Benjamin and Isabella discuss their concerns over Merick's behaviour and then discover the results of his latest bout of madness...

Isabella is sitting at her desk in the office, having just filled out some paperwork--it's a report on Merick's actions, and she does not relish the thought of turning it in--but it must be done. She covers her face with her paws, still trying to process what she saw.

You say, "A crisp, familiar knocking is heard at the door. Benjamin has been preparing his own account of the incident, as well, and has even made the unpleasant but necessary task of speaking to Albren's superiors about it. He had also been looking for Kieran, having needed some of his company right about now, but he seems to be rather slippery nowadays. *Jesus, what a mess!* he thinks."

Isabella looks up, brushing a strand of headfur out of her eyes. "...come in," she says wearily. She sets her pencil down, waiting for the door to open

Benjamin carefully opens the door and regards Isabella, surprised, for once, by the tired look on her face. For a long time he had secretly regarded Isabella's relatively pep attitude to work with some jealously, but to see her starting to resemble, well, him, was rather shocking. "God, you're a wreck," he swears, stepping inside and looking around. Come to think of it, how often /had/ he been in here? "I didn't think you'd still be here. How's the, um, report?"

Isabella makes a face at him. "I'm not surprised, that's about how I feel," she replies, reaching for the paper. "I had some other things to take care of before I go home for the night. The report is...I just put down what happened, that's all that can really be done." She looks up at him. "That was...I'd never seen Merick do anything like that, ever."

To be frank, Benjamin has never seen him do that, either, but over the past several hours memories of certain strange incidents were suddenly recalled, statements, made in private, that seemed to revealed a hidden, frightening malice within Merick. "I'm...not too surprised, come to think of it. There was...something about him that kinda creeped me out, some kind of hatred that fills him." He takes a look at the report. "May I...?"

Isabella nods, and hands it to him. "I only started to notice it recently, when he came back to work in the clinic...it scared me. I thought he was going to do Albren some real harm...that look in his eyes..." She looks away, obviously disturbed.

"Trust me, I know the feeling," says Benjamin, looking over the report. "I think this may be enough to have his license revoked, though that's assuming I can get one of the psychs to write up something about him. Jesus, I don't know how he managed to slip through the first time."

Isabella looks up sharply, her brows furrowed. "The first time? You mean this *isn't* the first time?" She signs, and tries to brush her headfur out of the way. "Having a psych look at him is a good start, though I'm not fully sure he'll cooperate based on what I saw out there...he would have really hurt Albren if we hadn't been there."

Benjamin shakes his head. "He wasn't violent or anything, no, but even before he got his licenses, there were signs. He and I used to be pretty close, and sometimes, when he would talk...he'd go on about 'imperfection' and how everything was riddled with it. You shouldn't seen the look on his face; it's like he wanted to everything to die. F---, I didn't think it was /literal/!" He rubs his temple, still amazed by how it was turning out. "I don't think a psych test would work, either. I was totally expecting they'd find something, but he's a perfect angel every time. Those won't work at all; we need some more concrete than just a single moment of violence. Speaking of which...apparently Merick's the prime suspect of some recent eye-gouging murders." He takes a seat on one of the chairs and glances around suspiciously. "Is that...true?"

Isabella massages her temples, as though trying to will the inevitable headache away. "I saw it in his face...when he attacked Albren...that /hate/..." She sighs, and nods. "You're probably right about the tests, but how else can we get proof?" She nods a bit in response to Ben's question. "Santiago wouldn't tell me outright, but I think so."

Benjamin rubs his temple as he thinks, something that distinguishes him greatly from the father he resembles. "The only other way I can think of is...catching him in the act of doing something murderous. That, or breaking into his apartment, but that would just rankle me." He looks around the office, wondering what kind of personalizations Isabella has put up. "Either way, we need to isolate him. If they don't find grounds to revoke his license then at least we can get him banned from doing patient care; God knows I've tried."

Isabella's decorations are sparse, but an embroidered sampler (courtesy of Gabrielle) graces the wall, as well as a sketch of her and Justin's wedding, and one of baby Aidan. She looks to Ben, and nods. "I see what you mean--of course, catching him in the act means timing everything perfectly--otherwise we'll just have another corpse on our paws--and I'd like to avoid that." She pauses, musing to herself. "I wonder why Santiago hasn't searched Merick's place himself?" She nods once more. "That'll have to be our short-term goal, at least." She closes her eyes briefly. "Yes...Santiago had mentioned that you'd tried before. Was there another incident then?"

Benjamin shakes his head. "Uncle Santiago can't just barge into people's homes without a warrant, but last I heard he was drafting up a proposal." He looks at the wall for only a brief moment; seeing all those scenes, especially the picture of Aidan, was still too much for him at present. "Merick's been the traveling physician this whole time, but I was never comfortable with it. There's been something 'wrong' with him since his mother died...but the real question is, why did Merick start the murders now, assuming he is the killer?"

Isabella's brow furrows, considering the question. "...maybe they didn't just start now," she replies after a moment. "He's only recently returned to the colony to work...and if he was killing before that, picking off ferals in the woods...we would never know." She shivers a bit. "I know his mother died...do you remember anything about that? Anything that might be important?"

Benjamin rests his other hand on his other temple. "I...don't really know. He didn't talk about her very much after she died, but I knew that it really hit him hard. It's like...he wants to prove something to her, now that she's dead. That's all I can think of."

Isabella nods, leaning forward in her chair. "So all we really have is the documentation of this one incident, and our suspicion of what's behind it." She sighs. "I just wish I knew what to do next...it scares me to think that he's still walking around, and we have know way of knowing if and when he'll strike." Her thoughts go to Aidan, still so small and helpless...

Coincidentally Benjamin, too, was thinking about Aiden. Despite his intentions otherwise, the thought of Isabella's first child was something that seeped into his mind again and again, like water into a sponge. For a brief moment he entertained a fantastic thought of defending Aiden against some menace and therefore earning himself the right to consider Justin a less successful protector, but no...that was the past. "We could, you know, try following him around," he says. "We can disguise our scent using something from the labs, and if he does anything funny...say, do you smell that? It smells...burnt?" Indeed, something rather juicy was steaming somewhere close by, and the scent made Benjamin very uncomfortable.

Isabella nods a bit. "I suppose so...though God knows what we'll do if we actually see him doing something." She sniffs the air. "Ugh...ew, you're right. Think it's coming from the kitchens?"

"No, I think it's a lot closer," says Benjamin, rising and swallowing; he was highly suspicious that something was terribly wrong. Exiting the office, he looks about to determine the source of the smell. "Hey, did someone move the massage table?" He draws closer to that thing, visible signs of his anxiety beginning to show themselves. The fur on his back stands on its end; his whiskers twitch backward; his tail is stiff. Slowly he approaches the table and gently drags it out of the way of the sauna door. "What the hell? Did someone leave this thing on?" He opens the door and lets a steamed rat corpse flop onto the floor. Benjamin stares. "...F---!!"

Isabella follows Ben, almost not wanting to see what was behind door number one, so to speak. "That's weird--why is that thing on so /high/?" She lets out a strangled cry as the corpse lands practically at their feet. Instinctively, she drops to her knees besides the corpse, feeling for a pulse even though she knows it's too late. Shaking her head, she reaches out to close the wide, staring eyes.

Time seems to slow greatly from Benjamin's perspective, the swirling steam seeming like a fog penetrating into his mind. He stares at Isabella, at the dead rat, in utter disbelief. To have seen such a thing, in here, right now, was most terrible, especially given their most recent concern. Confusion threatens to overwhelm him, and even now his instinctive impulse was to flee and hide, but he was the sort who liked to maintain control. "Bella, we need to alert the Guard, now. Call for them," he commands imperiously.

Isabella looks up at Ben. She must be more shaken than she appears, because she doesn't argue with him like she would normally--it's rare that she allows anyone to speak to her in such a way. "Right," she replies numbly, rising to her feet and heading out into the hallway. Her voice can be heard outside, summoning help.

Benjamin remains in the infirmary, burdened by this sudden turn of events. A rat had been murdered in the infirmary - the Infirmary! - and now he and Isabella have to deal with the fallout. He suspected that Merick's hand had been played qite heavily here, recently, but how could he discover this? He knew, however, that this was the beginning of the end for their erstwhile killer, and he hoped to be around when they finally brought him to justice. "Damn it, Merick, you've really done it this time!"

Isabella returns, in the company of several guards just on their way down the hall after practice let out. One of them covers the body with a sheet, and another goes to fetch Santiago, before anyone else hears of it and starts asking questions.