"It seems that you didn't process when the officers told you that you were being brought in to be interrogated. Did they tell you why you were being interrogated?" he asked.
"Yes, they said it was child abuse," she was panicking.
"And?" Sebastian asked.
"A multiple murder case?" she didn't sound so sure anymore.
"Yes, people have been murdered in your neighborhood. Two boys around the age of five have been killed." Sebastian only laid out the facts.
"And you think I killed them?" she yelled.
"No." He said with finality. "Carol did. She confessed," Sebastian said. Grace sank into the chair, a mixture of relief and confusion on her face.
"Are you glad that you aren't being accused of murder?" I asked, my voice so calm that it must have been frightening. Grace looked up, jolted.
"What?" she said.
"You starved and traumatized a child so that they thought that she needed to pretend to be a normal girl. When that didn't help, she thought that the only way she could feel human was by killing people." I felt Sebastian's hand on my knee. I didn't pay it mind. "Your daughter would have been a lot better if you had shown a shred of love for her. If she didn't have to worry about the sleeping pills you put in her milk, or that you wanted to kill her so you could have your happy ending." I looked her straight in the eye.
"I didn't want to kill her!" she yelled. "I just..."
"You did, didn't you? Kill the monster before it kills you?" I smirked. I was ramping up the pressure, not for the sake of the investigation for the benefit of a little girl who had been swayed into killing others.
"I did ramp up the dication, I didn't want to kill her... just lull her into longer sleep." Longer sleep, what a nice way to put it.
"How long?" Sebastian asked, his eyes flitting between and Grace, hoping I would stop talking.
"As long as I could," she admitted and then stopped. Her eyes were panicked. "I'm sorry."
"You shouldn't be apologizing to us. You should apologize to the child you brought into the world and abandoned. You don't owe us anything. But to Carol? You owe the world. You should be very sorry." Sebastian's shoulder slumped.
"I will apologize to her if it makes it any better!" she said imdiately.
No trace of guilt. Nothing. I almost wished we had shown her the pictures. For this woman did not have a shred of humanity in her.
"Sure, we will bring her in." Sebastian grabbed my hand and pulled out with him. Once the door was closed behind us, he turned to face with a distressed expression. "Why did you do that?" he asked, his voice barely over a whisper.
"I was pissed off," I shrugged.
"Did Carol get into your head?" he asked. "It's not like you to be so involved in a case emotionally. I understand that a child was hard but you can't let your emotions get mixed into it." I scoffed.
"When a child is involved, you have to let your emotions in, Sebastian. This woman led her daughter to believe that she was so different from other children that she needed to do sothing drastic to feel human. She pushed this girl into seeing things that no young person is ant to. She allowed a psychopath in her house and let that man teach her daughter how to kill. Children were killed and if it hadn't been for our fast-thinking, more children would have been killed."
"I understand, but you treated her like..." he trailed off.
"It got the work done, didn't it? I ramped up the pressure and I made her confess to drugging and almost killing her daughter. Now, if we make her feel guilty enough for treating her daughter that way, we will have a list of clients she has seen in the past and get the man who has been prancing around town trying to make himself known to you." I raised a brow at him.
"So, this is not about Carol fully. It is about your fear of soone following around," he claid. How did he co to that conclusion?
"I don't know what you are talking about." I gritted my teeth.
"Are you falling back on your fears? Where is my fearless Evie who is trying her best to overco the thinking that anyone close to her will get hurt?" His hand inched towards my face and I found myself paralyzed in front of him. He cradled my chin and looked deeply into my eyes.
"When my fears are proven wrong, they are not irrational or biased any longer. This is not about magical thinking. This is about you being stalked. Soone is after you and waiting for your attention. This is a man who is influencing others to kill and he is enjoying this god complex. He is dangerous!"
He smiled. "Oh, you do like ," he said. I frowned.
"Is that... an observation?" I asked.
"No. Not that..." he chuckled. "We're this close to getting the man. He's nothing but a scavenger, easy to catch seeing how he let himself be known." I bit my lip.
"It is the fact that he let himself known that bothers . Carol didn't pause before talking about this man in the white shirt. She gave all the information she knew without a hint of deception. If she was told to withhold the information, she wouldn't even have ntioned him. I suspect he told her to tell us about him. He is letting himself be known."
Sebastian thought about it for a mont. "So, you are telling that he is declaring that the ga has just begun?" I nodded. That was exactly what I thought. "And he is boastful. No one who is this confident gets away with cri, Evie. We have solid leads on him and once we get his na, we can have a full investigation into him and catch him for the smallest things."
I shook my head. "He doesn't commit cris, Sebastian. He inspires people to do it. He enjoys being the puppeteer. You know this very well. We can't catch him for anything."
"But we can inform the intelligence agencies to be aware that he is doing sothing of this sort. Baiting and abetting a cri is severe."
I shrugged. "Do you think I am wrong then? In instigating her and scaring her to give us information?" I demanded.
"A little. I just hope this is not seen as coercion in court. I'll talk to Nash about it. For now, let's talk to Carol and see if she wants to speak to her mother." He sighed.
"The woman looked at you strangely, too," I ntioned. He paused in his step and looked at incredulously.
"Did I just hear Evie Marie Lewis being jealous?" I rolled my eyes at his exclamation.
"Dream on!" I snickered.
"Very well. A man can hope." I saw him grin and shook my head in amusent. So easily satisfied, this man.
We went into the room where they were holding Carol. Hearing our footsteps, the girl looked up. "Evie, you are back," she smiled. It was indeed fake, but the hint of excitent in her eyes made aware that she was pleased with my arrival. "And who is this with you?" she looked over to Sebastian.
"He's my colleague," she introduced.
"You're very handso. Much more handso than the n my mother brings ho," she said with a light giggle.
"Why thank you. Even more handso than the man in the white shirt?" Sebastian asked casually. Smooth talking, man.
"Him?" she scrunched her nose. "He looked..." she thought about it carefully. "I can't really rember how he looked. It's strange."
"Then I am definitely more handso than him," Sebastian joked.
"I suppose," Carol said lightly. "But your eyes..." her head tilted to the side. "I thought he was talking about Evie, but it could be you, too." She clapped her hand.
"What?" Sebastian asked, acting dumb.
"He said that you would understand . Do you understand ?" she asked. So, this was another one of her needs: to talk to people who understood her. Who didn't see her as a monster.
"Perfectly. I am very good at it," Sebastian admitted.
"Then you are who he was referring to," Carol said with conviction. "Evie could kill people but she is too polite. She pretends really well, too. You don't need to pretend, do you? You do as you please. I like that."
Yes, he didn't need to pretend.
"Are you tired of pretending, too?" Sebastian asked, crouching down in front of her. Carol nodded. "Then, do you want to tell your mother the truth? She should know, shouldn't she?" Sebastian's face held no smile.
"What about?" Carol asked, confused.
"Anything you want to tell her." Sebastian shrugged.
"Anything?" she squeaked.
"Anything," both Sebastian and I reassured at the sa ti.
Reviews
All reviews (0)