Chapter 18
CHAPTER
EIGHTEEN
Adele took a swig from her water bottle before resuming the incessant pen tapping on her desk.
Rowan’s hand twitched, fighting the impulse to snatch the damn thing away from her.
Thankfully, she stopped before Rowan’s impulse control failed.
Then she finally spoke to her impatiently waiting subjects.
“I can’t see the harm in it,” she relented. “As long as you don’t mind, Rowan?”
After her session with Delilah concluded, Bronwin almost immediately relayed Delilah’s request to Adele, demanding Rowan meet her in Adele’s office after locking Delilah back up. Bronwin’s eagerness to comply with a goddamned serial killer was mind-blowing—until she’d opened her mouth to explain.
I really think it will help get her to trust me, to open up. It’ll be good for her.
Rowan should’ve known the only thing on Bronwin’s mind was getting a peek into Delilah’s psyche. But Adele had, rightfully, requested the night to think about it—and likely to inquire about a copious number of legal issues. Now they were back in Adele’s office, first thing in the morning.
Rowan shrugged, keeping her response to Adele’s question as nonchalant as possible. “As long as she behaves, I don’t have a problem with it.”
“Good point.” Adele nodded. “She’ll have to be on good behavior if she wants rewards.
She can’t continue thinking that she can keep manipulating and threatening the officers around her to get what she wants.
Let’s say…” Adele paused, that incessant pen tapping starting back up while she thought.
“Friday. If she’s good the whole rest of the week, then she can have her walkabout. Only unoccupied areas, of course.”
“I’ll tell her in our session!” Bronwin jumped in like a dog with a bone. She checked her watch and stood. “I’ve got another patient for a session in a couple minutes. I’ll see you in an hour,” Bronwin said to Rowan, who nodded and took Bronwin’s exit as a good reason to make her own.
“And I’ve got rounds to get to,” she added, following Bronwin to the door. Adele waved them both off, returning to her absolutely endless amounts of paperwork.
One incredibly boring hour later, Rowan was in Bronwin’s office affixing Delilah’s cuffs to the chair then listening to Bronwin deliver the news with entirely too much enthusiasm.
Rowan supposed she couldn’t blame the woman, seeing as Bronwin was under the impression that this meant she’d finally crack Delilah.
Get her to spill all her dark thoughts and desires.
Rowan didn’t hold the same hope—she already knew Delilah’s desires.
“Good behavior,” Bronwin said, and Delilah was, for once, hanging onto her every word.
“Means no more unsanctioned outings and no threatening your guards. It means that you’ll try here and put forth an effort towards your healing journey.
I’d like to build trust with you, Delilah.
I want you to feel safe and that it’s judgement-free here, so let’s focus on that, okay? ”
“Fine.”
Bronwin smiled graciously as if she wasn’t getting everything she wanted from this deal. As if she actually believed Delilah was capable of respecting boundaries. Though, a part of Rowan did have to wonder if Delilah was willing to play nice for the next three days just to get into Rowan’s office.
“Great. Then I’d like to start today off delving a little bit deeper into the why behind your actions.
I would like to continue furthering the discussion surrounding your motivations, how it feels…
Let’s start with what you feel you’re gaining from your kills since you have, historically, not done so for money or power, which is quite unusual. ”
“You’re wrong there,” Delilah said, her voice like honey, alluring and sweet—though there was an undertone of darkness that Rowan liked more than she should. “Have you ever killed before? Doesn’t have to be human.”
Bronwin frowned like the answer was obvious. “No.”
“Pity. Well, there is power. It just doesn’t look like what you think.
You get it, don’t you, Rowan?” Delilah asked innocently, turning to Rowan who narrowed her eyes.
“You’ve killed before. You know the thrill, the adrenaline.
That feeling when you watch their life dissipate into the nothingness it should have always been. ”
“Delilah,” Bronwin cut in sternly. “We are not here to talk about Rowan.” Bronwin knew all about Rowan’s time in the marines.
She’d somehow managed to get Rowan to spill many of her dark secrets from that time within their first year of working together.
Probably a testament to her being a good therapist. But Rowan hadn’t shared everything.
“But don’t you find it fascinating?” Delilah pushed, a wicked smile on her lips. “That she’s here, working, living a normal life. She’s not haunted by her demons, her past. It’s almost like she enjoyed the killing. How many people did you kill? Do you remember your first?”
Yes.
“Delilah,” Bronwin’s voice cut through the air, harsh enough that Delilah finally relented, turning her gaze away from Rowan. “How do you know about Rowan’s past?”
“Military history isn’t hard to get.”
“It’s supposed to be,” Rowan grumbled, knowing full well that her files were classified and that Delilah would have only been able to get her hands on them by doing something very illegal. Which she didn’t put past her in the slightest.
“Remember what I said about good behavior,” Bronwin reminded Delilah when she turned back to wink at Rowan. “We are here to focus on you. Let’s keep it that way, please.”
Delilah sat up, flicking another salacious glance to Rowan before relenting and doing as Bronwin wanted.
“Well, for me,” she began, “the memory of their screams, their whimpers, their pathetic pleas followed by the sounds of their last breath, it’s how I fall asleep at night.
The images of their broken and mutilated bodies, the regret that washes over their features when they realize what I’m punishing them for… There is no better high than that.”
Bronwin’s hand moved furiously over her notebook, scribbling every word Delilah said. “And what made you realize that this was something you wanted? This… vengeance?”
“Careful, doctor,” Delilah frowned. “You’re inferring a different motive.”
“Then correct me. What was your motive?”
“Fun,” Delilah shrugged. “Boredom, sometimes.”
“But you only preyed on pedophiles and abusers?”
With that, Delilah launched back into her practiced history, the explanation of her actions was the same lie that she’d given the courts during her trials. Rowan didn’t believe a word of it.