“It’s the most likely answer.I don’t know if he identifies that way, but I think if he were bisexual, he probably wouldn’t feel so conflicted about it.If nothing else, it might be easier to hide the part of himself he doesn’t like.”
“He’s gay,” Jem said.He moved on to slicing a bell pepper, and now he bit into a strip.It crunched between his teeth, and the smell of it rose on the air.“And he doesn’t want to be gay.So, he kills gay guys.That’s what I meant about Scott.If he hadn’t left, I think he would have been the first one to go.”
Tean slid a pillowcase over a spare pillow.
“What do you think?”Jem asked between bites.
“Save some of those for the stir fry.”
“Remember when he found out about Rydel?Found out he was banging dudes and then killing them?He was angry.”
“We don’t know that.We didn’t see his reaction.”
“Well, he killed Rydel.I think that means he was pretty angry.And he wasn’t angry that Rydel was killing those guys; he was angry that Rydel was out there smashing dongs.That’s a repressed gay guy who doesn’t want other gay guys getting any wiener of their own.It’s classic.”
“Do you think he’s killed other people?Besides Rydel and River, I mean?”
“One hundred percent.Don’t you?”
Tean sighed.He sat at the breakfast bar and took off his glasses.After a moment, he said, “I think it’s likely.”
“Tess told us that Rydel molested Zeb when they were younger.And that it messed Zeb up.So, that’s part of it too.Remember how they wrote ‘groomer’ on the wall at Rydel’s house.”
Tean nodded.
“That’s his angle.We kill gay guys so they don’t hurt kids.”
“I don’t know if it’s unusual or not that Kai may be gay and is targeting gay men.It’s certainly not unusual for a gay man to internalize a lot of self-hatred if he’s exposed to it growing up, and what Scott told us about Dale and Kai suggests that Kai must have absorbed a lot of homophobia at home.”
“What Kai got at home,” Jem said, pointing with the knife for emphasis, “was fucked up.Like, seriously fucked up.”
“That’s true too.”Tean tried not to think about the pictures that Scott had mentioned, but they were there, half-formed images that his brain simultaneously tried to fill in and block out.“Whatever happened to him, it shaped who he is today.”
“But I’m not wrong that he secretly wanted to bang his dad, not his mom.Right?”
Tean rubbed his eyes.
“I just want to be clear,” Jem said with a laugh.
“From what Scott told us, I suspect even Kai doesn’t entirely know.He was exposed to sexualized images of women being harmed, and that must have had some sort of effect.He was probably also attracted to his stepfather to some degree.One might have served as a pretext for the other.”
“But dressing up in his dad’s clothes and jerking off on the bed, that’s definitely about wanting somebody to cornhole him and spank him and send him to bed?”
For about five seconds, Tean sat there, hands frozen on his eyes mid-rub.And then he said, “Jem, please.”
Jem laughed about that for a while.But when he spoke again, his voice was serious.“The paranormal stuff is interesting, right?”He slid the onions into a hot pan, and a moment later, the kitchen smelled wonderful.Over the sizzle of the vegetables cooking down, he added, “They were all working at that paranormal campground when we met them.And that goes back to his dad.”
“His stepdad, yes.I’m not entirely sure what to make of that.Many serial killers have vivid internal lives.Fantasies, typically, of paraphilias.”
“Like getting boned by their dad while their mom is tied up.”
“Oh my gosh.”But he had to add a moment later, “Something like that.It wouldn’t surprise me if Kai’s fantasies also included some connection to the paranormal.”
“Like he’s getting boned by aliens, and hisdadis watching.”
Tean put his glasses back on.He stared at Jem.
Laughing, Jem held up the knife in surrender.
