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When Linda got an incoming call from an unknown number that afternoon, she didn’t think much of it at first.
It wasn’t unusual for her to get calls from unknown numbers these days, especially since the opening of her gallery, so she picked up without a second thought. Some were genuine business calls, others were prank calls or even scammers, but she’d learned to differentiate pretty quickly by now. Most scammers used the same obvious tactics after all, which was child’s play for someone who’d grown up in an institution originally designed for raising detectives.
When she heard the all too familiar sound of a distorted computer voice on the other end though, Linda nearly dropped the paintbrush she’d been holding as well as her phone, and only barely managed to stop herself from ruining her latest commission beyond repair.
‘Congratulations on the opening of your own gallery.’ the voice told her, unbothered by her shock, but most definitely not unaware of it if this was indeed who she thought it was.
‘Uh, thanks.’ Linda replied, before carefully putting her paintbrush down and walking towards the window of her studio. Just because she wanted a nice view while she talked, and totally not to check if she was being watched at the moment.
She still decided to shut the curtains just in case.
‘I must say though, I wasn’t expecting a personal call from you of all people.’ she said after a while, wondering if she needed to keep things vague, or if it was safe to speak plainly. They lived in such uncertain times after all, and even if they weren’t being kept up-to-date about the whereabouts of former Wammy’s residents unless they chose to stay in touch themselves, it didn’t take a genius to think of what Near had gotten up to after leaving the orphanage. And considering Wammy’s House had been full of those, Linda suspected her guess would be pretty accurate.
‘It’s alright, the line’s secure.’ the voice said as if reading her mind. ‘I made certain of it.’
‘Well, then it would mean a lot more to me if you could congratulate me in your own voice, Near.’ Linda huffed.
The voice on the other end of the phone remained quiet for a few seconds, almost making her think she’d been disconnected, before a different, but not any less familiar, voice spoke up once more.
‘Congratulations, Linda.’ Near told her, which made her smile for a bit.
Said smile lasted for about two seconds, after which she let out a long sigh.
‘Well, tell me what you need, then.’ she said. ‘You’re hardly the type of person who’d go around making courtesy calls, so as much as I appreciate your support, I must assume you’re calling about a case.’
‘You’d make a fine detective, should you ever tire of creating art.’ Near mused. ‘But yes, I have a favour to ask.’
Linda was curious to know what she could possibly contribute to the case he was working on – she’d happily paint him a portrait of Kira if she knew his identity, but then that would kind of defeat the point of his identity being unknown – but Near had always had a rather roundabout way of handling these things. Most kids thought him and Mello weren’t anything alike, but she knew they both had a flair for the dramatic, so to say.
‘I suspect someone will contact you in the coming days and commission you to draw them a set of portraits.’ Near explained. ‘Of myself and Mello specifically.’
‘Kira?’ Linda guessed.
‘Not quite’ Near assured her. ‘The Japanese Task Force is a more likely candidate. Though these portraits, should you agree to make them, will undoubtedly fall into Kira’s hands at some point, so you should treat the commission in that same manner.’
Linda bit her lip, and thought about the possibility of her portraits helping rat out the people she’d grown up with to a mass murderer. She’d never been particularly close to Near, because Near hadn’t been close to anyone, and Mello had gotten on her nerves more than anything, but she still considered them her friends. Or at the very least, people she wouldn’t want dead. That much went without saying.
‘Why are you so certain they’ll contact me specifically?’ she asked. ‘I’m not the only successful Wammy’s kid out there.’
Near always stated these things as facts, but Linda appreciated understanding the logic behind his deductions for her peace of mind more than anything.
‘True, but you’re one of the very few people who know what we looked like as children, and with the absence of photographs, likely the only person in existence capable of visualising our faces for others somehow.’ Near explained. ‘Your reputation as a famous artist precedes you.’
Linda had never minded the fame – if anything, she’d dreamt of it as a little girl – and had certainly never felt a need to fear for her life in terms of anything Kira-related, but now, she wondered if perhaps the life of an anonymous artist like Banksy would have suited her better.
‘Would you like me to refuse the commission?’ she asked, voicing none of her concerns out loud. Knowing Near, he was likely already aware of them anyway.
‘No, that would just make them suspicious of you.’ Near said thoughtfully. ‘It’s not like they can prosecute you for denying such a request, but you might catch Kira’s attention, which is a scenario I’d rather avoid. Please be as cooperative as you would be naturally.’
‘Right.’ Linda replied. ‘Except, you don’t actually want me to draw them accurate portraits at all. You want me to…what, lie to the police?’
The thought of doing so didn’t bother her as much as it probably should have done.
‘I knew you’d understand.’ Near confirmed. ‘I trust you are creative enough to…alter our appearances enough to make us unrecognisable, while keeping things believable at the same time. I must ask that you do not use the faces of deceased people as inspiration though, in case Kira is thorough in his research.’
‘Mhh…so you essentially want me to craft you a whole new identity?’ she hummed. ‘I’ve always liked a challenge. Any requests for what you want to look like?’
‘The less I know about your design, the better.’ Near told her, and if she wasn’t mistaken, he almost sounded vaguely amused. ‘I trust you’ll come up with something suitable for the task.’
‘Consider it done.’ Linda said, the hint of a smile playing around her lips.
She didn’t think she’d had a commission this interesting in a while.
Less than a day later, Linda got another call from an unknown number.
She half expected it to be Near, contacting her about some new details regarding the case or whatever, but that didn’t seem like him. Near was more efficient than that.
Her suspicions were confirmed when she picked up the phone, and the person calling her turned out to be a lot less polite than Near had been. Even if that had been nothing more than an act, this person didn’t even make an attempt at sounding civil.
‘I need your help.’ an all too familiar voice sounded from the other end, an impatient tone to his voice.
‘What happened to “hello, how are you”?’ Linda huffed, feeling rather grateful for the fact she hadn’t been as jumpy as yesterday, and putting down her teacup with all the grace in the world.
‘No time for formalities.’ Mello said. ‘Are you willing to hear me out or not?’
‘I would have hung up on you if I wasn’t at least willing to hear you out, don’t you think?’ Linda mused. ‘Though I’m not sure what you could possibly want from me. You never struck me as an art lover…ah, though I suppose you’ve always been a piece of work yourself, so perhaps that’s the closest you’ll ever get to an artwork?’
She was bullying him a little, but that was his own fault for being the way he was.
‘Don’t push it, Lindworm.’ Mello huffed, though he sounded significantly more friendly than before.
‘I wouldn’t dream of it, Marshmello.’ Linda said with a small grin. ‘Say hi to Matt from me, won’t you?’
Mello didn’t ask her how she knew Matt was with him, nor did she feel the need to explain. The two of them had been inseparable back in the day, so when Mello had left him behind, everyone knew it was only a matter of time before Matt would chase him. Linda was just relieved he’d found him alive.
‘Matt says hi back.’ Mello deadpanned, sounding mildly annoyed, and Linda could practically hear him rolling his eyes at the both of them. There was a reason Matt had always been her favourite M. ‘Now can we get back to business?’
‘Sure, my commission rates are—’
‘Linda.’
‘Fine! Fine. Near was a lot more diplomatic about this than you though.’
A beat of silence followed.
‘…Near called you?’ Mello asked, dumbfounded. ‘About what?’
‘That’s confidential.’ Linda hummed. ‘Tell me what you were going to say, and I might let you know if it’s about the same thing or not.’
When some shuffling sounded from the other end, Linda suspected Matt was making sure Mello didn’t trash his phone in a fit of rage. Clearly, some things never changed.
(She only felt a little sorry).
‘Kira wants to know what our faces look like.’ came Mello’s voice after a while. He was lucky Linda was such a patient woman. ‘If anyone asks you to draw us—’
‘The portraits I give them will be false.’ Linda assured him. ‘Don’t worry, I have some perfect designs in mind.’
‘…good.’ Mello said, sounding calm once more.
And by all means, their conversation could have – and probably should have – ended right then and there. They had nothing left to discuss, and even Mello had sounded almost civil by now.
Of course Linda was nothing if not a little petty, much like all Wammy’s kids had been. Those without a backbone would have been eaten alive, and so she couldn’t help but push Mello just a little further for nothing but her own entertainment.
‘Naturally, I will make Near the better-looking one between the two of you.’ she told him casually. ‘Your punishment for being so rude.’
This time, the loud noises on the other end indicated Matt hadn’t succeeded in stopping Mello from throwing his phone, and Linda had to keep her own phone away from her ear so as not to be subjected to a myriad of curse words.
When someone finally talked to her again, it wasn’t Mello’s voice coming through the phone this time.
‘Thanks Linda.’ Matt told her, causing a small grin to appear on her face. ‘And uh, sorry about that.’
‘It’s fine, I know what he’s like.’ Linda hummed. ‘He was just being his usual, charming self.’
Matt snickered, and Linda smirked at the sound.
‘Good luck.’ she said, her tone serious this time. She hoped he’d understand that she was wishing him luck with more than just Mello’s temper.
‘Thank you.’ Matt said, his tone indicating he very much had. ‘We’ll need it.’
Linda vowed then that no matter how much teasing she subjected the pair of them to, she’d help them in whatever way she could.
Kira could pry these happy, silly moments from her cold, dead hands.
Shortly after, the Japanese Task Force did in fact ask Linda to draw Near and Mello for them.
Linda accepted the job with no hesitation, and when the Task Force asked some of the other former Wammy’s children to confirm the accuracy of these portraits, everyone told them the same thing: there was no artist out there capable of drawing more accurate portraits than Linda.
Content, these foreign agents went home, portraits and all.
Of course the Task Force wasn’t aware of the fact that Linda had always been a social butterfly. She’d always ensured every child felt included, had been kind to everyone, and had kept in touch with her friends even after they’d left the orphanage.
Nor did they know that she’d recently made some calls to said friends, making requests and calling in some favours here and there.
By the time Linda’s portraits eventually fell into the hands of Kira, just as Near had predicted, no one was any the wiser. No one questioned their validity.
On January 26, Kiyomi Takada was kidnapped by a man whose face she had never seen before, the name “Mihael Keehl” not once crossing her mind. Or if it did, then as nothing more than a henchman or accomplice.
On that same day, Takada’s bodyguards set off in pursuit of the kidnapper’s accomplice, only to find their road blocked by a poorly-timed live art performance, causing them to lose sight of their target.
When Linda returned from her impromptu holiday to Japan only a few days later, her gallery still as popular as ever, she felt inspired to make a series of paintings focussed on celebrating life.
Strangely enough, Linda never had any trouble finding buyers for her art for the rest of her days.