Page 62 of Psycho
August shrugged. “Thirty, I think. Maybe thirty-one. I never knew my actual birthday.”
“Do you remember anything about your original family?”
August nodded. “That’s the curse of an eidetic memory. I remember everything. My mom was…very sick. She was schizophrenic. She thought I was some kind of supernatural creature because I was far too advanced for my age.”
“She was unmedicated?”
August ran a finger over Lucas’s belly. “I imagine so. She was truly afraid of me. That much was obvious. She felt bad about it. She didn’t want to hurt me. She just feared me. She gave me books and food, a lamp to read by, but other than that, she tried to forget I existed. Sometimes, I could hear her sobbing outside my door.”
“How are you so calm about it? That sounds like a horrible experience.”
August smiled at the distress in Lucas’s voice. “I’m sure, from a psychiatric standpoint, had Thomas not intervened, I’d be on the other side of one of your investigations. But I never felt sad or scared. Understimulated, tired of reading the same thing over and over again. Tired of being dirty. But the silence was actually nice compared to all the sights and sounds I deal with today.”
“Still…”
“By the time she tossed me in that room, I could speak and read. I was barely two. I imagine, for a woman as sick as she was, that was terrifying. She did the best she could.”
“How did you believe I was clairvoyant so easily? Knowing how disturbed your mother was? Did you ever just think I was crazy?”
August shook his head. “There was no faking the terror on your face when you touched me. Besides, I study science that, ten years ago, people had firmly labeled science fiction. I can’t do my job without knowing that just because I don’t understand it that doesn’t mean it’s not real. Truthfully, I was far more willing to believe your amazing solve rate was supernatural versus actual profiling which is, at its core, truly just an educated guess.”
August grunted as Lucas shoved him off and pounced on top of him in one smooth motion. “An educated guess? An educated guess?” Lucas asked, pinching at whatever skin he could reach, as August tried to catch his surprisingly quick hands. “Do you have any idea how much schooling I did to learn how to make those ‘educated guesses’?”
August laughed, finally snatching Lucas’s wrists and holding them hostage as he looked up at him. “I said educated. You guys use predictive modeling. It’s just a combination of statistics and knowledge of the human psyche that allows you to guess what kind of suspect the police are looking for.”
Lucas scoffed. “Our profiles are correct, on average, about sixty-six percent of the time. You can’t fight the numbers.”
August made a face. “True, but they’ve only led to an arrest in approximately two point seven three percent of cases, so...”
“That’s because we can only intercede if we’re invited in,” Lucas said, voice pouty.
August had never heard Lucas sound huffy. He found his slightly sullen expression adorable. It made him want to kiss the pout of his lips. “If you work with us, you’ll always be invited in.”
“Work with you?” Lucas echoed.
“Yeah, my family. I was serious when I said my father is probably already thinking of ways he can use what you do to help us.”
Before Lucas could respond, August’s phone rang once more. Calliope again. August frowned, swiping to answer. “What’s wrong?”
Calliope made a sound almost like a wounded animal. “I found something. Oh, God. I found a lot of…something.”
“What did you find, Calliope?” Lucas asked, still perched on top of August.
“So, remember the sock puppet accounts? Well, I was just going through each one, scanning emails for anything that might be of interest, and I found a link. So, I clicked the link and…” She made another troubled whine. “I think I know what’s going on and it’s so, so much worse than a serial killer.”
“How the fuck is that even possible?” Lucas asked.
“Can you guys just get to your dad’s house? We’re going to need everybody. Or, at least, whoever’s in town. This is bad. Bad. Bad. Really, just so fucking bad. I need to bleach my eyeballs badly. ”
“Can you not just tell us?” August asked, tone sharp.
“Look, I don’t know why you’re so cranky. I’m the one who just had to wade waist deep into the darknet. I’m only explaining this once. So, get to your father’s house and then I’ll tell you what I found. If you don’t like it, too bad.”
With that, she was gone. They both sat staring at each other in confusion for a solid minute before Lucas said, “I guess we’re going to your father’s house?”
“I guess we are.”
“I need clothes,” Lucas said, realizing he hadn’t brought any.
