A/N: OK, I was reading Translucent Darkness' Whodunnit (which is very clever – go read it) and decided to write my own, although rest assured I have stolen neither plot nor style. If anything this is written like an Agatha Christie murder mystery – or at least I hope so. Except with L.

Summary: after Yagami Soichiro begs L to find some new evidence to overturn his son's recent murder conviction, L begins to realise perhaps the truth wasn't as clear as it seemed.

Warnings: AU (and no death note), OOC-ness, possible shounen-ai in later chapters, random pairings. I'm sorry I can't be more specific, but I might end up giving something away, and half the fun of murder mysteries is guessing who the killer is.

Disclaimer: completely not mine.

The jury were filing back in. Normally when this happened, Yagami Raito thought something along the lines of 'oh finally they've made their minds up, what possibly could have been taking so long.'

Of course, sitting in the dock gave him an entirely new perspective.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, have you reached a verdict?" the judge asked, voice heavy with traditional formality.

The foreman stood. "We have My Lady(1)."

"Will the defendant please rise." Raito stood, refusing to allow himself to tremble despite the nerves that were wracking his body, resulting in all too tangible quivers.

He couldn't look at the jury, he realised. He didn't want to see any indication of the verdict. It would make him break down. Raito's clever brown eyes focused instead on the red robed judge in front of him, as she indicated for the foreman to deliver the verdict.

"We find the defendant," a pause, as always, Raito thought as his heart beat even faster, "Guilty."

And with that one word, Raito's world gave way.

The courtroom was in uproar. As two armed policemen came to handcuff him, Raito's eyes found his father's, wide in disbelieving horror. He quickly looked away, only to see Sayu, crying bitterly. The policemen roughly frog marched him out of the courtroom, towards the bullet proof van which would take him back to prison for god only knew how long. In a mad moment, Raito almost wanted to laugh – they hadn't sentenced him yet. What a joke, everyone knew he'd get life, why did he have to come back to hear someone actually tell him?

He turned around or one last look at the people gathered in the courtroom, and then instantly wished he hadn't. Mello was staring at him with bloody satisfaction written all over his face.

Well, it was only to be expected. He had just been convicted of murdering Mello's cousin(2), after all.

Once they exited the building Raito tried to ignore the countless flashes of seemingly endless cameras, and walked with as much dignity as he could muster. It wasn't until he was securely locked inside the van – and finally (finally) left alone – that the newly convicted murderer broke down at the sheer injustice of it all.

(3 days later)

Boredom wasn't something that the best – best three, actually, if you wanted to be technical – detectives in the world should feel. However, after the L.A. BB case L Lawliet was feeling more and more at a loss. It seemed that nothing interesting enough for the capricious investigator was happening anywhere in the world, end of. Perhaps, he smirked darkly (over his banana split with extra chocolate sauce) B had spoiled him. Chasing the genius had been all but impossible, but incredibly entertaining at the same time. Not to mention satisfying when he was finally apprehended.

Knock knock.

The door opened before he could reply, and his new assistant shuffled in. "Anything interesting come up," L turned to look at him hopefully.

Near twirled a lock of hair around his finger thoughtfully. "Soichiro Yagami of the NPA is on the line, Sir."

L nodded, although he knew what this would be about. It was impossible to miss the most high profile case of the decade, culminating yesterday with Raito Yagami being sentenced to life in prison (minimum sentence twenty years) for the murder of his girlfriend, the supermodel Misa Amane. And the British government had denied his plea to be extradited back to Japan.

L knew very little of Raito Yagami, but Soichiro and the entire NPA had been very helpful about five years ago, while he was solving a case in Japan. In fact, it could almost be said that he owed them a favour – several favours in fact.

That said, he easily could have refused to speak with Soichiro. But he was so very very bored….

"Hello," L said, clicking the voice-coding thing he always used whilst holding the phone in a quite inimitable way. Near was surprised the muscles in his hand were so strong that he could hold the rather chunky device (it had special features) with only two fingers.

"L," came Soichiro's familiar voice. "You must know why I'm ringing."

"Hai," he replied, reverting to Soichiro's more familiar Japanese. "I've seen the newspapers."

"L…," Soichiro paused. He was a proud man, L knew, and did not like asking for help, or even admitting that he needed help. Especially in a matter such as this. "I want you to see if there was any evidence missed by the British police that could clear Raito."

"He's going to appeal."

On the other end of the phone, Soichiro spluttered, "Of course he's going to appeal, he's innocent!" L wasn't so sure; the evidence against Raito was damning. Almost too damning…

"I'll look into it, Yagami-san. Although you must accept there is at least a 92.3 percent possibility that your son is guilty as charged." L did not feel he needed to add 'in which case there's nothing I can do' when talking to a police chief as esteemed as Yagami Soichiro. He heard it regardless.

"I understand. Thank you, thank you L."

After hanging up, L wondered why on earth he'd agreed to that. This was sensationalist tabloid journalism not the ten-bodies-and-counting serial murder cases he usually dealt with. He closed his eyes and counted to five.

"Near!" He called, once he felt slightly calmer. "I need all the data available – coroners' reports, witness statements, the lot – on the Yagami case."

Well, there's the prologue done. Next chapter (in which we actually learn something about the case) should be up quite soon, and should be longer. My exams are over and I really have no excuse for not writing. Anyway, please review. I may actually update if you do. Criticism is very much encouraged and appreciated (although if you wish to say unconditionally nice things please do!). Also, would anyone volunteer to be my beta? I'm a scientist more than a writer so there tend to be many mistakes.

(1)This is set in Britain, therefore there's a British court and the judge is addressed as My Lady

(2)Yes Mello is Misa's cousin in this. They're both blonde. Go figure.