Alex Kava Bundle - Alex Kava [246]
Suddenly she felt a knot in her stomach. Damn it! Leave it to Kernan to cut to the chase, to strike without warning.
“Of course I don’t enjoy it.” She kept her voice steady, her eyes level with his. She mustn’t blink too many times. He would be counting the blinks. Despite those Coke-bottle glasses, Kernan wouldn’t miss a twitch or a grimace.
“Then why do you continue to obsess?”
“Because I want him caught.”
“And you’re the only one who can catch him?”
“I know him better than anyone else.”
“Oh yes, of course. Because he shared his little hobby with you. That’s right. He left you with a little tattoo, a sort of brand to remember him by.”
She had forgotten how cruel Kernan could be. Yet she forced herself to stay calm. She couldn’t let him see the anger. That was exactly what he wanted.
“I spent two years tracking him. That’s why I know him better than anyone else.”
“I see,” he said, tilting his head as if necessary to do so. “Then your obsession will end after you catch him?”
“Yes.”
“And after he’s punished?”
“Yes.”
“Because he must be punished, right?”
“There is no punishment great enough for someone like Albert Stucky.”
“Really? Putting him to death won’t be punishment enough?”
She hesitated, well aware of his biting sarcasm and anticipating his trap. She proceeded anyway.
“No matter how many victims, no matter how many women Stucky kills, he can die only once.”
“Ah yes, I see. And that wouldn’t be a fitting punishment. What would be?”
She didn’t answer. She wouldn’t take his bait.
“You’d like to see him suffer, wouldn’t you, Margaret O’Dell?”
She held his gaze. Don’t flinch, she told herself. He was waiting for her to slip. He was setting her up, pushing her, forcing her to expose her anger.
“How would you choose to make him suffer? Pain? Excruciating, drawn-out pain?” He stared at her, waiting. She stared back, refusing to give him what he wanted.
“No, not pain,” he said finally, as if her eyes had answered for her. “No. You prefer fear, don’t you? You want him to suffer by feeling fear,” he continued in a casual voice with neither accusation nor confrontation, inviting her to confide in him.
Her hands stayed in her lap. She continued to sit up straight, eyes never leaving his while the anger began churning in her stomach.
“You want him to experience the same fear, that same sense of helplessness that each of his victims felt.” He sat forward in his chair, the creak amplified in the silence. “The same fear that you felt when he had you trapped. When he was cutting you. When his knife was slicing into your skin.”
He paused, and she felt him examining her. The room had become hot, with very little air. Yet she kept her hands from wiping the strands of hair that had become damp on her forehead. She resisted the urge to bite down on her lower lip. Instead, she simply returned his stare.
“Is that it, Margaret O’Dell? You want to see Mr. Albert Stucky squirm, just like he made you squirm.”
She hated that he referred to Stucky with the respect of using mister. How dare he?
“Seeing him squirm in the electric chair isn’t enough for you, is it?” he continued to push.
Maggie’s fingers started wringing in her lap. Her palms were sweaty. Why was it so damn hot in the room? Her cheeks were flushed. Her head began to throb.
“No, the electric chair isn’t a punishment appropriate for his crimes, is it? You have a better punishment in mind, don’t you? And how do you propose to administer this punishment, Margaret O’Dell?”
“By making him look directly at me when I shoot the goddamn bastard between his eyes,” she blasted, no longer caring that she had just allowed herself to be swallowed whole into Dr. James Kernan’s psychological trap.
CHAPTER 33
Tess McGowan tried to open her eyes, but her eyelids were too heavy. She managed a flutter, seeing a flash of light, then darkness. She was sitting up, but the earth was moving beneath her in a low rumble and steady vibration. Somewhere a soft, deep voice with a country