For prodigalmess

[thatsfascinating]

Edrisa has always loved the fascinating cases, the ones that crackle with mystery, the puzzles that invite the team to match waits with a killer before he or she strikes again! They got even better when Malcolm Bright became part of the team, brought in for just such cases. And now that the two of them are together, it's the best! She loves working with him, delving into a case together, so in tune with one another.

The hardest part is trying to be discreet and professional. To be fair, she's never been good at that.

This crime scene, in a wooded area in Central Park, is a doozy. At a distance the body looks like a life-sized doll with curly blonde hair, a blue gingham dress, and patent leather shoes. Up close, though, it's a woman who has been strangled, exanguinated, and posed. The hair is a wig on a head that has been roughly shaved, and the eyes have been sewn open to display bright blue contacts.

It's a whole mess of weird. And Edrisa is on the scene examining the body and looking up periodically, hoping to see Malcolm. He's going to love this!

Comments

[thatsfascinating]

Edrisa's vision is still fading in and out. She sees Malcolm...or she thinks she sees him. She can't be sure he's not a hallucination borne of hypothermia and hypoxia. It's what she wants the most at that very moment. To be rescued, sure, that would be great but...just seeing Malcolm, once more.

Swift is trembling with rage as he guides Malcolm in at gunpoint.

"If anybody tries to get in here, I will kill you," he spits out. "If you try any funny business, I will kill you." He points to the floor. "Get on your knees."

[prodigalmess]

Malcolm does as the other man asks, getting on his knees and keeping his hands where the other man can see them.

"The other body was a work of art," Malcolm says. "We all marveled at it."

He's trying his best not to look at Edrisa, because if he does, he might not be able to do this.

[thatsfascinating]

The man frowns. He didn't expect that. For a moment his expression eases, and he almost looks pleased. But then it darkens again, and he takes a step toward Malcolm, thrusting the gun in his face.

"What are you trying to do? Are you trying to distract me? I don't want any distractions! I just want to do my work! I have to make her perfect!"

Edrisa fights to keep her head up, to keep her eyes open, to watch what's going on. When Swift shoves the gun at Malcolm she makes a small, thin whimpering sound of fear for her lover.

[prodigalmess]

Malcolm hears her whimper, but he doesn't turn to face her. He doesn't want to betray anything that might make Swift think that he and Edrisa are anything more than a cop and a victim. Besides, he wants to keep his eye on the gun.

"Of course not. Your work is very important. I'd love to know more about it. You sew the dresses yourself?"

[thatsfascinating]

Swift pays no attention to Edrisa whatsoever. His expression again registers confusion as Malcolm seems to understand how important his work is, except this time when the look turns to pride it stays there.

"Yes. Entirely by myself. They have to be perfect. That's what she deserves."

Edrisa's strength wanes and her consciousness slips again, her eyes closing and head slumping.

[prodigalmess]

He bites his lip and swallows imperceptively when Edrisa's head slumps. Malcolm has to get her out of here. In his earpiece, he can hear Gil tell him that they're trying to see if they can get a sniper on their perp.

"Who is 'she', Zachary? The person you're doing this for."

[thatsfascinating]

A small, sad smile plays on the man's lips, and there's a look of wistful sorrow in his eyes. His hand holding the gun lowers slightly.

"Svetlana. She was beautiful. Perfect. When she danced, it was like magic."

[prodigalmess]

Malcolm shows him a sympathetic expression. His heart is pumping fast, but he's thriving on the adrenaline. He hopes he can get this man to surrender before snipers try to take him out.

"What happened to her?"

[thatsfascinating]

The man is trembling more now.

"She went away," he says thickly. "But she'll come back. If I make it perfect. It didn't work last time, it was wrong somehow, but this time it will be perfect."

[prodigalmess]

Malcolm nods as if he understands all that.

"But.. she doesn't look like Svetlana, does she?" he asks. Malcolm's running on the assumption that a woman named Svetlana doesn't look like a short Asian woman. "Maybe that's why it didn't work the first time either. Do you know where Svetlana went?"

He needs to figure out if she's dead or alive.

[thatsfascinating]

He shakes his head. "No, it doesn't matter. She's the right size. It's all about the make-up and the costumes. It transforms them." At the question of where Svetlana went he swallows. "Gone," he says with a slight shake of his head.

She's definitely dead.

[prodigalmess]

"Just like you felt when you watched Svetlana dance, right?" Malcolm asks. "Transformed. Zachary... I'm so sorry for your loss... but this won't bring her back. I want to help you. Will you let me help you?"

[thatsfascinating]

Edrisa can hear Malcolm's voice in her grey semi-consciousness, and she tries to focus on it as every other awareness is slipping into a darkness she isn't certain she will return from.

The man shakes his head again, sorrow and anger warring on his face. "How can you help? There's nothing you can do." Anger begins to win over, and he glares at Malcolm, raising the gun again. "You're just trying to distract me."

[prodigalmess]

"There's nothing either of us can do," Malcolm says, keeping his gaze on Zachary and not the gun. "But think about Svetlana. Is this what she would have wanted? For you to take lives because of her?"

Gil tells him that the sniper is in position. "You need more time," Malcolm says, trying to convey a message to Gil without tipping Zachary off. "You need more time to honor Svetlana and you know this can only end one of two ways."

They're surrounded by SWAT. The only way Zachary gets out of here alive is if he puts his gun down and surrenders. Malcolm isn't sure that he's in his right mind to make a rational decision though.

[thatsfascinating]

He's trembling again, his brain desperately trying to hold on to the reality he's built for himself, a reality where he can bring back the woman he loved and lost, where the woman he murdered, the woman he's in the process of murdering, are just background characters, not really people, just potential vessels, their lives worth less than Svetlana's life. He can't accept that nothing will bring her back. But the reality of his position gets through to him, and his eyes begin to tear up at the realization.

"I failed her," he whispers. "It's all over."

The hand holding the gun shakes as he begins to lift it to his own head.

[prodigalmess]

"You didn't fail her." Malcolm slowly starts to get to his feet. "There are a lot of things in life that are out of our control."

"Malcolm, you're in the line of fire," Gil tells him. "You need to move."

Not yet. He's almost there.

"The only thing we can control are our choices. Right now, you can make the choice to try to get some help, but you have to put the gun down first."

[thatsfascinating]

The man watches Malcolm get to his feet but doesn't move the gun from his own head. He listens to what he says, his eyes on Malcolm's, searching them, trying to find something in them, some strength, some truth, an answer, something. It's a long moment, his hand shaking, his finger right on the trigger, so close to death, while nearby Edrisa's life is seeping out of her as she begins to lose even her ability to concentrate on Malcolm's voice...

Then with a sob he lowers the gun and collapses to his knees.

[prodigalmess]

"Okay," Malcolm says. "It's okay."

He makes sure that Zachary lets go of the gun, then kicks it away. He helps the other man up. "We're coming out," he tells Gil through the earpiece. Putting his hand on Zachary's arm, he leads the way. As much as he wants to run to Edrisa, he knows he has to make sure that Zachary is secure before he can go to her.

As soon as they're outside, SWAT takes over and Zachary gets on the ground. "Edrisa needs an ambulance now!" he says before running back in to her. He crouches down next to her and cradles her face in his hands, tugging the rope away as he feels for a pulse.

"Edrisa... Edrisa!"

[thatsfascinating]

Edrisa is pale, her lips tinged with blue, and her skin is cold to the touch. Still, as Malcolm presses his fingers to her neck, he can feel a pulse, ever so faint yet still present.

[prodigalmess]

The faint pulse at least gives him hope. He wishes he had something to cut the rope though. "Edrisa... please..."

EMT arrives and they cut all of the ropes that have her tied to the pillar. Malcolm wants to take off his jacket and cover her with it but the medics won't let him get close enough. They lay her on the floor and begin CPR.

Malcolm looks on, horrified that she might die before his eyes. When he feels a touch on his arm, he turns to find Gil there with him.

[thatsfascinating]

It probably seems like forever to Malcolm, the EMTs bent over Edrisa, trying to get her heart pumping, trying to get oxygen to her brain. Her heart is still moving, if feebly, so they don't want to shock her if they don't have to, but they've brought over the AED just in case.

"Okay," the head EMT says, nodding to the woman with the AED. "We're going to need to use the paddles. Get it charged up and ready to..."

Edrisa suddenly gasps, her eyes flying open and darting from face to face bent over her.

"We've got her!" the EMT shouts, and they begin to stick on sensors and wrap a blood pressure cuff around her arm and start an IV in her hand. Edrisa looks confused and frightened.

[prodigalmess]

Tears are streaming down Malcolm's cheeks as he leans on Gil, sure that Edrisa isn't going to make it. He wasn't fast enough. He couldn't save her.

When she gasps for air, he runs to her side, even as the EMTs try to keep him back. "Edrisa! I'm here!"

He reaches through the bodies surrounding her and grabs her hand.

[thatsfascinating]

She turns her head toward him and her fear all but dissipates, her relief at seeing him palpable. She holds onto his hand with all her strength...which is almost none. She mouths his name right before an EMT puts an oxygen mask over her mouth and nose.

"Sir, please step back," the head EMT says as a stretcher is brought over and they get ready to lift her onto it. Edrisa's eyes widen and she shakes her head slightly, not wanting him to go.

[prodigalmess]

"She won't let go," he says. It's true. Her strength may be weak, but she's still clinging to him. "I'm her boyfriend."

Malcolm moves with them as they lift Edrisa onto the stretcher. If the EMTs want her to let go, they're going to have to pry her fingers open.

[thatsfascinating]

She sighs with relief when he stays with her as they lift her onto the gurney, then passes out, her hand going limp in his.

"We've got to get her warm," the head EMT orders, and they start tucking heat packs all around her body.