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“Tell us more about John, Doctor”

“Yes, yes John, according to Alec, disguises himself as his polar opposite Only with his victilestone, and now Arujo—does he remove the mask, lets them see the ‘pure fury of his true face,’ as Alec put it When you look at John, you see what you want to see in a person; you see benevolence and wisdo to Alec, John is a ‘scientist’ who studies hu first hand for clues to the motives behind creation”

“The motives behind creation?” I said

“I’ a session with Alec in Septe John entirely These are Alec Hardiman’s words:

“‘If God is benevolent, then why do we have such a capacity to feel pain? Our nerves are supposed to alert us to dangers; that’s the biological reason for pain Yet we can feel pain far past the level necessary to alert us to danger We can feel acute levels of pain beyond description And not only do we have this capacity, as all animals do, but we further have the ain emotionally and psychically No other animal shares that capacity Does God hate us that much? Or does He love us that much? And if neither, if it’s just an arbitrary flaw in our DNA, then isn’t the point of all this pain He’s given us to inure us? Make us as indifferent to the suffering of others as He is? And so shouldn’t we e and i it? John understands that this is the essence of purity’”

Dolquist cleared his throat “End quote”

Bolton said, “Doctor?”

“Yes?”

“Right off the top of your head, describe John”

“He’s physically powerful, and if you met him, you’d be able to see that, but it wouldn’t be overt He’s not a bodybuilder, you understand, just a strong man He appears to others to be quite sane and rational, maybe even wise I would expect that he’s beloved in his coood deeds on a small level”

“Is he married?” Bolton said

“I doubt it Even he’d have to know that no ood his facade, his spouse and his children would sense his disease He may have been married once, but not anymore”

“What else?”

“I don’t think he’s been able to stop killing for the past two decades It would be impossible for him I believe he chose only to keep his kills quiet”

We all looked at Angie and she tipped an iinary hat

“What else, Doctor?”

“The primary thrill for him is the kills But secondary to that, and only barely, is the joy he gets living behind his hs at you from behind the cover it provides It’s very sexual to him, and that’s why he has to finally take it off after all these years”

“I’ you,” I said

“Think of it as a prolonged erection, if you will John has been waiting to climax for over twenty years now As much as he enjoys that erection, his need to ejaculate is even ”

“He wants to be caught”

“He wants to expose hi He wants to take off theinto his real eyes, but that’s not to say he’ll accept handcuffs willingly”

“Anything else, Doctor?”

“Yes I think he knows Mr Kenzie I don’ttime They’ve met Face to face”

“Why do you say that?” I said

“A man like this establishes odd relationships, but no matter how odd, they’re extremely important to him It would be paramount to him that he know one of his pursuers For whatever reason, he chose you, Mr Kenzie And he let you know by having Hardiman send for you You and John know each other, Mr Kenzie I’d stake my reputation on it”

“Thank you, Doctor,” Bolton said “I’ the reason you read fro them to us”

“Not without a court order,” Dolquist said, “and even then you’d be in for a battle If I find anything else in there which I think can stop these murders, I’ll call immediately Mr Kenzie?”