Scarecrow of 1889
Chapter 42: Wrapping the murders

Chapter 42: Wrapping the murders

"You lied to me, you bastard! I will hand you to the officers here for screwing with me!" Sebastian looked angry and disgusted at the same time.

But Agnes wasn’t there to hear the rest of the vile words that were hurled at her. Ricardo had taken over when Sebastian had forced himself, pushing his hand between his legs and it had brought out memories that had been hidden in the dark.

Ricardo felt his cheeks were wet from tears which belonged to Agnes. As rage took over him of how they had been forced upon again, he grabbed the biggest broken piece of the vase from the ground. With a blink of an eye, he grabbed the assaulter’s neck and slit the person’s throat wide open.

"W—what—!" Sebastian struggled to get words out of him, while he held his neck with both his hands, before falling on his knees and on the ground with blood continuing to ooze.

"Maldito cabron! Me asegurare de que no llegues ni al cielo ni al infierno por tus acciones de mierda, imbecil!" Ricardo cursed the dead. "You will belong to nowhere! I will make sure of it!"

Ricardo had turned the body of the deceased, while still holding the shard of the broken vase in his hand, before he took out the man’s heart for being heartless. He then took out the man’s eyes. By then there were drops of blood on his face and stains on his clothes. He remarked,

"Heir of the museum was it? How would you feel to leave your heart and eyes to be the next things used as a bid?" Ricardo asked in a diabolic tone.

Ricardo finished recollecting the things that had happened and telling it to Dr. Hall. "He tried to assault just like she

had. And I did what I couldn’t in the past, what I couldn’t protect in the past. And if you need to know, he was a married man. They failed to bring it up during the case."

"How did you know?" Dr. Hall asked, and saw Ricardo raise his hand and tap on the ring finger. "Ring?"

"Do you know that there are many men who remove their wedding or engagement rings when they come out in a social place. And you know how? Because of the tan it leaves," Ricardo explained as if it was a known thing.

"What happened in the case of Edward Mitchel? He was a person living in the building before you moved to Riddleford, right?"

"It isn’t far from what happened with Sebastian. Agnes went out, wanting to look around. They had a couple of drinks, and he told he would drop her off her place, which obviously she gave wrong address if he were to follow and the next thing you know, the nice man wasn’t nice anymore," Ricardo explained, before adding,

"One would say that Agnes meeting men and sharing drinks was wrong. But she only talked, unless talking is forbidden. It wasn’t like she could protect herself by going to the parish house and complaining that she was forcibly touched, when she was wearing the clothes she wanted. When she looked the way she believed she was meant to be, but she didn’t have the body of a woman."

Dr. Hall didn’t comment on what Ricardo said, and he continued to listen as the man poured his thoughts out to him. The more he would speak, the easier it would be for him to handle his emotions and not convert them into violence.

It seemed that both the men and women had died for sexual reasons. One had forced upon himself just like his mother had, and the women because of their infidelity.

They spoke through the other murders that Ricardo had committed, going through each of them so that Dr. Hall could unravel and understand his patient, so that he didn’t carry the anger with him.

After a couple of days, Dr. Hall and Sylvester were back in the room. Dr. Hall asked, "How are you doing today, Sylvester?"

"I am fine," Sylvester replied with a nod. He then asked, "Are you going to ask them about the next murder?"

"I soon will be," Dr. Hall replied, "But there’s no hurry for it. We need to make sure that you are able to absorb what happened in the past and present. If you want, we don’t have to go through the hypnosis session. In the last few months, there has been good progress. We can just talk about how you are feeling and what you would like to do."

"It has been long," Sylvester replied. "Can’t believe how time has passed." Very slow, came the response from his mind.

"Very true, and so much has happened. Has your family been writing you letters?" Dr. Hall inquired.

"You mean Elizabeth? No, she hasn’t since she heard that her letter was torn by Agnes," Sylvester bitterly smiled. "I think she’s scared that I might kill her like the rest. Like our mother."

"It wasn’t you who killed your mother, Sylvester," Dr. Hall tried to get Sylvester to see past what people had claimed to know about what happened.

Sylvester raised his hands and then said, "It was these very hands, though, wasn’t it? There are so many death that everyone sees me with disdain now."

"You had no memory of it. And even if Ricardo did those things, we are working on healing those wounds that created more wounds. We are working on it so that it never happens again, so do not blame yourself," Dr. Hall assured him. He then said,

"Before we move to the last two murders, which are Margot Brooks and your mother, I have been curious about the last names that every personality of yours picked up. It is said that they form into scarecrow. You must know something about it, don’t you?"

Sylvester sat there quietly, his fingers pressing against each other. He replied, "I don’t..."

Dr. Hall nodded, "That’s alright, Sylvester. May I speak to the others?"

"Okay."

Soon Sylvester was put under hypnosis under the sound of the tick tock that continued in the room. Once he was deep in sleep, Dr. Hall spoke,

"Ricardo?"

"Unhappy with Sylvester’s boring answer, doctor?" Ricardo asked with a smirk.

"I want to know when the dolls came into your possession. These scarecrow dolls that have been placed at the murder scene," Dr. Hall stated, as they hadn’t touched on this matter.

Ricardo then began, "Sylvester was too young to probably remember it, but his mother had once put up a show of the scarecrow, the same one which had the storyline of a boy who is saved by the scarecrow. It was said that the scarecrow was made out of four important things. Eyes of a crow, to find evil. Made out of wood and hollowness, to accommodate and not nurture. Hat on the head, which is a cloak from people. It isn’t just a story, but one which is heroic and when Marcello came across the shop, he wanted them. He said we would use it as souvenirs, to remind people that evil would not be looked over and punishment would be given for people who broke it."

"People break trust, loyalty, betray like there’s no tomorrow with lies. Someone needed to punish them, and the scarecrow appeared, dealing with the offenders. Sometimes law can only handle this much, before something else needs to step up," he finished speaking.

"But that is why laws are made, Ricardo," Dr. Hall said in a calm voice. "We do not have the authority to punish people. We can only use words, and try to make them understand. These drastic actions aren’t ours to make, nor are people’s lives. You know that too, don’t you. We have gone through it before."

Ricardo pursed his lips and then replied, "I know. My actions weren’t in vain, but for a reason. I never killed an innocent person, doctor."

"I know, and I believe you," Dr. Hall stated, as he had verified with the information about the victims with the officers in Riddleford. "What happened to Margot Brooks?"

"Margot came home with the excuse of giving dinner. She was a nosey woman," Ricardo said, remembering her with much distaste. "She was always hanging at the front, trying to get into Sylvester’s pants," he laughed, as if finding it to be funny. "She tried, by taking the key lying in the living room and getting back into the apartment when he went to bed. But she should have known better, that not every man wants to jump the next woman walking. All of them are social climbers, ready to catch the possible ladder they find."

Sylvester was deep in sleep, when Margot entered the apartment without his knowledge. Seeing him sleep in the bed, she found it to be a perfect time to sneak in and then make him believe that they had sex, which he didn’t remember.

But the moment she slipped inside his bed and moved her hand, whispering, "It is going to feel good real soon. You will forget all the other ones who have come here." And her hand had jolted Sylvester awake before Ricardo took over.

"And the rest is history," Ricardo stated, before muttering, "He’s always been a pushover. Had he kept strong boundaries, instead of acting nice, things wouldn’t have escalated in such ways."

"Thank you for sharing it with me. There’s a final one we need to speak about. Delilah Swan’s death," Dr. Hall mentioned. "There was a pattern in every death, until her turn. What changed?"