The Downside to Perfection ✔

Chapter Eleven

"The entire day," he replied. "But it's not over yet, it will continue next Monday."

"And are you planning on going then, too?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe, I'm not sure."

"Why aren't you?"

He bit his lip while reminding himself he did that too often. "Because I don't know if it's helping me," he admitted.

Delilah tilted her head, waiting for more.

"What about Jason King?"

"I thought I'd get the answers," he continued, although he knew he was doing exactly what she wanted. "I thought it would help me... get better, perhaps."

Anderson's gaze went to the window again, a smirk growing on his face because he knew the significance of the words that would follow. "He wasn't a part of the plan."

"And it didn't?" she prompted.

His head fell to his chest. "I'm only getting worse."

He'd gotten everyone's attention now.

"Are you saying that you weren't planning on kidnapping Jason King?" asked Langdon.

"You're not," she corrected him. "Your mind is a bit confused, but nothing's wrong with you." She was against him identifying himself with his PTSD, so she always presented it as a foreign object. If only it was that easy when it accompanied you every day; the lines got blurry very easily.

He ignored it, having made that same mistake often and having heard the same words even more often. "It seems like the more questions are being answered, the more questions emerge, and it never stops."

Anderson didn't reply, but he had an apparent grin on his face.

"Can I get a verbal response?" Langdon asked, his eyes drilling through the man before him.

One second. Two. Three. Then, "Yes, that's what I'm saying."

"What did you learn from the interrogation?"

"A lot of things I wish I didn't know," Jason said. He played with the cuff link on his sleeve. Then, quieter, "I—I saw his face."

Dark eyes, fair skin that seemed to be gray in the blue hue coming from the lights. Wide nose, shaping his face. He'd been clean-shaven this time, but that was the only difference. Most things about Anderson had remained the same, such as the smug face and the way his eyes glimmered when he did that.

One pair of eyebrows raised, curiously, although soon she realized what she was doing and tried to act normal. It didn't go unnoticed, however.

"He looks almost the same as when I last saw him," he continued. His gaze was fixed on the fabric of his pants. "And it reminded me... It..."

"Why did you take Mr. King?" Langdon continued, knowing he was on the right path to get answers.

This time, he was unable to put his hurt into words, and Delilah knew this. "You had a memory?" she asked.

Anderson shrugged. "We saw him leaving the train station just as we were driving by, and it was a spur of the moment thing. Why get one if you could have two?"

As if he was talking about buying one or two apples.

Jason nodded. "The flashback wasn't even from the time of the kidnapping," he said. "It was way before then, back in primary school. There was this boy, the same age as me, and he—he... I didn't understand it back then, but he said I dressed strange and used to make fun of me. And I didn't understand why it hurt me so much."