The Doll Collector's Son

Chapter 18: Jordan

The ride back to the field office was quiet, or maybe Annalise was trying to comfort me, but all I could think about was that I was living the same life as Alec. The woman he loved had turned out to be the very serial killer he has hunting. Marina had killed so many people, had killed for me. Or more accurately, had killed because of me.

Their blood was indirectly on my hands. If I hadn't been born out of a relationship that should have never happened, Marina wouldn't have had anything to obsess over, and these women would still be alive. I was the spitting image of Kristopher Marner, down to the mannerisms and facial expressions. There was no doubt that I was his son, and it made me wonder how my parents could look at me without feeling disgust or hate. Well, my mom would maybe never be able to hate me, but Zach? I wasn't his real son, how could he even love me?

Of course Marina wormed her way into my life, she was getting the opportunity to be with Kristopher's double. By having children, she would have helped extended the bloodline. That's what she wanted all along. I may not have his tendencies, but just by looking like him, I caused the deaths of many women. There was no escaping the legacy of The Doll Collector. My gut wrenched at the thought of Marina finding some other victim to take. She had escaped into the wind, knowing that we would be closing in on her at any moment.

However.... My entire mind stopped, waiting for the birth of this new thought. Marina's plan had to be to awaken the killer she believes is inside me. That was what I had gathered from the notes she'd left behind. Clarity hit me in that moment. It was no wonder there was never any sign of forced entry. She was able to leave the notes because she had the key. I was so stupid and naive, but the self pity would have to wait until later.

I finally realized that Annalise had in fact been talking to me this whole time, and I had heard nothing. Judging by the look on her face, she was trying to be comforting, but right now all I needed was answers. Sorry Annie. I put up a hand to stop her, realizing that we had actually been parked at the field office for some time. She pulled a face, finally making a connection that I had been ignoring her, but I didn't give her a chance to complain, as I was already off the car, carrying Marina's laptop into the office.

Annalise followed behind me, all the way to IT. The office was alone, I guess everyone was in the field, my parents included. The IT specialist was avidly searching through street cams, no doubt looking for our suspect. My gut curled again as I typed out a message to SAIC Sherwood to update him. Several messages had come through, looks like they had figured it out already. I continued to scroll through, the messages becoming increasingly frantic.

A link popped up, one leading to a live stream. The phone nearly fell out of my hand, staring at my sister tied to a chair in the middle of a dark room. The sound faded away, as Luciana raised her head, pleadingly into the camera. She was bleeding from her shoulder, although it looked like she had been patched up. What the fuck was this? The IT guy looked over his shoulder and noticed the look on my face.

"It's been traced to the Cambria Project. Our team is headed there now." He said.

"Why didn't anyone call me?" I practically screeched.

"I-I'm just the office guy. I still have to find evidence to link her to the victims. I'm sorry man."

My hands curled into fists, but he was right. He was just a guy at the computer, I couldn't take it out on him just because I had been brooding too long to realize people had been trying to reach me.

"The evidence will be in here."

Annalise and I hurried back out to the car. The Cambria project was over two hours away. I could only hope that SAIC Sherwood had gotten a head start. I hopped into the driver's seat and turned over the ignition, waiting all of one second for seatbelts before peeling out of the parking lot. The adrenaline was pulsing, making sweat begin to form on my neck.