The Memory Therapist - ONC 2020

Chapter Fourteen

I pace back and forth in my office. It isn't like me to be antsy, but there is so much out of my control at this point that I can't help it. All I can do is wait.

It has been almost a week since I slept with Charles. I know that our passionate moment has done what it intended to do. His feelings for me have done nothing but grow exponentially since that night. Though we haven't seen each other since, I know my hold on him is still strong. I get good morning and good night texts daily. He has even just called me to chat.

Gag. I have never been one who relied on a man to feel special, and these little gestures he does to try and make me feel special are cumbersome. Annoying as it may be though, it is crucial that I keep the charade up with our relationship. 

I just make sure that anything said over text won't turn Phil against me. I am not naive enough to think that he isn't somehow monitoring my phone or Charles'. 

It's critical that Phil doesn't know the extent of this relationship. I don't know how his jealousy would emerge if he knew the extent of the truth. If I believed in God and didn't have control over the situation, I would pray that Charles doesn't casually slip our growing relationship to Phil to portray his dominance. Then I would be royally fucked. 

Between Charles and Phil I don't have any time for myself. 

There are no new leads for the investigation and I could tell that Charles' higher ups were starting to question is ability to handle this case. It surprised me that they expected this to be solved in a short time frame - didn't these things take up to years to solve? Just look how many of my victims have turned into cold cases... 

The way I see it, it should be good that we have a lead at all. The dark web and the idea that its a serial killer partnership seems like good head-way given the time frame. More progress than I would like to have, in truth. But it must be because it's a serial killer that they are more stressed. Or it's election year. I never follow that. It's hard to convince a psychopath that you aren't a psychopath. 

This long without discussing the case with Charles is concerning me. What if Charles had a lead and wasn't keeping me in the loop? It was unlikely but I still had  to consider it. Knowing my partner, I can see that he isn't updating me to protect me. From the truth or because he is trying to be chivalrous, I don't know. All I do know is that I have to find a way to get back into the investigation. A week in the dark is not okay. 

It wasn't as if I could just ask Charles how the investigation was going and if there were any new leads. I was a consultant - most of the information probably shouldn't be shared with me. I just needed a theory to make him need my expertise again. 

Or another body. 

But it's not like I was expecting him to come across one. Not one of mine anyways. I haven't been back on the hunt since this investigation started. Perhaps that was suspicious and that's why he stopped keeping me informed. It just meant that I needed to kill someone else and make sure that nothing could be traced back to me. 

"Phil?" I call from my office. The door was closed but he still heard and entered within moments. "Close the door." Once he obliged I say, "Any word?" I have had him hacking the police records to see if there is any indication about the investigation turning against me. 

"Not that I can see. But they are hardly on top of their paperwork. I can only imagine that someone working alone won't be working on updating the investigation record regularly. It's not even in the system..." 

"Still?" He only shrugs. "I think that the sudden stop of murders is suspicious." 

"Serial killers can take extended periods for a cool down." As if I didn't know that already. Really talking to him is useless - he should just stick to being my tech-lackey.