Crazy = Genius

Chapter 2: Don't Feel Quite Right

'Must be the words that she speaks, Is there something wrong, Is there something wrong with me, Cause something is wrong'

The plane ride off the island did nothing to calm Lilianna after the session. Her eyes were locked on the seat in front of her, her head spinning with all the thoughts she couldn't process. Once the private jet landed on the tarmac, Lilianna practically sprinted to her car. She fumbled pulling her keys from her jacket pocket and unlocking her Volkswagen Beatle. Closing the doors and locking them, she tried to calm her breathing and focus on driving home.

This wasn't the first time Lilianna had sat face-to-face with a criminal. She had worked with Dr. Hardy Wallon on numerous cases involving some of the most prolific criminals of her lifetime. Her interview with Karla Homolka was the key to success when writing her most recent study on female killers. Staring monsters in the face was never a problem for Lilianna but something about Terrence set her on edge- especially with how suspicious Hardy was acting about the sessions.

Hardy Wallon was a professor of psychology at Stanford University, and when he recruited her to be his partner she had just completed her master's at the same university. Once she had her Ph.D., they started working together on a few projects and then came the Vendetta proposal. After they had agreed to take on the madman, they were relocated to Newfoundland, Canada for them to easily access the prison in the northeastern waters. They had been given small houses in Gander to live in while working on the extensive and time-consuming project.

The five-minute drive from the airport to the government-provided house felt like an eternity to Lilianna. Upon entering the house, she flopped onto the couch and curled into a ball, trying to cope with the events she had experienced that day.

Just as she had gotten her hands to stop shaking, and her breathing evened out, her phone rang. Her heart leaped, causing her to let out a small scream and grip her chest. Reaching for the cell phone, she answered and tried to sound as calm as possible.

"This is Dr. Lillianna Price of Stanford University, how may I help you?"

No one spoke. The line was silent. A slight hum almost as if an engine was running in the background of the call was all Lilianna could hear. She repeated her greeting again, "Hello?"

Her blood suddenly ran cold.

What were the odds that after sitting down with the most notorious criminal mastermind alive, she started to receive ominous dead phone calls? Too coincidental.

Lilianna checked the screen, the unknown caller ID staring back at her as she stood from the couch and moved to her front window. She pulled the curtain back from the window frame an inch, her eyes peeking out at the quiet street in search of anything out of the ordinary. Everything seemed normal but the hair standing on the back of her neck told her to think twice.

She ended the call, removed the SIM card from her phone, threw it out the closest window, turned her phone off and whipped it at a wall on the other side of the room. She closed all the windows and curtains, locked the door, turned off the lights and hid under the covers in her room.

A part of Lilianna wanted to cry. She was scared. Vendetta was a powerful man with connections across the globe. Getting out of prison was his end game and with Lilianna in the picture, who's to say he wouldn't use that to his advantage of escaping?

The other part of her wanted to throw a tantrum. A full-blown child screaming kicking on the floor tantrum. This was one of the biggest moments in her career as a psychologist and she refused to let any criminal get in the way of her making a name for herself as an academic.