Finding You Always

Subterfuge

Chapter 97: Subterfuge

As per the new normal, David felt Snow getting near before she was there and he practically ran to her and their son when they got out of her car.

"Charming...what's happening?" she asked, as he folded her into his embrace and then hugged their son too.

"Dad..." Leo said.

"Quasimodo called me. One of the big cats...a white tiger was skinned," he said, as gently as possible. Snow gasped and put a hand over her mouth.

"You mean...for its pelt?" Leo asked. David nodded. Leo looked brokenly over his father's shoulder and saw the tarp draped over what he knew was the body of the animal. He started toward it, but David stopped him.

"Dad..." he protested.

"Leo...there's not much I can protect you from anymore, but this I can," David pleaded.

"But..." he said sadly, as the tears gathered in his eyes.

"Please baby...let us protect you from this," Snow pleaded.

"Nothing good will come from you seeing this," David added, as they hugged him between them.

"She did this...didn't she? That woman," he growled, as the tears started to fall.

"We think so. She's been known to hire this kind of thing to be done," David replied.

"Why...why did she have to do that?!" he cried, as they held him and shared a tearful gaze. Leo sniffed and furiously wiped his tears away. He could feel the grief from all the animals too and it weighed heavily on him.

"I'm going to see Quasimodo," he said, as they watched him go sorrowfully.

"Oh Charming..." Snow cried, as they hugged fiercely.

"I want to make her pay...for hurting one of our babies like this," Snow said.

"She will...she won't get away with this, I promise," he replied.

They saw Bashful approaching and they pulled apart slightly.

"I won't know for sure until I get the forensics to the lab, but I'm almost certain this was done with the same dagger as the murders," he reported. David sighed.

"Which means Aiden Slade isn't our killer," he deduced.

"Then Cruella hired the killer to do this, which means she knows who it is," Snow said, as they shared a look.

"We need find them," he said.

"Maybe we need to divide and conquer first," she replied. His brow furrowed in confusion.

"Regina and I were talking earlier. Gold is a big enough problem as it is. We know whatever his plan is ensures that he doesn't lose Belle and Neal," she stated.

"Yeah, that's what I don't get. They've already rejected him. They'll never be okay with what he's doing," he replied.

"Which means whatever he has planned, whatever is involved in cleaving himself from the dagger probably includes a way to erase their memories," Snow said.

"That's the only way they would leave Storybrooke with him, but don't you need another curse to do that?" he asked. She shrugged.

"So we think, but we have no idea what kinds of things this Chernabog is capable of. Potentially, he's more powerful than even Gold," she replied.

"Or Emma," he muttered.

"Yes...and he basically has three Generals at his disposal to do his bidding, but we know the Queens of Darkness well enough that they don't just follow orders for nothing," she said, as she started pacing.