It was not an ordinary crime, nor was it a crime. Every death is a crime, a sin, a sin against those who remain, an unexpected ending, but that death was just a crime against the forces of the universe, against God, if there was one for Jane.
Because he was there, in Lisbon's room, sitting around a table covered with photos of a bloody suicide, desperate.
Jane was the target of the careful Susan Darcy's gaze. Teresa was now expecting some comment from her consultant, as listening to his voice would make sense and that alone. She also didn't know why she was there, why she was looking at those empty photos.
Jane looked up and squinted. "If you ask my opinion, I believe it was indeed a suicide. Well, if it wasn't, it was faked by a professional, which doesn't seem like it."
"He killed himself" Susan offered a motherly look to Patrick and then to Teresa. The sweet look in her eyes tightened Patrick's chest, in a second "He was a journalist looking for his five minutes. He was going after Visualize."
"Visualize?" Teresa questioned.
"Yes. In fact, he wrote a thesis about it, found in a box in his father's storage room" she threw the twenty page copy in front of Jane "He was writing about possible orphaned children created by Visualize as part of an experiment."
Patrick felt the spiders of fear crawling through his gut "and some names appear and reappear frequently. One of them is your daughter's, Patrick."
Teresa's eyes were sealed on Patrick.
"Impossible" and his lips drew a faint smile, cold and fragile, almost dark "I saw her dead. I found her body."
"That's why I'm here, Patrick and I need to question you about it. Are you sure about what you saw?"
Patrick laughed.
"Yes. To some degree. I mean, I could revisit that memory, but I don't believe you want me to revisit it, or for me to do it now, here."
"We need you to remember."
"It was Charlotte" his voice was quick and cold "It was my daughter" he stood up, looking for Teresa's gaze, the look of concern that killed him "I need to go now".
Teresa called his name, but it didn't stop him. Cordially, he left the room so quickly that his absence was almost imperceptible.
"I need you to see these papers, Teresa. Maybe you can talk to him. We need his permission to exhume the body buried in Charlotte's tombstone."
"These are just hypotheses."
"Read it and decide it yourself."