"Bloody hell," Dominic gasps as his torch light sweeps over the devastation before him. "What the blazes happened here?"
"I don't know, but I have a feeling I might know who is responsible," Finch quietly replies as he carefully moves closer to the carnage.
"Who?" Dominic asks in shock, stopping in his tracks. "And more importantly, why?"
"I got an email earlier today asking me to meet someone here," Finch explains as he reaches the first body. "That person probably knew what we'd find. This happened only recently. The blood's still fresh."
"Who do you suppose these poor buggers were?" Dominic questions, stepping up next to the Inspector.
"Don't know, but I've got my suspicions," Finch answers as he starts to step as carefully as he can around the rubble and bodies.
"Shouldn't we be calling for help?" Dominic demands while Finch moves away.
"I don't think anyone survived," Finch tells him, not bothering to look back at the other man. "We'd be hearing moaning or something, but it's silent in here except for us."
"Silent as a tomb," Dominic mutters with a shudder when he realizes that Finch is right.
"Exactly," Finch quietly replies as he continues his journey, his torch light carefully sweeping over the bodies for any sign of life.
The two men carefully pick their way past the collapsed tunnel and dead men only to find more of the ceiling has fallen in with more men underneath that as they come around the bend. They stare in amazement at the devastation for a few moments and then continue on, still listening carefully for even so much as a wheeze. By the time they reach the end, they're both a bit ill by what they've seen and they just look back at all of the destruction they've walked past.
"There must be over twenty men under all of that," Dominic whispers.
"Probably more," Finch mutters.
The sound of pebbles shifting causes both men to spin around and pointing their guns at the source of the noise. They both stare in wonder at a woman standing about twenty feet away from them in the middle of the tunnel, squinting against the bright lights of their torches. She's dressed simply in a long sleeved blouse and slacks, her shoes are fashionable but have a flat enough heel to allow her to run if need be, her brown hair is loose around her shoulders and her arms hang down by her sides.
"Audrey?" Finch hesitantly calls and she gives him a small smile.
"You know this lady?" Dominic demands, a bit stressed from seeing all of the corpses and then this lady standing here so close to it.
"Only by reputation," Finch tells him as he slowly moves forward as if he's afraid to spook her. "Can you talk?"
She nods 'yes'.
"Will you talk to us?" Finch asks, still being careful about his speed.
She shakes her head 'no'.
"Why not?" Finch questions, stopping when he sees her backing up a step.
She raises her hands, holds one finger up and points to it with the other hand.
"You're afraid of the Finger," Finch states and she touches a finger to her nose.
"Bloody hell," Dominic gasps again, unconsciously lowering his weapon. "It's that woman we've been looking for. The one you say is a slave and that we've got the ownership papers for."
"Audrey Meadows is no mare, Dominic," Finch tells him as he puts his gun away and then pulls out several sheets of folded paper out of the inside pocket of his coat. "But I have a feeling there's quite an interesting story to why she's here and where the real Georgia Jones is."
He unfolds the papers and then shines his torch on them so she can clearly see what they are. Her brown eyes become very large and a look of hope and want come over her features. She starts to pull something out of her slacks pocket and Dominic trains his gun on her again.
"Easy, Dom," Finch quietly instructs. "I don't think she wants to hurt us."
"You're joking, right?" Dominic scoffs and Finch looks behind him at the destruction that fills the tunnels. "You think she did this?"
"Not by herself, no," Finch replies as he turns his attention back to the woman before them. "But you're involved in this somehow aren't you?"
With a sad look on her face, she slowly nods.
"What have you got in your hand?" Finch asks.
She holds up her hand and he can see a small disc reflecting the light of his torch.
"What's that?" Finch questions.
She holds the disc towards him and then points at the papers he has with her free hand.
"You want to trade?" Finch inquires and she quickly nods. "I can't do that. This is a vital piece of evidence. I shouldn't even have this with me."
She gives a sigh of disgust and then turns away. Dominic makes as if to chase her and Finch grabs his arm. Dominic looks at the Inspector questioningly and Finch just nods his head back towards her. They look back and see her retrieving a laptop computer from where it was leaning against the wall.
They watch as she opens it up and turns it on while she returns to where she had been previously been standing. After typing a few things into the computer, she opens the disc drive and places the disc in. She closes the drive and then places the computer on the ground facing the men before backing away from them.
Once she's reached what she feels is a safe distance, she stops and that's when Finch slowly starts to move towards the laptop with Dominic close behind him. A very long minute later, Finch reaches the computer, puts the papers back in his pocket and picks the laptop up. He opens the files on the disc and nearly drops the computer on the ground.
"Blimey," Dominic breathes as he watches over his superior's shoulder.
"I have to verify this before I can give you the papers," Finch tells her.
She nods and then holds up a finger before pointing to her watch.
"You want us back at one?" Finch asks, a bit confused.
She shakes her head 'no'.
"One day?" Finch questions, even more perplexed and again she shakes her head.
"One hour," Dominic states and she smiles at him, touching the tip of her nose with her finger.
"That doesn't give us a lot of time," Finch tries to argue.
She holds up the finger once more, points at her watch and then turns to walk away.
"Wait!" Finch calls after her as she walks around a corner and he shoves the laptop into Dominic's arms.
Finch chases her, but by the time he reaches the corner, she's already gone. He gets ready to go in search of her, but Dominic follows him, grabs his arm and stops him.
"Chief, she only gave us one hour," Dominic reminds him.
"All right, let's go," Finch grumbles and the two men make their way back the way that they came, still carrying the portable computer.
She paces back and forth next to the piano; the soothing sounds of Ella Fitzgerald coming from the jukebox do nothing to calm her nearly fried nerves. V disappeared into the depths of the Shadow Gallery the instant they returned, leaving her to her own devices while they wait to see if Finch will return to the tunnels. There's nothing to clean, she doesn't trust herself near her computer, she's even too nervous to bake, so she's left to pacing, sure that she's going to have a nervous breakdown at any moment.
"Chief Inspector Finch returns," he announces as he sweeps into the room like a large, dark phantom.
"Thank God," she moans in relief.
She quietly follows him through the door and back out into the old Tubes as a new set of worries start to plague her. Silently he leads her, his thoughts his own while she nervously chews on her lip. It seems to take an eternity to get there, but they do finally arrive and she returns to her spot just as Finch and Dominic round the corner.
"What little we could check out seems legit," Finch tells her after coming to a stop just past the grizzly remains of Percy's men and pulling her ownership papers out again. "This is still my most powerful piece of evidence so far, but what would be even more powerful would be someone who could testify."
She looks worriedly at him and starts to shift nervously on her feet as if she's getting ready to make a break for it.
"I've read this quite thoroughly," he tells her. "It says that whoever owns these papers owns the slave named on them. The Nose now owns these papers and as the head of the Nose, I'm the one in control of them."
The men watch as Audrey's eyes get incredibly large as Finch's words sink in and she turns to run.
"Slave, STOP!" Finch barks.
Audrey stops dead in her tracks and even from the distance they are at and the darkness of the tunnels, they can see her twitching as her still mending spirit fights with her training.
"Come here," Finch orders.
She fights with herself as she takes a couple of steps towards him and then stops, trembling from head to foot, her eyes bright with unshed tears and she's breathing heavily as if she's just run a mile.
"I said come here!" Finch demands, pointing to a spot just in front of him. "NOW!"
She takes in a large shaking breath as the tears start to flow down her cheeks and she slowly obeys. When she's a couple of feet from Finch, she slowly drops to her knees, seemingly oblivious to the debris that litters the ground and must be digging into her knees and shins. She stares at Finch's feet while her silent sobs wrack her body and she knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that what little freedom she has enjoyed these past few months is over.
"Audrey," Finch quietly calls to get her attention as he squats down to her level. "Where's Georgia?"
She opens and closes her mouth several times, even more tears flowing down her face as her past training wars with her new master's orders.
"Talk to me, Audrey, that's an order," Finch softly instructs. "Where's Georgia Jones?"
"France," she whispers, flinching as she waits for the first blow.
"Where in France?" Finch asks, detecting an accent, but not able to tell from where.
"Ah don't know," she answers between the sobs.
"Bloody hell," Dominic gasps. "She's an American."
Finch sighs and nods as he reaches out and gently pulls the wig off of her head. The red roots are all too evident and Finch gently puts his hand beneath her chin, pushing her face for him to better see her.
"Look at me," Finch gently tells her and she briefly looks him in the eye before looking down again. "Take your contacts out."
"Should I contact the French police to put an APB on Georgia Jones?" Dominic asks and she gives a humorless snort while she takes the contacts out.
"You don't think the French police could find her?" Finch asks.
"Thay wouldn't be able ta find her even if thay knew where ta look," she bitterly answers, her accent thick with tears and she hastily wipes her face with the back of her hand. "There ain't enough o' her left ta identify even if thay could find where Michael and Percy buried her."
Finch stands up and then bends down to help her to her feet. He takes her over to a sizeable piece of rubble and has her sit down on it while he pulls a handkerchief out of his pocket and hands it to her.
"What happened to her, Audrey?" Finch inquires as she dries her face.
With a tired, defeated sigh, she tells them of Georgia Jones's fate and why she will never be found in a monotone voice, all hope gone from her. She silently prays that that whatever plans Finch has for her, it doesn't include beatings. She's gotten rather used to being bruise and welt free and being able to wear short sleeves and skirts again. By the time she's done telling her tale, both men are looking a bit green around the gills and silence fills the tunnels as they think about what she's just said.
"What now?" Dominic asks.
"That's up to Audrey," Finch tells him and she looks up at him in surprise before quickly turning her gaze back to the floor. "There are a couple of boys who would love to see their mum again."
"Their mum is dead," she points out, as new tears start to leave their wet tracks down her face.
"Not as far as they're concerned," Finch reminds her.
"She will be within tha next few days," she tells him sadly.
"How so?" Finch asks a bit worriedly.
"On tha other side o' the city a warehouse is currently burning," she informs him. "When tha firefighters finally get tha fire put out, the building will be destroyed. In the remains thay'll find what appears to be someone's home in the building."
"A home with no windows," Finch states and she nods.
"It'll be filled with burnt books and paintin's and thay'll find tha remains of a woman. The only thang left ta identify her will be tha wedding an' engagement rings on her finger. Ruth will be able ta identify them as tha custom made rings that Michael had made for Georgia."
"Who's the woman that's really in there?" Finch demands.
"Some poor woman who didn' survive Creedy's hospitality," she replies and Finch nods in understanding.
"What about you?" Finch inquires. "Where will you go?"
"Wherever ya tell meh ta go," she softly responds and belatedly adds, "Master."
"Say you didn't have a master, where would you go? What would you do?" Finch questions.
"I'd go back to North America," she wistfully replies.
"How the bloody hell are you going to do that?" Dominic demands. "It's not like you can bloody well go down to the airport and buy a ticket home."
She quickly glances at Finch, but doesn't answer.
"It's a fair question," Finch says. "Answer him."
"Ah don't know," she replies. "He has it all figured out, but he hasn't told meh any o' tha details yet."
"He?" Finch asks. "The man who killed Major Jones?"
"Yes," she answers softly.
"Where is he right now?" Finch demands, excited by the idea that this case might finally be closed.
"Nearby," she responds and Dominic starts swinging his torch around to see if he can find the guy. "Ah don't know exactly where, but he's close by. Ya won' be able ta find him unless he wants ta be found, so Ah wouldn' bother if Ah were ya."
"We should get out of here, Chief," Dominic suggests and Finch nods.
"Alright, let's go," Finch says as he pulls her to her feet.
"What are ya doin'?" she asks nervously.
"We're leaving," Finch answers.
"Please don't," she begs, trying to pull away from him. "Just let meh go, please."
"You're our only witness against Percy and Shire Stables," Finch tells her. "You'll be safer with us than with a murderer."
"Percy's dead along with most o' his men," she tells him. "Tha information on tha disc will be enough fo' ya ta close them down fo' good. Ya don' need me. Please, let meh go. Please, ya've been so nice ta the boys and Ruth, Ah don' wanna see ya get hurt. So many people are dead because of meh, Ah don' think Ah can take anybody else getting' hurt."
"You think the man who killed Jones will hurt us?" Finch asks.
"No," she quietly sobs. "He'll kill ya."