Father

"He had a violent, uncontrolled temper, which sent him literally insane when he was annoyed, but he was good looking"

| Ardian |

"How was work?" I asked as we sat down
"Awful, do you know how many fights I've had to break up today?" She sighed
I didn't like the idea of her breaking up fights between teenagers
They were often emotional and driven by them.

And yet this morning I waited around because a prisoner... a murderer was in a fight with a prison guard

It was strange how we assess the level of a threat in different environments
I stood down a serial killer in a locked room
And yet my girlfriend breaking up two boys from fighting unsettled me
"What about you? How's your work wife?" She joked

"Stella's old enough to be my mother. And she's more pissed off than usual at the minute" I said
"Why?" She asked, eating
"I took the handcuffs off my prisoner today" I said
The prisoner
Not my prisoner

"Oh? Why would you do that? Isn't that dangerous?" She asked
"She isn't dangerous. Not with me" I dismissed
"You say that like you're special" she scoffed
"Not special. I just interest her enough that she doesn't want me dead" I shrugged

"Oh, I see" she said
"What?" I asked
"Nothing" she said as she ate, it wasn't nothing
"What is it?" I pressed
"You interest her" she commented casually

For god sake
"Not in a weird way" I said
"She's psychotic, of course it's in a weird way" she chuckled
"I just mean... not in a sexual way" I said

Despite her previous comments
"Hmm" she hummed, continuing to eat
It was silent for a while
"Do you like it?" I asked about the food

She nodded

•

The next morning, she lay with her back to me
Her naked back
As she slept in. It was the weekend after all.

And after several glasses of wine, I had managed to block work out enough to enjoy myself
At home. With my girlfriend
More than making up for the other night.

I got dressed, heading out to meet the man who would hopefully shed some light on the way that Ivelle thought. And operated.

| Ivelle |

"We're not supposed to talk to you" Peter tried again, he looked so innocent in his uniform, he held no authority whatsoever
"I know but, we're friends aren't we?" I frowned
"I'm trying to make up for what I did, I just want someone to talk to, is that so wrong?" I asked, he slowly shook his head

"See, you're a good man, you see the good in everyone else, that's what... that's what makes you so special to me Peter" I said softly
"I only wanted to ask where the doctor had gone anyway, that's not bad information is it? I'm hardly going to break out with it" I tried

"You're right" Peter said
"And you're kind" I said, reaching my hand through the gap in the door to touch his
The fucking idiot.

| Ardian |

A big house
Bigger than the one he lived in with Ivelle and her mother
I knocked on the door, only for a maid to answer
A maid...
The man is rich.

I was shown through to a living room, where Angelo Honeycutt shortly after entered
"You must be Doctor Ellison" he greeted, shaking my hand

"Yes, please sit" he said
I did so
"I'm not sure what I can tell you that I haven't already told a million other people" he prefaced
"I know you've spoken to many doctors, many policeman, I appreciate how... exhausting it can be to be followed around by this. I just wanted to ask about Ivelle in general" I said

"I talked about her childhood to the last therapist" he said deflated
"I know. I meant, how did she seem after these murders? You lived under the same roof as her, did she seem different in those periods after the murders or was she normal... functioning?" I asked

"She's always functioned, highly. She had good grades, a loving family, loving boyfriends, she was insistent on breaking that" he explained
"So you can't think of any reason that would cause this behaviour?" I asked

Ivelle told many stories of her fathers' abuse
His beatings, his put downs, his treatment of her and her brother
"Not at all. She had a good life. A good childhood. Like my children are having now. And none of them are growing up murdering anyone" he shook his head
I nodded

"Yes I read you remarried" I said
"Yes. I have two sons. And a daughter, my eldest just turned seven" he said

"But your eldest son also went to prison for murder?" I asked, Ivelle's brother.
Convicted of first degree murder before retrial and the trial fell to pieces
"He was acquitted" he said
"On a technicality" I added
His face told me he didn't want to talk about it

"I know many have asked you. But why do you think she killed her mother? I know they ask you to speculate a motive. But... what do you think? Personally" I clarified

He thought about it
"I think she was jealous of her mother" he said
"Jealous and angry that she wasn't turning out the way she wanted to be. She wasn't as... good as Narelle" he explained

The front door closing boomed throughout the house
"We're back!" A woman shouted
"Daddy" a boy shouted, running into his lap
"Sorry" he apologised

"No I'm sorry, I'll come back another day" I smiled
"Come back?" He questioned
"It's just routine. Thank you for your cooperation Mr Honeycutt" I smiled

I watched the other two children run to him as I left for the door
A woman talking to the maids in the next room
They seemed like a close knit family,
And I pulled my coat on and wondered what went wrong if this lifestyle was her upbringing

What she could have had. What ifs...
Left unanswered.

I left, driving to the prison.
I needed to see her, to look her in the eye and say I had spoke to her father.

•

She sat patient and pretty
The epitome of a 'good' prisoner
"I thought you were done with me until Monday" she smiled, hands free once again now that Don had obeyed my request

"Are you up to talk to me today?" I asked, keeping it friendly
She likes friendly
"Of course, it's such a nice surprise that you're back so soon Ardian" she said
"Doctor Ellison" I corrected
I had to keep on correcting her no matter how tedious it became

She needed to remember the boundary
Doctor and patient
She broke that yesterday when she touched me
"I wanted to speak with you after my... findings today" I said
"Findings?" She questioned

"I spoke to your father" I clarified
Silence
"Ivelle" I pushed
"What lies did he tell you?" She asked
"Lies?" I questioned

"He tells all the doctors lies. About how good he was, how much he tried, how difficult a child like me is to deal with" she said
"Weren't you?" I asked
"No. I was good. I was the best. My brother never even tried. I did everything to be the best. That's why my mother died. That's why those first three died. Because they got in my way. And I was never good enough" she chuckled towards the end

A glimpse. Of emotion. Of outburst
Anger
She was not calm nor collected anymore
"You killed those people because they threatened your success" I pointed out
"They threatened everything. If I failed. My father made sure I knew about it" she said

Before her eyes flickered up from the table to me
"But you won't believe me. None of them do, they all write down that I'm crazy, that I lie, that my father is the one telling the truth" she said
"Your father" I commented
"Yes" she said

"Why do you call him that?" I asked
She just looked at me
"If he was so bad to you. And you hate him, you wish him dead, why do you still refer to him as your father?" I asked genuinely curious

"Because he is. Fact is fact Ardian. And he is my father, he can disregard me in the papers but he won't outrun me" she said
Ah, so that's why
She remains personally attached to him so he doesn't forget her

So in her mind, he knows she is his daughter
Interesting
"You shouldn't talk to him, all he'll do is lie. Surrounded by that new family" she scoffed

"How do you know about his family?" I asked
"He visited me a few years ago, rubbed it in my face, that he was starting over, that he had another chance whilst I didn't" she snapped
She took a breath. Her eyes dulling and her face dropping

She took control of her emotions once more and looked back to me as she normally did. Dead eyed and cold
"I will tell you the truth Ardian" she said
"How can I know that? When you spin all the other therapists a load of stories?" I asked

"Because none of them see through me the way you do. You know it as well as I do, don't you? You see the truth and you see that he's a liar" she said
I liked to think I do. But her words only pushed us further into a... bond
That we were the only ones who knew honesty and lies.

And I didn't want that. I didn't want to be bonded with her in secrecy or truth.
"You do" she nodded to herself
"You see it. I see it, in you, you get me Ardian" she said
Emotional manipulation.

I get her
I'm the only one
I'm special. And I'm not.
It's all a game.

Or maybe she's convinced herself I am.

| Ivelle |

I do see it
I see him. I see his mind overworking trying to figure out if it's all a game or if I truly believe what I say to him
Whether or not I really do think he's special.

Because if I do. He can use it
And if I don't... then he's in danger of me winning the power

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