Copyright © 2020 Kaizer Wolf

Innocent Devil's Harem | Chapter 9-1: The Detective Knows Too Much

After giving Gabriella a quick warning, Serenity appeared in the kitchen, with Nick unfortunately close behind. “It smells amazing in here!” she commented with a grin…

A grin that didn’t quite seem to reach her eyes, despite her excited tone.

I felt like her statement was sincere, her excitement was real, but there was something bothering her. It made me wonder if her chat with Nick wasn’t going as well as she hoped, which I selfishly was okay with. Then again, this was the first time my friend had seemed interested in someone, so maybe it really was horrible of me to not want it to go well.

Dammit.

Gabriella’s response was just as cheerful. “Yep!” she agreed. “It’s almost done. Probably just another couple of minutes.”

Serenity nodded, noticing the bandage on her finger. “Oh, did you cut yourself?” she asked in concern.

I decided to respond. “Yeah, but it’s not too bad. That’s why we went upstairs, to get it all cleaned up.”

Nick seemed to be a lot more awake now, likely due to his caffeine pill having taken effect. He certainly was more animated as he chimed in. “Man, I haven’t had a home cooked meal in ages. I’m really looking forward to this.”

Gabriella smiled, since he was focused more on her, but didn’t respond. I realized she was truly serious, when we were talking in the car earlier, about not being overly friendly with other guys even if they weren’t trying to hit on her.

I decided to pick up the conversation, so it wasn’t awkward.

“Do you live alone?” I wondered.

He nodded, not missing a beat. “Yep. My mom passed away when I was younger, and my biological father is a deadbeat who skipped out on us right after I was born. I at least have my step-dad, but I moved out as soon as I was able to, in order to relieve the financial stress on him. My little sister still lives with him,” he added.

“Oh,” I said simply, not wanting to delve too deeply into his personal life. Although, suddenly I suspected I knew what the attraction Serenity had might be. Ironically, it was comforting knowing people who could relate, understanding what true loss really felt like. “Sorry to hear about your mom.”

He shook his head. “No, it’s fine. I know you both lost your parents, so we’re all in the same boat. It’s rough, of course, but time helps.”

I nodded in agreement. “So, just wondering, but how old are you?”

“I’ll be turning twenty-five here in about two months,” he replied.

“And you just moved here?” I continued.

“Sort of,” Nick admitted. “I used to live here, and this is actually where Serenity was born, but my step-dad decided to move us away after my mom passed away. It’s been almost a decade since I’ve been back here.”

Serenity chimed in then. “Is it hard being back?” she asked seriously, concern knitting her brow together. I could tell from her expression that they had in fact covered this subject briefly, but it seemed as if she hadn’t probed much earlier.

He shrugged. “Not really. Like I said, time helps. It’s been a pretty smooth transition for me.”

“What made you come back?” I wondered.

“Oh, well…” He paused, shifting his weight awkwardly. “I know you guys don’t want to talk about it, so I’ll just say it’s the case I’m working on and leave it at that.”

Gabriella surprised us all by chiming in, opening one of the cabinets. “I’m okay if you talk about it. I just don’t want to answer any more questions. I already told them everything I knew, so rehashing the events of last night is the last thing I want to do.”

I realized she must be thinking the same thing I was, which was that this might be a good way to find out just how much they knew about this killer of serial killers. I then noticed that she was getting out the plates, so I moved to begin helping her again. Serenity likewise went to grab some silverware for everyone.

Nick shrugged in response to her comment. “Well, I wouldn’t mind talking about it,” he admitted, only to glance at Serenity. “It might be nice to get another detective’s opinion on the situation, but…” He focused on me and Gabriella again. “If I do, then nothing I say can leave this room. Granted, if anyone ever found out, I could just say I was disclosing information as part of an interrogation, even though that obviously isn’t true.”

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I nodded, handing a full plate to him. Nick accepted it and sat down at the table. I then gave one to Serenity, who proceeded to sit beside her guest.

I tried not to grimace.

What was I even expecting anyway? It’s not like I could ever have her too. And certainly not without giving up Gabriella in exchange. If she was interested in this guy then I just needed to let it go, especially when there were much more pressing matters at hand.

Dammit.

Once Gabriella and I took a seat too, both of us sitting across from them, Nick picked up where he left off.

“So anyway, the code name we’ve been using for our mystery guy is the Impaler, since impaling his victim’s through the heart is his MO.”

Serenity quickly spoke up. “Nick, maybe ‘victim’ isn’t the best word to use, considering who you’re explaining it to.”

He looked at Gabriella apologetically. “Oh. Right. It probably isn’t best to refer to that serial killer from last night as a ‘victim.’ I’m sorry about that. It’s just how we refer to people who are killed.”

Gabriella simply shook her head. “It’s fine.”

He continued. “And in fact, that’s why this case doesn’t have more personnel involved with it. Since all the vict…” He paused, clearing his throat. “I mean since all the people killed have been murderers themselves, who were all in the act, it could be ruled as self-defense. Technically, intervening to defend someone else from imminent danger falls under that category.”

I decided to interject. “So, then why do they have you on the case at all if that’s what they think?”

Nick sighed, taking a bite of food before answering. “Well, because the only way to determine if that’s true, is to question the guy. Basically, my job is just to find him, so they can bring him in for questioning.”

“And how close are you to finding him?” Gabriella asked cautiously.

Nick eyed her for a second before answering. “You don’t want me to catch him, do you?”

Gabriella was surprisingly well composed as she responded. “Can you really blame me? The guy saved my life after all. I’d be dead right now if it wasn’t for him. Like, you realize that, right? I’d be dead right now. And only after some really horrible shit happened to me.” She scoffed. “Of course I don’t want you to catch him.” She then quickly clarified. “Not that I’m holding anything back,” she added. “I really did tell them everything I knew last night, especially since that was before I knew they’d try looking for him. But the guy didn’t stick around long enough for me to even get a good look at him, not to mention it was so dark in the woods.”

Nick sighed before continuing. “Well, the guy technically doesn’t have anything to worry about if he really is doing this in self-defense. However…” His voice trailed off for a moment. “Well, let me just say that, since I’m the only person on the case, it means I don’t have to share what I know with any of the other detectives…” He then glanced at Serenity briefly. “What I mean is, I’m closer than they think.”

Since Nick was focused on my housemate, she asked the question we were all thinking.

“How close, exactly?”

Nick scratched the back of his head briefly. “Most people who are aware of the case think there are only three vict…I mean murderers who were killed. However…” He paused, glancing at me and Gabriella. “There’s actually a fourth incident that happened about nine years ago, and I’m fairly confident it’s the same guy.”

I glanced away, my eyes suddenly unfocused as I attempted not to react, knowing exactly what he was talking about. It was the one time I failed to make it in time – the one time when I killed out of revenge for the victim who’d been slaughtered, instead of killing to prevent it.

I’d only been nine years old…

And to make it worse, the woman had been very pregnant, which really meant there’d been two victims instead of one.

“Jeez,” Gabriella commented, regarding the length of time. “How old do you think this guy is?”

I was honestly impressed she didn’t seem to react, discovering for the first time that I’d killed someone when I was so young. At the very least, it sounded like Gabriella thought that I was well outside of the age range for the suspect, since obviously a kid couldn’t be the Impaler.

Unfortunately, Nick’s response wasn’t reassuring.

“Well, to answer that, I have to tell you a little about the first incident. This one is different than the rest, because the person being attacked, the true victim in this situation, didn’t survive.”

I saw Gabriella glance at me from the corner of my eye, which unfortunately didn’t go unnoticed by Nick.

But thankfully, he continued after barely a breath. “However, as it turns out, the paramedics were able to revive the woman who’d been attacked.” He paused. “At least, briefly. She didn’t say much before she officially died, but she was able to give them a description of the person who had tried saving her.” He paused again, glancing at everyone at the table as if he was telling a really good scary story around a campfire. “A description that was later ruled out as a symptom of delirium from blood loss.”

Shit, this wasn’t good.

I tried not to react, but couldn’t look him in the eyes at this point, hoping that me staring at the wall behind him looked more like me just being pensive. However, Gabriella did stiffen in her seat next to me.

Thankfully, Serenity took up the questioning. “So? What was the description?” she said curiously, being the only one who looked fully calm now.

Dammit.

Nick looked at us all again before responding. “She said a young boy saved her, around eight or nine years old. If that’s true, and we assume she was off by a few years, then our perp…I mean our mystery guy, is probably between the ages of sixteen and nineteen right now.”

Unexpectedly, Serenity looked alarmed, though I was more focused on trying not to react myself. Because while she might be shocked to hear that kind of description, I was much more concerned by the accuracy of it.

When neither Gabriella nor I responded, Serenity chimed in again. “But surely,” she exclaimed in disbelief. “That can’t be right. How could a little boy kill a grown man?”

Nick nodded in agreement, sitting back in his seat. “That’s one of the reasons why it was thrown out as delirium. However, then again, how does a normal person shove a blunt object through a grown man’s sternum?”

Serenity caught the small detail in Nick’s statement.

“One of the reasons?” she repeated.

He nodded, smiling at the fact that she’d caught on. “Yes. The other reason is because of her description of the boy. She said he had yellow eyes, white hair, and that his skin was really dark. But not like my skin. She said his body was gray.”

Serenity was giving him a bizarre look now, seeming speechless.

Copyright © 2020 Kaizer Wolf