Life was silent. I was climbing the ladder at work at a fast pace, I had got a raise after working for six months and was sent to other cities in the country to accompany groups. The workload was higher, leaving with little ti for freelance work. At this ti the pipes of the apartnt above mine collapsed leading to flooding in my apartnt. The building owners were called, checks were made and I was asked to find soplace to stay until everything was fixed.
It was a relief that the apartnt ca with furnishing and I had simply not added anything to the pre-existing dcor. None of my belongings suffered due to this event. I just had to pack my suitcase and find a place where I could live for a couple of days.
The problem was, I had no acquaintances in the city. So, I opted to live in a hotel which had good security. I would possibly have to find a new place to live which I stay in the hotel; thank god it was the weekend. The security in the apartnt I was living in was lax and left being careful when I walked around.
I could see that the hotel was busy, but there seed to be a conference happening there. As I checked in I heard soone tap on my shoulder. I moved away from the touch, a shiver running down my spine as my gut wretched at the thought of the touch.
I swiveled around, prepared for confrontation to see a vaguely familiar face.
"I'm sorry, do I know you?" I asked, my brow scrunched in irritation. The boy had blue eyes and blond hair, his surprised look registered in my head. I rembered his identity by the clueless look on his face.
Jason, the throw-away apprentice.
"You don't rember ?" he asked, seeming disappointed.
"No." I lied. I was going to move past him when he grabbed my hand. I slapped it away, clutching at my wrist.
"Please don't touch ," I warned him. He looked unsettled.
I didn't like to be touched, especially by people as stupid as this one.
He spluttered an apology and wrung his hands in front of him.
"I just wanted to stop you," he whined. I grew angrier by the second. It was quite unusual for to react this way as most people didn't dare to co near because I gave off a snotty air. "Aren't you going to attend the conference?"
My brain processed the information.
"What does it have to do with ?"
"Dr. Butler is presenting a paper on the case you helped with." He told .
"I didn't help him with any case," I ground out.
"You found the body, and well we found a lot from it," he told sheepishly. It was his inadequacy which had thrown him out of the case.
"It has nothing to do with ." I walked away without looking back.
Even if Sebastian Butler was lurking around in the hotel, I would not be stumbling across him.
.
I had gone down to the dining area for dinner. My entre had arrived and I was poking at it when I saw a shadow pull out the chair across from and slide into it. I looked up, disinterested and found the nonchalant figure of Mr. Butler looking at the plate he had placed in front of him.
I silently looked back to my plate and scooped out a spoonful of food and shoved it into my mouth.
There was no conversation while we ate. He glanced at a few tis without lingering for long. We sat in comfortable silence.
I was about to get up when I heard his voice.
"Eat so more, don't need to leave on my account," the deadpan was obviously there. I had really finished my al but on hearing him I sat leaned back into the chair and stared right at him.
"Would you like so spinach ravioli?" he asked suddenly, but before I could answer, he had transferred a piece onto my empty plate. I couldn't co to hate the idea. I sliced into the ravioli and put it into my mouth so that he could have his peace of mind.
"Are you staying here with guests?" he asked.
I shook my head but realized soon that he was not looking at , therefore didn't know how I had answered.
I chewed on the remaining of the ravioli, gulped it down and then put my cutlery down.
"No. Due to unforeseeable circumstances, I find myself seeking refuge in an expensive hotel," I had ant it as a joke, but he seed to put on a sour expression in response. Confused, I waited for him to say sothing but ended up explaining the situation.
Didn't help matters.
"Doesn't the company you work for pay you enough?" he grumbled.
"They do."
He transferred another ravioli from his plat onto mine. I sighed as I took the fork and knife back into my hands and made two pieces of it.
"Then why didn't you find a place with better structural stability?"
"I like to live dangerously," I told him with a smile. He was not pleased.
"I can see that, going around town with unknown people all day long, treating them like gods when they are rude to you, and put yourself in danger all the ti all seem like your way of living the dangerous life."I guffawed.
"Says the man who catches serial killers for fun. What do you think happens to those that escape you and co back to bite you in the ass?" I challenged. He raised a brow at , pride flashing in his eyes.
"I never let them escape, so they can't get to ."He leaned back, issuing a challenge.
I clicked my tongue and shook my head, my mood uplifting.
"Imagine: I want to kill a series of people, I have so psychoanalytic sense. I can change the pattern of killing to throw you off track. Maybe you won't even find out that it was the sa killer on a spree." He scoffed in reply.
"Evie, our mind is divided into three parts: the conscious, subconscious and unconscious. While you can consciously refrain from killing in a certain way to evade psychoanalysis, your subconscious and unconscious mind are biased and lean towards motions that give you away. The killer can be intelligent, but they will always get caught because they are a slave to their mind. Nothing escapes psychology, no one can evade pattern.
I stayed silent for a minute. I licked my lips as I ca up with what to say next.
"But it is up to you to co up with the analogy to see the pattern and you are not omniscient." It was a direct hit to the preconceived notion that he was capable of unraveling the mind of every person he cos across.
"And therein lies the difference between and you. I don't only look at psychology but also the scene of the cri, physical evidence and using knowledge, information to deduce the answer is the empirical thod of solving problems, it is the sa with cri analysis." He stopped, mulled over how to say the next part of his argunt and then began again. "I was trained in this sphere, I had teachers who taught how to keep myself safe. Can you say the sa about yourself? Are you impervious to danger?"
His argunt was sowhat compelling.
"I sense that there is more you want to say, that you have an ulterior motive for sitting across from when you know well that I was trying not to et you. Clearly, Jason has told you that he ca across the girl he had interviewed and you knew that was because you would not expect such a thing. Therefore, you were sure of my identity when I was recomnded as the translator and you tested with a purpose." I grew enraged. "What do you want from ?" I asked him.
"Be my assistant."
I had not expected that. I had thought that he would try to placate or try to turn the conversation, but it seed like I didn't know him enough.
I was flabbergasted.
"You deserve to accomplish your dreams. This life you are leading is not ant to satisfy your thirst for knowledge. Be my assistant, Evie."
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