Chapter 6: Morning Scent

CAROLYN

The morning breeze reeks of withered leaves and damp soil. Carolyn feeds the birds while waiting for the assassin to meet her. Her blank face hides the impatience she feels for the woman's tardiness though she should have foreseen it to happen after Eve and Villanelle reunited. The early sun is beginning to peek out of the sky as she watches people run pass by while Villanelle is nowhere in sight.

"Isn't it too early for us to meet?" Villanelle asks as she stands with her hands on her pocket watching Carolyn feed the birds with small pieces of bread.

"The early bird catches the worm," Carolyn says as she sits at one of the benches not far from where they stand.

"I'm not a bird," Villanelle replies with her forehead wrinkling in confusion and remains to pose a few steps away from the woman.

"You are not catching a worm." Carolyn reacts sarcastically, handing over a folded newspaper to the assassin.

Villanelle reaches for the newspaper and opens it, revealing two pictures. The first image is the front of the postcard that shows the map of Cuba and the second image displays the message at the back of the card that says:

Villanelle,

I hope to meet you soon my sister.

I miss you.

Your big sister.

"Isobel?" Villanelle's eyes go wide in surprise as she mutters the name without thinking twice. There is only one person she refers to as a big sister and it's been years since the last time she mumbles the word.

"So you know her? I guess I have a purpose now to employ you in MI6." Carolyn suggests with eyes widen in astonishment. The unforeseen knowledge of the woman saying the name of the assassin without her mentioning any whiffs gives Villanelle an advantage to her plans.

"When did you get this postcard?" Villanelle asks as she stares at the bizarre letter from the grave. She knows the woman too well and curious as to why the assassin surprisingly reveals herself.

"Last week, A man named Jin Sejong, a diplomat attaché from the Chinese Government was murdered in a spa in Beijing. Eve met him when she was investigating the death of a Chinese computer expert you killed in a fetish house in Berlin." Carolyn explains examining the woman strutting a few feet away from where she sits.

"Oh, the one who likes his balls clamped? It was a good one, right?" Villanelle giggles recollecting the way she killed the man who asks her for a special service.

"You also killed Eve's colleague and best friend, Bill Palgrave at a club in Germany." Carolyn reminds Villanelle after hearing the delight in the woman's expression.

"You sound like Eve," Villanelle replies. Taking a few steps closer to the woman. "How did he die?" She asks eyeing at Carolyn who crosses her leg while sitting on the bench.

"Heart attack caused by severe anxiety. His tongue was cut off from his mouth while he was paralyzed from neck to feet from a broken backbone that the assassin did after massaging his body." Carolyn answers detailing the scene casually to Villanelle. She knows the woman has his fair share of bloodbath experiences and this is nothing new to her.

"Where's the tongue?" Villanelle asks sitting on another bench from where Carolyn is.

"It hasn't been recovered," Carolyn replies noticing a woman walking with a white little pooch that stops in front of them to do his little dirty work.

"She took it. Izobel likes to take little souvenirs when she kills." Villanelle says looking at the woman who is now cleaning after her pup.

"Any idea on how to find her?" Carolyn asks in a louder voice to get Villanelle's attention away from the woman whom she is now having a little chat about the small hound.

"We need to find Konstantin," Villanelle suggests while taking small bite-size chocolate from her pocket and feeding it to the puppy.

"And how is that relevant to this case?" Carolyn inquires to the woman who gives out a silly smile waving goodbye to the owner and its canine.

"She's helping him and her daughter getaway," Villanelle says staring back at Carolyn with a menacing face and showing her the picture of the postcard that says Cuba on it.

EVE

Eve wakes up with an itchy sensation on her right cheek. She involuntary scratches her skin with her fingers when she senses a slimy texture on its tips. She looks at her palm and sees red smears. The realization that something might have happened to Villanelle makes Eve's eyes go wide in distress. She sits up from the mattress and scans the room to see if the woman is somewhere in the apartment. Wounded? Shot? Dead? She searches for the assassin under the sheets. Under the bed. Inside the bathroom. Scouring all over the room looking for more traces of blood but the woman is nowhere to find. Eve looks at the red slime and smells it.

Ketchup!

Eve cackles out loud letting her body collapse on the bed. She cannot believe the woman gets her feeling worried about a prank. She reaches out to the pillow that Villanelle uses last night, smelling the odd fragrance that the woman wears that makes her gag. Eve lifts the pillow in front of her face when a heart shape toy comes out of the pillowcase. It drops exactly on her face and plays the recorded message the woman saved.

Admit it, Eve. You wish I was here.

"Yes. I wish you are here." Eve mutters placing the heart shape toy on her chest. Villanelle knows how to make her laugh with her little escapades.

Eve stands up from the bed and glances at the clock nesting at the table beside the bed. It is early in the morning and she has enough time to fill up her luggage. She stores the heart shape toy inside the drawer where she keeps the perfume that Villanelle gave. Eve lifts both her arms high and stretches before she starts to move her things. It is quite convenient knowing she still has the boxes she used when she moves in from her house in London to New Malden. It is like setting them back to where they belong, in storage. Her rented warehouse room still has some space for her things and she can call movers to get the boxes in. After that, she can go take her long flight to Connecticut. Her mother will be surprised and she will have to lie. She will forget about an assassin and live a new life.

This is farewell.

The faster she is gone the sooner she can accept. Life with Villanelle is nothing but a fantasy.