“What do we know?” Alejandro prodded.
“We know that Jessica has had a rough time of it since her brother’s encounter with Malachi.”
“Which seems to be a pattern with Malachi,” Alejandro offered.
“I won’t argue that. Anyway, she marries, finds out she has married her half-brother, goes off the deep end because now she has a brother she didn’t know existed and one in a coma at a hospital. We know that our killer is torturing women based on a book that I own. However, Jessica has never been in my presence at a social function and I never took the book into my office at the university. This would suggest that she somehow managed to get into my apartment, look through the book without my noticing. Since I’m pretty keen at noticing when anything is out of place that seems unlikely. I don’t remember her from my classes and even though I’m bad with faces, you’d think I’d remember that. And now, she has disappeared which seems even more interesting and unlikely. We know Nyleena is ‘dating’ a guy named Al Welbourne, which is an odd coincidence. And our killer currently has 10 women in their possession that will all die very painful deaths. Oh and they use a hallucinogen to kidnap his victims. Anything else?” I asked
“Yes, it seems unlikely to be a woman.” Lucas offered.
“Why?” I asked.
“How do you get a drugged woman into a Hanging Coffin without a lot of physical strength?” He cocked an eyebrow at me.
“Good point, but psychopaths are known to have more strength than the average person because their body...”
“I know that, but true psychopathic women are rare and I’m not going to place all my eggs into that basket.”
“You think it could be a man?” I frowned.
“What about Marcus Welbourne. He marries, finds out he married his sister, then learns he has a brother that is in a coma and all because of the three of you. That would be a lot for a man to take in as well.”
“Ok, I’ll give you that.” I sat back down.
“I can’t find much on Marcus either. He has an adopted brother, no name listed though. Some petty crime before he turned 18. Looks like after 18 he became a model citizen, after the annulment, he dropped off the planet.” Michael chirped.
“What if they are working together?” I offered.
“Killer couple?”
“Why not? They have disturbing history together.”
“What makes one person break, doesn’t necessarily make another,” Lucas reminded me.
“True, but some people are just born broken, look at Malachi.” I countered.
“You think Malachi was born that way?”
“I think Malachi and I were both born this way. I was crazy before I had a run in with Callow. Malachi was crazy when I met him in first grade. So, yeah, I think some of us are just born this way and considering the persistent increasing trend of dysfunction, I think there’s a very good chance that we are now breeding psychotics who grow up to be serial killers.”
“There isn’t a genetic link.”
“Yet, Lucas. You should add that to the end of your sentence. Remember about nine years ago the scientist that put forth the theory that serial killers were an evolutionary step in mankind’s history?”
“The one that was then killed by said study group?”
“Yes, that one. I met her once; we debated if it was a new thing or a sign of de-evolution. She believed that it was de-evolution at work and that most hunter/gatherer tribes were either sociopathic or psychopathic. She also believed it was genetic because it did seem to run in families and nature explained situations like Malachi better than nurture especially since his brothers are fine.”
“This isn’t helpful,” Alejandro interrupted us.
“Actually, it is,” Lucas took a moment to stare off into space.
“How?” Alejandro asked.
“Because we’ve been missing the elephant in the room,” Lucas suddenly focused all his attention on me, “while we can’t prove it is genetic, we already know that violent people attract other violent people. If you knew your brother was a PCP addict, would you go out with him? No, because his behavior would be violent and unpredictable with no real way to estimate when that violence would turn on you. However, looking at Ace and Malachi, she goes out with Malachi and Malachi with her, why? Because they know when things get hairy, they are just crazy enough to deal with each other’s madness. If Jessica knew she was just as dangerous and violent as her junkie brother, he wouldn’t scare her. She then takes up with Marcus Welbourne, petty criminal until he becomes an adult. Probably damaged goods and probably some history of violence. He scares her about as much as a serial killer scares Ace, meaning none. She can act and react to his violence accordingly. Most psychologists believe that for whatever reason, violence doesn’t beget violence, it attracts it. Especially in our day and age. Serial killers follow Ace home because they sense there is something off about her, but they don’t know what, they just know they find it attractive. Ace understands what they sense and lures them in. You get clash of the Titans at that point. Most people look at it like Ace is bruised and beaten at the end, but the truth is, she isn’t defeated. At least, not yet.”
“I hadn’t considered that,” I admitted. “I wouldn’t go out with my junkie brother.”
“Yes you would, but only to corral him. Jessica did nothing to break up the fight. Most would think it was because she was scared to intervene. Two men, one of them high, going at it like enraged bears. But what if she didn’t intervene for the same reason Ace didn’t intervene? What if she stood on the sidelines and watched the blood flow because she enjoyed it?”
“I didn’t let it happen because I enjoyed it.” I defended myself, “I just knew better. There is a point of balance in Malachi and stopping it before the balance tips, is dangerous. He is still emotional or as emotional as Malachi gets until the balance tips. I had to wait for him to enter his calm state. Once he did, I broke it up.”
“Fine,” Lucas frowned at me, “that isn’t the point. The point is, most women would not stand idly by and watch their brother get their ass kicked unless they were terrified or wanted to watch it happen. Since there is no mention of Jessica being hysterical when the police arrived, I find the terrified theory, hard to believe.”
Chapter 42