CHAPTER SEVEN // OWEN LUX WESLEY
[WORD COUNT: 2893]
[TOTAL: 21772] 

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“What do we have here?” I didn’t keep the amusement and satisfaction out of my voice as I spoke to Bane. “What did you find?” 

He grinned and handed me a thick manilla file. “Why don’t you see for yourself?” I eagerly collected the file and ripped it open harshly, not caring if the folder broke. My fingertips shook with greed and I couldn’t help but imagine using the information in my hands against Lynn until she crumbled on the floor, writhing and begging for mercy. It was a pleasant sight and I couldn’t find the will to push the delightful image away. 

The first piece of information I found was typical–her age, weight, height, etc. She happened to be twenty years old with a deceased father and a living mother. I frowned when I noticed an asterisk on the mothers name. I was well aware of the fact that Bane was watching my every movement and didn’t bother to scold him for it. I traced the bottom of the paper and saw something very useful. 

“Her mother is in a psychiatric ward?” I grinned. “This is perfect.”

“You think this is perfect?” Bane laughed. “Wait till you see what else I’ve found.”

Paper by paper, I drifted through each one with greed only a child could have. I found out everything about Siara Dupont, and it was amazing. I knew that her mother killed her father in front of her and was placed in a psychiatric ward since she was ‘unstable’. After that, Lynn moved from Alaska to the city and began living with her Uncle Wilson with her two siblings, Lisa and Mason. She then was introduced to Bona, the chief of the station by her Uncle after she had shown an infatuation with detective work and happened to be the youngest woman in the city to become a homicide detective. There, at Decint County, she met various workers in the same field but only became close to one–Jacob Jobs. At twenty-six years old, the man had been through numerous ladies desperately finding true love–that one I had to laugh at–and resorted to detective work with his partner, whom he named Lynn. What she didn’t know, was that Jacob had a small crush on her ever since she began working at Decint County. 

“So I know everything about her past life,” I began. “She’s quite the person. Living in Alaska for ten years, then moving to the city and living there for ten years. It’s a shame she decided to prey on me, she has absolutely no idea what’s coming her way.” 

“There was also one thing you missed,” Bane said. “Although she lived with her Uncle Wilson, he was technically an unstable person to live with; the typical alcoholic. She held an interest for detective work since she was a child, which was why Wilson introduced her to Bona. She spent most of her time there with her siblings, so technically Bona was the one who raised her. He managed to get her into college early by finishing high school at sixteen. Then there was the big Handren vs Lukers case, which managed to score her into becoming a homicide detective and Bona into becoming the chief.” 

“Interesting.” 

Bane continued. “Then there was a recent case that she solved, by the name of Holland Jefferson.” He slid a paper towards me, that contained the photo of the man. Recognition flashed through my mind as I recalled speaking to Lincoln and Jessica regarding how he could be responsible for the massacre. “She managed to make him confess. I think I have the video, I may need to check.” He stood and disappeared, fending me to my own thoughts. Holland could be of use to me only to confuse Lynn. If I managed to make her think that it was Holland then she would get off my back for a while and focus on him. But how could I force him to do it without him telling me off? 

Bane returned with a tape in his hands and slid it into the casing near the TV. Immediately, voices sprouted in the room, startling me not even by a millimeter. Lynn entered the room and slammed a manilla folder on the table, on the opposite side where Holland was cuffed to a chair. 

“Holland Jefferson,” She said. He hadn’t moved at the sound of her voice. “According to this file of yours that my generous friend put together, you murdered five civilians with a... grand power K100 semi-automatic pistol. Pretty average gun, I’m sure you retrieved this from the local gun-shop, right?” He still hadn’t said anything and it got be annoyed. Why must he be so silent for, for what purpose? If I was there, I would have slammed his disgusting face on that table until I heard the crunch on his nose so he could speak. 

Lynn continued. “Oh so you’re one of those guys, hmm? The ones that think that by being silent they won’t go to jail. Well guess what Jeff? I’m calling you Jeff from now on. In this folder, there are hundreds of photos clearly show the bullet in the wound and the fingerprints you left on the pistol, which you deliberately threw on the floor. I presume that you made all of this easy for us by leaving your weapon on the ground. So, once you get your court date–which may be in two or three weeks–you will stay captive in jail until then, which is a few months. The chances of not getting sentenced to life is less than ten percent, and thats just a  guess. It can be increased to thirty percent if you willingly confess to your actions and what your motive was when killing those civilians. I presume you’ll either continue to be silent, or you would plead innocent. Of course, the option to plead guilty is still there–”

“I didn’t do it.” Holland finally spoke, and my annoyance dimmed. If he hadn’t spoken soon I would have went to the police station right now and torture him if I had the chance to.

“So life in prison it is.” Lynn said casually as I carefully watched her movements. Her fingers were toying with the papers in the file, her eyes only on Holland as she watched any sign of movements.

“Your evidence is wrong.”

“Oh, please do explain.” She said sarcastically. If I was on the receiving end of her conversation she would have been out cold for speaking to me in that way. 

“Your evidence is wrong,” He repeated and my annoyance rose. If he said it once then why did he have to say it again? “I will say it once more, I did not do it. The model that you described in that file of yours, the grand power K100 semi-automatic pistol? It is wrong. I have a gun but it is not that one. It is the Beretta Cougar, quite similar to the Grand Power model. The bullets are slightly similar but not the same, Miss Siara Lynn Dupont.” I grabbed the remote and paused the tape, facing Bane and ignoring the stupid look crossing Holland’s face as he froze. 

“Is that true?” 

“It’s just an excuse he made up on the spot,” Bane continued. “According to what I found out, both guns are in fact quite similar, with distinct differences. Press play, your ‘dear Lynn’ didn’t go through with his act.” 

I pressed play and smirked. Lynn glared at Holland and opened the folder, taking out two photos, one that presented numerous fingerprints and another that showed a man dressed in black holding the K100 semi-automatic pistol. “So be it,” She said slowly. “That the guns were mistaken. I have to admit, Jeff, that using the the idea of the guns being misinterpreted was a good idea. But I am not stupid. How else would you explain the fingerprints on the handle of the gun that you supposedly don’t have? How would you explain these?”

“She’s good,” I commented. “But not good enough to break through me.” 

“That is not me.” Holland insisted, his voice rising. 

“This is not you?” The sarcasm had returned to Lynn. “Oh of course, because no other man with the height of 6’1 with black hair and blue eyes and slightly tanned skin would do this. Of course if wasn’t you! How silly I was to assume–” I admired Holland for holding in his fury for this long. God himself and the Devil knew that with my patience, Lynn would be on the floor in front of me bleeding until her death.

“Shut the fuck up!” Holland snapped, writhing against the cuffs. “I killed those people because they deserved it! Every single one of them! You deserve it too, you pathetic excuse for–” 

“She does deserve it.” I chuckled.

“That’s enough,” She smiled. “Thank you for confessing though, that was just an added bonus. I believe that the judge will take no mercy on you and proceed to give you a life sentence in jail, even though you confessed.” With that, she stood and collected the photos she removed from the file and placed them back in the manilla folder and proceeded to leave. Just as I was about to pause the tape, she froze as she stared into Hollands eyes and stayed that way for a few minutes. 

“Why is she just standing there?” I didn’t hide my frustration. How stupid was she to just stand there like a complete idiot? 

Bane snapped his fingers. “That’s what I’m trying to figure out,” He said, removing the remote from my hands. He rewinded the tape back a few seconds and paused it, zooming in so that Lynn’s and Holland’s faces were closer. “Look at Lynn’s face after she finishes talking.” 

“Thank you for confessing though, that was just an added bonus. I believe that the judge will take no mercy on you and proceed to give you a life sentence in jail, even though you confessed.” 

“Okay so after she collects the papers, look at her face.” Bane says and pauses when she glances at Holland’s face after she stood up and began to leave. “Do you see her eyes?”

“Yeah, what about them?” I said, not seeing it. Her eyes were timid and a bit distant, full of wide, raw fear. But why was she just standing there? 

“Now look at Holland’s eyes.” He zoomed in on his face. “They’re cold and calculating.”

“Okay…” I drifted off, not seeing his point. 

Bane gave me a frustrated glance. “Look, Lux,” He rewinded the scene again. “Look at how Lynn looks into Hollands eyes and how she freezes. Holland’s eyes remind her of something in her past, she had a flashback of something that happened in her childhood. I’m willing to bet that she was transported back to the memory when her mother killed her father in front of her. That’s willing to scar anyone as human and fragile as her.”

I slowly nodded my head as it slowly clicked. “Interesting. I have an idea.”

“What is it?”

“Since Holland obviously reminds her of her mother; someone she’s deathly afraid of, she’s clearly petrified of people like him,” I sorted out my thoughts. “Though it doesn’t make sense why she’s a homicide detective since the culprit scare the shit out of her, I think Holland can be of use.” 

“I’ve been thinking why she’s a homicide detective as well,” Bane scratched the nape of his neck. “But I can’t find anything. How can he be of use to us?” 

“I think we can somehow find a way to use Holland to… distract Lynn from suspecting me.” I explained, seeing it all planned out in my mind similar to a spiderweb as I grinned. The prey in the middle? Lynn, of course. 

“And how do you suppose we do that?”

“We find a way to bail him out of jail,” I said. “He’s being held there until the trial, correct? Has the date been set yet?”

Bane shuffled through the file and pulled out a piece of paper. “Not yet, I’m guessing next week.”

“Perfect,” My grin widened. “After we get him out–which is something I presume you will handle–we leave him a note containing certain things to do. Under no circumstances do we reveal who we are. We also… leave a threat on the note with some other words to freak him out to ensure that he won’t run off.” 

“And what is Holland going to do that is going to help us?”

“Set Lynn closer to the edge of the cliff she’s waiting on,” I responded, already seeing the possibilities of what could happen to Lynn. “As for her mother, I have other plans waiting for her. This is just the beginning, and I have so much planned.”

“Speaking of that, Lynn is also looking into you,” Bane notified me. “While I was searching into her file, I also looked into yours and happened to notice that someone recently looked into your file. Seems like Lynn is also doing some digging.”

I gritted my teeth, angry that she would go into my file–though there was nothing useful in there–knowing that I had amnesia and that I had a tough past. Of course it was all a facade but she wasn’t supposed to suspect me, not now, not yet. I still wanted a few more weeks, maybe even months of killing until my time was up. It angered me that she suspected me, a lot. All I wanted to do was drag her filthy dirt stained head across the basement of my house and drown her in the bucket of water and do other things that tortured her until the life flew out of her eyes. I wanted it more than anything, and by her looking into my file made me motivated and determined to crush her until she was nothing, only bits and smithereens. 

“I’ll deal with it,” I stood from my position on the couch as fury seeped into my tone. “Release Holland from jail, I don’t care the amount of bail money it takes or if the cops refuse. I want him out and I want a death threat ready if he doesn’t follow. I want you to tell him on the note to attack Lynn after the massacre on Saturday when I dump the bag full of limbs in Decint County.”

“Just to warn you,” Bane began. “It’s going to be hard placing the bag in front of Decint County. They’ve increased the amount of security outside and inside, so there’s bodyguards all over the place and camera’s in every nook and cranny you can think of.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Frustrated, I ran a hand through my hair. “You can get rid of the guards and momentarily shut off the cameras. I need to go.”

“Where are you going?”

“To get some more victims.”I snapped, and ran out of the house. I needed to kill someone badly. My fingers shook with anticipation and there was this bubble of fury beneath my stomach that desperately wanted to be popped. All I saw was red. Underneath the red was Lynn, and her repulsing face that I achingly wanted to cut open with a jagged knife. She bothered me so much and I wanted her dead–dead–dead. Filled with an undecipherable amount of raw anger, I pulled open the door of my car so hard that I thought the hinges fell off. I climbed inside and slammed it shut, breathing heavily and trying to control my raging emotions. 

I was well aware of the fact that I needed to switch facades right now before someone saw me while I was driving but I couldn’t summon the will or the urge to care. I wanted her dead and it pained me to wait agonizingly for her death when I wanted it right now. I wanted to drive to her apartment and drag her out by her oily hair, not caring that there was a huge chance she could break a limb while thrashing. I wanted to throw her in the backseat of this very car and handcuff her to the door and drive her to the basement and then–

Beneath the hazy red that was obscuring my vision I somehow saw the light beside the highway. On the right standing on the side of the highway, behind the yellow line was a man and a woman, in each other’s arms while holding out a thumb. I immediately pulled over so none of the other cars could pull over. This was my chance and I needed to take advantage of it. I managed to find the will to control my emotions and the strong urge to kill someone long enough so I could shift into the facade where I was just an innocent boy desperate to find the people in his past. Taking a deep breath from the contrast to the heavy ones earlier, I rolled the windows down and unlocked the back seat of the car. 

“You guys need a ride?” I sent the pair a wide, innocent smile. 

What they didn’t know was beneath my seemingly innocent smile that these were practically their last moments breathing.

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