The Admirer: The Doll Collector Sequel

Chapter 9: Maria

Kris was making us breakfast, telling me about the developments in my case and the arrival of Agent Backstrom. His words and tone were venomous when we spoke of her.

It struck me odd, given that he generally did not speak ill of women. In his mind, he coveted them, so that fact that he hated her meant he was genuinely afraid of her and that emotion was not one that he understood.

Eloise was laid out on the table for me to rub her belly while Kris continued to rant. She and I had bonded a lot more since Kris was leaving the bedroom door unlocked.

It was such a wonderful relief to be out of that musty room. I was beginning to talk to the dolls when I was bored, which was a lot. There wasn't much to do anyway, but Kris had been letting the house go since he was away at work all day. I knew it must be bothering him that the house was such a mess, so I was cleaning up. Anything to keep him happy and relaxed. He was much kinder and more reserved when he was at ease.

He hadn't killed anyone since I'd been here. For a long while I thought my sacrifice had been in vain, but the results were enough to convince me I had done the right thing.

Kris slid the fluffy pancakes on the plate along with two strips of bacon and the hash brown patty, and set it in front of me.

Eloise hopped off the table and began rubbing against my legs. She'd become increasingly affectionate since I'd first met her. She didn't even pay much attention to Kris anymore.

"Where'd you learn to cook?" I asked.

"College, it was either learn to cook or eat cardboard." he replied.

I laughed, nodding. I lived on cup of noodles for most of my undergrad experience.

"As a kid, I had to learn to feed myself otherwise, I may have died of malnutrition. My mom wasn't very concerned with those things. I fed her most of the time, but nothing I made compared to the memory of our family dinners."

I answered him with silence. This happened often, as he didn't like to hear anything that could assuage what had happened to him.

"You make peace with your situation." he shrugged.

That was a lie, he hadn't made peace with his situation, otherwise we wouldn't be here in this predicament.

"Listen, about the FBI problem... I know that it was easy to fool the other officers because you charmed them, but the FBI isn't going to fall for that. If what you say is true, that the team is from the behavioral unit, then they are trained to find people like you. From the way you speak about her, I can see that you consider her the biggest threat. She's working out of your office now, she is on your court, and you have to get inside of her head, and inside of her pants."

My stomach curled in anxiety. I couldn't believe that I was saying this. I was asking him to prey on her weakness as a woman, but I had worked too hard to create something here and I wasn't going to let anyone ruin it. Kris was driven by anger and loneliness, with my presence, those two facets of his life had diminished.

"How does this benefit you?" he asked.

"It doesn't, it benefits you." I replied.

He held onto my gaze, trying decipher what the hell I meant by that.

"Are you here by choice, or are you not?"

"You tell me." I said.

"I believe only you have the answer. What's your end goal?" he asked.

"What makes you think I have one?"

"Doesn't everyone? Is this about wanting to be here, or are you playing a game?"