[moshun]

Originally Posted by anselfir

I'm highlighting this. So what? So the chief police guy's son had a conversation with L, in the middle of a thousand people, and therefore it is enough to arrest the chief police guy's son? Seriously, with L dead, the investigation would die, and Light would be in the clear, since there is simply not enough evidence to make him suspicious, much less to convict him. It is the fact that Light doesn't know whether L is telling the truth or not that's preventing him from striking. That detail, is not dependent on what L knows(a story-based development, L's knowledge is built up from story events), but what Light is, which is manipulated easily by limiting the power of the death note. It is not that Light is afraid of what will happen if he really kills L. The deterrence only works if L is alive and can use that information to form his own judgments, after that he will try to collect enough evidence to convince a jury or something, who knows how the legal system works in this.

So, they are moving way too fast here. L made a boneheaded decision, got lucky because of the limits of the death note, and the audience buys it, all applause!

given the situation, if L were to die, the investigation would still remain. L may be the only viable character that can track down Kira at this point but if the murders were to continue after L's disappearance, someone or some people would just pick off where he left off. i'm sure Light's father wouldn't give up on the case. I don't know much about the rest of Kira team because they seem to depend too much on L. criminals dying at a continuing rate isnt something you can just ignore.