Chapter Eight

Day Five

Malcolm wakes up around 7:00am and is immediately surprised to find that:

His jaw really hurts.

His arm is asleep and he can't move it from the headboard.

"What the-" he looks up to see his restraint carefully tied to the headboard. Half of the buckle hanging from the end.

"No, no, no," he throws his head towards the livingroom and viciously tears the restraints off. He spits out his mouthguard and immediately calls, "Edrisa?"

Edrisa wakes, startled. At first she can't understand why until she hears her name called out desperately.

Malcolm was awake.

She shoots up and throws the went towel into the sink. The noise drawing Malcolms attention. She can visibly see him relax at the sight of her. His face falling immediately into his hands.

She takes the time to choke down some of her cold tea, trying to get her throat working again.

"In here," she calls in a near-normal voice.

He looks up and starts coming towards her. She immediately tries to think of excuses, but knows they'll all fail. Malcolm Bright was one of the most observant men she knew. There was no way out of this one.

"Edrisa, are you alright?" he asks, closing the space between them. She sees his analytical side taking over. And can pinpoint the exact moment he realizes something is wrong.

"What did I do?" he whispers. Edrisa hears a sliver of fear. She reaches out and takes his hand. He pulls away.

"Edrisa?" he presses.

She shakes her head, "honestly, I'm fine."

Malcolms gaze becomes hard as steel.

"You're wearing the same shirt as 2 days ago and we both know you hate wearing unwashed clothes. This shirt in particular is a turtle neck, which would make sense if it were cold today but it's actually warm in here and your neck is damp," Malcom looks around and spots the towel in the sink.

"You've applied a compress, probably a cold compress to your neck and you're hiding it from me. I woke up and my restraint was moved. It looks like the buckle broke last night and someone tied it to the headboard. Someone who is good with knots. And my jaw is currently aching. I didn't fall asleep like that so it happened last night, probably when the restraint broke, likely when I attacked you," Malcolm said. He choked on a breath and fell back a step as the entirety of his analysis hit him.

Edrisa looked at him sadly and he knows he's right.

"Edrisa- I'm- I'm so, so sorry," Malcolm says, falling back a few more steps.

"Please don't be. Mal, it wasn't your fault," Edrisa pleads. Malcolm shakes his head. It was happening all over again, just like with Eve.

"Malcolm Bright, please listen to me!" Edrisa snaps. He feels compelled to meet her gaze.

She holds a finger up and drinks the last of her tea.

"You are the most caring person I have ever known. You would never hurt any of your friends intentionally. You'd never hurt me. Last night you had a night terror and I did all the wrong things. As both a doctor and your friend I should have known better. I approached you. I touched you first and you reacted. It was not your fault, you were trapped," Edrisa explains. Her voice grew hoarse towards the end and Malcolm winces.

"Please don't let this hurt our friendship," she whispers. He wants to both hug her and send her far away from him.

"I-I hurt you Edrisa. Conscious or not, how can you be okay with that?" Malcolm asks in disbelief.

Edrisa's head falls a bit. She worries her lip between her teeth and debates for a hard moment. There were many ways her next words could go and both were very drastic.

Malcolm would either understand or he would beat himself down more.

"B-because I know what it's like when someone hurts me purposely and you're not like him," she can see out of the corner of her eye that she has Malcolms full attention. So she goes to the kettle to make more tea, pulling out two mugs.

"Edrisa, who?" Malcolm asks scrambling to think of anyone who would hurt her.

She puts a mug of tea on the table and takes a seat, gesturing for him to do the same.

He reluctantly does, if not pushing his chair back more than he normally would.

She takes a sip before continuing.

"That other thing that happened? With everything else," she offers watching Malcolm's expression. He nods, remembering.

"That was Justin. He-he was my on-again, off-again boyfriend," she said. Malcolm tried to not let his surprise show.

"It wasn't serious, to me at least. But by the time I realized he was serious, it was too late," she said sadly.

"First he isolated me. All of my friends from online were gone and I was only allowed to go to work and home. Then he started to tear me down. Saying anything he could to make me feel bad or upset. And after that came the beatings," she shuddered at the word.

Malcolm moves closer, he moves his hand like he wants to grab hers. She does it for him.

"The first time he hit me, he convinced me it was my fault. The second time I told myself I deserved it. But the third time, he went too far and I kicked him out," she whispered.

Malcolm rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand soothingly.

"He had set up dinner. Ordered from our favorite place. We were just eating when he flipped! He-he accused me of cheating on him and threw a wine glass at me. So I grabbed the bottle and hit him over the head. I ran upstairs to Mrs. Daily's and she called the police," Edrisa sniffled.

"Edrisa, why didn't you tell anyone?" Malcolm asked softly.

She met his eyes.

"I didn't think anyone would care," she said with such conviction that his heart felt like it stopped.

He squeezed her hand.

"I know, I know," Edrisa said squeezing his hand back.

"But you have to remember, this was before all of this," she says gesturing around.

"Even if this were before, I still would have cared, Edrisa. I would have helped you," Malcolm says. Edrisa smiles sadly.

"I know that, but at the time he made me feel so small. I felt trapped. Every time he entered the room I started sweating. When he moved too fast, I flinched. And-and when he kissed me I wanted to throw up," she admits. She squeezes his hand tight.

"You're nothing like him Malcolm. You would never hurt anyone on purpose," Edrisa saya again.

"You still shouldn't have even been in the situation to be hurt, Edrisa," Malcolm rebuttals.

She smiles softly.

"I would take that risk any day if it meant spaghetti, zombie movies and endless hugs," she teases. Malcolm grimances at the joke, but still appreciates the sentiment.

"Just- just promise me you won't come near me again if I'm having a night terror?" Malcolm relents. Edrisa's face lightens ten degrees.

"Promise!" she says hugging him tight. He wraps his arms around her carefully. The moment is broken by both their phones ringing.

"Gil?" Malcolm answers.

There was another body and this time it was dropped right outside of the precinct.

Her name was Dr. Anita Johnson.

All the pieces of this case fell together with startling clarity.

"Roy?" Edrisa answers her assistant.

The finger print came back with a match.

She drops the phone to the floor and lets out a heartbreaking sob.

AN: I have sprinkled clues throughout this fic and left a pretty MAJOR one with the victims. Can anyone guess the clue that Malcolm just understood with our latest victim "Anita Johnson"? Hint: this case has Edrisa written all over it.