by Thomas Amo
"He slowly lowered his body on mine and began to laugh until his laughter became uncontrollable weeping. The last thing I felt and saw was the claw of the hammer being jerked from my head."
Tears streamed down Shelton's face. The story had been overwhelming for her. James was certain it had forced his captain to remember her own nightmare in the schoolyard.
"Why didn't he kill you?" asked James.
"I believe he thought I was already dead. When he struck me with the hammer it placed me into a type of coma. I could not respond, but I was aware of everything he was doing to me."
"Then what happened?"
"The next morning a member of the militia was on patrol. He left the path to relieve himself when he saw my body. He called to his comrade that he had found something in the woods. His comrade joined him and they very quickly discovered that I was not dead. They carried me into the village and contacted their commanding officials. They were able to tell by the savagery that had been done to my body and skull, that I had been a victim of the Rostov Ripper."
"How many murders had been attributed to him by this time?" asked Shelton.
"34," said Stasya in a matter of fact tone.
"How long did you remain in the coma?" asked James.
"I remained in a coma for eight months. Under different circumstances the Soviet government would have let me die."
"Why?" asked Shelton.
"There is no use for a 13–year-old Russian girl left for dead in the woods. Unless she is the victim of the most wanted serial killer in the Soviet Union.
When the KGB learned I was a victim of this murderer, they took charge over me. The militia was then removed from the case. I was the only known victim to have survived an attack by Andrei Chikatilo and they wanted to keep it secret. I was placed in a military hospital reserved for only generals and diplomats. When I regained consciousness I came to understand why the KGB worked so diligently to keep me alive. I was pregnant."
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Pregnant
Both James and Shelton could not believe what they were hearing, but listened in astonishment as Stasya continued.
"Not only had I survived an attack by this monster, but I was also carrying his seed."
"Did you have the child?" asked Shelton.
"Yes."
James suddenly felt sick to his stomach but he knew he had to speak his thoughts. "The sisters— Tarista and Devonia—they're your daughters, aren't they?"
"Yes, Inspector James they are."
The statement hung in the air as only silence filled the room. For several moments no one spoke. James stood up and walked back to the front of interview room seven, staring at the twins. They too stared back at him. He turned back to Stasya. "So just exactly what are we doing here, Commander?" he asked.
"I am trying to help you understand what you are dealing with Inspector."
"So help me understand."
"You cannot apply traditional interviews procedures with them. You must be prepared before you make any attempt to speak."
"Prepared in what way? They're criminals, nothing more."
"That is untrue and you know it Inspector. To walk inside that room with either of them unprepared would be the biggest mistake of your life."
"Then what would you have me do? Douse them with holy water?"
"Evil doesn't fear such superstitious rituals of sacrament," she said with a steadfast conviction as she slammed the King James Bible down on the table. "But all evil trembles at the word of God."
Silence filled the room again as James ran his hand through his hair. He was exhausted and frustrated, but for the first time since the Carlyle murder, it seemed questions might finally begin to get answered. He slowly made his way back to the table, taking the seat next to Shelton.
"I don't believe in God," said James.
"You will by time you leave here today."
"You make it sounds like Inspector James is about to meet the devil times two," said Shelton.
Stasya smirked at Shelton. "Make no mistake Captain Shelton, Inspector James, the evil that sits inside those two rooms is a very old evil."
"What do you mean old evil?" inquired Shelton.
"I mean, it goes all the way back to the book of Genesis."
James shook his head, "You can't expect me to believe any of this angel and demons bullshit. It's not real. The fact of the matter is some people do very bad things. Evil is a label we slap on it. We invent God and the Devil so that somehow it all makes sense and that life isn't that random."
"Why do you deny the facts witnessed by your eyes? You don't remember being dragged through hell? You don't remember the faceless man forging the nails that would crucify our Lord? Or the black winged angel who presented the Roman soldier with the Spear of Destiny?" said Stasya as her voice grew louder, causing her to stand up. James stood in response to her obvious rise in escalating frustration with him. He backed away as she approached him and grabbed him by the arm.
"What are you doing?" he shouted.
"You are going to lie to me and tell me you do not remember room 1219 full of dead film stars watching that man rape the love of your youth Julie Anne Jackson?" screamed Stasya as she pushed James closer and closer to the glass of interview station seven. "And you don't remember Kritzler? The endless line of Jewish girls? Edmund Frayker? Nazi's? The man in White? Kirkland being led away into the darkness by the girl?" she screamed as she spun James like a top and slammed his face into the two-way glass and pointed at Tarista. "OR HER RAPING YOU?"
Stasya was now in a fit of uncontrolled anger. Tarista and Devonia began to both scream, shout and laugh at James as they violently jerked at their restraints. Shelton stepped in and pushed Stasya away from James. "ENOUGH!"
Stasya backed away and composed herself as Shelton checked on James. "You okay, Tommy?" James nodded he was. "Okay, let's everyone chill out," demanded Shelton. Stasya quickly nodded in agreement.
"Forgive me, Inspector James. I don't know how I lost control over myself," apologized Stasya.
"It's fine. I'm okay. I didn't mean to offend you Commander. I don't have any understanding of what's been happening to me. But you are right I do remember. I've been lying to myself and trying to pretend it's been a dream or my imagination."
"Then everything she just said is true, Tom?" asked Shelton. James nodded. "It's true Cap, all of it. What I don't understand Commander Gusarov, is how did you know what happened to me?"
"Because I was there Inspector James. I saw it with my very own eyes."
"When?"
"The day I gave birth to them," she said pointing at the Baranova sisters.
Shelton stared with mouth open. "You saw this when?"
"Summer 1987."
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Summer 1987
"You saw all of this when you were 13 years old, commander?" asked Shelton. Stasya nodded in agreement. "Believe me when I tell you I was just as confused as you are now. At first I thought the visions were brought on by the drugs the doctors had been giving me.
"You see, when I first awoke from my coma, the KGB interviewed me relentlessly about what had happened to me. I tried to give them details of the assault, but I couldn't. I was in shock. My shock was not only from the fact I had been raped and survived when no one else had, but I was pregnant and about to deliver within the month."
"So when you came out of the coma, they thought it might be the only chance to find out who the killer was, right?"
"Exactly. Of course, at the time I did not understand all they were doing to me. I was still practically a child and I was scared. When they interviewed me I would tell them things that even I did not remember or understand. But whatever I was saying seemed important to them."
James felt chills as he listened to her. "Do you remember anything while you were in the coma?" he asked.
"I remember the coma felt like I was simply just sleeping for a along time. But I also remember dreaming. I dreamt of many
girls like myself being lured into the woods and never coming home. I dreamt of concentration camps and a grand hotel where a monster lurked and crawled between the walls."
"You saw all of that while in the coma?" questioned Shelton.
"Yes, but when I gave birth everything changed. I began to see murder."
"You mean you saw the details of Chikatilo's earlier killings?" asked James.
"Not exactly. I mean, yes I did begin to sense Chikatilo. The more he killed, the more in tune I became to him. In fact the KGB began to know exactly when he had committed a new killing because I would become blind until the victim was completely dead."
James rubbed his arms as a chill seemed to overpower the entire room. Stasya could see what she said was affecting James.
"I understand it does not make sense to you yet. At the time it did not make sense to me. I had been subjected to so many tests I was not sure if it was real thoughts or imagined thoughts from all the drugs. The doctors were certain I had severe brain damage from the blow of the hammer. Except now I saw things I had never studied. I saw things that would make a normal person become insane. It was as if giving birth triggered something paranormal inside my mind."
"Why did you lose your eyesight when Chikatilo killed?" asked James.
"Chikatilo used to stab out the eyes of his victims," she said.
"Was it just a result of overkill frenzy?"
"No, he feared that the last image a person sees at the time of their death is forever recorded in their eyes."
"So by stabbing out the eyes he believed it would keep him from being caught," stated Shelton.
"Precisely. Belief in the human eye taking a final snapshot is an old wives tale. Chikatilo probably learned that Scotland Yard took photographs of Mary Kelly's eyes just in case the myth was true, and it made him paranoid." added Stasya.
"So, you said the more Chikatilo killed the more you could sense him," stated James.
"Yes, even though I would become blind during the murder itself, once he left the victim I was able to see the crime scene with complete clarity. This was of course after my daughters were born. When the KGB were able to go directly to the crime scene within hours of the murders they knew somehow clairvoyantly, I was connected to him. We could never figure out if it was because I survived the rape or gave birth to his children."
"So because of your gift, the KGB recruited you to hunt down Chikatilo?"
"I would call it a curse, Inspector, but yes you are correct. I was 14 years old by then. I spent the next three years of my life being exposed to every type of paranormal testing the KGB could imagine. After the fall of the Soviet Union your government took charge over me."
"So you're not really a translator for the FBI are you?" asked Shelton.
"No."
"Then what have you been doing for our government since you were 17 years old?" asked James.
Stasya looked at James with surprise that it took him this long to ask this question which, to her, was obvious.
"Hunting serial killers."
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Hunting Serial Killers
"When was the last time you saw your daughters, Commander?" asked Shelton.
"They were taken away from me when they were 3 years old."
"Did they also manifest paranormal behavior?" asked James.
"Yes, but that is not why they took them from me. It was because they had committed their first murder together."
"What happened?" asked James.
Stasya sat silently for a moment. She attempted to speak but no words came. She made a motion to James and Shelton that she needed a moment to compose herself. They understood and waited patiently. After several minutes of silent meditation Stasya, found her voice again.
"It was November 6, 1990, I was living with the girls at a government detention center. Living in comfort mind you, I was not a prisoner. The KGB is notorious for being as ruthless as the Gestapo, however I was treated very well and now I was also a member of the KGB with limited clearance. I was called to a meeting with the task force who had been looking for Chikatilo for many years now. During the meeting, I was suddenly overcome by an oppressive darkness. I was in the woods alone. I see a young girl enter the woods where I am also. She is close to me in body and age maybe a little older. For the first time since my own attack I was able to clearly see everything that was happening. I knew Chikatilo was coming and I had to warn her. I called to the girl. 'What are you doing here? You must go.' The girl looked at me defiantly and told me to mind my own business. I felt desperate. I knew any moment Chikatilo would arrive and find her."
James could see the perspiration forming on Stasya's forehead. She began to tremble as she recounted the story to him and Shelton.
"Why weren't you blind this time like all the other times?" he asked.
Stasya waved her hand at James to be silent. "Please Inspector James, do not speak or I shall never be able to tell this again," she pleaded.
James quickly nodded that he understood, as he and Shelton shared a worried look.
Stasya returned her focus to her story. "I rushed up to her and begged her to go. I told the girl it was not safe to be here, but she only cursed at me and pushed me away. My heart pounded with fear. I did not want this girl to suffer the agony I had faced. I kept watching the edge of the woods, when there in the distance I could see a man coming. I chased after the girl and grabbed her hand. 'He's coming, you must hide, hurry!' I cried.
"Angrily the girl jerked away from me and slapped me across the face. I tried to calm her, but she began to pull my hair and scratch at me. The two of us fell to the ground and began to roll back and forth on each other. My own fear was becoming more than I could bear for I knew any moment, Chikatilo would find the two of us. I could not face him again. I had nightmare after nightmare over the years of him finding me and finish killing me. I struggled with the girl on the ground trying to get her to see the monster was nearly upon us. She only continued to fight with me. My fear began to turn into anger and now I began to fight back. Our legs twisted as we writhed together.
"We fought wildly, yanking hair, biting each other, hitting anywhere we could hit one another. I rolled on top of the girl and pulled the hammer from my coat. Pinning her down with my knees I began to pound the claw of the hammer into her face and chest. Over and over I hit her. When she stopped moving I leaned down and savagely bit her face.
My anger began to subside and my breathing began to slow. I looked down and saw the lifeless body of the girl under me. I stood and gathered my things and made my way to the clearing at the edge of the woods. In the distance was a well. There was blood on my hands and face and I needed to clean them. I washed quickly in the well water and a policeman approached me and asked me for my papers. I nervously gave him my identification papers. He turned to me and said, 'Citizen Chikatilo, what were you doing in the woods?'
I stared at him with shock and was only able to mutter the words, 'I'm the devil and I'm here on the devil's business.' "
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
The Devil's Business
James and Shelton watched Stasya sob uncontrollably. Shelton moved from one side of the table to other and sat down next to her. She placed her motherly arms around the woman and embraced her, letting her shed the bitter tears that had been held back for so long. Both Shelton and James understood why she felt she could not have told the story again if she stopped.
After several moments, Stasya pulled herself together, wiping her tears from her face. "Forgive me," she apologized.
"It's okay, we understand," reassured James as he spoke softly to her.
"Thank you, both of you. This is the only other time I had ever spoken of this. The last time was with the KGB."
"So this time instead of being in place of his victim, you were him," enquired James.
"Yes that is correct. We had a name, but I didn't know the location. The KGB followed up on Chikatilo and learned he had been arrested once be
fore as a suspect and let go for lack of evidence.
"On November 13, a hunter found the mutilated body of 22-year-old, Sveta Korostik near Donleskhoz Station. The following day the police began watching Chikatilo. Over the next six days they observed him at train stations attempting to talk to young children or teenaged girls. Then on November 20, he was arrested for suspicious behavior and was interrogated for the next nine days without result.
"On November 30, 1990, I was called to meet with my superiors and Dr. Aleksandr Bukhanovsky. Dr. Bukhanovsky was a psychiatrist who, back in 1985, had written a profile of the killer. It was arranged that the doctor would read the profile to Chikatilo to see if there would be any type of reaction. He showed none until I was brought into the room. There, after many nightmares and having given birth to his twin daughters, did I face the devil eye to eye. Instantly, he began to scream and beg I be taken away. Without hesitation he confessed and I was returned home.
"When the KGB brought me back to the detention center, we found Tarista and Devonia in courtyard where the children were allowed to play with the pets. My daughters were happily singing and playing surrounded by dead animals. The two of them had either strangled, stabbed, or bludgeoned every single animal to death. It was only then did I realize this nightmare was far from over."
The three of them looked back towards the interrogation rooms. From the conference table they could see Tarista and Devonia talking to each other. The sight gave Shelton the chills.
"What happened to them after that?" asked James.
"The KGB took them away. The following year the Soviet Union collapsed and your government began immediate assistance. The KGB shared with the FBI how I had helped them solve the Rostov Case and a gesture in diplomatic good will I was given the opportunity to leave the Soviet Union and join the FBI."
"You didn't care about being separated from the girls?" James asked.
"No. Whatever had been passed along to me from Chikatilo had been magnified in them. They were monsters like their father. I was glad to be free of them."