Laura

March 20, 2015, 7:53 a.m. Silas City PD

"Laura, I don't care how convincing you thought she was. Elsie could be in danger, because of her." Danny was not taking Laura's suggestion that they release Carmilla well. At all. Kirsch, unfortunately, was on Danny's side.

"Look, I get that she's your partner, and that's like a bro, but I trust Will over her any day." Laura groaned,

"Guys, we need to figure something out. We can't keep them here for more than 24 hours! We need to figure out which one of them to keep an eye on!" This immediately made Danny and Kirsch both raise their voices, and Laura stopped even trying to listen. This was a mess. LaFontaine coming in (still limping) was a welcome distraction.

"LaF!" Laura's greeting made Danny and Kirsch shut up and turn around. LaFontaine didn't even smile at them,

"Laura, you need to come with me. Now. Danny," LaFontaine looked pained, "I think maybe you should come too." Laura immediately started trying to question them, but LaFontaine silenced her with a look.

"Kirsch, while we're gone question the two of them again. Maybe we can figure something out." For once, Kirsch didn't argue with Danny and just nodded solemnly. Danny and Laura followed LaFontaine out of the room.

Laura felt a sinking feeling in her stomach as she realized that they were going towards the coroners office.

LaFontaine led them into the office and JP looked up at them. He looked unbelievably sad,

"I-I'm sorry." he said, lifting the cover off of the body in the room. Laura gasped when she saw Elsie, and turned to Danny, who looked like somebody had just punched her. The tall woman moved closer,

"We caught the murderer. Even if we didn't she should have had two days left. Why now?" She turned on Laura with tears in her eyes, "Why couldn't we stop it?"

Laura had no idea what to say, but Danny didn't seem to expect an answer. LaFontaine put their hand on her arm,

"Lawrence, if you need to step outside..." Danny shook her head, then hesitated,

"Maybe. Yeah, sure." She turned to Laura, "Hollis, find who did this. Fast." Laura nodded, and Danny swept out of the room.

"Was it really a good idea to bring her here?" Laura asked, LaFontaine nodded,

"I've known Danny a while. If she wasn't one of the first to find out, it would be bad." JP cleared his throat,

"I know it might be difficult, Detective, but you might want to look at the body." Laura turned back and nodded. JP lifted the cover further down and Laura flinched.

The other bodies had had cuts making a flamelike pattern on the bodies, but this was different, more fluid. Like water.

"The cause of death is different." JP said quietly, "The others died of a stab to the heart. Her - her throat was slashed." Laura nodded, and gestured to JP to cover the body again. She tried to hide her relief as Elsie was put out of sight.

"How?" She choked out, LaFontaine shrugged,

"New MO, new time frame... Maybe a new killer? She said she had an accomplice."

"But we had Will and Carm here!"

"Because of what she told you. Maybe she was lying, hell, maybe she was telling the truth and there's someone else involved." LaFontaine looked at her, "Figure this out Laura. I don't want it to be you on that table next time." They left the room, and after a moment, Laura did too.

When she got back to the office, Kirsch was standing against the wall, while Danny sat at her desk, staring into space. When he saw her, Kirsch came over,

"Be careful. I tried to help her out and stuff, but she yelled at me." Laura nodded, but went over to Danny anyway,

"Danny? Do you need some time? I don't think anyone will mind if you go home early." Danny looked up at her with unfocused eyes, but they cleared as she processed what Laura was saying,

"No. I want to help. I need to do something."

"Okay. Look, we need to let Carmilla and Will out today, we don't know anything we can keep them here for. I'll watch Carmilla, I promise. We're going to go talk to her moth- the Chief. Can you keep an eye on Will?" Laura knew it made more sense to have Kirsch watch Will, but Danny needed to feel useful. The tall redhead nodded,

"Yeah, I can do that."

Carmilla

March 20, 2015, 10:02 a.m. Silas City Jail

Laura stopped before going into the prison, turning to Carmilla,

"Hey, if you need to wait outside, I get it. I can question her alone if you need me to." Carmilla didn't hide the smile that came with Laura's words,

"It's okay. I'm not that delicate, Sweetheart." Laura nodded and went in without another word. Carmilla actually couldn't wait to talk to her mother. When Laura had told her about Elsie, she hoped that it might be some kind of trick. Something to make her confess. She knew it wasn't, but she had hoped. If her mother had answers, Carmilla was determined to get them.

When they reached the Chief's cell, Carmilla blinked, the orange jumpsuit looked so strange on the woman she'd known for so long.

"Oh my girls. Is something wrong?" Carmilla stepped forward,

"Yeah. Something's wrong. I spent the night in a holding cell because of your bullshit. And when I get out, I find out that my friend is gone. Tell me why." The woman in the cell just smiled,

"I said that one of my children helped. I never said nobody else was involved. Although I doubt they were as careful as me. I do hope they didn't do anything foolish to get caught."

"You know who it is? Tell us!" Laura demanded, the chief's smile widened,

"Why should I do that? I only allow the best on my force, Detective Hollis. You should figure it out yourself." Carmilla clenched her jaw. She knew these games well enough to know that her mother wouldn't say anything more on the subject.

"What about me and Will?" She asked, "Why did you tell them that one of us helped?"

"Well, you were never well-liked. I assumed that they would take you, and Will would have time to get away. You did well to befriend this girl, Mircalla."

"It's Carmilla now." She said automatically, then she froze, "Wait. You wanted Will to have time to get away... Will!" The chief still had that infuriating little smile on her face, but Carmilla turned to Laura,

"Call the others. They're with him, right? They could be in trouble!" Laura nodded and pulled out her phone. Her face fell as she tried. Twice.

"Danny and Kirsch aren't picking up." Carmilla groaned,

"Come on." They left, running to Carmilla's car.

"Keep trying to call them." Carmilla ordered as she turned on the ignition. Laura nodded and dialled again. It took several tries before she had any success,

"Danny, are you okay? Where's Will?" Laura listened for a while, and Carmilla wished she could hear the other side of the conversation,

"Okay, we're only a few minutes away. Stay there." Laura hung up the phone,

"Will is missing. Kirsch too." Carmilla swore and accelerated.

When they got to the station, Danny was waiting outside on the steps. She looked so upset that even Carmilla hesitated to antagonize her.

Great, the cutie was turning her soft.

"Danny!" Laura ran over to the woman, and Carmilla tried not to feel jealous. Failed, but tried. On the bright side, infuriating Danny was now a much more palateable prospect.

"Sorry. They went out to pick up some food. I figured since Kirsch was with him everything would be fine." Carmilla frowned,

"You didn't think that the puppy wouldn't help his 'bro?'" Danny glared at her,

"Kirsch didn't help Will get away. He's not picking up his phone because something is wrong. He wouldn't do that." Carmilla raised an eyebrow,

"Fine, but don't let your crush affect your judgement, Xena." Danny opened and closed her mouth several times before managing to speak,

"My what?" Carmilla snickered, but Laura elbowed her gently and she stopped talking.

Yeah, she had it bad.