Tortured Dreams

Chapter Thirty-Six

I opened the envelope. I had seen the script many times in the past. Small neat block letters, handwritten but looking so much like they should belong to a typewriter.

"I hope you got my gift and have figured out their significance. I hate to see you struggle with something like this, someone like this. If you didn't get the significance, you should think a little harder. I'm sure it will come to you."

There was no signature. It wasn't necessary. I folded it and put it back into the envelope.

"Well, the teeth are from The Butcher. He says they are significant. Beats the hell out of me why they are significant though." I handed the letter to Lucas.

"Fingerprints?" Lucas asked.

"You can check, but I find it unlikely you'll find any. Never have in the past." I shrugged.

"Never hurts to double check." Lucas looked over the envelope. He turned it over twice, examining it. He even sniffed the envelope.

"Find anything?" I asked.

"It smells like formaldehyde." He answered.

"They always do," I shrugged again.

"They always smell like formaldehyde?"

"Yep."

"Do the teeth?"

"I didn't smell the teeth." I commented.

"They smell like formaldehyde." Xavier stated.

"Ok, that tells us they were stored. I'm thinking that your letters are treated with formaldehyde for a reason."

"What reason? Other than to slowly poison me."

"I think that's a question for your serial killer," Lucas left me hanging.

"Well, that didn't help much." I sighed.

"Yes, actually, it does. Formaldehyde would prohibit oils from sticking to the paper." Xavier stated. "It's a preservative, but it preserves flesh, not oil. Hence, no fingerprints. The teeth were probably stored in it ages ago."

"I didn't know that about formaldehyde," I admitted.

"You know about a lot of other things," Xavier teased.

"Does this help at all?" Alejandro frowned at all of us.

"Probably not," I admitted. "Mainly because I don't know the importance of the teeth."

"How old do you think the teeth are?" Lucas asked.

"I don't know. I don't know for how long DIY dentists were using mercury or lead or both in their teeth. It wasn't covered in any of the books I read. Honestly, I don't know much about dentistry in general. I know some unusual facts here and there, like the radium thing. That's it."

"If you don't know anything about dentistry, then the clue must pertain to something else." Lucas stated.

"Teeth. During some time periods, the removal of teeth was vogue, others not so much. It was occasionally used as a torture method, but that was actually earlier in history or in other parts of the world. The Europeans did it, but it wasn't really their thing. They were more likely to remove fingers and toes than teeth as a form of torture. The removal of teeth didn't mark you, brand you or stigmatize you in Europe. The Europeans were all about the symbolism behind their tortures."

"Could that be it, the lack of European symbolism?" Xavier asked.

"How so?" I countered.

"Teeth mean nothing to Europeans, unlike the other tortures you've named. Could that be part of it?"