The Doll Collector's Son

Chapter 12 - Maria

It was a sore subject for Annalise and Alec. Aiden had cut ties with them when he turned 18. He went to college in the east and never came back. Last we had heard, he'd gotten married and had already had a child. 

"The interest in serial killers has grown exponentially in the last few years. We have to consider that this person is obsessed with true crime and has a good understanding of how we may operate an investigation. We've combed through the evidence gathered by Agents Aleksandrov and Valentine. Several IP addresses have been found, so we believe this person is rather competent with computers. We're trying to find a physical address that we can visit. We've also taken the manifests of all the students in the victims' classes and the people who attended the conference Agent Aleksandrov and Agent Valentine figured out connected the victims. We've also been scouring social media trying to find an account for Chrissy. If she was able to insert herself into the lives of their victims, she had to have an online presence. There is not a single person under 30 that doesn't have a strong online presence."

The agents went on for a few more minutes before SAIC Sherwood asked Jordan and Annalise to go and talk to the friends of some of the victims to see if they could get a description of Chrissy and check out one of the physical addresses they had come across.

Zach and I stood, shaking hands with SAIC Sherwood, a thank you for keeping us at the office while this was sorted out. We knew that if things did not resolve soon, we'd likely have to go into actual witness protection. What we had done in the past was done to lure Kris towards me, and eventually it worked. But this time, we would actually have to cut off ties with our families and it wouldn't be as easy as it would have been years ago.

He offered to bring us lunch when we were ready, but in the meantime, we were welcome to look through the evidence they had pulled together. We thanked him again, preparing to take our seats when a movement out of the corner of my eye caught my attention. 

Jordan hadn't left yet. He seemed to be talking to someone that was just out of sight, but Annalise was backing away appearing to give them privacy. I was too intrigued to give him the same courtesy, so I drew closer to the door and quietly opened it. Zach called out to me in a loud whisper to come back, but I casually called him over to listen.

He tried once more, though my head was already through the door. The voice was feminine, but one that I didn't recognize. I could just barely hear what they were saying. 

"Jordan, why didn't you tell me? I have to find out on the internet? Is this even true?"

Uh oh. That must be Marina.

I could only see the side of Jordan's face, but his expression didn't seem alarmed. You might even say it looked resigned to this moment.

"I didn't know how to tell you." Jordan finally said. "It's not something that you bring up casually over breakfast. I was afraid that you'd run away from me before I could explain."

"Do you know how painful it is, to find that the man you expected to marry is the son of the most notorious serial killer of his century? Jordan, our children would carry his blood. You were going to continue the lineage. How could you be so selfish? You lied to me, Jordan. You pretended to be this upstanding citizen, when all this time you were hiding the most horrible of secrets."

"I-"

"No, you lost your moment to talk." Marina snapped.

"Please, hear him out." Annalise cut in.

"Don't talk to me. Your mother was a serial killer too, I can only imagine the sickness she passed down to you."

The words were venomous, tinged with jealousy. Jordan had never mentioned the dynamic those two had.