Chapter 8

        The shock had to be evident on my face.  I was reading the email over and over.  It was only one line but it sent a chill down my spine.

Excited to hear the lecture Doctor, see you there.

-JS

        Johnny Sikow.  He was taunting me, telling me he would be at the lecture I would be giving in a week.  For over three months, silence.  No more bodies.  No signs of him anywhere.  Johnny Sikow, the teenage horror.  The mass murderer and serial killer had disappeared off the face of the planet.  Now he was telling me where he would be and when.  Why?

        This wasn’t in character.  Why would Johnny allow me to know when and where he would be.  He had always been so adamant about never being captured by police.  So why the change?  Something happened.  I needed more information to be able to conclude everything. 

        I had no idea where to start.  Where the hell was I supposed to get a clue as to what made Johnny Sikow want to talk to me?  And what’s more I still had the psychopath who killed my partner out there.  I didn’t know how to deal with all of this.  There was so much to do, but where to begin?  Did I concentrate on Johnny, who was without a doubt my main priority?  Or did I go after The Burner, who I had killed my partner in cold blood?  All I knew was I owed The Burner some payback.

        Johnny was another case all together, in more ways then one.  Johnny was known to make contact with me, but he always gave me the impression that no matter what I did, he’d never be caught, so why would he give himself to me?  Unless… He must have had no intent on being taken in by me.  This must have been some ruse to show me that even if he handed himself to me, he’d never be taken in.  Cocky b*****d.

        “Jenkins,” I yelled at one of the detectives in the cubical across from my office.

        “Sir,” he snapped to attention.

        I laughed silently, I really wanted to see this kid get to my position to see if he’d still be acting like a private to even the few who while technically his superiors would by then also be his equal.  “I want you to take over the Burner case for a while.”

        He stared at me, stunned that I would let him take over such a high profile case.  All notions of my being his superior went away, “Sir, may I ask if you think it’s a good idea to step away from this case when it’s still so hot, even for a little while?”

        “Don’t worry Jenkins, you’re more then capable of handling this case.  In fact I’ve considered taking myself off it permanently, with my personal interests conflicting with it now.”

        He nodded silently, Will’s death had been a blow to the entire division.

        “I’ll expect to be fully briefed when I get back,” I winked at him and left.  He smiled and got to work.  I knew I could count on him.  Jenkins was a good cop and a good man.

        I had work to do.

        I decided to work backwards.  Starting with Johnny’s farewell note.  He described all the disgusting things he’d done to his girlfriend Nicole and her lover and how he’d decided to take a break from killing people.  The last report of his killing was a pawn shop owner and some cops trying to catch him.  He’d been silent in every sense since then.  As I was reading the blog that he’d sent us, something seemed…off.  I really couldn’t put my finger on it.  He seemed almost hesitant or reluctant to describe what he’d done to Nicole.  Considering what he did tell us about everything he did to Daniel, her lover, the way he described Nicole’s murder seemed, again, off.  With other murders he’d described, he wrote the events eloquently making it seem like a refined event.  Whereas with Nicole, he words were almost laconic.

        Thirty-seven stab wounds.  That’s how many times Johnny had stabbed Nicole.  He’d hacked off limbs, caused sever internal injuries through the uterus and stomach.  Going over the autopsy, I noticed some differences in the way he’d attacked her in certain places.  For a while he took his time.  He was precise, never wasting a single slash or stab.  He knew every move he would make.  But at some point something had changed.  The wounds were erratic and confusing.  Johnny had lost control.  Nicole must have said something with her final breaths to take Johnny over the edge with her.

        All it would take was the right push.  This was something I would want to discuss with Johnny.  I was very confident that I would be getting a meet and greet with Johnny Sikow in less than a week.

        The lecture could have gone much better.  I had forgotten that I would be showing slides.  Johnny was no doubt hidden in the dark.  I was admittedly nervous.  Not about the lecture or the subject, but the fact that I was so close to the most wanted criminal in America.

        Every time a male voice broke the silence after I would ask a question, I wondered, is this the voice of a killer?  I had no idea what Johnny even sounded like.

        When the lecture came to the closing subject, Johnny Sikow, you could almost feel the tension in the air.  This was no boogeyman that we had nothing to fear from.  This was a young man who was still walking the streets.  I definitely did not include the various times he’d contacted me.  Soon the lecture was over.

        Nothing gave me the impression that he was here.  As students came to ask me questions or give me praise for my work, I’d look into their eyes and deep into their face, looking for any similarity of Johnny Sikow.  Nothing.

        As I gathered up my papers, a small note fell out from the small pile.  I picked it up and it was just as short as the email he’d sent me.

Doctor Fox, please meet me here at three o’clock.

-JS

P.S. Greatly enjoyed the lecture.

        He’d been here.  And now after so long, we were finally going to meet face to face.  If he thought I wouldn’t be taking him in though, he was gravely mistaken.

        If you asked me why I didn’t call for backup, I honestly could not have told you.  If I had to guess, I’d say that the meeting seemed so personal that I didn’t want anything to ruin that feeling.  I of all people know how absurd that sounds, but at the time I was too fixated on meeting my elusive prey.  (Or was he my hunter?)  I wasn’t thinking about much except the coming encounter.

        I took my time walking the campus to the appointed classroom.  I’d be there early.  No big deal.  Hopefully I’d be able to assess the situation more clearly.  When I got there the lights were all on, expecting.  I sat down in one of the seats and crossed my legs.  I was holding my 9mm close.

        Then the lights cut out.  I was out of my seat in a second and then I finally heard it.  The voice of my enemy.

        “Please don’t get up on my account, Doctor.”

        “Come out with your hands where I can see them Johnny.”

        “Now, Doctor, what makes you think this about me turning myself in?”

        His voice was smooth and almost sounded comforting.  Was he trying to make me feel at ease?

        “I don’t know why you asked me here Johnny, I was very surprised.”  I could hear footsteps, but the echo of the room confused the sound making it difficult to focus on a specific direction.

        “Let’s just say I wanted someone to talk to.  I’ve had a pretty rough time Doctor.”

        The lights at the front of the class flickered on weakly and there he was, the killer, the monster, the elusive prey, the hunter.  He didn’t look too different from what I expected.  His hair was grown out a bit since the last sighted encounter, it looked like it had been cut by some rough tool and was haphazard in many places, his bangs were the most noticeable, the left side covered half of his face.  Clean shaven, not what I expected.  He was wearing a jacket that seemed to barely fit his slim body and jeans that were about the same.  He was skinny, and of average height, yet there was something intimidating him.  His calm demeanor, he just seemed so casual.

        But his eyes.

        While his face was almost blank but with a trace of slight amusement, his eyes betrayed a wide array of emotions.  In those eyes I could see anger, laughter, a bit of excitement, but the most profound thing was pain.  Those eyes showed how much pain he was living with.  In his eyes I could see the years of abuse he’d suffered at the hands of not only bullies, but those who were supposed to protect and help him.  He’d had none of that.

        “Well then, what do you want to talk about Johnny?”

        “Well Doctor-”

        “Please, call me Fox, nobody calls me ‘Doctor.’”

        He laughed at that, “Alright Fox, I wanted to know something.”

        I waited for him to go on, but he seemed either unsure or was waiting for me to respond.

        “Did you see Nicole’s autopsy?” He asked suddenly.

        “Of course I did Johnny, I am in charge of the investigation.”

        “Yes, well I was wondering, did you notice anything…unusual about her?”

        This confused me a great deal.  “Like how Johnny?”

        “Were you able to tell if Nicole was…pregnant?”

        To say I was shocked at this question would be an understatement.  What had she told him?

        “To be honest Johnny we hadn’t even considered looking for something like that.  I’m no mortician, so I wouldn’t even know where to begin, but you did hack her up pretty badly.  As far as I know, that may be a question, no one will be able to answer.”

        The sadness in his eyes was overwhelming, “Yes well I suppose it doesn’t really matter does it.”  It was a statement more than a question.

        “What’s all this about Johnny?”

        “I just wanted to see if I could confirm something Nicole told me before I cut out her insides in a fit of rage.”

        “Johnny, you know I’m going to have to arrest you for that and everything else you’ve done.”

        He looked up surprised and then an almost insane smile lit up his face and he was bent over laughing.

        “Fox, please, don’t tell me you’re that naïve.”

        “I’m serious Johnny, I’m going to take you in.”

        “Oh sure and what you’ll give me to the wonderful justice system? Please Fox, we both know I’ll plead insanity and with all the s**t I’ve done, do you think anyone will really want to believe a teenager is anything but?  I will never truly pay for my crimes until someone has the balls to take me out.  I will never be in prison.  I’ll go to an insane asylum, probably for life, but I’d live out the end of my days, pretending like the therapy and the medication is making a difference.  You want to stop me, Fox, then you point that 9mm at my head and take the shot.”

        “Johnny, you know I won’t do that.”

        “Why not Fox?  You want to stop my killing spree don’t you?  Well here I am, shoot me.”

        “I can’t do that Johnny.”

        “Shoot me Fox.”

        “No.”

        “F*****G SHOOT ME YOU SON OF A B***H! SHOOT ME IN THE F*****G FACE! End this joke of a life I’m living!  Life?  More like a f*****g coma.  You think I wanted this?  You think I woke up that morning thinking, ‘I think today I’m going to antagonize the school bullies into running me down like a dog in the street and leaving me for dead.  Then once I’m able to free myself from the disrespectful pile of dirt they called a grave, I’ll go kill them and every m**********r that gets in my way.’?  Do you think I wanted some psycho b***h to make me fall in love with her only to cheat on me and then do exactly what those fuckers did?  Have you ever been left for dead Fox?  I have, twice.”

        He sighed and the pain was so evident not only in his eyes, but his face and entire body.

        “All I wanted was to be left alone.  All I wanted was to not be picked on, called a f****t, beat up on a daily basis.  All I wanted was to be left alone.  What did I ever do to any of them?  Why did I just seem like such an appealing target for their wrath?  Can you tell me that Fox?”

        At that moment, I was not looking at a murderer.  I was looking at poor boy who’d been bullied all his life.  This was someone who’d never known peace, all he’d ever had was pain and violence.  Why was it so hard for those kids to just leave him alone?  I really felt for Johnny Sikow, my nemesis?  Tears sprang from both our eyes at the same time.

        What was I going to do?  I expected a monster and all I got was a child in pain.

        “I’m not going to shoot you Johnny, and maybe you’re right.  There’s a good chance with the right lawyer and a gullible jury, you’ll get away with it.  Everyone will know who you are and that you did everything you’re accused of.  But they’ll all assume it was some insanity that snapped inside you.  I hate admitting it but you’d convince me, because I can see the pain etched across your face.  No acting in the world could show what’s on your face or your eyes.

        “Johnny, I want you to turn yourself in.  Take the opportunity to give yourself a chance at life, even if it is in an asylum.  Hell, maybe it’ll do you some good.”

        He looked at me and the expression on his face was hard to read.  Shock?  Disbelief?  I couldn’t tell.

        “You don’t get it, Fox.  I’m not going to stop until someone stops me.  Maybe opening up to was a bad idea, but it’s safe to say I’m not exactly in the best state of mind at the moment.  Maybe after a while, you’ll be able to take the shot that I deserve.”

        He turned and started walking to the door, when an idea struck me.  This was really a confusing day and my mind was all over the place, but I realized Johnny could help me with something.

        “Wait!  Could you help me with something?”

        He stopped and turned to face me, confusion very evident on his countenance.

        “Help with what?” he asked hesitantly.

        “There’s another serial killer I’m looking for.”

        “Fox, I’m not sure if you’ve noticed but I work alone, and when I don’t whoever I’m working with ends up dead.”

        “No, no, it’s an unrelated case to yours.  This one uses a gun and every time he kills someone, he leaves a calling a card by burning the tip of his gun nozzle into their flesh somewhere.”

        Johnny seemed intrigued at this, “Anything else?”

        I was glad I had his attention, “Well the first record we have of him, he shot someone right off the highway and by the time we got to the body he’d left his sign.”

        “Was the victim, traveling alone?”

        “We believe so, the angle of the bullet seemed to come from the other side of the street.”

        “Then it would seem your shooter is an exceptional marksman, I doubt though that he’s good enough to be that precise from a moving vehicle, chances are that he chose his victim, shot him from a well placed tree, went down to a waiting car, looped around and acted like a concerned citizen and left his calling card.”

        “Well, that’s sort of what we guessed, but your theory of him picking a spot like a tree does seem more plausible then ours, but how could he get that close with a rifle and no one notice?”

        “Obviously he’s using a silencer and removing it after kills like that.  Tell me about some of the other killings.” 

        I told him about some of the random victims we’d found bearing the same markings and about my partner Will.  Johnny listened to it all quietly an taking it all in.

        “Well Fox, I certainly can’t give you a solid name or anything but maybe I can help narrow your search.  I think you should be looking into government records and look for snipers that are either retired or M.I.A.  What you’ve told me makes me think hit man and a very good one at that.  I can’t guarantee that he, or she for that matter, is even American, but it seems as good a place to start as any.”

        I looked at him for a few moments astonished.  I guess the best way to think like a serial killer is to be a serial killer.  “Thanks Johnny, you might just be right.”

        “No need for thanks Fox, chances are you and your boys would have figured it out eventually.  Besides, like I said, I have no idea if I’m right or not.”

        “So what happens now?”

        “I have another question I’d like for you to answer for me before we wrap this up.”

        “Go ahead.”

        “How long has it been?”

        I didn’t need him to be specific, I knew what the question meant. “Two and a half years,” I whispered quietly.

        “It doesn’t feel that long.”

        “Time does that some times.  So now what?”

        “Well, I’m going to throw a few knives into the lights to black out the room and then quietly make my escape.”

        I almost laughed at his bravado.  The kid was simply something.  “You think I’ll let you go without a fight?”

        “It’s not gonna come to a fight, Fox.”

        And with that he did exactly as he said he would and with a deft flick of his wrists sent numerous knives flying into the lights overhead and shattering them, leaving me to cower under a shower of falling glass.  When I was finally able to draw my gun and flashlight, I noticed yet another note.

Thanks for the talk Fox.  Until next time,

-JS

P.S. Next time we may do more then just chat.  Get into shape.

        So with that final warning I knew I was alone and sat down to finally catch my breath.

        Johnny had not been what I expected.  He was much more.  There were layers to him that even he was just beginning to peel back and discover.  But with that dire warning, and it seemed more like some kind of sick promise, I knew that he may be a hurt child inside, yet there dwelled a monster within him as well.

        This was only the beginning I was certain of that.

        Not even three days after our talk, we found a new body.  We didn’t even have to examine it to know it was Johnny’s work.  He’d signed this one for me.  Etched into various places on the poor girl’s body was the message, “Let the games begin.”