Michael Holmes could count the times he felt less comfortable at a crime scene on one hand, as he watched a familiar gray car stop in front of the police tape.
He was fucked.
The police officer at the perimeter was smart enough to allow the car to pass, and out stepped a raven-haired, professionally dressed woman.
Julia Goodwin, the District Attorney.
Looking absolutely pissed.
She slammed the door shut, and ducked underneath the tape, her heels clicking dangerously as she approached him, and pointed at him. "You have three seconds to explain all of this before I lose my patience, Holmes."
"Ma'am, uh, the body is female, about thirty years ol-…" He started, but she chuckled dryly and cut him off with a raise of her hand.
"I want you to tell me why there is a detective in a holding cell that you promised was the killer, while there has been another murder?!"
"Ma'am, all due respect, it's too early to start theorizing. Sawyer could have dumped the body before she was arrested, or-…"
"Enough, Holmes." Goodwin shook her head. "It's four in the morning and we're standing at another dumpster with another dead body. I'm convinced that you didn't even consider any other killer besides Sawyer, and look where it got you."
Behind the police tape, another car pulled up. But Holmes ignored it, to look the DA in the eyes. "I'm sorry, ma'am. There was reasonable evidence against Sawyer, she was placed at the murder site, and she stole evidence."
"You can't tell a cop not to investigate and then be surprised if they do it, Holmes." Goodwin seemed completely unimpressed, but decided to change the subject. "What about the search warrant for the gallery?"
"Nothing." Holmes shook his head. "Completely clean."
She didn't seem satisfied with the answer, but took a deep breath and let it slide. "You're off this case, Holmes."
"What?!" He scoffed. "That's ridiculous! Just because I might have been wrong about…"
"… About what?" Goodwin raised an eyebrow. "… About throwing one of your colleagues under the bus for lack of a better option?"
"There was tangible evidence…" Holmes grunted, but he cut himself off when he realized it was futile. Instead, he smiled weakly. "Have a good night, ma'am."
The woman nodded, as Holmes walked back to his car. On his way, he passed by the other car, just parked, and stopped as he saw who was getting out of the back seat.
"Sawyer." He looked as she closed the door behind her and stopped as she spotted him.
"Holmes."
"Listen-…" He started, but Maggie laughed, cutting him off immediately.
"Save it, Mike. I get it."
He raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"You thought that this was your case. The one case that you could solve. Cop killing cop, I get it. I'm sorry I have to disappoint you. I want justice for Ian as much as you do. And I doubt you're going to apologize for it, with – you know – me being a moronic risk-taker, running into danger and all that, but you don't need to. I can't change who I am, but I want to get to the bottom of this. For him."
Holmes nodded weakly, taking a deep breath. "Just… Get the guy, alright? And lock him up for good, or put a bullet between his eyes."
Maggie smiled. "Gladly, Mike."
Holmes nodded once more, before heading to his car. Maggie sighed, and walked over to the dumpster.
"Detective Sawyer."
"Ma'am." Maggie greeted Julia Goodwin with a polite nod. "Another body?"
Instead of replying immediately, Goodwin let her eyes wander over Maggie's form. "…Did they treat you alright in holding?"
"Nothing I can't handle. And I'd probably be the same if I was convinced I'd killed seven people."
"Will you be alright in taking over again? I can call up someone else if you don't feel comfortable."
Maggie was uncomfortable, but more with the way Goodwin was speaking in such a concerned tone. She was used to the woman being friendly, yet distant. She hadn't seen this side of her. And truth be told – since she herself didn't know exactly what she did last night, she wasn't exactly sure she was deserving of the title of 'innocent'.
"I'm fine, ma'am. I can handle it."
Goodwin nodded, and motioned for Maggie to follow her into the alley. "Your lawyer's tip didn't get anywhere. According to Holmes, the place was clean."
"How long did he look?"
It was a rhetorical question, and Goodwin knew it. She sighed. "Well, we can't do anything about it anyway. We have another body."
The CSI's allowed the both of them to pass, and Maggie felt an odd sense of déja vu as she saw Sheldon Merbon, the resident ME, at the dumpster. It was too similar to Ian's initial murder – the one that started this whole mess.
"Caucasian female, no ID found on her. It looks like the same MO – drugged."
Maggie reached up to look into the dumpster, and her stomach dropped.
"Oh… my God…"
"What?" Goodwin frowned, as she saw how pale Maggie had become. "Detective? Are you okay?"
"I…" Maggie took a shaky step in the direction of the dumpster.
Her mind wasn't playing tricks on her. It couldn't be…
But…
"I… I know her." Maggie swallowed thickly, closing her eyes. Fuck… fuck.
She turned back around to face a baffled Goodwin. "I-It's Jade Hayes."
"Hayes? As in… The gallery owner? The one that you thought was the killer?"
Maggie covered her mouth with a hand, shaking her head. "No, this is… This has to be the real Jade Hayes. Not the alien taking her place."
"There's an alien?" Goodwin frowned, but Maggie shook her head, already two steps further. "I… I need to call Alex…" She trailed off, turning back to the woman. "I'll keep you posted, ma'am. Sheldon, autopsy results?"
"I… Around noon, I hope, but I doubt there's going to be anything different from the others…"
"I'll come by at noon!" Maggie yelled over her shoulder, running back into the direction of the cruiser that had driven her to the scene, getting in the driver's seat and calling Alex.
"Come on, come on…"
"… This is Alex Danvers, I'm currently unavailable-…"
"Fuck…" Maggie whispered, as she tried again. Once again, it went to voicemail.
"Damn it… Alex, it's me. Call me back once you get this, it's an emergency."
She put her phone in her pocket, and drove to Alex's apartment. She was probably just sleeping. Still though – Alex was a light sleeper, she should have heard the phone.
No, stop. Maggie shook her head at the scenarios running through her head. Alex was fine. She was just at their apartment, sleeping. Not-
God.
Maggie sped up, racing through the streets to get to the apartment as fast as possible, going over the case again to distract herself from the invading thoughts.
She had assumed that the Ragh'tah had been living under Jade's name for quite some time now. But she'd never considered that maybe the real Jade was still around.
Honestly – she figured the body she was using was somebody from many years ago. That's how she would do it, in her shoes. But if there really was a real Jade…
One of three things had to have happened tonight.
Either the alien had finally disposed of the real Jade, dumping her to finally finish off the entire family, someone else had gotten to the alien before Maggie herself and killed it while it was still in Jade's form, or…
Or it was just an elaborate scheme for the alien to play dead.
But Maggie didn't want to consider what that third option would be for.
And why the fuck wasn't Alex answering her phone?!
The final right turn to the apartment, and she had to stop for a red light, trying to make sense of all of it.
All of a sudden, she was hit with a huge dizzy spell, as she lurched forward, breathing heavily. Lurching the steering wheel to the right, she hoped she wasn't going to hit anybody or anything as she pulled over quickly, trying to control her breathing.
Was she experiencing late side-effects to the toxin?
She looked down, her eyes widening as she saw how much her hands were shaking.
Just a few buildings down was Alex's apartment, if she could make it…
The second she reached for the door with unsteady hands, she knew she wasn't going anywhere.
"Maggie!"
She looked up to the sound of someone calling out to her, and saw that it was Hayden looking at her with a worried frown. "Hey, are you alright? You passed out…"
"I-I…" Maggie's head was still fuzzy. "Sorry…"
"Is she okay?"
Hayden turned his head to something Maggie couldn't see, before a brunette woman appeared in her vision again. Jade.
"Hey, Mags… Why don't I take you home? You look like you need to get some rest…" She turned to her husband. "Hayden, babe, why don't we drive her home?"
"Yeah. I'll go get the car."
Jade smiled weakly as she rubbed Maggie's shoulders. "Hey… You're okay, you're fine."
"I-I think I just… I think Hayden drugged me."
Jade's face morphed from sympathy, to a cold frown instantly. "What?"
"H-he gave me something to drink… I… I don't feel good…" Maggie slurred, trying to shake the dizziness out of her head. But Jade grabbed her by the shoulders. "Maggie, stay with me, hey. I'll keep an eye on him, make sure he doesn't try anything."
The only thing Maggie could do was nod, before Jade helped her up slowly, and supported her all the way to the car.
"Pull over here, baby." Jade said quickly, motioning to the side of the road, near an alley. Hayden complied easily, frowning. "What is it? Is she sick?"
"I think so…" Jade pulled Maggie out of the car, and helped her into the alley, resting her on her knees. "Hayden, something's wrong with her… Did you do something?"
"What are you talking about? What would I have done?!" Hayden frowned indignantly. "I just gave her a ride to your gallery from the police department!"
"What did you two talk about?!"
Maggie clenched her eyes shut, trying to follow the conversation while getting to her feet.
"Just… I… I found some stuff in dad's safe! Stuff that can get the police to think he's guilty of murdering those women! But I know he didn't do it – I wanted to ask her for help!"
The detective became aware of a hand rubbing at her back gently. "Look at her, Hayden! She's in shock!"
"I… Should I call 911, or…"
"Just… go stand over there, give us some space!" Jade yelled at him, motioning wildly into the alley. Hayden grunted, and walked away.
"Maggie, listen to me. Whatever you see or hear, don't move until I tell you to." Jade said, putting something in her hand, and getting up. Maggie glanced down, and saw that it was a small note.
After that, all she could hear was a muffled cry, and the unmistakable sound of arterial blood splattering all over the alley.
She was frozen. And not by choice.
"Maggie! Come here!"
Her body complied easily, but her eyes widened at the sharp scent of spilled blood, and the state of the alley.
Hayden was lying on the ground, unmoving, his throat slit, and still gushing blood.
"What did you do?!" Maggie cried out, looking up at Jade, who was covered in blood and smirking.
"It's a good thing I bought some red paint… I'm going to enjoy this."
"Y-you killed him… It's you…"
"Stick that note onto that dumpster."
Maggie felt a camera click behind her as she couldn't help herself. Once the note was stuck, she watched Jade grab Hayden's corpse and nonchalantly flick him into the dumpster.
"You and I are going for a ride." Jade pointed at Maggie, with a smirk.
"W-where to?"
Jade stepped forward, putting a hand on Maggie's cheek, and winking as she captured Maggie's lips once again, before moving to whisper in her ear.
"Don't worry about it."
After that, everything went dark once again.