I place the gum on the desk. “Brown hair, pastel-green eyes. Very pretty. Great tits. An even better ass. I’d like to fuck her.”
“Is that all you want to do with her?”
“All? Having sex with someone is not what I normally want to do with people.”
He blinks. “How do you mean?”
“Most people irritate me with their stupidity. I want to silence them.”
“She’s special. Do you want to date her?”
“I don’t date. I fixate.”
Dr. J writes in his notebook. “When did this fixation start?”
“I don’t have afixedstart date.” When I figured out she’s a great mother to the baby she’s raising all on her own. When she said yes on a whim and let me eat her out. When she dumped her doctor boyfriend and walked a mile to my house. When I couldn’t find her in the yearbook of the school she was supposed to have attended. When her birth certificate said one thing, but people I called in the town she grew up in said another.
It doesn’t take much. It’s the little things.
“How did you meet?”
“She’s friends with Dina.”
“Ah, so she’s already in your closest circle.”
I roll my shoulders.
He picks up on my body language. “Does that bother you?”
I scratch my head. “Mmhm. Something’s not right with her.”
“How do you mean that?”
“She doesn’t check out.”
“Check out how?”
“Fuck! Why do you want to know everything?” I rock in the chair. “She doesn’t check out. Her background is… It’s wrong. It doesn’t check out. There are pieces missing. The pieces of her life don’t fit, and life always fits. Nature fits. It’s when people mess with it that they make everything bad. Some other people created her life. It’s the only explanation.”
The Musketeer frowns as he tries to understand what I’m saying. That’s all he’ll get. I’m not about to explain my process to him. I gathered and sorted information about Ekatia. At first glance, her life is simple and average. A city girl, grew up in a middle-class, working family, one sibling. Her yearbook picture doesn’t match how she looks.
It’s a likeness of her. With green eyes and brown hair, but it’s not her. I know because I’ve memorized Ekatia’s face, every feature of it, and my memory is excellent.
“Do you run checks on everyone you meet?”
“Anyone who comes near my family.”
“What happens to people who don’t check out?”
“I know where you’re going with this,” I say.
Dr. J’s eyes soften. “And I appreciate you letting me do my job, even though I’m aware you’re three steps ahead. But I’d like to think I’m not completely useless.”
I laugh, relaxing back in the chair. “Keep going, then, not-useless Musketeer.”
“Musketeer?”
“Yeah. That’s what I call you three. Now one, but there used to be three of you.”