Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 108342 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 542(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108342 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 542(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
The necklace I made her is gone from around her neck. It doesn’t matter. She still is very much in love with me. That’s all that I could ever hope for.
The officer returned with three bottled waters, passing one to each of them.
“On the night when you believed you caught your brother committing a crime, why didn’t you call the police?”
He shot a look over at Captain White, who’d leaned forward and glared back at him.
“Oh, that’s simple. Ya see, by the time the cops would’ve gotten there, my brother would have been long gone. Skipping away into the sunset. Dancing to the uneven beat of their sirens. He’s gotten away with these murders for years. He knows when to bail. Secondly, the police said I was a person of interest.”
“And?”
“It’s self-explanatory. Do you really think they’d take anything I said seriously? I know you’d understand, Porsche, that I couldn’t just call the good ol’ Portland Police department and say, ‘Oh, hi, it’s me, Nikolai Raven. The guy you think is a serial killer, but you won’t say the word serial killer although we all know that’s what ya think anyway. Hey, guys, I’ve got good news! In an effort to get the limelight off myself, because obviously my word is as good as mud in this town, I’ve got a tip for you if you could suspend belief for just a minute. Ya see, the REAL killer is actually my beloved, mentally deranged little brother, and he’s at the beach right now collecting shells and planning to strangle his next victim. Toodle Loo.’”
“Mr. Raven, had you handled this differently, you may have avoided this whole situation! We need evidence, yes, but you—”
“Captain White, first and foremost, I was not addressing you. I am tolerating your presence here because it was required, not because you were wanted or invited. Since you want to interject and have your day in court with me right now, let me explain something to you. You and I are very different people. I thank God for that… Honestly, the fact that you have the audacity to sit here and expect me to trust the same people, your people, who were accusing me, interrogating me, following me around in your little unmarked cop cars, and making my life a livin’ hell is a joke! Do ya see how ridiculous that sounds? Or maybe you don’t because your elevator doesn’t go all the way to the top floor?”
“Nikolai, okay. You’ve made your point.” A shadow of annoyance crossed her face.
“All I am saying is that they’d find some way to probably pin this on me. Another reason is that I already explained that my brother, Dmitriy, is a sly one. He figured out how to pretend to be enchanting and persuasive. He can study someone and mimic them to the letter. He’s beyond convincing, and if he’d been in his right mind, he should’ve been an actor. He would’ve been successful at that sort of career. If I didn’t know him personally, I’d probably fall for the act, too. He has this uncanny talent for selling a glass of water to the king of the sea. There is nothing about this man—unless you knew his history—that would tell anyone they were dealing with an abomination. A deranged psychopath. From a surface level, he doesn’t fit the so-called profile of someone you’d think would do these things, either. I get that.”
“So, you’ve studied serial killers?” Captain White questioned, his brow raised.
“When you live with one your whole life, the study happens right there under your own roof. No need for documentaries, books or quizzes when the real McCoy is right there in your damn face.” He rolled his eyes, then redirected his attention to Porsche. “I also know that serial killers never stop. They are constantly working their own cases, somethin’ you might want to consider, Captain. Take the page out of the ol’ serial killer playbook. That’s of course if the pages aren’t too sticky with donut glaze from your favorite hangout.”
“I’ve about had enough of you, Mr. Raven.”
“Captain White.” She rested her hand on the fucker’s shoulder. “Again. Please let me ask the questions from here on out.” She whispered the words, but he still heard her.
“Why do you believe your brother doesn’t fit the profile of a killer?”
“Well, he does and he doesn’t. Let me explain. His public records show nothing alarming or suspicious. Secondly, he doesn’t have a criminal record. Thirdly, though he’s a drifter, which to some would be a red flag, everywhere he did work for however short a time, people loved him. It’s not like he had a string of bad relationships or didn’t do any of his short-lived jobs right. He even had multiple girlfriends that to this day think he was a great guy. He. Appears. Normal. You would have had to have known him intimately as a child and teenager, before his transformation into Mr. Hyde, to really have a grasp of what we were dealing with.”