Page 52 of Nora
“What did they tell you?” Six asked. Nora relayed the conversation and when she finished, Six made a nondescript humming noise.
“Is someone not telling the truth?” Nora asked.
“No, they both told you the truth, just not the entire truth. Angelo was more than a little troubled. He stole things from the local shops and at one point, lashed out at one of the younger kids in the home. He didn’t do any lasting damage, but he pushed the boy and gave him a concussion.”
Nora considered that. Angelo was a quiet man, and she couldn’t see him with that kind of temper. But he’d also been a boy who’d lost his parents, and she said as much.
“Possibly. The event did happen about a year after he joined the home,” Six said.
“Anything else raise a red flag?” Lucian asked.
“Not really. He did have a puppy and he did train it. And the part about working with the SARs team is true. He just glossed over some of the stuff in his younger years,” Six answered.
“And Jean?” Nora asked.
“His sister was tough as nails. And while she was well respected for the work she did, she wasn’t particularly well-liked,” Six responded.
“Because she wasn’t super friendly and chatty the way people think women should be, or because she really was a difficult person?” Devil asked.
“Probably a little of both,” Six said. “Based on my research, she was an abrasive person, but it was probably exaggerated because of her gender. Everyone agreed that she was a damn fine vet.”
“Jean indicated he was close with his sister,” Nora said.
“By all accounts, she raised him. Their parents were in the picture, but not much in the picture,” Six said.
“So we have Angelo and his troubled youth and Jean being raised by a potentially overbearing female. Sounds like someone is drumming up textbook serial killer indicators. What about Jurgen and Collin?” Cyn asked.
“Jurgen is an interesting guy,” Devil started. Nora’s ears pricked up. Of all the participants, he was the one she’d spoken to the least. “He was raised in a devoutly religious household. The kind of religious that doesn’t drink, dance, sing, or do anything of that sort.”
“Which makes it interesting that he joined the military,” Nora said. Finished with her full dinner, she sat back in her chair and rolled her wineglass between her fingers.
“Like Angelo, he had a few run-ins with the law at a young age. Most likely lashing out at his parents’ strict upbringing, but nothing too serious. A little shoplifting and graffiti, those sorts of things. But when he joined the military, he swung so far in the opposite direction of his upbringing that he was almost kicked out. Dishonorably, of course.”
“In what ways?” Lucian asked.
“Drank to excess, would wake up in the morning still drunk. He started a few fights and even dabbled with the politics of the neo-nazis. Which is shitty enough, but also very illegal in Germany.”
“I don’t get that sense from him now,” Nora said, pondering this new information. She didn’t know him well, but the man Devil was describing didn’t fit with what she did know.
“Like Ingrid, the trainer, the military gave him an ultimatum. He could take his dishonorable discharge, or he could take a post in a small town that was little more than a few farms and a monastery. He took the latter and during the time he was there, he befriended the abbot. I don’t know what conversations happened, but over the three years he was there, he mellowed. Four years ago, the army offered him an opportunity to move back into more active duty. He embraced the challenge and has been on the rise ever since.”
“What do we know about the abbot?” Cyn asked.
“Oxford-educated philosopher of all things,” Devil said. “In addition to his PhD, he also has a master’s in psychology.”
“So all in all, a good man for someone with childhood issues to spend time with,” Nora suggested.
“Without talking to the abbot himself, I can’t confirm,” Devil said. “But it does appear as if Jurgen’s three years there were like one big extended therapy session that helped him work his shit out.”
Nora wanted to mull that information over a little more. “And Collin?”
Devil chuckled. “Again, an interesting guy. Did you know he was an internationally ranked chess player at the age of ten?”
Nora looked to Lucian in surprise. He shook his head and shrugged. The image of a young Collin playing chess wasn’t one that sat easily with the man he was now.
“I did not,” Nora replied.
“Well, he was. Both his parents are academics. His father is a mathematician, and his mother is a historian. He started playing chess in tournaments when he was six.”
