Chapter Sixteen
Emma Purcel was reading a dog-eared copy of Tropic of Cancer and waiting for the two law students on the computers and the four medical students half asleep on the couches and lounge chairs to final y realize that nothing they did in the next four hours was going to help them pass a test they hadn't prepared for earlier. She was startled when the massively muscled psychology student suddenly appeared at her desk.
'Uh, c-can I help you?'
'I need to find someone.'
'I'm not sure I understand.'
'There's a man I need to find. I was hoping you could show me how to search for him on the computer.'
'Oh, sure. There're several searches you can run to track someone on the computer. Here, I'l show you.' Emma rose from behind the desk and immediately felt the large creepy student's eyes lunge for her, charging over her curves and invading her most intimate areas. She felt simultaneously frightened, annoyed, and aroused, sensations she was used to experiencing in his presence. Her nipples hardened and stabbed the sheer fabric of her blouse. Joe stared at her heaving bosom with unselfconscious lust. Emma's face colored. She turned her back to him and sat down at the computer.
Emma had to admit that the boy was extremely good-looking. He exuded a savage sexuality that was nearly oppressive. She could feel his hot breath on the back of her neck as she tapped the keyboard and logged on to the Web.
C, i 7. -.. so who are we looking for?'
'His name is Damon Trent. He would be almost thirty by now.'
'Do you have any idea where he might be? A city? A state?'
'He would stil be in Seattle; either in prison or a mental institution.'
Emma's fingers hovered suspended over the keys. This was more of his bizarre research.
'What exactly did he do?'
'He raped and mutilated a couple young boys about twelve years ago.'
'That's sick! I'm not going to be a part of this! What is this twisted morbid fascination you have with these monsters? Look, you're online now. I'm sure you'l have no problem locating your murderous pedophile. I've got work to do back at my desk.' The librarian stood and turned to leave.
Joe placed a hand on her shoulder and gently eased her back into her seat.
'Please. You have to help me.'
'Why? Why should I help you with this obsession? A child murderer? Why would you want to know anything about a man like that?' Joe's voice lowered and tightened to a deep self conscious mumble. The librarian could feel the boy's body tense as he spoke.
'Because I was one of the boys this particular monster assaulted.'
The librarian's eyes widened then softened and moistened with emotion.
Her mouth fel open and her body slumped back into the chair, as if physical y struck by the student's unexpected confession. She placed her hand atop his and turned to look him in his eyes. Her bottom lip trembled and her voice lowered to a soft, maternal whisper.
'Oh my God! I-I'm sorry. I didn't know. No wonder you're so obsessed with finding out what makes them tick.'
'Wil you help me?'
'Of course.'
It took no time at al to locate their kil er.
'He's not in Seattle anymore. He's in Tacoma, at the state mental hospital in a special unit they have for violent sex offenders.'
Joe scrol ed down the screen, reading about the hospital where Damon Trent had been kept since he'd openly confessed to drinking the blood of young boys and was declared unfit to stand trial a dozen years ago. Trent believed that he could absorb the souls of his victims by imbibing their body fluids. The article, written two years after his incarceration, said that Trent claimed the doctors at the state hospital were deliberately trying to drive him insane by depriving him of human blood to drink.
Joe wrote down the address and phone number of the hospital and turned his attention back to the thick meaty librarian. He'd wanted her for a long time and though he had needed to locate
Trent, he'd real y come down here for her, using his search for the child rapist as a way to get close to her.
'Would you have a cup of coffee with me?'
'I don't know. I've got a lot of work to do. Besides, I'm old enough to be your mother. Why are you so interested in me?'
'Because you're beautiful and I need a friend right now.,,
It was the right thing to say. Joe had been rehearsing it from the first day he'd seen her. Her need was so obvious you didn't have to be a con man or a predator to spot it. Emma needed to be needed. There was a deep loneliness and sorrow within her, like one of those chimpanzee mothers who cradle their miscarriages in their arms for weeks, refusing to accept their death. Joe played on those maternal instincts lying dormant within her, starving for a purpose.
'I know I frighten you. We can take separate cars and go to the cafe down the street where there wil be lots of people.'
'That sounds awful. I'm sorry. It's not that I think you'd hurt me. It's just that… those books you read…'
'I'm a psychology student and I'm trying to understand what turns normal human beings into these vicious predators. One day, I hope I can find a cure for their madness.'
'I think that's admirable, but I hope you won't be offended if I take my own car and meet you there?'
Joe smiled wide.
'Thank you.'
They talked late into the night. Emma told him about her two failed marriages. Her first husband beat her and her second left her for her sister. She had a daughter who ran away from home five years ago, only two months after her sixteenth birthday.
'Do you ever hear from her?'
'She cal s every once in a while. When she's in trouble or needs money or just needs someone to listen to her. I'm a good listener. I don't know where she is now, though. She hasn't cal ed in months.'
'It must be hard, not hearing from your daughter in so long.'
'I cope.'
Joe nodded and looked down at the scrap of paper with the name Damon
Trent written on it, fol owed by the phone number and address to the State
Hospital for the Criminal y Insane. He rol ed the slip of paper over and over in his hands as dark shadows slithered through his mind.
'What did he do to you?'
'You don't want to know.'
'Maybe not, but you need to tel it. I can see that you're hurting. It might help to talk.'
Joe didn't want to talk to her anymore. He didn't want to get too close because he was stil planning on murdering her, but maybe talking about these horrors would be just the distraction he needed. Perhaps it would calm him down until he could get her alone.
'I was riding my bike when he attacked me. I turned the corner and he was just standing there, grinning at me. I tried to turn the bike around and run. I could tel that he was going to hurt me. Of course, I had no idea how bad. I thought he was going to beat me up and steal my bike or something. Then he grabbed me by the throat. He squeezed so hard that I couldn't even scream. I couldn't breathe. I felt like I was going to pass out. Then he threw me in the back of his pizza van.' Joe took a deep breath and rubbed his bare arms to warm himself as chil s raced the length of his spine.
