The ambulance screamed through the street, rushing to its predetermined destination. Her consciousness was fading in and out, everything was muffled and fuzzy, but she knew they were doing what they could for her. When they finally arrived, she was wheeled out on a gurney immediately into the ER. Her case was one that couldn't wait. She'd suffered enough as it was, and this was time sensitive. She heard the machines around her, the doctors talking frantically. She heard words like "skin grafting" and "serious reconstructive surgery". She was in and out of consciousness for hours, and when she finally managed to regain some sense of reality, she found she was laying in bed, hooked up to various machines. She hurt all over. She had no idea what was happening.
"You're lucky to be alive," a nurse said beside her, surprising her; the nurse changed out a bedpan and looked at her, smiling, "seriously, it's not everyone who survives getting mauled by a tiger." *** Allie brought the truck to a screeching halt. She turned the car off and she sat there, listening to Zoe hyperventilate in the passenger seat, while she stared dead ahead out the windshield. The entire experience had taken their evening, and Allie had just driven until the sun was barely up. Now, parked in some unknown neighborhood somewhere in Vegas, Allie couldn't make heads or tails of what day it was or even what time it was. Sometime early in the morning, she knew that much. "...you...you left her there..." Zoe whispered, her eyes bloodshot from the crying, her voice hoarse from the screaming. "...I...I didn't...I didn't know what to do," Allie replied, also barely speaking, "I couldn't just go into the pit, I would've put us at risk, he could've gotten out. I'm not a trained animal controller." "...you pushed her in, and then you left her there..." "I did not push her in," Allie said through gritted teeth, "that was an accident!" "How come everything that happens to everyone as a result of being in your presence is an accident?!" Zoe screamed, "First Sunny, now this?! You chose to do these things, those aren't accidental! You pushed her in, and then you left her there!" Allie wanted to argue, but she knew Zoe had a point. Everyone that had come into contact with her had been meeting with some grizzly end lately it seemed, and it was always her fault in some way. Allie put her head down on the steering wheel and tried not to cry. Zoe climbed out of the truck and started pacing up and down the street, the sun barely starting to peek over the treeline. Allie finally climbed out as well and watched her momentarily. "we...we have to go to the police," Zoe said, "We can't keep hiding this anymore!" "They'll put me in prison!" "Then maybe you deserve to be in prison!" Zoe screamed. "Keep your voice down!" Allie said angrily but quietly, "We are in a residential neighborhood and it is very early in the morning, don't make a scene." Zoe walked up to Allie, their faces barely an inch apart, and she could smell her breath. "I'm through listening to what you tell me to do," Zoe said through gritted teeth, "I was hired to help you, and you took advantage of that. You took advantage of me. Poor little innocent me, who idolized you, who'd never really had a friend, whose family had turned on her. You took total advantage of that, and you used me to justify your poor decisions. Well I'm done. We're done, Allie." Zoe turned and started walking down the street. "Where do you think you're going?!" Allie yelled after her. "I'm going home, Allie!" Zoe shouted back, turning to look back at her, "I'm going home. We're done." "We're not done! I say when we're done!" Allie shouted, "Zoe! Zoe!" But Zoe didn't stop. She didn't look back. She just kept walking, walking away from the worst thing that had ever happened to her, and she felt good about it. *** "Can I help you?" the woman at the front desk asked as Agent Siskel pulled her wallet out and flashed her badge. "Yeah, my partner and I need to speak to someone in your facility," she said, "Jenny Gibbons, the girl who was brought in here this morning. It's urgent." The front desk woman knew better than to deny anything to agents of this caliber, so she nodded and silently led them down the hall. Tropper caught up, walking alongside Siskel, as the three of them headed towards Jenny's room in total silence. After they arrived, the nurse turned back and looked at them sternly. "Don't be too demanding of her, she's been through hell, and please try not to take too long, she needs a lot of rest," she said, then sat down on a chair outside the door, "I'll be here when you're done." Siskel and Tropped nodded, then entered the room. It was dark, and eerily silent. The walked to the bed and pulled back the curtain to reveal Jenny laying in the bed, her face wrapped in gauze. Her eyes were shut, and she appeared to be heavily drugged. Siskel pulled up a chair and sat down, leaving Tropper to stand behind her. After a moment, Siskel took a deep breath, and then gently reached over and nudged Jenny's shoulder, waking her. "Mmm?" Jenny asked, slowly rolling her head to face the agents. "Hello," Agent Siskel said, "I'm Rebecca Siskel, this is my partner Roger Tropper, we're with the local FBI division of the Vegas police force. We know you've been through a hell of an ordeal, and we don't wanna make things complicated or difficult right now for you, after what's happened, but we need to ask you some questions regarding Allie Meers." That got Jenny's attention, as her eyes widened. "What about her?" she asked, realizing that it hurt to speak. "We know the tiger belonged to her, we're just wondering what your relationship to Miss Meers was. We need to know everything you might know about her," Agent Siskel said, "Anything you can tell us would really help in the long run." Jenny thought for a moment, then smiled. "I don't know anything about Allie," she said, "I just worked there." Jenny was a lot of things, but she wasn't a narc. *** Allie walked into the loft and threw her jacket onto the couch, before noticing Nick standing in the living room area. She stopped dead in her tracks and looked at him. His arms were crossed, and his eyes were squinty, like he was thinking about what to say to her. For a moment, neither one said a thing, and then finally Allie walked into the living room and pushed herself into his chest, but he merely pulled away. "please don't," she whispered, trying to get up close again but he pulled away again. "It's all over the news," Nick said, "what happened? What did you do to her?" "It was an accident," she whispered, on the verge of tears, "I just wanted to see him, it was an accident." "You didn't call anyone, you didn't do anything, you just left here there, Allie. I...I thought that maybe, you know, things would be different. You were doing so well. You're sober, you're financially stable again, and yet here you are, self inflicting damage on not just you but those around you. Those who trusted you. I trusted you." "you can still trust me," Allie mumbled. "Can I?" Nick asked, "I have work today. I can't deal with this right now. I'll see her at the hospital when I get there, see for myself how she is, what she has to say." Nick pulled on his jacket from the coat rack by the door and then opened the door. He sighed and looked back at Allie, who wouldn't look up from the floor at him. He scratched the back of his head. "You know, you're the most beautiful person I've ever known. You're intoxicating, honestly. Your charisma and charm, your sense of humor, it lures people in, but that's just the thing, Allie, you're like a deadly plant. You look great from afar, even seem greater up close, but once you stick around long enough...it starts to slowly poison you. I don't wanna be poisoned anymore," Nick said, "...I'll call you." And with that he left. Allie finally let herself break, now that she was alone. She collapsed onto the couch and sobbed, screaming into her pillows. In just a few short hours, she'd lost Zoe, now Nick, and had left Jenny for dead. It was all coming unraveled. Sure, Sunny's body was essentially gone, and that helped ease the pain, knowing the core piece of evidence was now destroyed, but it didn't ease the pain of everything else. She rolled onto her side, her eyes landing on the liquor cabinet. She climbed off and approached it, kneeling, fiddling with the lock. She'd tried so hard, and it all still came undone, so what harm did alcohol really do in the end? She'd been sober for almost a year, and it didn't seem to make any difference whatsoever. When she got the lock off, and the chains unspooled, she pulled the doors open and looked inside at all the various booze she had in there. She couldn't bring herself to throw it away, so she merely locked it away, kept it for only serious special occasions. Well, what was a more special occasion than your life imploding, she thought? She reached inside and pulled out an entire unopened bottle of whiskey and sighed, staring at the twist off lid. All it took was one sip, she knew, one sip and she'd throw all her progress away. Was it worth it? *** "You gonna finish your fries?" Agent Tropper asked as he sat across from Agent Siskel at a burger place nearby the hospital. Agent Siskel shrugged, so Tropper helped himself, reaching across the table and grabbing a handful of her fries. "I don't...understand," Siskel said, her brow furrowing, "what causes that level of commitment to someone? I mean, Allie and Claire, they both manage to get people to do everything for them, to follow them, to never question. What causes that level of adoration? Is it just being a good enough liar?" "People wanna be led, Becky," Tropper said, "they don't wanna face up to their own lives, they wanna feel like a bigger part of something. It's not complicated. It's why so many people vote for leaders who have their worst interests at heart. They don't really care, so long as someone is telling them things they want to hear, even if they're doing the opposite." Siskel sighed and took a sip from her drink, shaking her head. It seemed like no matter what she did, she couldn't win. She couldn't find a break. "Every single time, Roger, every single time I feel like I've got it, every single time it's within arms reach, she finds a way to pull it away from me again," Siskel said, "I don't know how she does it." "She's a magician," Tropper said, taking a bite from his burger and chewing, pushing errant lettuce into his mouth, "they're really good at making things disappear." Siskel nodded, but not really accepting his reasoning. She sighed and rubbed her eyes with the balls of her palms, groaning. She hadn't been sleeping well ever since getting this case, and as things had gotten worse, so had her sleep. "How do you trick a magician?" Siskel asked, "That's the question. If you can't catch them in the act, if you can't get someone to divulge their secrets, then how do you trick a magician?" Tropper looked up, seeing Siskel smirking. "If we can answer that, we might be able to save this," she said. *** Nick pushed the door open gently and entered Jenny's room. He felt his heart hurt at the sight of this poor, sweet girl lying in this bed, her face so badly mangled that she had to have it covered. He walked in further and sat down in a chair beside the bed, not knowing whether or not she was awake, but also not caring. He needed to see her regardless of whether she was aware of his presence. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I'm so sorry," he said, "I don't...I don't know what else I could possibly say. I just know someone has to say it to you, and she never will. She can never take responsibility for her actions. She's somehow never to blame. I thought she'd changed, but I guess she's the same, she just got better at lying. Never trust a magician in a relationship, I guess." Jenny stirred, but she didn't wake up or speak. "You don't deserve this," Nick said, "and I wanna go to the cops, but I know you'd hate me if I did that. I know how much you like her. I don't wanna put you through anything else right now, while you're trying to recover. That isn't fair to you. Just know that I am so so sorry Jenny. I really sincerely am." Nick reached out and touched her arm, but again she didn't wake. He sighed, then checked his watch and stood up. He had to do his rounds, but he had to see her first. Someone had to care, he thought. *** "You're in a lot of trouble," Claire said, sitting across from Allie in the visitation room, at their usual corner table, "well, potentially a lot of trouble." "How'd you do it?" Allie asked, "How'd you get people to do whatever you wanted?" "Wasn't hard, just had to promise them whatever they wanted, then tell them if they worked hard enough they'd eventually be given it," Claire said, shrugging, "but you gotta have people dumb enough who're willing to believe it. That's part of your problem, Meers, you're not working with idiots." Allie sighed and leaned back in her chair, rolling her eyes. "You look like shit, by the way," Claire said, taking a sip of her water. "Thanks," Allie said, "...she's not dead. She's in the hospital. I need to talk to her, but I need to do it in a way that won't look suspicious. I need to know she's not going to talk. Not going to turn on me." "Then I suggest you find a way to do that, because if you don't, you could really be facing down the barrel of the gun here," Claire said, "lemme tell you something, okay? The hardest part of what I did came down to getting them to believe their belief was their idea. You have to first convince them to listen to you, then convince them that they convinced themselves. If you can do that, Allie, then you're golden. You're an expert in magic, you figure it out." Allie thought, and then it hit her like a mac truck. A way to get into the hospital without it ever seeming suspicious, and the answer would be obvious to anyone. After she left the prison, she climbed into her car, then pulled out of the parking lot and headed down the street. She reached a red light of a busy street, then exhaled and pulled open the glove compartment, reaching inside and grabbing a bottle of pills and an airline bottle of alcohol. She drank the alcohol, then took a handful of pills, then shook her head to regain composure before exhaling and staring straight ahead at the parked car across the street. She had to do whatever it took to save herself, to save Zoe, and Molly and everyone else. This was going to hurt, but it was a necessity. So Allie steeled her nerves, put her foot on the gas... ...and sped across high traffic until she collided with the parked car.
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Jenny Gibbons had always wanted to work with animals.
Ever since she was a little girl, she loved animals. She loved going to the zoo, the aquarium, national parks, anywhere she might see an animal. She took up bird watching, animal rescue, and eventually became a zoo ranger herself so she could live out her life amongst the creatures she thought were better than people. Jenny loved her job, too. She hated hearing about how people hated their job, because she just couldn't relate, but she also knew she had gotten lucky. She'd found her passion early, and it'd been passionate enough to guide her throughout life. Not everyone had that. Well, Allie Meers did, she guessed, and maybe that's why she liked Allie so much. Not that she'd ever say it. In fact, she'd only actually met Meers a handful of times, and mostly thanks to her tigers incarceration at the zoo where she worked, and now the private owner who had him. Jenny got buddy buddy with Meer's boyfriend, Nick, but only so she could be closer to Allie. Jenny found Allie fascinating for a number of reasons; first off, the passion she had for her own work, which Jenny felt made them similar. Secondly, the tiger attack. She wasn't there when it happened, but she became obsessed with learning about it once she knew. And third, well...Allie was just plain pretty, and Jenny liked pretty girls. Maybe tonight, yes, maybe tonight would finally be the night she'd come clean and tell Allie how she felt. She knew she was back with Nick, she didn't even know if she was remotely queer, but she knew that she had to at least say something, otherwise she'd always regret not. Driving to the small, private zoo, Allie and Zoe following behind her, Jenny knew this night would be special, and she was right. Because by the end of the night, Jenny Gibbons would be able to relate to Allie Meers more than anyone else ever could. *** "The hell are you doing?" Agent Tropper asked, entering Agent Siskel's apartment. Siskel was laid up on the couch, eating popcorn in her sweatpants and a tank top and watching something on TV. Her hair was a mess, like she hadn't combed it recently, and her eyes were dark. Agent Tropper sat down on the couch and took a handful of popcorn before shutting the TV off. "Hey!" Agent Siskel said, trying to sit up. "You can't do this to yourself, Becky," Tropper said, "This isn't okay." "Neither is losing my key piece of evidence and flubbing an entire case," Siskel responded, "but look where we are." "We're clearly dealing with someone intelligent," Tropper said, "I admit that it's frustrating, sure, but you're the best agent I know, and if anyone could bounce back and solve this thing, it's you. Come on, get dressed and let's go watch Sunny's sister for a bit, see if she makes any kind of moves, and-" "You don't get it, do you?" Siskel asked, her voice cracking, "I LOST a guy. I didn't not find him, I found him, and then I LOST him. That sort of setback isn't something you bounce back from, Roger. If I just hadn't found him, that'd be a whole different story, but to find him and then lose him again? That's...I'll be a laughingstock. I'll be...I'll be a..." She couldn't even finish before she started crying. Tropper leaned in and rubbed his friends back, just listening. He hated seeing Siskel like this. She was usually so strong and brazen, and to see her worn down...he knew she had to let the act drop eventually, but he hated to see it up close. "You're not a laughingstock, Becky. This is the first real setback you've ever endured, and your case completion rate is still higher than anyone elses, that's why you're the one on this job," Tropper said, "If we put the pressure on Claire, or like I said we look into Nicole some more, I'm sure we could get somewhere." "Please just go," Siskel whispered, and after a moment Tropper nodded, stood up and headed to the door. As he exited, he looked back in and smiled. "Call me if you need anything, okay?" he asked, and then he left. Siskel laid back down on the couch and turned the TV back on, but this time on mute. A commercial for The Card Shark played, and Allie and Zoe's stage show filled up the screen. Siskel felt a fire begin to rage inside of her, but it fizzled out quickly, and she changed the channel and then buried her face in her couch pillow, crying. *** "I didn't know people could have private zoos," Zoe said, sitting in the passenger seat of Allie's car, "I really didn't, like, I think I just sort of accepted that you couldn't own whole sets of endangered or dangerous animals." "It is weird, isn't it? Like, you're used to people owning a dog or a cat or a bird, hell even something like a big lizard isn't too out of the ordinary or a giant snake, but then every once in a while you hear about these people somewhere who own a bobcat or something and it throws your entire perception of pet ownership into question. There was this lady in the first apartment complex I lived in when I moved here, and she lived a few floors up. She, by some act of god - whether that god be vengeful or kind remains to be seen - owned an anaconda. One day, I realize she's just, you know, missing. Nobody's seen her in weeks. So me and this neighbor of mine go upstairs and immediately we sense something is wrong cause the place reeks even before we could get in." "Oh no." "Oh yeah. And so we call the police out there and everything, and when they finally break in, she's been partially digested and shit out onto her couch, and the snake is nowhere to be seen," Allie said, "disgusting, might I add, way to go. But that's the risk you play with when you have something that dangerous. See, me? I'm a professional. I worked with big animals. That was just part of the job. This lady? She was a night clerk at a convenience store. She just liked big snakes, and apparently, they liked her too." Zoe laughed, which made Allie feel a bit more relaxed. As they pulled up to the place, they stopped behind Jenny, who used her master key to gain entrance, then climbed back into her car and kept driving, the girls following. "Do you know this girl very well beyond the few times you've spoken?" Zoe asked. "Not really," Allie said, "I mean, she seems nice, but...not really." "You think she can be trusted?" "I do," Allie said, nodding, "I really do." After a short drive further into the premises, both cars came to a stop and all three women got out. Jenny walked over to Allie, while Zoe went to open the back of the truck Allie had rented, and start hauling the tomb out. Why had Zoe agreed to come? Well, she figured this was partially her fault, after all. Allie wouldn't have done this to Sunny if he hadn't threatened to get Zoe hooked on something. Allie lit a cigarette as Jenny approached. "Didn't know you smoked," Jenny said. "Very rarely," Allie said, "Stopped years ago, but it happens from time to time when I'm really nervous. You're sure nobody will care we're here?" "Nah, I'm part of the team that does wellness checks and stuff, he expects me to show up randomly now and then, and what better time than late at night?" Jenny asked, "...can we talk?" "Sure," Allie said, as they started to walk away from the truck, so as not to draw suspicion to their plans, leaving Zoe to handle the tomb. The less Jenny knew, Allie thought, the better. "I'm surprised you wanted my help, but I guess it's because I have access, not because you wanted to hang out," Jenny said, sounding nervous, her long silky black hair covering half her face as she snickered and added, "I mean, it'd be cool to hang out sometime, right?" "You were already in my apartment," Allie said, "Making dinner with my boyfriend." "I hope you don't think I have designs for him or something," Jenny said. "I mean he told me as much you don't," Allie said, shrugging, "it was just...weird, I guess, to come home and find you two together. But I do appreciate what you've done for me, and for Domino, and so I guess I can't really be annoyed with you. You're a nice person, Jenny." Jenny felt her heart flutter, and she blushed. "I was...I was thinking, um, maybe sometime this coming weekend, you know if you and Nick aren't busy or whatever, we could-" But she was stopped by the sounds coming from the truck. Both women glanced back, then Allie excused herself and went to help Zoe. Jenny, curious but more thinking about how she'd phrase this, continued walking. When she got to the tiger pit nearby, looking in and seeing Domino, she smiled. She wanted to be more than friends with Allie, but she didn't want Allie to cheat on her boyfriend. How could she get closer though without getting too close? Jenny rubbed her eyes. She hated this. She'd never been good at telling others that she liked them. Anytime she met a boy or a girl that she liked, she always had the toughest time just stating the obvious, and it rarely went well. Rejection was something Jenny had grown uncomfortably used to. She turned at the sound of the dolly wheels coming up behind her, and she looked at something wrapped in a tarp. "What...what is that?" she asked. "It's a gift," Allie said, "Don't worry about it." "...okay, but you can't leave that here, cause if he sees it he's gonna ask-" "Don't worry, we're not leaving it, we're just emptying it. It has some good meat in it Domino likes, stuff I used to feed him. I'll take the container home okay? Just wanted to dote on my cat for a change," Allie said, and Jenny nodded, still feeling queasy. Jenny then turned and walked to the back gate, unlocking it as Allie turned to Zoe and the two began to whisper. "We're so close to being home free," Allie said, "you giddy?" "Giddy doesn't begin to describe it," Zoe remarked, "I can't believe you're taking advice from a serial killer." "Who better to ask how to dispose of bodies?" "Well, someone who doesn't get caught doing it, for one," Zoe replied, making Allie smirk. "Alright, well," Allie said, "it's not like this is gonna be an everyday thing, okay? One time deal, in and out, and then we can finally really move on. Nobody will have any evidence after this. We should've done this from the get go, but...I don't know, I guess I thought nobody would find his ass." Jenny came back, twirling her keyring around her finger and stopped at the girls, who turned to look at her. Zoe started pushing the dolly ahead, as Jenny and Allie trailed closely behind. "So what were you gonna ask me?" Allie asked, and Jenny blushed again. "Oh, I don't know, just, ya know, maybe we could hang out again sometime," Jenny said, "You had a big cat, I love big cats, I could give you all sorts of information on Domino, pictures and stuff, keep you in the loop about how he's doing and stuff, you know?" "I take it you don't have many friends," Allie said, making Jenny laugh. "You'd be correct," she said, "I mean, I'm not very social to begin with, but you and Nick are cool and fun and it'd be nice to have at least one pair of buddies. Who knows, we might even-" They heard the drop, and both turned their heads to see Zoe on her knees, groaning. Allie rushed over, kneeling down, grabbing Zoe's hand. Zoe sounded like she was struggling to breath, and she was shaking. That's when it occurred to Allie that she might be having a seizure. She remembered Zoe telling her she had seizures from time to time, but Allie had never seen it first hand. "You okay? You alright? Should I do something?" Allie asked, and Zoe shook her head. "I rolled over...my goddamned foot...with the goddamned dolly," Zoe whispered, making Allie laugh nervously, relieved she wasn't in fact having seizure. Allie helped her back up, but Zoe pulled away from her, glaring and adding, "it's YOUR treat, YOU push it." "Jeez, you don't have to get angry just cause you maybe broke a nail," Allie replied back. "Everything we do I'm your assistant, not your partner," Zoe said, making Allie surprised. "Where the fuck is this coming from?!" she asked, now facing Zoe, who looked like she might explode. "You say we're partners, but we're not, face it, we're not! I do everything FOR you! The only reason Molly went to get this thing with you is because I literally wasn't available, but had I been I'm sure I would've been the one to do that too. Let me guess? You made her load and unload it, didn't you? Never doing anything by yourself. I'm nothing more than a magicians assistant." "Whoa, Zoe, calm down, what the-" Zoe started breathing, then rubbed her eyes, almost crying. She apologized, admitting she didn't know where this outburst came from. Allie walked to her and put her hand on her shoulder, shushing her, telling her it was okay, that they could talk about a more professional partnership later if this was how she truly felt. Jenny checked her watch and sighed. They really needed to be out of here soon, before the early morning guards arrived. Jenny walked briskly past them and put her hands on the dolly, before wrenching her face. "This smells TERRIBLE," she said. "Don't touch that!" Allie shouted, rushing back to the dolly and pushing Jenny away, but she wouldn't let go of the handle. "I'm just trying to help! My ass is on the line if we get caught in here, you know! I'm allowed to be here but I can't be bringing visitors, so we need to get this done and-" "Let go, Jenny!" Allie shouted. "You guys, shut up," Zoe said sternly, but neither would listen, they just continued pushing one another, trying to wrestle control of the dolly back and forth. "I was trying to do you a favor, goddammit!" Jenny yelled and Allie sneered at her. "I don't need your help!" she screamed, pushing her violently, making Jenny stumble backwards and, much to all their horror, fall over the wall of the pit. It was if time had stopped. Allie and Zoe rushed over to the side and peered down, seeing Jenny laying on her side, groaning. "oh my god we need to get her out," Zoe whispered. "I know, she unlocked the gate, we can-" "Allie," Zoe whispered, tugging at her sleeve, pointing with her other hand. Allie looked back down and all the blood drained from her face. There, slowly slinking out of the darkness, was Domino. Allie couldn't move. She felt glued to the spot. Zoe, however, rushed to the gate and tried to open it to get inside, which was what finally made Allie snap back to reality as she ran up behind her and, arms around her waist, lifted her up, holding her back. "We have to help her!" Zoe shouted, as Allie put a hand over her mouth. "Shhh, we can't go down there, we-" "Allie!" Jenny screamed, the terror in her voice palpable in the night air. "Allie, we can't just-" Zoe started again, but Allie put her hand back over her mouth. "Just be quiet, it'll be fine, it'll be fine," Allie said. The screams. Jesus the screams. Allie and Zoe had heard those screams before. Allie knew firsthand what was happening, and Zoe had witnessed Allie dealing with it in the moment. They knew what was going on. They knew the pit was no longer an option. Zoe started sobbing, kicking, but Allie just pulled her back, dragging her to the truck and shoving her in before going back and, opening the tomb lid, dropping Sunny's decomposing body into the pit as well, where it landed with a thud beside Jenny, who was no longer making noise. Allie looked down into the pit to see Domino begin eating Sunny, and her eyes moved to Jenny, who was no longer moving, blood surrounding her. "i'm so sorry," Allie whispered, before rushing back to the truck and climbing in, starting the car and pulling out. As they sped away, Zoe hit Allie repeatedly in the arm, screaming they had to go back, but Allie just kept on driving. There was nothing they could do. What had happened had happened. Why, Allie wondered, of why couldn't things be easy just one time? *** Becca Siskel was eating breakfast in her kitchen when she heard her front door open, and saw Roger Tropper enter. She sighed and shook her head. "Before you say anything," she said, mouth full of muffin, "let me apologize for you having to see me in that state yesterday. I was...I was not good, and I'm embarrassed and-" "You have plenty of other better things to be embarrassed about that I've been witness to," Tropper said, making her laugh as he tossed a newspaper in front of her and, pointing at it, said, "Read this." Siskel went quiet for a bit, her eyes scanning the words, her mouth full of muffin. Once she finished, she looked at Tropper. "...they name her specifically," Tropper said, "See? 'The tiger in question, once belonging to local magician Allie Meers, was subdued so medical aide could rush in to assess the damage done to Miss Gibbons'. They found half a body in the pit too, something the tiger was eating. She got the tomb thanks to Claire, and she dumped it in a tiger pit along with some poor girl, and they named her directly having ownership at one time, linking her to it. We got her. We can nail her." Siskel looked back at the paper, then at Tropper. "I...I don't..." Siskel said, "it's circumstantial, Tropper, we can't just-" "Bullshit it's circumstantial! We were already investigating and this is just further proof that she not only committed a murder, then a theft of police property and now this?! Come on! We got her to the wall, Becky, we did it!" Siskel stood up and walked to her coffee maker, pouring herself another cup, then taking a long sip of it before turning back to face Tropper. "What?" he asked, "What is it?" "...this is bigger than Meers. After you left last night, I went out, I sat outside Nicole's place for hours. She finally made a move. She drove down to a really nice suburb area, met with an older man. I looked up the address when I got home, it's her father, her father's a governor," Siskel said. "And?" "And, for the last few years, he's been pulling in money for re-elections from various sources, but if you do some digging, none of the sources are real outlets. They sound legit, on paper, because he created the companies as a falsehood. But the money coming in doesn't come from them, they come from the casinos. He's using casino backed cash to pay for his re-elections, buy himself back into the governership, and then the casinos get a huge tax dodge as a result for playing nice." "...why...why are you telling me all of this?" Tropper asked. "Because Allie Meers isn't our target," Agent Siskel said, wiping her mouth on her sweater sleeve, sighing, "...she's our one shot at catching something way bigger. She's how we'll bring down the governor." Claire Driscoll sat at the interview table alone, waiting for the agents to enter the room. As she looked around the room, taking in the lack of any decorations whatsoever, she started to wonder if prisons were called "correctional facilities" because that's what they sought to do, correct you of your mindsets and actions. And, if that's the case, what do you do when you incarcerate someone who doesn't think they did anything wrong? Sure, now on medication Claire could see her actions for what they were, monstrous, and yet..and yet a part of her still stood by them. She believed in a greater good, perhaps the greatest good. Nobody else saw it yet, that was the problem. Finally the door opened and Agent Siskel and Agent Tropper entered. She smiled at them as Tropper leaned against the wall and continued drinking his coffee while Siskel sat at the table, putting a manila folder down in front of her.
"Good afternoon," Claire said, "How are you guys doing today?" "We're fine, thanks," Agent Siskel replied, "Claire, before we get into anything serious, I wanna ask you a question. What do you think people come to Vegas for?" Claire was taken by surprise. Certainly this was not the kind of discussion she had been expecting, but she decided she'd play along. She thought about it for a moment, chewing on her cheek. "Uh, gambling, probably, right? Debauchery. The kind of things you can only get away with here. Entertainment being a close second. Everyone always says that, right? 'Let's go take in a show!' or whatever. There's a lot of stuff you can only see in Vegas. High class strippers, call girls, nude poetry readings." "That's a thing?" Agent Tropper asked, raising an eyebrow. "They're not as fun as they sound," Agent Siskel replied. "How do you know??" he asked, now even more curious. "Why? Why are you asking me these things? Look, my compound was on the outskirts of the city, I was as far removed from Vegas as one could be while still technically living in it. I came into the city for work, groceries, shit like that. Why are you-" "You never came into the city to see, maybe, a magic show?" Agent Siskel asked, and Claire's eyes widened. "...I don't think so," she said, laughing, "I don't go to stuff like that. I hate crowds." "You ran a cult," Agent Tropper remarked. "Yeah, a crowd I could control," Claire replied, "Why are you asking me about magic shows?" "Because apparently, a few days ago, you had a visitor come by, a magician named Allie Meers. Why'd she come to visit you? You guys weren't friends, right? You didn't run in the same social circles, so why would she come by and see you? She just a fan of your work?" Agent Siskel asked. "I'm allowed to have fans, serial killers are some of the most revered people in the public eye now," Claire said, "What that says about the public is a whole other discussion, but hey, I'll take my wins where I can get 'em." "Claire," Agent Siskel said, leaning forward and cupping her hands as she smiled, "how about we make a deal?" Claire squinted, her brow furrowing. "What kind of deal?" she asked. *** "You ever design a funeral home?" Allie asked, as she and Molly were driving out towards the compound. Molly was sitting in the passenger seat, eating a jerky stick while Molly drove. "I don't like funeral homes. I don't like death. I don't even like cemeteries," she replied, "I acknowledge that they're interesting buildings, certainly, and it might be a structurally challenging design, sure. But no, I've never designed a funeral home. Why?" "Just curious, just seeing what you've done," Allie said, shrugging. Molly scratched her forehead and pushed her hair from her eyes, sighing. She never, in a million years, would've expected her life to take the turn it had. On one hand, she wanted to be furious, she wanted to scream and claw Allie's eyes out for what she'd dragged her into. On the other hand, she was weirdly thankful that these people trusted her enough to include her. She supposed that's what happens to a person when they spend their life excluded, any inclusion, no matter what kind, becomes oddly endearing and welcome. "Why are we meeting at the compound? Wouldn't the cops be keeping a close eye on this place?" Molly asked. "Why would they? The leader's been arrested, everyone's disbanded for the time being, it's just sitting here. All the more damning would be if we showed up at her funeral home and left with a tomb. That'd be something somebody would notice. This place, as far as they're concerned, is just a big empty lot of land now," Allie said. Molly shrugged. Allie had a point. If nobody would be here regularly, why bother watching it? She took another bite of her jerky stick and chewed, thinking about Zoe. The only reason Molly was the one coming along for this ride was because Zoe said she couldn't. Zoe had told them that she had some personal things to take care of regarding her family, and they respected that, especially Molly, after hearing just how rough her meeting with her parents had gone. "Welp," Allie said, "Here it is." They barreled down a dirt road and finally came to a large gate that encased the compound. After pulling up at the keypad and speaker, Allie rolled down her window and waited. Nothing happened. After a minute she glanced at Molly, who just shrugged, still chewing. "You Allie?" a voice asked through the speaker, making them both jump and laugh nervously. "Yeah, that's me," Allie replied back, "Claire sent us to retrieve the package." "Pull in and park, then come to building C," the voice said, before the speaker crackled and went quiet. The gates unlocked automatically and began to slide open, allowing Allie to drive through. She looked at Molly and smirked. "Fancy, I feel like royalty," she said. "Might as well get used to this sort of thing," Molly said, "This is probably what prison will be like." "If I can escape out of a locked box, what makes you think I couldn't escape from prison?" Allie asked. *** Rachel St Sebastian was one of the very few people Claire trusted outside the compound. They'd met early on into Claire being in Vegas, and had become quick friends, in part thanks to Claire's weirdly morbid curiosity of her line of work. Rachel was a mortician. It was a family inherited trade, not something she necessarily chose to go to school for, but it was also something she never really minded outright. As she'd once told Claire, "I like working with the dead. At least the dead don't argue." When she got the call from Claire in prison about the 'package', she knew she had to help. If there was one thing Rachel hated, it was the cops. She'd taken her friend, and now her life, from her and she'd do anything to fight back against them, even just a little. So when she was told to hold the package until Allie showed up, and then turn it over to her, she took the opportunity without thinking twice. She'd seen Allie Meers before, while being downtown. Never in person, just on billboards or on local commercials for the hotel, so she was sort of excited about meeting a pseudo celebrity. And, best of all, she didn't care one bit about what Allie's participation in this situation was. If anything, she was even more sympathetic to Allie than she ever could've been to Claire. *** "You'd think that with all this land, you'd at least get some horses," Molly said as Allie parked and they climbed down from the truck. Molly turned and looked at the truck and asked, "did you get a truck with a trailer so we could easily transport it?" "It was either that or tying him to the roof like a mattress," Allie said, making Molly laugh. They began to walk away from the truck and towards building C, as instructed. Just as they approached, the doors swung open, and a tall woman, her hair in a messy bun, dressed in a floral short sleeve shirt and khaki pants, strode out to meet them. She was smoking a cigarette, and tossed it on the ground as they approached, stomping it out with her boot. "So," she said, looking between Allie and Molly, "didn't know you'd have help, but it makes sense." "Well i can't do this myself," Allie said, "Should I pull the truck around or...?" "No, I've got a dolly we can wheel him out on," Rachel replied. "He's not a dresser," Molly said, making Allie chuckle. "Come on, follow me," Rachel said, and the girls did as they were told. They entered a large room, clearly a medical pavilion of some kind for the people who had lived here, and continued through to another, smaller attached room where, on a metal slab, sat the tomb with a tarp wrapped around it. Allie stopped short, her breath caught in her chest. She hadn't seen the tomb since they'd buried it - well, besides on the news, but she meant more in person - and seeing it now, even if wrapped in something, it made her feel queasy. "Why's there a tarp over it?" Molly asked. "Because he's kinda ugly to look at," Rachel said, "he's decomposing for god sakes. You think I wanna see that every time I come in here? So you got a plan of what to do with him?" "Yeah," Allie said softly as she approached and looked at the tarp covered tomb up close, "...I have a tiger." *** "Why would a magician come to see you?" Agent Siskel asked, leaning back in her chair, crossing her legs, "I mean, you say she could be a fan, but maybe there's more to it than that, right?" "Maybe she had the hots for me after seeing me on TV," Claire replied, shrugging, leaning back in her own chair and folding her arms, "Did you know that serial killers get more marriage proposals than anyone else in prison? What does that say about the mental state of the people in this country that they find violence romantically intriguing?" "What'd you guys talk about?" Agent Siskel asked, still pushing. "You said something about a deal," Claire said, "and, much as I'd love to take that offer, I have nothing to give in return for it. She came, we chatted about what I did, that was that, sorry to disappoint you, agents. Besides, why the sudden interest in this woman? I thought you guys were watching Sunny's sister?" "We are," Agent Tropper said, "but that tomb had to come from somewhere, and we saw it up close, we know that it's a magician prop, so if a magician suddenly comes to see you, then it stands to reason that she might have been involved somehow. Claire, you have an opportunity here to gain some freedom. You could help us. All we wanna know is why she came to talk to you." Claire hesitated, thinking it over. If she walked, would she have anything to walk back to? They'd disbanded her cult, they'd ruined her reputation, they'd taken everything from her. What really would she be returning to? "You know, it's funny," Claire finally said, grinning slightly, "all I wanted to do was help people, you know? That's why I formed the 'cult', as you call it. I wanted to give people who didn't feel like they belonged a place they could belong to. A family, in a way. I didn't ask anything of them, I just wanted them to feel welcome and loved. Now, here I am, sitting in this prison, and none of them has come to see me." "Well, considering what you wound up doing, did you expect them to?" Agent Tropper asked, "I mean, not to speak for anyone but, for me personally, if I found out the person I trusted most was arrested for keeping dead bodies in the walls, that'd probably sour my opinion of them." "Fair," Claire said, "I acknowledge that, but it still stings, you feel me? Actually, that's not true, one person did come to see me. Rachel St Sebastian. She's my oldest friend, and she didn't abandon me, so that was nice." "...why do I know that name?" Agent Siskel asked, looking at Agent Tropper, who shrugged. "Because she's the mortician I suggested you use to extract Sunny from the tomb," Claire said, "She's great at what she does, she's highly recognized in her field. She came to see me, she's called a few times, she hasn't left me to rot, and for that, I appreciate her. You know, last time we talked, she told me a story about someone else in her line of work who somehow lost someone they were working on. Someone brought in a young man, someone who had fallen while hiking and had frozen to death, and this other mortician, god knows how they managed to do it, somehow lost the body in transit." Agent Tropper and Agent Siskel exchanged a glance. "Why...why are you telling us this?" Agent Tropper asked as Claire grinned. "Because it's funny, isn't it? People just disappear all the time, even from the places you least expect, in a way almost like life and death itself, one moment they're here, the next they're not," Claire said, "almost like magic." That's when it struck Agent Siskel. Her eyes widened, her jaw slacked. Claire leaned forward, smiling. "Abracadabra," she whispered, as Agent Siskel quickly stood up and raced out of the room, a confused Agent Tropper following on her heels, as Claire lost it and started laughing hysterically. *** Allie and Molly were driving home. Allie didn't want to think about Sunny being in the back of the truck, she just wanted to get home and get rid of him. Molly, almost as if feeling the unease that was suffocating them, sat in total silence as Allie unsuccessfully searched for a radio station, only to get static after static channel. "Must be too far from the stations," Molly said quietly. "Do you wanna get something to eat?" Allie asked, "I...I need to eat." "I could eat," Molly said, "all I've done is full up on gas station jerky, so." "...I didn't think I'd feel like this. Feel this...bad, you know?" Allie asked, "I think I feel guilty not because I did it, but because he...he wasn't a bad person, and that's what hurts the most. If he'd been an asshole, this all would've been so much easier to defend. But aside from potentially trying to get Zoe hooked, because he was a business man and that's what they do, he wasn't a bad guy. We hung out here and there, he was almost a friend. I just...seeing the tomb again after all this time, it made me wanna vomit." "Well there goes my appetite," Molly mumbled, making Allie chuckle softly. "Sorry," Allie said, "it's just all so fucked up. I did what I did to protect Zoe. I didn't know what it would lead to. I just knew that I had to do something to protect her. Look at what happened to me, look at what show business does to a person. She doesn't deserve that. She deserves to be successful, happy, healthy. She's a better person than me." Molly watched Allie for a moment as she wiped her eyes on her sweatshirt sleeve. "...I don't think you're a bad person either, Allie," Molly finally said, "I think you were backed into a corner, and you did what you had to." "Thanks," Allie said, smiling weakly, "I appreciate that." They didn't talk again until they were in the diner booth, ordering. *** Agent Siskel pulled up into the parking lot violently, quickly unlatching her seatbelt and climbing out of her car, Agent Tropper right behind her from the passenger side. He was shouting at her, but she didn't take a second to hear him or wait. She barreled right through the doors, only to see Rachel St Sebastian filling out some paperwork at her desk. She looked up when the agents entered, and adjusted her reading glasses. "Hello," she said calmly. "Where is he?" Agent Siskel asked. "...I have some unfortunate news," Rachel said, cupping her hands, "We had a robbery this morning." Agent Siskel screamed, yanking at her hair as she walked into the coffin showroom, leaning against a nice coffin and crying. All the work, all the effort, and it'd all been undone in a matter of seconds. She couldn't help herself, she was sobbing. She felt a hand on her back and heard Agent Tropper talking to her as he stood beside her, rubbing her shoulder. "We'll get back on track, alright? We'll make it work," he said, "It's okay, it's just a small setback." "I was so close, Roger, I was so fucking close," Agent Siskel said, "I was...I was there. I had it. I had it all figured out, locked in, dead to rights. It was over, and she took it from me. That fucking woman, I'm going to kill her, I'm going to do to her what she did to all those people and shove her corpse in a wall." "Well, that's a little ridiculous," Agent Tropper said, "I understand you're upset, but we'll get it back, alright? Let's just focus." She wouldn't listen, she couldn't. She just needed to mourn for a moment. Agent Tropper just stayed there, rubbing her back. "It's fine," he said softly, "Take as long as you need. It's okay." And she would. Rebecca Siskel had always made a promise to herself, so as not to lose herself in her emotions in regards to her work. She'd let herself be mad or upset, she'd let herself feel for a bit, and then she'd get back to work and she'd solve the case, just like always. She couldn't ignore her disappointment, she knew that was outright unhealthy, but she also knew she couldn't allow herself to wallow in it either, as they got her nowhere. After a bit, she'd regain her composure, she'd get back to work, and she'd do whatever it took to catch Allie Meers. No matter what. |
ABOUT
Allie Meers is what she dreamed of being since she was a little girl...a successful Vegas magician. The only problem now is she can't make all her problems disappear; Allie grapples with her strained relationship, crippling addictions and FBI agents on her tail, all while trying to stay at the top of her career. Archives
December 2023
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