There wasn’t any struggle going into the crime scene with an old car and a brand new badge. All Neshoba got was a few compliments for his car and congratulations for making it in the FBI. In truth, everyone there was more distracted by the bodies in the driveway than to question his authenticity.

  After finding a suitable parking spot, he made sure to check the five bodies to confirm if his target did get there. He was hoping the gruesome sight wasn’t as terrible as some stories described. An over exaggeration to terrify everyone in the Order so they could stay in line and remember that they allowed monsters like Jackson within their ranks who would gladly hunt them down. However, their corpses confirmed the reality of those stories. His hair beads hummed, but there was no point in looking into the past to understand what went down.

  Only two had relatively normal deaths, well, normal compared to any typical murder. One had his neck snapped while the other seemed to have both of his lungs collapsed. The other three weren’t so fortunate. One kid had their leg flattened, another had their ribcage torn out from them while the last one had their skull yanked out from behind. Two will not have an open casket funeral, that was for certain. Next to every body were weapons of some kind. One of them was a shotgun snapped in half.

  Near the house, a sheriff ranted and raved at a police officer about the witnesses inside being the murderer. Neshoba approached the two officers after flashing his fake badge. ‘Apologies to interrupt. I’m Agent Keys and I need a briefing about what has happened here.’

  The sheriff pulled a face, unsure why an FBI Agent would be there so quickly and right after the murder. ‘Why are you here?’

  ‘To put it simply, we have a violent serial killer on the loose. They recently…’

  ‘They?’ The sheriff interrupted. ‘There are multiple killers?’

  ‘No, the person I am looking for doesn’t identify with any gender. But as I was saying. They recently escaped a psychiatric facility in Missouri. I’m part of a twenty-man team and I came here as fast as I could when our system registered a crime.’

  ‘How come we didn’t get any news or a heads up?’

  Neshoba raised a brow. While he would appear annoyed by that question, his mind raced to any plausible justification for why the FBI didn’t contact them. Thinking quickly, he scratched his ear to turn on his earpiece so Claire could hear. ‘The breakout was 24-hours ago. They weren’t the only ones to break out. In fact, three people did. Unfortunately, two of the three are dead during the escape. Mauled to death by a bear. We only identified the survivor after a grueling 18-hour autopsy with the belief the escapee in question had passed, we were wrong. However, your department should have the information soon or right about now.’

  He pretended to scratch his ear again to turn the earpiece off. The sheriff frowned, it was evident that the case deeply affected him in some way. In the end, he relented and shook his head while his voice quivered for a bit. ‘The family inside the house reported the murders almost an hour ago. The father, Bob, was outside. He still has blood on him. They witnessed what happened and…’ He stopped himself before continuing. ‘Well, it happened. I interviewed the family not long ago, but feel free to talk to them.’

  ‘Did they give the description of the suspect? Do they know the suspect prior to the murders?’

  The sheriff shook his head in annoyance. ‘Nothing useful. They avoided any question about what the bastard looks like. And no, they don’t seem to know anything about the murderer.’

  ‘Will I have a transcript of your interview with the family?’

  ‘If it helps you find the psycho, you will get everything you need.’ Before Neshoba was about to walk off to talk to the family. The sheriff grabbed his arm. ‘Just between us, one of the victims in the driveway is my son. If you need anything to help with your investigation and tracking down that butcher. Let me know.’

  Neshoba gave a courteous nod and replied before heading inside. ‘Don’t worry, we’ll find them.’

  Everyone was inside of the living room. A family of five, three adults and two kids. One of the kids seemed to be close to finishing high school. Everyone was shaken, still shocked about the murders that had happened in their front driveway. To him, he was curious about why they were still alive. It seemed clear Jackson had a reason to kill the five people, but he wasn’t sure why Jackson would do that.

  ‘Hello, I’m Agent Keys of the FBI.’ He said before sitting down in front of them. ‘I want to let you know that I understand what you are all going through. This has been a long day and you all want this all over and done with. So, I’ll only continue where the sheriff finished off and ask a few questions before I move on. Will that be okay with all of you?’

  The family nod, all willing to cooperate with Keys. He suspected they would have some knowledge of the target. A leverage he could use to figure out what he was doing there.

  ‘I’m looking for someone named Jackson. They were born with a peculiar set of genetic disorders which disfigured his appearance, like ichthyosis and acromegaly. They are a highly dangerous and very unstable individual who recently escaped from a psychiatric facility in a different state. So, any information you have on this person will greatly help me track them down and bring them to justice. I know you were recently interviewed, but this is an opportunity to refresh your memory and tell me anything you might know about this person.’

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  He noticed how the family looked at each other, a subtle gesture to see if they should reveal the information to him. Confirming the idea that they had interacted with Jackson to some extent prior to the killings. That would be the only case and reason as to why they would be alive.

  ‘Uh…’ The eldest daughter said, her voice lowered. ‘Two days ago I was attacked by Butch whose…’ She pointed outside, referring to one of the victims being Butch. ‘He attacked me because he wanted money. Then… Jackson came out of nowhere and fought them off. He then collapsed to the ground, and I took him home to help them recover.’

  So they helped her, and her family helped them. It seems Jackson has some sort of morality system that allows them to step up to other people’s defence. ‘Can you describe their behaviour to me? Any oddities that make any of you feel uncomfortable?’

  ‘He is just strange. Mostly antisocial, doesn’t talk much, and he is always emotionless.’ Bob recalled.

  ‘Jackson is just weird to be around. Talking to him is… off-putting.’

  Strange behaviour and antisocial tendencies? Might relate to the medication they’ve stolen days prior. ‘What about today? Is there a reason as to why he had killed those five men outside?’

  The mother groaned before replying. ‘They wanted our money. They were known to extort people. This is… was, their routine drive in to get what they wanted.’

  ‘Would you say Jackson acted in self-defence on your behalf?’ Neshoba questioned.

  ‘If you can even call that self-defence.’ She retorted, her eyes watered while she remembered how the reptile brutalised them. ‘That was… wrong.’

  Neshoba pulled out a notebook and wrote the conclusions to his questions. ‘Lastly, do any of you know where he might be going?’

  ‘Appleseed.’ The youngest child replied.

  ‘Appleseed?’

  The boy tried to finish his sentence, but the grandmother cut him off to explain. ‘Appleseed was an old town I used to live in as a kid. He just misheard a conversation I had with Abernu. But no, officer, we don’t know where he is going.’

  He raised a brow, he never told them Jackson’s last name but somehow she knew. It would make sense for Jackson to tell the family their full name. However, Neshoba found that unlikely as it would contradict the family’s discretion of Jackson’s personality and antisocial behaviour. From her body language and how she reacted to her grandchild, Neshoba speculated she knew a lot more about Jackson than she let on. Appleseed also seemed strange for a town name, and it wasn’t a random thing the grandchild would openly say. He knew it had importance, but wasn’t sure what it was.

  ‘That will be all the questions I have. Again, I am sorry that any of you had to go through this tragedy. If you remember anything or had any additional information that could help us. Contact us as soon as possible.’

  As Neshoba was about to make his exit, the eldest daughter spoke up. ‘He was looking up people on the internet.’

  ‘What sort of people?’

  ‘I dunno, just a lot of them. He seems to be looking up some names, but they seemed random. One of the people he was looking for was a guy named Brian Leichenberg.’

  ‘Did Jackson explain why they were looking for them?’

  She shook her head. ‘He didn’t tell us anything.’

  That is a good lead. Neshoba thought to himself. ‘Thank you for letting me know. I’ll need to get going, but can you please get that list and provide it to the police for further evidence.’ He said before leaving the home and walked back to the car. That was all he needed from them. But like the family, even they seemed unsure about Jackson’s motivations.

  All it remained was who would be next? While he walked past the bodies, the way they were mutilated made him wonder. What were the reptile’s limits? The way they died was beyond cruel, it was a message. As to what that message was, he could understand. But the effects could be felt by everyone around. Fear, horror, disbelief, disgust. If Jackson was willing to enforce that message on the common thug, Neshoba wondered what they would do to someone who crossed them.