by Hadena James
Xavier took the teeth and went wherever Xavier went to examine things. I was told to stay in my room by Alejandro. Lucas kept me company while Alejandro and Michael went to find all the Hanging Coffin makers.
“Now that it’s just the two of us, what do you honestly think of the teeth?” Lucas asked after several minutes of silence.
“I don’t think they have anything to do with the case. Our torturer isn’t going around removing teeth. It isn’t part of the deal. I think it’s The Butcher and I think he is kicked back now having a hearty laugh at me.”
“Explain your relationship there.”
“I already have.”
“No, you told us about it, you didn’t explain anything.”
“There’s a difference?”
“Yes, I want to know your thoughts and opinions on him.”
“I think he’s for real. I don’t think he’s just some crackpot writing me letters and things. I think he is actually a serial killer. I think he is actually killing people and doing a damn good job of covering it up. When it first started, I thought it was Malachi. Some years later, I don’t think that anymore. Malachi might be a serial killer, but he wouldn’t taunt me with it. I searched through the victims’ database and found nothing that corresponded to the stuff in his letters. He is too exact, too precise to be faking it. If he isn’t killing people, he has the imaginative abilities of Edgar Allan Poe or HP Lovecraft. Since I think there is a better outlet for that sort of creative ability, I think he’s real. I know nothing about him except that he always seems to know where I am. I’ve had my stuff swept for bugs, changed my phone numbers and it never helps. Within a few days, I have notification from him that he still knows where I am. I think the teeth are a reminder. A taunt, ‘I know where you are and what you are doing, here’s the proof of it.’”
“And you’re alright with that?”
“Yes. He doesn’t want to kill me. I’d like to capture him, don’t get me wrong, just to find out who he is. But I know that there are two psychos in the world watching out for me. When I get in over my head, they let me know it.”
“Two?”
“Malachi and The Butcher. You know, when I was fighting with the guy in Seattle, I was pretty sure I saw someone watching. He was outside my window, on the fire escape. The window there was nailed shut, but should I have started losing, really losing, I think The Butcher would have come through that window. I think he is responsible for the hit and run that killed my date as well. I haven’t exactly figured out what he wants from me, but something tells me it isn’t my death.”
“That should scare the shit of out you.”
“It should, it did in the beginning, but now, he’s just another person. Another serial killer that is in my life. I can accept that as long as we can co-exist without him attacking me. Eventually, I know that he’ll screw up and I’ll nail his ass, find all his bodies and watch him go to the Fortress. Until then, I just wait for him to screw up.”
“And the others in your life?”
“Nyleena is terrified. Malachi is fascinated. My mother doesn’t know or she’d be chaining me up in my bedroom and never letting me leave again.”
“Explain those relationships.”
“Nyleena stays because it doesn’t bother her. It might be why she picked the profession she picked. She doesn’t like Malachi, but then very few people do. Malachi likes her well enough, but she is essentially just a blip on his screen. She exists, he knows it, they live in peace because they have to. Both love my mother dearly and my mother loves both of them. When I went to school, it was their suggestion that my mom move to Kansas City. She could be closer to both of them and my brother. Wouldn’t take no for an answer. Malachi hired the movers, Nyleena took her house shopping. I couldn’t survive the way I do without either of them. You think I don’t know that Nyleena has been carefully feeding my trust fund for ages? Malachi does it as well. Nyleena out of some sense of guilt and need. Nyleena can’t protect me from the horrors of my life, she feels guilty for it. So, she secretly gives me money. Malachi doesn’t think I need protecting from myself, but does realize that I will never function like he does. So, he also feeds my trust fund.”
“How do you feel living off the generosity of others?”
“I hate it, but I have never been quite sure what to do about it. I’ve told them to stop, but that hasn’t worked. If this job works out, maybe they will stop then.” I shrugged. “Isn’t there something else we could be doing?”
“Not at the moment. The Chicago Police are interviewing family and friends. You are persona non-grata at the crime scenes and just about anywhere else. Alejandro wants an analysis of you, so we are doing that.”
“And what have you discovered?”
“That you and he are going to have a very stormy relationship that will probably end badly.”
“Why?”
“Because Alejandro is all about control and you are not someone or something he can control. Your life outside of your work is always going to be an issue. Things like this are always going to happen and as a result, he will eventually lose his temper with you. You are going to respond in kind.”
“I don’t always respond to anger with anger.”
“No, that would be too simplistic for you. You are too logical for something like that. In this instance, you are too you to let him lose his temper and not be punished.”
“Good to know. What will you tell him?”
“The truth. You are a valuable asset to the team. Right now, you’re our resident expert on torture, but you have already started to work as a sounding board for both Xavier and myself. You are smart enough to be our sounding boards. I can’t talk out psychological theories with Xavier, Alejandro or Michael, they don’t really get it. Xavier can’t talk about wound tracts and anatomy with us, it makes Michael green. Alejandro doesn’t give a shit and my anatomy classes are so far in the past they are unhelpful. You don’t have that issue. You understand psychology, sociology, anatomy, forensics and a multitude of other disciplines. Did you know that every adviser I spoke to said you would have excelled in whatever area you had wished to pursue? Did you also know that most were surprised by your choice to become a historian? Did you know that I have seen your transcripts and agree with them? You aren’t just smart Ace, you’re a genius. More so than any of us, which says a lot, because none of us are exactly intellectual slouches. Not only are you smarter than us, you are less emotional, more logical than us. You see teeth and say you are being taunted; they don’t have anything to do with the case. I’m inclined to agree with you because there is no reason for them to be there.”
Chapter 34
