THE FULL MOONS PART 2. CLOSURE. DAY TEN.

"Where's Cora and Eugenia ?"

Ruby laughed.

"Cora's been in the shower like, forever. Granny took a chair in there so they could talk. Well, so Granny could talk that is. She hasn't let Cora out of her sight since they got back from the hospital".

"Awwww".

"Mulan, did you manage to drop the money off okay?"

"Yep. Granny gave me her credit card. I said we would pay her back but she is not having that. She said we did far more than money could repay. I put the packet of cash on the counter and said it was from a well wisher. Granny reckons it was enough to cover all the meat."

Ruby blushed a little. That was some meat feast.

"It was kinda hard Mulan. I wanted to hurt him. Bad."

"I know my love. I know. I was that close."

The girls held on to each other.

"Let's go back to our room and relax a little."

Mulan winked at Ruby.

Ruby blushed again.

—

"Are you sure you are alright?"

Cora stuck her wet head round the shower curtain.

"For the millionth time darling, I am fine. Nothing but a long shower can't take care of".

"And your stitches? Careful with your stitches Cora".

A grunt from the shower.

"Isn't it painful though, hot water on your leg?"

Another grunt from the shower.

"Do you need to talk some more?"

Again, her head pops out from behind the shower curtain

"Eugenia my sweet. I have talked to the police. I have talked to you, I have talked to the girls, I have talked to a doctor, I have talked to the DI, why I have even talked to the spirits in the sky. I am all talked out. It takes more than that creep to freak me out. It's over. Finished. I want to go home. London has been...interesting to say the least. Anyhow I miss my magic, I miss my bed and I miss the warm weather."

"We are booked to fly tomorrow morning."

"Bliss. Soon I will sleep again."

"Are you sure you are alright?"

Huge long sigh from shower.

"Shall I make you a tea?"

Cora's head pops around the shower curtain yet again.

"If that gives me 5 minutes of blissful peace in here then by all means make us tea sweetheart"

"Okay. Call me if you need me. I won't be long. Be careful"

"Take your time. Please. It's only a shower I'm not battling the kraken."

Eugenia made them tea and went back to fussing, and although Cora snapped and grunted back, she had missed this so much. She will continue to complain at Eugenia, but deep down will always, always cherish it.

That night Cora slept surprisingly well.

—-

The DI had rung next morning and arranged to meet them at the airport for a catch up.

Cora spoke first. Her voice firm.

"Don't tell me his name, Fiona. Just don't".

Cora held several reasons of her own for saying this. She had avoided the media reports and she had made it clear to the girls to keep quiet. She had also strongly made this point at the hospital when the DI's boss had interviewed her. Her jailers name would make him tangible.

She had promised Eugenia not to harm anyone. With her magic waiting for her she was not sure she could keep that promise.

It was difficult but she must leave it in the hands of British Justice. This went against everything she was, everything she believed in. Yet she had not always been this way. Harsh times had changed her. Cora had not always been so pessimistic and eager to hurt those that offended or got in her way. Which is why she wanted to keep that promise.

Eugenia still can see the young, and almost naive woman that she met all those years back. Eugenia had fought her demons. Cora must, and wants to do likewise.

Eugenia greeted the DI with a hug.

"Well Firstly I am no longer a DI"

They all looked at her and frowned.

"I am now sergeant. 6 months probation. If I am a good girl..."

A sly smile

"...I get my DI rank back again."

"I am sorry Fiona" Mulan as an ex soldier felt this.

"No matter. Let me push on. I have a close friend in the forensic department and she stayed up all night so I could have a post mortem result. DNA showed that it was his mother I found that night and she had died of natural causes".

"Really? Wow. When you told us there was another body, well we presumed..."

Granny took Cora's hand and squeezed it.

"So did I. It seems from the interviews up to now he couldn't accept that she had died before he could kill her. He felt cheated. So he recreated her through women he had kidnapped. The women we found with no shoes were of a different foot size to his mother. We had thought the shoes lost in the river."

Ruby shivered.

"Omg, so, he just kept killing his mother?"

"Yes. He kept her alive in his head then with a physical presence, by kidnapping those women. It seems the desire to kill his mother was never sated."

"But do you know anything more about his Mother? "

Fiona paused before she answered Mulan. Cora was very quiet, but nodded for Fiona to continue.

"We found a few relatives and interviewed them, it seems she was extremely judgemental and verbally abusive to most people, and especially her son after the husband died, which is why most of them cut family ties. They hadn't been in contact for years."

Mulan jumped in,

"Yeah but a lot of people suffer abuse verbally and physically from family members. We are not all out to murder our parents so why do that?".

"Mulan, not every trauma creates a killer but most killers are created from trauma".

"The shoes though. Did he have a shoe fetish?"

Cora flinched at Rubys question and Eugenia's blood supply to her fingers had ceased.

"No not that, not a fetish. A fixation of sorts. His father was his mentor and his idol and his death hit him very hard. The shoes, which his father taught him to make were a love, a replacement that he could touch, smell and talk to. A kind of intimate relationship."

The girls pulled faces at each other.

Eugenia wanted to ask more but held back as she was concerned about Cora. Yet it was Cora who asked the next question.

"So he will have one of these psychological evaluations I presume Fiona?"

"Yeah. The psychologist and I also talked early this morning".

Fiona yawned. It had been a long night and the day has hardly started.

"Saying what?" Cora for once didn't feel tired.

"She says behind almost every violent person there is a story of despair, and untreated traumatised children inhabiting the bodies of often very scary men, and where the unconsciousness is about that wounded child and that child acting out without an awareness of it".

"So it's abuse that triggered him?. What about genes?"

Ruby, the human part, went a little pale remembering Cora and Fiona sitting in blood.

"Probably. Our genes interact with the environment. Our experiences don't change genes but they influence how our genes are expressed. Like you can have the genetic profile of a killer without even hurting a bug. What makes the difference is often trauma."

A silent pause. This was a lot to digest. Eugenia asked what they all wanted to know.

"Okay. Important question. Will he go to trial?"

Fiona and Cora stared at each other. She dreaded saying but Cora knew where all this was heading, so she answered

"Yeah I know Fiona. That's doubtful. He has mental health issues. I presume he will be locked up though"

"Yes, for a long time. He is a danger. We haven't yet all the proof for the other poor women but forensics are still at his home. Several items have been taken including some shoes. Obviously as with you Cora the shoes he made didn't fit. Plus samples of DNA so soon we will have all the evidence we need and some closure for their families."

Cora nodded. She didn't need to hear more. This was done. She ended the conversation.

"Thank you Fiona. Good luck with your job. Keep in touch".

"Yes, thank you"

"And come and visit one day please do"

Said Ruby giving her a big hug. This prompted the others to follow suit.

Time to catch a plane.

—-

Why are these people keeping us here Mother? This jump suit is so scratchy and I don't like it. I want my suit back.

The man is mean to me Mother. He sometimes shouts at me. Why are you not standing up for me? You never did though when I was bullied at school. When I came home crying you just laughed at me and said I was weak. Why are you not telling him how I look after you despite the way you treat me? I know that nasty smile, it's a cruel smile. You revel in my being scared. You won't say anything will you? You will let them think I am a wicked boy. I don't like this room it's so bare, they won't let me have my tools. Why don't you talk to me? You evil Witch! I should have ended you when I had the chance. Yeah just go ahead and stare at me with that mocking smile. Make fun of me. I don't care any more. I want you gone now.

"Guard!...GUARD! Tell my mother to go. Now! Take her away. I don't want her in here any longer"

The policeman closed the eye level grate on the door and softly shook his head.