Robert was not talking. He kept asking for a lawyer, and aside from that made a disheveled and confused impression. If it was an act, it was very convincing. One of my boys had questioned him early the first day, but all we got was a confirmation that he knew the latest victim. We had to stop interrogating him after he asked for a lawyer, damn procedures.

We had to figure out how he did it. His papers, e-mails, browser history, everything stored on his notebook and phone, everything in his apartment, we picked apart looking for clues. We found one old encrypted file, dating back seven years. Our computer guys broke it open, something about the old software from back then having a known defect they could use. The file turned out to be a porn collection he was hiding from his girlfriend at that time.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Some of his e-mails and instant messages confirmed what we already suspected - that many of the victims had in one way or the other harmed him. We found no evidence of any drug or psychological manipulation technique. No books, electronic or otherwise. No websites in his browser history or cache, no e-mails or messages, nothing at all.

However he did whatever he did, it scared us.