Red Widow (Vivian Xu, Book 1) (35 page)

Vivian swallowed hard.

“
Okay… When will you come
back for me?”

“
I’ll be back before
nightfall. In the meantime, you should find a place to hide. I’ll
meet you in the forest when I’ve taken care of everything.” Vivian
had no choice but to accept it. After all, she didn’t have the
slightest idea where Syllax Pharmaceuticals was.

“
Okay.”

Camilla disappeared into the brush,
not once looking back.

Vivian couldn’t silence the doubts
eating away at her inside. Was Camilla abandoning her?

* * *

The sulfuric odor stung Nikolai’s
sinus.

“
Something wrong?” an
officer asked. “You’ve just been staring at the walls.” Indeed, he
had been gazing lifelessly at the space in front of him for minutes
on end.

“
He didn’t write ‘You
cannot hurt me anymore.’”

“
Maybe our perp was in a
hurry.”

“
Sure. Maybe he was…” His
voice drifted, lost in thought. He had arrived at the water
treatment plant within fifteen minutes of Vivian’s call only to
find the incinerated corpse. Had she interfered with the murderous
ritual? Nikolai pulled at his collar as the heat became unbearable.
The officer next to him was also breathing heavily as sweat carved
a gleaming trail down his forehead. At least he wasn’t the only one
burning up.

“
Nikolai!” A forensic
technician hailed him from across the room. “Take a look at this.
There are salts near the body.”

Nikolai steeled his stomach for what
he was about to encounter. He first set eyes on the mound of flesh
when he stepped into the room—but he refused to go anywhere near
it. How could anyone turn a human being into such a disgusting
shape without a face—that which fundamentally made them human? The
killer had debased her to the point where he left nothing behind
but primordial soup. It defied every moral conscience known to
man.

Or perhaps it was human nature to
commit such vile acts against one another. Perhaps it was simply
locked away under the veneer of civilization, an elected
government, laws, religion, and a heavy dose of media and celebrity
entertainment. Only those who had no respect for such antiquities
revealed the beast that every man and woman feared deep inside
themselves.

Nikolai could almost feel
himself melting when he came face to face with the woman’s remains.
He could still see traces of hair and teeth lodged in the boiling
mass. A ring of salts surrounded her…or
it.
The residue was mostly silver in
appearance with blue flakes evenly dispersed throughout
it.

“
What does this mean?” he
whispered.

“
The killer must have used
an agent or accelerant when he set the victim on fire. I can’t say
for certain what he used until I analyze the remains.”

The technician collected the debris in
an unlined, metal can, carefully skirting the corpse.

What else can you conclude about her
death?” Nikolai asked.

“
She was obviously wearing
clothes when he set her on fire. Have you heard of the wick
effect?”

Nikolai sighed.
Just when I thought I escaped the Jezebel’s
lectures.

“
Her flesh began to burn
first,” the technician said, licking his lips as sweat dribbled
down. “The melting human fat would act as a fuel and the clothing
or hair would emulate a wick. It’s like an inside-out candle.
You’ll never identify her now.”

Nikolai only grunted in reply. He
scanned the darkest recesses of the room, searching desperately for
any trace Vivian left behind. How did the intrepid young girl come
across this scene? More importantly, where could he find her
now?

“
Nikolai… I…” His head
whipped up at the sound of the technician’s voice. His eyes were
glossed over in a surreal haze. “I feel…”

Nikolai’s jaw dropped as the man
keeled over, smashing his head against the floor. He staggered away
from the corpse. The sulfuric smell was even stronger now,
infiltrating every pore in his body with its rank
poison.

Across the room, another officer
became limp and crumpled to the floor.

“
Fuck!” Nikolai yelled.
“Call in HAZMAT! Everyone clear the building now!”

* * *

Paramedics were tending to the two
fallen officers at a work post beyond the HAZMAT perimeter. One of
the officers was lying on a gurney, breathing vigorously through a
ventilator. Nikolai rested his hand on the man’s shoulder. The
officer’s eyes flickered open and he met Nikolai’s gaze for a
second.

“
Detective Koslov?” someone
called. Nikolai boldly stepped forward to meet the man garbed in a
protective suit. “Petr Krall, HAZMAT director,” the stranger said,
offering his hand. “We’ve managed to identify some of the elements
that may have contributed to the victim’s death.”

“
What is it?”

“
Please follow
me.”

Nikolai strapped on a respirator
before proceeding inside the facility. HAZMAT technicians fully
encapsulated in protective suits lingered at the crime
scene.

“
There are traces of
pyrophoric reagents and heptane around the corpse,” Petr said. “The
likely culprit is R-Butyllithium. It’s an element that reacts
violently to air and moisture. When it comes in contact with
tissue, it releases flammable butane and corrosive hydroxide
salts.”

“
How the hell did this guy
get his hands on lithium?”

“
Butyllithium is used in
the organic synthesis for pharmaceuticals. There’s only one place
in the area where large deposits of it can be found. A
pharmaceutical facility lies just beyond the outskirts. It’s worth
checking out,
but
you will need special permission to approach the property.”
Nikolai had to restrain himself from prying too much.
Pharmaceuticals… Syllax…

“
Why do I need
permission?”

“
Toxins. There’s a good
chance your men will be exposed to poisonous chemicals and fumes.
There’s no telling what could happen to you inside there.” Nikolai
didn’t press the subject, anxious to turn it away from
Syllax.

“
How do liquid explosives
work?” he asked.

“
Liquid explosives tend to
expand quickly and tear things apart. They burn so rapidly that
they produce overpressure greater than the surrounding atmosphere.
It doesn’t take much to spark a chain reaction. A minor shock can
break the atomic bonds and release a massive amount of energy. In
some cases, exposure to air or water can set off the chain
reaction.”

“
Do we know what set this
one off?”

Petr made his frustration abundantly
clear.

“
When the body is this
badly decomposed, we’re pissing in the dark trying to figure it
out. R-Butyillithium can react violently to water, if that gives
you any clue.”

“
When will it be safe to
bring forensics in here?”

“
I’ll give you a heads up
when it’s clear. Until then, I’m going to ask your team to be
patient and remain beyond the perimeter. We can’t afford to have
any more accidents.” Nikolai solemnly nodded, imagining his
comrades hooked up to the ventilators outside.

“
Nikolai, before you go… we
found something else near the entrance.”

“
What?” Petr handed Nikolai
a wrinkled piece of paper. The three words written down mocked him
like spit dripping into his eyes. He read it over and over again as
the blood rushed to his head.

Diagnosis: Renata
Ruzicka

“
Don’t you find it odd that
the killer is so forthcoming about the identities of his victims?”
Petr asked. “The body is burnt beyond recognition and yet he
provides us with a name. It’s almost as if he wants to lead us to
him.”

Nikolai regarded the lumps of
incinerated flesh that once possessed friends and family. To think
that only hours ago she was a vibrant, young woman with so much to
offer to society. Nikolai didn’t even realize he was crushing the
diagnosis in his fist.

“
No. He just wants to bask
in the attention.”

With those venomous words, he left the
HAZMAT team to tend to the decay.

* * *

Chief of Police Josef Láska sat at the
head of the table, surrounded by high-ranking officers. Nikolai
could tell pressure was mounting on him to apprehend the killer
soon, and by any means necessary.

“
Dr. Gabriel, what have you
concluded from Rezník’s state of mind?” Láska asked.

Gabriel was a wiry fellow equipped
with a perfectly creepy voice. Had he not become a criminal
psychologist, he likely would have attained a flourishing career in
voice acting.

“
He seems to harbor some
resentment toward women who strike him as cruel and predatory, be
that with their sexuality or psychological traits. From what we’ve
learned, the killer targets women circulating in the psychiatric
system. He may have access to medical records and documents. Every
victim has a history of passive-aggressive tendencies or exhibits
some form of sociopathy. Most interesting of all, his victims share
the same physical traits.”

“
Then we need a list of
every patient this psychiatrist had access to over his career,” an
officer said. “Cross-analyze them and their physical traits. We’re
looking for women with blonde hair, green eyes, and—”

“
Out of the question,”
Láska barked. “The instant we cross that patient confidentiality
line, we’re screwed. There’s no way we can dig up that
information.”

Dr. Gabriel cleared his throat,
commanding the spotlight once more.

“
Furthermore, if this
killer is indeed under the influence of some innovative drug, he
may not be competent to stand trial.”

Nikolai slammed his fist on the
table.

“
Every crime scene
indicates pre-meditation and planning!” he roared.

“
But he may not be in the
state of mind to realize what he’s doing. I am in no way suggesting
you don’t rack up every murder and torture charge you can throw at
him. I’m simply warning you about what to expect. When you confront
him, he may not even realize he’s under arrest for murder. Who
knows what he sees behind his eyes? Maybe we’re all just objects to
be played with in his depraved mind. Dolls that can be manipulated
and savaged to his heart’s content.”

A sudden migraine scorched Nikolai’s
head, sending a blaze of fire all the way down his spine. He
reached for his head as his vision began to blur.

“
There’s something I still
don’t understand,” Láska said. “According to Nikolai’s informant,
the killer targets women who resemble his abusive mother. If he
believes he is killing his mother over and over again, why does he
write a diagnosis with the original victim’s name? Why does he
write down Krista LaCroix or Natalie Michalikova?”

Dr. Gabriel peered above his folded
hands.

“
It’s difficult to pinpoint
what is going on in his drug-addled mind. He may be living two
realities at the same time. He seems to …
alternate
. He alternates between the
role of a kindly physician counseling a patient or the abused,
little boy who wants to kill his mother.”

He turned a sly eye on
Nikolai.

“
Who is this informant? Can
she be trusted?”

“
She led us to the killer’s
hideout,” Nikolai said forcefully. “She uncovered the identity of
the killer. Without her help, we wouldn’t be where we are
now.”

Dr. Gabriel studied him for a moment
longer, perhaps expecting a name to bubble forth. When Nikolai
didn’t oblige, his conniving smile only grew wider.

“
Let’s imagine for a moment
Viktor is in the state of mind where he believes he is a counselor.
He must have access to patient records stored somewhere. He most
likely took them off site from the clinic where he worked. We’ll
never know for certain.”

No. His victims were test
subjects for Syllax Pharmaceuticals
,
Nikolai thought.
He photographed them and
took down all their information—phone numbers, addresses, and
medical history. He was soliciting guinea pigs for the initial
testing for Syllax. No wonder we couldn’t find a common therapist
among the victims. They never visited him at a mental health
clinic.

Nikolai sank back into his chair,
closing his eyes and keeping ominously silent.

“
Viktor may be looking
through his files, wondering when he will see his patients again,”
Dr. Gabriel continued. “He also had pictures of his patients—as
evidenced in his house. When Viktor’s residence was raided, there
were numerous photos of women nailed to the wall—and they all
resembled each other. He pictures his mother when he sees the
photos. He becomes the abused, little boy all over again, except
this time he is angry. Vindictive. Murderous.”

“
You’re saying something
triggers these flashbacks?”