Autopsy of a Mind

I didn't have to attend any of the other days of the trial. In the end, McCain was pronounced guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

Since then, two days had passed and news and media professionals had emailed and called me to get an exclusive interview. 

"Is it like this all the time?" I huffed as I sat down. Nash looked up and grinned. 

"For the big cases? Yeah. Add in the fact that you are a young, beautiful woman who cracked the case… the media will go wild trying to make this sensational." Nash clucked his tongue. "Do you want to take the opportunity to become famous for your work?" he teased. 

I rolled my eyes as I opened my computer to check my email. 

"I don't want to be famous. Or infamous, for that matter. That day in the court told me that being in the spotlight is not my thing. I don't want to be looked at like an animal in the zoo. Or be torn apart by lawyers and media people. That made me feel so disgusted."

Nash hummed. "Your little outburst really got you into trouble, though," he commented. "Didn't you get fined for disrupting?" he asked. 

"Yeah, I received the notice in the mail yesterday." I chuckled. "My outburst helped put that lawyer and his insinuation in place but I got reprimanded for it." I shook my head in disbelief. 

"It's because you are on the side of the law that they fined you. The law is like that: it is harder on people who have good track records. They are not expected to make mistakes. While those who are shady… they are expected to behave poorly," Nash explained. 

"They also punish repeat violators badly, don't they?" I challenged. 

"True," Nash shrugged. 

"Ah, which reminds me. Did the task force give you any information on who that accomplice is?" Nash quirked his brow in question. 

"Nothing yet. Even the prosecution wants to know where the murder weapon came from. It's the only real evidence they have to prove Collins did something wrong." 

I scrolled through my email and found one from the prosecutor. I read it and frowned. 

"They gave Collins a leeway," I began. "The prosecution. They wanted to know who sent that weapon to help us out, but Collins didn't speak. Apparently, a lot of people come and go from his office." I groaned. 

"This accomplice is in a position of power, isn't he?" Nash breathed. "He has enough power to make Collins stop speaking. That vermin would take any deal that would make him go scot-free," Nash explained. 

"Which is why this is so interesting, don't you think?" I interjected. "But what threat does this guy pose? Is Collins afraid that he will be killed if he lets his identity out? Or is it something financial?"

I tapped my fingers against the table. 

"Should we ask permission to go through his bank statement to see if someone paid him to keep his mouth shut?" Nash questioned. But then he paused. "But Collins is not someone who values money more than his life. His reputation and his games are more important than the money he gets. That's why he takes on pro-bono cases, remember?"

"No use asking for the bank details. He should have a business account, a personal account, and loads more. How many transactions do we need to go through? And if we think about how clever this guy is, he wouldn't have used his own account or identity in the first place." 

"Is this going to be another unsolved case, then?" Nash lamented. 

"No, it is not. I will not stop until I find this dude," I gritted out through my teeth. "He's after me. He wants some sort of a relationship with me… a romantic one at that. And I am not going to let him have that sort of power over me. I am not going to let someone threaten me and the people I love."

I slapped my hand against the desk and stood up. 

"Aren't you on good terms with the prosecutor?" I enquired. 

"I am, why?" Nash was bewildered. 

"I want to talk to Collins. Get the prosecutor to make him meet me. I'll get something out of him and see who this guy is."

Nash looked at me with conflict. 

"Isn't your visit to Alicia Williams also coming up?" he asked, hesitating. 

"It is," I admitted. "I need to find so many answers."

"And what will you do at the end of it?" he asked. 

"I will slay my demons," I smiled. 

- - - - -

Collins refused to cooperate or meet Nash or me for questioning. Instead, the prosecution filed to look through his security footage. 

I sighed with relief when I entered the government office and found my way. 

"Here you go," said the prosecutor from the trial. 

"You got assigned this case, too?" I asked. 

"Yeah, because I already knew about the McCain case, they thought I would be their best bet to get a conviction." He shrugged. 

"Have you looked through the tape? Did you find anyone suspicious?" I asked curiously. 

He shook his head. "There was nothing of note. The people he met were all clients and nobody acted suspiciously. How about you look through the footage? You should have a better idea of this matter, right?"

I nodded. "This person is suspected of association with multiple cases, so we want to find him. I can't tell you more, of course." I gave him a polite smile. 

"I know all about secrecy within law enforcement. Lord knows a lot gets missed out because of it. Cleaning up mistakes is a recurring theme, you see…" he trailed off. 

Didn't I know about it… 

"Thank you. I'll let you know if I find the person I am looking for in these videos." I was about to leave when I paused. "Wait, does it have footage of his apartment, too?" I asked. 

"His apartment does have a system, but the memory was corrupted. We couldn't get any information from it. We do have forensics trying to restore footage, though. Why?" he asked. 

"You never know. Maybe the person who tipped us off was a personal connection," I said. 

"I'll give you a call if I find something of substance, okay?" 

I bid goodbye and came back to the station. 

By the time I was done with the footage, it was close to midnight. I had wheeled in a blackboard and got some chalk. The relationship chart had already been made and I was staring at it like a fool. 

It just didn't fit in. 

I heard the door creak behind me and turned to see Sebastian peering through. 

"Still working?" he asked. 

"Come in. Help me solve this, will you?" I pleaded. "I just can't make a full profile. It's all jumbled in my head and I don't think it is because of my emotional connection to this man."

He sighed and came in. He looked over the writing on the board and shook his head. "You have all the information you need on the board, don't you? You just can't put it together in a story," he claimed. 

"Can you see it? Can you tell me?" I asked. 

He sat down beside me on the floor. He pulled my hand into his and then caressed it with his thumb. 

"Male. Age between twenty-five to thirty-five years. Doesn't hold a permanent nine-to-five job but has enough money to live a comfortable life. His family life should be complicated with lingering feelings for an older male family member with whom he had a close connection but something happened and they had a falling out. That is why he cherishes the football merchandise and uses it as a shield to hide his identity. He is confident in himself and thinks of himself as the muse who helps people realize their dreams of committing crimes, but he also has an acute knowledge of criminal procedure. It is possible that someone from his family was involved in multiple crimes or they work in the justice system. That is how this person gets the confidence to evade the police so well. But his family is also in a position of power."

I looked at him with utter fascination. "You're really something else, aren't you?" I said in wonder. 

"Okay, you add in what you think," he proposed, not letting me out. 

"If it's a position of power and something to do with crime: it could be organized crime syndicates that run in their family… or maybe someone is a politician? High government official," I analyzed. "Ah, did I mention what Nash deduced?"

Sebastian blinked. "What?"

"This man… he has a similar style to the accomplice in the Elegant Butcher case. What if… what if they are the same person and that is why he thinks we have an underlying connection?"

Sebastian stiffened. "Why didn't I think of that?" he whispered. "It does fit," he said after a while. "But that just adds more question that it solves."

"It does. But now I know we are not looking for two people but one person," I stated. 

"But don't be so quick to cancel out the possibility that it is two different people," he advised calmly. "I would be happier if it were one person. Though, also terrified because then he has been watching you for far longer than we anticipated and everything you feared was not just a figment of your imagination and your gut screaming at you to sense the danger around you."