Something Old, Something New

5

The press conference the next day went about as well as Merlin had expected it to, which is to say, it could have gone better, but at least Merlin was pretty sure the public as no longer panicking. On the other hand, the public was also aware of how little the police knew at the moment. He still hadn't heard from Aithusa, which meant the case was at a total standstill. They looked over the evidence again, talked through the facts, and then repeated the process again. The four of them all sat around a conference room table, going in circles, each theory crazier than the last, but none as crazy as the truth. They all went home the next day frustrated.

The next day was the same, and the day after that. Iris and Smith had begun to think that maybe the killer wouldn't strike again, but Merlin and Johnson knew better. It would happen, and probably when they least expected it.

A week went by, and Merlin was starting to worry about Aithusa. 

Two went by and Merlin tried to contact her telepathically, panicking when she didn't reply. Iris still wasn't talking to him other than specifically about the case.

A month went by and Smith told them that he and Johnson were going back to America the next week. Merlin couldn't bring himself to care. His worry over Aithusa was all-consuming. He'd still heard nothing. He was half considering going out to look for her, maybe even trying a tracking spell. He hadn't used one in ages, but it was like riding a bike.

Then, the day before Smith and Johnson were scheduled to fly home, it happened. There had been another murder, and the body had been dumped on the shores of a different beach; Weymouth Beach. Iris was obviously trying to maintain the appearance of sadness, but Merlin knew that she was ecstatic that the case hadn't gone completely cold, even if she wasn't talking to him. 

The body was lain out on a beach, and just as Merlin had predicted, it was a boy. He didn't have a wallet on him, so they didn't know his name, or even his exact age, but Merlin would put him at seventeen years old, if he had to hazard a guess. He had dark curly hair and pale skin. He wasn't very tall, and he was dressed in a mixture of black cloth and chainmail. Written in the sand was:

"The Betrayed Druid."

"Looks like you were right Emrys," Smith said, and Merlin didn't miss the suspicion in the man's voice. There were reporters everywhere, but the officers were doing a good job of keeping them back. Bailey arrived a moment later.

"Same wound as the last one," he stated upon his first examination. They had already known that, and Iris told him so. He just glared at her and went back to his work. He noticed that they were all still standing there.

"You will receive my report when I am finished with it." Iris rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to say something, but was quickly distracted when Merlin jumped almost a foot into the air.

"What's wrong with you?" she asked.

"N-nothing," he stuttered. "My phone buzzed and I was spacing out. It just startled me." He pulled his phone out and answered. In other words, he put a phone that was definitely not buzzing to his ear and pretended to have a conversation out loud while he had an entirely different conversation in his mind.

"Where have you been?"

"I was doing what you asked."

"You couldn't have kept in touch? I was worried!"

"I'm touched."

"Well? Did you find it?"

"Of course I found it. That's why I'm contacting you."

"Where is it?"

She told him the location and he pretended to hang up the phone.

"I know where the sword is."