Chapter 20

[Yes, it's still Thursday, August 22nd, 1985]


The cops, paramedics and firemen soon arrived, and they put their own handcuffs on Josie, who had come around a few minutes later, and had instantly begun to thrash violently, screaming and laughing. It had taken three officers to get her into the back of the patrol car as the firemen began doing what they're good at.

Kamili was up and walking but met up with the paramedics anyway, allowing them to hook her up to a portable ECG, making sure everything was alright. Sitting in the back of the ambulance wearing her jeans and a bra with a blanket covering her upper body she was leaning back towards the wall, eyes closed. Sandra soon joined her, jumping inside to sit down next to her, also with a blanket around her shoulders, hair still wet but quickly drying underneath the warm rays of the sun, making her blonde hair super curly.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I think so. Just pushed onwards a bit too hard. Couldn't let you die, now could I?" Kamili grinned tiredly, shrugging her shoulders.

"Careful, people might hear and realize that you like me." Sandra smiled, tucking her hand into Kamili's while Kamili laughed, squeezing Sandra's hand, looking down towards it for a second before lifting the hands up, looking at Sandra's wrist.

"Hey, this doesn't look nice."

Sandra sighed, nodding, looking at her own wrists. They were chafed from the rope burning as she had wriggled in panic while watching one of her closest friends take a beating without being able to help her out.

"Yeah, I know, it's rather tender. I'll have the medics look them over before we go."

"You should let them do a complete checkup, you told me she drugged you."

"But I feel fine now, maybe a little bit of a lingering headache but nothing more than that. I think it was a muscle relaxer or something, body's still a bit weak but I doubt it's anything permanent."

"Yeah, but still, just considering-"

"Yeah I know. Don't worry." Sandra smiled, squeezing Kamili's hand again.

Kelly and Madison came walking over as well, Madison also wearing a blanket, her thick hair nowhere near dry though in difference from Sandra's. Kelly put a hand on Kamili's ankle, Kamili nodding, reassuring her that she was alright, all of them listening to the steady beep of the heart monitor for a moment before Kelly sighed, smiling.

"Good job girls. Why don't we finish up here and head home, get a shower and clean up, and meet for dinner tonight to talk everything through? Dinner's on Charlie." Kelly smiled, proud of her girls.

"Aurore's place?"

"Happily." Kelly smiled. "I'll call her. 6.30?"

"Great." The Angels all agreed, just as two of the cops came up to them, one of them being the tall and blonde cop named Carl, once Sandra's partner back when she was on the force.

"Hey." He smiled, peeking into the ambulance, nodding to Kamili before looking over to Sandra. "You ladies alright?"

"We're okay Carl." Sandra smiled.

"Can I take your statements before we head off with that crazy person?"

"Of course." Kamili smiled, looking between Sandra and Carl, noticing their glances, but being too tired she just began talking, giving Carl a full statement, Sandra, Madison and Kelly all joining in as well.

"Thanks." Carl smiled, moving aside as the paramedics returned, one of them moving into the ambulance to have a look at the heart monitor, smiling gently before he unhooked Kamili from it.

"It's looks fine. Just relax for a bit now, if I understand it correctly you had a bit of a rough week."

Kamili nodded, moving from the blanket back to her t-shirt, Carl turning his back in respect, before turning to the paramedic, nodding towards Sandra.

"Have a look at her too, will you? Those wrists need tending to and she was drugged earlier."

"I'm fine Carl." Sandra said, but still held her hands out to the medics, one of them cleaning and wrapping her wrists and checking her over before Carl held a hand out, escorting Kamili and Sandra out of the ambulance, a gentle hand brushing Sandra's back.

"I'll talk to you later."

"We'll spend Monday morning sitting down with the client, telling her everything. If you want to attend that meeting you are welcome to. I'll call and talk to the client but I'm sure she would be alright with it." Kelly said gently, nodding to Carl and his partner who was coming up behind them.

"Thank you, that would be good. Sandra has my private number if there's anything." Carl nodded, before giving Sandra a kiss on her cheek before moving over to the firemen, making sure they had everything under control.

The four women walked down towards the cars, Kelly got into her mustang, Madison got onto her bike while Sandra and Kamili moved over to Kamili's car, getting into it and leaning back in the seat. Sandra, who was still wrapped in the blanket, narrowed her eyes as she noticed Kamili's discomfort as she leaned her back against the seat.

"How's your back?"

"It's okay."

"She did land some really good hits to it."

"Yeah, I noticed. It's just sore to the touch, but it's fine."

"You sure? You should've let the medics look at it, you want me to get them?"

"No Sandra, I promise you, it's fine."

"If you say so." Sandra sighed, closing her eyes for a second as she leaned back into the car seat, wrapping the blanket closer around her, happy that they managed to wrap up this case before it got way out of hand. Well, tied to the stakes drenched in gasoline maybe wasn't her favorite thing to happen but at least that was all there were, and it was over now.

Kamili observed her friend for a moment but realizing they both needed to get some rest she put the car in drive and started driving away from there, Kelly close behind for a while before heading another direction in an intersection.

Both girls sat quiet in the car, lost in thoughts. Kamili's brain was beating her up over the fact that she was not in shape for field work and she knew she had to get into shape as soon as possible. She was just happy that Josiehadn't been much of a fighter. Had she been a man – stronger and bigger than Kamili – today's outcome might've been catastrophic. But she shouldn't be thinking like that. She did knock Josieto the ground, and she had managed it without help. She was stronger than she thought, and her fighting skills were still good, but her stamina needed some work for sure. But she was proud over herself, proud that she had managed to hold on until she saw her backup. She just wished she hadn't fully collapsed upon seeing that said backup.

Trying to push the thoughts aside, she drove the car to Sandra's place and dropped her off before heading home to her house. Walking into her house, it lay quiet and calm as no one else was home at this time of the day. She took a long, warm shower as she tried to get the kinks out of her body, her back very sore, before she lay down on her bed for a rest. The adrenaline and the heart rushing off had left her exhausted, and she needed to close her eyes for a second.


Sandra let herself into the house after ringing the bell several times, and she kept calling Kamili's name as she walked through the house. She had been worried about Kamili and decided to check on her before dinner. Her not answering now when she called didn't really ease Sandra's worry, and she walked with long steps through the house in search of her friend. Peeking into the master bedroom, she could see Kamili sleeping peacefully on her belly in the bed, wearing nothing but a towel around her hip. Sandra smiled to herself, figuring Kamili must be exhausted. Walking over to her friend, she carefully put a hand on Kamili's shoulder, wincing as she saw the state of Kamili's back. It always pained her to see Kamili's back, covered in long, old scars from knives, and now the scars were accompanied by a massive bruise covering the lower back. Kamili stirred under her touch and looked over disoriented to her friend, a hand going up to rub her eyes.

"Hey there. Tired much?" Sandra smiled gently as Kamili rolled over, immediately regretting it as she put pressure to her back.

"I don't like the look of that bruise." Sandra said as she watched her friend wince badly. "I wish you'd let me take you to the hospital, you might have some internal injuries."

"It's fine, it's just a bruise." Kamili said, pushing past the pain, up into sitting position, a hand instinctively pulling the towel up to shield herself, looking around the room. "What time is it?"

"Just after 4.30." Sandra said, giving her a smile as she rose. "I'll let you get dressed; do you want me to put some coffee on?"

"Please. Morgan and Yasmin should be home soon."

Sandra nodded as she walked out of the room, heading downstairs she moved into the kitchen and started the coffee machine. Not long after, Sandra heard the front door open and she turned around just in time to catch the young girl that was suddenly in her arms.

"Sandra!"

"Well hi sweetie!" Sandra said, picking the 7-year old up with a grunt. "You get bigger every time I see you! How is that even possible?"

Yasmin laughed as Sandra tickled her before dropping her gently to the floor as Tara walked into the kitchen.

"Hi Tara! I thought it was Morgan coming."

"He got stuck at work, he called me to pick her up." Tara smiled, gesturing towards Yasmin who had disappeared into her room.

"How are you doing?"

"I'm alright, meds are working fine." Tara smiled, sitting down on one of the barstools next to the kitchen island. "What's with your wrists?"

"Oh, rope burns. They've been taken care of, don't worry."

"Okay. Morgan did say you were working a case, I didn't expect you guys to be home?"

"Yeah but we wrapped it up shortly after lunch. Gone home, showered, napped. We're heading out for dinner with Kelly and Madison to celebrate. I'm here early though because I wanted to check that Kamili was alright, and now that you're here maybe you could-"

Sandra was interrupted by Kamili coming downstairs, now in jeans with a low waist and a blouse. Yasmin heard her mother and she came running out to meet her at the bottom of the stairs, Kamili giving her a happy hug before Yasmin hurried back to her room as Kamili walked into the kitchen, smiling upon seeing her sister.

"Hi! Surprised to see you here."

"Morgan called, emergency at work. He didn't know when to expect you back."

"We wrapped it up faster than we thought." Kamili grinned proudly.

"And all good? No injuries?" Tara asked, remembering what Sandra had begun saying as Kamili had walked in, looking between Sandra and Kamili.

"Just fine."

Sandra cleared her throat, making both sisters turn towards her. Sandra raised her eyebrows towards Kamili, who immediately mouthed 'shut up' to her. Sandra rolled her eyes, before turning to the older sister. "Tara, would you please take a look at her back, I really don't like the look of it."

Kamili sent her a deadly glare, but Sandra just shrugged her shoulders.

Tara narrowed her eyes towards her sister before quickly grabbing a hold of Kamili's blouse before she had time to get away, pulling it up, hitching a breath as she saw the massive, deep, dark bruise. Kamili's dark skin may hide it quite well, and it would probably look even worse during the upcoming days, but it could still be easily spotted already as the whole area was swollen and causing Kamili discomfort.

"Jesus." Tara breathed, pushing Kamili's blouse up she tucked it in underneath the bra strap on the back, before she put her left hand on Kamili's flat stomach, holding her still as she put her other hand on the bruise and as she began probing the area with her thumb, she earned a sharp inhale from her sister as Kamili leaned forward, grabbing onto the kitchen counter with both hands, closing her eyes.

"What happened?"

"She wrestled with the killer and was kicked, several times, in the back." Sandra said quietly, wincing and answering for Kamili as she saw the amount of pain her friend was in, Kamili's head dropping down to rest against her arms.

"Do you pee blood?" Tara said, easing up on her hand for a moment to give her sister a chance to answer.

"No." Kamili said as she took a deep breath, and instantly felt her sister's eyes pierce her. Tara knew she was lying and Kamili knew it would hurt less to just be honest. "Well, not anymore."

"Dammit Kamili. How long has it been since it happened?" Tara sighed, looking towards Sandra.

"About 2 hours, little more."

Tara nodded, spent another few minutes letting her fingers move over the area, much to Kamili's discomfort, before she pushed the blouse down again. "It's really deep, the kidney has probably taken some really good hits. But I think I can allow you to go to dinner instead of the hospital, but I don't like it. Something like this happens, you should really go down and have an ultrasound done. If there's more blood when you use the bathroom next time, I need you to go straight in, okay?"

Kamili stretched, pushing her blouse down more evenly, turning to her sister, nodding.

"Promise, please?" Tara begged, putting her head on its side.

"I promise." Kamili said, rolling her eyes to her sister, who frowned.

"Kamili Meria Diallo. Do I really have to teach you the importance of your organs?" Tara lectured, interrupting herself midsentence with a coughing fit, reminding herself that Kamili wasn't the only one stubborn in the Sow-family.

"No, Taraji Shani." Kamili sighed, rolling her eyes while walking over to the coffee maker, pouring a cup, holding it out to Tara who nodded in acceptance, taking it from Kamili. Sandra got a cup too before Kamili took one for herself, leaning her behind against the counter.

"You promised me you'd be more careful on the cases; you were not even supposed to be in the field. First the bomb and now this?"

Kamili didn't say anything, just looking down into her cup as she took the lecturing from her sister. Sandra, on the other hand, felt that she had to defend her friend.

"Hey, Tara, ease up, she saved my life. Again." Sandra said, smiling to Kamili before meeting Tara's eyes as Tara turned around to Sandra, surprise evident in her eyes. "I would not be here now had she not gotten involved. She's been staying inside almost the entire case, the only reason she headed out was because she knew I was in danger. Had she come a bit later, Josie would've burned me to death, but she stopped her, kicked her right on her butt."

Tara's eyes were wide as she looked at Sandra, before looking back to her sister who was twirling her coffee mug, looking down into it.

"I'm sorry. I won't tell you guys how to do your job. Just be careful, yeah? Both of you. How did your heart hold on during a fight?"

"Not very well." Kamili said, shrugging her shoulders. "The adrenaline kept me going until Kelly arrived but then I blacked out. Paramedics made sure everything was alright though, they couldn't see anything."

Tara nodded, then frowned. "So you were actually checked over by the paramedics and they didn't notice that bruise?"

"The only checked my vitals and heart, I never told them about the back. I know, I know, I should've. Sandra told me as well at the scene. I was exhausted, just wanted to get home."

Tara nodded, holding up her hand. Nagging is unnecessary.

"Hopefully the next case is all about staking out cheating husbands." Sandra said thoughtfully, drinking her coffee.

"Nah, you'd be bored out of your mind, you hate the stake-outs." Kamili laughed, looking up to Sandra, then meeting her sister's eyes. Both of them knowing Tara only spoke out of worry, they shared a smile before Tara changed the subject.

"I talked to mama yesterday."

"What she say?"

"As I got another two weeks sick leave, I thought I would combine it a bit. So, I rearranged at work and I'm taking a few weeks holiday as well following the sick leave." Tara said, took a break as the cough interrupted her.

Kamili observed her sister, getting a nod from her as the coughing fit subsided, Tara having some coffee to get her breath back.

"And you're heading down south?" Kamili added as her sister recovered.

"Yes. And you guys must talk to Kelly, because Sandra promised mama that you guys would come too. Mama is very excited about it." Tara said, looking over to Sandra who was blushing slightly.

"Kelly will love that. Seriously, we just had an eight months long break." Kamili grinned.

"But you guys always have some time off between the big cases." Tara smiled. "Maybe you can find some work to do down in Georgia."

"Well, work always find us whenever we try to outrun it." Sandra said, shrugging her shoulders.

Kamili chuckled, agreeing with her friend, looking over and meeting her eyes. "You get to talk to Kelly because you're the one who promised mama. And if you can't convince Kelly, you will have to explain that to mama."

Sandra smiled as she sipped her coffee. "I'll talk to her. It would be cool to go away the whole gang. I'd love to see Georgia and meet your family."

"If we do go, we need to talk to Aurore as well, it's been a while since she was down too. Devin and Peggy would probably like to go down to visit their parents as well." Kamili added, Tara nodded.

"Let's try to plan this. I agree with Sandra that it would be nice to go away together, the kids and all." Tara smiled, managing to swallow down an incoming cough. She was looking forward to taking a break back home for a while. She had really been working herself to exhaustion, and she knew she needed a good break if she was going to be able to recover enough to go back to work.

"Hey, are you really okay?" Kamili asked. "Maybe you should hit our guest bed and I'll stay home and watch Yasmin. She's my daughter after all, you don't have to babysit while I go out and meet up with friends."

"No, don't be ridiculous. Morgan said he would be an hour or so late, two hours tops, so he should be home soon. Then I'll take your guest bed. You go out, have fun, enjoy dinner."

"Promise?"

"Promise."


Two hours later, Kamili and Sandra walked into Aurore's restaurant, coming in through the back door, finding their way up to their normal booth. They found Kelly and Madison there already, joined by Kris and Jill, the four of them happily chitchatting.

"Hey." Kelly smiled as Sandra and Kamili sat down. "All good?"

"All good. Appreciated a nap." Kamili grinned, sitting down next to Jill. "How are you doing? You look better."

"I am." Jill smiled. "I've gotten to keep the food down lately which has been nice, and it's given me some more energy."

"It's great to see that." Kamili smiled, nudging Jill gently.

"We all agree." Kris agreed. "It's also nice to hear that you guys brought that crazy person down."

"It's good to know that no more women will lose their lives in that horrible way." Sandra said, all of the others agreeing with her.

"Do you have enough evidence to make sure she stays put?" Kris asked. "I mean, there's not much evidence that she killed all of those women, even if you can lock her away for attempted murder at least it would be nice to get some justice for all the other women as well."

"Oh we're good." Sandra grinned. "Carl called me just before we left for here, telling me that she was coming down from whatever she had been taking and she told them everything, how she killed all of them. She felt it was time to confess her sins apparently."

"Oh well then." Kris smiled. "That makes it a whole lot easier to get a sentence of course."

"Sandra told me of the conversation with – Carl, was that his name?" Kamili said, looking over to Sandra who blushed but nodded. "She told me of the conversation. Not only do we have a full confession but going through her private belongings at the Prospect they found all the missing drafts that Alicia had been writing, and also loads of things from the other women. Alicia was very close to the truth and even if she didn't write Josie's name in the article, she was darn close to doing so."

"And if that wasn't enough, they found photos who I believe Sophie Brown took which actually shows how Josie burned Ava to death. Those photos were well enough to put her away, so I assume she found them and killed Sophie." Sandra added. "They are going through all the material, but Carl said that we don't have to worry about trying to get her a lifetime sentence, she sorted that out herself."

"Well that's good. I was a bit worried there that she would slip through it." Kris said, the others all agreeing just as two waitresses came out towards the table, carrying their food. None of them had ordered as Aurore had told her waitresses earlier that she knew they were coming, and she knew their preferences. Several different courses were handed out and Kamili couldn't help but to giggle as a massive ice cream sundae and lemon sorbet, complete with sprinkles, chocolate sauce and merengue, was placed in front of Jill, who happily dug in.

"That's an interesting dinner choice from Aurore." Kamili said, raising an eyebrow towards Jill who smiled widely, swallowing a big spoon of ice cream and sprinkles.

"I've been able to keep the desserts down, especially ice cream. So Aurore has made it her mission to feed me. I do believe she's happy to get some of her pastry chef recipes out again." Jill smiled.

"Whatever works." Kamili laughed, the others around the table agreeing with her.

"So, Madison, how did it feel to actually be the one to solve your first case?" Kris asked after a few minutes if eating in silence.

"Oh, what an adrenaline rush, absolutely terrifying but such a thrill." Madison smiled to her, looking between Kris and Kelly.

"You did really well." Kamili nodded. "Had you not found out in time that Ellen and Josie were the same person, the outcome might've been a lot worse."

"I am especially happy." Sandra said, smiling to Madison. "I did not look forward to being burned, it seems like a horrible way to go."

"It was mostly luck I guess." Madison said, blushing a bit, looking down.

"Don't sell yourself short." Sandra said, nudging her. "I sat opposite her for a good half an hour at lunch and didn't realize it was Josie until I came around up at that platform. You are so good at reading people, seeing small things within their behavior that we haven't noticed."

"I'm a bit jealous." Kris grinned, blinking one eye towards Kelly. "Kelly met you first. If you ever get bored with the agency you're welcome to the FBI."

"Maybe later on. I still got a lot to learn." Madison said, her voice growing a bit quiet, looking down into her food for a moment.

Kelly looked over to her, noticing that something was bothering her, and she gently elbowed her. "Hey, what's on your mind?"

"Oh I was just thinking that I could've done it better, I followed Martin and by the time I found out it was Josie, she had already taken Sandra. I should've kept my eyes on Sandra instead and she might've not been taken at all."

"Sure, that might've been a better option, but fact still remains that you did find out both who it was and where she had taken her. We all make mistakes, the important thing is that we learn from them." Kamili smiled.

"And I'm still alright. Had you followed me she might've noticed something, gotten nervous and taken off instead. You did the right thing." Sandra said. "And you definitely did the right thing in calling for backup straight away. You saved my life; I hope you understand that."

Madison looked up and met Sandra's eyes, both of them smiling to each other, the whole table in silence for a moment as the two Angels shared a silent conversation before Sandra broke out into a wide smile, digging in her purse. "I got you a present."

Madison looked up to her, a bit confused, as Sandra pulled out a little box, handing it to Madison. "I didn't have time to wrap it."

Madison smiled as she opened up the little wooden box, finding a small pocketknife, silver blade that flipped out from a burgundy red hilt with, small enough to fit in the palm of her hand when folded. Madison chuckled as she looked up to Sandra. "I love it, thank you."

"Cutting ropes is a big part of our job and it's easier if you have a sharp knife." Sandra laughed, the others agreeing with her.

"Are your wrists alright by the way?" Kelly asked, looking up to Sandra who nodded.

"They're alright, it wasn't as bad as it looked. The medics cleaned and wrapped them, they'll be absolutely fine in a week or so."

"Good." Kelly smiled, then looking up as she saw Aurore come walking towards them. "Hi there."

"Hi. All good?" Aurore smiled, sliding into the booth next to Kamili, looking around to them all. She was still wearing her chef whites, short hair in a high pony, wiping her hands off on a towel hanging over her shoulder.

"All good." The whole table answered in unison.

"This was fabulous." Jill smiled, pointing to her empty bowl.

"I can see that. You're just one step from licking the bowl clean." Aurore laughed. "Just don't tell Jessica that ice cream is ideal for dinner."

"Too late, she already thinks it is." Kris sighed, the others laughing as they could just pictured the little girl taking after her aunt when it came to food choices.

"Oh well. There are worse things in life than appreciating good food." Aurore grinned, getting to her feet to help out as her servers came to clean the table off. "You got room for dessert?"

"Yes!"

Aurore raised an eyebrow towards Jill, shaking her head slightly as Jill gave her an innocent look.

"I mean, can I please have some more of the lemon sorbet, please, chef?" Jill asked, tilting her head while flashing a Munroe-smile.

"Of course you can, for you, this is an all-you-can-eat buffet." Aurore laughed, Jill smiling widely.

"I knew it would be a good idea to put some money into this place."

"So you always have someone to feed you?" Kris asked, raising an eyebrow towards her sister.

"Yes." Jill nodded. "Best business idea I've ever had."

Aurore just laughed, grabbing the last of the plates, looking around the booth. "All of you? Dessert?"

The whole gang around the booth nodded happily, not planning to miss out on dessert. Aurore smiled happily as she headed back into the kitchen, pleased to see another case finished and everyone happy, smiling and alive.