Fic : The Blacklist : The House You Live In Chapter 4
A/N Same 'universe' as Sundown & Mr. Kaplan's Day Off.
The House You Live In
I'll Prove My Love
“Who is Vanessa Cruz?” Tom asked as he worked to pick the lock on the door.
“Vanessa Cruz was a blacklister Reddington put us on to, but she evaded arrest … with Reddington's help. Her specialty was framing people for crimes they didn't commit.”
“So Cruz is on Reddington's payroll?”
“No. Not anymore.” Raymond admitted as he and Dembe came up behind them. “Mr. Kaplan was the one that I sent to recruit Vanessa on my behalf.”
Liz pointed out. “But working for you wasn't all that Mr. Kaplan recruited her for.”
Raymond nodded. “It was a little May/December but Mr. Kaplan always had a weakness for homicidal maniacs.”
“And look where that got her.”
Ignoring Lizzie's jab, Raymond continued. “They were on again off again, but when Mr. Kaplan dropped out of contact completely with Vanessa - “
“- Because you killed her.” Lizzie seemed to be in a mood to pick apart everything he said.
“Vanessa wasn't very happy with me.”
Once inside the luxurious penthouse apartment, it only took a minute for them to sweep it to confirm that Vanessa wasn't there. That accomplished, Raymond directed them to begin a more detailed search.
“What are we looking for?”
“I don't know. But I do know Vanessa wanted me to know she did this.” Raymond shook his head. “Or at least was a part of it. This was beyond Vanessa's capabilities.”
Raymond indicated for Dembe to search the kitchen. “You and Tom check the office.”
As Raymond himself headed for the stairs to the bedroom, Lizzie stopped him. “You and Tom take the office. I'll check the bedroom.”
Raymond didn't argue. Not having trusted the task to anyone else - and unwilling to put it on Dembe - he had emptied out all of Mr. Kaplan's apartments personally. He had had his fill of going through people's personal belongings.
“I don't know what I'm looking for - I don't even know what I'm looking at.” Tom admitted as he opened drawer after drawer of neatly labeled little vials of blood and saliva samples and poly bags full of carefully cataloged hairs and fibers.
“Mr. Kaplan always had an appreciation for a well organized mind.”
“Is that what this is?”
Dembe soon joined them. He shook his head.
Raymond frowned. He hadn't heard any movement from upstairs in some time. “I'm going to check on Elizabeth.”
Tom and Dembe followed on his heels.
Liz wasn't searching. She was just sitting on the bed. Her head was down. There was something in her hands.
“Lizzie? What did you find?”
“Mr. Kaplan had a drawer.”
Raymond shuttered his eyes for the briefest of moments.
“She kept a few changes of clothes here. A toothbrush.” He reopened them to Lizzie holding up an empty eye glass case. “And an extra pair of glasses.”
OOO
Liz stood from the bed when they heard the downstairs door open. A woman's heels could be heard crossing the hardwood floors.
When Liz and the others went to look, Vanessa was downstairs. Calm as could be, she was fixing herself a drink. Agnes was no where to be seen.
Much to Dembe's displeasure, Reddington took the lead going down the stairs.
“Hello Raymond.” Vanessa didn't look up to address him. “I'm pleased to see you found my invitation.”
“It was a little hard to miss, Vanessa.”
Reddington signaled the others to stay back by the stairs as he approached - his gun remaining holstered.
Liz watched as Reddington spoke and moved very slowly as if dealing with a skittish animal - or a very dangerous one. “Thank you, Vanessa, for rescuing Agnes.”
Done stirring, Vanessa carefully poured out the drink into a martini glass before looking up to answer. “Don't thank me, Raymond. Thank Kate.”
Reddington's eyebrows knit together and for a moment his face lost its impassiveness.
“After all, it was her plan. I just did a bit of the leg work.”
“Vanessa, where is Agnes?”
“She's with Kate now.”
Mr. Kaplan was dead. Was that Cruz's indirect way of saying … Liz gasped. As she started to move closer, with a hand, Reddington again tried to signal her to stop.
Reddington gave his head a slight shake. “I know you are angry with me, Vanessa, but I also know you wouldn't hurt Agnes. Mr. Kaplan loved that baby. She risked everything for that baby. She betrayed me for that baby.”
“I didn't hurt her, Raymond. I told you. I left her with Kate.”
“Vanessa, please. Kate would want Agnes back with her mother.”
“I didn't invite you here to talk about what Kate wants, Raymond. Kate has what she wants. I invited you here to get what I want.”
Clearly not understanding, Reddington shook his head. “I can't give you what you want, Vanessa. I don't have it. All I can say is that I deeply regret not having Kate to give you.”
“I know you don't have Kate, Raymond, but there is still something you can give me.”
“Tell me what you want, Vanessa.”
Back to work on her martini, Cruz speared an olive.
Liz found herself getting distracted by Cruz's movements. There was something off about the way she had stirred and poured her martini. The way she held herself, the way she moved her hands - only using the very tips of her fingers to touch anything - it was like she had a fresh manicure that wasn't yet dry and was afraid of smudging it.
“Where are my manners? Would you care for a drink, Raymond?”
Reddington shook his head. “I didn't come here for a drink, Vanessa.”
“Maybe that isn't why you came, but that is why I invited you here.”
As Cruz dropped the olive into the martini and started walking towards Reddington. Liz stared at the martini. Something wasn't right about it. Since when did olives fizz like that in a martini?
“Vanessa please! Just tell me what you want?”
“An eye for an eye, Raymond.”
Dembe was quicker on the uptake. As Cruz tried to throw her drink in Reddington's face, Dembe knocked him out of the way. Tom pushed Liz to the ground, covering her with his body as best he could.
Looking up from the floor, seeing the liquid hit the leather sofa and began eating away at it's surface, Liz realized what was wrong with the martini. “She just tried to throw acid in your face!”
Dembe dropped his gun as he hissed in agony and rolling off Reddington, rushed to remove his jacket. He had spared Reddington and avoided the worse of it himself, but a few drops had spattered on his back. Underneath Tom, Liz couldn't do anything but watch.
The gun was between Vanessa and Reddington. Vanessa could have easily made a grab for it and she would have made it, but instead, as Reddington tried to pick himself up off the floor, Vanessa launched herself at him.
Still stunned, Liz watched as Tom struggled to pull Cruz off of Reddington.
Taking out a handkerchief, Reddington held it up to the right side of his face where Cruz had clawed at him like an animal.
Lizzie said it again. “She just tried to thrown acid in your face!”
“What can I say? Mr. Kaplan had a type. Happy and well adjusted, it was not.”
Using Liz's handcuffs, Tom handcuffed Vanessa to a chair.
Reddington was already ushering Dembe up the stairs. “I need to get Dembe taken care of. Then I'll be back for you. Tom, watch her.”
OOOO
She was covered in dried blood from being shot. Caked in dirt and mud from dragging herself to the stream. Her hair on her right side was matted.
She was content to remain repellant for as long as possible. He had other plans.
“Let's get you cleaned up, little lady.”
She shook her head, but turning down the blankets, he ignored her protests and lifted her to her feet. An arm around her waist, he marched her to the small washroom. The chain went with them.
Once inside, she looked around for a mirror but there wasn't one to be found.
She wasn't sure if she was disappointed or relieved.
“We'll get you scrubbed and changed. Then we'll get you fed and back in bed.”
He stood behind her as he undressed her. Her suit jacket was long gone. He fumbled with the scarf at her neck, but he made quick work of the zipper on her skirt.
She still wasn't exactly clear what kind of deviant she was dealing with - if he was just paranoid and delusional, your garden variety serial killer or a sadist - but she wasn't going to give him any encouragement if he was the latter.
She was determined not to show him any signs of fear or pain, but her mind and her body had differing ideas. She stiffened as he began undoing the buttons on her blouse.
Her blood had dried her blouse to the right side of her body like a second skin. He warned her. “This is going to sting a bit.”
Getting the blouse off was like pulling off a bandaid - but one that covered one whole side of her body. As he removed it, her legs gave out and her mouth opened involuntarily, but she managed to hold in her scream.
Catching and holding her up, he sounded impressed. “Now I know that had to have hurt. Don't hold it in on my account, little darling.”
Down to her slip, as the hand not holding her up began easing one of the straps down her shoulder, she shuddered.
The hand paused a moment before dragging the strap back up.
“Why don't we leave that for now. Let the water uncrust the blood.”
A hand pump that provided water straight from the ground was what passed for running water.
As he put her into the tub and lowered her down into the cold, cold water, she gasped and blacked out again.
tbc