“And the bites on his arm.”
Another nod.
“Those didn’t come from a dog.”
“I don’t…” Tean looked out the window.“No.I don’t think so.”
“So, what?He’s doing the same shit that was done to him?Finding these poor bastards, choking them to death, biting them with those fucking teeth?”
“Something like that.Yes.I think so.”
Jem tried to think of a dozen different ways to frame the question.Finally he just said, “Why?”
“I don’t know.I don’t think he knows, not entirely.But he must have a lot of fear.A lot of pain.A lot of anger.And this probably makes him feel like he’s in control.For a little while.”
“Fuck that.”
Tean glanced over at him.“It’s just a guess.”
“No, I mean, fuck that fucking excuse.What, if something bad happens to you, you just get to do fucked-up shit to everybody else, and it’s not your fault?”
“I didn’t say he wasn’t responsible.”
“It’s fucking bullshit.Everybody makes choices.”
Tean looked like he might argue, but then his face smoothed out, and he said, “Yes.You’re right.”
About five seconds later, Jem threw the fry back into the paper holder.“I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have to be sorry.”
“I’m in this super weird headspace.”
“Jem, it’s fine.It’s been a weird few days.”
“So, he’s doing it because someone did it to him.Does that help us?”
Tean took longer to answer.“I don’t know.Maybe.”He paused again, as though considering his next words.“I’m not an expert on any of this, you know.It’s just stuff I’ve picked up here and there.”
“Between reading about clowns dying in explosions.And rapping nuns who fly off their bikes.”
“That was one nun, and she was in Brazil.”
“You think this is why he’s killing guys.”
“I think there’s a link.He’s not a sex killer, I don’t think.Not in the traditional sense.”
“I thought you said that’s what this is all about.He gets some kind of release.”
“I still think there must be some kind of…pressure, for lack of a better word, that builds.But think about the young man we found in the barn.He’d been asphyxiated.Manual strangulation.But the other wounds were all post-mortem.”
Jem processed that for a moment.“He kills them, and then he does freaky shit to them?”
“Something like that.If this were a classic sex killing, it would be about sadism, torture.He’d take his time.And there would likely be signs of overkill.”
“Is that exactly what it sounds like?”
“Pretty much.”
