Chapter V: A Woman in White

AN:

Hey there, Fan-fic-folks!

Jefferson sinking his hooks once again. Bit of an arsehole, but it's been fun to chart his descent.

Thanks for reading and, as always, please review.

I blinked away the black spots in my eyes from that fucking camera flash. I really, really hated these vision things. I rubbed at my eyes and looked to Max. "So, another vision of our creepy murderer dude. Who were you this time?"

"I was a ballerina. It was so weird. My body has never moved like that!" She laughed - her cheeks were red. Well, at least she enjoyed it.

I turned to the kid. "So, who were you, Nathan?"

"Dunno." He shrugged, started poking around the room. "Just some guy in the audience. Watched the show, then I woke up. Didn't even say anything. Nothing interesting like you two got."

"That... is kinda boring, yeah." Wow, poor guy. Didn't even get an interesting part in the creepy play.

"So, Yui, huh? Guess Jefferson moved on from his wife to the cop to the model. Or maybe the dancer? What was her name?"

"Nina."

"Right, yeah." I clicked my fingers, remembering, "She was the one in the blue in the picture room, right?"

"Yes, that was her." Max responded.

"Huh, right, okay." I rubbed the back of my neck and my eyes went distant as I thought. "Do you know what happened to her?"

"I don't remember. She's not a lasting figure in Jefferson's life, if that's what you mean."

I nodded. "Right. So not wife number 2?"

"No." She said that with certainty. "She did model for him for a while, but I don't remember why they stopped."

"Maybe an affair gone wrong?" Or maybe he just killed her. Dude was already racking up a scary bodycount. I sighed. "Could be anything. Hopefully she just moved out and went to Taiwan or something."

"Taiwan?" Max looked at me with amusement. "Why Taiwan?"

"First place that came into my head."

Nathan looked at me like he was going to ask what it was like inside my head right then, then shook his own head and thought better of it.

We moved on.

Welp. This room was more than a bit fucked. The Woman in Red launched herself through the gap and crashed into the room, her long hair shaking wildly about like a mad anime character and her screams reverberating in my ears like I'd gone right up to the front at a metal concert.

Her arms flashed a moment, janky and jerking, and then she began to pull herself forward. Slowly at first, with a real sense of force and effort as she clawed along the ground, but she picked up speed fast.

We ran like hell.

I shoved the door open with all the force I could and immediately got another camera flash to the face. I kept moving, but the flashes kept coming. It was like those old movies, where the celebrities open a door to a crowd of pushy, demanding paps and the flashes are blinding. I could get little flashes (ironically) of images between the burning brightness.

We were in a corridor, covered in doors and pictures. It was Yui, and Nina, and Jefferson.

And as we ran, I got little glances at the scenes in the rooms through the doors.

Yui and Nina dancing together, clubs and bars and dark, dingy dives with low light and lower standards.

Jefferson and Yui kissing. Lots. Probably closer to making out.

Nina and Yui making out and- wowzer.

The three of them, necking shots and laughing in yet another dark club lit only by neon and blacklights.

Nina and Yui - sober - in an office, smiling at another man and signing documents. "Thanks, Max," Nina says, and the fuck- "Maxwell." He corrects. "I'm happy to help. A talent like you, Yui, needs to be careful. People will take advantage."

Nina and Yui again, in front of a camera, posing. Another few scenes, different poses, different places, different cameras.

Jefferson, alone in a bar, drinking whisky and staring off into the distance.

We burst through the last door, the Woman in Red hot on our heels. I slammed it closed and braced myself just in time for a powerful strike to hit it - I got knocked back, just a little, but managed to recover and push it closed again. I could hear her screaming through the wood.

"Nathan, help me with this! Max, see if you can find another way out!"

She quickly scurried off and the two of us kept the door closed. It was a close one though. Nathan was younger, I think, and was a lot weaker than he looked. It felt like a long time 'til Max came back and my muscles were burning.

Eventually though, she did and cried out, "There's a door, but it's blocked! I think there's a tree behind it!"

A tree? Fuuuuuuck. Why can't anything be easy?

Nathan suddenly spoke up. "Open the door. I'll distract the painting, you push the other door."

"What? Are you-"

"It's the only way forward, and the Gallery won't let us go anywhere else. So, I can loop-de-loop the bitch out there and get back here once you've cleared it." He shrugged. "We can't hold the door and open the other one and we can't just let it in here."

I looked at him, long and hard. He was nervous, couldn't quite keep my eye for very long, but he was serious. The idiot was fucking serious. The idiot was also not fucking wrong. Damn it. I thought for a few seconds, trying to find some other way, poke some hole in his logic, but nothing. Fuck.

"You run fast, and you keep ahead of the painting, okay? It's faster than it looks and-"

"And the screams will hurt me if I stay in open contact too long, I know."

"Actually I was gonna say you look like you don't run much, but that's good to know."

He scowled at me. "You know it's the only option, Chloe. We gotta keep Max safe."

That was the weirdest thing about the whole situation. I knew he at least had photography in common with her, but that was a weird amount of protectiveness for someone he'd only just met.

"Fine. Go."

I opened the door.

The kid sprinted forward and spun over the Woman in Red, scraping her paint with his nails before yelling a great many very rude words that kinda had me taking notes to use later and running off. The Woman in Red seemed unsure for a second, eyes narrowed on me, before something twitched in her brushwork and the paint peeled a little more. She screamed and I flinched back, and then she was off after Nathan, following the sound of his echoing laughter.

Right, Max. Between the two of us, we could shift this log thing.

Okay. That's not what I expected. What is-

"That's Snow White? Why would it be Snow White? I'm pretty sure Jefferson never took a picture of Snow White - he wasn't the sort for plagiarism." She frowned. "He was kind of obsessed with being distinct and different."

The Tree Room had burned. Some trees were fallen, others were black, and it looked entirely fucked aside from a picture of Snow White nailed to a fallen tree. "Maybe it's a metaphor?"

"But a metaphor for what?"

"Fucked if I know. All that shit's more your field than mine, Maxie." I looked closer at the picture. "Though... wasn't it a red apple in the movie?"

"What?"

"The apple. Wasn't it red in the movie? It's green in the picture."

Max turned and walked right up to the picture. "You're right." She said. And then she reached out and touched it. There was another camera flash. Damnit.

We were back in one of the corridors of that theatre again - the decor was fucking identical. Only this time, I was looking into a familiar face: Wilson, Jefferson's cop boytoy. We were talking about something when Yui suddenly appeared from one of the side doors and hurried over. I greeted her with a smile and leaned in to kiss her lightly on the cheek. Seems Jefferson was keeping things slightly more chaste with this chick now his boyfriend was here, but I could still see Wilson bristled a bit. She pulled back and looked at me with a bright, excited grin. "It's good to see you, Mark."

"You too, Yui. How is our shining star doing today?"

She beamed in an oddly Max-like way - maybe Max was in her place this time? - and looked down almost shyly. "Maxwell, that's the producer, said I may be able to actually get into dance and acting!"

"Oh? I didn't know you were hoping to move away from Modelling, Yui?"

She smiled prettily. "Well, you know how much I love modelling for you, Mark, but I've loved being on stage these last few months, especially with Nina. Thank you so much for introducing us!"

"Not a problem at all, Yui. I'm glad you've found something to be so happy about."

She gave a little squee-ing giggle. "I have! He's even going to take us out after the show and introduce us to some people!"

"After the show?"

"Oh, I know we had plans, Mark, and I was so looking forward to properly meeting Mr Wilson here, but it's such a great opportunity and I have to take it, right?"

"Quite right. It's not a problem, Yui. As John Lennon said, Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans."

She laughed. "Thanks Mark, you're the best."

"I am. Now, go get ready for your performance. We'll just watch and go, okay?"

"Alright!" And with that, off she scurried. I watched her go, until Wilson stepped up beside me.

"Mark, are you-"

"I'm fine, Wilson. Thanks. Go secure our booth. I need to... visit the restroom."

As I strode off into the corridors, there was another flash and I found myself alone up on the catwalks above the stage. I don't know what Jefferson was fiddling with, but there was another quick flash and I found myself back in a corridor again, setting up some sort of equipment so it was balanced precariously against a cart. Jefferson set up a whole bunch of stuff, checking distances and falls and other stuff, before stepping back and shoving the cart with a growl. It all fell in a natural-looking pile and that equipment went through a piece of rope that slowly began to slide upward.

Jefferson quickly strode off and slipped into the balcony booth next to Wilson, squeezing the man's hand and leaning in to watch the show. A few minutes of incomprehensible Italian opera later, there was another loud snapping sound and a light dropped, right onto Yui. It exploded in a shower of sparks and she screamed briefly, but it was cut short as she fell to the ground.

I looked aside to Wilson, who was entirely shocked, and caught sight of Jefferson's face in some of the shiny metal decor - his face was a pretty good fake mask of concern, but there was a victorious fury in his eye that scared me.

Wilson sighed, pulling his badge from his pocket. "I'll go see to it. You should probably leave, Mark."

Jefferson leaned in and kissed Wilson's cheek - I got a brief bit of burn from their stubble grazing - and then left.

With another flash, the vision faded.

"Wowzer." Max said again. "I knew he was evil, but-"

"But what?" Nathan snapped. I whirled, ready to eviscerate the little shit for talking shit, but-

"But he was so angry, for- for nothing at all! She just made friends with someone else, and-"

"And he didn't like anyone else playing with his toys." Nathan scowled. "He was a bastard and when we get out of here he's going to get what's coming to him."

I stepped forward and put on his shoulder. I was gonna say something, but I remembered Max behind me and just glared harder. He rolled his eyes and pushed me off him, then stepped towards the door. "We should get moving before anything else-"

Another fucking flash. Why we were getting so many visions in this area, I had no fucking idea.

The dancer woman opened a door and I looked down at her. Nina, right? "I'm so sorry, Nina, but you can't keep dodging calls like this." I raised up the bag in my right hand and I heard bottles clanking around in there. "I'm not letting you sit here alone anymore." I pushed past her and into the apartment. It took almost a full minute before Nina closed the door behind us and followed me - Jefferson - in.

I walked into her tiny kitchen and pulled some glasses from a cupboard with the ease of someone who knew exactly where they were and headed into the little lounge area. I plonked myself down, put the glasses on the coffee table and began filling them with one of the bottles. Not sure what Zubrowka is, but Jefferson gave himself and Nina generous portions of it.

The dancer slunk onto the couch next to him, but didn't move to take the drink. Jefferson sighed. "Nina, you need to let some of this out. Emotions are meant to be shown." I couldn't feel his face, but I could hear the grin in his next words. "Remember what I always say? Always take the shot."

Nina actually laughed at that. Ouch. She looked down for a moment, before downing the glass in one smooth motion. Fuck, it was impressive. I hoped I could learn to do that when Mom lets me start drinking. Or when Dad inevitably lets me try stuff before that. Heh.

The light flashed again and the two were both very, very drunk and laughing together. "You know," Jefferson said, "You should try come to my studio sometime. I know Yui was planning to invite you at some point, as repayment for all the kindness you'd shown her."

"I-" Nina smiled. "I'd love to."

They stared at each other for a long moment, and then flung themselves together, kissing wildly as they began to tear each other's clothes off. I could almost feel Max's adorable little blush at witnessing this.

Another flash of light, and Nina was standing tall, arched, and almost carved from ice as Jefferson pointed a camera at her. Her bright white dress contrasted sharply with the reds and blacks of the background sheet. He was saying something in photographer jargon that I didn't catch when I did catch the click of a door opening behind him. He didn't seem to notice, but eventually I turned around at the sound of an angry voice.

"You- You bastard."

I turned and the old cop, Wilson, was standing there with a gun in his hand pointed right at me. Mark raised his hands, letting the camera fall down to his chest and hang loose from the strap. "Wilson? What are you doing?"

"I- I have done so much for you, Mark. And this," Gestured to Nina. "Is how you repay me? Just cast me aside the moment I'm no longer of use?" He snorted. "I guess I should be grateful you didn't just kill me."

I reached out and grabbed his gun - Jefferson and Wilson wrestled for a few minutes, grunts and shouts and pain, and then Jefferson managed to snap back Wilson's arm and push the gun under the cop's chin and pull the trigger.

It was more and less violent than I was expecting.

The body fell to the floor with a flump and suddenly I could feel the blood on Jefferson's face. The man took a long, deep breath and walked over to a nearby stand to pull out a tissue and began to wipe his face down. When he was done, he dropped it into a vat of chemicals and left it there.

Nina suddenly blurted. "We have to call the police."

Jefferson sighed, pinched the bridge of his nose and rubbed lightly at his temple. Dude winced in discomfort. "We can't. He'll have thought of that. They'll take me in, and that's if I even make it to jail."

"What are you talking about, Mark? They're the police, they keep us safe!" She almost seemed slightly desperate to me. And really fucking naive.

"He's a police officer with a grudge, Nina, and this is America. They've done worse to people for less." He walked over to her, and took her hand. Made eye contact and everything. "Please, you have to help me."

She stayed still a moment and then walked over to help move the body onto a plastic sheet. "What was he talking about?"

"What do you mean?" He asked, tone not quite listening.

"He was your boyfriend?" Her voice was quiet, tentative in her nerves. Like she wasn't sure if she wanted an answer, but had to ask anyway. "Did you... did we cheat on him?"

"No." Mark said, after just enough pause to make it believable. "I had no idea he thought that way. We slept together, a few times after my wife was taken. It was nice. I needed that connection with someone again. I had no idea he thought about me... like this though." He gestured to the corpse, cooling on the floor.

"Could you have returned his feelings?" Nina asked then. Her voice was a little more sure, now curious and concerned. Jefferson had done it again.

"I..." Jefferson breathed. He shook his head. "I don't think so. We were friends, and I cared about him a lot, but I don't think I was ever in a place to feel like that with him." He gave Nina a significant look, and the woman blushed.

And like a vision we'd seen before, the two of them took Wilson in a bag and threw him into the river. As the body sank, Jefferson seemed to relax and hugged Nina. "Thank you."

She patted him on the back. "It'll be okay, Mark."

When he didn't move or respond, she looped her arm in his and started walking him back to the car.

There was another flash of light.