"Was it the twenty years of teaching sociology that turned you into a sociopath?", Mike growled, fighting hard to contain his anger, his voice growing hoarser by the hour.
Across from him, Erin McMillan stared at her bandaged hands for a moment, her burnt and blistery face nothing but a grotesque mask as she looked up at him with a gleeful smile.
"Is he dead?"
Surprised by the hostility in her voice, Mike returned the smile in guarded neutrality and shook his head.
"No, Miss McMillan. He didn't die. In fact, he's going to make a full recovery. My partner's going to be fine. The same can't be said about you."
When she grunted in obvious disappointment, Mike walked over to the small side table to pour himself some water, hoping it would be enough to keep him focused enough throughout the emotionally challenging interview.
"So, why is it that you only wanted to talk to me, Miss McMillan. We haven't formally met before."
"They said you're Francisco's partner. I wanted to see your reaction, see the pain in your eyes upon losing him. I've got a thing for drama."
He'd seen people flip personalities many times before, seen normal characters turn into psychopaths. But few of them compared to the seemingly innocent and sheltered school teacher Steve had told him about a few days ago, turned suspect sitting in front of him, gleeful and proud about the incredible amount of damage she had caused.
"The only thing you are going to be seeing from me is an arrest warrant, Miss McMillan.", Mike said curtly and leaned against the corner of the table, "Three, possibly four murders, two attempted murders, you are looking at life in prison, no chance of parole. You know that, right?"
"I did …society a big favor in ending these…pathetic lives and reinstating righteousness."
"Righteousness? Is that where Damian got that term from? Did you teach him that? Did you feed him lies, so he would help you and Forney? How does he tie into all of this?"
"Horatio was a tool…a messenger so to speak. I was a substitute teacher for his class years ago, just for a short while. He was so bright even after he was injured…it made him stick out from the crowd of…imbeciles. He had a thing for literature, just like I did. We stayed in contact afterwards and he became my…right hand, so to speak. He helped me dispose of the…bodies…when David wasn't available."
"Why'd you kill Timothy Darrings?"
"Because he was a bully, beating up on good kids like Horatio for no reason but to cause harm.", she sneered in discontent, "A bold Fortinbras ignorantly challenging everyone in his path…spreading evil just for the sake of it. I also killed him because I needed the practice. I pretended I'd lost my wallet in an alley and needed somebody with better eyes than mine to help me find it. Believe me, when pulled out the wire…it felt so…so incredibly liberating after his body went limp. When everything I practiced and read up on came to life, when things worked out absolutely perfect. I was so…aroused that I held on for several more minutes."
Drawing in a wheezy breath, Mike shook his head, reminding himself to stay professional despite the woman's actions having gone far beyond skin deep in this case.
"And then you decided to finally get rid of your father, and all the ill feelings you associated with him."
"That's right, Lieutenant. I called him up asking if he'd meet me down at Candlestick one night, pretending that I wanted to make amends before the holidays. I waited for him, David hid in the backseat of the car, so once he sat down, we finished him together. It gave me such a rush that I called up the pig Peterson shortly after, asking to meet me to talk about my father and then I killed him the same way. He raped one of my students years ago and paid for some uppity-up lawyer that got him out of trouble before they could even build a case. Intimated the poor girl and threatened to have her parents deported if she went to the press. I shouldn't have been surprised that he was dealing with my father, planning on getting in on all that public goodwill to clear his reputation and continue to prey on the weak."
"And then you went after Carrie because she was going to talk about David."
"I did. She was one of his…physical partners, and she'd covered for him when Francisco first talked to her. But then she smelled money and tried to blackmail David, threatening to go to the cops if he didn't send her ten grand. I knew we had to get rid of her. And she would have been dead, had the cops not showed up unexpectedly early. Next up was Francisco, for purely personal reasons, then I was planning to kill my brother but…well…then this mess happened and derailed things."
Taking another sip of water, Mike cringed at the bitter aftertaste the smoke was leaving in his mouth, but not nearly as disgusting as Erin McMillan's words.
"You really do think are you some…warrior for justice, don't you? Some poor Ophelia turned into a knight in shining armor defending the weak."
"Ophelia comes from a corrupt family, that much is true. But that's where my connection with her ends. No, Ophelia…she…she is weak, just like David. Unable to lead, unable to make a decision without a strong guiding hand by her side.", McMillan countered and moved her bandaged hands over the interrogation room table, "Hamlet on the other side, he is full of self-awareness, understanding the inner structure of society and the limitations set forth before him. Yet, when given the chance, Hamlet steps outside his comfort zone to avenge those that can no longer avenge themselves, to practice righteousness and goodwill for all. He is a true hero to the people, somebody we all should look up to."
"Is that so?", having an increasingly hard time containing his anger that early in the morning, Mike clenched his jaws, counted to three, before clearing his throat again, "And because you pretend to be such a do-gooder, a noble Hamlet in disguise, if you will, you tried to murder a thirty-two year old cop in cold blood, somebody who hasn't done you any harm?!"
With a broad smile, McMillan glanced up at him, knowing she'd hit a nerve.
"David didn't want me to do it. He was against it from the beginning, saying it was too risky. But I could relate with Francisco on so many levels. His gentle kindness, unappreciated by most, his lonely eyes…I wanted to see those who care for him suffer, mourn even. It helped me envision how my loved ones would react if I were to die. I was going to kill him, then leave his body in the road for his friends to find, and watch from afar as they tried to comprehend the unsurmountable loss. Their pain would feed my soul on a level few could ever even imagine."
As she said that, her expression turned cheerful, downright amicable.
"But then he fought, overpowered me and killed David. After doing me such a huge favor, I couldn't get myself to finish him off, not with the wire anyways. Tell me, Lieutenant…how did it feel for you to find him upstairs? Were you scared for his life? Did you sense death looming when you tried to revive him? Did it break your heart feeling that cold skin below your fingertips? Could you taste death on your tongue, smell it on your breath? Was the guilt eating you up from the inside, when the fire fighters couldn't bring him back at first?"
"You planned to kill your fiancé all along?", Mike continued undisturbed, knowing that a lack of a reaction was his best approach with the sociopath sitting across from him.
"I did. You've met him, haven't you? You know what kind of person he was. He was too much of a burden to bear, a liability even. He never did understand my reasoning for these killings, and sooner or later, he'd open his big mouth to the wrong person. For my final Act, I wanted it to look like he'd done it, like he killed Francisco and all the others. I knew that all my victims' association with Big Al's would point directly at him, it was absolutely perfect, and he was too dumb to realize that. Then, I was going to kill him, make it look like suicide, and set the place on fire to destroy the evidence, his body going up in flames while I would be on my way to school for a nice, airtight alibi. Then again, your partner did me a huge favor in killing David, making it look like an arrest gone wrong as David was busy burning down our apartment…and I would have gotten away with it had it not been for the other…pig."
"That one may smile and smile and be a villain."
Mike's quote out of Hamlet temporarily startled her, then caused Erin to shake her head with a chuckle.
"No, Lieutenant, there is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so."
"That's where you are wrong, Miss McMillan.", Mike countered and walked up to her, before leaning across the table, until their faces were only inches apart, "None of your actions had anything to do with being good. They were vile acts carried out by a mentally disturbed woman. You won't enter the history books as some warrior for social justice. You are going to prison for the rest of your life…and I couldn't be happier about that."
