Lawrence and Luca- Part 4
Part 4! The whump is here! Warnings for violence, noncon drugging, kidnapping, and implied murder. Let me know if I need to add anything!
Lawrence belongs to @montammil and Luca belongs to me!
Luca arrives at Lawrence's office at eight, but the man is nowhere to be found. She sees a large table set up with two chairs, though, so she gets to work in setting up the space. She centers a file labeled, appropriately, "THE COLLECTOR" and sits, her eyes intently roving over the various pieces of evidence.
Lawrence arrives a few minutes later, his arms laden with snacks from what was probably the nearest vending machine. He looks surprised. "Oh- you're right on time, kiddo! Great!" He dumps the pile of snacks on a nearby counter, looking over at her elaborate setup of clues and documents. "That's a lot of evidence."
Luca nods. "I like to be thorough."
Lawrence grins and sits opposite her. "Okay, kiddo, walk me through this."
Luca nods. "Okay, so. The Collector. Serial kidnapper, murderer-by-proxy, and criminal mastermind."
She points to the picture on the front of the file, which is less of an actual portrait as it was a man with a question mark for a face. "He's mostly active in cities, although I don't think he lives in one full-time. It's probably much eaiser to find targets- and kidnap them- in high-traffic places like New York than out in the middle of nowhere. He primarily targets teenagers and young adults, taking advantage of their difficult family situations or otherwise vulnerable positions to befriend and later kidnap them. Probably a background in acting or just a really good liar- he'd have to be to gain the trust of so many people. Working from missing child reports and unexplained disappearances, I've managed to pin down two potential victims- Sadie Mills and Nathan Lam. Haven't managed to get ahold of them yet, though."
"The people he kills- or has killed, I think- are all reporters or people looking into his despicable criminal activities. I've connected several seemingly unrelated deaths to the same thugs and hired killers- obviously staged to look like an accident. So he's obviously rich, or at least well-connected enough to know those sorts of people. However, as far as I can tell, he doesn't kill his victims, and combining that with the age of his targets, it suggests some sort of obsession with being seen as a paternal figure, or maybe a delusion brought on by severe trauma... I'm guessing the loss of a family member, probably a wife or a child..."
Luca trails off slowly, glancing up over the top of her documents to see Lawrence, smiling brightly at her as she reads off...
"What's wrong, kiddo?"
A list of attributes and behaviors that fit the man sitting in front of her... very well...
What did he say he was in the city for, again?
Lawrence leans forward. "Is something wrong?"
Dead wife... paternal obsession... rich. Really good liar. Good enough to gain the trust of the very person currently investigating him for murder...
"Luca-?"
"It's you."
Her voice is steady with certainty. Horrible, awful, stupid certainty. "You're the Collector. You were never here on business- I was the business!"
Lawrence smiles. It's just as sincere as it normally is- although this time she can see the smugness underneath. "Oh, stop acting like I’m the crazy one. If I recall correctly, you're the one obsessing over me." He laughs, as if expecting her to follow suit. "Aren’t you happy to know I feel the same way, kiddo?”
Luca shoves her chair away and stands, getting distance between the two of them. "No! You're-"
Lawrence cocks his head. "I'm what? Concerned? Worried? I've been watching you, Luca. You're barely affording rent every month, putting yourself in dangerous situations just to pay the bills. You nearly got stabbed in an alleyway before I showed up! You're killing yourself, Luca. I'm helping you."
Luca stares at him. "Helping me-?! You’ve kidnapped- you've murdered- you've ruined I don’t know how many people's lives! You've lied, you've-" She cuts herself off with an incredulous laugh. "You're gonna kill me? I know too much, is that it?! You going to have me killed like you did all those other reporters?!"
Lawrence seems genuinely hurt by her accusation. His voice gets quiet. "You think I would do that to you? I love you, kiddo."
He walks a few steps closer and she shakes her head, her eyes wide in disbelief. "Wait. So, even though you’ve been lying to me about everything, you’re saying that you- you actually think-"
"I don't think, I know. I love you, kiddo."
He looks at her gently and she takes a sharp breath, her eyes going wide. "This is some kind of sick joke. You've killed innocent people. You lied to me!"
Lawrence looks apologetic. "I know. I realize this will take time for you to get used to. But I'm gonna prove it to you- I have your best interests at heart." He turns- Luca just now notices the briefcase she had returned earlier. Lawrence pulls out a gun.
Luca swallows hard. Swap tactics, now.
"Lawrence- look. I know you think this is right, that you're helping me, to do this-" She gestures at the weapon, "but it's- it's wrong! There's something- wrong. With you. You- you need to turn yourself in. We can work it out- if you go in voluntarily, they'll go easier on you. Just- put the gun down. I don't want to hurt you."
Lawrence chuckles. "You won't hurt me, kiddo."
A single gunshot reverberates throughout the room. Luca clutches her abdomen in shock, expecting to see a bullet hole, but instead, she sees a strange feathered needle sticking out of her skin. A dart...?
How did he know-?
Luca's thoughts abruptly slow to a crawl. Drugged. Have to run. Have to get out...
Lawrence walks in closer to her and wraps his arms around her as her legs finally give out. He gently cradles her head and lowers her to her back on the ground. "Shh, shh. It's okay."
Luca's eyes flutter. She opens her mouth to protest, to scream, but all that she manages is a low moan. Lawrence shushes her. "It's okay now, Lulu. You're safe."
Luca groans as her vision starts flooding with spots. Aura is all well and good, but it doesn't do much when your body is being pumped with enough sedatives to kill a horse. And of course Lawrence had known that... she had told him, after all.
The last coherent thought she had was that now, she was going to pay for it.















