The Bride Collector by Ted Dekker Read Free Book Online Page B

soul.”
    “Why do I take their soul?”
    “You need it to make you beautiful on the inside.”
    “Why do I drain their blood?”
    “Because the blood is their life force. Their soul.”
    “No, I take their blood to make them beautiful,” he said.
    Another hesitation. Brad felt a trickle of sweat break from his hairline. It was all conjecture at this point. Nikki stepped
     into the role of interrogator.
    “Why do you drill their heels?”
    “Because it’s the lowest point in the body, largely unseen, so it doesn’t spoil their beauty.”
    “Why do you need to kill seven beautiful women?”
    “Because seven is the number of perfection. The number for God.”
    “Do you fear God?”
    “Yes.”
    “Are you religious?”
    “Deeply.”
    “Are you a Christian?” she asked.
    “Yes.”
    “Are you Catholic?”
    “No.”
    “Protestant?”
    “No.”
    “Why not?”
    “They’re all liars. Unable to live the life they suggest others live.”
    “But you, on the other hand, live the truth?”
    “All of it. That’s what makes me special. That’s why I kill, to be true to myself.”
    “Why seven women?”
    “I told you, because seven is a perfect number.”
    Cycling back provided a thread of intellectual honesty that mirrored normal interrogation techniques. A simple aid to both
     of them.
    “Okay, let’s talk about how you choose your victims. Why—”
    “They’re not victims.”
    “What are they?”
    “I’m not hurting them.”
    She paused, probably because he hadn’t answered her questions.
    “Why is Eden lost?” she asked.
    “The
beauty
of Eden is lost. Innocence was corrupted.”
    “Where is intelligence centered?”
    “In the mind. Innocence was lost in the mind.”
    “Are you the serpent?”
    “No.”
    “Who smashed the serpent’s head?”
    “She did.” Brad nodded at the wall of crime scene photographs.
    “She hurt you?”
    “Yes.”
    “But you’re not the serpent. Are you the serpent?”
    “No. Not always.”
    “Why do you kill her?”
    “So that I can kill again.”
    Only that’s not what Brad meant to say. He lifted his hand, considering the response.
    “
Kill
again, or
live
again?” Nikki asked. “‘She will rest in my Serpent’s hole. And I will live again.’ His poem seems to indicate that he’s doing
     this so that he can live again.”
    “I meant to say
live again.
”
    They both stared at the confession posted on the wall.
    “But if he’s playing the role of the serpent in this self-fulfilling tale of his, it does stand to reason that he kills so
     that he can live
as the serpent
and kill again,” Nikki said.
    “It does.”
    She looked at him. “So then, Temple could be right. We’re looking for a delusional schizophrenic who’s suffered a psychotic
     break.” She swept a long strand of dark hair from her cheek and absently touched her neck where it met her jaw. Long, delicate
     fingers, French manicure.
    He had always found Nikki’s attention to seemingly insignificant detail appealing. She lived her life with passion; truth
     be told, with far more energy than he could usually muster. Running an hour every day to bring stability, she said. Putting
     in long, twelve-hour days. She seemed to have energy left over to keep up an active nightlife, if all the stories were true,
     and he had no reason to think they weren’t.
    Their relationship had always remained purely platonic. There were times when Brad regretted his avoidance.
    “Maybe,” Brad said. “We established last night that he was probably psychotic.”
    “You might have, but I’m not convinced. A mentally ill serial killer is atypical, short of mental illness caused by severe
     trauma to the frontal lobe through a head injury. Otherwise, nearly all pattern killers are middle- to high-income earners,
     are good looking in general, and usually articulate. Nearly all kill out of either a sexual compulsion or a need for revenge.
     In both cases, most have been severely abused by their mothers