Fractured (Broken Part 2)

In Laws

"That's great news Dr. Hamilton. Malcolm will be so excited. Thank you." I said after listening to what my OB/GYN said.
"You sound distracted. Is everything alright?" She asked.
"No. Yeah. I'm fine. It's just work." I forced a smile to come through my voice.
"Alright, be careful Lilian. Stress isn't good for you or the baby. Talk to Malcolm about maybe stepping back a little." She suggested.
My heart ached at the mention of my missing husband.
"Yeah. I'll do that." I muttered as Sophie walked towards me.
"Listen, I've gotta go. I'll take it easy." I promised before hanging up.
"It's not good to lie to your doctor." She said.
"What did you find?" I asked turning to her with a smirk.
"Almost nothing you didn't already. Dani and JT are taking the syringe back to Edrisa in New York City but it's a five hour drive." She sighed.
"We might not have five hours." I shook my head looking around the mansion.
"Do you think Martin will hurt Malcolm?" She asked.
"Honestly, no. Not physically anyway, but he's been telling Malcolm that they're the same since he was ten years old. This may be the chance he needs to try and force him to break; to kill someone." I answered.
"They're not the same." Sophie said firmly.
"I've been telling him that for 23 years." I smiled sadly at her.
"Has Aaron figured out what's wrong with the coms?"
"He says that they probably only have an effective radius of fifty miles or so. He said, and I quote, 'Once we find Malcolm I'm getting her a better damn com system.'" She answered.
"Is CSU finished in the basement?" I asked.
"Yeah?" She answered questioningly.
"Why?" Marshal Emily Ruiz asked walking up behind Sophie.
"We're going to run through what happened."
"Is that a good idea?" Sophie asked.
"It's the only idea. I have to try to put myself into Martin's shoes. See if I can figure out exactly what happened, maybe even where they're going." I answered.
"How can you do that?" Emily scoffed at me.
"It's a profiling technique called role playing." I answered dismissively.
Downstairs I sat in the chair with broken straps that I suspected Martin has been strapped to and closed my eyes.
The doorbell rang pulling Vivian's attention. Malcolm's breathing remained weak. The embolism still working through his bloodstream. Then the doorbell rang again.
"What are you doing? Complete the extraction! Vivian!" I yelled after her as she walked out of the room.
"Lily..." Malcolm muttered his wife's name.
"I'm going to get you home to her, my boy. I promise." I said as I struggled against my bindings as Malcolm's heart rate monitor continued beeping.
"Malcolm, I need you to stay with me." I said as Malcolm's heart rate increased dangerously until he flatlined again.
"Malcolm!" I called out his name.
I finished ripping the bindings from my wrists and successfully released my ankles.
"Don't worry, my boy, it's like you said... This is what I do." I insterted the needle into his chest extracting the last of the air Vivian injected into him.
"Please come back to me. Please, please, please. This is all for you, remember? All for us."
Malcolm gasped and the heart rate monitor began beeping steadily again.
"You saved my life." Malcolm whispered as he met my eye.
"They've found us." Vivian said from behind me.
My breath caught and I spun, placing my body between Vivian and my son.
A loud pounding reverberated through the mansion.
"FBI!" Sophie Sander's voice called.
"I will always love you, Martin. Always." Vivian almost whispered.
I watched in shock as she slid the knife in her hand into the left side of her chest.
"I called the police." Vivian said.
"This isn't gonna work, Vivian." I answered.
"I've seen prison now. I can't go back there. I'm not as strong as you are." She yelled.
"You have two men locked in a torture dungeon. No one's gonna believe you're the victim." I told her.
"Why not? He did." She exclaimed pointing at Malcolm.
He still lay behind me slipping in and out of consciousness.
Three gunshots rang out immediately followed by a door slamming open.
Vivian screamed out and ran from the room.
"You know, I think there may be something very wrong with that woman. Okay, come on." I told Malcolm as I worked on the straps binding him to the gurney.
Malcolm gasped in pain.
"It's okay. It's all right, it's all right. You're safe now." I soothed him gently.
"She's right. They're going to kill you. Run." Malcolm whispered, his breathing still labored.
I considered his words for a brief moment.
I hadn't heard Lily's voice. There was a chance she wasn't even here.
I rushed to the back door.
Paused.
Then turned back.
Malcolm writhed on the table. Could I really leave him here to face Vivian's accusations?
No.
I rushed back to him throwing his arm around my shoulders and half carried him as I ran from the mansion.
His feet half dragged through the dry dirt.
A boat floated in the water. Once we were inside the boat I helped Malcolm lay down on the bench on the deck.
As expected the key to the boat hung in the ignition.
I sighed and opened my eyes to Sophie's expectant face and Emily's annoyed one.
"So?" Sophie asked.
"He broke the bindings here." I said standing up and moving towards the gurney.
"Finished the extraction of Malcolm's embolism. Vivian returned and he turned." I continued turning to face the room.
"Then one of two things happened. Either he attacked her stabbing her in the left chest or she did it herself."
"You think she's that crazy?" Sophie asked.
"I'm not sure." I admitted.
"I didn't hear him move across the room. The blood drops here prove this is where she was stabbed. She didn't scream out until after we breached the door." I moved across the room again.
I looked up at the ceiling.
"There's no cast off along the ceiling. Cast off occurs when an object, in this case a knife flies through the air after causing bleeding from a victim." I explained unnecessarily.
"If Martin stabbed her when he pulled the knife out there would have been cast off across the ceiling. He would have held the knife going back to Malcolm but there's no blood drops leading back to the gurney. Only out the door." I explained demonstrating how Martin would have stabbed Vivian.
"How do you know he held the knife that way?" Emily asked.
"I don't, not for certain anyway. When someone attacks someone else they either hold the knife by the handle that way and attack high, head, neck, upper chest, arms... Which brings me to Vivian's lack of defensive wounds. If someone came at me with a knife I'd raise my arms to deflect the knife. Vivian didn't do that."
"How else could he have held the knife?" Emily questioned again.
"For a lower attack he could have held the knife down at his side pointed out towards the front and came up into the stomach area." I sighed.
She tried my patience. I knew she believed Malcolm left with Martin as opposed to being abducted.
"It's impossible to stab someone in the upper chest that way?" Emily pushed.
"No. If he grabbed her by the hair or the neck and pulled her forward and down so she leaned over it's possible. However, she doesn't have bruising on the back of her neck and there's no indication he grabbed her by the hair. No hair strands on the floor. Are we finished with this line of questioning?" I asked.
"For now." Emily smirked at me.
"Okay. So, the crazy bitch stabbed herself. Why?" Sophie asked pulling my attention.
"To prove that Martin and Malcolm were the aggressors. Did you notice how she looked at me when I said CSU would run DNA on the syringe?" I turned back to look at her.
"Of course. I was worried I'd have to take her out myself. If it weren't for the EMTs I might have had to." She nodded.
"Now, Martin and Malcolm didn't pass us on their way out which means that they left through this door here." I walked forward to the backdoor.
"Be careful, Lily." Sophie called after me.
I laid my hand on my firearm as I pushed the door open.
A long empty hallway lay before me.
"Come on." I called back to her, not caring if Emily followed us or not.
Sophie and Emily followed me down the hallway that seemed to line the entirety of the basement to the only door leading out into the backyard.
"Tracks." I motioned to two sets of shoe prints that lead away from the door.
"It looks like Martin had to almost drag Malcolm across the yard." I noted the clear set of prints paired with a set of staggering prints.
As if he started to try to walk but then stumbled dragging his other foot.
I heard Emily scoff but chose to ignore it.
Sophie, Emily and I followed the tracks to a boat dock yet found no boat.
"They took a boat. Have Aaron get us the satellite footage of the area. See if we can track the boat." I told Sophie.
"On it." She said turning to walk away leaving me alone with Emily on the dock.
"I think you're fucking crazy and your piece of shit husband is The Surgeon's accomplice." Emily hissed at me.
"If you think that just because I'm pregnant I won't knock you off this dock and drown you, you are sorely mistaken." I growled.
Emily and I stared at one another in a show of dominance for more than thirty seconds before she looked away from me.
"I guess we'll know for sure when the DNA from the blood in the syringe comes back." I sighed.
"I guess we will." She shot back at me.
She turned on her heel and stormed away.
My very young child fluttered around beneath my stomach.
"I know, angel. We're going to find daddy. I promise." I muttered gently running my hand over my bump and looking down Cumberland Bay as a slight breeze picked up pushing my hair up behind me.
"James Wright." James answered the phone when I called.
"James it's Lily." I sighed.
"What's going on?" He asked.
"You know I'm not the type to go over someone's head but I really need your help with this one."
"What do you have?" He asked.
"I have a recording from an open com from when Malcolm came to until Vivian's scream after we breached the door. I have a syringe full of blood that I'm certain is Malcolm's. I have a scene that doesn't line up with the supposed victim's story. And I have a US Marshal who thinks I'm insane and biased." I told him.
"Could you be biased?" He asked.
I knew he was covering his own ass but it still pissed me off.
"You know me, James. You know Malcolm. Do you honestly think he would help his father abduct anyone?" I asked.
My heart pounded in my chest as James paused.
"I can be at the 16th precinct in five hours or so." He said.
"Me too." I answered.
"Thank you James."
"Will you have the DNA back by then?"
"Let me check with Dr. Tanaka and I'll get back to you."
"I hope you're right, Lilian." He said.
"I know I'm right."
I called Edrisa as soon as I hung up with James.
"Lily? Did you find him?" She asked.
"No. Not yet. A colleague from the US Marshals Service is meeting me at the precinct in five hours, can you have the DNA back by then?" I asked.
"Oh, for sure. The hardest part is creating the DNA profile from the syringe which is already running. Then all I need to do is compare it to Bright's which is on file and go from there." She answered.
"Thank you, Edrisa. I'll see you soon."
It killed me to make the trip back to New York City knowing in my heart that Martin didn't take Malcolm that far south.
Even meeting James in the city felt like a waste of time, but I needed him to help me reign in Emily and the mansion wouldn't tell us where Martin was going anyway. It was only the last stop in Vivian's plan.
James stood on the stairs outside the precinct when I pulled up.
He stood roughly six feet tall, same as Gil and he wore a classic blue suit.
As I got out of my car I heard another door close down the way from mine.
It occurred to me then that Emily had followed me from Plattsburgh.
I shook my head as she rushed passed me towards him.
"Director Wright." She said the moment his eyes caught mine.
He held his hand up to her and walked to meet me at the base of the stairs.
"Lily." He said hugging me.
"Hey James." I sighed.
"How are you holding up?" He asked pulling back to hold me at arms length.
"We're okay. Worried about Malcolm." I admitted touching my bump.
"Of course. Whatever I can do to help." He nodded.
"Let's go down to the lab and see what Edrisa found." I suggested.
"Of course. Lead the way." He motioned me forward.
James followed me through the precinct to the elevator. Once we were alone he turned to me.
"Did you tell Ruiz to follow you?" He asked.
"No. I did not." I answered with a knowing look his way.
He nodded thoughtfully.
"Lily?" Edrisa called out my name when the elevator doors opened.
"What have you got, Edrisa?" I smiled once James and I rounded the corner.
"And you are?" She glared at him.
"Edrisa. This is James Wright. The Director of the US Marshals Service." I said drawing her attention back to me.
"James. This is Dr. Edrisa Tanaka. Major Crimes' medical examiner. She ran the DNA from the syringe for me." I finished the introductions.
"Right. The syringe. I don't know if this is good news or not but the blood in the syringe is a match to Bright's DNA." She handed me her report.
"It's good because it confirms that Malcolm is the victim but even though I knew it'd come back as his, it's never easy to hear that your husband is a victim of a crime like this." I answered solemnly turning to look at James.
"I think it's time the Marshals step aside and let you do what you're good at." James nodded at me.
"I am sorry it came to this Lily." James said as we sat in Gil's office.
"You know I hate not handling shit like this myself but with Malcolm missing I don't have time for that kind of constant questioning and opposition. If I thought for even a second that she'd objectively view the evidence I wouldn't have called." I sighed.
I touched my bump again as our baby moved again.
"Are you alright?' James asked concerned.
"Yeah. I can feel them moving." I answered reassuringly.
"Ruiz and I will head back to DC in the morning, unless there's something else I can do?" He asked.
"I have a team here I trust. That Malcolm and I should have leaned on more." I smiled sadly at him.
"Lean on them now."
"Thank you James." I nodded.
Reluctantly, I drove home to try and rest not just for the sake of the baby but also to clear my mind.
The light from our living room illuminated the foyer when I walked in which I hadn't expected.
"Jessica?" I sighed once my eyes found my mother-in-law sitting on one of my couches.
"Did you find him?" She asked standing up.
"Yes and no. They were there but Martin took him out the back as we breached the house." I told her.
"What aren't you telling me?" She asked.
My stress clearly evident to her as my shoulders sagged forward.
"Vivian Capshaw gave him what's called an air embolism." I sighed sitting down on the couch.
I couldn't help but chuckle as she looked at me in confusion sitting down next to me.
I could feel my tears stinging behind my eyes.
"She injected air into his vein. When the air reached the arteries in his lungs it made it incredibly difficult to breathe until it killed him." I explained.
She gasped as my breath caught in my throat, emotion threatening to overtake me.
"He flatlined twice. We found a syringe full of blood. Edrisa ran a DNA test and it matched Malcolm's. It's likely that Martin managed to mitigate the embolism."
"That means he'll be okay, right?" She asked.
"From the embolism, yes. From Martin, I have no idea." I sighed.
"Do you think he'd bring him back to the city?" She asked.
"Honestly, no. But the mansion Vivian held them in isn't going to tell me where Martin would take him. He has no connection to it. No, that answer is here. Either up in the Never Ever Room or back at Claremont. That's how I'll find them."
"Lily, I..." She started but the ringing of my doorbell cut her off.
"Hold that thought." I sighed getting back up to answer the door.
On my doorstep stood Gil Arroyo looking nearly the worst I'd ever seen him. Certainly the worst I'd ever seen him standing on his feet. JT Tarmel and Dani Powell looking just as bad.
"What's happened?" I asked, my heart pounding in my chest.
He didn't kill him. He couldn't have.
"May we?" Gil asked.
"Oh! Yes, of course. Jess is here too." I motioned them inside.
They followed me into the living room and sat down along the large sectional next to the couch Jess and I sat on.
"What's going on?" I asked again.
"Edrisa told us the results of the DNA test. You were right and he almost died because... because we were so convinced that Malcolm's judgement was clouded." Dani rambled.
"Vivian was released from the hospital. Sophie is going to bring her down for questioning. I'm sorry, Lily. I..." Gil started but I held my hand up to stop him.
"No. I am the only one that outranked Ruiz. If I had called James earlier then maybe..."
Gil reached forward and took my hands.
"We all could have handled things differently. All that matters now is finding Malcolm." When I met his eye I could feel his pain.
"What do we do now?" He asked.
"I already have Aaron combing through satellite footage to find the boat I suspect they left on. When Sophie gets Vivian down here we'll have to figure out how to get her to break. In all honesty, I don't think she can tell us where Martin would take Malcolm. Her conviction, which I intend to get, can wait until we find Malcolm." I explained.
"How are we going to do that?" Jessica spoke up finally.
"Where would Martin take him?" Dani asked.
I thought back to Martin's message on Malcolm's phone.
"I'm not a killer anymore. Whatever you hear, whoever tries to rattle your faith in me, what I am about to do is not about murder. No. This is about family. Everything I'm doing, everything I've done, it's all for you. For us. I hope you find me, son. You're the only one who can."
Then I considered what Malcolm said in that ambulance the next morning.
"I'm not saying I believe him. But I'm sure he believes it... He'll want his actions to match his self-concept as long as possible."
Vivian foiled his original plan.
"He wants to convince Malcolm he's a changed man. That he's not a killer anymore. Maybe we need to think about how Martin views Malcolm as opposed to who Martin is." I answered.
"What do you see, when you go with him to Claremont?" JT spoke up.
"Partner... Partners. Martin used that word a lot. Malcolm is a justice seeker. He solves murders, saves people. We need to pull all the missing persons reports in the Northeast in the last month. I'll pull Malcolm's file from the FBI and we'll have to cross reference the missing from the victimology of the active serial killers that Malcolm has profiled." I explained.
"That could still be an incredibly long list." JT looked at me.
"I know, but it gives us a place to start. I remember more than one instance where Martin called the FBI to try to talk to Malcolm about our cases." I mused.
"Okay. We'll go back to the precinct and start on that." Gil said standing up.
"I have to see Jessica off to home and eat something before our child rebels against me from the womb then I'll drive out to the FBI office for Malcolm's case files and meet y'all at the precinct." I sighed.
"Be careful, Lily." Dani said as I walked them out.
"I always am." I smiled at her.
"I really am sorry, Lily..." She continued.
"No. Gil's right. We all should have leaned on one another more. We just need to find him."
She reached over and hugged me.
"I'll see you soon."
Jessica stood at my window staring out into the rose garden along the side of our home when I returned.
"Jess, what's going on?" I asked.
Her anxiety rivaled mine the entire time I'd been home but especially since Major Crimes arrived.
"I have a confession." She admitted.
I sighed heavily sitting back down on my couch.
"What is it?"
"Martin called me. After Sophie dropped me off at home yesterday. He asked for my help then Vivian got on the line... She told me to keep it between us." She admitted.
"And you did..." I muttered.
It was both so easy and so hard to be upset with her. On the one hand I listened to Malcolm flatline twice in part because no one believed us about Vivian and we were left largely on our own. Something that may have changed had she come forward earlier.
On the other hand the things I knew Martin did, not only to his victims but to Malcolm and Jessica made it so understandable that she chose to keep it to herself and hope that they'd be rid of him.
"You're upset with me." She said and I realized I'd been silent too long.
"No... You have to understand what I went through driving up there; what Malcolm went through at her hand. I got rid of the Marshals but if Gil's higher-ups are also convinced he's Martin's accomplice and Vivian is a victim..." I trailed off with a sigh.
"I'm sorry, Lily." She bowed her head slightly.
"You should have told Gil and the others." I told her.
"How?" She sighed.
"The same way you told me." I looked at her again.
"They need to know what we know. I may be the best but even I can't do this on my own." I admitted.
"I'll talk to him." She muttered.
I nodded for a moment.
"For now, go home Jess. Try to rest. Let us do what we do. We'll bring him home." I tried to reassure her.
She nodded and I walked her out to where Adolfo waited.
"I'll call when I know anything." I promised as she hugged me.
She forced a smile at me before turning to walk down the walkway and climbing in the backseat of the SUV.
I sighed as I closed the front door behind me. Our home never felt as big and empty as it did in that moment.
Martin had to know that if he hurt Malcolm I'd hunt him down. He had to be okay.
I forced myself to walk the length of the house to our kitchen.
Opening the cabinet I found my favorite cereal and decided on that. It was easy and quick so I could get moving but I knew that Malcolm would hate it if he found out I wasn't adequately taking care of myself and thus our baby.
As I began to drive out to the FBI office my heart began to race and my fingers trembled.
I couldn't help be reminded of what happened the last time I'd gone to the office alone after hours.
I could almost feel the rough hands of Endicott's goon wrapped around my waist throwing me into the pillar.
"Lily? What's wrong?" Dani answered her phone on the first ring.
"Can I swing by and pick you up? I can't go there by myself." I asked.
"Of course. I'll be outside." She quickly agreed.
"Thank you." I breathed.
I pulled up outside the precinct and Dani climbed into the passenger seat.
"Are you okay?" She asked gently.
"Yeah... It's just... The last time I went to the FBI office on my own I was attacked in the parking garage and driving out there I couldn't breathe right." I explained a rouge tear betraying me.
"A panic attack. I get them sometimes." She reached over and took my hand.
"I've had them before. A lot after I left Bryce but since being back with Malcolm I haven't. Anger and fear when Malcolm was missing last but this was... debilitating." I nodded.
"Well, I'm here and I've got your back. Nothing's going to happen." She promised.
"Thank you." I smiled at her.
"Sophie said you got a call from the doctor while you were in Plattsburgh?" She asked as we made the trip out to the FBI field office.
"I did, yeah. All the blood work and tests came back normal. Happy and healthy baby in there." I smiled at her.
"You guys decided to do the gender blood test, right?" She asked.
"We did." I nodded.
"So, you know? What you're having?" She pushed.
"I do." I nodded again.
"Well?" She asked expectantly.
"Well, their daddy should be the first to know, don't you think?" I teased.
"Fine." She pouted playfully as I pulled into the parking garage.
"Come on." I giggled as I opened my car door.
"This shouldn't take fifteen minutes."
"What exactly are we doing?" She asked as we rode the elevator up to my office.
"I have to print out the profiles Malcolm delivered here in the Northeast. I'll start with the unsolved ones. There aren't many but that's the place to start, if we don't find anything then we'll have to branch out into the solved cases, knowing Martin he has an opinion on absolutely everything." I explained.
"How is it possible he worked on 356 cases?" She asked carrying the fairly small box of papers.
I'd only printed the full profiles for the cases that remained unsolved.
"Well, he worked with the FBI for ten years. It's only thirty-five or thirty-six cases a year." I answered giggling again.
"What the fuck is this?" I asked walking into the conference room.
A picture of my husband stared back at me from a wanted poster plastered in the center of the otherwise empty white board.
"Ruiz printed it and had it distributed while you were with Director Wright and Edrisa down in the lab." Dani answered.
"Of fucking course she did." I growled storming forward and ripping it down.
"What are we looking for?" JT asked as I turned back to them.
"What we're looking for is missing persons that fit the victimology of someone Malcolm profiled during his time with the FBI. He had a ninety-eight percent success rate. We only have eight still unsolved serial murder cases to go through. We'll each take two and check the missing against the characteristics of the victims in each case. If they don't fit set them aside. Hopefully, it'll narrow down our list." I explained.
"Gil, take Bridgeport Slasher and Augusta Phantom." I handed him two files, one from Connecticut and the other from Maine.
"JT, Boston Butcher, and Manchester Maneater." I handed him Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
"Dani, The Jersey Devil and The Philly Psycho." I gave her New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
"I'll take The Woodsman of Vermont and The Providence Monster." I sighed sitting down.
"Nothing from New York?" JT asked after we'd worked in silence for some time.
"Malcolm refused to work in New York. Didn't want Martin to see his name in the local paper and try to contact him." I answered glancing over at him.
"That's why you guys never came home!" Gil looked at me feigning hurt.
"We came home. Just not for work." I glared at him playfully.
I looked down at the next missing persons report and stopped.
"Jeannie Larkin." I muttered, mostly to myself looking at the picture of the missing woman.
"What?" Dani asked.
The color of her hair and eyes took me back to Northern Vermont, staring at the body of a young woman who looked almost exactly like Jeannie Larkin.
"March twenty second..." I continued, my mind racing.
"Lily?" Gil called my name.
"Huh?" I asked looking over at him.
"Care to share?" He asked, noting the look on my face.
"They're in Vermont." I answered laying the file out in front of me.
"Just like that?" JT asked.
"The Woodsman case was the last case I worked with Malcolm before he left me. Martin called the FBI tip line incessantly during that investigation. Worse than any other case we worked. And this woman... Jeannie Larkin, is nearly identical to his other victims. She was taken twelve days ago. The Woodsman holds his victims for two weeks exactly before killing them. This is where they are. I know it." I explained.
A light tapping caused us all to turn towards the door.
"Dr. Bright? Lieutenant Arroyo? Agent Sanders just arrived with Vivian Capshaw." A young uniformed officer told us, clearly uncomfortable with the attention.
"Thank you, Officer Stephenson." Gil nodded at him.
"Who's going to interview her?" Gil asked.
"The obvious choice is Lily. She can get a confession." Dani answered.
"Maybe, but she's seen me with Malcolm. I can't go in there on my own. She'll shut down in an instant." I sighed.
"We were all part of the Claremont investigation when Jerry was murdered, then Martin's escape." Gil sighed.
"I have an idea." I sighed again.
"What are you going to do?" He asked looking at me.
"Something I promised myself I'd never do." I answered cryptically.
I stood up and walked out of the room.
"Lilian?" His voice answered on the third ring.
"I'm almost surprised you answered." I sighed.
"We could hang up and do it again?" He suggested sarcastically.
"You know I wouldn't call if I had another option."
"It must be serious if an FBI Chief is calling on me for help." He agreed.
"I'm not calling as an FBI Chief. I'm calling as your niece." I answered.
"Where should I meet you?" He asked.
"The sixteenth precinct." I answered.
He hung up and I sighed leaning back against the wall.
"Lily? Is this going to be dangerous?" Gil asked finding me in the hallway.
"Not for me." I promised.
"He'd never forgive me if I let you get hurt." He reminded me.
"I know. I promise. Everything will be fine. We'll find him." I forced my smile to come across effortless.
Fifteen minutes later a tall man with deep brown hair and blue eyes, like mine walked into the bullpen.
"Lilian." He said my name as I walked out of the conference room.
"Uncle Logan." I said allowing him to hug me.
"What is it you think I can do, Lily?" He asked as we walked together towards interrogation.
"Vivian Capshaw." I said her name looking at him.
"What about her?"
"You do know her. That's what I thought." I sighed.
"So what, Lily? I know a lot of people through my work." He scoffed.
"She gave my husband an embolism. I listened to him flatline twice. She's told the US Marshals that she's the victim." I paused.
"I need you to come into interrogation with me."
"And do what? Interrogations are recorded." He shook his head.
"I want to help you, Lily. You and your family are the only family I have left but I don't know how I can help."
"I just need another presence that let's her know I'm serious. I can't just go in there as FBI chief and Malcolm's wife. She needs to know who I really am." I looked up at him.
"Grandpa disowned me when he found out. What would he think of this, now that the entirety of the Russell fortune is yours?" He mused.
"I'm not asking you to kill her. Just to intimidate her so she'll slip. If I go in there alone she'll shut down then when I do find my husband we'll have to face another scandal. Don't you remember how The Surgeon's arrest changed the perception of the entire family?" I paused.
"I'm pregnant, Logan. I can't go through that. Knowing he's innocent and I didn't do absolutely everything I could to prove it. Help me. Please." I nearly begged.
We didn't have a lot of time. We needed to get to Vermont.
"Okay. Okay, Lily." He finally nodded touching my shoulder.
"I'm surprised they're letting you take my statement." Vivian smirked at me as I walked in.
"Who do you think I need permission from?" I asked.
"I have the highest rank here."
"Go ahead and start from the top." I urged.
"When I left Claremont after talking to you and Malcolm I was hit from behind." She began, feigning a shudder saying Malcolm's name.
"When I came to I was in that room strapped to the gurney and he was there. The Surgeon. I was terrified. Then when Malcolm arrived, I thought he would save me, but no. All he cared about was his father. I knew it the moment he looked at me, with those cruel eyes." She continued.
"Lilian?" My uncle said opening the door.
"Do you have what I asked for?" I asked.
"I do." He said fully stepping into the room.
"You see, Vivian, I asked my uncle, Logan Russell to put a little something together for me to show you. I'm so excited." I gushed taking the phone from him.
"Let's start at the beginning, shall we? Oh! You two do know one another, right? I don't want to be rude." I asked.
Vivian's eyes hadn't left Logan since he walked in.
"No matter. You do know that all phone calls from Claremont are recorded though, right? Like this one?" I asked pressing play.
"We need to talk." Vivian's voice said on the recording.
"Martin?" I said.
"Vivian, this isn't a good time." Martin said.
"Then make time, Martin. Pete's onto us." She pushed.
"Vivian." Martin tried again.
"How could he know we're sleeping together?" She continued.
"Sounds like you have enough problems, Martin. Do not call me again."
"Oh! That's bad form, Vivian. Even for you." Logan said.
"You should also be aware that the Claremont parking lot has a barrage of camera's that I, myself, funded after the whole fiasco with Nicholas Endicott, right?" I asked bringing up the camera from the last time she left the hospital.
"See, that's you, leaving right after you talked to us, but I don't see an abduction. Not of you anyway." I showed the video to Logan before switching over to another one.
"This one. Now, this one is art." I gushed as she glared at me.
"See, there's Martin Whitly. Running out of Claremont after leaving a message on my husband's voice-mail, but, oh! Wait? Is that... is that you? Oh... Logan? What does that look like to you?" I asked turning the phone back to him.
"Oh, ya know, Lily? That looks like she injects him with something and oh, look, she's rushing to her car and... oh, wow... she's got a lot of strength to lift that kind of dead weight." Logan answered.
"That's what I thought too! Strange... then there's this one. Now, this is hard for me to play back, but for the full effect it's gotta be included." I looked at her.
"When was the last time you mitigated an embolism?" Vivian's voice asked.
"You're not equipped for that procedure here." Martin stuttered.
"No." My own voice breathed.
"Which is why, when I complete it, you'll understand my greatness is aligned with your own." She said.
"No, no, no, Vivian, Vivian, please, no. Vivian..." Martin practically begged but she hushed him.
The distinct sound of air hissing as Malcolm gasped.
"Malcolm..." I said his name but he didn't answer.
He gasped and wheezed.
"He's my son!" Martin yelled.
"And he's my patient." Vivian said calmly.
"This bitch is fucking crazy." I muttered.
The rapid beeping of a heart rate monitor gave way to a flatline.
"Malcolm! Malcolm, if there's anyway you can hear me don't you dare give up. Our child deserves to know their father." I said.
"If he dies, I won't kill you. No, I will make you live in pain... in agony... in ways that you can't possibly imagine." Martin yelled at her.
"How devilish." She responded sarcastically.
"Oh, I'm not the devil, Vivian. But I will show you hell." Martin growled.
"Get Sophie on the phone. Now." I said.
"It's a powerful thing, isn't it? Holding a life in the palm of your hand. I know what drives you, Martin. Because you know what? It drives me, too. What happens here today... binds us for life." Vivian said.
I heard Malcolm gasp weakly.
"Malcolm. Oh my God." I sighed.
"No, you... you have to complete the extraction before it reaches the pulmonary arteries." Martin begged.
"I can do without the mansplaining." Vivian snapped at him.
I heard the doorbell ring in the background.
Malcolm breathed weakly.
"Malcolm stay with me, baby. I love you. Do you hear me? I love you. Stay with me." I begged.
The doorbell rang again.
"Lily?" Sophie answered the phone.
"Someone's here." Vivian said I could hear her heels walking away.
"She gave Malcolm an embolism. She has to finish the extraction or he'll die. Don't ring the bell again." I told her.
"What are you doing? Complete the extraction! Vivian!" Martin yelled after her.
"I'm here, baby. You stay with me. You hear me? I love you. Malcolm?" I begged racing down the street.
I didn't speak at first as I grounded myself again.
"Now, what I'm certain I have is two counts of first degree kidnapping, obstruction of justice, at least one count of attempted murder but I suspect two, am I right? You injected Martin with those drugs, the Adenosine, Rivotril, and Fentanyl? We found remnants of the Adenosine in an empty syringe in the bedroom, of all places, but he knocked one out of your hand, didn't he? That's why you were at the storage facility? To restock?" I paused again.
"No matter. Now, we all know this conversation isn't admissible in court. The wife of the victim taking the statement?" I chuckled humorlessly.
"However, the evidence Logan has compiled on my behalf very much is. They might have to let you walk out of here eventually but if I were you I'd stay in New York. Who knows what kind of people might be waiting if you run..." I smiled at her with an obvious glance up at my uncle.
"Have a great day, Vivian. I look forward to attending your trial."
I stood up and walked out of the room with Logan close behind me.
"That was more fun than I thought. What else can I do?" He asked.
"I have to go find Malcolm. Keep an eye on her for me. Remember our agreement." I told him.
"Lily!" Ainsley called out rushing into the bullpen.
"I know where they are."