A Darkness Absolute (Casey Duncan #2)(56)

My best guess, judging by his injuries, is that he escaped his captor, who came after him. As for why that captor had been in my house, I have no idea.

*

While we were tending to Sutherland, Dalton examined the footprints behind my place. I take a second look. They’re scuffed and indistinct, running prints, impossible to tell if they match the man in the snowmobile suit. There’s no way of following them, either. Dalton tried but got about a half kilometer in and lost the trail as it merged with caribou tracks.

Dalton keeps fussing with the trail, and I head to Mathias’s place. He has his own house, despite being a nonessential resident. If asked, he’ll say, “But a butcher is very essential. Anyone can bake a loaf of bread. Carving meat is an art form.” Which is bullshit. Yes, I’m sure there’s skill involved in butchering, but that’s not why he has his own house.

“No one will share a building with him,” Dalton had said when I asked. “He scares them off.”

“What does he do?”

“He exists, apparently.”

After a few early complaints, the council awarded Mathias his own house, over Dalton’s complaints that it broke town law. The council just didn’t want to deal with the issue.

When I rap on Mathias’s door, he calls, in French, “I’m hiding. Go away.”

I lean against the door. “Hiding works a lot better when you don’t answer.”

“I tried that when you sent Kenneth to fetch me. It did not work.”

“Sure it did. It let you duck out of examining Shawn Sutherland.”

“Because he does not require my examination. And he bores me. When he ran, I thought perhaps he was showing an unexpected spark of character. But now he has returned. Boring.”

“He escaped captivity, presumably from the same guy who took Nicole. Doesn’t that make him more interesting?”

“Is his captor still alive?”

“Unfortunately.”

“Then no, it does not make him any more interesting.”

I sigh. “Well, I didn’t come to talk to you about Shawn anyway. I want to discuss the psychology of hostiles.”

Silence.

“Okay, so that bores you, too. Fine.”

I’ve stepped off the front porch when the door opens a crack. “Psychology of hostiles?”

“Never mind, Mathias. I’m not in the mood to wheedle for a few minutes of your precious time. I’ll talk to Isabel.”

“Isabel cannot help you with this. It is my area.”

“Which is why I came here. Otherwise I wouldn’t bother you.”

He opens the door and leans against the frame. “You are angry with me.”

“No, Mathias,” I say as I turn to face him. “I am tired of you. The dead bodies of two women interested you. The live victims? Boring. Just go back inside and wait for me to bring you more bodies. At this rate, I’m sure they’ll show up eventually. I just hope they’re interesting enough for you.”

“I cannot help you with Shawn Sutherland. He is evidently alive and in good health for his condition, or you would have hunted me down. Any psychological effects are better handled by Isabel. The only abnormal psychology at work is that of the killer. Can Shawn add anything to what Nicole has said?”

“Not yet. He’s still feverish. But you could have shown up for ten minutes, consulted with Will, and helped him feel more confident in his diagnosis.”

He considers and then nods. “You have a point. William is placed in a very uncomfortable position here, which he does not deserve. Note that I say that despite knowing he does not like me very much.”

“No one likes you very much. Which is exactly how you like it.”

“True.”

“And one of the people who does like you is quickly changing her opinion.”

“I know, which is why I opened the door.”

“No, you opened the door because what I said doesn’t bore you.”

“I can have more than one motivation. All the best antagonists do.” He threw open the door. “Come in, Casey. Let us talk about hostiles.”

*

“How much do you know about them?” I say as we settle into Mathias’s living room. “And don’t tell me that you know they’re hostile.”

“That is their defining characteristic, is it not? Like the savages of yore, defined wholly by the fact they were savage.”

“But they weren’t. So-called savages were defined that way by people with a very narrow view of culture and civilization. That isn’t what we’re looking at here. These people aren’t just different. They’re—”

“Actively hostile?”

I glower at him.

“All right,” he says. “Tell me more. Have you encountered one? I have not. Very few of us here have. I presume Eric would be the exception.”

I tell him about Dalton’s experiences.

“Now, that is interesting. He is correct that it may not have been mud. Did you know psychiatric patients sometimes smear themselves with feces?”

“I’ve heard of it.”

“It’s common enough that there’s a term for it. Scatolia. Do you know why they do it?”

“Because it’s disgusting.”