[For Druitt, Archie] Jan. 14: Every finger in the room is pointing at me

[girlsolo]

As soon as Kate ditches Auggie, she stops by the clothes box to swap out shorts for something with more coverage. She gets lucky or maybe the box knows she'll set fire to it or who the fuck knows but it coughs up a pair of cargos.

She thinks about stopping by the Psych Office to ask Will where he thinks Druitt would be right now, first day on the island as an island and all that profiler hoodoo Will's so good at. But it's a waste of time. She's the one who's been tracking him. So she's the one who knows his movements best. Chances are, he'll do like most of the new people. Come here to the Compound, get food, get oriented. If not, she'll get Declan and start a search.

It's amazing how fast she can find someone she's been avoiding since he got to the island when she puts her mind to it. It's not ten minutes before she finds him in the hall by the men's bathroom. Gaze narrowed and eyes flat mean, Kate stalks up to him. "We need to talk." The now is very much implied. So's the, and that's not a request.

Comments

[iliketodruitt]

"The bandage? Why I imagine it covers a wound," John said, feigning genuine surprise. If she was going to ask stupid questions, he was going to respond with stupid answers. He imagined that he had far more patience than she did.

"When Joan was entering the cafe she slipped on black ice and grabbed my arm. Her nails dug into me and caused several cuts."

[girlsolo]

He's a good liar. Smooth and cool. She'll give him that. Almost as good as she is. Maybe better. He does have more than a century of practice. But Kate's lips curl into a snarl when he mentions Joan.

"Convenient. I guess that'll be your explanation when your DNA turns up under her fingernails. If they can even test that shit here." Kate takes another step forward into his space and the threat in her tone is obvious when she growls, "Where is she?"

[iliketodruitt]

"I doubt that Joan is the type of woman to go long without cleaning her nails when she's scratched someone," John said, not at all bothered by her proximity. His height might not intimidate her, but it made it rather difficult for her to intimidate him.

"And I have no idea where she is. It's likely that she got lost when the island switched from London to this."

[girlsolo]

Without saying how she knows, Kate demurs. "She's not lost. She's missing and I think you know where she is." It's hard to be make a physical threat without a weapon at her height, but if it is possible, Kate's doing it. Her hand slips to the knife she is carrying and her head cocks, snarl turning nasty. "No, I know you know where she is. What happened, she remind you a little too much of Magnus all poised and polite like that? Or did she see you doing someone else? Where is she?"

Yeah, Kate knows. If Druitt knows where she is, Joan's dead. She can't let that affect her right now, or her sympathy for Auggie, or the guilt she'll feel when she tells him. The only thing she can do for Auggie and the island right now is find the body.

[iliketodruitt]

"You don't need to bother with the knife, Miss Freelander," John said, eyes locking with hers. He probably wouldn't have noticed the motion except for the fact that the blade was his preferred weapon of choice and he knew the signs to look for.

"And if you are so convinced that I am guilty, then let's go to the authorities. Preferably without delay. Because I have done nothing to Joan and if she is indeed missing, then it's best we not waste time on this crusade of yours to see me punished."

[girlsolo]

Never look away from a predator. It's one of the first things she learned on the streets, and it's a lesson she'll never forget. Ingrained, as deep as the instincts for when to run and when to fight. It only takes seconds to weigh it and press her lips together in as much of a nod as he's getting.

"The IPD office is that way," she says and gestures with the knife she's not surprised he saw her pulling. If she'd wanted to stab him, she would've stabbed him. Torture's bad for getting answers. If the IPD can't get any, she'll find Will and Declan and they'll figure out a better way. Or Will will use his profiler hoodoo and figure out where Joan's body is. If he killed her. "Don't be so shocked. I'd rather be wrong."

For Auggie's sake, and for Joan's obviously, Kate really hopes she's wrong.

[iliketodruitt]

"You are wrong," John said, heading in the direction that she indicated. Normally he wouldn't have trusted someone at his back with a knife, but oddly he trusted Kate. As angry as she was, she was not an irrational woman and he knew she wasn't going to stab him in the back.

"But the sooner my innocence is proven the sooner we can start looking for Joan."