There had been no mention of Victor’s fatheranywhere in the information that Nick had found and nothing of himup to this point in his writings. Elsa’s empty stomach gurgled andshe suddenly felt nauseous. Had he been abused so badly that morbidand devious thoughts inundated him? Then to work in the field thathe chose? Wouldn’t that only make matters worse?

She began to quickly try to rationalize histhoughts, for her own understanding and acceptance. He was acriminal profiler so maybe he was overworked and stressed. Perhapsthe nature of his employment had proven to be too much for hispsyche to handle after having been abused as a child. If only shecould just ask him to clarify things. Hell, she was only guessingthat he had been abused. Maybe he hadn’t been.

She looked around her apartment with spots inher vision. Not having eaten all day, staring at the words on thepages and trying to maintain her sanity for hours on end had takenits toll on her. She stood and her back cracked loudly, remindingher that in addition to all of the above, she hadn’t moved otherthan to relieve her bladder and to change her dressings.

Pacing in front of her window to getcirculation back into her legs, she was struck with the idea thatthere was a chance that Victor had the same disturbing feelingsabout her. But her Chapter hadn’t been written yet. His thoughtswere all in the personal journal he kept near to him at all times.If only she could get a hold of it, but she knew that was animpossibility. She was lucky to have read the small portion she didwithout being caught.

She was on borrowed time as far as that wasconcerned and she knew it. When and if Victor ever viewed the videofootage, she would pay dearly. But if he ever found out she had hisprecious document? Elsa became light-headed thinking about it. Shedidn’t dare think about what kind of hell there would be to pay ifthat ever became known.

***

The remainder of Friday night for Victor hadbeen spent in the FBI office catching up with emails and workrelated issues. He crashed on a couch in the lounge area for nearlyfour hours and woke early Saturday feeling and looking like hell.Elsa’s face intermixed with the ghastly images from the Cambridgemurders had filled his thoughts all fucking night. He was tired ofthe nightmares jerking him out of sleep. As hard as he tried topretend like the nature of his work and his actions against hisChapters didn’t affect him, the unbearable ache in his chestsolidified his ever-growing self-loathing.

Late morning was spent in a sleep-depriveddaze having conversations that he couldn’t even recall. Heeventually made it home but not until early afternoon. When hewalked up the long path, his eyes were bleary from the long drive,but something looked out of place. He stared for several momentsand rubbed his eyes, but he was too weary to try and figure itout.

Once inside, he was struck with a faintremnant of Elsa’s scent. Was he losing his mind? He pulled hisjacket off and brought it to his nose and immediately feltrelieved. Her perfume was still lingering on his clothing.

Finally showered and in clean clothing, hesettled in his home away from home – his office. Again, thingslooked slightly off. He sat perfectly still in the large leatherchair, allowing only his eyes to move around the room as he scannedevery single document on his desk, every note and sheet of paper.It all looked in order, yet… he just couldn’t put his finger on thething that was making him feel as if someone had invaded hisprivacy.

He opened his desk drawers one by one to findnothing missing. Of course there wouldn’t be. If his house had beenbroken into, his silent alarm would’ve gone off and he would’vebeen notified. What the hell was wrong with him?

Opening the bottom drawer, he reached downand touched his case study and the twine tied around it. Somethingwas definitely amiss. Or… he really was losing his fuckingmind.

His cell phone rang out, catching him bysurprise and he slammed the drawer closed. His heart lurched intohis throat when he heard something serious was going down inCambridge and he needed to get back right away. God, he hoped itwas the break they needed.

Quickly, he retrieved his journal andphotocopied his notes about Elsa to have couriered to the VirginiaPen. As he placed the precious cargo into a manila envelope, hevacillated. Did he really want to share her with Anthony? He knewthe kind of sociopath Ant was and the thoughts that would be goingthrough his head when he read about her. Could he really live withhimself knowing that he had given Ant the opportunity to fantasizeabout fucking and dismembering Elsa like he had all his victims?His mouth set into a deep frown thinking about it.

He had never hesitated before to share theinformation regarding his Chapters because he knew it could be usedas leverage when he needed help with a particular case. But Elsawas different. A pain in the ass, but they all were on some level.She wanted him to see the light at the end of the dark tunnel andeven though it was a futile attempt on her part, it was noblenonetheless.

He glanced at his wall clock and wonderedwhat he and Elsa might be doing if he hadn’t cancelled theirweekend together. Deep down, he already knew. He would be watchingher when she wasn’t looking. He would be takingin every curve and imperfection of her body. He would be studyingthe delicate laugh lines of her face that spoke of her joy andwondering what memory each line held. Each time he saw her, hefound her more attractive than the time before. Her expressionswere becoming familiar and easier to read. His favorite: when shewas trying to anticipate his next move. The softness of her skin,the ink decorating her flesh, her scent, her soothing femininevoice spoken in barely a whisper… She was femininity in its mostperfect form.

No, he wasn’t going toshare his Peach with Ant.

***

Lying in bed, Elsa finished with Chapter Two.This particular subject had seemed more like an experiment in Mr.Black’s ability to take control. His lack of skill was even moreglaringly apparent in these writings. It was a nice change. Shefelt like she was reading Victor’s thoughts when he wrote aboutKayla and not Mr. Black’s. He was gentler with this Chapter and farmore lenient. Elsa actually felt a bit of jealousy toward Kayla.She wished she had known Victor back then. There might have been achance with him if she had gotten to him before his light wasextinguished and Mr. Black had completely taken control.

If only there was a time frame she could putwith the case studies. She tried making a mental timeline by addingall the weeks together and subtracting them from the current date,but it was only a guestimate and a poor one at that considering shedidn’t know how long the time frame was between each Chapter. Herbest guess was that he had been subjugating these poor people tohis will for at least three years, though in reality, probablylonger.

She had sped through Chapter Two eager to getto the beginning but as she turned each page and got closer to theend, there was a sinking feeling that she hadn’t learned everythingshe wanted to know. When she turned the last page she was outragedto find that there was no Chapter One. His case study simplyended.

His words had caused her to laugh, cry, yell,throw things across the room, and feel sympathy, empathy, anger,arousal and disgust. It was the best non-novel she had ever read.The damned manuscript had left her a pile of frayed nerves andblistered emotions, and now there was no resolution to any of it?No beginning and no end? What the fuck kind of cruel joke wasthis?

Elsa stared at the last page for nearly aminute in dumbfounded shock and denial. If she hadn’t stolen thedamned thing, she would’ve demanded a refund. She felt likescreaming at the top of her lungs, but instead, all that came outwas lunatic laughter. She really was insane and Mr. Black was allto blame.