The Boy Who Solved Crimes

29: Present Time

CW: Violence, Gore, Aaron bb in pain 😭

Dr. Robert Dooley

I'd done it and I felt like I could jump off several buildings and fly at this very moment. I thought it would be more difficult, when in reality, all my puppet had to do was stroll into the precinct and collect the detective.

I should've tried that plan at the start. Nonetheless, we all make mistakes before we succeed. Obviously.

I am a genius.

My smile stretched from ear to ear as I stared at the tall boy chained to my vertical table. Wrists were strapped with metal and rope bars, his ankles were hooked and his torso was tied up. I'd abolished my idiot puppet the moment he walked in with the boy who can read minds. I didn't need a child knowing my business anymore than I needed a fly on my wall.

And now I had him. I'd resolved my errors this time, destroying his phone and throwing it in a river four town away. If the boy had been sharing his location with anyone, I was certain they couldn't find it.

I'd formulated a serum as close to the one I'd made over ten years ago, yet Luke showed no results and simply wasted my time. He now lay rotting at the bottom of my furthest neighbor's trashcan. Even if it was close to me, all evidence would point to them or any of the surrounding people.

I felt guilty, but it only lasted for a moment. I knew this was for the greater good and one life was pretty worthless now that I had my original test subject.

I had gotten so excited when he'd arrived that I may have accidentally sedated Aaron and shot Luke right on the spot. I couldn't comprehend the smile on his face when he fell to the ground and the life began leaving his body. It was almost like he wanted death. I shuddered at the thought, dead people reminded me of my disturbing student whose name I completely forgot. But she ended up killing people and rotting in jail for a few years before her death sentence was initiated. She deserved to die. She was problematic, eating things she shouldn't have eaten. Disturbing and gross.

I didn't know what to do with the boy now. I'd finally received the person I'd been aiming for, the boy which my idiot daughter had tried to hide from me. It disgusted me that she'd known all along and never gave the boy to me.

I sighed, examining the man. His eyes were shut, shadowed by dark brows and brown hair. His chin touched his chest as he lay there vertically and I wondered if that would harm my experiment at all. I glared at my basement, it was small and none of my lab equipment was here. Nonetheless, it was too late to attempt to sneak into the Institute and centrifuge my sample without getting caught.

I growled, I technically wasn't allowed to be at my old home either, I'd been living in different hotels these past weeks and it was nice to be home— it did take quite a bit of convincing to remove the family that had taken over my home from its premises. But this was the closest thing I had to a lab.

I spotted movement in the corner of my eye and, like whiplash, turned my head to face Aaron. He lolled his head and finally made eye contact with me as I hurried to grab another shot of sedative from my cabinet.

"Wait! Wait doc! Don't you want to know what powers I have?" He said and I wondered if he was actively listening into my thoughts or if it was an ability that he could turn on and off.

"What?" I scowled, my eyes scanning his features as his head stood upright.

"I can turn it on or off, I have a weakness." Aaron said and I scowled at him, wondering if he was attempting to joke his way through an escape.

"Believe me, if I could I would. But doc, you're Violet's father, I want to help you because helping you is like helping the girl I love." Aaron said and it sounded like complete cliché bullshit. I knew he was playing me, it was so clear.

Clear thoughts.

Clear your thoughts.

Clear your thoughts.

I'd been training myself during the time in prison and now, I'd believed I mastered it.

Pineapple.

Clear your thoughts.

Don't think.

"Don't worry, you can think freely," Aaron said, "I've shut down the ability temporarily." He said. I didn't think I could believe him, but I wanted to know what he could do.

It was, after all, my natural curiosity as a scientist to want to know what my serum accomplished. I didn't want to spend my life's work on a project that sprouted nothing. What if all he could do is hear my thoughts sometimes. That seemed pretty useless.

I pursed my lips and crossed my arms, a random memory of a boy in my daughter's room the night before I borrowed her for an experiment bounced into my mind. He and she had been about to do the deed and I'd interrupted like a good father should. I couldn't recall much of what the boy looked like, but he seemed like a nice kid.

Aaron's nostrils flared and I wondered if it was because he could hear my thoughts or because he was struggling to breathe.

"Sir, I really need to use the bathroom."

"So use it." I scowled, I'm not running some sort of charity service. "If you need to go, then go."

"Let's make a deal."

"You're not in any position to be making deals." I scoffed, grinning at the imbecile.

"Am I?" Aaron asked and I grew impatient and annoyed by the boy.

"Listen boy, I'm going to sedate you for a while longer while I centrifuge your sample to observe later. I know you can hear my thoughts so there's no point in me not saying everything out loud." I crossed my arms, "I've taken your phone, destroyed it and nobody will find you. And since I'm sure you're aware of my plan, once I find out which genetic sequence was mutated to give you your abilities, you'll end up with the idiot boy at the bottom of a garbage can." I continued speaking, but Aaron's poker face fell through and he looked afraid for a split second.

Good.

Be afraid, there is no reason not to be.

"Luke's dead?" Aaron asked and I glared at him, I had no reason to entertain this conversation.

And therefore, I didn't.

I simply sedated the boy, shut off the lights, and drove to my hotel room. I would have an alibi and if the boy died, I could always target Violet next.

I felt giddy as another thought came to me as I pulled up to the motel 6. I was too eager to wait for morning and disguise myself, then centrifuge the sample and observe it later. Instead, I quickly drove to the Institute and attempted to unlock the door with the key card of someone I'd taken it from.

Admittedly, I'm not a bad guy. I just have a bad reputation. Those are two completely different things. A bad guy would be inherently bad, all I've done is borrow a key card, the man I'd borrowed it from was still alive.

I held the card up to the black scanner on the door, hoping that it would open at this hour. It was three in the morning, but the light flashed red and the door remained locked. I growled, rushing away and back to my hotel. This would all need to wait for the morning.

I had no choice.