Broken

Scheherazade

"Hey, baby. How'd it go?" Malcolm asked when I walked back into the loft the afternoon before our debut at Endicott Estate.
"Great. The judge denied Carson's parent's request for visitation so that's positive. He's blossoming with Ashlyn and Cameron. Dani and I met Ainsley and your mom for brunch before going to the boutique. How about you? Did you find anything?" I asked settling in next to him on the couch.
"There's nothing in the case files or any of my father's personal records, notes, anything about where he left Sophie's body. How did you get them to let you move Carson to DC anyway?" He sighed.
"He's in FBI protective custody. FBI is federal. We can place him anywhere we deem appropriate. Malcolm, we've been searching for Sophie for over a month. It's time for us to think about talking to Martin."
"No, Lily. I'm not taking her to see him."
"This is running all three of us into the ground, Malcolm. We have to do something." I sighed.
"I know we do. We can't take her tonight anyway." He looked down.
"Of course not. Your mother will actually kill us if we don't show up tonight." I sighed.
"That's accurate." He nodded.
"Come on. We need to get ready." I took his hand and led him up into the bedroom.
An hour later Malcolm dressed in a high end black tuxedo with a black bowtie while I wore a navy blue floor length beaded flowy sheath dress with an empire waist, v-neck, cold shoulder cut out short sleeves and a mini train at the back hem. I styled my hair into a French Braid at the crown before twisting the remaining hair securing it into a Twisted Crown style.
"You are stunning." Malcolm muttered wrapping his arms around me.
"You clean up nice too." I teased as he kissed my neck.
"If you keep that up we're going to be late." I sighed.
"It'll be worth mother's wrath." He breathed running his palms along my waist.
"It absolutely would be but we're the guests of honor. It's our debut we really can't be late, my love." I reminded him.
"Dammit. Maybe we should elope and to hell with everyone else?" He asked.
"Now you're trying to get me murdered by your mother." I teased playfully pulling away from him.
"To be fair she has to find us to be able to kill us." He chuckled as he followed me down to the main hall.
"You know Jessica. She'll find us."
"She will..." He admitted.
"Come on. The car's here."
A young man stood out on the driveway as we arrived at the Endicott Estate. I was somewhat surprised that Nicolas wouldn't meet us himself. I'd never met the man personally but Jessica and he had be friendly even after Martin's arrest.
"My name is Michael Flynn. I'll be introducing you both once we get inside." The young man told us after helping me out of the back of the car.
"Wonderful." I mused as Malcolm laid his hand on my waist.
We followed young Michael up the grand outdoor staircase, through the front door, and into a grand hallway.
"I'll make the introduction, you'll both walk out onto the balcony, offer a smile, and descend the staircase to the right." He told us standing in front of a set of French doors.
"How did I let her talk me into this?" Malcolm muttered after Michael turned away from us.
"Your mother is very persuasive." I shook my head.
"Oh. You mean stubborn?" He sighed.
"At least we know where you get it from."
"Ladies and gentlemen. Without further ado I'd like to introduce Mr. Endicott's guests of honor. Heiress Dr. Lilian Russell and her fiance Mr. Malcolm Bright." Michael announced and we followed his instructions to the letter as the crowd applauded.
"I hate all this attention." Malcolm whispered after we'd greeted our fifth well wisher.
"Me too. We'll stay for the performance and slip out the back." I told him gently.
"Lily! Malcolm! I'm so glad you made it." Jessica exclaimed after finding us in the crowd.
"You didn't give us much of a choice, mother." Malcolm sighed.
"Malcolm..." I cautioned.
"I know. I'm sorry. You know we hate this kind of thing."
"It's important for the next generation of New York royalty to make their debut before their wedding." She smiled at us.
"Nicholas is looking forward to officially meeting you both after the ballet performance. They're performing Scheherazade. Isn't that wonderful?" She gushed before rushing off.
"What does that even mean?" I asked quietly.
"Scheherazade is a one-act ballet based on the prologue of "The Thousand and One Nights" of which Scheherazade, the legendary Persian queen, is the storyteller."
"Interesting." I muttered as Nicholas Endicott called the room together and introduced the dancers.
I caught sight of Jessica standing almost directly across from us her eyes on Nicholas.
He was roughly five foot ten with brown hair and eyes, impeccably dressed in a tuxedo nearly identical to Malcolm's.
Reluctantly I watched the ballerinas' performance. As the male, Javier, lifted the female, Fiona, up over his head I noticed a slight shaking in his arm. Not the sign of someone who'd been practicing ballet his entire life.
"Malcolm..." I whispered his name almost at the same time Javier exasperated blood into the crowd near Jessica before falling face down.
"Malcolm." I said his name stronger and more authoritative.
"Gather everyone in another room and call for paramedics and Major Crimes."
Malcolm nodded and enlisted his mother's assistance in clearing the room as I rushed forward to Javier and pressed my middle and index finger into the pulse point on his throat. There wasn't a pulse. He was already gone.
The paramedics arrived shortly after, confirmed that Javier had died and called for Edrisa.
Gil arrived first and met me in the hallway just outside the ballroom.
"What have we got?" He asked.
"Ballet dancer collapsed in the middle of a performance, already pronounced dead. Edrisa's on her way." I answered.
"You're a witness?"
"Malcolm and Jessica are here too." I nodded.
"Did you see anything out of the ordinary?"
"No. If I'm being honest I was hardly paying attention. Jess decided that Malcolm and I needed to make our debut to the upper echelon of New York. We were planning to make our escape shortly after the performance." I admitted.
"I have to admit I was surprised to find you here all dressed up. Doesn't really seem like your scene." Gil teased.
"Have you tried saying no to Jessica Whitly? It leads to pestering and near constant phone calls until she gets what she wants." I chuckled.
"Oh I believe that." He smiled wistfully.
Edrisa arrived shortly after and lead us through her initial examination.
Javier was obviously poisoned but there was no definitive way to tell what he was poisoned with until the toxicology report came back.
"Is now a bad time to tell you you were right?" Malcolm asked as we made our way back home.
"It's never a bad time to tell me I'm right." I smiled leaning back into his arms.
"About what am I right this time?"
"We should take Eve to talk to my father. It's the only thing we haven't tried to find Sophie." He sighed clearly still unconvinced that this was the right thing.
"We'll both be there. She'll be fine." I assured him.
"I hope you're right."
The next morning we picked up Eve from her apartment and drove her out to Claremont.
"Are you sure you're ready for this?" I asked after Mr. David laid out the ground rules for visiting Martin.
"I have to find her, Lily. No matter what it takes."
I nodded and looked at Mr. David giving him the okay to open the door.
Malcolm walked through the door first followed by Eve then me so Malcolm and I could flank Eve.
"Ah! A new friend? What a pleasant surprise." Martin exclaimed happily.
I could feel Eve's apprehension beside me as she stared down the man who killed her sister.
"Dr. Whitly, this is Eve Blanchard." Malcolm said as calmly as he could.
Eve stepped forward silently, directly across the red line on the floor until she was face to face with Martin then smacked him across the face.
Malcolm rushed forward and pulled her back over the red line.
I leaned against the wall smirking as the situation unfolded.
"The girl in the box that Malcolm found; her name was Sophie Sanders." Eve told him.
"And how do you know that?" Martin seethed his eyes darting between the three of us.
"She was my sister. Where is she?" She growled holding onto Malcolm's arm.
Martin looked simultaneously speechless, taken aback, and concerned all at once.
"I'm afraid I don't know." He admitted.
I wasn't sure why but I believed him.
"You were wrong this is a waste of time." Eve sighed exasperated.
"Lily and Malcolm thought you'd tell me the truth but I knew better. You're not some self styled genius. It's all fake. Pretend. You're not a surgeon. You're not a father. You're not even a man. You are a void. A hole that consumes anyone unfortunate enough to meet you. Like your son. Like my sister." Eve egged him on.
"I've told you all I can." Martin hissed.
Eve glared at him before turning around and slamming her hand against the door signaling Mr. David that she wanted to leave.
"Malcolm wait. You don't understand. You need to leave this alone." Martin attempted to caution his son.
"I'm done. When you're ready to tell the truth, we'll be back." Malcolm sighed before looking at me and extending his hand to me.
"You have to keep him away from this." Martin almost begged me as I took Malcolm's hand and followed him out of the room.
"Malcolm!" Martin called out after us.
"How'd I do?" Eve asked as we waited for the second door at the end of Martin's hallway to open.
"You were... brilliant." Malcolm told her looking at me.
"It's the first time in a long time that he looked rattled." I added as Malcolm wrapped his arm around my waist.
"That's a good thing right?" She asked looking between us.
"Malignant narcissists like my father thrive on supply." Malcolm explained.
"Supply?" She asked.
"They need to feel relevant. Needed, hated, loved, it doesn't matter. They need to be fed. We just cut him off. When he gets desperate enough, he'll give us what we want." Malcolm continued.
"I hope you're right. I don't know if I can do that again." She looked at me.
"You won't have to." I assured her.
It wouldn't work twice anyway. There's no way he'd let her walk across that line and slap him again.
"Do you believe him?" I asked Malcolm after we dropped Eve back off at her apartment.
"No. Why? Do you?"
"I'm not sure, honestly. Maybe." I answered with a sigh.
"What do you want to do?" He asked me after a moment.
"We'll let it play out. See what else he has to say." I answered with a sigh as I pulled up outside the morgue.
"Come on. We've got an autopsy to attend."
"Javier Suarez had high levels of both Warfarin and Heparin in his system. His doctor said he has been taking Cortisol shots for inflammation in his joints. I had the lab test the syringes in the sharps container in Javier's dressing room and they found traces of Warfarin and Heparin in one of the syringes." Edrisa was explaining when Malcolm and I walked into the morgue.
"Well, that's the delivery method. Those drugs are blood thinners which would explain the massive bleeding." Malcolm mentioned.
"High levels would cause internal bleeding until he exasperated the blood onto the crowd and fell to his death." I added nodding.
"We have to go back to the theater. Our killer has to be someone with access to Javier and his Cortisol." Gil sighed.
"Good luck. I have to meet with Special Agent Turner about Carson in an hour. I'll meet you after." I told my love as he walked me out to the car.
"Hopefully it'll go as well as court this morning." He smiled at me.
I kissed him and he ran off to Gil's car to meet Dani.
I sat in my office mindlessly browsing through Save the Date styles which we were easily two months behind in sending out. Jessica would kill me if I decided to skip it.
"Chief Russell? Ronald Turner to see you." My assistant Kathryn Watts said walking into the office.
"Thank you, Kate." I nodded minimizing the window I'd been browsing.
A tall African American man in a classic three piece suit walked in a moment later.
"Special Agent Turner." I greeted him standing up and shaking his hand.
"Chief Russell." He nodded.
"Have a seat. Let's get started." I gestured to the chairs in front of my desk.
"The Department of Children and Family Services has officially begun an investigation into Carson's treatment by Angela and Robert Martin. An FBI chief's testimony along with the medical records and pictures should be more than enough to have Carson permanently removed from his parents and placed. Do you know if Ashlyn and Cameron would be willing to adopt him?"
"We haven't discussed it. He's certainly thriving with them. I can talk to them about it once the case against his parents is presented. I don't want to get their hopes up." I answered.
"I'll be your direct contact to DCFS during this time. I've reviewed the case file and I can't imagine how they'd put Carson back with them. As soon as we get the official ruling I'll be the one to begin the adoption process." Ronald continued.
"I agree. The sooner we get him stable the better." I answered leaning back in my chair.
"At least we're in agreement. I'm going to start putting our own file together to back up DCFS." He told me standing up and reaching for my hand.
I stood and shook his hand and saw him out before returning to my chair.
I couldn't shake the feeling that I couldn't trust DCFS. Malcolm and I had watched The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez a few weeks prior to getting the call about Carson. New York and California were two different states but the lack of true concern for the abused transcended state lines.
I refocused on the room around me as my phone rang.
Malcolm <3
"Hey baby. How's it going?" I answered with a sigh.
"Slowly. You wouldn't believe these people. We found tights lined with straight pins, toe shoes stuffed with shards of glass, spiked oat milk, and capsaicin in contact solution." He explained.
"Ouch." I shook my head.
"Exactly. How was the meeting with Turner?"
"Good. We're on the same page." I sighed.
"What's wrong, Lil?" He asked.
"I just don't know about DCFS. I just don't trust that they'll do the right thing."
"We need to stay off Netflix." He chuckled.
"That would probably help." I smiled.
"Thank you for calling. I needed to hear your voice."
"I love you, Lily."
"I love you too sweetheart."
"Gil's found something. I'll see you soon."
"Bye, love."
I'd barely sat my phone down on the desk when it rang again.
Eve Blanchard
"Hey." I answered.
"Dr. Whitly just called me. He said he's ready to talk." She told me.
"Malcolm's still at the theater working a case. When he wraps it up we'll come get you."
"Okay. Do you believe that he doesn't know where she is?"
"Honestly, I do. I'm not sure why. Just intuition I guess." I answered.
"How can he not know where the body is?" She pushed.
"I don't know. If Malcolm's right and they took her on the camping trip, he could have tossed her body in the river after John." I sighed.
"Yeah, I guess... Will you text me when you're on your way?"
"Sure. I'll see you in a bit."
I hung up the phone and rested my head in my hands.
After a couple hours of mindless work I texted Eve:
Hey. Malcolm's still with Gil and the team. We'll have to talk to Martin tomorrow.
It's only 6:30. She responded immediately.
It's a psychiatric hospital. There are limits even for me. He'll be there in the morning. We'll go 1st thing. I promised.
I drove myself home and got in the shower.
Malcolm walked into the bedroom as I walked out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel.
"My God, you're a sight for sore eyes." He muttered.
"Rough ending?" I asked as we sat together on the bed.
"We thought it was Endicott but it wasn't. When we went to interview him mom was there. Ended up being Ivan Castillo, a Puerto Rican dictator that Javier was running from." Malcolm explained taking my hand.
"I just miss working side by side with you."
"I miss you too. I know I've been busy with Carson and wedding stuff since we're behind in the planning." I teased nudging him.
"My mother tell you that?" He chuckled.
"Nah. Just every single check list she's sent me since our engagement." I laughed.
"We'll be ready on time. Don't worry." He pulled me closer to him wrapping his arm around me.
"We have to take Eve back to Martin in the morning." I threaded my fingers with his.
"He called?"
"Not me. He knows he can't manipulate me. He called Eve."
"Of course he did." He sighed.
"This is what we wanted. He's desperate enough to call her."
"I know. I just don't know if I'm ready for what he's going to say." He admitted.
"We'll get through it together." I squeezed his hand.
"I love you." He kissed my temple.
"I love you too."
Malcolm and I walked hand in hand down the hallway towards Martin's cell once again as Mr. David glared at Eve, silently warning her against pulling another stunt like the last time.
"Thank God you're here." Martin exclaimed as we walked into the room.
"Are you ready to tell us the truth?" Malcolm asked calmly.
"Yes. Yes. I've been... I've been trying to order my thoughts... memories so it makes sense." Martin stumbled over his words.
"You've had long enough. Say what you're going to say about Sophie. I doubt you can do anymore damage than you've already done." Eve cut in.
"I have to warn you, Eve. I can always do more damage."
"Stop. You can't hurt me. What happened to Sophie?"
"Fine. He's told you about our 'boys weekend away'. I was hoping for some bonding time but..."
"Did you bring Sophie to the cabin?" Malcolm cut him off.
"Yes." Martin answered.
Malcolm and I exchanged a look.
"But as you know, things didn't go as planned. Watkins attacked me, Malcolm stabbed him and I still had Sophie to take care of."
"You mean murder." Eve hissed.
"I mean, I had my hands full. Eventually, Malcolm fell asleep, and I managed to carve out some time for the two of us." Martin paused.
"Keep going." Eve insisted.
"She was in the celler. Tied up. Still, I like to enjoy a little chitchat. She claimed to know why she was there. That I'd been hired to kill her. She seemed genuinely surprised that I had no idea what she was talking about. She bargained with me. Told me about someone worse than me. It was quite a story, I must admit."
"A story? What does that even mean? I just want to find her body." Eve sighed.
"Tell us what you did with Sophie." Malcolm added.
"Oh... I thought it was obvious. She convinced me to let her go. Your sister was very persuasive."
"You're lying. If Sophie was alive I would know. She's my sister. She would have found me." Eve muttered.
I wasn't so sure.
"I gave you plenty of warning. It's not my fault she never reached out to you. That you've been chasing someone who doesn't want to be found. It's cruel. I know, but then the truth often is." Martin smirked.
"I can't... I just can't..." Eve looked at us.
She turned and knocked on the door.
"Why?" Malcolm asked as Eve walked out of the room.
"If that's the truth why deny Sophie's existence? Why the gaslighting? The chloroform?"
"Trust me, Malcolm. I'm being a good father here. I'm protecting you by stopping you." Martin said with a small glance at me.
Malcolm shook his head and walked out after Eve.
"Lilian." Martin said my name as I started to follow Malcolm.
"We should talk. Privately." He said causing me to look back at him.
"You can protect him. Come back and see me."