AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He still wouldn’t look her in the eye, even after professing to murder. There was usually an element of intimacy between confessor and listener after such an assertion, but here it was nowhere to be found.
Another cause for suspicion. Another layer of puzzlement to an already puzzling profile.
“Mason,” she said. “Talk to me. No one else is here.”
“No lawyer, no talk.”
She considered what she knew about the man in front of her. He was a fantasist, a man with a genuine, misplaced hatred for the opposite sex. She’d dissected every post he’d made on Clarence’s forum and realized she knew more about Mason Price than he thought. In his posts, he claimed to be an MMA fighter. He said he was dating three women at once, bestowed the importance of working out, dressing your best, never giving up.
And as she eyeballed him up and down, she gathered something else about Mason Price.
He was lost and lonely, filling the void in his life with hatred. He felt shunned in a world that gave him all the advantages to be a person of great moral standing, yet he’d squandered it and spent his days in a basement, seeking companionship from people who felt equally slighted.
Mason Price wanted to be someone. He was a wandering soul with no identity. And if he couldn’t be someone, he’d be the next best thing - a serial murderer. In today’s world, infamy was as good as fame. As long as people knew your name, you could argue that you’d made it.
“So, you posed as a deliveryman? Smart idea, actually.”
Mason chuckled. People who knew they’d spend the rest of their lives in jail rarely laughed again. “Thanks.”
“I’ve met countless murderers. Not sure why none of them thought of that.”
“Humor me. This is for my own curiosity. Us women can’t resist a mystery, you know that right?”
“Oh yeah,” Mason said.
“Was it chocolates? We found pieces of chocolate near every dead body.”
Mason delivered a wry smile. The corners of lips spread horizontal, not upward. His left eye twitched and both his legs began to jitter as though he was playing an invisible drum kit. “Yeah, you got me.”
Ella checked the corridor, walked further into the cell then closed the door behind her. She lowered her voice and asked, “Mason, why are you lying?”
Mason’s smirk plunged downward. His lips began to quiver and tears filled his eyes. He started sobbing.
“I’m not,” he said between breaths.
“You didn’t deliver chocolates to these women. You didn’t kill them either. You’re so desperate for the world to know your name that you’re willing topretendto be a killer. This is your attempt at revenge on a world you feel has cast you out. Tell me when I’m telling lies.”
Mason violently rubbed away the tears. He composed himself, straightened out his black t-shirt. “Validation,” he said. “We all want it.”
“You’re right, but this ain’t the way to get it.”
Mason cupped his head in his hands. “I didn’t kill anyone. I just want people to think I did.”
Ella felt her phone buzzing. She wasn’t supposed to have it down here but she forgot to hand it over. She ignored whoever was calling.
“Why?” she asked. Personal curiosity got the better of her.
“I don’t know. Respect. Fear. It’s hard being a young guy. No one cares about you. We’re war fodder. Every day is a battle. Guys like me get overlooked for greatness while women get praised for mediocrity.”
Ella should have taken offense, but she couldn’t be offended by someone like this. This was a broken man, a product of an uncaring society. He made some fair points, but he was approaching them from the wrong angle.
“Okay, Mason, here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to tell everyone you’re innocent. I’m going to clear your name – if I can. You’ve already set off a bomb by confessing, and false confessions are a crime too.”
“I know.”
She had bigger problems than the mental state of some dumb youngster, but Mason Price would forever remember the moment he was locked in a holding cell under suspicion of being a serial killer. So, Ella used the opportunity to etch some worldly advice into his head.
“Take it from me, pretending to be a murderer isn’t going to get you respect from anyone, least of all women, and any woman who’s going to be impressed by that isn’t the type of woman you want to date.”
