~~Carson's POV~~
"Carson?" A familiar voice snapped my line of thoughts, nudging me back to reality. My attention then fell on Sawyer staring keenly at me. Figured he was the one calling.
I straightened up as I was resting my butt against the edge of a table, and then looked around only to realize the room's attention was all on me. I looked ahead, and the clip initially projected on the white board was paused. Clearly, they were done watching and were probably calling to get my take on it.
We had the blinds down, and the door was locked before we watched the clip together. The 'other' clip Knox sent to me. In this one, Daniil was beaten mercilessly in the presence of folks presumed to be servants as they were all dressed alike.
"That was obviously his mom," Griffin started, gesturing toward the board. "What could this mean?"
"Could this explain why she's been off the grid?" Knox chirped, thinking aloud.
I'd been thinking too. Daniil, being all invincible suddenly crumbled to his knees. Why? Because of his mother. Thanks to the efforts I pumped in to translate the voices and provide subtitles beforehand, we were able to intercept the setting. There was no denying the fact that this had something to do with why he was shipped down here. Besides, why would his dad call him…
"WILD BEAST," Sawyer voiced in audible whispers as if he intercepted my thoughts. "Why would he call him that? Is Daniil not his son?"
""Socializing is for humans, Daniil. What the hell do you think you're doing?"" Griffin quoted Mr. Vladimir's words. "No doubt his family knows of his true form. He could be the psychopath we're all after."
As if that was a conclusion not long drawn, my heart still skipped a beat on it being pointed out. The part of me that didn't want to believe he was grew stronger. Yes, I wanted to bring the serial killer to justice and was pleased we managed a suspect after many months. But Knox could be in grave danger if that was in fact the case – the bitter truth I could not refute. Even his father didn't refer to him as a human. It would take nothing to fish Knox out if he'd not already been busted. I worried about that all night after I finished the translation. It all felt new coming from an insider. The thought I could be risking Knox's life kept me on edge.
"Let me get something straight." Griffin uncrossed his arms and walked over to the white board. Poking the laptop through the board, he started: "The woman on the laptop is his mom. And Daniil could only be subdued because of her. Why? Is she being sued as some sort of hostage or what?"
"Plausible notion," I finally spoke up with hands dipped in my pockets. "It is possible that she's been off the hook because they're earnestly keep her wellbeing from Daniil. Their family has quite the prestige, and they basically live on the internet. It would be easy for Daniil to see how she was doing from there, unless something else is involved. Now that could be because his father is trying to keep him on a tight leash using her. From the video, she was the sole reason they were able to bring Daniil down on his knees. What else could that imply?" I theorized, before allowing time for my words to sink in.
"Basically…"Sawyer voiced again after a moment's quietude. "For his dad to tighten that leash as you said, he's cut all lines for communication between the mother and son," he pointed, prompting a nod from me.
Griffin scoffed out loud. "I thought psychopaths are emotionless jerks," he remarked snidely.
"There could be exceptions," I corrected. And yeah, I made my research. There were indeed exceptions. "Psychopaths could be emotionless jerks as you say…," I started, now slowly pacing down the aisle as I was about to give them a long lecture. "But when they love, they do it differently. Possessively if I must put it that way. They feel a sense of protectiveness toward the ones their heart draws them to and you could take advantage of it if you have the power to inflict harm on the one they love. But mind you, if you don't possess what it takes, they – especially the ones that eventually turn into serial killers – can go as far as ending your life to protect the one they love. It's as if you're toying with what's theirs and they hate it. They always want to have the upper hand and it's excruciatingly painful when you take it away. Why? Because their loved one is at your mercy. Thus why you need to be on your toes because the extremity of the levels they could go to get rid of you they now see as a threat is limitless." I'd said quite a ton they needed time to process. So I paused briefly, studying their expression for nothing in particular.
"In Daniil's case,…" I resumed slowly as I wasn't done speaking yet. "He probably loathes his father for this. But at the same time, his hands are tied. He's been shipped down here and cannot do anything about his mother who's continents away from. I think what we need to find out now is if this is why he was sent here, or there is another reason." I stopped talking, now standing between them in a way I could easily catch their views by just tilting my neck.
"And Ashley?" Griffin blurted out of the blue, swinging my eyes sharply to him. "Who's she? I also noticed she was one more person that that affected him." He held my gaze for a moment before taking his eyes to Sawyer.
"I know, right? His dad mentioned something about exploiting his weakness if he gave him more to do so," he also concurred with contemplative eyes. "Could that mean he went to whatever event it was with a lady?"
Ashley Sinclair.
They all knew who she was, but none of them knew she was the one spoken of. I could not bring myself to release the other clip to them. I didn't want to relive the pain of watching their kiss. I was hiding something crucial but I could not hold back from being selfish now.
"If only we could get a closer look at the pictures littered all over." Griffin was now studying more precisely, standing directly in front of the board as he spoke.
Sigh. I even went as far as omitting her last name during translation. Originally, her photos weren't clear; a little blur here and there, and it was perfect. I wanted her true identity concealed.
"We get to…"
"Could it be Makayla's friend?!" Griffin cut in, sharply turning around to us with avid eyes. "The Ashley Sinclair we all know?!"
'Oh, no!' I didn't go through all the stress to have them figure it out.
"The Ashley who's still grieving?" Sawyer brushed off with scoff.
Griffin's eyes wavered in uncertainty. Through them, I could see his conviction losing ground as well. It was a good thing I didn't have to step in.
"I guess we have work to do then. I'm so finding out who that Ashley is," he said, ultimately not giving up.
"I'll also get to work. We need to crack this code ASAP," Sawyer added.
I nodded in silence before going over to my seat. With a deep sigh, I delved into my head again.
A few moments later…
"Captain!" Griffin's voice hailed me out of my thoughts accompanied with a snap of his fingers across my face. "Where the hell is your mind??" he asked dragging the last 'd' sound.
Raising my eyes, he stood right there before me. "What's going on?" I asked, clueless.
"Man, we've been calling for ages! Sawyer just got a call from the hospital, Captain!"
I sprung up at once, extending my eyes to Sawyer already by the door. "From the hospital?" I resounded enthusiastically. We'd been waiting for a certain call from that place.
"Amelia is out!"
Amelia Davies.
The living victim of Anna Donovan's murder case. She'd been in the hospital and that posed a barrier between us and getting any tangible information from her as we were forbidden from questioning her after the first time. We weren't sure of what would be left of her mental state by the time she'd be discharged, but in anticipation, we waited to see if another lead would surface. She just may have seen or heard anything Ashley didn't. That wasn't to be ruled out, hence why we waited patiently all this while. It was all part of the process. Just anything would help in giving us more clues concerning Daniil. The serial killer, I meant. Hopefully, her discharge would make a difference no matter how little.
Now running down the hallway leading to the station's main exit, I paused and took out my phone to call Ashley. She wasn't necessarily hostile the last time we spoke, but I could not risk it. This could be a chance to repair our relationship. I figured I could finally include her by telling her of the recent development. She was also waiting anxiously for this. I kept stalling, using her stay in the hospital as an excuse to divulge nothing crucial. I would always tell her that I'd get back to her once we could finally speak to Amelia. The time was now.
"Hey, Carson."
"She… she's out, Ashley!" I stammered, still trying to catch my breath from all the running.
A curt silence ensued before… "Who… who's out?" she asked, a tinge of restraint bulging through the phone's speaker.
"Amelia. Amelia Davies is out." I announced, expecting an enthusiastic response but all that followed was an awkward silence.
I put the phone down, stared at the screen once more, and made to say her name when my colleague hollered. I raised my eyes to Griffin who appeared to have run back in through the exit. Probably to call my lagging self.
"C'mon, man! What's with you today?!"
Hanging up before settling the phone in my pocket, I cried out: "Coming!"