She stood in front of the door of her apartment for a long time, staring blankly. It seemed that, no matter how hard she tried, her brain could not or did not want to digest the things she had heard from George Wilson a few moments earlier.

I didn't know how to tell you that, Scarlett. I was afraid you would turn down the case. It is very important to me that you be on it because I trust you. I know you can do it. Are you mad at me?

Mad - mad was a small word for how she really felt. A fire was burning in her chest that nothing could put it out. She felt betrayed, sold out. How could he do that? Why didn't he tell her right away? It wasn't a scratch on an expensive floor that you can cover with carpet and pretend the floor is at its best. Human relationships don't work that way. He's a psychiatrist for God's sake; he should know that better than anyone should.

She heard the meow of her shorthaired roommate, and realized that it might be best to enter the apartment. Maybe she will attract the curious glances of her neighbors, and she didn't want to be the main topic in the hallways in the coming days, so she ran into the apartment. Felix brushed her legs in greeting and led her to the kitchen, alerting her that he was hungry. At that thought, she realized that she herself was hungry because she had not eaten anything for a long time. She poured the food into a metal bowl and set it down on the floor. Felix started to chew gratefully. That made her smile. She pulled out the leftovers from dinner the night before - Bolognese. As soon as she put the first bite in her mouth, she felt electricity permeate her entire body.

When she finished eating and washed the dishes, she went to her laptop and decided to investigate Valentine Stein's death a little better. She came across a few articles, but they didn't help her much. They revealed almost nothing, and she was a little disappointed. It was written in all the articles that his son found him in the apartment hanged on his precious chandelier. So much money spent on the thing that you will take your own life with, how appropriate. They did not find suicide note, so the reason for his death remained unknown. Unfortunately, Dr. Stein took the secret with him to the grave. As she circled the cursor over the useless articles, she realized one thing. She will have to ask the person who last talked to Dr. Stein before his tragic decision to take his own life. She needs to talk to Sebastian Carter.

The very thought of Sebastian made her shudder. She didn't like him watching her like a predator waiting for her to take the wrong step and take advantage of the whole situation. However, despite that, something in her trembled with excitement. She did not want to accept or allow herself to fall under his influence because she knows that it will not end well. Psychopaths are manipulators and they know how to seduce whoever they want. That is why people often fall in love with them. They affect the opposite sex like poison - first intoxicatingly, slowly, until it completely enters your bloodstream, and then they kill you.

Scarlett was always fascinated by how the brains of such people work - monsters, more rather. She wanted to figure it out, but she knew it would take a very long and arduous journey to fulfill her goal. She may even have to sacrifice herself like a scapegoat in order to succeed.

She jumped out of her own skin when her phone rang, driving her out of the depths of her twisted thoughts. She picked up the phone lying next to the laptop and looked at the caller's name. Luke.

She thought how that name used to be her favorite word, now it was something that represented the worst period of her life. Something she wanted to leave by the roadside in the middle of nowhere and never come back for it again. She wanted him out, but he kept trying to get in. He tried to get into her life and ruin the little reason she had left.

She tossed the phone on the wooden table and got up from her chair, leaving it ringing so sadly and muffled in the distance for a long time.

"Do you remember the man who came to visit you before Dr. Wilson?" She watched him recline nonchalantly into the well-known blue plastic chair. "Dr. Stein?"

"Of course," he said shortly. "He was a very interesting man."

"How come?"

"He liked to talk. About himself. About his family. I liked it," he ran his fingers through his charcoal-colored hair. "Somehow he distracts me from things that really interested him."

"He didn't talk to you about why you're here?"

''Very little. He was too bothered by the things he wanted to fix in his life to fix mine, which was already doomed. "

''Such as?''

"He suspected that his wife was cheating on him. It seems that have killed him," he giggled briefly. "Literally."

At times, he seemed to really sympathize with the tragedy that befell Dr. Stein, but that joyful giggle would eventually betray him. She knew that was certainly not possible. He couldn't feel anything. The only thing he knew was that he was imitating the emotions of his interlocutors.

She inhaled the stale air and wrote some of her conclusions in her notebook. She felt Sebastian's gaze on her. She raised her head and met his clear blue eyes. He smiled.

"I'm a little tired of you asking me questions about Stein. He wasn't that interesting, you know? If he hadn't worked on my case, I believe that no one would have remembered to pay so much attention to his death. He would just be a sad old man with a tragic fate. "

"And what would you talk about, Sebastian?" She asked reproachfully.

"Have you ever been in love, Doctor?"

His question was like a knife slamming into her chest and piercing her heart. She was bleeding - she was bleeding and no one could see it. For a few moments, she gnawed the inside of her cheek with her teeth, and realizing that Sebastian was watching her closely, she calmed herself down.

"I did," she said shortly.

"Did it hurt?" He asked. ''To love somebody?''

She fell silent. She caught herself really thinking about it. Was she hurt by the act of loving itself or with what followed? What tore her heart to pieces and created physical pain for her even though she had no visible marks on her body. Nevertheless, her soul was in scars that could not be healed just like that - and she wasn't sure if she would ever heal.

"It did."

He smiled devilishly. He was pleased with the answer. Sebastian knew she wasn't lying, so he shifted triumphantly in his chair. The light of the cell created an extraterrestrial glow on his skin and made it unreal, almost divine. This was quite ironic given that his hands were stained at least to the elbows with the blood of the innocent.

''Why did you leave your foster parents, Sebastian? You said they were nice to you, " she decided to answer with a question. She didn't want to let him play with her feelings and reason; she had to regain control. Now it was her turn to stab him into his emotionless black heart.

"That's the thing. I didn't," he replied. "They decided to leave me. They were middle-aged people and had no children - so they were eager to give an orphan a home. However, one day, I heard Mary crying in the bathroom. She found out she was pregnant. They were overjoyed. There was only one problem. "

''Which one?''

"They didn't want to keep me," he said defeated, and Scarlett felt sorry for a moment. She thought how a tiny little boy like him could receive the news, realizing that he had become unwanted. That the people he considered his parents and his family would throw him away like an old rag and return him to the home from which he had been rescued a few years earlier. His eyes widened.

''I'm so sorry to hear that, Sebastian. It must have been hard for you. "

''Of course it was. After that, my life was hell. Can you imagine, Doctor, how from an ideal little house in the suburbs you end up in the basement of some dilapidated house where they lock you up when you accidentally break something and don't give you to eat for days? And at the same time, you are beaten so much that you cannot see the natural color of your skin.''

She swallowed the lump. She didn't know what to say to him. It was a horrible and shocking knowledge for her and for every normal person. She shuddered. Her heart skipped a few beats and she buried her hands into her black pants. She shook her head briefly, convincing herself not to let him to get into her head. She had to resist him. She couldn't let that to anyone like him - a killer.

"What happened to your biological parents, Sebastian?"

"I think we've talked enough about me, Scarlett," he said. "You're such an impatient young lady."

He got up from his chair and pushed her off with his feet. He stood nailed to the glass with his hands behind his back. She wasn't sure what was he trying to do. He watched her for a few seconds, then turned on his heels and threw himself on the bed. He stared at the ceiling.

"I think we've talked enough today, Doctor. I'm not in the mood anymore."

''But-''

''It's over, Scarlett. Don't play with my patience. I am very generous with you regarding my past. Don't abuse that," he turned to the wall, leaving Scarlett to watch his slender back. She took it as the end of the conversation. Defeated, she got up from her chair and got out of there, wondering if she was wrong to let her emotions cloud her judgment. She knew it was too many questions and rummaging through his past for one appointment.

She felt the redness rush to her cheeks and realized she was blushing with shame. It was so unprofessional. What happened to her? She wanted to hit him in the target so hard, that in fact he was the one who hit her. She wasn't proud of herself, not at all.

Her phone rang in the car. I'm going to have to start putting the phone on vibrate, she thought. She has already caught herself shuddering as soon as she hears the ringing of the already mentioned damn thing. The last two people who called her did not bring her anything good, and now, while she was picking up the phone and answering an unknown number that was written on the screen, she prayed that this would not be the third bad thing in a row.

"Hello?"

"Good afternoon, Scarlett," said a sweet, hoarse voice. "This is Detective Calligan."

"Oh," she said unexpectedly. "Where did you get my number?"

"I'm a cop, remember?" They both laughed at that. God, how stupid I am.

"Yes, of course," she grabbed the root of her nose. "How can I help you, Detective?"

"Actually, I was hoping you could help me."

"I turned into ears."

"You see, I remembered that I didn't tell you anything about Sebastian's biological parents," there was a rustling of a pile of papers in the background, so she assumed he was in the office. She tried to imagine him staring intently at the pile of papers. She believed it was a very beautiful sight to watch. "But I can't tell you anything over the phone. It's complicated.''

"Do you want me to come to the station?" She suggested.

"No. Honestly, I thought we'd better meet somewhere else," the rustling of the paper stopped and silence tickled her ear for a moment. "How about the Riviera restaurant at eight o'clock tonight?"