Prologue
Name: Hayes, Thomas
Marital Status: Unmarried
Education: M.D., Johns Hopkins University
Criminal history: None
Status: Suspect
Related Cases:
– Fell, Linda (Homicide)
– Thorne, Alfred (Homicide)
– Baker, Martin (Homicide)
– Taylor, Eliza (Homicide)
Thomas Hayes sat in the metal chair with his wrists cuffed to the table, standard procedure for suspects in custody.
The interrogation room was windowless, fluorescent-lit, painted in that particular shade of institutional beige.
A camera in the corner with its red recording light blinked steadily.
One chair was on each side of the table, both bolted to the floor.
He was wearing a gray t-shirt and jeans.
No belt, no laces, nothing that could be used to harm himself or others.
His dark hair was uncombed, falling across his forehead.
He needed a shave. The scruff made him look older, less polished than the photographs in his employee file at the medical examiner’s office.
His posture was relaxed, legs crossed at the ankle beneath the table, shoulders loose despite the restraints. There were no signs of nervousness—no fidgeting, no bouncing knees, no drumming fingers on the metal surface.
His face was a mask. Carefully neutral, revealing nothing. Not bored, exactly, but profoundly detached, as if he’d removed himself from the situation mentally.
Compartmentalization. The ability to create mental walls between different aspects of oneself. Useful for surgeons, soldiers, emergency responders…
And killers.
His breathing was slow and even. His pulse was steady. There were no physiological indicators of stress despite the circumstances.
Suspects who gave nothing away were the hardest to crack. There was no anger to exploit, no fear to leverage, no guilt to manipulate.
They might as well have been a blank page.
Thomas Hayes remained unchanged. A stone in a stream, letting everything flow around him without being moved.
His gaze settled on the one-way mirror.
For one suspended moment, I would have sworn he was looking directly at me.
Not at his own reflection.
At me.
And in his eyes, all I saw was darkness.