Undercover Disaster
Keiko Fujiwara
Chapter Six:
Somewhat Making Amends
~BEAUTY AND THE BEAST~
As Catherine ran back to the Greenbrier main building, she stopped and looked at the explosion's damage. Everything…Everything was destroyed—the bodies and any evidence that could potentially lead to the killer. She decided to make it her sole purpose to catch this guy. As she gazed at the flames, she felt Vincent's arms snake around her waist before kissing the top of her head.
"What're we going to do?" she asked. "Evan knows about you now."
"We'll take it one day at a time. Okay?"
"Vincent, it's my fault that he even found out about you. If…If I never asked you to help me find him in the abandoned subway tunnels, he would still be in the dark about you." Catherine stated as she continued to look at the suite's fire.
"Catherine, don't you dare blame yourself for this. If I didn't help you, he would most likely have been killed by that frat guy." Vincent replied before planting another kiss on the top of her head.
"Yeah but I should have pulled the tranquilizer when I had the chance. Then, he wouldn't have overheard Peter being ripped to shreds." She said as she turned around to look at him. "It seems as if I continue to involve you in situations that reveal more and more of your identity. First it was when Muirfield captured me months ago and then it was the incident in the abandoned subway tunnels. Now, I sort of hinted that I wanted you to be here at Greenbrier with me and because I was selfish, Evan has figured out who you are. If I know him, he won't stop with his research project. He didn't when I asked him to so there is NO way he'll stop now. He'll do all he can to bring it to the surface, Vincent. That could endanger you!" Catherine did not once rip away her eyes from his. She wanted to know that everything was going to be okay. That there was hope in the middle of this overwhelming darkness.
"Catherine," Vincent said, taking her hands in his and leading her to a white bench away from the explosion scene. They sat down, creating a ninety-degree angle with their knees pressing against each other. He kissed her knuckles and finally said what he was going to say, "I don't want you to blame yourself f—"
"But it is m—!" she exclaimed but he pressed a finger to her lips to silence her from going any further.
"Let me speak." He said gently. "I don't want you to blame yourself for what I choose or choose not to do with my life. Remember the ballet roof when you promised you wouldn't involve yourself in my life any more than you already have?" She nodded and he continued, "Remember what I said?"
"You said that you keep coming back too even when you told me to stay away."
Once again he nodded and smiled, "Coming back was my decision, Catherine. Not yours. I could have ended everything that night and our lives, as of now, would be very different. You came to me a few days later out of concern for a little Bosnian illegal immigrant. Because of your forwardness to ask me to help her, she received the care she needed and recovered. The only reason Muirfield captured you was because of me, Catherine. If anything, it was because I couldn't stay away from you—I had to see you and I know you couldn't bear not seeing me either.
"I'm grateful you didn't say anything to Silverfox and his goonies but it wasn't your fault they found out about me. It was mine for wanting to spend almost every waking moment with you. I'm not saying that spending time with you was a bad thing because it wasn't, Catherine. Could we have been more careful? Maybe but I don't regret any of my choices I made when involving you into my life." He cupped her face in his palms as he wiped away a few fallen tears from her eyes. "I also chose to help you find Evan even though I knew what could happen. Do I regret killing Peter? No because he was a psycho. He deserved it. But like I've said before, it doesn't make taking a life any easier. It was my fault for following you into the Subway tunnels. I should have put my foot down and said no because of my blackouts but I would have regretted it if something had happened to Evan even if I don't really like him right now. Same thing with choosing to come here. If I wasn't here, you could have easily died in that explosion. Evan figured out my…condition…because of my choices, Catherine."
"But if I didn't go snooping around the warehouse the day we officially met, none of this would have happened." Catherine stated, trying to find any excuse she could to blame herself.
"We don't know WHAT could have happened, Catherine. I can't believe I'm the one saying this but everything happens for a reason. Sure, Muirfield has a huge Beast detector up my ass but I believe I survived Afghanistan because I had a bigger purpose as this…this thing. If I had died, you would have been killed by the gunmen who killed your mother. As we both know, that's not what happened. I'm going to tell you the same thing I told JT when I first showed up at his door." Vincent said as he brushed a strand of hair out of her face. He leaned close to her face with his lips no more than an inch in front of her mouth. Before he could tell her his words of wisdom, she impulsively closed the gap between them as she wrapped her arms around his neck.
He pressed his arms against her back but he immediately drew back when she hissed in pain. He gave her a look of worry but she shook it off. "Don't worry…I think it's just slightly burned from the explosion."
"May I?"
She nodded, giving him permission to examine her back. He stood up and walked behind her.
"Lean forward." He said and she complied. He slowly lifted up the back of her shirt and noticed several small cuts and a few blisters forming on her back. "It looks like you've suffered from a first degree burn along with cuts from shards of glass." He said as he looked more closely at the cuts welded into her back. "Luckily you don't have any shards embedded into your back. I think a good cleanse with an antiseptic will do the trick for the cuts. It also might be wise to cover your burns so they don't get irritated from your shirt."
"Would you happen to have any of that?" she asked as he carefully unraveled her shirt and straightened it out.
He smirked and said, "A good doctor never leaves without basic medicine."
"By the way, Vincent, what were you going to say before I kind of hijacked your lips a few minutes ago?" Catherine asked as she joined him in standing.
"Oh…I was going to say…Take one day at a time." He replied, gesturing to take her back to his suite. She entwined her fingers with his and they began walking towards the deluxe rooms. Halfway to their destination, they heard Tess calling them from a distance.
"Where the hell have you been, Cat?! Wolansky told me you and Vincent were galloping through the air as the explosion happened! I tried calling your cell but you never answered!"
"Did Andrew not tell you we were fine?" Catherine asked as her coworker caught her breath.
"I didn't stick around to find out. I just bolted towards the damage as I tried calling you." Tess replied. "Which, by the way, why didn't you answer?!"
Catherine pulled her phone out of her pocket and noticed it was off. "It must have died sometime between the last time you called me and when the explosion occurred."
"Well you better put that thing on charge. Vincent, since Cat is probably going to be spending time with you if she's not with me, give me your cell number." Tess demanded.
"Oh…um…Vinc—" Catherine started to make up some excuse to explain why he couldn't give out his phone number but Vincent caught her off and said, "Let me see your phone."
Tess handed her phone to him and he quickly added his burner's number. Catherine looked at him with confusion when he gave Tess her phone back. "I'm going to take Catherine back to my suite to treat her back. It's not in a great condition for her to be working without getting proper care first."
"How long do you think that will take?" Tess asked.
"Twenty minutes." Vincent replied instantly.
"Alright. Have her ready in twenty. Cat, when you're good as new, meet me in the front of the main Greenbrier building. I have Eliza Summers's address. It's not too far from here."
"Okay. Are you going dressed as a maid?" Catherine asked, raising her brow as she noted Tess's apparel.
"Hell no. While the doc is fixing you up, I'm going to the maid quarters and change the hell out of this Little Bo Peep get-up." Tess replied.
As Catherine and Vincent waved goodbye before going towards the deluxe suites, Tess left for the other direction to change out of her maid costume.
"Vincent, just curious, why did you give Tess your cellphone number?" Catherine asked with curiosity as they walked towards the suites.
"I saw no harm in it considering that number expires in five days anyways." He smirked.
"Oh." She replied as she wrapped her arms around his right arm and snuggled the side of her face against him. "Speaking of which, when was the last time you spoke to JT?"
"Ummmmm….like forever ago…I should probably call him and make sure he isn't dead." Vincent said as he pulled out his phone to dial up his roommate.
~BEAUTY AND THE BEAST~
"Vincent," Catherine said as she laid on his bed with her stomach facing downwards, her shirt off and bra unhooked in order from him to clean her cuts. "Something just occurred to me."
"What?"
"Well," she suddenly winced as she felt the antiseptic burning as it cleaned her cuts but then continued, "Someone had to have access to the suite while no one was in there. Correct?"
"Yeah."
"So it had to be sometime after we left the suite last night and before Sam and Andrew showed up because they were the first detectives in the room this morning. So I'm guessing it had to be someone who KNEW when we were and weren't going to be in the suite." Catherine stated as she turned slightly to see his response.
"That is a good theory but who do you think it is?" Vincent asked, motioning her to lie back down. As he rubbed her burns with Bacitracin ointment, she answered his question.
"Well, like I said, it had to be someone who knew the exact times we weren't going to be in the suite. Vincent, there was only one person who told us precise times to leave the suite as well as when we could return to the suite. This person also has knowledge about Greenbrier so he would know where the gas lines are as well as the time the fireplace kicks on with the timer."
"Who?" Vincent asked, still not clear on her theory.
"Thomas Gilmore. I know Tess and Evan think I'm nuts for suspecting him but think about it. He fits every description. He has access to the suites. He knows how the mechanisms in the suites work. He knew when we would or wouldn't be in the suite as specific times. He has access to Joe and Joe has been feeding him everything we've figured out. He'd be the perfect murderer. He can follow up on everything by merely being the CEO."
Vincent finished applying the ointment to her back and started bandaging her burns as he listened to her theory. "Then why would he call the NYPD for help? I mean, I understand his predicament with reputation and all but the local police could have easily worked undercover just as well as you guys. Why the NYPD?"
Catherine was silent for a moment. That was a good question. Suddenly, a thought hit her. "Location."
"I don't follow."
"He didn't want the local police to investigate because it would be easier access to lab equipment to test the crime scene. The amount of tools Evan brought was limited. Since Thomas didn't want to ruin his precious reputation, he wouldn't allow Evan to remove the bodies to a better suited testing environment. Tess must have told Joe about Eliza Summers…so Joe must have mentioned something to Thomas about our progress with the case. Because Thomas knew we had a list of suspects, a possible witness and a crumpled up threat note, he knew it was only a matter of time before the evidence leads to him. So what better way to destroy as much evidence as possible as an explosion? I bet…I bet you he wasn't anticipating all of us surviving the blast."
"You're theories are great but what about his reputation? Why would he blow up a suite that could easily destroy Greenbrier's reputation?" Vincent asked as he rehooked her bra. She sat up and thought carefully.
"I haven't figured out that part yet but honestly, after all that's happened, can you really dismiss the idea that Thomas Gilmore is involved?" she asked as she slipped off the bed to put her shirt back on. Vincent walked over to her and took her hands in his. "You pose good theories, Catherine. And I believe you're on to something. But without evidence, it'll be hard to peg him as the prime suspect. But, I also believe that you can overcome any challenge. Just do me a favor."
"What?"
"Don't let this murder get to your head. If I know you, you'll follow a lead with or without your partner, Tess. Don't approach any leads without backup. Okay?" Vincent asked before quickly kissing her.
"We should get going." She suddenly said.
"Catherine…" he said with a warning tone. "Will you promise?"
She turned back around and smiled, "I guess lying doesn't really help me in this situation, does it?" Before he could answer, she walked out of his suite and headed for her own. She still hasn't moved any of her things yet so her gun and badge are still in the room.
"Catherine. You didn't promise." Vincent stated as he followed her.
She didn't answer. She just swiped her key and entered her suite. He trailed behind her as she walked over to her things and grabbed her gun and badge.
"Someone's been here." Vincent muttered darkly as he sniffed the air.
"Who?" Catherine asked as his eyes started shifting colors.
Vincent walked around in her room as he tried to distinguish the different scents. He could smell a heavy concentration of Evan and a small amount of Catherine since she's mostly been with him since this assignment started. Suddenly, he got a whiff of the perpetrator's scent again but then paused. Another smell infiltrated his nose. Without a word, he ran to the bathroom. Catherine ran after him and stopped dead in her tracks.
"Oh my…" she muttered as she saw a body of a woman limp inside the bathtub with a message written above her in blood.
STOP PURSUING THIS MRS. DAVIES IF YOU KNOW WHAT'S GOOD FOR YOU.
"Vincent…I need to borrow your phone." Catherine said but Vincent didn't budge. She walked in front of him and saw he was fighting to stay in control. She instantly cupped his face and impulsively brought her lips to his in order to calm him down.
A moment later, his appearance shifted to normal and his tense muscles loosened. "Sorry…I didn't mean to change…I was just furious with whoever did this."
"That's why I need your phone, Vincent. I need to call Tess and the call Joe."
He nodded, handing his phone to her. "Here."
"Thanks." She smiled. "Now, let's get out of here…it's sickening."
Vincent nodded and led her out of the bathroom, closing the door. He sat down on the couch Catherine had used as a bed the night prior and listened as Catherine spoke with Tess.
"Vargas."
"Tess. It's me. Cat."
"Why do you sound nervous?" Tess asked. "You're making me feel nervous."
"You, Evan, Andrew and Sam need to get yourselves to the room Evan and I were sharing…There's been another homicide…making this a sextuple homicide."
"What?!"
"Yeah…I had to use get my gun and badge when I had a sudden urge to use the restroom and I found her body."
"Are you with Vincent?"
"Yes."
"Okay. Don't go anywhere. We'll be right over." Tess said and ended the conversation. Catherine walked over and took a seat next to Vincent before leaning into him.
"Aren't you going to call Joe?" he asked as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders.
"Not yet. I want Evan to assess the situation first. Maybe he might be able to get a fingerprint. We then can lift it and send it via picture mail and CSU might be able to ID the perp. I'm betting on it being Gilmore. Since we've been here, I haven't told anyone else my fake name aside from Thomas. Once I talk to Joe, I know he'll call the local precinct because there are too many bodies dropping to continue a private investigation." Catherine replied as she heard the door open. Evan, Tess and Sam appeared. Evan and Sam took no time at all and entered the bathroom as Tess ran over to Vincent and Catherine.
"Are you okay? Nothing happened while you were here, did it?" Tess asked.
"No. Nothing happened. Though, something concerns me." Catherine stated as she sat up.
"What?"
"If someone was able to enter this room at any time of the day, who is to say that person won't try it again at night and kill one of us next. If he or she has access to this room, the killer will most likely have access to all of our rooms." She replied in a concerned voice.
"The killer won't chance being caught, Cat. I doubt he or she will try to kill one of us in our sleep. If we wake up, the killer risks his or her identity." Tess stated as Evan and Sam came out of the bathroom.
"Jane Doe is Eliza Summers. She's been dead for a day at the least." Evan stated. "Postmortem contusions along her body suggest that she was killed elsewhere and dragged here sometime while we were working on the murder scene."
"What did she die from?" Tess asked.
"Unfortunately, without my lab, I can't give accurate information. Her wrists were sliced off postmortem due to the separation of her blood and water contents in the tub. I can't perform a tox screen so I won't be able to tell you if she was poisoned."
"I can help with that." Vincent suddenly said, standing up and walking to the bathroom without a single word. Evan followed him but Sam and Tess stayed with Catherine.
"How do you think he'll be able to figure out whether or not the vic was poisoned." Tess asked.
"He's a doctor. He probably can look for symptoms or something." Catherine lied, knowing exactly how Vincent would be able to tell if the vic was poisoned or not.
While the three cops were discussing the case, Evan observed Vincent's every move. Vincent squatted next to the tub and just as he was about to sniff the woman, Evan said, "What are you doing?"
"I'm giving you a tox screening."
"By doing what? Are you going to bite off one of her phalanges?" Evan asked in disgust as Vincent turned to look at him.
"Do I look like a cannibal to you?"
"Could have fooled me." Evan stated as he took a step closer to Vincent.
"Look, man, I don't like helping you as much as you don't like standing in my presence right now." Vincent stood up and faced Evan directly. "The only reason I considered helping you is because of Catherine. If we don't catch this killer, she'll be next as you can see in the threat. Catherine has theories of who she thinks the killer is—very good theories I might add—and the faster we get this guy, the faster he can go behind bars before he gets to her! Whatever your problem is, get rid of it for Catherine's sake. I know you still care for her…a great deal different than I do…but you still care for her safety. So if you want to focus on that, it'll make both our lives easier."
"You're right. I do care for her safety. Which is exactly WHY I don't want her seeing a monster like you anymore." Evan stated with courage.
"You don't get to make that choice, Evan. Catherine chooses who she wants to be with. Not you. Not me. Believe me, I've tried to stop her from seeing me in the beginning but no matter how much I tried to tell her to stay away, she still came and that was HER choice. Now, do you want a tox screening or not?" Vincent asked as he pointed towards the victim. Evan sighed. He knew there was no way to test for toxins without his lab equipment so, just this once, he would resort to Vincent's special abilities.
Vincent bent back down and planted his nose close to the victim's body. After a few sniffs, he came back up and said, "Looks like your theory was correct. She was killed by poison."
"Can your magical nose tell me which toxin?"
"I'm not that talented but…it smelled a lot like Hydrogen Cyanide…and a high concentration at that." Vincent replied.
Evan nodded but just stood there as he tried to form a question inside his mind.
"What?" Vincent asked, knowing Evan was about to ask him a more personal question concerning his abilities.
"So…how long as Cat known about your…condition?"
"She knew the first day we officially met." He answered, not really wanting to start a game of 20 Questions.
"So you decided to tell Cat from the beginning but you can't tell anyone else? How does that work?" Evan asked, trying to make small talk.
"It wasn't planned like that. I had no intention of telling her what I was. I saved her from an attack in the Subway stations and she tried to follow me afterwards. She didn't see that a subway was on its way down the tracks so she continued to track me down but I ended up saving her again. That's when she figured it all out and asked me to spill the beans. Look, I don't know what you're trying to do, Evan, but now is not the time for chit-chat. There's a murderer out there and Catherine is a target. Look, I know you and I have started off on the wrong foot but it looks like I'm the best thing you have to a bloodhound so why don't we just put our differences aside for Catherine's sake. Deal?" Vincent asked as he put his hand out for a shake.
Evan looked at him skeptically. "What's in it for you?"
"Nothing. I'm just trying to make amends. It won't be too good if you guys let yourselves be separated due to personal quarrels. The killer will use that to his advantage. So, for now, let bygones be bygones?"
Evan pushed back his hair, knowing he didn't have much of a choice but to work with Vincent. "Fine. But one condition."
"What?" Vincent asked.
"After this case is over and done with, I want to know more about your condition. I want to study it."
"I'm not a lab rat to be probed and poked at."
"I know…I just want to study your blood….Maybe shed some light onto reasons why it is changing. I assume Cat has already told you that your DNA is mutating. Has she not?"
"Go on." Vincent demanded, wanting to hear what the coroner had to say.
"Well, if you let me study your DNA, I may be able to figure out if there's any way to stop the change." Evan said with a small smile.
"Why are you offering this?"
"Because, I care for Cat and I can see no one is going to be able to pry her away from you but I can also tell you're worried about her safety. I saw it in your eyes when you saved her from the car wreck. You were very gentle when holding her—as if she was a fragile human being. Let me study your DNA and we can put this whole disaster behind us. Do we have a deal?"
"Depends…are you going to be using the information gathered for your research project?" Vincent asked, skeptical.
"It all depends on what I find." Evan replied.
"How about I have a better offer. I will tell you what happened to me and everything I know about my condition. After hearing it, you give me a straight answer if you plan on using my DNA as a part of your research. If you plan on doing so, you can forget about the whole thing. All I ask is for you to hear me out first and foremost before making a rash decision."
Evan thought about Vincent's offer and realized it was the best bet he was going to get. "Fine. You've got yourself a deal. Let's shake on it."
Both medical experts shook each other's hand before exiting the bathroom. The only reason Vincent agreed to such terms was because he thought it would be the only way to keep Evan quiet about his identity. He still wasn't convinced that Evan was being completely honest about what he wants to do with his DNA but he would worry about that later. He wanted to focus on catching the murderer. He couldn't stand how anyone could just kill people like that without having a conscious about it later.
He walked over to Catherine as Tess, Sam and Andrew (who showed up while Evan and Vincent were in the bathroom) met up with Evan. "What happened while I was away?" Vincent asked Catherine as he sat next to her on the couch.
"Tess called Joe and explained what has happened. I begged her to tell Joe NOT to tell Thomas Gilmore anything and he finally agreed after Tess told him everything. He's calling the local police department because, now that six victims are dead, he wants West Virginia PD involved. We can't just work on this case anymore without proper equipment. I'm on my way to tell Thomas myself what's happening."
"I thought you didn't want him to know." Vincent said before kissing her temple.
"Oh. I want him to know alright. I just want to be the one to see his face whiten when I tell him what will be happening." She smirked. "Wanna come with me?"
"Yeah." Vincent replied as they stood up and walked towards the door.
"Where're you two going?" Tess asked, raising her eyebrow.
"To grab some air." Catherine lied, not wanting her fellow coworkers to know what she's up to. When they were halfway down the hallway, she said, "You and Evan were in the bathroom for quite some time. What happened in there?"
"We had a talk. I helped straighten his priorities." Vincent replied as he squeezed his fingers with hers.
"I'm surprised you two survived five minutes in the same room together." Catherine stated as they started walking down a flight of stairs. "Anything I should know about?"
"Yeah…I promised him I would explain everything when we get back to New York." He replied as Catherine gave him a glare. "Don't take this the wrong way, Catherine, I still don't like the guy but he wants to study my DNA. Like you told me the night of your father's wedding, JT doesn't have the right equipment. Evan does. If he, JT and I get together someday, we may be able to put our brains together and figure out why my DNA is mutating."
"But what about his research project?!"
"Don't worry. I told him that I would tell him everything. After that, I want him to give me a straight answer concerning his project. If he plans on publishing his project concerning my DNA, I wasn't going to let him study me." Vincent replied. "I want you to be with me when I tell him about my condition."
"You know I will, Vincent. I just worry about you. If someone gets ahold of that research, like Muirfield, they could find you and hurt you." Catherine whispered as the exited the deluxe suite building.
"I know, Catherine. But, if he can actually find some type of serum that can stop my DNA from mutating, it's a risk I'm willing to take. I don't want to end up hurting you, Catherine." Vincent said as they stopped walking.
Catherine turned and looked at Vincent before wrapping her arms around his neck. She pulled herself up for a kiss and said, "Vincent, you won't hurt me. I trust you."
"But I don't trust me." He stated gravely. She brushed her lips across his once more before he froze.
"Vincent?"
"Catherine…you know how I smelled a foreign scent inside your suite before smelling the blood?" Vincent stated with a hardened expression.
"Yeah."
He lowered his volume and pressed his lips up against her ear so only she could hear what he was about to say. "Well, the scent I smelled is coming from that man about three hundred feet in front of us."
Keiko Fujiwara:
Not sure what to say about this one…
Who do you think Vincent smelled?
One thing is for sure, I'm glad Vincent and Evan kind of made up for the sake of Catherine's wellbeing. We definitely DO NOT need jealous drama when there's a murderer on the loose.
What do you think will happen next?
Let me know what you think! :)