At the Heart of Justice

Chapter 7: Closer

By the time they returned to the house, L was already back in his jeans and t-shirt. He went straight to the desk and hopped into the chair, pulling a bag of animal cookies out of the drawer. He opened the bag noisily and used his foot to push off of the desk, sending the swivel chair into a rotating twirl. He stared up at the ceiling, deep in thought, as he spun round and round. His thumb and index finger transported cookies from the bag to his mouth.

Naomi set to work, hooking her phone up to the computer tower to upload the photos.

L just kept spinning beside her, using his foot to continue the momentum each time he started to slow down.

"The photos are up," Naomi said after a minute.

L placed his hand on the desk to stop spinning and rolled over closer to the computer, waving a hand toward her like he was shooing away a fly. Naomi moved over to let him sit in front of the screen.

He wasn't speaking which, in Naomi's experience, meant he just needed to think. This could take a while.

"Well, unless you need me, I'm going on a run," she announced, standing to her feet.

L answered absent-mindedly, "Alright." He flicked a bear cookie into the air and caught it on his tongue. He began typing and clicking the mouse, pausing to read things and then typing some more. He was lost in his work.

Naomi turned to leave, glad she had at least a little time for a workout. Maybe after her run, she could use one of the rooms in the nearby gym to practice her Capoeira. She was skilled in the martial art and she kept up on it. One could never be too prepared in her line of work.

The day had turned out to be a nice one. After all the excitement of that morning, it felt good to just get out and jog. Naomi was reminded again how lucky she was to be able to travel as much as she did. She took in the sights and sounds of Paris as she ran steadily along its streets.

After about an hour and a half, she had circled back to the gym. L still had not called her, so she went inside and rented out one of the rooms designed for the practicing of martial arts and the like.

But as luck would have it, her phone rang just as she was starting to stretch on the mat.

She picked up. "Yes?"

"It's L. Are you in your apartment?"

"No, I'm at the gym."

"Are you almost done?"

"Well, no... I was just about to practice some Capoeira, but I can come back if you need me to."

L's voice was immediately intrigued. "Capoeira? You still do that, then?"

Naomi stretched out her leg and leaned in to grab the toe of her sneaker. "Yeah, I try to. It's usually while you're sleeping."

"Oh. Yes, that makes sense. Huh..."

Naomi could picture him running his thumb along his lips as he paused for a moment.

L spoke again.  "Okay, well... are you alone right now? I mean, did you pay for your own space?"

"Yeah, I did. It's just me." Naomi switched the phone to her other ear so she could stretch her other leg.

"Would you mind if I came over there?"

Naomi made a face. That was a weird request. And he had made it so casually.

"Uh... why?" she asked, laughing awkwardly.

"I've never seen anyone do Capoeira in person before," he said simply. "Well, except for the time you kicked me down a flight of stairs. The view is a little different when you're the target."  There was a faint hint of teasing in his monotonic voice.