chapter 38

When he woke up the next morning, Jude sat in a daze for a long time and had to think about what had happened last night. The stomach’s pain was much better and the boy’s voice was no longer heard, but he couldn’t feel any better. His senses were still in limbo. Because of the words he threw up against that platinum-haired young man last night.

-That wasn’t supposed to be the case.

No way, does that mean you killed the owner of that voice? Before you turned 10? He observed his remarks quaintly from the perspective of a third party, and Jude slightly narrowed his eyebrows. It didn’t matter what the past was. Forgetting meant it wasn’t such a warm memory, and he didn’t mean to open such a troublesome Pandora-like box. However, the story is different if one is reeling from the words that ring one’s head regardless of one’s intentions. Whether he like it or not, part of his nerves are dragged to it. Trying to focus on the small TV –

“……who is it? What nurse tuned to the food channel in a patient’s room.” -Jude picked up the remote control.

TtokTtok, Jude put the remote control down for a moment and looked at the clock. 9:30 am. Tim was going to come at 10:30 am, so it’s still an hour early. Is there anyone else coming? It’s the morning of the holiday, so he shook his head to deny the possibility, and Jude briefly said, “Come in.”

It was a middle-aged woman and a young man who appeared as the door opened. Who are they? I don’t remember them. The middle-aged woman greeted Jude, as he was looking at them with his eyebrows squinted for a moment.

“Hello, Detective. Nice to meet you.”

“Oh, yeah……Excuse me, who are you?”

Judging from what they call him, are they even the victims of the case? But he didn’t remember meeting them face-to-face. The pale face, the fluffy gray hair, the shaded cheeks and from the hazy lips alone could be guessed that she had had a long sleepless night. The youth seemed much healthier, but the eyes were still a bit red. He patted the middle-aged woman on the shoulder once, and she forced a smile as she held her hands together.

“I’m Mary Hawks, and this is my son, Kane Brown.”

“Oh, if it’s Brown…”

“Yes, Linda Brown, we’re her family.”

He couldn’t think of anything to say right away, and Jude shut up for a moment. Linda Brown. A 25-year-old woman, a co-worker who worked for the same company as Alvin Jones. And she was one of the seven bodies found in Alvin Jones’ basement.

“Well, may I sit down?”

“Sure.”

Even after sitting down, she remained silent for a long time, holding her son’s hand tightly with the face of a person who was having a hard time trying to digest the bitterness inside. Once the cool-looking man called his mother in a low, soft voice, she barely raised her head and smiled at Jude.

“I’m sorry, when you’re in the hospital and coming all of a sudden like this.”

“No, it’s not a serious illness, so I don’t mind, but for what…….”

“I saw it in the papers and in the news, that, Detective caught him.”

“Yeah, a few months ago.”

He couldn’t figure out what the middle-aged woman was trying to say. Now, months later, why did she come to see him? Mrs. Hawks, looking straight at Jude, spoke slowly.

“Can’t you catch him again?”

“………yeah?”

A half-baked answer went round, but the woman persisted.

“I heard from the police, when the investigation went wrong, that, Detective found out where he was. Could you do the same thing again? For Linda’s sake…”

Trying not to give a fake smile, Jude opened his mouth with a serious voice as possible.

“Well, ma’am, I’m not fully involved in the Alvin Jones investigation right now. There are far more capable FBI agents chasing him than I am, and the best profilers are working with them. The quietness of the media does not mean the investigation has been suspended. And, why would you want me to…..”

“Oh, because it’s been half a year!”

The woman’s voice rose out of the blue. The sudden hostility caused Jude to close his mouth and look at her. Without erasing the anger that appeared on her face, the woman spoke sharply.

“Think about it, Detective. Half a year, it’s already been seven months! By the way, those FBI agents you say are capable, are running after one person, you know. I called them dozens of times, and they repeated without mistake that they couldn’t tell me what happened because the investigation process was strictly confidential. For over six months! They don’t know anything, even a lady who’s not very smart can tell. That’s why I came to see you, with hope.”

“Ha, I don’t know, ma’am. Even if you say so, I’m just a detective…”

“No, Detective caught him because you’ve got the ability. You knew where he was going. I don’t think it’s going to be impossible again. I’ll pay you as much as I can…..”

“Wait, wait, ma’am.”

One hand was waving to stop the woman’s words, and Jude shrugged in a truly discomfiting mood. He had a gut feeling that it would be hard to convince her. However, he listened quietly to her and couldn’t even nod his head to say yes or no.

“If it had been so easy, I would have already done it when he escaped in the early days. The FBI has a lot of manpower, including the intelligence network. If even they are struggling, then it’s impossible for me to handle it alone.”

“But you’re a cop. You can get information from the FBI, and you can catch him based on it…”

“Look, FBI is not a very open organization. Like I told you, I’m just a detective at the New York Police Department, and no matter how I cooperated to arrest Alvin Jones, I’m not someone they’re going to tell everything so easily, and I have a lot of other cases coming in front of me. I’m no different from a component in a big organization, ma’am. I’m not the kind of guy you’re hoping for.”

“Oh, Detective, please, I…”

Tears filled the hopelessly distorted blue eyes. As her pale lips were shaking, she opened her mouth, with tears dripping over her hands. The tired voice was trembling uneasily with grief, its depth unknown.

“Linda… I’d never slept comfortably since Linda disappeared… I was nervous that she’d never come back after reporting her disappearance, hoping that she’d come back, and then suddenly I got a call that a man named Alvin Jones was caught, and that Linda was in his basement. I’d rather she had died a little less painful …”

The precariously shaken voice disappeared for a moment. Shaking her head several times, she swallowed the tears in her throat, but the woman finally threw up her broken voice as if she had given up holding back. Her voice was a mixture of anger and sadness.

“Do you know how she died? From head to toe, there was nothing intact, and the police said she suffered in the basement for at least three days until she died. She’s never done anything to anyone in her life….!”

A sob broke out. With a short sigh, Jude glanced at the TV that was still on. The jolly-faced cook – he didn’t know if he was really enjoying it or pretending to be amused – was explaining how to bake salmon in the oven. That cook won’t turn around and explain how he can get over this situation. Tim’s absence was truly pressing.

As he looked back at the woman in a difficult way, the young man who was comforting her by sweeping her back helped her get up from her seat. The young man, who took his crying mother out as if the dam had collapsed, returned to the hospital room about two minutes later. He smiled at Jude, who looked blankly at him, and sat down where his mother had just sat. Looking at the tired-looking young man for a moment, Jude asked him a question.

“Is your mother all right?”

“Yes. I left her with the nurses, so she’ll settle down soon. Please don’t blame her too much, she’s still so heartbroken.”

“No, I understand.”

He had seen a number of families of victims, so this is understandable. Whether he could sympathize with it was a separate matter, but Kane, who bit his lips while scratching his cheek several times, turned to Jude with his dark brown eyes. It’s a similar color to Tim’s — thinking inside, Jude looked into his eyes.

“Linda… …Linda liked him. I don’t know how that could have been.”

“Oh, did she?”

He thought he heard such a woman when he was talking to Alvin. With a small nod, Kane nervously touched his forehead.

“Since the first time she saw him, she’s been talking too much about how cool he is, how nice he is, how she feels he already has a girlfriend. On the day when he promised to go out for dinner together, she even called me and said she likes him.……..Oh, God, if I knew he was a psycho like that, I’d never…”

“……well, I’m sure he looks fine. It’s not something you can blame your sister for.”

“I know, I know, but…..Detective, how could a man do such a thing? Who the hell was he? I was so curious about that, that I often woke up while I was sleeping……..who could do such a thing to the same person? Was there any clue?”

“No, well, if I have to tell you, I would say that he looked really normal. I haven’t talked to him that much either. Just think of him as a madman, and if you understand that, you’re in danger too.”

“Is that so……”

With a long sigh, Kane nodded. Looking at the floor of the hospital room as though he was pondering something for a moment, Kane soon rose from his seat, smiling faintly.

“Well, I’ll be on my way. I’m sorry to come here when you’re sick. Well, if you feel like doing me a favor, feel free to contact me. I’ll leave my business card here.”

“Oh, yes. Please tell your mother not to expect too much.”

“……okay. Then I’ll get going.”

Leaving a bitter smile, Kane left the hospital room. Until Tim came back through the door, Jude was disappointed that there was no beer while watching the sport channel on TV.