𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗴𝗶𝗿𝗹 | prodigal son

𝗲𝗽. 𝘁𝘄𝗼 ▸ the phone call

Maddy stared into the void. A droning buzz reverberated through her hip bone and up her spine. The vibration remained in her central nervous system, tingling her senses, praying to be itched, festering as a background to her awful thought process.

'Are you supposed to be in here?' a shy voice squeaked.

'Yes.'

'Oh... great! May I ask your name?'

A third voice entered from the direction of the morgue door. Maddy remained sat opposite the body, staring intently, her head resting in her hands. 'Are you scaring my staff already?'

Her head snapped around.

In front of Malcolm stood an aged man with black and grey hair, a worn leather jacket fitted over his shoulders and a Lieutenant badge hung from his best pocket. The closest thing to a functioning father the Whitly children ever had.

'Gil—' she began with relief in her voice.

'Is someone's phone ringing?' he asked.

Maddy awkwardly pulled her pristine mobile phone from her pocket and watched the contact's name flash on the screen. Gil suspiciously watched her scroll down to turn on flight mode and place it screen down on the metal bench prepped for another victim. It was overlooked by the warmth brought to his chest when she smiled at him and hopped down. 

'Am I getting a hug?' he said in disbelief. She said nothing but launched herself at the older gentleman so hard it made him wince with joy. He wrapped his tired arms around the young lady and squeezed, murmuring into her ear, 'You doing okay, doll?'

'No,' she said and smiled, 'Just shut up.'

He let out a deep chuckle that lingered as he pulled away, revealing two others accompanying the rather short APT who'd previously questioned her. Gil introduced the tall well—built gentleman first, 'This is JT. JT, this is Madeline Banks. She's here for... insider info.' He then gestured to the lean young woman relaxed in the doorway with her arms crossed. 'Detective Dani Powell. Best men, meet my best kids.'

'I thought you said they were brother and sister,' said JT suspiciously as he gestured to Malcolm "Bright".

'She changed to our mother's maiden name,' Malcolm responded instantly. It was probably something Maddy should've said for herself, but the lie popped into his head and it seemed too perfect to waste.

Nobody in the room saw Dani's face soften.

Gil turned to the APT. 'Edrisa, thanks for hustling on this, I know these homicides were-'

'Amazing! They were amazing,' she marveled, pushing her thick glasses further up her face, 'I've only ever read about The Surgeon's methods in textbooks, to see them carried out in person is a real thrill. Three victims - based on the tox report, each of them were injected with a different cocktail of paralytic agents that shut their bodies down one system at a time.'

'It must have been agony,' Maddy said absent—mindedly. 'Mal's got a profile.'

'Damn, you kids sleep at all?'

Malcolm nodded, 'I got six hours... three nights ago. So yeah, I'm good.'

Maddy shrugged, 'You said not to scare anyone.'