Shadow of Perceptoin

by Kristine Mason

  “You took the words right out of my mouth,” Rachel said, then winced. “Bad word choice.” She stood and approached the screen with a pointer. “We’ve got a drill in his lap, his head is taped to the chair and his mouth…God, this is like something out of the movie Hellraiser.”

  Hudson crossed his arms and rested his ass on the edge of the desk next to her. “Okay, so first he gives a guy, who we’re thinking is a plastic surgeon, breast implants, now he’s performing dental surgery? I’m wondering if there’s a connection between the two men or if he’s choosing them at random.”

  “If that’s the case, then there goes your theory about vengeance,” Rachel said.

  “Unless he knows them somehow,” Eden countered. “Based on the OR this guy’s created, his equipment, the drugs…maybe he’s in the medical field and that’s how he knows the victims.”

  “Maybe. Makes sense. But without a body or ID…” He trailed off, then nodded to Rachel. “Start it up again.”

  Once more, the screen came to life. Low, painful moans filled the room. Silver tape wrapped the victim’s head. His cheeks were bloodied and swollen, and in the shape of a gruesome grin. His jaw dangled at such an odd angle, she couldn’t tell what the man looked like before the killer had tortured him. She touched her own cheeks, unable to imagine the pain the man must have endured.

  “Open wide and say, ahh,” the killer said as he took the drill from the man’s lap. “I’m not going to lie. You’re definitely going to feel some pain.”

  Anticipating what the doctor had in store for his victim, Eden’s skin crawled as the drill came alive, whirring and humming. “God, no,” she whispered, then clapped a hand over her mouth in horror.

  The man strapped to the chair released a high-pitched, painful scream as he raised his torso and tensed the rest of his body. Blood poured from the holes in his cheeks and ears. With each touch of the drill, more blood oozed from his dangling jaw.

  The scene ended as quickly as it had started. But, based on the tools lying on the workbench next to the chair, she suspected the killer was far from finished.

  The doctor set the drill back in the man’s lap. With his back still to the camera, he reached for a pair of pliers. “This won’t do.” He shook his head. “Looks like we’re going to have to extract a few of your teeth before we can proceed with the veneers.”

  “No way,” Rachel said on a gasp.

  More screams rocked the room as the doctor ripped a tooth from the man’s head.

  Eden’s stomach flipped. She looked away, and caught Hudson’s gaze.

  “Doing okay?” he asked, and reached for her hand.

  She didn’t pull away. Instead, she held onto him, seeking his comfort and strength. Not a fan of the dentist to begin with, she doubted she’d enter a dental office of her own free will again.

  Nodding, she held onto his hand, then turned her attention back to the TV just as the doctor dropped the tooth into a bag. He reached for the pliers again and, while the man released a painful scream, pulled another tooth free.

  “There, that wasn’t too bad,” the doctor said as he placed the next tooth into the bag. “I think we’re ready to prep your teeth for the veneers now.”

  He withdrew a large, metal file from the workbench, then paused. “Like I said, I Googled veneers and saw an entire procedure on You Tube. So I’ve got a pretty good idea how to do right by you. Unfortunately,” he said as he waved the file. “I don’t exactly have the proper equipment. For our purposes though, this should do the trick.”

  Eden tightened her grip on Hudson’s hand. She couldn’t begin to imagine the pain the victim had endured as the doctor proceeded to file the man’s teeth. With each scrape of the file, she winced and fought the acidy bile burning her throat. After what seemed like an eternity, but according to the timer on the DVD player had only been about a minute, the doctor stopped.

  He dropped the file on the man’s lap, then rubbed his chin with the back of a Latex gloved hand. After a few seconds, he flicked the victim’s nose. The man didn’t make a sound or flinch.

  “Holy crap,” Rachel said, and leaned closer to the screen. “I think he’s dead.”

  Eden looked to Hudson. “We didn’t see him kill the last victim. We only assumed he was dead. This time, we have him torturing a man to the point where his body gave out and he died.”

  “That’s felony murder. After what this guy’s done, it’s too bad Illinois doesn’t have the death penalty anymore,” he said.

  Rachel paused the DVD and turned to them. “Doesn’t matter. We still don’t have a body, and without physical evidence…” She shrugged, then said, “I can understand why your cop friend suggested the first DVD might be a hoax. First, no one wants to believe anyone could be capable of such atrocities. Second, with the way they can do special effects, who’s to say this isn’t fake?”

  “You don’t seriously believe that, do you?” Eden asked, shocked Rachel would even suggest what they’d witnessed wasn’t real. Sure, she agreed that the special effects shown in movies had become eerily realistic, but would an amateur be able to create a film like this, or the one with the breast implants? When she realized the answer was “yes,” a seed of doubt took root. Maybe the whole thing was a hoax used to gain her attention, or better yet, gain the attention of someone in Hollywood.

  “I’m not saying I do,” Rachel responded with a shake of her head. “I don’t know what to think. Maybe—”

  “Let’s just finish the damned thing,” Hudson interrupted. “We’ll discuss all of this afterward.”

  Rachel raised an auburn eyebrow. “As you wish,” she said, and hit PLAY.

  The doctor released a deep sigh, and with a shake of his capped head, he turned to face the camera.

  “God, this guy is creepy,” Rachel said with a shiver. “Just looking at him gives me the heebie jeebies.”

  Eden agreed. During the last film, the doctor had drawn a bucktoothed smile on his surgical mask. This time he’d gone with a similar theme, giving the mask a jagged, Jack O’ Lantern smile…minus several teeth.

  Folding his arms across his chest, the doctor approached the camera. With the cap and mask, Eden couldn’t tell what the man looked like, except for his eyes. Bright blue and lined with crow’s feet, she swore his eyes spoke of sadness and grief. For the man in the chair, or for something else? Maybe the reason he’d begun this torturous murder spree in the first place?

  “Well, that didn’t go as I’d expected.” The doctor shrugged. “Win some, lose some, I suppose.”

  He suddenly turned, and retrieved something she couldn’t see from the workbench. “While I didn’t quite finish filing his teeth, I can’t let him leave without at least finishing what I’ve started.”

  The doctor moved to the dead man, then shoved something into his mouth. After a few adjustments, he stepped back and nodded. “That’s better, don’t you think?”

  “Fucking creepy,” Rachel muttered.

  Eden couldn’t agree more. With the way the man’s face had been hooked and forced into a grin, the fake, overlarge, crooked teeth the doctor had placed in the man’s mouth gave him an eerie, and yes, fucking creepy smile.

  “We’ll just slip these in here…” The doctor tucked the small bag filled with the victim’s teeth into the man’s bloodied shirt. “You know, for the Tooth Fairy.”

  He stepped back, then approached the camera again. “Hello, Eden,” he said as he began plucking off a Latex glove. “Thank you for not going to the police, but I am disappointed you didn’t air my last DVD. I guess I understand, though. I wish we could talk, because I’d love to know if you understand.”

  “What does he mean by that?” Rachel asked.

  “Shh,” Hudson hissed.

  “This…” The doctor motioned to the man strapped to the chair. “This is a tragedy that could have been stopped. If only he had stopped when I asked him. If only he had done the right thing. But he didn’t. None of them did. Now they pay.”

&
nbsp; He dropped the bloodied glove on the workbench, then began removing the other. “I’d told you that I wanted you to be my voice, but I now realize my error. I can’t expect you to air these DVDs. I know that now. But I do expect you to watch them and learn from them. When I’ve finished what I’ve started, you will have one hell of a story for your new investigative show.”

  “Oh my God, he knows about my Network contract,” Eden said, and tightened her hold on Hudson’s hand. When he squeezed back, she glanced at him. The reassurance in his eyes gave her little strength. They didn’t know who the killer was, who his next victim would be, and he seemed to know way too much about her.

  “I know you’ll tell my story when the time’s right. Then, and only then, will people begin to understand. I told you before, there’s no such thing as perfect, only perception. What we perceive as perfect is mere opinion. Yours. Mine. We’ve all seen ugly kids. Do the parents of those kids see them as ugly?” He shrugged and dropped the glove. “When you look at that scarred cat and three-legged dog of yours, do you see them as ugly?”

  Eden sucked in a deep breath. He knew about her animals, too. Had he been in her house? Did she actually know him?

  “I’m guessing you don’t. I believe that you look at them and don’t even see their flaws. Because you love them. Don’t deny it,” he said, and wagged his finger. “I’ve seen the way your face lights up when you’re with them. It amazes me, though. You demand perfection from yourself, yet surround yourself with flawed people and animals. And yes, I realize you have flaws of your own, but you don’t let anyone else see them, do you? You’re tough, but a body can only take so much. Of this I know too well. It’s also the reason why I’m here.” He raised his hands and slowly spun in a circle. “In my private OR.”

  He shook his head. “I’m not going to expect you to air this DVD. But you can expect to receive another. I’m sure they’re difficult to watch, but I assure you there is not only a method to my…madness, but only two more to go.”

  “He’s being generous with clues this time,” Rachel commented.

  “In the meantime, I want you to know that I’m pleased with your new security system. After I picked up my patient this evening, I drove by your townhouse and noticed the security cameras. I also noticed you had a visitor. I couldn’t exactly get out of my car and go after that person.” He jerked his thumb toward the dead man. “After all I had a procedure to perform. But given the chance, I’d take care of whoever it is watching you. I don’t want anything to happen to you, Eden. No matter how things may appear, I mean that. I—”

  The doctor stopped as a noise, reminding her of baying wolves, permeated the surround sound in the evidence and evaluation room.

  “Rachel,” Hudson said.

  “On it,” she replied, and raised the volume.

  “I have to go now,” the doctor said. “It’s time for dinner.” As he reached for the camera, he paused. “No deadlines this time. After tonight, I’m going to need to take a few days off. Be safe, Eden.”

  The TV screen went black.

  “Those were dogs in the background,” Rachel said as she began to rewind the DVD. “I’m going to filter out the sound and run it against different breeds. Maybe this guy raises dogs. Which would make sense. He’s obviously not in the city, and I highly doubt he’s in the Burbs. The building isn’t sound proof enough, considering we heard the dogs.”

  Hudson shook his head. “Run it against coyotes first, before you waste time on other breeds.”

  Rachel looked at him. “Huh. Look at you. Badass agent and coyote expert.”

  “When I was a kid I used to hunt with my dad. Coyotes have a distinct sound, that’s all.”

  Eden stared at Hudson and tried to imagine him as a kid. She had a hard time looking past the rugged, sexy adult, not to mention the five o’clock shadow.

  “Let’s review the DVD again,” Rachel suggested. “Our doctor seemed more relaxed this time, and definitely more forthcoming. Don’t you think?”

  Hudson nodded. “Agreed. But right now I’m more interested in the guy who delivered the DVD. Were you able to ID him?”

  “Yep. Guessing he was over sixteen, I ran his picture against driver’s license photos from the Illinois DMV.” She looked to Eden. “Shh, don’t tell. The DMV wouldn’t be happy if they knew about this.”

  Eden nodded. Even the investigative reporter inside of her wouldn’t tell a soul. She could care less how Rachel or any member of CORE received their information on this case, so long as they stopped the killer.

  “And,” Rachel continued as she grabbed a sheet of paper off of her desk, then handed it to Hudson. “We got a hit. Meet Evan Pope . Seventeen. Lives in Lincoln Park with his folks and is a senior at Douglas High School.”

  “He made the drop at Eden’s at six A.M. School doesn’t start that early, so maybe he’s a carrier for the Chicago Tribune,” Hudson suggested as he looked at Evan Pope’s picture.

  “How did you get a picture…?” Eden pulled her hand away from Hudson’s, then hugged herself. “Never mind,” she said, and fought the urge to storm out of the room. How could she have been so blind? Even the killer commented on the security cameras. With everything that had been happening, she hadn’t noticed the devices or where Hudson had installed them.

  Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

  Although the cameras were able to give them the ID of the kid who’d dropped the DVD at her front door, the damn things also gave away her secret. Hudson had worn an excellent poker face this morning. She’d bet anything that he knew there was no date last night and that she’d slept alone.

  Fine with her.

  She didn’t care what he thought either way. He should have told her about the cameras. Just as he should have told her about Winters.

  “We need to talk with him,” Eden said as she checked her watch. “But he’s probably in school now. Let’s go over the DVD again, then I need to head back to my townhouse to change. I’d like to make it into the station for a few hours today. If that’s okay with you.”

  Hudson eyed Eden, who had turned her back to him. He hadn’t missed the sarcasm, and was thankful Rachel was in the room. Maybe by the time they left CORE, Eden would have calmed down enough about the security camera—or the fact that she’d been caught in a lie—to not start another argument. He didn’t want to fight with her. While he hated watching the DVD, he’d loved holding her hand. Such a simple thing, yet the act had spoken volumes.

  She trusted him.

  Maybe.

  He didn’t know and had no business analyzing the reasons behind the hand holding phenomenon. All he knew was that he loved touching her again, he didn’t want to fight, and that they had another sick DVD to dissect.

  “That’s fine,” he answered. “Going to the station will kill time before we find Pope. Hopefully he can describe our killer.”

  “If not, maybe he saw the car he was driving,” Rachel added, then waved the remote. “Are we ready to do this again?”

  “No,” he and Eden said simultaneously.

  He glanced at Eden and realized she looked like hell. Purple smudges marred her tired, puffy eyes, and her face appeared almost ashen.

  “Why don’t you sit this one out,” he suggested to her. “There’s some breakfast sandwiches in the lunchroom freezer or you can help yourself to—”

  She shook her head and sat. “I’m fine. Let’s just get this over with.”

  He didn’t think she looked fine. But he couldn’t stop her from viewing the DVD again. Well, he could. He just didn’t want to add another item to her bitch list. The arguing had grown old. He wanted to start fresh, and this time, do things right. While it still pissed him off that she’d lied to him about her date, a part of him couldn’t be happier. No date meant no other man was sleeping in her bed.

  He nodded to Rachel. “Fire it up.”

  Thirty minutes later, the dry erase board had been filled with a list of clues to investigate.

  “Okay,” Rachel
began. “We suspect the latest victim is a dentist, the previous one a plastic surgeon. We think the killer has his OR in the country, but within driving distance to Chicago.”

  She tapped a few buttons on her keyboard. A map of Illinois and the surrounding states popped up on one of the screens. “So if our victims are from Chicago and the killer is doing his dirty work in the country…”

  “From what he said on the DVD, it sounds as if he picked up the dentist, drove past my townhouse last night, then drove to his OR and completed his…surgery. Considering the DVD was placed at my door at six this morning, I don’t think he could have driven more than four hours round trip.”

  “Maybe even less than that,” Hudson said. “We also have to consider the time it took for him to prep the vic and dispose of the body.”

  “It’s time for dinner,” Rachel mimicked the killer. “That line bothers me. Do you think he’s disposing the bodies via dog?”

  Eden’s body shuddered. “That’s a disgusting thought.”

  “No kidding,” Rachel agreed. “Think about it, though. If we can’t ID the victims or the killer, and the dogs…eat the bodies, what do we have?”

  “Shit,” he grunted.

  “Exactly,” Rachel said.

  “No, I’m saying we have shit. Dog shit. Coyote shit. Ask that lab guy who does our DNA stuff if it’s possible to extract DNA from shit or stomach contents.”

  Both women cringed when they looked at him.

  He shrugged. “Just a thought.”

  “A gross one,” Eden mumbled. “Can we go back to the driving distance thing?”

  “After you two leave, I’ll check the areas in Illinois and Indiana that are within two hours driving distance from Chicago.”

  “What about Wisconsin?” he asked.

  “It’s close to three hours from here.”

  “Good enough. Look for farming communities, anything rural. With the amount of screaming we heard on both DVDs, this guy’s got to live on a bunch of acres.”

  “Unless he killed the neighbors and fed them to the dogs,” Rachel said as she jotted notes.