"I don"t," I told him softly, my voice breaking ever so slightly in protest. He looked at me with his brows furrowed in displeasure, not believing my words."Surely… surely you know that you deserve better than that," he said, alarmed.
I shrugged, trying to look as nonchalant as possible, but I think I failed miserably.
"What you went through…" My head swivelled in his direction.
"What do you know?" I said in a low, threatening voice. I had never told him anything about my past and he had acted as if he knew nothing about it, carefully disregarding any words said that pertained to it.
"Everything," he admitted. There was a sense of calm in his voice that I had not understood the meaning of. He was admitting to knowing my deepest, darkest secret, yet he had no reaction.
"You know I was taken by Alice… the Elegant Butcher and kept captive?" He nodded. "Did you know what I had to do?" I frowned. How could he be near me if he knew what had happened?
"Yes, of course. I know as much as you said yourself." He shrugged. I grew furious.
"How did you know? Did you stalk me?" My throat was dry was fear. If he had truly looked up my history and known all about me all along, what could be his motive for getting closer to me and comforting me? Surely, there had to be something that convinced him to do something of the sort.
"Relax. It was nothing of the sort," he a.s.sured me. But it was easier said than done. I was perplexed by this turn of events. I had tried my best to hide it from him. Despite my symptoms, there was nothing pointing towards my history and as far as I knew, my records from the time were top-secret and not meant for others to find out. It would cause chaos if that was the case.
"I was an intern working under Ross Reynolds, the detective-in-charge at the time. The day you stumbled into the police station and screamed for everyone to help you, I was there. A lot of us were. We had not even been close to finding out where you were hidden, and you had already been thought to be dead. Your appearance was one that can"t be forgotten easily. I heard your witness and answers to questioning when you recovered. And then when I saw you being questioned for the Stone Man case, I couldn"t make the connection at first. I thought you were a prodigious being for being so intuitively knowledgeable about the subject despite not being a student of it. I looked you up and found out that you were one and the same Evie Lewis that I had known. It was a strange serendipitous meeting, to say the least, but your talent blew me away. It was just some coincidence that you were the one who came to translate my work. I thank whatever being is above for it. I found myself the perfect protégée."
"I am not convinced. Why do you want me?" My eyes moistened with unshed tears. "Why?" I whispered.
"Let"s go to the hospital and get my arm looked at, first," he said softly, nearing me as if to soothe me. I flinched away but when I saw the pain on his face, I immediately stood up to accompany him.
"Let"s go. I need you to explain everything to me. Why would I be your protégée? Why are you so intent on cultivating my talents? Is it because of some book you wish to write?" I had a lot of questions and more formed in my head.
"I will answer everything, but let us go to the hospital, first." I nodded in a.s.sent and found myself walking out with him without a second thought.
Mere moments ago, I was confused and conflicted about his intentions towards me, but somehow I had been overcome with the need to help him more than accepting my need to preserve myself.
"I still need to know," I told him, softly, hoping he would not forget the reason for our animosity.
"I know. I don"t want to drive and talk. I am in a bit of pain, you see." I got into his car and sped off towards the nearest hospital, hoping my questions would be answered sooner than later.
.
Choose:
a. Portrait of a Murderer: Killing Machine
b. Portrait of a Murderer: Stone Man
c. All the times Sebastian saw Evie but she didn"t see him.
d. Portrait of a Murderer: [next case]
e. All the above.
I will write these and post these as ancillary chapters or normal chapters? The highest vote wins.