Page 2 of Compulsion
For all the good the explanations had done her.In the end, she’d been given the death penalty.
A verdict still on appeal.A very, very long appeal process.Her mother would not be dying anytime soon.
“Are we talking about me?”Magnolia leaned forward.“Or are we talking about you?”Her full lips pressed together.“A mother does like to keep tabs on her daughter’s life.It’s only natural.”
There was nothing natural about their relationship.
Magnolia’s features tightened, just the faintest bit.“Have you put your ridiculous research aside?”
“Thank you, Mother,” Lily responded.“It’s always lovely to have one’s life’s work called ridiculous.”
“The children of serial killers.” Magnolia’s nostrils flared.“You do not need to find them.You do not need to get close to those monsters—” But she broke off because…
I am one of those monsters.Lily deliberately widened her eyes as she waited for her mother to continue.Only Magnolia did not speak again, so Lily prompted, “You were saying something about monsters?”
“You aren’t like them.”A sniff.
“You don’t know them.”Neither did Lily.Neither did anyone.That was the problem.And the potential.She wanted to dive deeper into their lives.To see what made them tick.Wasn’t that the big puzzle in the behavioral and psychological world?Nature or nurture?Which would be stronger?
Or, in the case of children born to serial killers…
Nature or nurture…did you know what your parents were?Did they try to make you like them?Or try to turn you into something completely different?
“You’re seeking out the dangerous ones,” her mother chided.“That will be problematic for you.”
She hadn’t talked to her mother about who she was seeking.She rarely talked to her mother about her life.Certainly not her work.But, as always, Magnolia knew her well.
“You don’t want to talk to the ones with picket fences and happy babies.You’re looking for the ones with evil coiled inside of them.For the ones who hear the call.For the ones who like the blood.You’re trying to figure out what pushed them over the edge—or that will push them.”
The guard shifted a bit closer.
Lily made certain her expression didn’t alter.But she could feel sweat sliding down her back, right between her shoulder blades.The small visiting room at the Alabama maximum security prison was very, very warm.
Then again, the whole prison was a hellhole, so it should be hot.Overcrowded, inhumane—there had been so many lawsuits against the place in the past that the Feds had needed to come in and start setting their own management standards.
But instead of being angry when she found out that she would be living her remaining days at the Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women, Magnolia had seemed…pleased.
Like that wasn’t problematic.
Mother, what are you planning?
And, nearly right from the start, Magnolia had made it a point to befriend the warden.Lawrence.
Now her mother made atut-tut-tutwith a few loud clicks of her tongue.“I know you, sweet child.”
She was far from being a child.Or from being sweet.Magnolia had made certain of that fact.
“You want to talk to the killers—the ones who are walking in the footsteps of their parents.You want to find the evil.Root it out.”Her mother’s head tilted to the side.“Is it because you are so tempted to walk in my footsteps?Darling, does the dark call to you?”And she reached out her hand, as if she’d touch Lily.
Lily whipped back in her wobbly chair.“I’m trying tostopthe monsters.Not become one.”This talk was over.She rose to her feet.“Goodbye, Mother.”She turned away, aware that her breathing was too hard.Once again, she’d let her mother get beneath her skin.She should have known better.Even though Lily had a fistful of degrees now, Magnolia was still the pro at manipulation.Some people were just born gifted.
Others were cursed.
“You’ll come back?”Magnolia inquired, voice warm as sunshine.
Lily glanced over her shoulder.“Don’t I always?”
“Yes.Because you’re such a good, dutiful daughter.”
