When Arthur finds out Ariadne may have murdered a man and gotten away with it, he must go into her dreams to find out the truth. But if it's true, will he give her over to the police? Or help hide her crime?

~ Dark Places ~

~ Seattle, Washington. Five Years Ago ~

~ Ariadne was shaking as Elizabeth rowed the little boat into the dark, foggy lake.

"How far should we row out?" Rachel said in a grumpy, indifferent tone. "You know how I feel about the water."

"What are you? A cat?" Elizabeth asked as she was starting to sweat from the work of rowing. "And how come I'm the one doing all the rowing here?"

"You know how I feel about manual labor." Rachel said quickly as she leaned on the side of the boat. Indifferent to the body that was resting at her feet.

"I think I might throw up." Ariadne said and started shaking harder.

"Well, do it in the water." Rachel said dryly.

"Maybe we should have just called the police." Ariadne whispered.

"It's too late for that." Elizabeth said.

"Hell yeah, it's too late for that. He's dead and we have to get rid of any evidence he was in the house and get rid of his car to. I mean honestly." Rachel huffed. "What kind of ass hole drives a a truck like that? It's like, five feet off the ground and covered in chrome."

She looked at the body wrapped in black trash bags.

"Sorry about your penis, bro." she added and kicked it. Her foot meeting up with the lump of meat and bones.

She looked at Ariadne as if expecting praise. Her roommate only looked sicker.

Ariadne was amazed her friends were so detached from this whole ordeal. They had changed so abruptly when when the horrible thing had happened. They had stayed clam and rational. Rachel coming up with a plan and Elizabeth coolly putting it into action.

"This is a good spot. The water looks deep enough. We must be a good mile out." Elizabeth said.

"We all have to do this; together" Rachel said as she shut off her flash light and the tiny row boat was bathed in darkness. Only the moon saw their sin now.

"We?" Ariadne croaked. "I don't want to touch him."

"Ariadne, we're all apart of this. Now grab his feet and lets shove his fat ass over." Rachel told her.

Ariadne whimpered a little as she had to touch the body. He was wrapped in trash bags and chains. His body weighed down further with a cinder block.

"What if he floats back up?" Ariadne asked.

"He's chained down." Rachel said casually.

"What if the tide pulls him out of the chains and he floats?" Ariadne asked.

"Dead bodies don't float." Rachel said confidently.

"Dead bodies float!" Elizabeth almost shouted.

"No they don't!" Rachel shouted as the three of them lifted and rolled the cold, heavy body off the row boat and the chains and cinder block plummeted it down into the inky blackness of the lake. The boat bobbing higher in the water now as it was freed of the extra weight.

Ariadne watched him go, watched him sink and wished her fears would sink with him.

"Alright, fine!" Rachel shouted. "When we get home we'll google it and find out if dead bodied float or sink."

"We're not googeling shit! They would look for that!" Elizabeth said and started rowing back. "We're going to take this asshole's car to the bad part of the city, leave it on a crack head street corner and then drive home in your crappy ass Honda back home."

"Stop calling my Honda crappy!" Rachel snapped.

"Then, we're cleaning up the kitchen, and going to bed. In the morning I'm going back to New York and you are going to do whatever the hell it is you do. We're never going to talk about this again and we're going to get on with our lives." Elizabeth finished.

Rachel rolled her eyes.

"That is a good idea." she said as if bored. "Ariadne." she turned to the petite girl cowering in the boat.

Ariadne looked up at her two roommates.

"You can never say anything about what happened to Johnny Marks." Rachel said sternly. "We've all committed murder. We have to just pretend it never happened. The semester is over, and everyone is going their separate ways. Johnny was living with some friends anyway and his parents won't miss him for a while."

Ariadne nodded and felt like she was going to be sick again.

"Now, if anyone asks," Rachel went on. "We were at home tonight. Just like most nights. We never saw Johnny at all. Just keep the story simple. Don't go into detail and don't volunteer anyone any information."

Ariadne wondered how Rachel became so smart and calculating. She was a party girl at heart who, thanks to a large trust fund, never had many real problems.

"You watch too much Law and Order." Elizabeth grumbled.

"And all the CSIs!" Rachel corrected. "Except the Miami one. Yuck! If that asshole takes his sunglasses off one more time I might have to kill something."

"Not funny just now, Ray." Elizabeth said dryly.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Lizzie." Rachel said smartly "Is it too soon to start making dead body jokes? Can we at least sing 'Goodbye Earl'?"

"We can sing 'Goodbye Earl'." Elizabeth said with a shrug.

"No, we can't." Rachel barked. "You know how I feel about the Dixie Chicks!"

~ Paris, France. Present Day ~

~ "His name is Johnny Marks." The young detective said and showed Arthur, Cobb and Eames a yearbook photo of a typical jock in a high school Letterman's jacket. He had a cocky smile on his arrogant face. He was the kind of young man that was in every high school in the country. A big fish in a small pond, until the real world started and he was no longer a star.

"What about him?" Cobb asked.

"He was a freshman at a university in Seattle. There on a football scholarship, and flunking out. One night, five years ago, he vanished." the detective said. "He was last seen drinking at a local bar, and talking to his friends about one of the girls who rented a house on Evelyn street."

"I'm sorry, detective-" Arthur asked.

"Harpool." the young detective with the startling blue eyes and military haircut said.

"What does this have to do with us?" Arthur asked.

"You're associate, Ariadne Wills was the girl in question. It seemed he was angry with her over something that happened that week." Detective Harpool said.

"And?" Arthur asked.

"And, Johnny Marks was never heard from or seen again after that night. What was left of his truck was found in a chop shop a few weeks later." The detective said.

"I'm not following." Arthur said coolly as Eames gave him a worried look.

"I think your associate, Ariadne, knows what happened to Johnny Marks." Harpool said. "She was interviewed twice before, and so were here old roommates. "But, that was before."

"Before what?" Arthur growled as Cobb scowled over a black and white picture of a lake.

"There was a drought this year. Caused the water level in the lake to drop. Johnny Marks body was found three days ago. Positively identified by his high school ring and letter jacket. His arms and legs were bound. We haven't found the cause of death yet." The detective said.

"Again, what proof do you have Ariadne was involved?" Cobb asked.

The detective looked at the three men.

"At the bar that night, he said he was going to go to their home. There are witnesses saying they saw his truck at the girls house around the time he left the bar." the detective said.

"You think Ariadne killed a man? A burly athlete in his prime no less?" Eames laughed. "Have you seen her?"

"98 pounds soaking wet." Cobb agreed.

"I'm sorry, but we've worked with her for years now. She has no criminal record, and has shown no violent tendencies." Arthur said calmly.

"We believe she didn't act alone." Harpool said.

"So, you came all the way to Paris to investigate this old murder?" Cobb said. "If you had any real evidence she did it, you would have arrested her by now."

"I would like to talk to her again. Five years is a long time. She might be willing to tell me the truth this time. I think she knows what happened and I want to give her the chance to explain." Harpool said and sat a little straighter.

"You mean give her the chance to incriminate herself." Arthur corrected darkly.