The Road Home

[abrightboy]

Raylan's loose ends had been tied in Kentucky and Malcolm's were as tantalizingly close as they'd ever been. He and Raylan made the trip to New York with the intent of discovering the fate of the girl in the box, so they could head down to Miami without... baggage.

They would have to start with the revelation Jessica and Ainsley had made to Malcolm right before Raylan was shot, sending Malcolm back to Kentucky: that Eve had infiltrated the Whitly family to learn more about the Surgeon's victims.

Malcolm let them into the New York loft - a space he considered theirs now, more than his, since they decided they might weather the hurricane season there after moving to Miami - smiling as Sunshine tweeted greetings. Once the door was shut behind Raylan, he opened the door of her cage. Ainsley would have fed her diligently, but nobody would have let her out to fly. Sunshine took off across the loft and Malcolm grinned, watching her go.

He looked at Raylan. "We can still bring her with us when we leave, right?"

Comments

[tinstar]

He nods. "Please do."

Ambling forwards a few steps to stand on the other side of Eve, Raylan studies Malcolm's features for a long moment, trying to figure out where he'll land.

"Tell me why I shouldn't get the Marshal's Service into this, Malcolm. Because I'm runnin' out of reasons to keep them out of it."

[abrightboy]

Malcolm cast around like the answer was somewhere there, if he could just spot it. He gestured to Eve helplessly.

“A professional job. Like the guy that attacked my father. Maybe even the same guy, if he grabbed her when she left her office, then came directly to Claremont. Maybe he would have gone straight to the next target if the Surgeon hadn’t…”

Taken his eyes.

“We need to talk to him. The killer.”

It wasn’t an answer to Raylan’s question.

[tinstar]

The gesture said a lot. How could Malcolm answer any other question when this one was so loudly neon lit in front of him?

Raylan let his breath out of his nose, lips tightening briefly before relaxing in quiet supplication.

"That's kinda hard when we don't know who he is or who his next target is. You got any brilliant ideas darlin', because I am all ears." He knew Malcolm was brilliant, there was no sarcasm at all to be found here. Raylan just didn't know how to reach for anything other than the tools he was used to.

[abrightboy]

"They've got him under police guard in the hospital. Maybe he'll talk to us, now that his career is over and he's facing prison with no eyes." He gave Edrisa's arm a squeeze as he passed her, not striding past Raylan this time, but walking with him towards the elevators. "And even if he doesn't want to talk, I might be able to talk him into it."

When they got to the hospital room, Malcolm signed them in, then lingered just inside the doorway, staring at the man in the bed with the bandages over his eyes.

Martin Whitly did that. In a moment, Martin Whitly turned on a trained assassin that had the upper hand and, instead of killing him, he did that. And he liked it. Malcolm could still see the delighted, manic grin on the Surgeon's face.

[tinstar]

Raylan nods respectfully at Edrisa, unbothered by the big doe eyes that she locked onto Malcolm's retreating shoulders as he turned and joined him in stride towards the elevators.

"Then that's where we're goin'," he confirms with a little nod, hitting the button for the elevator.

He let Malcolm lead them along in the hospital, he was clearly more experienced at checking in than Raylan was, out here in the wilds of New York. But there was no hesitation in pulling up behind Malcolm, leaving a barely respectable inch between them as they looked at the man laid out.

"He's probably on meds," Raylan mutters softly, one hand gently pushing Malcolm in the half step it would take for him to close the door behind him. "Nurses make rounds every hour, no tellin' when the last was." He watches what he could see of Malcolm's profile.

"Hey. Eyes on the prize." Bad taste? Maybe. But it was gently said.

[abrightboy]

Malcolm nods and takes a breath, then steps over.

"Excuse me?"

There's no response. But Raylan is right; he's probably on meds. Malcolm frowns and gently nudges the man's shoulder. Something about the way he's nonresponsive bothers Malcolm. He reaches over and puts his fingers against the man's neck, but it's cold and there's no pulse. He looks at Raylan, his eyes a little wide.

"He's dead."

[tinstar]

"Shit." Raylan turns on his heel and busts out the room, looking right and then left before heading back to the Nurse's desk to have them raise an alarm, and also who was the last person in that room?

The woman didn't know, stammering and stuttering enough for Raylan to come striding back down to meet Malcolm.

"How long do you think he's been dead?"

[abrightboy]

“He’s cool to touch,” Malcolm tells him. “So it was maybe six to twelve hours? It could have been during the night.” He points with his pinky finger. “There’s unusual bruising on his neck.”

[tinstar]

"Strangled?" Hellva an oldschool way to put someone down.

"Someone was cleaning up loose ends.." Raylan frowns, steely gaze pinning Malcolm down like the man had answer that he was looking for.

"There's only one name we've been talkin' about, Malcolm."

Nicolas Endicott.

[abrightboy]

“This isn’t the normal sort of a bruise you’d expect to see from strangulation,” Malcolm muses, but his expression turns grim at Raylan’s comment.

“The killer that doesn’t kill.”

He steps back as hospital personnel and police converge on the body, moving to Raylan’s side to be ushered out the door.

“But how will we follow the chain back to him when the chain is dead?”

[tinstar]

He had to trust Malcolm and the grotesque facts that the man knew, but the details of this guys death was less important than stemming this flow of blood.

Raylan's jaw flexed back and forth, eyes darting down the hall thoughtfully. This was his bread and butter.

"We get him to confess without realizin' it. Your mother. She's datin' him right? Maybe he comes over for dinner. He already thinks he's untouchable. That's not gonna change in a place that he's comfortable." His eyes settled back on Malcolm. "Do you think you could steer him towards it?"

[abrightboy]

“I’m not sure it would take that much steering. He has an interest in her. But…” He presses his lips together. “Do you think she’d be safe?” he asks hesitantly.

[tinstar]

"Yes - she lets us put a wire in the house, we can post up in the basement. I'm not gonna put her in any danger. She wouldn't happen to know how to fire a gun, does she?"

He knew Jessica wasn't like Kentucky Women but the woman had steel and teeth and more skills then he was aware of. But at least he was aware of how much he didn't know.

[abrightboy]

"She knows how to fire a gun. She has one, actually."

She's never exactly sober, though, which can make Malcolm nervous.

"She keeps it hidden somewhere in the house."

He pauses and considers it. "Okay. Let's go talk to her."

[tinstar]

"Somehow, that doesn't surprise me," he admits with a faint draw of his lips as his body turns, one arm gesturing for Malcolm to go ahead of him, off hand following behind his back as he went like a shadow to be followed by Raylan himself.

Malcolm had to call Jessica, of course, and find out where she was but Raylan was a very willing chuffur and once they parked, he let Malcolm take the lead.

"Let's hope she's open to the idea."

[abrightboy]

Malcolm's great fear was that she'd be much more open to it than he was.

He let them into her house, Louisa taking them to her in the living room.

"Mother," he said as she looked up.

"Malcolm, dear." She looked between them, gleaned something from their faces. "What is it?"

[tinstar]

Raylan knew that Malcolm would be hesitant to broach this subject, but he had no issues around it. He glances at Louisa and already knowing she'd been there for so much, he didn't bother to ask her to leave.

"We need your help.

With Nicolas Endicott."

[abrightboy]

“Nicholas?”

“He tried to have dad killed,” Malcolm explained. She started to scoff, but he quickly interjected “He succeeded in having Eve killed…”

“Eve my lawyer, Eve?”

“Yes. And then he had her killer killed. He may come after me or Ainsley next.”

Jessica’s mouth pressed into a thin line. She looked at Raylan. “What do you want me to do?”

[tinstar]

There was a deep relief that Jessica wasn't going to disappoint in the ferociousness in which she protected her babies. Yes, her babies were grown, but that didn't stop the danger or her ability to help keep them safe.

Raylan took a deep breath and stepped forwards a half step, one hand lifting to gesture out.

"We need you to get him to confess. Let us put a wire on you or in a few of these rooms, and a few guys in your basement. Myself and Malcolm included. We'll be right there in case anything happens. Malcolm's told me you've got a gun on the property; I need you to have that handy.." He catches her gaze from whatever protests she might be gibing him, expression deadly serious.

"We have to stop him before he murders anyone else, Jessica. Before he murders you and your children."

[abrightboy]

Jessica nods along right up to ‘myself and Malcolm included’, but she lets him finish before she says “Not Malcolm.”

Malcolm’s eyebrows go up. “Mother, I’m…”

She doesn’t bother addressing him and the protest she knows no argument can head off. She looks at Raylan, but her steeliness is belied by the slightly shrill edge in her voice.

“Not Malcolm!” she repeats. “Malcolm isn’t involved in the… the ‘sting’ or whatever you want to call it. Those are my terms!”

[tinstar]

Raylan glances at Malcolm during the exchange but his eyes landed back on Jessica. She was the lynchpin in this plan working.

"Okay. We can do that." He glances at Malcolm again, hoping the man trusts him enough to keep his mother safe.

"Malcolm can wait out in the surveillance van, that way he's safe and with the rest of the team. That work for you?"

[abrightboy]

Malcolm does not look pleased. Not at being sidelined and not at not being on site when the sting happens, but he doesn't say anything, beyond what his face conveys.

Jessica doesn't look at him. "If that's as far away as you think you can keep him."

"Miami is as far away as he's going to keep me," Malcolm says icily.

Jessica does, finally, look at him. "Don't start with me, darling. If Nicholas really is capable of what you're saying and you really are potentially in his crosshairs, then for once in your life I can protect you."

Malcolm's mouth settles into a thin line and he looks at Raylan. He doesn't need that kind of protection. Tell her. Tell her.

[tinstar]

Raylan took a few more steps towards Jessica, one hand settling oh so lightly on the outside of her shoulder, trying to draw her attention away from Malcolm and the emotionally charged argument they were in the middle of having.

There were still a lot of things up in the air.

They didn't have time for this.

"Jessica. You're a good woman for helpin' all of us keep him safe. You're not doin' this alone, okay? I might not be from your side of the tracks but I understand a mother's need to protect her children. An' we're here to stop the threat - the best kind of protection there is. I appreciate you agreein' to work with us. Gimme a few hours to coordinate with the NYPD and get the set up in the basement. You think you can get Endicott to agree to come over for dinner when you call him?"

[abrightboy]

“Never underestimate a man’s inability to turn down the hospitality of a woman they think they should possess,” she told Raylan stonily. “He’s already invited me to dinner. A sob story about how I feel safer in my home with everything that’s going on and how much the presence of a big strong man like himself would make it so much better will bring him running.”

Malcolm was still looking expectantly at the side of Raylan’s head. He hadn’t told her yet.

[tinstar]

"Then we're set." His hand fell and he looked over under the weight of Malcolm's eyes.

He knew what Malcolm was expecting. He looked back at Jessica.

"We'll be back inside 45 minutes. I hope you're ready to have a whole host of people in your house."

Turning back to Malcolm, he corrals the man with one soft arm, guiding him out of the room so he could safely talk.

"Let her have this one. It will be good for her and it gives you a good place to argue from.. Trust me, okay?"