Chapter 13

Archer winced as Emilia cleaned the blood off his knuckles. She applied some disinfectant from the first aid kit she had found in one of Rosalia's cramped drawers.

Emilia had watched Archer hit the mirror in his room sending shards of glass flying. The maid had had to come in and clean up the pieces of glass in the room. Archer was once again studiously avoiding Emilia's gaze.

Shame.

Archer was ashamed of himself. He had allowed his mother to get to him again and he had lost his temper and almost killed her. The last time he had lost his temper someone else had died but that person had deserved to die.

"You should get a Tetanus shot." Being a doctor, she had to give him such advice even though she was sure that Tetanus was the least of his concerns at the moment.

Archer simply nodded

Once Emilia was done cleaning his wound, Archer went downstairs to prepare their dinner.

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Archer cleared their plates when they were done eating. The spaghetti and meatballs had been truly delicious. He had even included peach cobbler for dessert. Archer had skills and not for the first time did Emilia contemplate what a life with him would be like. A man who could cook. A girl could dream right?

"You have had a long day. You should get some rest." Archer finally said when he came back to the room. Understanding completely well how Archer was feeling, she didn't put up a fight. She agreed to sleep in Rosalia's extremely soft bed. She tested the bed first to ensure that she would not  be sucked into another dimension. When she was sure that the bed would not suck her in, she lay on the bed till she slept off.

Archer watched her surreptitiously until her breathing calmed down then he went to bed to battle his demons.

Now alone in his bed, he allowed himself to think back to the kitchen incident in all it's glory. What had he done? Abigail always knew how to tear apart his wires with her sharp tongue. Archer recalled Emilia's face when she had seen Archer in the process of strangling his mother. It wasn't the panic and her frantic shouts for him to stop that had made him stop. It was the fear that had taken over her features. For a few moments, Emilia had been scared of him. Archer would never forget that look.

Damn it.

He lay on his bed awaiting sleep or even death to come free him from the millions of thoughts running through his mind.

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Emilia woke up in full on combat with the air. She was punching and kicking at everything and nothing at the same time. Pillows were sent every which way, the bed covers flew off and she awoke from her nightmare-induced stupor. This time she had dreamt that the person whipping her on the cinder block was none other than sweet, handsome and now short tempered Archer. She extricated herself from Rosalia's wretched bed and walked towards Archer's room. She stood there watching him sleep for one long minute until his bedside light snapped on scaring the shit out of her.

"Can't sleep?" He asked. The bedside light cast a yellow spotlight on his face and from the alertness in his eyes she could tell that he had not been sleeping.

"Yeah. Bad dream." Emilia replied. "I am scared that if I sleep again I will have yet another bad dream."

Archer stroked his day old beard as he thought then he said, "If we both can't sleep then let's work." He pulled out his computer from the bed side drawer and pushed the sheets aside indicating that she should sit. This setting was a little too intimate for Emilia but after winning a debate with her logical self,  she took a place next to him.

"So what do we do?" Emilia asked.

"The best place to start an investigation is from the beginning." He began. He looked at Emilia to see whether she was paying attention and continued. "So we know that Evelyn Dakota was murdered in her own home using a baseball bat, her body was burnt and then thrown into your apartment." Archer said and Emilia gulped down a chunk of saliva as she vividly recalled the sight of the burnt body on her living room floor. The idea bulb in her head finally came on.

"It's most likely a man." Emilia said, excited that she had figured out something helpful in solving the case. "I live on the second floor. For someone to throw the body that high, they need to be strong."

"Yes." Archer agreed. "What about the cameras?" The cameras bothered him for some reason. Archer called Benjamin Moore for information on the cameras. They talked for under five minutes and Archer hung up after apologizing for calling him so late in the night. Emilia didn't find the apology necessary because Benjamin was probably still at the station.

"The cameras were probably in your apartment for about nine months." He was in thought again. "Who got you the name, Emilia Gardiner?"

Emilia thought for a moment then said, "Actually Margaret handled everything. After I was discharged from the hospital, she brought back papers and an ID and told me to use the name, Emilia Gardiner. It was for my protection."

"So who is the killer after? Is he after Elaine Barker or Emilia Gardiner?" Archer asked as he typed into his keyboard.

Emilia had not thought about this at all. She didn't know who the killer was really after.

"I think I know how the killer found you." Archer's voice pulled Emilia out of her thoughts.

"How?" Even though she didn't really want to know.

"I've done an eight year  age progression on one of Elaine's photos and this is how it looks like now." Archer turned his laptop so that she could see what was on his screen.

"She looks almost like me. I thought we would look a lot different given that I underwent plastic surgery to get rid of the deep gash in my face from the bullet." Emilia said. For some odd reason, she was touching Elaine's twenty eight year old face as if she was holding onto a fond memory.

Archer cleared his throat to get Emilia's attention and when he did. He said, "Elaine Barker was never buried right?" Emilia nodded not getting where he was going with this. "Everyone in Mattapan was just made to think that Elaine had run away with her lover and that was that but if someone was intent on finding Elaine he would have continued searching through all possible channels and maybe he stumbled upon this." Archer showed her the screen of his laptop and Emilia froze. It was Emilia's picture on the Boston State Hospital website as one of the certified psychologists. How had she not thought of this before? The killer could have come in as a client and she would not have noticed.

"I would like to show you something." Archer said abruptly as he stood up and started removing his shirt. Emilia's heart was already racing. She could feel it hammering in all parts of her body.

"Please Archer." Emilia uttered before the hyperventilation took over. Archer looked at her quizzically and then seemed to realize what she was thinking and he startled himself by laughing. Even though his laughter was most probably not helping the situation.

"No, Emilia it's not what you are thinking." Archer said between breaks of laughter.

He took of his shirt and Emilia's mouth ran dry. She tried to swallow but there was nothing. His chest was speckled with black hairs that narrowed down to the waistband of his sweatpants. He stood there arms akimbo waiting. A tattoo ran along his stomach in no particular pattern. It reminded her of a turbulent ocean. It also reminded her of an electric eel with many eyes.

"What am I supposed to be-" She was about to ask but then she finally saw it. Not it but them. Emilia counted eleven pink puckered scars on Archer's stomach that were artistically covered by the tattoo. She had initially thought that they were eyes but these were cigarette burns. Once more her heart did that silly summersault thing but for different reasons. Archer was not perfect like she had thought. He was scarred like her. But who had hurt Archer? Was it his mother? His father? Was this his way of putting them on levelled ground?

"Your scars don't appall me." Archer began "Quite the contrary, they show me that you are a survivor. That you fought a psychopath and won." Emilia was on the brink of tears now.

Archer walked closer to her and she didn't resist when he hugged her. The floodgates opened now and she cried. Archer said nothing and simply rocked her where they stood. Emilia knew that this good thing that they had going would soon end and she would go back to her lonely life so she memorized this moment. After all the world could take away everything but it couldn't take away her memories. They would be her companion even in her grave.

Archer carried her to his bed and tucked her in like a child. He was about to get in with her but she stopped him by saying.

"Put your shirt back on first." He did so hastily and climbed into the bed with her and they slept off like the loving couple they would never be.

For the first time in both their miserable lives, they were content, at peace and most of all they were happy.