the best way. Matt could very easily take on the L Code, but he would very quickly destroy its reputation. Matt is not interested in justice. Matt is interested in Matt.



Matti: You are saying that Matt is too selfish to be L?



Near: We are all selfish. In Matt\'s case, he does not wish to work. He wishes to play games all day long. He would cut corners in the investigation and do no follow up work. People would lose faith in the L Code.



Matti: That makes sense. Thank you.



Near: What\'s your sexuality? Or are you just asexual?



Matti: Erm, yes.



Near: Sex is a distraction and a relationship creates a dangerous bond, which may be used against you. Neither have a worth which mitigates these dangers. However nice it might be to enter into a romantic encounter with a lady, it is not worth changing my lifestyle to facilitate that.



Matti: So you have considered dating women?



Near: No. I have no wish to.



Matti: Right. Do you...?



Near: How am I doing since the Kira case? I am doing very well thank you.



Matti: Ok, yes. What are you up to?



Near: ....



Near: I am L.



Matti: So solving cases.



Near: ....



Near: Yes.



Matti: But how are you personally doing? Are you ok?



Near: Yes.



Matti: That is good.



Near: Do I play any musical instruments? I believe I could play any instrument that is given to me.



Matti: Which ones have you already tried and mastered?



Near: Every instrument in the music cupboard at Wammy\'s House.



Hal: May I interject please, Near?



Near: ....



Near: Go on, Hal.



Hal: The music cupboard is rather large and the collection is vast. Our agents pick up instruments from countries all over the world. Our last inventory showed 114 different instruments, though they are being added to all of the time.



Matti: So you are very musical, Near?



Near: I mastered them. It was easy.



Matti: Do you play a....?



Near: Music is mathematics rendered aurally.



Matti: I see. Is there a favourite instrument, which you still play now?



Near: No.



The actual words of this transcription do not fully illustrate what it is like speaking with Near. He is precise, calm and polite, but there is an inate ability to fluster the other person in the conversation. I did feel like I was stupid. I also felt like I was an opponent, rather than merely an interviewer. It is something in the diction, but I came away from that conversation fully understanding two things: Mello\'s inferiority complex and Raito\'s strength of character. That is not to suggest that Mello hasn\'t also got a strong character, but he was exposed to Near for longer. It is difficult to determine if I liked Near or not. I simply felt very small in his cyber presense. Hal assured me that that is a common reaction. She stated that, once you get used to him, he\'s actually a very lovely person.



I took my leave of Hal then and drove south-west, out of Winchester, for the really exciting part of the interviews. Before I could make it to the final stage though, I had to stop off on a council estate in the southern outskirts of Southampton. After a few false starts, I found the street and pulled up outside a towerblock. It doesn\'t matter where you go in Britain, a council estate is a council estate. I was raised on one and still live on one. These are my people. I looked up, counting five floors, until I found Matt\'s old flat. There were yellow curtains, with big white circles on it, in the kitchen window. I guessed that someone else occupies the flat now. As I walked around the corner, I mused on whether the landlord had plastered over the bullet holes in the wall before reletting it.



I found the corner shop and waited for a gang of teenagers to finish buying their Mad Dog, before stepping up to the counter. There were a man and woman, whom I took to be a young, married couple. I enquired as to whether they had been here all year. Naturally suspicious (do I look like I\'m from trading standards?), it took a while before I ascertained that yes, the shop had been in their family since the 1980s. The man\'s parents had run it until last year, when it was passed down full-time to him and his wife. I could have asked the question, but they were already looking at me like I was insane. I handed over my printed e-mail and they read it.



\'Dear bloke who sells Matt his cigarettes,

Do you have a name, or should I just refer to you as "Bloke who sells Matt his cigarettes"? I guess I could mix it up a bit and call you "Dude who sells..." or "That guy who sells...". How about "Cigarette selling man"? "The seller of the cigarettes"? You know what? I\'m just going to call you "Phil" until I get an answer.



Peace out Phil,



Melissa



P.S. Did you know Matt\'s [overly jealous] boyfriend thought you were a girl at one point? Just asking.\'



The woman looked at her husband then went to serve another customer. The man looked at me and said, "Are you taking the piss?" I assured him that this was quite on the level and that the questions are genuine.



His wife returned to us and asked the next pertinent question. "Who\'s Melissa? And who\'s Matt?" I explained that Melissa wasn\'t from round here, but Matt used to live over the road in the flats.



The man muttered that I was \'taking the piss\' again, but I pressed forward. "He has bright red hair and wears orange goggles. Usually has a striped top on."



Now there was understanding. The woman pointed at her husband, "She\'s talking about goggle boy!"



The man frowned, "Goggle boy? Does he sound like the Queen shat in his mouth?" I concurred that that did indeed sound like it might be Matt. "Haven\'t seen him."



"We think he moved away." His wife explained. "He hasn\'t been in for months."



"Yes, he has. Erm, might I ask your names anyway please?"



"I\'m Patti and this is Lakhbir. Bains." She offered helpfully.



"Patti and Lakhbir Bains?" I clarified. This information was born out later, as I left the shop and noticed that their names had been on the sigh above it all along. I was back in the car before I remembered that I hadn\'t got a response to Melissa\'s final question, concerning Lakhbir\'s thoughts on Mello having thought he was a girl. With no wish to go back and ask, I will answer on his behalf. Lakhbir Bains is a six foot 2" Sikh man, with a huge beard and moustauche. He has a small turban on his head. He would never be mistaken for a woman in a million years, unlike Mello.



End of Part Three. Part Four coming up when it\'s been transcribed.