The Adventure Continues

[abrightboy]

For thatsfascinating.



The villa Malcolm rented was in the Languedoc, not far from Marseilles, south of Avignon. It was a very historic region, though Malcolm was particularly not interested in visiting Marseilles again. There was a charming village nearby the villa and if they were going to go to an historic city for a day, he'd rather make the trip over to Montpellier, where he'd never been at all, much less with Dr Whitly.

The villa had six bedrooms. As the driver brought their luggage inside the bright and spacious main room, Malcolm handed him some folded Euros and thanked him and shut the door behind him.

"First choice of a room is yours," he told Edrisa with a smile. "But you might want to explore first."

Comments

[thatsfascinating]

She closed her eyes in his arms, taking deep breaths to steady herself. When he let go and started collecting the photos, her eyes widened and she grabbed for the pictures.

"No! I can do this! I have to do this!"

[abrightboy]

"No, you don't," he told her. "You don't." He took her by the shoulders. "It's okay to not be ready for this."

[thatsfascinating]

"But there's a girl who needs our help," she insisted. "She's not like the others yet. But if they don't find her in time..." She shook her head, distressed. "We have to help."

[abrightboy]

"I could help and you could go back to the villa," Malcolm offered urgently. "The point of this trip was to get away from your trauma."

[thatsfascinating]

She shook her head again. "I don't want to be away from you," she insisted. "Bright, please. I can't run from this. I have to face it."

[abrightboy]

He took a deep breath and considered that, then held out the pictures for her to take.

[thatsfascinating]

She took them back with a nod of thanks, and sorted them again, laying them out neatly, then sat back and sighed, wringing her fingers, scanning the images.

[abrightboy]

Malcolm watched her rather than his file for a long, long moment.

"See anything useful?" he prompted.

[thatsfascinating]

Edrisa nodded, stil wringing her fingers. "Um." She took a breath. "They used a really rough rope. There are fibers embedded in the..." She took another breath. She could do this. "In the wrists and ankles and neck. The strangulation wasn't...gradual..." Like hers had been. Another breath. "It was pretty brutal. Took a lot of strength. Um. How...how were they found?"

[abrightboy]

"Naked," he told her. "In a field." He picked up his file. "They were dumped pretty unceremoniously. He's not interested in them after they're dead. He kills for the rush of it. When it's over, they're nothing but an object to him."

[thatsfascinating]

That was different. The killer wasn't trying to turn these women into something like her would-be murderer did. That was good. It was a little bit of distance.

"A field..." She looked more closely at the photographs. "Huh. There seems to be a light-colored dust on the bodies. Maybe from where they were held before death?"

[abrightboy]

He flipped through the file.

"It was identified as.... grain." He looked at Edrisa. "An old silo, maybe?"

[thatsfascinating]

"Were there abandoned silos in those towns?" she asked, looking up at him.

[abrightboy]

"This is farm country. I bet there was one central enough that he could access it from any of these places. They're not that far apart," Malcolm told her.

[thatsfascinating]

"We should find out where it is!" If that's where the girl was, they needed to get her as quickly as possible.

[abrightboy]

"We need to find a map," Malcolm told her. "Of the whole area. Maybe at the bookstore?" he suggested, leaving the file on the table to head for the door.

[thatsfascinating]

Edrisa tucked the photos back into the folders out of respect for the victims, then got up to follow him.

"We could ask someone. Well...you could ask someone..."

[abrightboy]

"They won't be able to narrow it down. I need to see the area. I can figure it out if we can get a map. That's how I f...."

How he found her.

"That's how I work."

[thatsfascinating]

She could guess what he was going to say, but she didn't voice it. It was better for both of them to leave her ordeal as separate as possible.

"Okay," she said with a nod. "We'll get a map."

[abrightboy]

Over at the bookstore, Malcolm bought a map of the region and sat on a bench along the main street next to Edrisa with it unfolded across their laps.

He examined it for a few minutes.

"We should check this area here," he told her. "It's close by; that's probably why he took someone from here. Opportunity."

[thatsfascinating]

She sat close enough so her shoulder pressed against his, taking comfort in the contact. She leaned down a little when he identified the area, looking closely at the map.

"Great, let's do that. How far is it?"

[abrightboy]

"Just down around there," Malcolm said, pointing. "We could walk it. I'll send a message to the detective, but there's no reason we can't go check it out."

[thatsfascinating]

Edrisa nodded. "It looks like a nice walk, too. Do you have the detective's number?"

[abrightboy]

"Yeah, I'll just text him," Malcolm said, absently shooting him a text before tucking the map in his pocket and heading in that direction.

[thatsfascinating]

She walked next to him, holding his hand tightly.

"It's really beautiful," she noted quietly, looking around at the fields surrounding them.