Chapter Five

Shadowcat found Meggan by a round rack of thick, terrycloth bathrobes at the back of the store. The empathic metamorph lay on the carpet, propped on one elbow, her long hair spread out around her like a golden cape.

Meggan Braddock was something of an enigma. Though never shy about showing off her voluptuous figure, she had an innocent, trusting manner that made her come across as more of a child than a mature adult when she spoke. She was prone to tantrums, often flighty and hyper-emotional; yet, when it came down to the wire, she could be as tough and solid as her husband, Brian.

Meggan started life as a foundling child, and had endured a turbulent and abusive childhood. She had never known her real parents, never attended school. Her first experience with formal education came only after she'd had children of her own. Then, she'd followed her twins' classwork, learning as they learned. But although she was bright, and a quick study, Meggan remained more a creature of emotion than intellect. In medieval times, a mutant like her would have been called a wood elf, dryad, or fairy, but the truth was she was a free spirit, able to sense the natural world on a level so primal she could literally lose herself in it, riding her emotions into the sky with the birds, or following them out to sea to frolic and dance with the dolphins. As an IX-MO officer and member of Excalibur, the emotional insights she provided often proved more valuable to the team than the rational explanations of others.

Still, she could be unpredictable and, as a metamorph, her mood could alter her shape. For that reason, Shadowcat approached her slowly, unsure if she would be greeted by Meggan's own pale, elfish face under all that hair, or attacked by a ghoulish manifestation of fear or depression.

"Meggan?" she said softly, reaching out a hand to tentatively touch her friend's shoulder. "Hey, Meggs, it's me, Kitty. Are you all right?"

Meggan stirred, and turned to face her teammate. Kitty breathed a private sigh of relief. Meggan was still her own, striking self and, better yet, she had stopped crying.

"Kitty!" Meggan smiled, scooting over and patting the carpet, inviting Kitty to join her on the floor. Kitty shrugged and sat cross-legged in front of the fluffy, full-length bathrobes.

Meggan lay back down, peering into the darkness under the robes.

"What are you doing?" Kitty asked.

"I'm letting my friend know it's all right," Meggan spoke from the floor. "That you're with me and you don't want to hurt her."

"Your friend?" Kitty said, and frowned. "Is there somebody hiding in there?"

Shadowcat reached out to push the robes aside, but Meggan quickly slapped her arms away.

"No!" she exclaimed. "You can't! Don't you see—it's safe in there! Safe and warm and dark, with the good smell of new clothes. The bad lady can't find her there."

"Bad lady?" Kitty pressed her cheek to the floor like Meggan, squinting to force her vision to adjust to the darkness behind the robes. A pair of wide, frightened eyes blinked back at her—the vulnerable brown eyes of a child.

Kitty gasped in surprise.

"Meggan, there's a kid in there!"

"I know that," Meggan said. "I found her. The poor dear's terrified. But she trusts me. Don't you, ducky?"

The shadowy little face seemed to nod.

"Why don't you come out, sweetheart?" Kitty asked, her voice as gentle as she could make it. "Whatever happened before, you're safe now. We're here, and the police are here. No bad people can get to you."

The child backed away, deeper into the shadows.

"No!" Meggan cried, linked to the girl on an emotional level. "She can't come out. She's waiting for her mummy to find her."

"Her mummy?" Kitty winced as the implications hit. "Oh, God. Oh no. Don't tell me her mom's the…"

She didn't have to finish the thought. The look in Meggan's deep, blue eyes was confirmation enough.

Kitty sighed and rubbed her temples.

"She can't stay in there, Meggan," she said. "We have to find a way to coax her out."

"Why?" Meggan asked. "She's calm in there. Protected."

"No, Meggan, she isn't," Kitty insisted. "If she saw who hurt her mother, the police need to get her statement. Besides that, just look at how she's shaking. The poor kid's probably in shock. We need to get her checked out by the paramedics before they pack up and go, or at least have Moira take a look at her."

Meggan looked torn, trapped between Kitty's determination and the child's intense fear. Finally, she sighed and nodded.

"You're right, Kitty," she said. "Just give us a moment, will you?"

The full-figured woman crawled through the robes, leaving Kitty sitting outside on the floor. About two minutes later she emerged, this time with the little girl. She sat cross-legged and the girl crawled straight into her lap, wrapping her arms around the metamorph's neck and burying her face in her shoulder. All Kitty could see of her was her long, brown pigtails.

"This is Jessalyn," Meggan said, holding the little girl close. "And she's decided she wants to come home with us."


The moment Dai led them away from the crime scene and back out into the main store, Alice pulled her husband aside.

"Kurt," she said, "I need to talk with you."

Kurt narrowed his eyes in concern.

"What is wrong, Schatz?"

"It's that crime scene," she said. "I didn't want to say this in front of Dai, but it looked familiar to me. Like…like something I've seen before. In a photograph."

"A photograph?"

"Yes," Alice said. "In a book I read on the Whitechapel Murderer."

The German mutant looked a little lost.

"I'm afraid I don't understand."

"The Whitechapel Murderer, Kurt!" Alice whispered, glancing around furtively to make sure none of the cops were listening. "You know, Leather Apron? Jack the Ripper?"

"Jack the— Nein! You mean the serial killer who murdered London prostitutes back in Victorian times?"

Alice shook her head.

"I don't mean I think Jack the Ripper did this. I'm saying the crime scene resembles one of his jobs. Catharine Eddowes."

"Alice—"

"No, listen," she said. "The Ripper strangled his victims before cutting them up, and he was known to take trophies. In Catharine Eddowes' case, it was a kidney."

"What are you suggesting, then?" Kurt asked. "That our killer is a copycat? A female Jack the Ripper fanatic?"

Alice scrunched a hand through her hair.

"No. No, I don't know what I'm suggesting," she said. "It's probably nothing, anyway. But I thought I should tell you, because it's all I could think about while we were in there. Everything Moira said about how the crime happened—how the victim was attacked from the front, how the killer laid her down, how her throat was cut—everything! It was as if she was reading a page from that book! And no one here seems to have picked up on it...well, except for me."

Kurt pursed his lips, his long tail swinging back and forth behind him.

"All right," he said. "Perhaps there is something of a correlation between the two crimes. But, to think that a murder that old could have anything to do with our crime scene—"

"It's far-fetched, I know," Alice said. "I'm just putting it out there."

"And I appreciate it," Kurt told her. "But for now, I think we should just concentrate on— Lieber Gott!"

"What is it?" Alice asked, turning see what had caught Kurt's attention. Before she could react, Dai Thomas beat her to it.

"What the hell is this!" the stocky cop exclaimed. "Where did that child come from?"

Meggan and Kitty stopped in the middle of the aisle, Meggan still holding Jessalyn, who clung to the empathic metamorph as if her life depended on it.

Kitty took a step forward.

"This is Jessalyn Prestcote," she announced. "The victim's daughter."

"God, look at 'er face," one of the forensics experts said. "If we doubted the vic were a mutant before, I think we've got our proof now."

Kitty glared daggers at the man who'd spoken, waiting for him to look away before she continued.

"We found her hiding in a clothes rack at the back of the store. Apparently, she witnessed her mother's murder."

"Mein Gott," Kurt said. "The poor child."

"She's pretty traumatized," Kitty said. "I haven't been able to get her to say a word. But she seems to have bonded with Meggan."

"Brilliant, just bloody brilliant," Dai snarled. "That damn attendant never said anything about a kid! But if she saw the murderer, she's our witness. You'll have to turn her over to our custody."

"Now, jus' a minute Commander Thomas," Dr. MacTaggert spoke up. "What about contactin' the child's father?"

"Her father died," Meggan volunteered. "Jessalyn was just a baby, then. But she still misses him, don't you, love?"

The little girl squeezed her tighter. Meggan stroked her hair.

"Well, if that's the case," the doctor continued, "I think she should come to the Manor with us. The wee lass is clearly sufferin' from a severe shock, an' 't'would jus' make a bad situation that much worse were she to be separated from Meggan so soon after forgin' a trust."

"Now listen," Dai said, "I didn't call Excalibur here so you bloody supes could undermine my authority—"

"Don't be daft, man. I'm no more a 'supe' than you, an' none of us is underminin' anything," Dr. MacTaggert retorted. "The girl's no good to you as she is. If she goes with you, what does she have ahead of her but a clinical hospital room, then a bed with Children's Services? That's no good for a terrified child. Let her come home with us, an' I'll personally see we get her talkin' again. An' isn't that better for us all? Kurt?" she asked, looking to Excalibur's leader.

Kurt turned his golden eyes to Dai.

"She has a point, mein Freund," he said. "Excalibur can offer this child a place of safety, among mutants who would not judge her by her appearance. Can you say the same of Children's Services?"

Dai ground his teeth, but finally relented.

"Fine. The girl goes with you," he said. "But I want to be notified the moment she starts to talk."

Nightcrawler smiled.

"That is a promise," he said. "After all, are we not on the same team?"

"What, team 'corny as hell'?" Dai grumbled under his breath. Louder, he said, "Look, Wagner, you do your investigation into the mutant aspect, we'll focus on piecin' together this case. When you've got somethin', then we'll talk. Now, if your lot's finished with this scene…"

He glowered suggestively.

"Yes, we're quite finished," Nightcrawler assured him. "And we'll soon be out of your hair. Good luck on this case, mein Freund."

"Yeah... You too," Dai said sincerely, and held out his hand. Nightcrawler shook it, and gave the overstressed cop a supportive clap on the shoulder. Then, he led his team back down the aisle and out the automatic doors to find Captain Britain and face the noisy crowds outside.

To Be Continued…