You'd gotten quite close rather fast. It was like you were two magnets drawn to each other, you worked together like a well oiled machine. L was rather surprised how fast he'd gotten close to you, but he wasn't complaining. In fact he was rather proud of himself for getting better with people. It'd taken a lot of work, but he was making progress. The fact you were willing to wait and be patient meant a lot to him.
So if you told him a year ago he'd be leaning against you, half in your lap half laying on the sofa as you wrapped your arm around him. Both of you with your laptops rested on your legs to work and snuggle at the same time... he's say you're insane that can't be him. But it was here he he was doing just that.
Now that everything had been processed by the specialist agents, it was returned back to you but heavily censored and in transcripts so you could instigate but not see any icky stuff.
"Hmm... ok the email about the updated forensics on the Jane doe in the video says she still had one baby tooth left. So at the oldest she would have been 14, and there's a list of possible missing persons it could be but until someone comes forward with a DNA sample to match we can't tell for sure. But look at this..." you began.
You pulled up a picture of the Jane doe, a forensic sketch of what she'd look like when she was alive. Based on the footage she was in before she was mutilated. Also pulling up a possible candidate for the identity out of the missing persons files.
"Doesn't she look exactly like the Jane doe?" Even down to the freckles" you pondered.
The picture of the sketch depicted a young girl with frizzy brown hair just past the shoulders, green eyes, freckles and slightly crooked teeth from still having one baby tooth. The girl in the missing person poster had the same colour hair and eyes, had the freckles and crooked teeth. The only difference was the length of the hair that was slight shorter, but hair grows and the photo used in the report could easily have been taken a few months before she vanished.
L looked at the two side by side. There was definitely a resemblance, of all the missing persons files you had she looked to be the closest match.
"She's definitely the closest match" he agreed.
You opened up the full file, looking over the information.
"The missing persons report says her name is Annabelle Maskov. She's 14... or would be 15 now, was wearing her school uniform and a red raincoat, had her school bag with her too. She went missing last year on the 2nd of April, was reported at 4:30pm when her parents came home from work and realised she wasn't there. Her bag was found on the side of the Glenwood highway about 3km away from her house. Inside were all her school supplies, her phone, wallet and ID. No trace of her ever since" you explained.
Just from the sound of that, it seemed to be an abduction. Which would line up with the Jane doe in the video who was likely abducted and sent into the ring that was most likely going on in the depths of this case. L looked over at your screen to scan over the finer details of the report.
She was walking home from school, witnesses saw her as some other students took the same route home. But at some point within the block she lived on she was either snatched, or lured into a vehicle by someone she knew. Hard to say with such little evidence. She showed no signs of mental illness or wanting to run away, in fact she had a birthday party to go to the next day which she'd bought presents for.
Turning back to his laptop, L typed his response via messenger, and it popped up on your screen soon after.
I think she's our best bet just from how similar she looks and the fact the age lines up. We can request DNA from her family to see if it matches the body. Then it's a matter of figuring out how she got in the video, and how Max and the poisoning is connected to it.
"Good idea, hopefully someone in the family will be willing to give DNA. That could really get the ball rolling if we know who the Jane doe is" you replied.
I'll send out some emails about it. While we wait on results for that we should keep looking through all the data retrieved from the computer for any IP addresses or something that can lead us back to who the footage came from. The more I think about it there more I believe the poison must have come from the same person.
He was probably right. Poison that powerful isn't easy to come by, and it has to be manufactured somewhere. It made sense for a ring of criminals to have access to both poison and snuff footage, they probably had other illegal things like drugs, firearms and if they're a seasoned ring even hit men. You and L didn't have enough information to know if this potential ring was amateur or seasoned criminals yet. You could be playing with fire here. But it was something that needed justice, one murder case turned into two murder cases and all those victims deserve justice.
It may seem strange, but even though you're working on such a dark case, just laying there doing it with L was kind of relaxing. Just leaning against each other, enjoying each others presence as you scrolled through case files looking for clues. They always say that work and relationships should stay separate but you and L worked too well together to keep them separate. And if anything it made you closer, more motivated when your partner in crime fighting is your boyfriend.
"(Y/n)" he said.
You'd never get sick of hearing his voice say your name.
"Hm?" You replied.
"If this is all connected and we end up in a dangerous spot... promise me you'll not leave the hotel without protection ok?" He asked.
That was probably his longest sentence yet, and unsurprisingly it was concern for your safety.
"Don't worry honey, I have the tracker you gave me and I always carry a pocket knife. I can stab someone in self defence if I need to" you replied.
"Ok... just don't want anything to happen to you"
"I know. I don't want anything to happen to you either, you be careful too ok?"
He looked up at you and smiled a yes, reaching up to kiss your cheek. You happily accepted and returned his kiss with another one on his cheek. You gave him a smile, unable to hold back from lovingly gazing down at his adorable face.
"We'll protect each other. I know we will"