Page 85 of Seth
“No.” Seth looked around the basement, at the mutilated body bathing in blood and urine, then at Gustavo. “I don’t need your help. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but eventually I’ll find them.”
He shrunk back to the wall, grabbed a canister standing in the shadows, then took a step toward Diego. “It’s acid. Unless you want to look like he does, stand back.”
“Oh, don’t glare at me, Princess.” Diego scrunched up his nose, hurriedly hiding his phone in the inner pocket of his dark-gray jacket. “I’m a victim of circumstance. I don’t even want to be here.” He shrugged and jabbed a finger at Gustavo. “Glare at him.”
Seth stared.
Gustavo snorted. “My offer stands. I’ll keep in touch, and next time you decide to visit me—” Ignoring the canister, Gustavo approached Seth. With the casualness of a businessman, he fetched a silver cardholder out of his chest pocket, plucked out a black card, and carefully shoved it in the front pocket of Seth’s leather jacket. “—call or message.”
He turned to Diego. “Come, you victim of circumstance. Drive me home.”
* * *
A chainof streetlightsflickered behind the front passenger window as Gustavo’s head rested against the glass. After half an hour of silent driving, he finally broke the silence. “You are terribly quiet. What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” Diego didn’t spare him a glance, but his usually animated face hardened.
“What did you see?”
Diego shrugged. “Nothing you don’t know already.”
“Still, indulge me.”
“Okay,” Diego licked his lips. “Two fingers of the victim were swollen, wooden picks sticking from under the nails. If I judge by the grayish color of the deadened flesh around them, I assume they were soaked in the acid, the same one he threatened us with. Either he was in a rush, or he lost patience, but for some reason, he stopped the intended slow torture and poured the acid on the man’s hand. But—”
Diego took a pause and a turn, driving off the highway onto a quiet forest road.
“—Apparently, our friend isn’t only impatient, he’s also hot-headed. My best guess, the victim said something that caused the onslaught. Mayr splashed acid in the fucker’s face, then he stabbed him in the eye multiple times. If the first murder was well-considered and accurate, this one is a classic example of an angry murder. It’s messy, emotional, and feels like it was done by someone else.”
“Does it scare you?”
Diego turned to him, unusually serious. “No, but it made me think. Gustavo, he is a terrible choice for a plaything.”
“Weren’t you encouraging me to get closer to him?”
“Yeah, that was before. I thought he was one of those freaks who need their perfect prey. I wrote Flames off to collateral damage, but I’m not sure anymore. Today, in that poor fucker I saw you and me. And you know, I like my fingers the way they are. Hence here is my question, what do you want to do with him? Fuck him? If so, let’s drug him. Take the edge off and go back to Snow Queen.”
“I thought you didn’t like Hans,” Gustavo asked, amused by the sudden turn of the conversation.
“Oh, I don’t like him at all. You have always had terrible taste in men. He is only interested in your money.”
“Just like you.”
“This is exactly my point. Our interests clash, but if I have to choose one of them, Hans is a no-brainer,” Diego deadpanned.
“Oh, come on, I call it a win. Seth didn’t try to kill us today, and he only threatened us once. It’s progress.” Gustavo chuckled. “Or are you feeling utter defeat coming? He didn’t kill me, so your Bentley will soon be mine.”
Diego snorted, eyes gravitating to the straight, empty road. “Don’t be delusional. He didn’t kill you because there were two of us in the room. And since I’m in a position where I put my life in danger for you, I’d like to know the final goal. I thought you wanted to put him down once your curiosity was satisfied. I’m not sure anymore.”
“I’m not sure myself. He intrigues me,” Gustavo confessed. “And I think there’s more to him than I originally assumed. I want to know what it is.”
“You realize that he isn’t dating material, right? Please, tell me you are still sane.”
“Don’t worry. I just want to observe for now,” Gustavo muttered, and for the rest of the way, they drove in silence.
* * *
Seth buriedthe bodyin a barrel of sulfuric acid in a deep forest in Lower Austria and returned home with the first rays of the waking sun. The nearly-healed skin on his palm came off from shoveling, but Seth welcomed the blood, hoping it would provide a valid excuse for Ignaz to stay longer. Red and brown smudges covered his white shirt as he kept wiping his hands against it. He disassembled the shovel on his way back, losing the metal tip in the river.
