Elusive Encounter

**Elusive Encounter** is the fourth episode in *Season 1* of ***Purple Hyacinth***. It was released on May 28th, 2019.

## Plot

The episode begins where the previous left off, with the assassin pressing his sword against Lauren’s neck. The assassin hesitates to kill her, and Lauren wonders why. Regaining composure, she takes advantage of the assassin’s momentary hesitation to kick him square on the face, causing him to fall to the ground.

Lauren takes the assassin’s wrists from behind his back to handcuff him. She picks up the gun she dropped earlier and recites the *Miranda warning*. The assassin comments that he would be gone before she even finishes reading his rights. Lauren assures him that he won’t be getting off the hook anytime soon for committing murder. Remaining composed, the murderer asks what she plans to do with him, earning him a gun to his head.

The killer states that they both know she won’t shoot him. Lauren says she’s trained to shoot when necessary, grabbing the walkie-talkie from behind her. Mimicking her style of answer, the assassin explains that he recognises murderous intentions when he sees them. Up to this point, Officer Sinclair was unaware of his occupation. Surprised and furious, she immediately questions his affiliation with the Phantom Scythe. He answers dishonestly and Lauren lets it slide, stating that he was correct about her not shooting him tonight as she needs to force information out of him.

Immediately, Lauren asks him who their leader is. The assassin falsely states that he doesn’t know whom she’s talking about and that he only answers to himself. Due to her ability to detect lies, Officer Sinclair colloquially tells him to get to the point. The assassin questions her decisions, claiming that she should be fleeing if she knew he was a part of the Phantom Scythe. Lauren calls him presumptuous for his actions that night, emphasising on labelling him as an amateur. Unaffected, the assassin replies sarcastically.

It is revealed that going to jail has never crossed his mind before, as he’s never been caught, however, he has been bested by someone before. Lauren ironically tells him that once he’s behind bars, he’ll have all the time in the world to convince people he’s invincible.

The assassin comments on Lauren’s “ready tongue” and implies that she’s ignorant. Somewhat provoked, Lauren leans closer to the assassin and tells him that she made a promise to find their leader and make sure he faces justice. Her determination is prominent when she says she’s willing to go to great lengths to achieve the aforementioned.

The assassin catches onto her wording, remarking on the fact that she wants to find the leader for personal reasons; for revenge instead of occupational responsibility. Whether intentional or not, he lies when he states that *all* of her fellow officers despise the leader as well. The murderer pushes on with the questions, listing potential loved ones that she may want to avenge. Lauren reacts most by the mention of a close friend, and he claims it as a jackpot by her triggered expression. He inquires if that was the reason she became a police officer in the first place. She internally curses and acknowledges that she was careless.

She brings the walkie-talkie up, ready to alert her colleagues, but is interrupted by his voicing not to do so. Lauren asks for a reason for his contradiction, in which he brings up the idea of a deal. Truthfully, he explains that they both share the same goal; to find the leader and destroy him.

He begins to reason out that the police department will never catch him since even the assassins themselves don’t know who or where he is. Lauren exclaims that he’s daydreaming for thinking she would ever associate with him. The assassin explains that he won’t be able to find the leader on his own and requires an assistant to feed him information and alibis. Continuing, he points out that together, they can work from both sides of the law, combining resources from both the Phantom Scythe and the APD.

Lauren slams his face flat onto the ground with her gun, repeating her earlier statement that she wouldn’t associate with him. According to her, she’s seen “his kind” kill women, elders and even children with no remorse, and labels them as “monsters”.

The assassin changes the topic and brings up her “demonstration” earlier in the café, revealing that he was the man who was there to witness it happen. He notices that Lauren has the ability to detect lies and thus begins to propose a deal.

Revealed to have the same goal, he suggests that it would be logical to combine forces. He will provide her with information on the organization that the police don't have access to, and vice versa for her. If anything goes wrong, she would be able to provide an alibi for him. The assassin assures the officer that her lie-detecting ability would also come in very handy. Lauren is surprised that he was able to figure out her ability so easily and that he genuinely believed in it. He repeats once more that he would help her find the leader and in exchange, she is to let him walk free.

Instead, of following, Lauren once more presses the gun to his head while he explains that she won't get anything out of him if she tried to throw him in jail. With self-assurance, he says he's going to escape either way, and a close up of his hands is shown. Officer Sinclair doesn't believe in his statement as he's both cuffed with a gun pointed at his head. The assassin finds it insulting and questions her belief of handcuffs and bars stopping him. His query is given credence as the following panel displays that he was able to uncuff his wrists without Lauren noticing, despite the fact that his hands were behind him.

As Lauren backs away from the murderer, the latter knocks the gun off of the former's grip and reaches for his sword. Their roles have now been reversed with the officer pinned to the ground with the edge of the sword hovering above her. The assassin agrees with Lauren's earlier labelling of "monster" and adds that he kills without hesitation. He continues, dishonestly adding that he has no regrets, earning a confounded expression from Lauren. The assassin threatens to slit her throat if she ever becomes a nuisance to him, but lets her off that night.

Sheathing his sword, he gives Lauren twenty-four hours to mull over the proposed deal and details on where and when to meet up if she chooses to consider it; the bridge at midnight the day after. Reminding her to be on time, he bids her a restful night as he walks away with a raised arm. Officer Sinclair let the man walk free.

Getting back up on her feet, she grabs her walkie-talkie to report to her colleagues that she lost the target. Lauren is left to ponder and reflect on what had passed between them.

## Characters

*Characters are listed in order of appearance.*

* Kieran White
* Lauren Sinclair
* Leader of the Phantom Scythe (mentioned)
* Dylan Rosenthal (indirectly mentioned)

## Locations

*Locations that appear in this episode, listed in order of appearance.*

* Alleyway on Whiteriver Street
* Rosalind's Café (flashback)
* St. Lawrence Bridge (mentioned)

## Trivia

* The creator's note for this episode was "Guys, this right here, is how you ask someone on a date."