Witchcraft and nasty little murders

Chapter Fourteen The Phantom

Ophelia did not want to go into the interrogation room. She watched the happenings through a huge window-like one-way-mirror. She couldn't believe that the man sitting in the chair, who couldn't see or hear her, was a cold-blooded killer. She had once trusted him, he had been her father instead of her father, she had respected him as a mentor, but at that moment all she saw was a broken old man with his face buried in the palm of his hand.

The door opened and Detective Harper entered the room. Ophelia looked at the man's haggard expression, it was, after all, half past two in the morning, but he didn't want to delay the interrogation too long, this case had to take precedence.

"Hannah Swanson, Samuel Harrison, Samantha Morrison, Olek Dabrowski and Henriette Davis," the detective laid the photos of the victims on the table one after the other. Luckily, only one profile picture of Henriette was taken, as they had a sense of timing.

"I suppose you're wondering why," Leslie sighed as he looked up, his gaze lingering over the photos as the master usually does over his masterpiece.

"I know that already," sighed the detective. "For power. Because you expected to gain a special ability at the cost of the murders."

"That doesn't make me a bad man," the grey man looked at the detective with surprising composure.

"It is not for me to judge. You are a murderer, whatever your motive. Tell me how you chose your victims."

"The Book of Nines had the procedure, as well as the fact that people whose birth year, month and day add up to twenty-seven, that is, two plus seven, nine, are suitable for this purpose. The person who sold the book identified the victims for me by giving a medallion to each of their immediate family members. The medallion had a microchip embedded in it, so I could track them down. After that, I just had to search through the relatives and find the right person. I observed their habits and then drugged them shortly before the ritual. I had a knack for plants, so I chose the jimsonweed to send them to the afterlife."

"Then cut their internal organs out and placed them around the victims. Where did you learn to work with such precision?"

"I was a medic during the Vietnam War. I haven't lost my skills. I've always been interested in healing, because it makes you feel the way the Lady might feel when she breathes life into nature again and again."

"So you are not just a killer, you have a God complex."

"Understand, my actions have only served a greater force. I wanted power, that's a fact. With that power, the whole city would have bowed to me, but that's not all. I would have used my ability to help others."

"You can change the world by small acts, not by murders." Detective Harper looked at him coldly with an icicle stare.

"I would not have been afraid of power. I would have helped the weak, the fallen. I'd have done away with injustice."

"What a pity we arrived in time to prevent it," the man scoffed, leaning back in his chair. Lia watched as the man's muscles tensed, but then her heart ached more than the sight of his stunning presence would have.

"Pity! It takes sacrifice to seek power to do good. I wasn't afraid to get my hands dirty," Leslie shook his head.

"All right, I understand your medical knowledge. Why did you have to take blood from the victims? And how did you silence the cameras?"

"Blood is part of the ritual. The families of the victims received the consolation of the Triskelion in the form of a memento, but I also needed a memento from the victims. I took their blood and put it in a vial," he confessed, while Lia just shook her head. It was then that she realized she didn't know the man sitting opposite her in the interrogation room.