Autopsy of a Mind

"Well… fuck," Nash swore. "Someone is tipping us off or playing with us."

"Like they knew we needed the murder weapon… like they had access to it," I added. 

Nash turned to the officer. "Mind bringing the box to forensics? Give them your fingerprints and ask them to match the blood with Maya and get whatever fingerprints they can get off it."

He rubbed his head. 

"Yes sir," the officer mumbled before picking up the box and scurrying away.

The officer left the room and I slumped down on my chair. "Is this a message? Say hi to Dr. Butler?" I laughed humorlessly. 

"This person is giving us clues and telling us how well he knows the system," Nash elaborated. 

"He's playing with us, isn't he? He's telling us that he can do much better without the binds of law," I added. 

"Mocking us," Nash grunted. "What a classic psychopath. Do you think he has ever killed?" he asked as he stared at the wall. 

"He sounds lawless, you know? Like he is capable of everything, but he doesn't like to get his hands dirty. He wouldn't stop a crime from happening. No, he would encourage it, but he didn't directly participate in it."

"Like a mentor," Nash concluded. "A mentor with police connections." He paused. "It's one of us. And he is telling Sebastian that he can easily access you."

I frowned. "And he's been keeping close tabs. How conveniently every case related to him comes to us…" I trailed off. 

Nash slapped his hand against the desk. "Time for lunch. Forget about this guy," he stated. 

"You're taking this awfully well," I commented. 

"Yes, because they are not targeting me. I'd be more concerned if I wasn't sure the three of us could put our heads together and drag this bastard out from his hiding spot by the hair… wherever that is." The confident look in his heart made me less jittery. 

"Well, your confidence in my input is heart-warming." I chuckled. "Let's go grab some food." I pulled up from my seat and headed away. 

"Are we going to the local sandwich place?" Nash asked with a note of disgust. "Seriously, if I didn't know the reason behind your dietary choices, I would have complained," he grumbled. 

"Thank you for your understanding," I injected with a smile. "We can go to a nice place, you know? I'll just have something vegetarian, no issues."

"Yes, but I won't be able to sleep at night," he retorted. "Do you think Sebastian is engrossed in the new case?" he asked. 

I turned to him with a smirk. "He got his hand on a notorious serial killer cold case that has gone unsolved for decades. Thirty years since the guy appeared and twenty of them without activity. If that is not a cold case he will fret over, I don't know what he would do," I claimed. 

Nash shrugged. "The case was bizarre," he commented. "They really didn't find anything in it. It was as if this person didn't exist…" He shook his head in disbelief.

"No one better than Sebastian, then. He can see things us normal folks can't." I shrugged. "Let's go call him."

We pulled into the office they had assigned him and found him seated on the floor, his legs crossed as he pulled on his hair. Papers and pictures were scattered all over the floor and his eyes were wildly darting from one place to the other.

I leaned against the doorframe and waited for him to notice. Whatever train of thought he was exploring, I didn't want to interrupt. He could get irritated if that happened. I knew him well enough to foresee that he would suppress the emotion when he saw I was in the room. 

He had a bad habit of suppressing his emotions and acting coldly with others, but he could be harsh with them without regard. When I was around, he mostly showed pleasant emotions… like he was suppressing his darker nature and irritated side. I understood his need to show his best side, but I wondered if he had forgotten that I had fallen in love with him despite how obnoxious and narcissistic he was. 

Truly, despite knowing him for over a year, the man still bewildered me. 

It was about eight minutes before he finally noticed us. He looked up, surprise filling his face. "What are you doing here?" he asked, focusing on me. 

"Hello to you too, Sebastian," Nash greeted with a tone of amusement. 

"Oh, you're here, too," Sebastian replied before looking back at me. "Is something wrong?" he asked immediately, his smile falling. 

"It's time to grab some lunch. Do you want to come with us?" I asked. "Or should we bring you something and talk over whatever is bothering you about the case?" I gave him that option as well.

He looked down at the paper, conflicted. "No, I think I need to get away from it for a while. I feel like I am trying to process a lot in a short span of time and I need to not think about it for a few minutes for the puzzle pieces to fall into place."

I nodded. "When you have a block, you should go out and just not think about it," I assured him. "Especially on such a creative process."

He pushed himself off the floor and looked at the scattered pieces of paper on the floor. He jumped over the papers and came to me. He slid his hand into mine and pulled me out of the room without another thought. Nash scrambled out, not wanting to be left behind. 

I saw Sebastian bending down and locking the door with the key and then putting a small manual lock on it.

"Why are you doing that?" I asked. 

"I have all my things lying out in the open," he said softly. "It could be someone from the police force or in the industry, so I am taking precautions," he told me. 

"Smart." I gripped his fingers tighter. "As always."

He glanced at me and the frown returned. "You will tell me what is bothering you while we eat." There was no room to refute. 

"Okay," I gave in. Nash walked with us to the restaurant nearby and we ordered.

As the plates of food came out, Sebastian finally looked at me with intent. 

"What happened?"

I sighed. "The good news is, we have a lot of new proof to pin the case on McCain," I started. 

"And the bad news?" he asked hesitantly. 

"We found the weapon," I stated. I picked up a piece of bread and nibbled on it. 

Sebastian looked confused and turned to Nash questioningly. 

"We were following new information when a package came for Evie. Opened the box to find the exact murder weapon used, blood and all inside it."

I could see Sebastian's heart drop as his face swiveled in my direction.

"We sent it to forensics to match the blood with the victim and get fingerprints. But that's not the thing… it had a note directed at me," I told him. I pressed my hand down on his palm. 

"What did it say?" he asked, his voice unusually calm. 

"Asked me to thank him when we meet and to say hi to you." Sebastian swore. 

"I am so sorry," he said softly, his head hanging. 

"Don't be. I chose this life, remember? I wouldn't have been coerced by you. I wanted this. I knew the risks and still followed along. I can handle it," I assured him. "Well, life has gotten exciting," I tried to joke. 

"He's playing with us and saying that we are incompetent not to find everything on our own," Sebastian spoke. "But you already knew that."

"I did." I nodded. "Now eat." I gestured towards the plate in front of him.

He was chewing on his food but then he paused. "I know the answer but I just can't find it!" he gritted through his teeth. 

"The serial killer case?" Nash asked. 

"The BTS killer," he said. And then he rolled his eyes. "Thank god this was before the advent of K-pop or the fangirls would have had a fit over that name," he commented. 

"What does that stand for? Who even gave him that name?" I groaned. 

Nash broke into laughter. "It was part of his communication with the police back in the day when he was actively killing. He wrote a whole essay about breaking, torturing, and slaughtering his victims," Nash said in a low voice. We were in a restaurant full of people and there was no need to put these people through the horror of listening in. 

"B, T, and S, huh? So, someone named him because of that phrase?" I asked. 

"You would have been really young when he was active… and not even born for the most part," Sebastian said with a hint of a smile. "He signed off as BTS, actually, and the police officers at the time just ran with it."

I shook my head in disbelief. "That reeks of lack of originality, for a first," I stated. 

Sebastian mulled it over. "It does, doesn't it?" he whispered. His eyes lit with excitement. "I might have come up with a profile," he said finally. "Let's finish eating and get to it!"

The excitement buzzed in the group and we rejoiced in our victories for the day, however morbid they had been. So, what if we had received a bloody knife in the mail? So, what if there was a mildly threatening letter addressed to me? That didn't matter. As long as I was vigilant, nothing would happen.