Gil, foolishly, hoped his first day back on the job would be an uneventful one. Fill out the mountains of paperwork the brass insisted he catch up on, acquaint himself with the cases being investigated by the detectives in his command, and check in with Bright.
He didn't even make it to the precinct.
Didn't even leave the house, Gil thought as he made his way to the location JT text him. He had been finishing getting ready when JT called him to tell him about a body in the park. A return to the way things were before I got stabbed.
If Gil was being honest, he'd admit he preferred being called out to a crime scene over spending the day chained to his desk. Gil spotted JT standing with a couple of uniformed officers. He parked his car behind a line of other vehicles and stepped out.
"How's it feel to be back?" JT asked in lieu of a greeting.
"Would say it's like I never left," he joked as he joined him at the line of crime scene tape blocking the entrance into the park. "But I know I've been away for a while."
"Definitely hitting the ground running here."
"Where's Sorcha?" Gil scanned the line of cars but didn't see a familiar Mustang parked among them. "She come with you?"
"Didn't call Mini-Bright and tell her we have another Bride on our hands."
That surprised Gil. "Why not?"
"She decided her and Bright's skinny ass needed a mental health day."
The frazzled expression on his face said JT needed a break, too. Gil hid a smile as he ducked beneath the tape and headed towards where technicians were busily scouring the perimeter for evidence. He couldn't fault JT for needing a bit of a break.
The kid was a handful.
"Bright's been himself from what I hear." A grunt had one of Gil's eyebrows winging up. "He's not been himself?"
"He's been quadruple his usual brand of crazy," JT confirmed in a low rumble. "Especially the last few weeks."
Gil's brow furrowed. Bright vibrated with restless energy on a good day. A bad one? The dial shot all the way up to maximum. Making the kid harder to deal with than he normally was. Bright being extra Bright was never good. It tended to lead to him doing things that required him filling out incident reports and calling Jessica to explain.
"Any reason why he's amped up?"
Not that Bright needed a reason. His moods tended to shift at the drop of a hat. Often without any warning. Gil had become accustomed to the kid's rapid cycling when the kid was younger. Erratic behavior and Bright went together like oatmeal cookies and milk. Him not swinging from the rafters was almost more dangerous than his bouts of eerie calm. He and Jackie did their best to learn the signs of a shift so they could head off the worst of the episodes. Sometimes, distracting Bright by taking him on a stakeout or something else that channeled his mind and expended his pent-up energy worked.
Most often, though? They could do nothing but ride the wave right along with him, and hope they didn't wipeout in the process.
"Mini-Bright says it's 'cause Bright's finally started to explore his identity and sense of morality."
Gil had hoped there'd come a point where the kid would finally start to see Malcolm Whitly was nothing like Martin Whitly. The kid initially became Malcolm Bright to separate himself from his father. However, he never figured out who Malcolm Bright actually was after deciding to change his name. His thoughts, beliefs, values remained tied to his father. To me and Sorcha's father, Ian.
"Sorcha knows how to help Bright with that."
"Why I decided not to call her in." The ghost of a smile appeared on JT's face. "Figured she needs to focus on Bright while he's running around as Super Bright."
The image of the kid in a silver and white superhero costume, cape fluttering behind him in the breeze had mirth bubbling beneath his concern. Gil hummed a laugh as he walked over to where a body had been laid out in a bed of fall foliage. The rich reds, fiery oranges, and brilliant yellows were a stark contrast to the white sheet draped over the victim.
"What have we got, Edrisa?"
Gil had spoken the words thousands of times before. Yet, for some reason they seemed foreign to him. Awkward on his tongue. Part of that, he realized as JT stood next to him, is because it's been a little under seven months since I was last out to a crime scene.
Much as Gil didn't like admitting it, he was his last crime scene. There was no use trying to deny that fact. Not when the photos he wheedled out of Sorcha were sitting on his coffee table. It had been a helluva jolt to realize he might have ended up a floater had Jessica not taken the initiative to ram his car into the one Endicott's bodyguard tossed him into and gotten him to the hospital.
Multiple surgeries, weeks in the hospital, and months of therapy followed. The only reason he didn't come back sooner was because command wouldn't clear him until his doctor signed off on him being fully recovered. The pandemic that shut the world down slowed his rehabilitation to a crawl. Something that frustrated him to no end but there wasn't much he could do about it.
Least of all since Jessica wouldn't hear of him pushing himself.
"Female." A frown appeared between Edrisa's eyes as she pulled back the sheet so Gil and JT could have a look. "Early thirties but possibly late twenties. Will know more once I get her on the table."
"Sexual trauma?"
"No." Her hair bobbed as she shook her head. "And no marks of any kind to suggest she had been drugged or poisoned prior to her doll-u-facation." She pushed her glasses up and squinted up at Gil. "Just like the last victims."
That wasn't what Gil wanted to hear.
"She's definitely another bride then."
"Oh, definitely." Excitement bubbled across the medical examiner's face. "In fact, I'd say this is his best work to date. I spotted little flaws in the other brides. Things that might have gone unnoticed if one wasn't looking closely." Edrisa's words were tripping over themselves as her fervor for the topic grew. "Chipped nail polish, seams coming undone in dresses, hair going flat. Not a surprise in this humidity. This bride, though, she..."
"Is the third this month." JT offered Gil the folder he held. "Second we've found in this park."
Again, not what he wanted to hear. Gil's brow creased as he flipped open the folder.
"How many brides have there been since the first was discovered?"
"Six."
Wasn't the number he wanted to hear, either.
"Why does the file have seven listed?"
"Mini-Bright found a cold case she believes might be the guy's first."
"A cold case?" Gil stared at the picture clipped to the inside cover. "I remember this. Littleton over at the 2-5 caught it." An eyebrow arched. "Why does Sorcha think she's his first?"
"Same polymer was used in the esophagus as was used in the other brides." JT nodded towards the woman laying among the sea of lilies and bi-colored roses. "Was laid out just like this."
"And wearing a wedding gown."
A soft grunt was Gil's confirmation. This wasn't the case he wanted as his first one back. Hitting the ground running for sure, he realized as his eyes swept over the information neatly compiled in Sorcha's flowing hand. She only agreed to this case because they had been in the middle of the investigation into Bright as Eddie Smith's killer when a woman, dressed in a vintage bridal gown was discovered near the fountain inside The Frick Collection.
Two days later another woman had been found posed in the middle of The Rainbow Room.
Another turned up forty-eight hours after in the cocktail lounge of the 501 Union.
Classified officially as a serial killer, the newly named Corpse Bride Killer should have made headline news. They didn't because the coronavirus and civil unrest that erupted across the globe took over the news media. Sorcha stepped in as consultant since there was no way in hell Gil would be able to convince brass to allow the kid to work the case. Not while he was a suspect in a homicide investigation.
She profiled their suspect as an attention-seeking killer who took great pleasure in torturing their victims before turning them into "bride dolls."
A killer who sought adulation despite being content to remain in the shadows so they could work on their creations without fear of interruption or detection.
A predatory narcissist who posed these bride dolls in carefully chosen poses to garner the approval and praise of the public.
A perfectionist, he took great pains to style each bride, choosing a different look, wedding gown, and pose to turn them into a "one-of-a-kind" designer original.
Sorcha's notes also suggested a male killer, one obsessed with dolls. One raised by a mother or grandmother who either favored their dolls over him or made him help create these dolls, creating bitterness and resentment.
There was also a notation in the corner which amended the profile to include the possibility of his being abused by a sister, cousin, foster mother or romantic partner.
The killer took extreme care to select women with particular complexions — all fair — eye coloring — blue — facial shapes, and honey-gold hair.
With the exception of this newest victim and the sixth, he realized, brow furrowing. Both victims had brown hair and eyes. An anomaly confounding Sorcha based on the notes scribbled on post-its fixed to the inside cover. One note in particular got Gil's attention.
"Sorcha thinks there are two killers?"
"She believes the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth victims belong to the Corpse Bride Killer."
"And the sixth, and, well seventh if she's correct about the cold case being one of his victims?" Gil looked up. "Does she think it's a copycat or a partner and protégée team?"
If Gil had to pick one or the other to deal with, he'd rather a partner and protégée team over a copycat. Copycat killers presented a whole new set of problems and took up time they could be using to find the original killer.
"Mini-Bright believes the second killer is related to one of the victims."
"Oh, that explains the differences in the Brides," Edrisa said. "The real Corpse Bride Killer favors women with blonde hair and blue eyes and..."
"The second picks women with brown hair and brown eyes," Gil finished for her.
"They could be sending us a message." JT face was as grim as his tone. "Or a warning about what'll happen if we don't find the real killer."
One of the techs stepped up to snap photographs. She looks eerily familiar, Gil realized, gut clenching.
It couldn't be, though.
He was imagining things.
There was no way this bride looked like... her.
A chill snaked through him as the pieces he hoped wouldn't come together, did. Same hair color and style, same eyes, same build. Makeup is even done in the tones she favors.
"This isn't a message." Gil swallowed back the fear and anger that surged into his mouth. "It's a warning."
"A warning?" JT frowned. "To who?"
"Bright." Gil's eyes met JT's. "He's telling Bright to find the Corpse Bride Killer or..."
"He's gonna turn Light-Bright into his next bride." JT heaved a soft breath as he shook his head. "As if shit with this case wasn't already weird enough."
"It's going to get worse if we don't figure out who they are." Gil reached into his pocket for his phone. "I'll get Bright down here." He dialed the kid's number. "You get a uni to sit on their place."
"You know Mini-Bright won't sit this one out."
"She will," he said as he placed his phone to his hear, "or I'll call for backup."
"Bright's mom?"
"No," as there was a click in his ear, "hers."
A/N: Hello, all! Hope this finds you well!
I want to thank dustytiger for their lovely reviews!