Hi, thanks for reading!

Here's a really overdue one from M, after Ms Scarlett's... unfortunate circumstance.

[M]

So that's number two down. It was disappointing how quick it was, really.

I didn't realise I was panting until I registered the sweet silence as she stopped thrashing. Who would have thought strangulation required so much energy?

Still, I felt a tinge of accomplishment as I stared down as her body. The scandalous Ms Scarlett. On stage, this body moved and did wonders to the minds of men, but lying here, it looked like a mere broken toy. Like a Barbie whose neck had been twisted at an odd angle, the arms and legs splayed out beside her body in the hall. She wasn't really dead yet, no. Just unconscious from the lack of oxygen to her brain. Why, a rope around your neck for three minutes will do that nicely for you.

I smiled as I flipped her over. All the planning wasn't going to waste, and I hadn't broken any rules. Yet. I tied the white diving rope into a tight dead knot around her neck, then finished the ends into a fancy ribbon on a whim to complete the look. Well, I can't have her waking up on me when I'm driving, can I? All the noise she'll make, and the poor woman will have to through all that messy fuss with the rope again.

I tucked her sleek hair behind her ears. She looked like a strange doll, her skin still soft, face already grey. Her eyes were open though, looking into the after world, a blank sheer in them. I wondered briefly is she were seeing horrors, angels, or nothing. Guess I'll know when it's my turn, my brain sang.

I rubbed my palms together with glee at success, then winced as pain flooded my hands. Rope burn, but nothing to be worried about. I made a mental note to wear gloves the next time I had to use my hands for the actual murders. In my defence, she had more strength in her than she looked, considering how slim she was. It must be the dancing.

I hunted the hotel room for her suitcase, and I was really relived to see that she was a practical woman. None of that 'small pink purse' nonsense. A sensible huge grey suitcase, and -yay! - large enough to fit a dead woman. Well, at least I didn't have to make the trip to my car for my own, and I bet it'll drive those smarty-pants nuts trying to find it. I tipped the suitcase out, and I touched everything as much as possible. Me, worried about fingerprints? oh dear God no. They will love that I never existed anywhere, trust me - Go crazythinking how anyone in America can disappear so thoroughly.

Anyway, if they do find anything, I'll know and wipe that out at once. A few online gamblers in a FBI office makes your job much easier, really. That, and the fact that nothing's really safe anymore, not when you can Google just about anything. Just got to know the right words to make it work, that's all.

I bet they will love the Christmas e-cards, and Dr Brennan there will be dying, dying to get her hands on these bones. Hmm, I should post them to her in a proper treasure chest. Put game pieces together to see if they have got it yet. Maybe a silly prank or two. Hmm...

I wiped the sweat off my forehead with the face towel from her suitcase, and I snicker. Take my DNA too, dear sir, and see if you can find me...

I placed the suitcase beside her, and lifted her clumsily into it. I tucked her knees up, placed her hands on them, and try to fit her elbows beside her body. I pushed her head down, cheeks on her fingers, and make sure to pull all her hair into a rubber band before stuffing it in the small of her neck. She fitted perfectly, as if huddling from a bad snow storm in a small space. I closed the suitcase and checked for anything sticking out or showing. I stand it up on its wheels and rattle it a little to see if anything sounded, then I pull it out into the hotel corridor.

No one in the lobby even gave me a second glance as I walked out of the hotel with that suitcase and hailed a cab. The cab driver even offered to help me with stowing the luggage in the trunk, bless him.

I smiled at him afterwards as he drove away, and started walking to my car.

He'll come up again somewhere, I'm sure.

The team's up next! Thanks again for reading, it means so much that people actually bother with my writing!