“The suspect they’re bringing in has likely abducted a child.The police had searched for the child, but have had no luck in locating him.If they put it off any longer, they fear they won’t find the child alive, so they need me to take a look inside his head for the truth.”
“Isn’t that illegal?”
“It would be if they used that information to convict him, but if it leads only to finding the child?Well, that’s a gray area.”
“And you don’t mind doing that?Prying into someone’s mind without consent?”Her question came out with a shakiness that I filed away, that I tried to fit into the rest of the puzzle that she was.
“Not especially.Slipping into someone’s mind is hardly intimate in the way you imagine.It’s no different to me than reading a person’s expression or their body language.”
She frowned, as though she didn’t agree but couldn’t—or wouldn’t—argue directly with that assertion.
We didn’t need to discuss it any further when the door opened and the officer walked in with a man behind him.
The sight of the man made me want to pull back.
People said you couldn’t spot a monster just by looking at them, but those people weren’t espers.They didn’t have the information I did.The truth was that causing harm to others destroyed the mental faculties of the person doing it.That sort of damage was like a form of self-harm, and the person carried those scars.It was easy for someone like me, someone who could see deeper than most, to spot them.
This man was such an example.The damage to his psyche proved just how much pain he had willingly inflicted on others, and each wound there festered.
It honestly made me want nothing to do with him.I’d told Yun I didn’t care about doing my job, and while that was true for the most part, there were some minds I’d rather not touch.It was like a nurse having to help a bloated, diseased, rotten corpse.A strong stomach went a long way, but that didn’t mean they enjoyed it.
The paperwork I’d read on the way over, however, played in my mind, a reminder of why I had to do this.
The child was only six, and they had no leads.The child had already been missing for two days— there was nothing to say that he would survive at all, and any delay only reduced those chances and gave this monster time to inflict more pain.
“These are the notaries that will handle taking your statement.Just give them your ID and sign the statement in their presence.”
Ah, that’s the ruse?
I didn’t much care what lie they told the suspect to get him in the room with me—I only needed a few moments.
“Can we hurry this up?”the man muttered as though we were wasting his time, as though we were the problem here.He pulled his wallet out and tossed the ID on the table in front of me, then slammed the page on the table, a pen in his hand.He went about signing it, motions quick.
Which gave me the chance to focus entirely on him.The sensation of his twisted mind made me want to recoil from the ugliness, but I pushed through.
I slid into his thoughts, so subtle he would never notice it.It was the skill of my rank, the ability to spark thoughts in his own mind in a way that made him think he had caused them, allowing me to observe his reaction, his thoughts like a string of statements.
Fucking idiots.Always think they’re so fucking smart.Not that smart, huh?They thought they had me, but they don’t have shit.
The man went through his little tirade, so sure of his own intelligence.I directed his thoughts with easy skill, making him think about the boy, about where he was.
The images that hit me made me worry I’d lose my breakfast.The boy, dirty, scared, crying.
I didn’t follow that further, not wanting it to cling in my mind forever.Instead, I pressed for details, for the location.
4925 Oak Dr.Basement.
Exactly what I needed.I reached out to Carter, the process easy after years of dealing with each other.I told him what he needed to know.
The man finished signing, then tossed the pen on the table with a self-assured smirk.He took his license.“We done here?”
The officer looked my way, and I nodded.He opened the door for the man, explaining directions to leave, then closed the door again for privacy.“What did you get?”
I repeated the address.“Basement, under the garage.It’s an abandoned house he’s done work on.The boy was alive as of this morning, and the suspect believes he still is.He won’t go straight there, though, so you’ll have time to retrieve the child first.”
The officer didn’t so much as give me a thank you before he was off.I sat, more of a collapse than a well thought out motion, but at least I’d gotten myself in front of one of the chairs, first.
“Are you okay?”Yun’s voice surprised me at first, since I’d been so consumed by the work that I’d entirely forgotten her presence.I hadn’t intended for her to see that.
