Broken

The Professionals

I sat in Gil's office waiting for Malcolm and the rest of Major Crimes to arrive early the next morning.
Anyone who asked me would be surprised to know that my favorite memory of Eve Blanchard wasn't our engagement party but actually a week before.
Eve and I were sitting at my dining room table talking about my wedding colors so she could plan the decor for the engagement party when my doorbell rang.
"I'll be right back." I told her getting up expecting the delivery of the save the dates I'd ordered the weekend before.
Instead Dani was standing on my doorstep, tears streaming down her face.
"What's wrong?" I asked reaching out for her.
She stepped forward into my arms burying her face in my neck.
"I just caught Jared cheating on me." She told me.
"Come inside. Come on." I pulled on her gently leading her into the living room.
"What's going on?" Eve asked from the doorway, her face colored with concern.
"How could he do this to me?" Dani muttered sitting on the couch.
"Dani, you are a force. You are a strong, intelligent, independent, beautiful woman who deserves better than that. You deserve someone who values the woman you are and is faithful to you." I told her gently sitting down next to her.
"This calls for a girls night in!" Eve said walking forward.
"What?" Dani asked.
"I have a 'break up/ girls night' playlist qued up. We'll order pizza and I'm sure Lily has ice cream. We'll watch the real horror movie she promised me and get wasted. The best cure for a broken heart is some quality girl time." She explained.
"Where's Malcolm?" Dani asked me.
"He's at his loft cleaning his weapon wall." I answered.
"He does that often?" She asked.
"Roughly every three months or so." I shrugged.
"Cleaning, polishing, and sharpening. It's an all night thing now."
Both Eve and Dani chuckled.
"Okay, okay. I'm in." Dani sighed.
"Yes!" Eve exclaimed starting her playlist with 'Take a Bow' by Rihanna.
We ordered three large pizzas and I opened up my liquor cabinet.
A couple hours later we were dancing around the living room to music so loud it shook the entire loft.
"Hey! I have a crazy idea." Eve said as we lounged on the couch before putting on the movie.
"What?" Dani giggled.
"We should dress up and take pics for Instagram." She beamed.
"Why?" Dani asked looking at her.
"For one, I always feel better when I get all dressed up and we've gotta show this douchebag what he gave up."
"My closet is your closet." I smirked.
We made our way up to the bedroom and into my walk-in closet.
Eve picked out a pale blue knee length beaded semi sweetheart dress. Dani chose an above the knee satin dark blue off the shoulder dress. I decided on a red midi dress with halter strap neckline.
Eve and I worked together to straighten Dani's hair before giving her soft waves and a classy smokey eye with pale pink lip. Dani worked on Eve's silver shimmer eye make up and bright red lip while I pulled half of her hair up into a classic half updo. They worked together to give my hair a windblown wave and applied dark winged eyeliner and dark pink lip.
We went out into the backyard to take pictures before returning to my living room to continue drinking and put on The Conjuring.
We lounged together watching the movie eating small pints of ice cream.
Suddenly, the image of Eve's pale blue, waterlogged face as they wheeled her body passed me crashed through the memory and assaulted my mind causing a pounding headache. Rogue tears streamed down my face.
"Lily!" Malcolm called out my name as he walked into the office.
I stood up and he hugged me as if we hadn't argued just over twenty four hours before. That was what made our relationship so strong. We might argue, sometimes explosively, but we always made it back to one another. We were soulmates.
"What happened?"
"I was following a lead from an asset that lead me to the banks and I found a body. Eve's body." I told him and he held me tighter.
It wasn't a lie. With Sophie agreeing to testify against Nicholas Endicott she was now an FBI asset and I knew that Nicholas had ears within the department. I didn't need him knowing I'd been in contact with Sophie.
"I'm so sorry, Lily. We're going to find out who did this."
"I know." I nodded and leaned into his chest.
"Edrisa's preforming the autopsy downstairs." Gil said walking into his office followed by Dani and JT.
"The uni's are saying it was a suicide." Dani told us looking down at her shoes.
I shook my head.
"No. I need everyone in my office at the FBI office in an hour. Bring Edrisa." I sighed.
"What happened?" Dani asked me quietly.
"I'll explain everything in my office later, Dani, I promise."
"We need to go talk to Jess." I turned to Malcolm.
He nodded and we drove out to her home.
"I know that you worry about Malcolm, his mental state, and his relationship but you have to take time to grieve this loss too." I heard a man's voice as we walked into the house.
"Mom." Malcolm said as we walked into the living room.
Jessica looked up and rushed to her son as a man stood up behind her. A man I recognized.
Nicholas Endicott.
"And you are?" He asked looking at me.
It was clear he knew exactly who I was.
"Lilian Russell. I'm Malcolm's fiancèe." I answered emphasizing my last name searching for his reaction.
This was my family. Not his.
"I should be going." He told Jessica looking at me cautiously.
Damn right you should. I thought.
"This is a time for family."
He kissed Jessica and walked out of the room with another brief appraising glance at me. I repressed the urge to shiver in disgust. I wasn't even sure I'd got Malcolm on board with Nicholas being this criminal mastermind let alone his mother.
"Her office just called and told me what happened. A suicide? How could this have happened? She didn't seem depressed." Jessica reached over and hugged me.
It immediately concerned me that they were already spouting the suicide line without an official Cause of Death from the coroner.
"Jess, Eve was murdered." I told her gently.
"Are you sure?" She asked holding me at arms length by the shoulders looking between me and Malcolm who nodded.
Even Malcolm couldn't brush off her death as a coincidence.
"When we took her to see Martin he admitted that he'd let her sister go after she gave him information on someone worse than him." I continued.
"Well, we need to go see him. We need to find out who killed her." Jessica told us.
"He's not going to tell us." Malcolm sighed looking at me.
"Never bet against your mother, darling." She said.
"I've already talked to him." I told her.
"What?" She paused.
Malcolm raised an eyebrow at me. It was clear he didn't realize that we were informing his mother. If she was in danger she needed to know everything we did. Well, most everything.
"I went to see Martin early in the morning a couple days ago. He told me what the information was and who it was about. I started my own investigation into it and was subsequently attacked in my office's parking garage." I answered.
"What did he tell you?" She asked her eyes traveling over the bruises on my face.
"Sophie Sanders was an employee of Nicholas Endicott in the mid to late nineties. She did a lot of dirty jobs for him in the three years she worked for him. Intimidation, stalking and various other crimes all the way up to murder."
"No. He's just jealous that I'm with Nicholas now." Jess stuttered clearly flustered.
"I thought that at first too. I asked a trusted asset for every single criminal and incident file linked to Nicholas or his corporation. There are well over a hundred and fifty files where either the victim or a suspect was an employee of Nicholas'." I explained.
"I didn't believe Lily at first either. We argued in front of the team... Mom, Lily's the best investigator there is. If she says this is the truth than I believe her." Malcolm told her.
"It was on my way to look through the files that I was attacked. I checked the camera but it was blacked out either by my attacker or an accomplice before I even arrived. I went back to Claremont to confront Martin and ended up finding a camera in the room directly above his cell sending constant video to someone, somewhere. I have my asset looking into it."
"I need to hear all this from him." She looked at me.
I could see in her eyes that she knew I was right but she just didn't want to believe it.
I drove my fiancè and future mother in law out to the psychiatric hospital.
When we walked into Martin's cell Ainsley was already there holding a file.
"Why are you here? What is this?" Malcolm asked looking between his sister and his father.
"Isn't it obvious? It's a family reunion." Martin exclaimed happily.
"Eddie you should get us some snacks. Maybe the lime jello?" He smiled at his new orderly.
"Mr. David's been out sick. Eddie has a bit of a hearing problem. He has the worst case of Cauliflower Ear I've ever seen. Don't make a big deal out of it if he comes back with lemon or something." Martin muttered an explanation with a shrug.
"I found some information on the Girl in the Box." Ainsley sighed shaking her head.
"What is it?" Jessica asked her anxiously.
"Sophie Sanders worked for Nicholas Endicott. I came here to find out what dad knows about it." She said.
Jessica sighed loudly.
"You told them already?" Martin asked.
"Yes." I answered curtly.
"You probably should have waited."
"Until when, Martin? Until I destroyed my relationship with Malcolm? Until Nicholas succeeds in killing me? He sent someone to attack me. Eve's dead. Enough is enough."
"We're going to stop him." Malcolm told him touching my shoulder in an attempt to calm me.
"Malcolm you can't do that. I forbid it."
"He sent someone to attack my fiancèe, kill our friend. She's not fighting alone anymore." He shot back at his father before knocking on the door and leading me out.
"Malcolm Whitly I am still your father!" Martin called out after us as we walked down the hallway.
"What is our next step?" Malcolm asked once we walked outside.
"We meet with the team in my office. Find out what Edrisa found at Eve's autopsy. Then make a plan as a team as to what to do." I answered and he nodded.
Ainsley agreed to take Jessica home so Malcolm and I could head out to the office.
The team was already waiting for us when we arrived. I closed the door behind us and closed the blinds so we could have privacy.
"What have you got, Edrisa?" I asked sitting with Malcolm in my chair.
"Eve definitely drowned but it wasn't a suicide. I sent the diatoms from her bone marrow to the lab and had them compared to the diatoms from the Hudson and they don't match meaning she was drowned in a different body of water and then her body was dumped in the Hudson." She explained.
I nodded thoughtfully as my phone vibrated with a message.
You won't believe what I found. Meet me. -A The message read.
"I have to meet my asset. Hopefully they'll be able to give us something more to go on. JT can you take Malcolm to check out Eve's apartment? See if she might have been abducted from there? Dani, can you take Edrisa to take a sample from the lake at Frederick Park?" I asked.
They both nodded.
"Franklin Park?" Gil asked.
"My asset tracked Eve's car from her apartment to Franklin Park and then the Hudson River Bridge. That's how I found her body." I answered.
"Can you guys give us a minute?" Malcolm asked looking at me.
After the team got up and left he turned to look at me.
"Baby. I'm sorry I didn't believe you. I'm sorry about how I acted." He sighed taking my hands in his.
"I know, love. I'm sorry I didn't tell you I went to see Martin in the beginning. I was trying to be cautious because I knew it was a possibility that he was lying. I wanted to be sure before I involved you or Major Crimes. I can see why that wasn't the right call."
"I understand why you made it. We're okay, right?" He asked.
"Of course we are. We've gotten through a lot worse than this in our lifelong relationship." I reminded him.
He smiled and kissed me. His kiss always felt like home.
"Be careful." He pressed his forehead against mine.
"You too. Don't underestimate his reach." I cautioned kissing him again and we left the office hand in hand before going our separate ways.
Aaron was sitting in the bunker when I arrived.
"We have so much to talk about." He smirked at me.
"What have you found?" I asked sitting down across from him with a sigh.
"You were right. There were cameras in all of the homes you asked me to check as well as Eve Blanchard's apartment that I have since removed. I heard you found her body last night and put it together that she was a friend of yours. Every single camera sent the footage to the same IP address at Endicott Corporation. I traced it to the computer in Endicott's office. He's been personally watching you and your family and friends for months." He explained.
"How do we prove it legally?" I asked.
"I don't worry about the legality of it. That's a you thing." He smirked at me standing up.
I sighed and nodded.
"Be careful, Lilian. I can't stress that enough. Endicott isn't someone to be underestimated." He looked back at me from the doorway.
"This'll probably be the most important fight of your entire career. We've been trying to get Endicott for years."
I watched Aaron leave and dropped my head into my hands. How far did Nicholas' corruption go? How was I going to get enough evidence legally to put him away? Who could we trust? I had no idea.
I met Dani, JT and Malcolm back in my office.
"Where's Gil?" I asked.
"He said he wanted to check on Jessica." Dani said.
"Probably a good idea. We can't be too careful right now." I nodded.
"What did your asset find?" JT asked.
"They found cameras in all of our homes with feeds being sent directly to Endicott. He also found cameras in Eve's apartment." I sighed.
"We found holes in Eve's ceiling too." Malcolm told us.
"Are you saying he's watching all of us?" Dani asked.
"He was. My asset removed the cameras he found." I answered.
"Why can't we nail this guy?" JT asked.
"Well, the obvious problem is that my asset's information is inadmissible in court because we didn't have a warrant to hack Nicholas' IP but also because his influence extends into the hierarchy of the NYPD. It's next to impossible to legally link him to any of this." I sighed.
"I pulled Eve's apartment building's camera footage. Maybe we'll find something there?" Dani asked.
"Que it up." I nodded.
As we watched the video I noticed a man coming into the apartment building at all hours of the day and night. Always ducking into the building by catching the door after someone with a key card.
"Who is that?" I asked pointing him out the fourth time I saw him.
"He's pretty well covered up." Dani muttered.
"That's it. Lily, he's covering his ears." Malcolm exclaimed.
"Why would he do that?" JT asked.
"Because his ears can identify him." I nodded at Malcolm.
"Eddie. Dr. Whitly's new orderly." Malcolm nodded back.
"Your father." I exclaimed shaking my head suddenly looking up at Malcolm.
"What?" He asked.
"Your father is the one that told me everything about Nicholas. He's the next one on their hit list. He placed Eddie in Claremont to get easy access to Martin." I told him.
The four of us rushed out of my office and I drove us out to Claremont.
"I need the key to Dr. Whitly's cell." I told Eric, another orderly on Martin's wing as Malcolm, Dani, and JT raced down the hallway towards Martin's cell.
"Lily!" Malcolm's voice sounded panicked as I took the keys and broke into a run towards the door fiddling with the keys in my hand.
"Dad! No!" He called as I ran up behind him.
Inside the cell Eddie was attempting to strangle Martin with a wire. At the sound of his son calling out to him Martin's eyes shot open and he struck out slamming Eddie into the wall as I continued to struggle to find the right key to open the door.
Martin turned around and knocked him to the floor before straddling him and leaning down.
"This is for my son." He hissed before driving his thumbs into Eddie's eyes and ripping them out of his head.
"No!" Malcolm exclaimed beside me.
I finally got the door open, Dani and JT rushed in pulling Martin off Eddie. Dani placed him in handcuffs while JT cuffed Eddie.
"You are under arrest for the murder of Eve Blanchard."
"JT? You good?" Dani asked while Malcolm and I watched from the doorway.
"This is JT? Now I've met the whole team. Hi. I'm Martin. It's a good thing you got here when you did. I was being viciously attacked." Martin said smiling at Malcolm and I.
"I have to make a call." I sighed and walked out of the cell shaking my head.
Once I was outside I called the number Sophie gave me and wandered into the alley next to the hospital.
"Leave your message for Sarah Murphy at the tone." Sophie's voice message said.
It didn't surprise me that she'd changed her name after her run in with The Surgeon. It was the easiest way to ward off Nicholas.
"Hey. It's me. If you're there pick up." I sighed.
"Lily?" She said my name picking up the phone.
"Hey. We got him." I told her.
"He's been arrested?"
"Yes. He attacked Martin. He doesn't have eyes anymore but he's under arrest."
"Good. He should have known better than to go after Whitly."
"If Nicholas ordered it he may not have had a choice." I reminded her gently.
"I know." She sighed painfully.
I felt the cold steel of a blade against my throat and drew in a sharp breath.
"Lily? What's happened? Are you okay?" Sophie asked anxiously.
"I'm going to have to call you back." I muttered and lowered the phone without ending the call.
An obviously male hand wrapped in my hair and tossed me into the hospital wall.
I barely saw Bryce's face before he struck me in the face bouncing my head off the dumpster to my left and the world went black.