HELENE HAD LEARNED TWO things in the week she had spent in Brooksville Penitentiary. One, the director didn't care at all what she did, as long as she smiled for the occasional press photo. Two, Nathan barely slept. She had had her first encounter with him on day one and though she had wanted to go back the next day, she instead chose to leave him be for a week. It hadn't been unnoticed, just like she had planned. The guards came to her almost around the clock to report that he had been demanding to see her. If she wanted to make progress quickly, she had to find a faster way to make him open up after all. He'd be much more inclined to speak after a week of only seeing the guards in front of his solitary cell. Sure, it wasn't the most ethical way, but there was no place for morals in this place anyway.

She had spent the whole week reading through the binder, barely any information available about his youth. The police reports told her the story about abusive parents, both to each other as to their children. He had had a younger sister, but she disappeared when he was still a child. They were never able to find her body. After he became twelve it was like he had disappeared himself, most of the binder in extensive detail about his murders and other crimes, many of which they had yet to discover. The only thing connecting all of the victims was that they were men, but other than that, they were spread out over the country, some even international.

All of it was flawlessly thought out, to the point that if he hadn't confessed, no one would have been able to put the pieces together. Why had he confessed? It was still such a strange mystery to her. He had let himself get caught, that she was sure of, especially with him telling everything within minutes, but she couldn't think of anything. What good would prison do him? With his solitary cell, it wasn't like he was building a network here either. He was lucky if he saw the guards, most of them staying as far away from his sight as possible.

"He has the eyes of death," one had told her and though she was not sure what exactly that was supposed to mean, she also did understand it at the same time.

With a sigh she closed the binder, having mulled his crimes over for too long. She wouldn't find the answer in those pages. It was fine though, now, on day seven, she didn't need to. The frequency of him asking for her had severely increased at this point, so when someone knocked on her office's door, she didn't need to ask what it was for. To her surprise Dante entered the room, the guards who usually came nowhere to be seen.

"Tell me why that crazy bastard keeps telling you to come," he frowned," Jerry just told me in the hallway."

"Why else?" Helene said as she got to her feet," he's bored."

"So am I," Dante complained," you sit around all day reading and I get to walk circles in this prison as my punishment. At least the previous psychiatrist actually did what they were hired for."

"I thought your punishment was guarding me," she said, walking past him," not walking in circles."

"Like I told you," he huffed, following along nonetheless," there's not much guarding to do when you never leave the room."

For a moment Helene thought about the texts she had been receiving daily now, the way Zion's urgency grew with every hour. Even if he found her new job, he wouldn't be able to get inside the prison, would he? One of the reasons she had chosen Brooksville had been that it was the most heavily guarded place in the world, so she didn't think that safety would fail her now.

"I wonder," she murmured to herself.

Dante's gaze flicked towards her at once, almost as if confused at the words, but he didn't pry.

"Where are you going?" he said instead," don't tell me you're joining me on my walk now, because I'd prefer to go alone."

"I'm going to see that crazy bastard you were talking about," she smiled," I asked the guards to go get him for me twenty minutes ago, I believe I owe him a visit still."

Dante shook his head. "If it was me, I wouldn't even bother coming out to see a psychiatrist who had ignored me for a week."

"No, but you would," she said confidently.

"What makes you so sure of that?" he frowned.

"Do you know how big a solitary cell is?" she asked as they rounded the corner.

"Around eight by ten feet," he shrugged," why? Are you trying to tell me that he'd meet up with you simply because he wants to get out of the confines of his room?" He scoffed. "Sure, that'd probably be true for a lot of other criminals, but I read his file as well. He spent his whole childhood in a room smaller than this, so I doubt this would be that new for him. Honestly, I think he's just bored enough to want a distraction."

Helene glanced at him. "Did you live in a big house growing up?"

"Don't pretend like you came up with that on your own," Dante said with an eyeroll," I heard the director telling you my mother was a high-ranking FBI agent, you don't need to be a genius to figure out my house was big."

"Did you like spending time in your room?" Helene continued, unbothered by his hostility," was it a refuge for you?"

That quietened Dante down, a momentary flash of vulnerability visible in his face as he nodded. "I suppose."

"Then you did not understand his situation," she said," because spending time in a cramped room isn't that bearable when the place it reminds you of wasn't anything close to a refuge to you at all."

"His parents were abusive," Dante frowned," where else would he hide except his room?"

"You're assuming it was possible to hide," Helene said," I don't think anywhere is safe when you're surrounded by monsters."

Dante didn't reply, Helene stopping at the door leading to the interrogation room, hand lingering on the doorknob.

"You were right though about him being bored," she said," he came here to play a game, so I doubt he's happy with being forced to wait."

"What do you mean he came to play a game?" Dante said," it's almost like you're suggesting he voluntarily signed up for a life in prison."

"You can see for yourself," she said, already heading in before he could answer.

She walked in the room, taking her seat at the table as all the guards around her tensed at once. It was like they were waiting for a bomb to explode, like any moment now hands would be wrapped around her throat. In the brief time they had known Nathan, they'd apparently gotten used to his temper. Now it was time for her to see it.

So she looked up at the person sitting in front of her, knowing his expression even before she had seen him. Of course he was smiling, like he always had been until now, though his jaw was clenched in a way that barely hid his annoyance. He was not happy with her. That was fine. She didn't need him to be happy with her for this to work.

"You sure know how to make me wait," he said.

Her gaze wandered over him, analyzing the way his hands were relaxed on the table, his lips parted as if waiting for her reply to speak and the expression in his eyes undecipherable. What part of it all was real and what part was acted, just to make her believe that what he was portraying was true? Was he even annoyed or did he simply want to see her reaction to his emotions?

"Are you that mesmerized by me?"

That immediately pulled her back to the moment again as she shook her head, smiling at him.

"Excuse me," she said," I was just lost in thought for a moment."

Dante tensed in the corner, obviously unhappy with the fact that she was apologizing to a criminal. Not because he cared about her, that she knew, but because he did idolize the law in a way. She could see it in the way he treated all the guards with respect, but spoke with disgust every time they talked about Nathan, the way he still was here for his punishment, even though he clearly didn't want to be. Whether the law and his mother were one thing in his mind, that Helene had yet to figure out. It didn't matter. She shouldn't psycho-analyze him. It was hard not to though, not when recognizing the emotion of others had been ingrained into her from youth, like a survival mechanism she would never be able to shake.

"For a moment I thought you had forgotten about me," he said.

"How could I forget the notorious Nathan Parker?" she replied, focusing on his reaction to the praise.

He didn't have one, instead turning the conversation back to her again.

"Tell me," he said," what did you do in the time you so tragically neglected me?"

"What made you think I didn't leave after a day?" she said," I am not much different than the other psychiatrists you've had."

"Oh, but I think you are," he smiled.

Dante had caught on to what she was saying at once, even if the other guards hadn't. There had been no doubt in Nathan's mind about the fact that she was still here, because he had kept asking for her persistently every day. Even if their interaction the first day had been brief, the most logical thing to think after she didn't appear for days on end would be that she had left. But he hadn't. Which meant he knew for sure that she was still here even without any contact with his guards.

He had a spy in here.

When he locked eyes with her then, she knew he had wanted her to know, looking almost thrilled at the fact that she had met his expectations.

"See?" he said," you're already much different from them."