Chapter 8: Two Sisters, Two Sides

Mid October 2007

Bunnymund stared at Elsa as she recounted the story of how she had viciously murdered Elizabeth Best. He remembered coming onto the scene. It had been the first murder scene he had ever been on. He remembered the smell of the decaying dead body, the sight of blood all over the floor and the image of Elizabeth's horror-stricken face. The last image had haunted him and would continue to haunt him for the rest of his life.

Now to hear what had happened in vivid detail and from one of his best friends made him want to throw up. In fact, he had to physically stop himself from doing so. Elsa just looked at him expectantly.

"Now I expect you wanna hear about the rest?" Elsa asked him, her cigarette slowly burning away as it lay in between her index and middle finger of her right hand.

"Yes," Bunnymund quickly got his head back into the game. He lay out a couple of dozens of photos in front of Elsa, who gave them a bored stare. "Tell me about these people?"

"I saw this one coming out of a bar, very drunk," Elsa picked up one. "He was easy to manipulate. He honestly thought I wanted sex behind the bar. That one," she pointed at another picture, "was very fun. I followed her out on her evening jog. When she saw me, she thought I was just another jogger out for a bit of fun. Oh, if only she knew what was coming." Elsa had a twinkle in her eyes. "The woods outside make an excellent sound proof area. No one heard her screams. I kept her alive longer due to that. It was like a game of cat and mouse. I let her get a little bit away but then I would pounce. The sheer terror in her eyes whenever I caught her," she laughed an icy laugh that made Bunnymund shiver, "Oh, I guess you had to be there."

Elsa continued to give – well there was only one for it – highlights of the kills. Reliving the kills, looking at the crime scene photos seemed to fuel her, make the pleasure come back to her. It was sick, it was so sick. She was enjoying all of this.

"Is this it?" she gave her old friend a disappointed look as she threw the photos back at him. "You wound me Bunny."

"Wait…" Bunnymund suddenly got a shocked expression on his face. "You mean to tell me that there are more…?"

Elsa laughed again and took a long drag of her cigarette. "Oh honey, you are barely scratching the surface here."

"So, who are we missing? That university student from Berlin? That couple who were last seen by the beach? Those remains in the woods from six months ago?"

"Spoilers," Elsa tapped her nose and laughed again. "I don't want to give anything away."

Anna watched as for the last half an hour, Bunnymund tried and failed to get Elsa to tell him more about the other victims. She had just laughed at him and refused to tell him more. It was clearly a game to her. It had been like this when they were children. If Elsa had something hidden, she would behave just like this. Bunnymund came out of the interrogation room visibly aged and looking defeated.

"What do we do?" he asked Falk. "We need to get her to talk."

"I say arrest her for the Elizabeth Best murder and hang the bitch," Falk said, giving Elsa a disgusted expression. "The way she spoke about those poor people made me feel disgusted. Like, how could another human being be capable of those things?"

"We can't just 'hang the bitch'," Bunnymund replied. "There are families out there who need closure. How would you feel if you had a son or daughter or wife or husband, aunt, uncle, cousin who had just not come home one day? Wouldn't you like to know? Wouldn't you like to know where the body is to give them a proper funeral?"

"You have a point," Falk gave an annoyed sigh. "Well then, how do we get her to talk? We need a game plan. Something that knocks her off her feet and that tricks her into revealing more but I don't know man. We don't have many cards to play."

"We could lie?" Bunnymund suggested. "See what her reaction is?"

"I'll do it," Anna had been thinking hard. Bunnymund was right. They needed to know more. If Elsa was hiding more names, dates and locations, then they needed that; to bring the families closure. Bunnymund and Falk gave her a resounding no.

"Look," Anna brought herself up to her full height, "you guys need this. She won't be expecting me. I know this is hard, but she's my sister. I think I can get her to talk." She looked over at Jack, who looked like he had frozen solid. "Please, give me a chance to talk to her."

"Okay, but I am going in there too," Bunnymund said.

"I think she needs to do it alone." It was the first time Jack had spoken for a long time. His voice came out all squeaky. "Elsa would respond better if it was just the two of them, talking."

"Fine," Bunnymund threw his hands up in defeat. "I guess we have nothing left to lose, but if you need me, I'll be right outside, watching you."

Anna nodded; her mouth was suddenly very dry. Summoning up every ounce of courage she had, she walked into the room. Elsa looked up and saw who had walked into the room. A gaping expression came over her face for she surely hadn't expect her own sister to walk in like this. Anna sat down in the seat that had previously been occupied by Bunnymund. The two sisters looked at each other, neither one of them daring to be the one to speak first.

"So," Elsa said, breaking the silence for the first time in several long, hard minutes, "did you hear everything?"

"Jack and I both did," Anna replied, folding her hands together and laying them on the table in front of her.

Elsa let out a gargle, a mix of a frustrated sound and a groan. She banged her head against the table. Well, maybe this was going to be easier than Anna had earlier thought.

"You guys weren't supposed to find out this way," Elsa said, her voice muffled as her head was still pressed against the cool metal surface of the table.

"How were we supposed to find out then, huh?" Anna suddenly got angrier, angrier than she earlier had been when she had entered the room. "When it was splashed all over the newspapers? Seeing it on TV? Oh, how about finding you holding a knife over a victim's body? Hmm?"

"Look," Elsa snapped back, "I wanted you to get the news broken to you gently."

"Elsa, you are a murderer," Anna let out an exasperated noise. "How the fuck does one break that news gently? 'Oh, by the way Anna, your sister is a cold-blooded killer responsible for the terror and string of murders that have gripped Arendelle for the last five years.' What am I supposed to do with that? Say thank you and then have a cup of tea as if it is no big deal? You murdered over a dozen people! You murdered our nanny! What the fuck am I supposed to do with that Elsa?"

Anna's voice was getting higher and higher. All the anger that she had been feeling, all the betrayal and hurt was finally coming to the surface. Elsa just looked at her, there wasn't a single expression on her face to give away any emotion she might have been feeling. Elsa wasn't saying anything so Anna ploughed onwards.

"What will Sigrid and Leif think?" Anna was basically shouting now, tears streaming down her face. "How could you do this to them? To Jack? To me? I grew up thinking that I had a cool older sister but you're a monster Elsa. You had always been a monster, hiding, lurking. What were you going to do Elsa? Kill us too?"

"No," Elsa said firmly. Then a thought struck her. "You were in my closet; you found my trophies."

"No fucking shit," Anna said. "You know how desperately I was ready to accept any other explanation for you having those? I would have believed men on mars dropped them off over you being a killer. What did you do? Relive your kills over and over again whenever you saw them? Are you that sick?"

Elsa scowled. "This is who I am Anna. I was born this way. You don't understand. It's an urge, a desire. I can't help feeling this way. It excites me, you know? I am sure that you would know the feeling if you tried it. After all, we are sisters. Maybe the desire is hidden within you too. I can teach you how to awaken it. Doesn't that sound exciting?"

"Well I am sorry if killing people doesn't excite me," Anna said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "I am very happy to say that we are not the same."

Elsa scowled again. "Well, you are missing out. That feeling you get when the light disappears from their eyes," Elsa French-kissed her fingers, "there's nothing like it."

"You're sick," Anna whispered. "You are sick. You need help."

Elsa shrugged. "So, since all cards are on the table, do you have any questions?"

"Yeah, why?" Anna put great emphasis on the word.

"Cause it's fun," Elsa shrugged. "Why does someone play sports? Go out dancing? Have sex? It's something that they enjoy. This just happens to be something I enjoy."

Anna could have wrung her hands. "This isn't like playing football or going swing dancing with the girls. This is killing people. Do you get that? You are literally taking a life? How do you not see it as being different?"

"I don't," Elsa shrugged again. "Look, this is just who I am and how I think. You gotta respect that."

"No, I don't," Anna shrieked. There was something seriously wrong with her sister. How could she not have seen this? Then again, Elsa was always really good at hiding what she was truly feeling. "I really don't," Anna shook her head.

"Ah well," Elsa looked a little disappointed. "Can't have everything in life."

Anna had zero clue on how Elsa was able to respond like that. It was like she got turned down for something – like a date or a job. Anyone watching would think they were just shooting the breeze. Elsa gave her sister a long, searching look.

"Let me guess, Bunny sent you in here to find out more about the others," Elsa smiled. "Good play. You had me going for a second."

"Elsa, for the first time in your fucking life, do something good," Anna said. "Help out the families who have lost a member. Bring them some closure. Don't you want to do that?"

"Hmm, let me think about that for a moment…" Elsa feigned thinking hard, "how about no? Look, you guys have caught me, I can't have anymore fun out there hunting but this, this is fun too. Seeing all you guys sweat, trying to guess where I hid the bodies, who I got in the end. There were several close calls with some people, I will tell you that."

Anna looked shocked. "So, you really aren't going to help?"

Elsa leaned back in her chair and sucked her cigarette. "No, I really am not."

Anna could only gap at her older sister. She knew it would be useless to try and continue. Elsa looked very pleased with herself as she smoked her cigarette. Anna got up from her chair and headed outside to where Bunnymund, Falk and Jack were standing. She gave them a defeated sigh and shoulder shrug.

"Well, I tried," Anna said. "What's next?"

Bunnymund walked into the interrogation room where Elsa was sitting. She grinned at him as she put out her cigarette.

"Here for round two Bunny?" she asked in a coy voice.

"Stand up," he said and she complied. "Elsa Winters, I am placing you under arrest for the murder of Elizabeth Best. You have the right to be silent, you have the right to an attorney, one will be provided to you if you cannot provide for one."

"It's about fucking time really," Elsa said as Bunnymund pulled out his cuffs and placed them tightly around her wrists. "You guys really took your time."

Bunnymund didn't say anything as he marched Elsa out of the room. She gave Jack and Anna one last look as she passed them. What was going on inside that blonde head of hers? Was she feeling sorry for them or was she gloating? Judging by the conversation he had with her for the past several hours, he would guess the latter. It didn't feel right to him that she was capable of sympathy. She had expressed no remorse about what she did. In fact, she had revelled in it, said it had been a thrill and excited her.

Nobody said anything as Bunnymund led her away. The Arendelle Ripper had finally been caught but what would happen next? At her trial? To her victim's families? To the ones out there still waiting to be found? To Elsa, herself?

Only time will tell it seems.

A/N: Hope everyone enjoyed this update! More to come.

Reviews:

Collington: Well yes and no on the heart - Elsa didn't like killing off Anna's cat. The question of others is answered later dw. Oh with the cat, it's a metaphor - the cat is Elizabeth. Reference was to the show The Nanny - idk if you have seen it.