Red's Love

Chapter 4

Raymond Reddington's POV

I coughed "When did I meet you?" the woman crossed her arms "Are you serious?"

"Humor me." the woman replied "Last night." I coughed.

"Before you threw me in the car and drove me here." I stared at her "Here? I-I, uh - Who lives here?"

"How would I know? I got here in the trunk of a car!" I nod "Right. I know this is -" I clear my throat "- an unusual, frightening predicament. But I assure you, I mean you no harm." The woman crosses her arms in disbelief.

"Says the man with the gun." I cough "What is your name?"

"Elise." I cough. The woman watches me "Elise Storm. Hey, hey. Can you be careful with that thing?" I exhaled "Was I alone last night, or was I accompanied by- anybody - my associate? Uh, Dembe."

My gun falls to the floor. Elise jumps up and goes to the door and tries to unlock it. I start coughing violently "No." I get up and try to stop Elise from leaving. I keep coughing violently. 

"What is wrong with you?"

"I don't know."

"You need a doctor." I continue coughing

..............................

Red's POV third person

Glass shatters as Red smashes the glass door of a pharmacy. He coughs "We're looking for corticosteriods, bronchodilator." Bottles thud as an unsteady Red bumps against shelves in an aisle.

"Oh - Go, go, go. I'm fine." he pants and breathes heavily. Elise looks through rows of medicine bottles behind the counter. Pills rattle.

"Corticosteriods."

"Oh. I've lived my entire adult life surrounded by - a corona of death. Some days I've even longed for it." The cap for the medicine bottle pops open. "But lately, I - I find I'm - " the pills rattle "I'm unwilling to go gentle into that good night."

"Bronchodilator." Red collapses against the counter an loses consciousness. Elise races to him "Sir? Sir?!"

...............................

"We were told Mario Panetti poisoned her." Liz nodded "That's what we thought too, but this situation has taken a turn. We found surveillance footage." 

Ressler looked at Helen's parents "Do either of you recognize this woman?"

"When was this?" Ressler answered "Last weekend."

"That's impossible. Helen and Robert have a very happy marriage."

"He's a model husband. They've been head over heels for each other from the day they met. He'd never dream of straying."

"We had to bully her into getting in the prenup, for God's sake." Liz looked at the parents "There's a prenup?"

Back at the Post Office

Liz speaks to the team "Helen's father was a hedge fund titan. His New York firm was worth $4.7 million. His children and his children's children are set for life."

Ressler nodded "To protect his daughter from gold diggers, John Tadsen made Robert sign a prenup. Now, according to the agreement, there's no payout for death or divorce before 10 years."

Cooper replied "How long have Helen and Robert been married?"

"They're two weeks shy of their 10 year anniversary." Aram nodded "So, that's either a really, really bad coincidence or - " Ressler finished his sentence

"Or Helen found out about the mistress, and Robert put her in the penalty box so she couldn't divorce him before the prenup expired." Aram sighed

"What's the payout after 10 years?"

"Close to $15 million." Ressler nods "I think we could bring this guy in, take a run at him." Cooper shakes his head

"No. Take a shot at the girlfriend first. Let's just see how much she really loves this guy."