Monday May 3rd 2021
It'd barely been a month since we'd found Malcolm and Martin in Vermont and Malcolm still barely slept. It couldn't be harder being pregnant and trying to help my husband through his violent nightmares.
I woke with a start to a faint crash from downstairs.
I glanced over at the clock three thirty-three in the morning.
I glanced over at my husband who for the first time since coming home seemed to be sleeping peacefully.
I slid out of bed as silently as possible and slid on my plush robe before grabbing my pistol from the side table drawer.
We'd need to ask Aaron to make us a gun safe before our daughter came.
I crept down the stairs with my pistol in front of me aimed at the floor, a precaution more than anything else.
The sound could have been Mark or Sarah or even Sophie who insisted on staying with Malcolm and I at least until the birth of our daughter.
My feet hit the marble floor in our foyer.
"Gil?" I sighed.
He looked up at me from where he knelt on the floor picking up pieces of the vase he'd knocked over.
"Hi Lily! I'm sorry about the vase." He said.
"Forget about the vase. What are you doing here? It's three thirty in the morning." I asked.
"I need your help."
"Gil. You know Malcolm and I aren't working right now." I shook my head with a sigh.
"Lily. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't serious. You know that. Lily... I've never seen anything like this." He appealed to me.
"Okay. Let me get dressed and let Malcolm know I'm leaving." I sighed.
I changed into a pair of stretchy black slacks and a purple flowy tank top topped with a thin jacket.
Summer quickly approached in New York but before sunrise chill still hung in the air.
"Malcolm? Baby, wake up." I shook him gently.
"No. What?" Malcolm shook his head.
"Baby, Gil's here. I have to go to a scene." I shook him again.
Finally, his eyes opened to me.
"What? A scene?" He asked.
"He said it's really bad. I'm going to see what's up." I answered.
"I want to go with you." Malcolm muttered.
"Honey, you're barely half awake. Please try to sleep. I'm sure this won't take long. If we need you I'll come back and get you." I promised.
"Okay." He muttered.
"I love you."
"I love you too, sweetheart."
I ran my fingers through his hair until he drifted back to sleep.
"Lily? What's going on?" Sophie asked as I walked down the stairs onto our third floor with the ten bedrooms.
"Gil has a case. I'll be back in a couple hours. Keep an eye on him, huh?" I asked.
"Of course. Be careful, Lil." She urged.
"I always am." I smiled at her.
"Oh. Will you sweep up the vase Gil knocked over when you get a chance?" I turned back to her.
"No problem." She shook her head but smiled at me.
"I'll follow you?" I asked Gil as I reached the foyer again.
"Let's go." He nodded.
I followed Gil's car twenty miles from Bright Manor to a run-down apartment in the city.
"Be prepared, Lily." Gil sighed as he lead me into the apartment complex.
"I've been in the FBI for thirteen years." I reminded him.
"What have we got?" I asked as we walked into the actual apartment.
"Twenty-four year old John Dougal." Gil said leading me back into the small bedroom.
The body of a Caucasian male lay nude, face down in the center of the bed with three pillows under his hips and what looked to be a bloody sex toy inserted into his rectum.
"Edrisa?" I said her name.
"Lily! Is Bright not with you?" She asked.
"Not this time. He's at home resting." I smiled at her.
"You're not going to believe this." She told me after pouting for a second.
"Tell me." I urged.
"Our killer gave our victim a penectomy." Edrisa said.
"And that's his penis the killer stuck in his rectum?" I asked.
"That would be correct." She nodded.
"What have you got on John?" I turned back to Gil.
"He was a bricklayer employed at Dougal Contractors Inc." Gil started.
"He also has an open case on the books." Dani said walking into the room.
Her eyes on me instead of the body.
"What is he accused of?" I asked.
"The rape and sodomy of a ten year old girl." She answered.
"Well, that's motive." I sighed.
Something about the scene just rubbed me wrong.
"Wait a minute." Edrisa said as she rolled the victim over.
"It looks like a symbol is carved into his forehead." She said looking up at me.
I took a step forward to examine the head wound.
"What does it mean?" Gil asked.
"It's the symbol for Lust." I answered.
"Can you leave this for another hour?' I asked.
"Of course." Edrisa nodded.
I turned and began to walk out of the room.
"Where are you going?" Gil asked.
"To get my husband." I answered.
"Lily? Are you okay?" Malcolm answered the phone.
"I'm going to be home in twenty. Can you be ready to go?" I asked.
"Of course. What happened?" He asked.
"This is going to turn into a serial." I sighed.
"I'll be ready. I love you." He said.
"I love you baby."
Malcolm stood outside our home in a blue suit.
"I know we wanted to take more time." I sighed when he got in the car.
"If you think we need to work this case then I'm all in." He said taking my hand.
We walked up to the front door of the apartment complex where Gil waited.
"Hey kid." Gil said solemnly.
"Hey Gil." Malcolm answered with a small smile.
Inside the actual crime scene I watched Malcolm immediately get to work.
"Lust?" Malcolm turned to me.
I nodded.
"You were right, Lily. This is going to be bad."
An hour later Malcolm and I stood at the front of the conference room. Gil, Dani, and JT sat at the table looking at us expectantly.
"When someone thinks of the seven deadly sins, they think of catholicism or religion. However, the seven deadly sins never appear in the bible all together." I began glancing at my husband.
"We believe that this killer is inspired by the work of The Earthly Paradise. Within the work there are seven terraces of purgatory." Malcolm added.
"Those levels correspond with what we know as the seven deadly sins. Lust, as we found carved into the forehead of our victim is the seventh level, closest to heaven." I continued.
"So this isn't over?" JT asked.
"Oh, no. They're just getting started." I answered.
"The first and most obvious question is: How did our killer know that our victim was under investigation for the rape?" Malcolm asked.
"Right. Are they family? Part of the court system? Was the case high profile? Constantly in the news? Well known to the public?" I continued.
"The judge actually issued a gag order until the actual trial. It wouldn't be well known at all." Gil answered.
"That narrows our suspect pool. Malcolm and I will take the family. We need the three of you to interview the judge, DA, Defense Counsel, even the court reporter." I instructed.
"Do you really think it'll be that easy?" Dani asked.
"Absolutely not, but it's a place to start." I sighed.
"Are you sure you shouldn't have brought Dani or Sophie to interview the family?" Malcolm asked as I drove us out to the home of Isaiah and Christa Mann, parents of young victim Breanne Mann.
"Yes. I am. We're a family. Expecting our own daughter. It'll put them at ease and remind them that our only goal is justice." I explained.
Malcolm nodded thoughtfully.
When we arrived at the Mann home Malcolm stood slightly behind me on the front porch as I knocked on the door.
"Yes?" A woman no older than myself answered the door.
"Mrs. Mann?" I asked and she nodded.
"My name is Lily Bright and this is my husband Malcolm. We're working with the NYPD and have some questions for you and your husband." I introduced us.
"Sure. Okay." She said stepping aside to let us in.
At nearly nineteen weeks pregnant, my bump was easily noticeable as I walked into the house with Malcolm behind me.
"Please. Have a seat." She said as she motioned for someone in another room to join us.
"Isiah, this is Malcolm and Lily Bright. They have some questions for us." She introduced us.
"Mr. Mann. We will do our best to be brief. We understand how important it is to be with your daughter during this time." I nodded to him.
"Yes. Thank you."
"John Dougal was murdered last night. Normally, this would simply be a notification that the man who hurt your child is no longer a threat but because the judge instituted a gag order we need to cover all of our bases." I further explained.
"The way John Dougal was murdered leads us to believe that his killer had intimate knowledge of his crime." Malcolm added gently.
"And you think it was us?" Isiah asked.
"No. Not really. To be completely honest, this murder was too controlled to be someone emotionally raw from his actions. We just need to know if there's anyone you know that could have committed this murder." I answered touching my bump.
"Of course. A white man who violated our daughter is murdered and now you show up." Christa shot at me.
"With all due respect ma'am, Malcolm and I have been on leave for the last month. We're expecting our first child. A daughter. We cannot imagine how hard this is for you both and we hope we'll never have to find out. I don't care what color his skin is or for that matter what color your skin is. We only want justice for Breanne and to stop this killer before he strikes again." I answered as gently as I could manage.
She sighed and looked at her husband.
"We've followed the gag order to the letter." Isiah said with his own sigh.
"There are people who know she was hurt but no one knows the assailant was caught." Christa continued.
"I know his death will bring closure to your family but at the same time for Breanne to not get her day in court, to confront him and to have him truly pay for his crime... She could have a very negative reaction to this. If you haven't already I would suggest a counselor or therapist." I suggested.
"Do you need to talk to her?" Isiah asked.
"No. Not unless you think it will help her. The last thing we want is to further traumatize her." I answered.
He nodded for a moment and looked at his wife.
"Will you talk to her?" She asked.
"She's looked up to you since your appointment to Chief within the FBI."
"Then, yes. I will talk to her." I answered.
"She made us record your wedding so she could watch it." Christa told us as she lead Malcolm and I down the hallway to her daughter's room.
"Breanne? Some people are here to see you." She knocked on the door.
"Okay." A small voice answered after a moment.
"Breanne?" I said her name as I walked into the room.
Malcolm stayed by the doorway.
"Dr. Bright?" She asked looking up at me.
"That's right." I nodded.
"Your mom and dad thought it would be beneficial for me to come talk to you." I said gently.
"Please, sit." She slid to the head of her bed to make room for me.
"Thank you." I smiled at her.
"You're here because of the man that hurt me?" She said.
"Partly, yes." I answered truthfully.
"He's dead. You think someone close to me did it?" She asked.
"It was something we needed to explore. I also have a team interviewing the court staff."
"I'm not sad he's dead." She admitted.
"That's normal." I nodded.
We sat in silence for a long moment.
"When I was young someone hurt me and when I told someone they called me a liar. So when I was hurt again when I was a teenager I didn't report it. I lived with that pain and injustice for many years with no professional help. It lead me to make a very poor decision as an adult. If at any point you need or want to talk about what happened you can call me and I'll do everything I can to help you." I explained to her.
I wrote my cellphone number on the back of one of my business cards.
"This number on the back is my personal cellphone. If you don't feel like talking then you can text me too, okay?" I said handing her the card.
"Thank you, Dr. Bright." She said taking the card.
"Just call me, Lily." I urged.
"It's definitely not family or friends." Malcolm said as we all sat around the conference room table.
"No. This was calculated. Precise. There wasn't any emotion behind it. Almost like a biblical punishment." I sighed.
"Dr. Bright?" A young woman said my name from the doorway.
"Yes." I answered turning to face her.
"This was just delivered for you." She said holding up a manilla packing envelope.
"Did you see who delivered it?" Gil asked standing up.
"White male, Mid-forties. Clean shaven in a UPS uniform." She answered.
"I'll take it." I nodded.
"Dani, call Edrisa." I urged taking the envelope.
Edrisa came upstairs in a full PPE bodysuit and sent us out of the room to watch her open it from the bullpen. Just in case.
She slit the top of the envelope carefully and pulled out a folded piece of paper and a disc both with traces of blood I could see from my position. She dusted both items for prints.
After a thorough examination she took off the face covering and gave me a thumbs up.
"I'll take it down to the lab to try and run DNA on the blood stains but you need to read this." She told me offering me a box of gloves.
"Thank you." I muttered taking two and putting them on.
The rest of our team joined me back in the conference room.
"Imagine my excitement when I saw you and your husband walking up to my masterpiece this early morning, Dr. Bright. Oh, how I hope you liked it. You see, I have admired you and your husband for oh so long. As I am sure you already know this is but the beginning and I just cannot believe my luck that you both will be the ones to study me. I just know you'll appreciate and understand my calling. I had meant for this to be just for me but I absolutely need to share it with you now. I shall unveil my next work of art tomorrow. Oh, this will be so much fun.
Sincerely,
MD"
I read the letter to the group.
"Our killer was at the scene?" Gil asked.
"Yes. At least when Malcolm and I arrived on scene if not the entire time. We need to go through any shots of the crowd we have. I'll call Sophie and Aaron to go through any footage. It'll keep us free for future crime scenes." I sighed.
"Is that common? That a killer will stick around." Dani asked.
"It's not uncommon." I shrugged.
"It depends on what his motivation is."
"What is the motive now?" JT cut in.
"The simple answer is to punish the sinners. Why? Could be anyone's guess, but now that he knows Lily and I are involved with the case. His goal will be to 'impress' us or challenge us to catch him." Malcolm said moving to wrap his arm around me.
"What is it he wants to show you with this disc?" Edrisa asked.
"Unfortunately, I feel as though that answer is obvious. He recorded the killing. Now, he wants us to see it. To see him paint his masterpiece. This won't be the only video we get." I sighed.
"Let's watch it. There could be things on there we couldn't see at the scene." Malcolm gently rubbed my back.
I nodded.
Gil and JT closed the blinds so we wouldn't disturb any of the other people in the precinct.
Dani took the disc with a pair of gloves and inserted it into the computer as Edrisa set it up to project onto the clean white board.
"Are you sure about this?" Gil asked us gently.
"If we can save a life or lives then we have to be." I answered.
Edrisa hit play.
The video started with someone being followed down a dark street in New York.
"John Dougal?" A distinctly male voice called out and the man turned slightly.
"Leave me alone, freak." John yelled back.
A hand came into view holding a taser. The clicking of the electricity as he turned it on grated at my soul.
John screamed out as our killer tased him then he fell to the ground.
The video faded out then immediately back in.
A single spotlight illuminated John Dougal tied naked to the bed with nothing but a gag in his mouth but the rest of the room remained dark.
Our killer stuck to the shadows but I could hear him move around the room as if putting the finishing touches on his set up before John regained consciousness.
Then water splashed over the victim's motionless form.
The gag effortlessly muffled John's screams.
"Now, I want to take this off so we can have a conversation but you have to promise to stop screaming." The killer's voice said.
John nodded enthusiastically.
Our killer's face remained in the shadows but his hand moved forward and pulled the gag down so it rested around John's neck.
"Do you know why you are here, Mr. Dougal?" He asked.
"No. What do you want from me?" John answered.
"I do not want anything. Our Lord demands a confession for he tells me you have committed the worst possible lustful offense against the most innocent."
"I didn't do it. I didn't rape that girl." John exclaimed.
I flinched slightly as our killer struck John with a riding crop.
"If you refuse to confess I have no choice but to deliver God's devine punishment. I shall only give you one more chance."
"I didn't. I swear I didn't." John shook his head.
"So be it." The killer said moving to replace John's gag.
"This is going to hurt."
He started first by carving the Lust symbol into John's forehead which surprised me considering how detailed it presented.
Our killer had to be incredibly strong to hold a man's head that still while carving into his flesh.
With his face still hidden we watched as he began the penectomy.
"Oh, God." Dani muttered hiding her face.
I couldn't say I didn't want to do the same but this is what he wanted us to see.
Why?
With John weak from screaming, fighting, and the blood loss our killer untied him and turned him over propping his hips up on the three pillows we found.
Our killer made sure we had a good view of the next act of humiliation as he inserted John's own penis into his rectum.
"Why?" John's exclamation muffled by his gag.
The killer walked to the head of the bed and removed the gag.
"What was that?" He asked, a hint of a smirk in his voice.
"Why are you doing this?" John repeated.
"Because you sinned." Our killer told him.
Then the video turned off.
"Have you determined Cause of Death, yet?" I turned to Edrisa.
"Isn't it obvious?" JT asked.
"It's actually incredibly difficult to bleed out from a penectomy. Even a botched one like this." She answered JT.
"Our victim didn't even loose a full pint of blood from the amputation. His cause of death was actually suffocation." She turned to me.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but what it sounds like is our killer didn't realize the victim wouldn't die from the amputation so he forced his head into the pillow until he died." I said looking at her.
"You would be correct." She nodded.
"This first murder absolutely didn't go as planned." Malcolm sighed next to me.
"What did y'all get from the court staff?" I asked.
"Honestly, not much." Gil sighed.
"The defense attorney told us she's going to sue whoever leaked his name to the killer on behalf of his family." Dani rolled her eyes.
"The judge said he remembers the case but he deals with those kinds of cases all the time." JT nodded.
"The DA told me that he's too busy to take justice into his own hands especially in a case he was certain he'd win." Gil continued.
"And the court reporter?" Malcolm asked before I could.
"She was off today and when we went by her home, no one was there." Dani answered.
"Send us the address..." I said but trailed off.
"Lily?" Malcolm said.
"Sorry, she's hungry." I mused touching my stomach.
"After we swing by the house to eat something we'll go over and see if she's made it home." I amended what I had originally planned to say.
We walked into our front door around twelve thirty that afternoon.
"Hey. I made this for you." Sarah said handing me and Malcolm a plate of grilled salmon with vegetables and an orange mash, likely sweet potatoes.
"Thank you." I said looking up at Malcolm.
"Sophie said you're working again and I know you. You need to make sure you're eating, for the baby's sake."
"It's just this one case for now." I answered following her into the breakfast room.
"Yeah. Sophie said it's serious. If it's as bad as it sounds then I'm glad you two are working it." She nodded thoughtfully for a moment.
"Anyway, I'm sure you're both very busy. If you just leave the plates in the sink I'll get to them. Just be careful, you two." She smiled almost sadly at us before leaving us alone at the table.
"Is she okay?" He asked.
"I have no idea." I admitted.
"It's good though." I said trying our lunch.
After lunch Malcolm and I cleaned our dishes despite Sarah's words then drove out to the home of Carol Blake.
The modest two bedroom mobile home sat at the end of a dirt road.
The front door stood wide open.
"This isn't creepy at all." I muttered climbing out of the car.
"Maybe we should call for backup?" Malcolm asked.
"Yeah. Call Gil. Something's not right." I nodded pulling my pistol and slowly approaching the front door.
"Ms. Blake?" I called out.
"This is the FBI. If you're in there make yourself known."
"Lily! Lily, wait!" Malcolm called from behind me.
"Someone could be in danger." I called back to him.
"At least wait for me."
Reluctantly I waited for Malcolm to catch up to me.
Together we walked up the two steps onto the porch.
"Ms. Blake? FBI!" I called again.
The layout of the mobile home lead us into the living room then around to the dining room and kitchen.
A large man's body lay face down in the middle of the floor in a puddle of blood and vomit.
"We're too late." Malcolm sighed.