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by Gianna Boiani

  CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

  "We set a date, Julie!" Jacqueline said as the two women were enjoying lunch together.

  "September 23rd."

  "Oh, I love early fall weddings!" Julie said."How’s the planning going?"

  “We just started looking at the details. Todd seems to really want to be involved. He chose the date. I’m so happy that he cares this much about it."

  "Good for you," Julie said. "September 23rd is a...Saturday," Julie said while looking at her calendar on her phone.

  “We will leave on Monday for our honeymoon. Back on Saturday."

  "Interesting, did Todd refer to John when he chose these dates?" Julie asked.

  “Hmmm. Not that I know of," Jacqueline said.

  "Interesting that the boys found a way to keep their Sundays open. My guess is both of our husbands will be watching the Seahawks on the Sundays. Girl, let me give you a bit of advice. The key to a happy, healthy marriage is to not let the boys think that they can pull the wool over our eyes. Call them out on it every time and they will no longer attempt it. It’s funny how they manipulated a way for their Sundays to be undisturbed. The one thing that I have figured out about the male mind is the simplest explanation is usually the correct one. I’ve been around men long enough to know what Sundays in the fall mean to them. I would throw a wrench into his plans, just so he knows that you are onto him. Tell him you think the honeymoon should be Sunday to Sunday and then watch him squirm. Just a bluff, so he knows you noticed his maneuver," Julie said.

  "Interesting. I never really thought of it that way. You know, you are right. That’s just what I will do. I will let Todd know I’m a step ahead of him.”

  "Yes, let him know detectives aren’t the only ones who wear pants."

  CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

  Javier opened the oven to check on the flank that was cooking. The boy proved to be leaner than he originally anticipated- lean, but very tender. The meat sizzled as he took in the sweet scent of the young flesh. Javier would cook every cut of meat in a very different way. He would bake the flanks, barbecue the fingers and toes, steam the ribs, use the head to create a soup, cut the thigh meat out and grill it like steak and then grind up whatever was left for meat pies. The problem was, once Javier started to eat tender, young, human meat he became addicted to it. He would need more. He now took the pan out of the oven and placed the meat on a plate, went to the fridge and took out the pitcher of blood, drained from the boy’s body. He poured a glass and took his dinner into the living room to watch his favorite show, Jeopardy, while he ate. He sat down on the couch and placed the plate and glass on the coffee table. "What is Bern," he yelled out answering the question: ‘The fourth largest city in Switzerland, it is also its capital.’ Javier was very good at Jeopardy, his brain a sponge for information. As Javier took his first bite of the young boy’s backside, one of the contestants had uncovered a Double Jeopardy space. Javier loved Double Jeopardy.

  CHAPTER-FIFTY

  The captain had sent Todd to pick up a report that the station needed for a case. He walked into the lab, up to the empty front desk and pressed a button, which sent a buzz through the building. A dark-haired man walked out from a lab in the back and said, "May I help you?"

  "Hi. Yes, my name is Detective McGrath from the Seattle Police Department. Captain Johnson sent me to pick up a case report."

  "Do you have the case number?"

  “Yes, I do. #B916."

  "Coming right up," the man said as he walked back into an adjacent room filled with filing cabinets. "B916. Here we are, he said as he walked behind the desk carrying a folder.

  "I’ll take the drama out of this case for you, Detective. The subject was poisoned."

  "Well. There go my suspense and excitement for the day," Todd said. "Other than setting a date to get married to my pregnant fiancé that is."

  "Oh, you are to be married? And to become a father as well? Congratulations," the man offered.

  "Why thank you. Life changes so fast."

  "Yes. It certainly does," the man said as he looked at Todd in a strange way, like he was turning something over in his mind, filing away his thoughts to be used at another time. "In a flash, a new life is given and another, taken away. The circle of life my friend."

  "Yes, the circle of life," Todd said. "Well, I have to run this report to the captain. Thanks for the help. Have a good day Mr...?"

  "Alvah," Silas said. "Silas Alvah."

  CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE

  John stood in front of his bookcase at two a.m. on a Saturday morning. He would admire his collection of books late at night to clear his mind and revisit the wonderful worlds he had the privilege of

  experiencing in all of them. A book wasn’t just words on a page. A book magically transported you to another place, another time, with a story to tell, without limits. He kept his favorite books separated from the rest, so he may pass them down to his children one day. John had immense admiration for a book that can stand apart from the rest as something truly special. He understood how difficult writing something of significant substance could really be. He was holding in his hand ‘The Complete Works of Aristotle’.

  Aristotle was John's favorite of the ancient philosophers, having studied his work from time to time. He was nothing short of genius. The sum of his work’s influence often ranks high among the world’s top thinkers, including his teacher, Plato, and pupil, Alexander the Great.

  John now reached for ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee. With primary themes of racial injustice and the destruction of innocence, it is one of the most important novels ever written. It was Harper Lee's only novel until the release of its sequel, ‘Go Set A Watchman’ some fifty years later.

  John now picked up Cormac McCarthy's ‘The Road’. Bleak, destitute and sorrowful, it teaches the reader that sometimes in the stark world it creates, there are no correct decisions to be made. Sometimes the decisions that we have to choose from are either bad or worse. It is quite a horrifying story for a parent to read.

  John now held in his hands his favorite novel ever written. A novel he will read over again every few years until he dies. ‘The Fountainhead’ by Ayn Rand. Both at once a romantic drama and a philosophical treatise, The Fountainhead is the embodiment of the ideal man. A hero, whose character, independence and integrity are unwavering and as solid as the ground he walks on. The Fountainhead was rejected by twelve publishers, being labeled "too intellectual", until a small editor, Archibald Ogden, risked his job and livelihood to publish something that he believed in. John would experience a spiritual cleansing every time he would read it. It creates a world John wants to live in and every time he visits it he feels the sorrow of leaving it and returning to this one, the real one, as time ticks away, the pages dwindle one by one, and this beautiful, important novel comes to an end.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO

  Javier watched over the playground as he had done two days prior, waiting for an opportunity to arise. All the meat from the first boy he abducted had been eaten days ago. Javier was becoming restless. He needed more. Restless or not, he needed to be patient and find just the right victim. There had been plump children in the desired age range, but none of them were ever left alone. He had noticed an available child with no guardian, but he was too old, eleven or twelve at least and much too slender. Then, just as he was about to call it a day, he noticed a small, plump child, alone, on a swing at the edge of the playground. A girl. She was probably eight or nine, the perfect age. Short but thick, she definitely had the body mass Javier craved. He waited a few minutes to be sure that she was alone. It was almost dusk, so the playground was empty. Now was his chance to move. He walked over to the child on the swing. "Little girl, have you seen my puppy? He ran over here towards these woods." Javier pointed behind the playground to a darkening wooded area. He had parked his van behind the wooded lot.

  "No mister. I haven't seen a puppy dog."

  "Oh no. Maybe he
ran into the trees back here. Can you help me find him? If I don't locate him I'm sure he won't make it through the night."

  "Um...Okay. I guess."

  “Great. what is your name?"

  "Cindy"

  "Okay, Cindy. Thank you for your help. Come on... Let's go find him."

  As Javier walked with Cindy into the woods, he could taste the tender, juicy youthful meat his appetite craved.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

  John sat in his usual seat at The Alibi. He had started coming here more frequently to talk to Red. He found Red to be an intelligent, taciturn acquaintance who was quickly becoming a close friend. John felt he could trust Red with some of his deeper, darker thoughts that usually stayed buried, deep inside himself.

  "Sometimes, Red, I feel I am losing the battle. The more criminals I catch, the more criminals I have convicted, the more others are released or new ones appear. I feel I can’t keep up, I can never do enough."

  "The greatest shame in life is not that we aim too high and miss, but that we aim too low and hit," Red said. "If you aim to protect everyone and take every criminal off the streets, I’m sure, in the end, when you look back at your legacy, you will be happy."

  "I don’t know, Red. There will still be innocents that have suffered because I wasn't there to save them."

  “Maybe, but I promise you this. Many haven’t suffered because you are what you are and you do what you do. Don’t forget that. I am just a bartender in a cheap, old, lonely bar, but I have witnessed life, the goods and bads, highs and lows, the divine and the evil and I will tell you this. You have one of the purest hearts of anyone that I have ever met. You, sir, are a hero."

  "I appreciate you saying that Red, but too many times I feel like a failure," John said. As John looked at Red he felt this becoming one of those friendships in life that are just "right", people in the right place, at the right time, that cross paths in just the right way. Neither asks anything of the other one. A special "balance", that works because of the uncontrollable chaos around them. John dropped a hundred on the bar." I have to go home to my wife and children, thanks for listening, Red."

  "Hey, if a dumb ass, Irish bartender can’t listen correctly, what the hell can he do?" Red said. John let out a chuckle, walked to the door and stepped out into the warm late August Seattle air.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR

  It was a Sunday morning. Todd and Jacqueline woke up in each other’s arms in Todd's bed. Jacqueline had started staying with Todd to help him heal and recuperate from the gunshot wounds, but once he was ready to resume work, he asked her to stay with him permanently. "Todd, honey, I was thinking. Maybe we should do Sunday to Sunday for our honeymoon. You know, an extra day on each end to give us a bit more time to be with each other and enjoy ourselves."

  "Um...I don't know, sweetheart. We could use a day in between the wedding and after the honeymoon, to reset and prepare us to go back to work."

  "Oh really, Todd? Is that the reason? Or, is it that you want to watch football on those Sundays with John?" Jacqueline said accusingly.

  "Um... Well, sure. I do want to watch the Seahawks but that’s only a small part of the reason."

  "Todd, if you want to make a decision based on your desires, that is fine. Just talk to me, tell me the truth. Do not think that you are going to be able to deceive me. I will see through it every time. Tell me the real reason and I will be fine with your choices."

  "Okay. Well, now that you mention it that way, there is something. It is a small issue with the seating plan for the wedding. I’d rather not sit next to your parents. They make me a bit nervous at times."

  "Tough. Deal with it, sweetie. They are my parents and they will be seated next to me at my wedding. It stays the way it is." With that, Todd got up out of bed with a perplexed look on his face, jumped into the shower and pondered over John's statement about the curious, quizzical nature of the female mind.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE

  "Men. We have two children missing, both within ten miles of each other. Here, a child missing from a state fair in Kent. Here, one from a playground in Auburn," Captain Johnson announced. He continued, as he pointed out the towns on a projected map of Central to Northern Washington. "Let me be clear. We, Seattle’s finest, do not let abductors of the innocent youth roam freely on our streets. Now, men, at this time, we have no evidence that these cases are connected. But my instincts, along with the instincts of every man present here I’m sure, tell me that they are. I want my best men on this. Detective Corbin will lead a team of his choosing. John, I will give you as many uniformed officers as you feel you need at your disposal. This. Must. End. It must end now. I will not allow innocent children to be harmed on my watch. Get to it men."

  As the captain finished his missive, John was already searching the database for playgrounds, fairs, arcades, ice cream stands, anywhere a young child might be hanging out. His plan was to double the coverage of police in those areas and alert them to be extra sensitive and aware of curious looking characters, seemingly scoping out children. Take no chances. If a suspect was spotted, John wanted them followed and all information, including make and model of vehicle they drive, license plate number, place of residence, occupation and any other info they can uncover, entered into the case file.

  John knew he wouldn’t be sleeping much in the coming weeks until the predator was found. Every child that went missing from here on out, he would be responsible for. The challenge was on the table. The clock was ticking. It was John Corbin vs. a monster. A monster John had not yet learned who went by the name of Javier Mendez.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX

  August 19, 1989, Central Texas...

  It was an extremely hot Texas Saturday afternoon as Silas and his friend, Toby, were playing together on the wooded corner lot at the end of his street. It was the summer that Silas turned eight. "Hey Silas, do you see that? That’s the Wilson's new pet cat. Let’s try and catch him," Toby said.

  The boys chased the feline through the woods until Silas finally was able to grab it. "Hold him, Silas, I want to pet him."

  Silas was intrigued by the warm, cotton soft fur under his fingers. The cat let out a low "meow" as Silas felt the little heartbeat in its chest. Silas held him as Toby pet it from head to toe bringing a soft purr from its throat. "You ever have a pet?" Toby asked.

  “No. My mother doesn't like animals."

  "No? That’s weird. Who doesn't like animals?"

  That was the first time that Silas had experienced the sensation of holding a warm, fluffy, living, breathing creature in his hands. He looked into the cat’s eyes. He wondered what it would be like to watch something die. He wondered what it would feel like to have something die in his hands. As the thought passed through Silas' mind an evil took over. An evil that would be with Silas for the rest of his life. The innocent, troubled boy was growing into an evil, dangerous man and this was the first phase. Both hands moved up to the cat’s neck and squeezed. He watched as the cat squealed and squirmed in his grip. He felt the last bit of air squeeze out of the cat’s lungs, causing an adrenaline rush as he watched the life drain from its eyes. He experienced the euphoric feeling of power take over him. "What are you doing?! You are a freak, just like your mother!" Toby screamed.

  Silas looked Toby in the eyes, smiled and dropped the feline’s limp, dead body to the ground. Toby fled. Silas walked home and entered his house a new boy, having uncovered an addictive, new passion. "Silas! You are late! In this house, we pray from six to ten every night. If you do not pray to the good Lord you will live an evil life. Now get upstairs and pray!" his mother yelled as she smacked him and pulled him by his hair up the stairs. This prayer session would be unlike all the others before this day. Silas would have a smile on his face the whole time.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN

  John was on the road, somewhere between Kent and Auburn, getting a feel for the landscape, absorbing what an abductor of youth would take in. Feeling and t
hinking what he would feel and think. Where he would search, wait, lurk, scoping out his next victim. John would often use this technique when trying to solve an especially difficult or dangerous case. Become your enemy. Transform yourself into a killer. See what he sees. Think what he thinks. Desire what he desires. It had been a couple of weeks since the last child went missing. John was certain he would strike again in the next few weeks. Once a month was a pretty good rule of thumb for serial killers, but sometimes the frequency would accelerate as the acts of raping, torturing and killing can become addictive to the psychopath. It was imperative that John put a stop to this evil. For another child abducted would stay with him forever, in his dreams, waking him in a cold sweat early on a Saturday morning and entering his mind while playing with his children in his yard, disrupting his peaceful thoughts as he drives home late at night. These thoughts would never leave. Hiding out in the deep abscesses of his conscience. Guilt overflowing until the day he, himself, ceases to breathe. The first step in halting a psychopath is becoming the psychopath. This day was dedicated to that transformation.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT

  "Hi, Jacqueline," Julie said as she got up from her seat to hug her pregnant friend.

  "Hi, Julie. I'm starving." The two were at Collins Pub to enjoy lunch together.

  “Haha. You mean you are both starving. It does a number on your body, doesn't it?" Julie asked.