I Am Tired Of Being A Hero-Chapter 238: Breaking the veil

"Not a hypnotist." Ravi said, looking at Arlen, then he turned to face the blind person in front of him, "Nobody in Davenport can hypnotize that many people so easily. Well, Nobody but you, Malik."

Malik blinked, his long eyelashes moved as blank green eyes stared at Ravi and then he bent down and laughed. He did have sadistic and anti-social tendencies but if he should do something like that, he would punish himself for it. What kind of punishment would be fitting for someone like that, he could think of a couple of interesting punishments.

Ravi did not know the thoughts that were roaming through his friend’s mind had already departed from him being the suspect.

"Ravi..." Arlen’s heart pounded and he hesitated on reaching for his gun to look at Ravi for an explanation. Rather than Malik who he had met a few times, and against his instinct, he would unconditionally trust Ravi. This person might be dangerous but Arlen believed if he gave his all, he could at least immobilize Malik.

Ravi did not also know the thoughts that were going through his lover’s head or he would have shaken his head. Affectionately of course.

"Do you feel them?" He asked Malik.

"The spirits of the dead women?"

Ravi rolled his eyes, what was he talking about now, "I mean other people with mental abilities?" The killer was not a hypnotist but he was something. He was doing something; it could not be an illusion. For illusions to bypass reality then the person had to be at least 70% as strong as Malik and there was nobody of that level in Davenport.

"If they are close, very close, yes. Rather than find other mental abilities of mutants, I can discover people whose mental field has been tampered with. So, you were not suspecting me?"

Ravi rolled his eyes, "With Asher, Sage, and Lana, where would you have the time to go and do such rubbish? Besides, you are crazy but you are not mentally ill. This person put a rose in someone’s stomach and then sewed it back. He is just insane." He paused and looked at Malik with a hint of complicated emotion in his eyes, "You should have more confidence in yourself." After all, you are King Yama, even if you lose your memory and your soul shard is a low-level planet, how can you become a cowardly serial killer? Starting a war legally and openly killing thousands of people should be more in line with your identity.

Malik might not be able to see but he could feel the clear emotions waffled out of Ravi, it was a mixture of concern, pity, a weird fondness, and...hope that he can be better. If Malik should interpret the emotions, it would be the kind one would get from a mother looking at her child who says that she wants to grow up to be a princess.

Malik gritted his teeth and blocked the emotions, focusing on the caution that he felt from Arlen. That was easy, and familiar.

Should he just tell them who the killer was? No, that was not fair to the killer. It was a little weird this feeling of fairness he had towards criminals but Malik had gotten used to it. Why did he agree to help in this case again?

"Do you want to employ my services? Perhaps cut a deal with me?" He had already brought Ravi closer, his hypocritical rules should not apply to him.

"Services, you mean an official consultation as a psychology professor."

Ravi and Malik, ’No, he did not mean that’

"We are already doing that. When we catch the killer, we would send you a small package, the Davenport Police Bureau will not short you." Arlen said seriously as he watched the tired and helpless expression on the beautiful blind man’s face. He looked like he was a minute short of leaving this house.

Ravi raised a hand to his mouth to cover his smile, and echoed his lover’s words, "We would not short you at all, the package is quite sizable." Should be 250 dollars.

Malik parted his lips and closed it, "The 250 dollars?"

The two lovers looked at each other asking with their eyes.

’Should I add more money from my private funds?’

’Why? He is my friend, why should we give him any money at all?’

If Malik could describe the emotions he was receiving, they were red and giddy, wrapped with a ribbon, the kind that was gotten from Ravi when he feels like he had just cheated on someone and gained some extra money before his friend’s lover could start a preaching rhetoric of how he was contributing to society, Malik began to speak.

"You missed something in your investigation that can tell you what kind of ability this mutant has." Malik’s voice was soft like a teacher steering their students to a particular idea, "There is a time period you cannot explain. That was not adding up."

Arlen’s eyes widened, he had gone through all the documents over and over again so much, "Ravi, the first witness. How could it slip my mind?" He frowned; he could see the transcript of the interview in his mind right now.

"He said that he came out of the shop for a smoke break around 8:03. The report from the emergency service states that they were called around 8:24 and they pronounced Emily Wilson dead at 8:39 a.m. His store is directly opposite the sidewalk, even if he used 5 minutes to panic, 16 minutes is still uncounted for. In addition, by the time he rushed to her, she was already dead. If the killer was there, then his ability must be related to memory." He could recall the expressions of those who they interviewed: panicked, nervous, guilty, they did not see the victim as they passed.

Could it be that they just did not remember seeing her? Arlen imagined a sense of a group of people rushing to help the woman that was bleeding and stretching her hand to them, her eyes full of hope that died as the people about to help her sported blank looks and walked away. Wouldn’t that be more interesting to the killer?

The moment he had that thought, he shivered and reached to hold Ravi. An even more scary thought soon entered his mind.

"There is no shortcut when it comes to controlling abilities." His mother had told him.