323 Chapter 323

Erik sat in the interrogation room for another hour. He was shifting his weight and looking more and more uncomfortable and exhausted.

"Hello. Anyone? I have to urinate. Badly." He said loudly.

"He can't go inside the bathroom here. It doesn't look like a police station, it looks like a factory past the doors down the hall." Fi said.

One of the actors stepped up. "I will walk him outside. I can act like I want it smoke a cigarette or something." He said.

They all agreed and told the actor to not speak to him and make it quick. He went into the interrogation room and told Erik to stand up and put his hands in front of him. He placed the cuffs on and lead him outside through the door adjacent to the interrogation room.

Erik stood and relieved himself almost immediately. He looked down at the cop and saw a set of keys in his pocket when her took out his cigarettes.

"Can I have one of those? It's been a helluva day." Erik said.

The actor nodded. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the pack and looked up to offer Erik one of them. Just as he did, Erik struck him, hard, in the head with his handcuffed hands, knocking him to the ground, unconscious. He grabbed the keys and much to his relief, the handcuff keys were on the ring. He unlocked them and hit the unlock button on the key fab. A police car next to him lit up. Erik opened the door, started the engine and took off into the night.

After several minutes, Sebastian told M to go out and check on things. M opened the door and looked outside, seeing the actor on the ground and one of the police cars gone. He came running in, alerting them.

Sebastian knew in that instant they had screwed up.

"We need to separate. M, you head to the airport. Rowan, you case all the hotels. Blake, the palace."

"Where are you going?" Fi asked.

"Pearl." He said.

**********************^

Erik drove as fast as he could out of London. He needed to get Pearl and get on a plane to Ireland immediately. He didn't want to go to the airports in the city. Surely they would be looking for him there. He raced through the two hour drive to Highgrove House and pulled in the driveway. Jim, he thought. I'm going to have to get through Jim. He walked inside to find Jim asleep on the couch in the living room. He crept in quietly and grabbed a vase sitting on the side table. He lifted it high and slammed it onto Jim's head. This would buy him a little time. He walked the stairs and up to the master suite. He opened the door and walked into the dark room, and looked at the empty bed, thinking maybe Pearl was sleeping in the nursery. He turned to walk out of the room and heard the hammer of a gun pull back.

"Pearl? Is that you?" Erik asked.

"Why are you here?" She asked.

"I came to talk to you. We need to leave. Pack and grab the baby and leave. Sebastian told me that you know about what happened, with the girl." Erik began. "Pearl, I am so, so sor... "

"Yes. I am aware. Painfully aware." Pearl interrupted.

"Put down the gun."'Erik said. "You don't even know how to shoot one, nightingale. Please put it down." He said.

"I don't?" She said and aimed the gun at him, pulling the trigger and missing his head by merely inches.

"Pearl! What in the fuck are you doing? You could have killed me!"

"Yes. I could have but I wasn't aiming to... yet. But if you don't go back and answer for this, if you try to buy and talk your way out of it again, I can promise you, I will aim slightly more the left next time and I will kill you myself." She said, straight faced and steady.

"You wouldn't kill me." He said, smugly.

"I would. And I want to. So if I were you, I wouldn't give me any more reason to consider it." She said, matter-of- factly.

"Pearl... I" he began to step towards her. She aimed again and pulled back the hammer.

"Don't make me tell you twice." She said, her hand steady.

He raised his hands and sat down on the bed.

"Ok. Ok. Call them, then. I will tell them everything." He said.

"Everything?" She asked

"Yes." He said.

He knew it would make her happy. He would confess every dark secret he had to the two lame, small village police officers and the Americans that had no power over him and afterward, he and his father would have their badges, destroying all of the evidence that a conversation even happened. And then he would tell Pearl that they decided to drop the charges if he went to counseling. It would be perfectly handled and everyone would be happy, he thought.

Pearl picked up her cell.

"Yes. He is here." She said. "I can assure, you, I have it under control."

Erik watched her, listening intently.

"He is going to tell you everything. And then, when he is done, before you take him in, I want to talk to him, alone. That's the agreement." She said and hung up.

"Have you always been good with a gun?" Erik asked.

"Keep your hands in front of you." Pearl said. "And no. Just held one for the first time last week. But don't let that relax you in any way. I can hit the center of a bullseye now from five times the distance from where you are to me. With just as little light." She said, continuing to aim the 9mm with a silencer on it at him.

"You've been shooting guns? I thought you were depressed?" Erik said.

"No. My depression went away. Turns out I was just spending too much time with an asshole. Who'd have thought it?" She said.

He began to speak again but she stopped him.

"Hearing your voice makes my trigger finger jumpy. Better keep it a minimum." Pearl said.

Just then, Sebastian burst in and tackled Erik, beating him repeatedly in the face. M ran in after him and broke it up, putting cuffs on Erik. Sebastian ran to Pearl. "Are you alright? Are you hurt? Let me look at you." He said, examining her face and arms.

"I'm fine. I had it under control. I heard a noise downstairs and grabbed the gun. I was ready for him." Pearl said.

"Still surprising me, Pearl. I will never doubt your capabilities as long as I live. I'm so proud of you." He said, smiling and moving her hair out of her face.

They walked Erik to the car outside and took him back to the warehouse. Meanwhile, Jim had regained consciousness and had an ice pack on his head, sitting in the living room.

"Are you alright?" Pearl asked.

"I am sorry I failed you." Jim said.

"No worries, darling. Turns out I may not need as much protection as you all previously thought." She said, winking.