“I’ve been meaning to ask you,” I said. “As a cop, have you come up with any insight into Cade Booker? He seems to be acting almost randomly.”
“Like I’ve said before, there’s usually a system to a psychopath that experienced cops can see, but you’re right. Booker’s an anomaly.”
“You know who we should ask?”
“Melanie,” Ruby said. “I agree. We’re pretty close to the hospital.”
“Joe won’t want us to bother her.”
“Baby Brad is doing well,” Ruby said. “There’s no reason for Melanie to be upset about anything. And what your big brother doesn’t know…”
“…won’t hurt him.” I smiled. “Of course, it’s Saturday, and he’s probably at the hospital with Mel.”
“Only one way to find out.” Ruby stood.
Baby Brad had gained five ounces since his birth, and his skin was pink with a healthy glow. I kissed his little cheek before handing him back to the nurse to get his vitals.
“You just missed Joe,” Melanie said. “He went out to get some supplies I need at the hotel.”
Good. I loved my brother dearly, but Ruby and I wanted to speak to Melanie alone.
“How are you doing?” I asked. “Hanging in there?”
“I’m good. I miss being home, of course, but there’s no place I’d rather be than with my child. He’s everything I could have hoped for, and he’s thriving. Life is good.”
“He’s beautiful,” Ruby agreed.
“Are you and Ryan going to try soon?”
“We were just talking about that.” Ruby rubbed her chin. “Ryan is so afraid of passing on the psychopathy from both our parents, but he’s finally calming down about it. I never thought of myself as mother material, for that matter, but seeing little Brad changes things, to be honest. I’ve been on the pill for so long, though. I thought I’d see a doctor first.”
“Always a good idea,” Melanie said.
“Says the doctor.” I laughed.
“What’s going on with you two?” Melanie turned to me. “You doing okay?”
What she was truly asking was, are you harming yourself? I wasn’t, thank God.
“Oddly, I don’t feel overly traumatized by what happened. I guess I never really felt I was in any danger. Dominic was nice to me, and Alex was…well…Alex.”
“All normal,” Melanie said. “But don’t be surprised if you don’t get over it as quickly as you think. You were traumatized, Marj.”
I nodded. Mel was right. Mel was always right. Just because I wasn’t having nightmares didn’t mean my scar wasn’t tingling. “I’ll get help when I need it,” I said.
“I know.” Melanie smiled. “Joe told me who Cade Booker is, and that Alex and Dominic are his half siblings.”
“Cade Booker is a riddle,” Ruby said. “As cops, we can usually see a certain logic in the psychopathic behavior of an individual, but Cade…”
“I’ve been thinking about that,” Melanie said. “Of course I can’t make any kind of diagnosis without a thorough physical and mental examination, but my gut tells me he has a personality disorder, most likely borderline. He might also have some kind of mild dissociative identity disorder.”
“You mean split personality?” I asked.
“Not in the sense you’re thinking. Just an ability to go outside himself when he needs to. It’s a self-protection mechanism.”
I bit my lower lip.
I knew well about self-protection mechanisms. I used physical pain to disassociate from emotional pain.
Not a good idea, but I understood. I cleared my throat. “What’s borderline personality?”
“It’s a disorder characterized by erratic and self-destructive behavior. The thing is, our personalities are formed by the time we’re five years old, so personality disorders can’t be blamed on any trauma that happened afterward, although such trauma can certainly exacerbate a disorder, as I’m sure it did for Cade.”
“He was the son of a guy who ended up selling him for cash,” I said. “Probably enough to help him form a personality disorder at a young age.”
“True enough,” Melanie agreed.
“How did Bryce and Joe end up in Cade’s office anyway?” Ruby asked.
A question I wanted an answer to as well. I hadn’t yet asked Bryce.
“I asked Jonah about that,” Melanie said. “He said he’d done business with Cade in the past and thought he might know a hacker who could help.”
“That’s no reason for Cade to douse Joe and Bryce in pepper spray,” I said.
“Erratic behavior,” Melanie said. “It’s textbook.”
“There’s still the question of Dale and the guy he saw stalking the playground,” Ruby said. “I’ve been thinking about that, and it concerns me. First, Dale and Donny both said all of their abusers were masked, so how would he recognize this person on the playground?”
“Unless it was a person he recalled who wasn’t masked,” I offered. “Maybe whoever brought food didn’t bother wearing a mask.”
“Doubtful,” Ruby said. “Even someone performing innocuous duties knew what was going on in that compound. He wouldn’t want to be recognized.”
“Maybe it was his stance,” Melanie said, “or his clothing. Something about that person spooked Dale. He hasn’t been able to give me a clear answer as to why yet, but we’ll get there.”
“If it was Cade Booker,” I said, “why would he do that?”
“Erratic behavior,” Melanie said again. “It doesn’t make sense to a rational person.”
“Plus the stuff he left behind,” Ruby said. “A cufflink that can be linked to Colin Morse, a baseball card that can be linked to Dominic Booker, and a rock that can be linked to Dale himself. It’s a head-scratcher even for me.”
“What if it wasn’t Cade?” Melanie asked. “What if it was Ted Morse? He had access to Colin’s cufflinks. Maybe the one we found at Bryce’s cabin was the only one Tom had. Maybe Ted only gave him one.”
“Why would Ted Morse want to stalk a ten-year-old kid?”
“Money,” Ruby and Melanie said in unison.
“There had to be money involved,” Ruby continued. “That seems to be Morse’s motivation above all else, including his own son.”
I swallowed. “This is all conjecture. We really don’t know who the stalker is.”
“True,” Ruby agreed. “It also could simply be Dale’s imagination.”
“I don’t think so,” Melanie said. “I’ve talked to Dale at length about it. He’s sure the guy was looking at him. Stalking him. What’s in question is if he truly recognized the man. That part might be his imagination.”
“Is Dale okay?” I asked.
“Dale will be okay,” Melanie assured us. “He’s not done healing yet. Something this traumatic can sometimes be a lifetime journey of healing. But he’s making good progress, and he’ll lead a normal life. He wants to lead a normal life, and that’s a big thing.”