AN: I am completely overwhelmed by the response this story has recieved! Thank you all! Reviews are what keep me going. That and "Prodigal Son." I can honestly say that I have never written a fic this quick, or had such a clear direction before. Some of you have guessed where this all leads. I promise the end is near and it has it's typical twist. So, again, thank you for your support and I hope I don't disappoint. I'm not going to lie, writing this with all the elements I wanted to incorporate was HARD. So please, stay with me.
Chapter Seven
Night Four
Malcolm and Gil were first from the team to arrive on scene and Malcolm felt his stomach drop.
He rushed over to the woman and dropped to his knees losing composure for a moment.
The woman, she could have been Edrisa's sister.
Her dark hair was slightly shorter, but she had the same features down to the black rimmed glasses.
His hands hovered over the body and his brain short-circuited.
"Bright?" Gil called in alarm. He too stopped short and felt his face pale a few shades.
"W-where is she?" Malcolm asked, feeling panic rising within him.
"Sh- umm," Gil fumbles with his phone and makes a call. Malcolm heard him let out a frustrated noise and tired again. Malcolm feels for his own phone and immediately presses the redial button. He knows he's being paranoid, he just talked to Edrisa a few minutes ago so she could meet them.
She doesn't answer.
Malcolms nearing a panic attack when he hears a familiar voice.
"Lieutenant Arroyo? What's wrong?" Malcolm's head shoots up at the sound of Edrisa's voice.
He rushes over towards her, where Gil is physically blocking her from the body.
"Mal? What's wrong? What's happening?" She asks, searching his face. Malcolm knows he has to look as broken as he feels.
He doesn't respond. He just reaches out and hugs her. Right in front of everyone. Nothing else mattered except that she was here, safe in his arms.
"I need someone else to look over this body," Gil says to a tech behind her. Edrisa pushes out of Malcolms embrace, still holding onto his arm though.
"What is going on? Why do you need someone else? I'm right here," Edrisa bristles. Gil sighs and glances back to the body.
Edrisa tries to follow his gaze but Malcolm pulls her back.
"It's- Edrisa, the victim. She-she looks just like you," Malcolm says in a tight voice. He watches as her eyes widen a bit.
"A victim can look like anyone. I honestly don't understand what has you both so-" she pulls away and heads towards the body. She stops just a foot away.
"Oh," she says in understanding.
"Dr. Sarah Monroe, late 20s-early 30s. Which makes her the youngest victim. She's from Dukes Research Clinic according to her badge…" Edrisa continues on as though nothing were different. It sets Malcolm on edge even more.
When she's finished with her report, she looks up to the two men staring at her.
"Look. I see victims that remind me of someone every day, it's part of the job, you know? It's scary at first to think of them as someone you love, but they all belong to someone. They're all loved by someone. If anything it motivates me more to help you guys catch the killer. So that next time, it's not someone I love," Edrisa explains.
For the second time in his life, Malcolm is impressed by her strength and courage.
"Okay. Okay," Malcolm says crouching down to examine the body. He doesn't have to look too closely as his earlier panic had him analyzing every single detail and feature before.
"This one was different. There's deeper bruising around the neck and her clothes are less orderly. She was subdued and dumped in a hurry," Malcolm says softly.
"I agree. It looks like he may have slipped up! This deeper bruising looks a lot like a potential handprint!" Edrisa exclaims, pulling out some equipment to examine the area closer.
"That's great you two, but it looks like we'd better pack it up before we get stormed out," Gil cuts in gesturing toward the darkening sky.
Edrisa looks up and does a twirling motion with her hand to get her team to wrap it up.
They hit the van when the rain starts pouring.
Malcolm heads straight to Edrisa's lab when Gil pulls into the precinct.
She's working with her assistants to get the body onto the slab. Malcolm momentarily thanks the black bag for concealing the latest victim.
"Thanks Roy! Thanks Mary!" Edrisa remarks as the two assistants leave for the night. She turns to see Malcolm at her door and freezes in surprise.
"Malcolm, I-I just got in so I don't have anything for you," Edrisa remarks, moving to open the bag.
"I just came to check in," Malcolm says shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly. Edrisa narrows her eyes at him, hands falling away from the bag.
"Malcolm, why are you here really?" she tries again. He deflates a bit.
"I wanted to see you," he responds honestly. She smiles a little at the statement, but her eyes are wary.
"I'm alive," she half-jokes. Malcolm gives her a slight glare at the flat joke.
"Honestly Mal, I'm okay," she says approaching him. She stops a few steps in front of him.
"I'm alive and breathing and safe," she reiterates. He relaxes a bit.
"I know. It just freaked me out," Malcolm says. His brain was still spiralling, And they were running out of time. The killer attacked two women tonight, what would tomorrow bring? He had to be stopped.
"We should go home," Edrisa says softly. Malcolm shoots a startled look at her.
"What? No! No, I have to solve this case," Malcolm exclaimed. Edrisa shook her head sadly.
"Mal, you're exhausted. And right now you look like you could pass out either from that exhaustion or from a panic attack," Edrisa explains.
"I'm fine," Malcolm says in his most convincing tone.
She looks at him annoyed.
"Don't lie to me Malcolm. Please," Edrisa whispered. He felt deflated at that.
"I will be fine Edrisa. It's just, this case is frustrating and we were so close to catching him today! If Gil and I had been 15 minutes earlier, we would've had him at the restaurant," Malcolm shouts in frustration. His raised voice makes the hair on Edrisa's neck stand, but she remains solid.
"I will do my exam of this body. Then I would like to go home with you. If you want to work until then, feel free, but I would like to take you home Malcolm," Edrisa tries. Malcolm is still about to argue.
"We can come in bright and early tomorrow. But we're both no good to anyone tonight if we're running on fumes," she adds. He doesn't have much of an argument for that.
"Fine, but only if we can order in pizza," Malcolm teases. Edrisa smiles and nods.
Malcolms is studying their caseboard when Edrisa comes running up in excitement.
"I was right! I found a print!" Edrisa exclaims in excitement. Malcolm lets a grin break across his whole face at her enthusiasm.
"We can track him Malcolm! I already put the print in the system and it's running it down now!" Edrisa squeals in excitement. She launches herself to bear hug Malcolm, he laughs at her and twirls her around for a brief moment.
He is sure the entire precinct, or whoever is still there at 12:00am, is staring at them like they're crazy. They don't care.
"The system will take a few hours to sort through everyone though," Edrisa admits pulling away.
"I have someone from my team, Roy, he's watching it tonight in case something comes up but.." she trails off when she sees that they have created a spectacle of themselves. She blushes and takes a step back. Malcolm smiles at her nervousness. Before she would have embraced it, maybe made a joke. Now, she was more conscientious.
"Maybe we should go home," Malcolm echoes her earlier statement. Edrisa looks at him in surprise. He'll admit, before she would have had to drag him out. But standing there in front of her, seeing just how tired and worn she was. He wanted nothing more than to curl up on the couch and watch TV, with Edrisa.
Besides, he had memorized every detail of the four victims.
Edrisa reluctantly agrees to go home with him. She wanted to keep staring at the monitor until the killer had a face. But she knew that it would be hours before the system sorted through everyone and if she were to wake up at her normal 6:00am, she would definitely be awake before it was done.
She notices Malcolm fidgeting with his fingers, keeping himself awake.
"I think it'd be best to skip the movie tonight. I'm beat," Edrisa says. Malcolm smiles at her thoughtfulness, he totally caught her staring at his hand.
"Okay," he agrees, heading towards his bedroom. She heads towards the bathroom to change when his voice stops her.
"Goodnight 'Drisa," he calls. She smiles and turns.
"Goodnight Mal," she responds, closing the door to get ready for bed.
She hurries in the shower, washing away the day. Then she brushes her teeth and enters the livingroom. She sees Malcolm passed out in his bed and swiftly crashes into the couch. It was 2:00 am.
Edrisa is startled awake by screaming.
Malcolm.
He had been blessed with four quiet nights. Between going to bed late, waking early, taking his meds...he was free. So tonight came full force.
Edrisa scrambled up the stairs to his bedroom and froze, trying to think of her next move.
He was tossing and turning, pulling against his restraints with his mouthguard pressing out against his pale and glistening skin.
Edrisa tried to reach out to run her fingers through his hair, humming like last time, but he was too far gone.
First, she felt a strap slap her abdomen.
Then, she heard the broken buckle hit the headboard.
Finally, she felt a hand grab her throat.
"Ma-Mal" she gasped, losing air quickly. She hit at his arm in a blind panic before realizing she had moments to react or she'd be out of time.
She thrust her hand out with all her force, her palm striking his jaw and knocking him unconscious.
She coughed uncontrollably and choked on the new air entering her lungs. She backed away to the corner of the room to collect herself. There were tears streaming down her face and she could feel her throat swelling.
First, she had to take care of Malcolm. She climbed over to the bed and grabbed the broken material. She pulled on it to make sure it wasn't the material itself and was correct. It was the buckle that attached to the bed frame that broke. So she took the material and tied it to the headboard snugly. She was good with knots.
Then, she had to take care of her throat. She stumbled into the bathroom and turned on the light. Her reflection showed bruises already blooming around her throat. Undeniably in the shape of a handprint. To anyone else, it would scare them. But really, Edrisa was afraid of Malcolm finding out what he had done. He would never forgive himself and they both knew it.
So she rooted around her bag for the turtleneck she wore a few days ago and changed into that. Then she quietly headed to the kitchen for some ice and tea.
She wrapped the ice into a towel and wrapped it around her neck. The chamomile tea calms her and soothed her throat that felt raw.
The mixture of hot and cold felt nice and she laid her head on her hands, accidentally falling asleep.