SEE PART ONE FOR INFO
PART 5
"Edith?"
The voice was soft, tentative, over her shoulder. Although she really
could care less right now if Frank was trying to be nice or not. All she could
think of was the fact that Claudia Brown's body was found a mere hour after they
had the ID. Coroner said the body was still warm, and roughly without the
detail of an autopsy placed the time of death at around three hours earlier.
Three hours.
A hand was placed on her shoulder. She was pretty sure it was Frank's.
But she still stared at the open warehouse door with the crime scene tape and
ant farm of police and FBI activity.
Three hours earlier a terrified Claudia Brown had stared up at her
killer moments before he slit her throat.
"Come on, Edith, snap out of it." Impatience was finally starting to
work its way through Frank's voice. Well, it was his own damn fault. He should
know by know that Edith Hephzibah Lyman did not take defeat easily. In fact,
she didn't like to take it at all.
Three hours.
"Frank, I swear to God if you don't remove your hand from my shoulder,
I'm going to remove it for you. Surgically." She turned and faced a rather
relieved Frank. You know, he was kind of oddly and annoyingly endearing when he
was worried about her. Donna had pointed out to her several times since meeting
him that he was an attractive man. And that was absolutely the last thing she
wanted to think about right now.
His hand dropped from her shoulder. "Agent Baker went over and checked
the apartment again. Still vacated."
"Yeah. This Edward Boreman's a bit of a slippery bastard."
"Well, he's all degrees of bastard if you ask me."
"Six aliases, Frank, and I'm sure he's come up with another."
"We'll find him."
"Yeah." She rubbed the back of her neck. "Come on, let's grab some
Chinese somewhere. This is going to be one hell of a long night."
"You think?"
"Tonight is so very not the night you want to piss me off, Frank. Let's
go."
"Yeah."
It was six in the morning by the time Edith finally made it back to apartment.
She still was far too pissed off and worked up to be tired, though. Might as
well catch the morning news and go ahead and make a pot of coffee.
She placed her coat on the rack and entered into the living room. She
noticed that the TV was on and that someone was asleep on the couch, but she
didn't pay much attention, assuming it was Donna. She seemed to have that
tendency on Saturday nights when she had her popcorn and old movie thing.
In the bathroom she sighed as she slipped out of her suit at last and
grabbed a shower. There was no way in hell she was going to sleep. She didn't
actually anticipate sleep until this damn case was over. Not to mention the
fact that she felt the dire need of a shower, after feeling tainted by the
night's proceedings. She swore, even despite the clinging odor of Chinese food
and the air freshener in her office that the smell of decay in that warehouse
was still with her. It still filled her nostrils with the horror of what had
happened to Claudia Brown. But she wouldn't have been killed in that warehouse.
No, she would've been killed elsewhere. Not in Boreman's own basement, that she
doubted very much.
Back in her room she changed into khakis and a long-sleeved blue shirt,
not wanting to wear another suit, but still wanting to be ready if she needed to
go to the office. Her gun and holster she just placed in her top nightstand
drawer.
Which drew her attention to her bed.
It couldn't be. Edith picked up the old, worn, stuffed bunny rabbit and
looked at it carefully. It couldn't possibly be the one Joanie used to...
Abruptly, she remembered Donna telling her that Josh said he had something to
give her. He must've come by and dropped it off anyway.
He gave her Jojo.
Edith felt tears stinging her eyes for the first time in the many years
since her beloved cousin's death. She clutched Jojo as she cried for Joanie, as
she cried for the pain it caused Josh, and as she cried her frustration over the
people she couldn't save. Karen Harris. Miriam Smith. Sarah Marcus. And the
newest additions, Harriet Connor and Claudia Brown.
"Edith?"
She jumped up and spun around, startled. "Josh?! What the hell are you
doing here?"
Josh stood in the doorway, still in the remnants of what had to be
yesterday's suit. His tie and jacket were missing, his sleeves rolled up, and
he looked the far side of rumpled. He ran a hand through his hair, also
completely rumpled. "Donna and I were watching movies and I fell asleep. I
guess she didn't want to wake me." He gestured with a thumb over his shoulder
towards the living room. "You know, you guys have an amazingly comfortable
couch."
"Yeah," Edith said. She bit her lip. "You gave me Jojo."
"Yeah." He just looked at her.
Edith closed the space between them and grabbed him in a big bear hug.
"Thank you, Josh. I love you, despite the fact that you're utterly despicable
and I can't believe I'm related to you."
He hugged her back just as tightly. "Same goes for you, Hephzibah."
"Oh, shut up, Solomon." Edith pulled away. "I'm going to make
coffee.
You want breakfast?"
"You can cook?"
"I can scramble eggs and fry bacon okay."
"Sounds great."
They headed to the kitchen, and there Edith turned on the morning news,
made coffee, and started to fry the bacon. Josh sat down at the table and
switched the channel to CNN. They shared the kitchen in a few silent,
companionable minutes until a confused looking Donna entered, still in her
pajamas and a bathrobe.
"It's like morning with the Cleavers," she said, taking a mug from a
cabinet and pouring herself coffee.
"My, aren't you pleasant in the morning, Donnatella?"
"I try, Joshua. And no, I'm not handing you a cup of coffee."
He sighed. "I didn't think so." He stood and poured himself a cup
while Donna added milk and sugar to hers. An idle thought crossed his mind –
Was this what it would be like? – and he firmly shook it away. Besides, as much
as he loved his cousin, he didn't envision her as part of his and Donna's
married mornings. Married? Where the hell were these thoughts coming from and
why wouldn't they stop? Josh again shoved any of those thoughts to the back of
his head.
It was made easier by the CNN headline of the murder of a woman named
Claudia Brown, and Donna's subsequent gasp. Josh blinked, a bit confused.
Edith studiously began scrambling the eggs.
Donna turned towards Edith. "Rough night?"
Edith snickered, but it wasn't exactly a good-natured sound. "You could
say that, yeah."
Suddenly it clicked. "Edith, was that the case you..."
"Yeah."
"Did you catch him or her?"
"Him, and no."
"Not yet, though, right?" Donna asked, sounding concerned.
"Yeah," Edith said, still concentrating on the eggs.
"But you got an ID."
Edith turned around with a sigh. "Edward Boreman, thirty three years of
age, medium height, fairly handsome, short, curly black hair. He likes to
kidnap women of a demographic we can't identify yet, keep them bound in some
sort of basement, where they are starved, dehydrated, and suffer from mild
hypothermia. After a rapidly accelerating cycle of time, he likes to rape them,
slit their throats, and then sexually assault their corpses again. Is that
enough detail for everybody? Or would you like me to go into even more detail?
I can whip out the coroner's report for you."
"Edith..."
She ignored Josh. "You know the scariest part? I can tell you why he
does it, I can tell you why he likes it, hell, I can probably even tell you how
it started. But I can't tell you who's next. Because I don't know. I
don't
know what connected Harriet Connor and Claudia Brown, and I don't know what's
going to set him off on the next woman he tortures."
She turned back to the stove. "Eggs are done."
For a long moment, all either Josh or Donna could do was stare. And
then Josh, recognizing the unspoken need for the subject to be dropped, said,
"I'll grab the plates."
Donna grabbed the silverware and napkins, while Josh also poured the
orange juice. Edith served the food, and they ate and carried on a normal
conversation, trying to give a basis of normality in a world that was rapidly
turning on its head.
TBC
Lilac - 6
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