Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 108342 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 542(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108342 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 542(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
“Is that what you think?”
“Yeah, it is.” He swallowed.
“You told me that if I went out with you, you’d tell me anything I wanted to know. I humored you by allowing us to meet for the toured trolley ride. That turned into you trying to put the moves on me, and maybe even set me up. Don’t try to get anything over on me, Nikolai.” Her tone dripped with a stark warning. She wasn’t kidding by a long stretch.
He threw up his hands. “You’re crazy, you know that?” he scoffed. “I never tried to set ya up. Do you really think I would do what happened to that guy out on the beach? Kill those people in cold blood like that?”
“Of course I do. You’d be surprised what all of us could do if angry enough. There are people who commit crimes of passion every minute of the day. They just explode. It’s not something they’d normally do, but then you have people that are bona fide hunters… people who kill for the thrill of it, or because they believe God told them to do it. Some commit murders like this because they might hate themselves and see something they don’t like about their own selves in the people they murder, or maybe it’s some sort of trauma… for instance, they detest their mother or father. There’s a number of reasons why seemingly normal people go out and hurt and murder others. No one is incapable of murder unless there are physical limitations that would prevent them from doing such, and even in those cases, if they had a motive and opportunity, it could still manifest.”
“What about you?”
“What about me?”
“You capable of killin’ someone for the thrill? Because you think God told you to do it? Or because you see yourself in your victims? Or do you hate your mother or father? I find it funny how cops get to be serial killers but because you have a badge, it makes it all right.”
“Your arms must be tired from that stretch. To answer your question, yes, I’m capable of killing because I am physically able to do so, and I am human. I have killed before. Twice, in the line of duty. It was a horrible circumstance each time, but I had to think about the greater good and my own safety.”
“What if it wasn’t job related? Could ya still do it?”
“Yes. It could be self-defense. There could be many reasons, but I doubt for the ones you and I just discussed. Did you know Clark Thompson?”
“No.”
“Had you heard of him?”
He grabbed his beer, took a sip, and set it down. “I don’t believe so. Not until the news put it on TV and online.”
“What do you think about drug addicted men like Clark?”
“I hate ’em.”
“And why do you hate them?”
“Because of what they do under the influence of the drugs, not for why they chose to do the drugs in the first place. This city is being torn up by this shit. It’s everywhere now. I’m tired of it. At my old apartment, people kept tryna break in and steal my shit, to hawk it for drugs. I didn’t live in no bad neighborhood, either. Shit like that just doesn’t happen here too often, or at least it didn’t. Now it’s an everyday thing. My mother got robbed by a fuckin’ Fentanyl addict about a year before she died. Made ’er fall down and hit her head. I’m sure you heard about that though.”
“I knew your mother passed away, yes, but not about the attack on her life. Were the incidents related?”
He shook his head. “No. Just bad luck. She had cancer.”
She nodded in understanding.
“I’m sorry for your loss.”
“Yeah… so am I. I’m just being honest, ya know? What happened to my mom wasn’t cool, and the guy who did it got caught, lied, and hardly spent a fuckin’ day in jail. Is that just to you? That’s not right. It’s not fair, okay? Hard workin’ citizens are out here bustin’ our asses to live a decent life, and the law isn’t on our side. Now, here’s this shit. I’m a suspect in a fuckin’ murder.”
He caught a few people turn around and stare at him. Lowering his voice, he continued. “I’ve got some liars saying they saw me in that area. That might make me a suspect in your eyes, but I know the truth, and I think you know deep down I didn’t do this shit.”
“I don’t know that to be true, Nikolai, and you just admitted to a motive. Most of the victims found were drug addicted. You loved your mother, you were close to her, and she was attacked by a drug addict, who barely faced any consequences. Repeating several times that you didn’t do it won’t convince me, either.”