Chapter Five
Day Two
When Edrisa woke up she was sure of three things.
1. She had a minor hangover, nothing major. Probably compliments of Malcolm. But last night was mildly fuzzy. She remembers everything up until leaving the bar, she thinks.
2. Her head is currently pillowed on something very warm, solid and….breathing?
3. Someone is running their fingers through her hair and lightly humming.
She freezes in her position and opens her eyes. The fingers pull away. Her face is inches from a familiar patterned shirt and her one hand is holding onto it. She jerks up to meet Malcolm Bright's face watching her with amusement.
"Goodmorning Edrisa," he says as though it were a perfectly normal occurrence for her to be using his torso as a human body pillow.
She feels her cheeks flush.
"Morning," she replies covering her unbrushed mouth. She stumbles to the bathroom quickly to throw toothpaste on her brush, which she notices has moved onto the sink by Malcolms. And brushes deep in thought.
What happened after the bar? She vaguely remembers playing pool, but even that's fuzzy and everything after is a blur.
She re-enters the livingroom to see Malcolm up in his bedroom, changing his shirt.
"Sorry for waking you! I was afraid I'd fall asleep," Malcolm calls hearing the bathroom door shut. Edrisa feels fleeting embarrassment.
"You stayed up all night?" she asks, concerned. He turns around with his dress shirt still hanging open. She tries not to stare.
"Hungry?" he asks completely, changing the subject and not meeting her gaze.
"Y-yea, and I'll make breakfast while you take a nap," she counters, fixing her hair back into a ponytail.
"Edrisa, I'm fine. And I was going to make breakfast for you. Your head has to be pounding after last night," he says with total sincerity.
She chuckles a bit nervously starting the coffee maker.
"I've had much worse. I suppose I have you to thank for that," she says turning as he enters the kitchen.
"Ah, what do you remember?" Malcolm teases gently opening the fridge for a water.
"Umm, I remember the bar and talking and too many drinks, Then I vaguely remember a pool game...then it gets a bit fuzzy," she admits. She sees his face fall just a bit.
"Why? What am I forgetting?" she pushes gently. Malcolm shrugs mischievously taking a drink of his water.
She leans against the counter and ponders. She somehow got back to the loft. Probably a cab? No, she remembers the seats were nicer than a cab. An uber? Yea, it was a nice car but not a cab.
Then getting in the loft… she doesn't remember the trip back. So she must've fallen asleep in the cab.
"You carried me up here," she realizes aloud. Malcolm chuckles.
"I've carried weights heavier than you," he gently teases again, taking a seat. She's silent as she continues powering through the haze of last night.
She got up here and was on the couch? Yea, that sounded right. Then… blank. She ventured to the living room to look for clues. There was a water glass on the coffee table.
"You gave me some pills," she added after seeing the water glass. She vaguely remembers taking something, but then her memory is so much fuzzier after that point.
"After that I give up. It's all a black spot! I'm going to assume I threw up at some point by how much alcohol I consumed, sorry about that. And based on how dry my face is and puffy my eyes are, I'm going to assume I was crying. Sorry about that too," she says shyly taking a seat in the kitchen beside him.
She shakes her head at herself and her actions.
"Edrisa, you were fine. I was just happy you had a good time. And I'm relieved you got some things off your chest," he says. She nods along with him, struggling to remember what all she said.
"W-what did I tell you," she whispers quietly. Malcolm's silent for a moment. Torn between understanding her need to know and not wanting to bring up any sadness.
"Well-umm, who's Jinx?" Malcolm asks carefully. He's surprised when Edrisa laughs.
"Jinx is-was my cat. He was the cutest little feline. Jet black fur with piercing green eyes. The first boy to steal my heart," she whispers into her mug of coffee.
"I'm sorry for your loss. He sounds like he was a great friend," Malcolm comforts.
"Yea. He was my baby. I had him since he was a kitten, for seventeen years," Edrisa says with a small smile, "I knew it was coming. He was just getting so old and as a stray his history was unknown."
She looks at him with a soft smile, remembering her furry friend. Malcolm returns a comforting one.
"The next part might explain two things," Malcolm starts, "was your mother a painter?"
He gets the reaction he was hoping to avoid. Edrisa's smile shoots down and her face pales a bit.
"Wow, I was really feeling talkative last night. Delving into all my problems," she tries to joke taking her mug to the sink.
"I'm sorry, we don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," Malcolm promises. Edrisa takes a deep breath.
"No, I need to- I need to know what I said. Somethings-it's important," Edrisa pushes. Malcolm wonders what she's so scared of.
"Yes, my mother was an artist. It wasn't her job, but she painted lovely landscapes. She painted me two and I lost them both," she says sadly. Malcolm wants to reach for her as she shakes lightly.
"She was diagnosed with Alzheimer's last year. Just before COVID and quarantine. I used to visit her every day and then-I couldn't. Last week I was finally able to see her. I went to see her and- I had to see her through the window to her room because face-to-face visits weren't allowed. And she-she looked right through me. Before I would go and talk to her. I knew she didn't completely understand what I was saying, but she knew me. You know? But last week, when she looked through me, I knew she had forgotten," Edrisa explains. Malcolm feels his heart break for her.
"It was my fault, the one painting," she says lowly hanging her head and wrapping her arms around herself.
"Something else happened and I got so upset that I-I threw a glass and it shattered against the painting. The stain wouldn;t come out so I had a breakdown and I tore it apart," she sniffles a little but is quick to reign in her emotions.
Malcolm does rise to go to her.
"The night of the flood, I was upset so I brought the other painting into my room. It was a water lily pond. I stared at it until I felt safe-good enough to fall asleep. Then I woke up to water everywhere and the painting falling apart," Edrisa says, bitterly.
Malcolm does something that surprises them both. He wraps his arms around her and pulls her in for a long hug.
"I'm sorry for everything that's happened to you in the last few weeks," Malcolm says holding her to his chest. He feels her relax and wrap her arms around him.
"Thank you Malcolm. For being here and helping me," Edrisa whispers into his chest.
"Thank you for trusting me," Malcolm replies, releasing her slowly.
She rubs her face with the sleeve of the hoodie and smiles at him before gently punching his arm.
"Okay, no more sad stuff! We have work to do," she says with a sudden lightness. Malcolm watches on as she goes to get ready in amazement. Edrisa could take anything and turn it around.
In the span of two weeks she had so much go wrong all at once.
Week one: her mother, who has dementia, forgot who she was and her longtime feline companion dies.
Week two: something she's too scared to talk about happens and her apartment floods ruining her possessions and making her live at work for who-knows how long.
Malcolm looked into this and discovered it was at least five days, almost a week.
He shakes his head and pours himself a cup of coffee. He had to wake up more.
Malcolm swaps Edrisa for the bathroom to finish getting ready when he hears his phone going off in the livingroom.
"Hey Mal, it's Gil!" he hears Edrisa call. He swiftly finishes and heads to the livingroom where Edrisa sits on the couch in a pair of leggings and a turtleneck. She holds the phone out to him.
"Gil, whats up?" Malcolm asks immediately.
"Hey kid, sorry to bother you guys. I was hoping to give you two the day off but we have a case," Gil responds.
"No problem, we were already getting ready to head in," Malcolm responds.
Gil sighs.
"Of course you two were. You're both workaholics," he mumbles.
"We'll be a minute. Edrisa was making delicious peace offerings for last night," Malcolm says as Edrisa hops off the couch to pull out her tray of cinnamon rolls she began while he was finishing up.
"Well look at that, maybe she's a good influence after all," Gil remarks. Malcolm can't explain the faint blush he feels in his cheeks or the way his heart stutters at that statement.
"Bye Gil, we'll be in around 15," Malcolm says hanging up.
"Is it a case?" Edrisa asks with unhidden excitement. Malcolm feels himself smile at her shared enthusiasm.
"Yep! We'll meet them at the precinct while officers secure the scene," Malcolm responds. Edrisa does a little dance with the spatula that has him chuckling.
"I'll ice these real quick and we are good to go," she exclaims. Malcolm watches as she expertly whips frosting on the cooling treat. He hesitates a moment, torn between something.
"Just a minute, I-I have to take a few meds before we head out," Malcolm admits heading back to the bathroom. He ignores Edrisa's complete look of surprise.
He opens the cabinet and stares at the lineup of prescriptions before picking out the ones he probably should be taking.
He returns with a handful of pills to see Edrisa has laid out a glass of water and a warm cinnamon roll for him. She was currently in the middle of packaging the rest for the team.
He swiftly takes the meds and sees Edrisa smiling at him with obvious appraisal. He knows she doesn't remember last night, but he did. And if Edrisa could trust him, then he could trust her. He knew he wasn't okay, but he wanted to be. If taking his pills were step one, then he was ready to take that step.
Therapy appointment would be step two, but that could wait.
"Lets go Mal!" Edrisa calls giddy with excitement. Her happiness is infectious because he follows, smiling after her.
As soon as they enter the offices Edrisa is swarmed by the team.
"Hello Edrisa!" Dani is first to greet. Edrisa smiles.
"The 'drirs is here," JT calls into Gils office stepping up to also greet her.
Gil follows.
Edrisa has a flash of surprise at everyones warm welcome and the silence stretches until Malcolm prompts her with a gentle push.
"H-hey everyone, nice to see you again. Sober, that is," Edrisa amends with a bit of her normal humor.
"Aw, don't worry about it Edrisa. It was a fun night," Dani shares, shooting a glance towards Malcolm as well.
"Well, either way I feel bad for letting myself go so much. It was personal and I should've acted a bit better. Anyways! I brought peace offerings for any potential trauma I caused," Edrisa exclaims lifting the top of the container to showcase her cinnamon rolls.
There's a mixture of appraisal and thanks as each member tentatively takes one.
"I promise they're not poisoned and if you don't believe me Mal had one and he's still standing," Edrisa jabs. There's a collective eyebrow raise at the nickname that Edrisa misses and Malcolm ignores.
Gil is the first to try and is wolfing the rest down soon after.
JT follows making appreciative sounds.
Dani savors hers until there's none left.
"You have got to teach me how to make these," Dani begs in appreciation.
"Same here, a few of these would go a long way with Tally," JT interjects.
"Team baking class in the future then," Malcolm states smugly watching as Edrisa flounders under their appraisal.
"Absolutely! And JT, I have leftover ingredients if you'd want me to bring some tomorrow morning for Tally," Edrisa promises. JT nods appreciatively and Malcolm smiles at her kind-heartedness.
"Unfortunately we have to start heading to our crime scene," Gil cuts in. The team breaks to gather their things to head out. Malcolm goes to Edrisa before remembering that she drives separately in the forensics van.
They meet again around the body, Edrisa first on scene with her team.
"What do we have Edrisa?" JT asks. Her head shoots up in surprise as Gil or Malcolm are normally the ones to address her.
"Caucasian woman in her mid 30's with obvious ligature marks around her neck. She appears to be a doctor according to her ID badge. Odd the killer left it… but her name is Dr. Danielle Baker MD and she works in the emergency department at Johnston Memorial," Edrisa lists.
"Huh, odd," Malcolm says, joining her beside the body.
"Even stranger, her hair was recently dyed. The coloring is still wet around her scalp. She hasn't been dead for longer than two hours putting time of death around 9am. Which…" she looks around, "it looks like she was killed right here."
"This was a surprise attack. The method of killing was personal, he had to watch her die slowly. But everything else indicates that he was fitting her to a mold of someone else. He went through the trouble of dying her hair just to kill her? He was picturing someone else, someone who wasn't Dr. Baker," Malcolm works out examining the body.
"He won't be done until he kills his intended target. She was only a surrogate," Malcolm decides.
"How do we figure out who the real target is?" Dani asks.
Malcolm is quiet for a moment, still studying.
"We mark everything that changed about her from the time of her disappearance. See what the killer has added or done to manipulate her appearance to fit his mold," Edrisa answers. Malcolm shoots her a surprised look. She blushes.
"Sorry, that was just my guess," Edrisa mumbles looking away.
"No, no, that- that was perfect actually," Malcolm praises. Edrisa shoots a surprised look.
"Watch out Bright, we might not need you much longer with Dr. Tanaka expanding her areas of expertise," Gil teases.
Edrisa has a pure look of horror.
"Oh no, not at all! I totally have no idea about anything with profiling, that is totally his area of expertise I-" Edrisa freezes when she realizes it was a joke.
"Right, joking, my bad," Edrisa says slightly embarrassed.
"Anything else you can tell me about our victim?" Malcolm asks gently.
Edrisa goes back to analytical mode.
"She put up a fight. I see faint marks on her wrists, restraints probably. So he took her somewhere before bringing her back here and killing her. There might be DNA under her fingernails but honestly she appears to have been virtually sweeped. Her nails have been done, her hair was not only dyed black but brushed and styled...even the converse she wears have been scrubbed. He covered his tracks," she says sadly.
"We'll catch him," Dani says with viction. Edrisa nods sadly, staring at what would have been a fellow colleague laying in before her murdered.
Malcolm doesn't see Edrisa again until later in the afternoon. Him and Dani were running down potential leads about the doctor and her last movements.
All they got back were dead ends. It's as though she had a normal day up until her kidnapping and murder. Based on their findings, the murderer had her for less than 12 hours before he killed her in the park where they found her body.
The good news meant they knew he had to be close. His hideout within a small radius around her work and the park. They also narrowed her abduction to around 11:30pm from the hospital parking lot.
The bad news was they still did not have a suspect and the cameras in the hospital were more geared towards the hospital instead of the parking lot.
Gil and JT were questioning people in Danielle's life, however they didn't fit Malcolms profile. They were looking for a white male in his mid to late 30's with narcissistic tendencies, more than likely abusive to his spouse that he is recreating in his victims.
Malcolm walks into Edrisa's lab to see her just staring down at the woman on the slab. Her hands on either side of the woman's head.
"'Drisa? Are you okay?" Malcolm asks softly.
"Yea! Yea, I'm fine. This case just, it gives me bad vibes," she says heading to her desk to grab her notes for him.
Malcolm watches her silently. She was going through so much and this case seemed to be adding.
"How about after this we head home?" Malcolm asks gently, taking the file from her. Edrisa shakes her head stubbornly.
"No, I have to stay here while a few tests finish up," Edrisa responds.
Malcolm nods in understanding.
"I'll meet you there? You look a little dead on your feet there," she remarks. Malcolm can't help but agree. Not sleeping last night and taking antipsychotics, known for their symptoms of fatigue, he was well aware of his barely conscious self.
"Yea, yea, I'll see you there. But promise me you'll call if you need anything?" Malcolm asks. Edrisa quirks her lips up in a tiny smile.
"I promise," she replies.
Malcolm nods and puts the file back on his desk, having read her findings.
"I'll see you at home," Edrisa says, still looking at the corpse. Malcolm's steps falter until he recalls he said the same word to her. Since when did it become normal to say 'home'?