Regenerate

Chapter 17

There’s another murder. Another portrait painted in blood.

It’s all over the news. And that’s where we hear about it first. There’s no call from Mantis.

No word from him at all. I had thought it would be good to get a break from him. But this is disconcerting, to say the least.

After a day, I try calling him. No luck. He doesn’t answer. I call at least twenty times to make sure. But he doesn’t pick up. Not once.

“I never thought I’d say this, but I’m worried about him,” I tell Derek. “He’s usually omnipresent. Not hearing from him is weird. Especially when there’s been another murder. In the past he’s always known about the murders before they even made it on to the news.”

“And it’s hard to know where he might be, since we don’t know anything about him,” Derek says. “So what do we do?”

I slump down onto the couch. “I don’t know.”

Part of me really wants to throw the phone against the wall in frustration. But then we really never would hear from him.

“The worst part,” I continue, “is that being disconnected from him makes me feel useless with the whole serial killer thing as well. I have no clue how to find the guy. Mantis is my eyes and ears. And I hate to admit it, but probably the brain too.”

Derek sits down next to me. “He may be a brainiac, but he’s not your brain.”

"Well he's the one with all the good ideas," I say. "He's the one who comes up with all the plans. He would have a plan to find himself."

"You realize that doesn't even make any sense, don't you?"

I sigh. "What I'm getting at is that I've sort of gotten used to having him think up all the good plans. And I just carry them out. We work well that way. I'm no good at scheming, and he's no good at getting his hands dirty."

"Sort of sounds like you've gotten a little attached to him. Kind of funny considering that you don't even trust the guy."

"What do you mean, attached?" I ask. Am I attached to him?

Derek sits up a little straighter. "You tell me."

"I'm worried about him," I say after thinking for a minute. "This isn't like him. Not like him at all. If he's not talking to me, it probably means he's in trouble. And yes, I've sort of gotten used to having him around."

"What if this is all just some sort of twisted test?" Derek asks. "Like he wants to see what you'd do if he weren't here to boss you around."

I'm getting the feeling that Derek isn't exactly fond of Mantis. He's even more sceptical of the mystery man than I am. And that's saying something.

I shake my head. "He wouldn't do that. I mean, he would. But not right now. He cares too much about catching that serial killer. He wouldn't do something to jeopradize that."

"So we have to find him, then."

I laugh. "You can't be serious. He's the one who does the finding. Not us. We don't even know his name, remember."

"And what do we know about him?"

I pick at a loose strand in my sock. "Not much. He sounds young. Like he's not much older than you or I. He's educated. And wealthy. Good with computers, I think. But that's all just speculation. For all I know he has software that alters his voice when he speaks. Maybe he's not even a man. I don't know. Trust me. I've thought about this plenty. I have no idea who this guy is."