Page 20 of So Twisted

Michael looked out the window. “You think he’ll be home? We’ve got two or three hours of daylight left.”

She frowned. “Probably. Kids go out at night on weekdays, not daytime.” Her frown deepened. “I’ll call Cuthbert anyway and have him head to the University, just in case.”

“Good idea.”

She made the call, and when she finished, Michael remarked. “I was never home in college.”

“Yeah? Too many girls to visit?”

“You want me to answer that?”

She rolled her eyes. “Okay, cowboy.”

He chuckled. “No, not many girls actually. Just three.”

“Only three? You poor boy.”

“Not at the same time.”

“Thank you for clarifying.”

"I mean, we didn't date at the same time. I'm a one woman at a time kind of guy."

“Why are we talking about this?”

“Because I don’t want you to think I’m an asshole.”

“I’ve known you for eleven years. Almost twelve. I know you’re an asshole.”

“Good point.” Traffic was starting to thicken, so he switched the lights on. “But I’m just saying, I was always out and about. I would go to the beach or to the zoo.”

“The zoo? Really?”

“One of the girls was an intern there.”

“Ah.”

“But I would go out drinking or to the movies or to a friend’s house. I was never alone.”

“This might come as a shock, Michael, but introverts exist.”

“They don’t lead protests covered in animal skins.”

“Sometimes they do. In fact, introverts aren’t always afraid of people or uncomfortable around others. They’re also usually less concerned with the opinions of others, so they won’t mind doing something socially unacceptable.”

“Okay, so Alex might be home. How does this help us? I mean, knowing that he might be an introvert?”

“I’ve been thinking about our profile,” Faith said. “The killer’s violent and vindictive, but I think he’s also antisocial.”

Michael switched on the siren and weaved through stalled traffic until they were past the choke point. “What makes you say that?”

“The animal mimicry. I get the point of killing someone as though you’re taking revenge for an animal, but that kind of message could be sent by clipping mugshots and news stories to them or even leaving a note to say why he killed them. But the animal mimicry suggests that he might identify more with animals than people.”

Michael shook his head. “That’s thin, Faith. I see where you’re going with that, but it’s really thin. First of all, this guy is doing a shitty job mimicking animals.”

“That just means he’s ignorant. Or he’s trying to be clever and make himself look ignorant.”

“That’s an even bigger stretch, but second of all, if he identifies so much with the animals, why isn’t he freeing all of them? Why is he only freeing the one he needs to make it look like the deaths were accidental?”

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