CHAPTER
FIVE
NOVA
Booker, the Kings’ tech guru and I are watching the town’s CCTV monitoring system. Since our perpetrator has never taken someone so prominent and conspicuous before, I have a feeling he’ll be high-tailing it out of town.
“Do you think he’d make it obvious and keep her in the front of the car or do you think he’ll shove her in the trunk?” Booker asks as his hands fly across his keyboard inputting some data that I have no chance of deciphering.
“I think after the news of her kidnapping went national, he’ll be desperate and in a rush. I don’t think he’ll be thinking clearly about anything outside of escape,” I add.
“And our fingers are crossed that he’ll make a mistake and put her up front with him,” Booker mutters.
“Exactly that,” I state. “If my thoughts are dead on with this, he’s out of control and needs to re-establish his dominance over her. He’ll want her up front and center so he can watch her.”
“And make them having to flee her fault,” he sighs. “She’ll be led to believe she no longer has a chance at survival because her father took things to the media.”
“Getting inside of his head is painful, isn’t it?” I probe, snorting. “He’s a coward who disguises his shortcomings by becoming the predator instead of the prey.”
“Make that make sense, Nova.”
“I’d bet every penny in my bank account that he’s got Mommy issues that run bone deep, Booker. I have a suspicion that once we unearth who this motherfucker is, he’ll have some sort of childhood trauma based around his mother.”
“Like what? She spanked him too much?” Booker asks, looking at me with confusion.
“Abuse comes in all forms, brother. Verbal, mental, and emotional cruelty are more damaging than physical mistreatment is. It comes down to how strong a person is on how they react and deal with that mistreatment. Some beat the odds and become upstanding citizens, fathers, and husbands. Others fall down the black hole and never claw their way out.”
“Or become like Icer and Shade,” Booker surmises.
“Which this piece of shit did in a way. Only he didn’t channel it by finding himself brothers who would have his back and help him find the light at the end of the tunnel. He’s chosen a darker way to deal.”
“Wouldn’t exactly call what he’s doing as dealing, Nova.”
“Not to us with logical minds,” I insert. “But depending on the extent of his abuse, he could be killing his mother each time he takes one of these women’s lives.”
“That’s sick, Nova.”
“It is, and if someone had seen any indications that he was a serial killer in the making, maybe he could’ve been helped before he hit this stage. But if my instincts are right with this one, he hid the fact that he was spiraling and came across as cold but didn’t send off any other signs that’d have other’s backs stiffening in response.”
“You keep saying that. ‘If my instincts are right with this one’. How many cases like this have you come across where you had to dig into someone’s diabolical psyche?” Booker asks.
“It’s an unfortunate part of my job, Booker. I don’t have any numbers for you to analyze because there are too many to keep count of. Like I said before, not everyone handles things the same way and nobody’s brain functions the same either. Some days it’s more of a guessing game than an instinct. But this guy, he’s an animal who thinks like one. He’s feral. It’s why it’s been harder than hell to get inside of him.”
“I don’t envy you and what you do, brother,” Booker states. “I don’t think I could walk a mile in your shoes and come out sane.”
“You do it everyday just in a different way, Booker.”
“I say we round all of these assholes up and release a spray of bullets into them,” he mumbles. “It’d be easier and less messy if we did.”
“You call that less messy than… what?” I probe, finding his proposal entertaining.
“All the dead bodies these sick fucks leave in their wake,” he harrumphs. “The families who mourn his victims. Childrengrowing up without their parents and parents burying their children before them.”
“Point made,” I express, seeing Booker in an entirely different light. “And for the record, I agree with you. Getting rid of the sickos of the world in one fell swoop would be better than having to chase them down individually. But how do we assess who is going to turn into a mass murderer and who won’t?”
“I don’t get paid enough to figure that out, Nova. But there has to be some sort of algorithm that can do the hard work for us,” Booker says, scowling.
“That’s if things have been reported to the proper authorities that we can add to the data,” I proclaim. “Remember, shame keeps a lot of people from seeking out help. Especially rape victims.”
