Page 61 of The Darkest Half

“No, Izabel,” he says, “this was not self-defense. It was ritualistic. Calculated. Planned. And, quite honestly, vicious in nature.”

“So, what are you trying to say, Mr. Ware?” I ask, but I know what he’s trying to say, and I just don’t want to believe it.

“Mr. Ware is trying to tell us,” Victor puts in, “that Fredrik is no longer the man we once knew. And that, perhaps, the man we knew for a brief time was never who he really was to begin with.”

I get the feeling the last part was not what Kenneth was trying to say but something Victor has known all along and often thought about.

I thought that maybe my heart would break into a million pieces upon hearing news of Fredrik. But that was when I expected Kenneth to announce the tragic news of his death. I never expected this. And, quite frankly, I never expected I’d be unsurprised by such news, either.

Maybe, a part of me, like Victor, always knew this would happen to our dear friend.

“Now,” Victor begins, “the only questions I have are why you came all the way here to tell me? And why would you need to send me the detailed case file? Surely, Mr. Ware, it is not only because I asked for it.”

“No, that isn’t the only reason,” Kenneth confirms.

He sighs, glances at me, and then says to Victor, “You are head of The Order now, Victor Faust. You take on the highest priority jobs and those in which others can’t pull off.”

“You are hiring me to find and kill Fredrik Gustavsson,” Victor says.

“Yes. That is precisely why I came here in person. I know he was your friend. And yours.” He glances at me again.

“B-But wait a damn minute,” I say, stepping between Kenneth and Victor, “just because he killed a serial killer, even if he did it viciously, doesn’t make him a serial killer. It doesn’t warrant a bounty on his head.”

“She was not the only victim,” Kenneth says, and I gasp and step backward and out of the way again.

“Two days after we found the woman's body, another was killed precisely in the same manner in the house next door.”

“What?” I don’t want to believe it—I refuse to believe it.

But…I do believe it.

“And five days after that,” Kenneth continues, “another woman, strung up, sliced, the same as the two before, just two cities away. He is killing quickly, and they are innocent victims.”

“But how do you know it was him?” I ask. “That it was Fredrik who did these things?”

Kenneth turns to me.

“They were also missing all their teeth,” he reveals, and I swallow hard. “But even without that evidence, Gustavsson left DNA evidence at each crime scene. He isn’t trying to clean up after himself, so either he’s sloppy or wants to get caught.”

It's neither, I tell myself. And we’ll probably never catch him. If it’s true, and Fredrik has become…himself…none of us—all of us working together—will ever be able to catch him unless he allows it.

I shake my head repeatedly. “I-I just don’t believe he’d kill innocent people—women, at that. Sure, I can believe that he’s become a full-blown serial killer—I always saw that possibility in him, I admit it, but this…No, there has to be a reason. Those women had to have been guilty of terrible, unforgivable crimes.”

“The women were clean. One was a housewife. The second was a prostitute, but that was the only thing on her record.”

“Then there had to be more,” I try. “These women must’ve done things we don’t know about, for which there is no proof. Fredrik—”

“Izabel,” Victor cuts me off. “We are taking this job. We will hunt Fredrik Gustavsson down and take him out like any other job. Is that understood?”

There’s a fierceness in his eyes that only I can see. They are reprimanding me and questioning their faith in my ability to carry the weight of the position I was recently appointed.

Victor is right. My God, he’s right…

I gather myself, straighten up, and let go of the old, inexperienced Izabel. In my first assignment, I let go of the Fredrik Gustavsson I knew and loved like a brother.

“Yes. It’s understood.” It’s all I can say.

Fredrik…I can’t believe it has come to this; I never imagined we would be hunting you. But if it’s true and you are killing innocent women, you deserve to die.

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