Hard Luck Hermit

After a short wait in the meeting room, the Jukati guards finally dragged Nible in. Corey was relieved to see that he was heavily chained with thick bands around his arms and legs to keep him from running. The guards led him to a chair and hooked his chains to the table to keep him in place. Nible had not looked happy to be dragged around by the guards, but his expression changed when he saw Kamak. He parted thin lips into a smile that bared broad, flat teeth, like he had a mouthful of molars.

“Kamak! You’ve come to visit me again,” Nible said. “I assume that means you want me to look at more corpses?”

“Naturally,” Kamak said. “You’re the expert.”

“Oh, Kamak,” Nible said softly. “Sometimes I wish you’d visit just to chat. Sometimes, when you don’t visit me…”

He looked up with a dead eyed stare and glowered at Kamak.

“I think about visiting you.”

On instinct, Corey put his hand towards where his gun would usually be, and found only empty space. He shifted a little closer to one of the armed guards. Kamak didn’t blink.

“Is that supposed to work on me?”

“On you? No,” Nible said. He raised his hands as far as the chains would allow and pointed at Corey. “Him.”

Kamak and Nible both laughed, and Corey rolled his eyes.

“You should’ve seen him,” Nible said. He mimed the way Corey had reached towards a gun, with a mocking expression on his face. “Where’d you find this kid?”

“Hey, he’s a little edgy, but he’s more competent than he looks,” Kamak said.

“He’d almost have to be,” Nible said.

“I’m starting to see why you two get along,” Corey grunted.

“Right, right, come on Nible, I’m not here to roast the new kid, no matter how much he deserves it,” Kamak said. “I actually do have some corpses for you to look at.”

Kamak pulled out a datapad preloaded with all the case info and handed it to Nible, who began to idly thumb through. Some of the pictures were even enough to make Nible look upset.

“Oh, very messy,” Nible said. “It’s not like you to go after this type, Kamak, what happened?”

“I’m not after them,” Kamak said. “They’re after me. They’re obsessed, they’re targeting people me and my crew are associated with.”

“Oh, should I be worried?”

“Not likely,” Kamak said. The high walls and heavy security of the prison would probably dissuade any assassination attempts. “What do you think, Nible?”

“Well, I’ve gotten to meet all sorts of lovely people here in maximum security, but even I’ve never met anyone who’d do anything like this,” Nible said. “Me and the other serial killers chat, swap notes, that sort of thing, and let me tell you, even Shigg-et would turn up his nose at some of this, and he ate his victims.”

Tooley scowled. Cannibals. Nible went back to perusing the crime scene photos.

“There’s definitely precision here, messaging,” Nible said. “And a learning curve. This first fellow got the worst of it, but I think your killer learned from their mistakes, realized that much brutality was time-consuming, risky. They reined it in for the next one, went for something flashy but not quite so...extensive.”

Nible thumbed through to the next one. The video played, but Kamak had deliberately excluded the audio. He didn’t need the guards overhearing anything and starting up the rumor mill.

“And this last one...elaborate, and effective. Still alive when you found him, I’d guess?”

“Yes,” Kamak grunted.

“Hmm.”

Nible dropped the datapad on the table and slid it back to Kamak. He’d seen enough.

“Your killer’s fresh. Smart, but not experienced,” Nible explained. “These are some of their first kills, if not the very first. Any experienced killer would know how to combine flash and substance right off the bat, there’d be no experimental phase.”

“Good to know. Anything else?”

“Who were the victims, and what was their relationship to you? In order.”

“First one was a guy we did a security gig for. Second bought my old ship,” Kamak said. “Third one...Third one was my liaison at the guild. We weren’t friends. But we had regular contact.”

“Oh no, Kamak, I don’t think you have to be a serial killer to see the pattern there,” Nible said.

“What? What pattern?”

The chains binding Nible rattled as he leaned forward.

“The escalation,” Nible said. “They’ve been getting closer, Kamak. Practicing, creeping their way towards you.”

Kamak looked at the discarded datapad, and the phantom images of the bloody murders contained within.

“You think they’re coming after one of us next?”

“Maybe, but I wouldn’t count on it,” Nible said. “More likely they’re going after someone even closer. Friends. Family, if you have them.”

After a moment of contemplation, Kamak snatched his datapad off the table and stood up.

“We’d better go,” Kamak said. “Thanks for the help, Nible, and watch yourself. You should be safe here, but...”

“I think I can handle myself, Kamak,” Nible said. “But I appreciate the concern. Come back and visit again sometime.”

“Hopefully I won’t be bringing any corpses next time,” Kamak said.

“I won’t be counting on it,” Nible said. “Corpses have a way of showing up wherever you go, Kamak.”