Chapter 16: Interview with the Darklighter

Thomas had greeted the psychiatrist in the reception and taken her to the same interrogation room where they had previously had their short interview. It was no surprise to him that the psychiatrist, Emily Spalding was her name, fiddled with her papers nervously as he left and came back, escorting the prisoner to his seat. Matthew sat down opposite her with the kindest of smiles and a light nod to show her his appreciation of her presence. She was quite young, but Lynne had made sure to get the best in the field, and her business-like attitude considered, she was probably one for the job of testing any criminal. But somehow her presence seemed oddly irrelevant as she was presented with the prisoner. Questioning his innocence seemed surreal. His kind smile, the twinkle of his eyes; who could he possibly have hurt in any way?

"How nice to see a kind face in this facility," Matthew greeted her and extended a shackled hand as far as the chains allowed him from where they were fastened in hook under the table. "A pleasure to meet you." Emily smiled back and shook his hand shortly.

"The pleasure is all mine, Mr Darklighter," she replied with a light voice, trying not to tremble too much with excitement. "I'm Emily Spalding and detective Wright wanted me to go through some psychological tests for the case files."

"I figured that much," Matthew supressed a laugh and glanced at Thomas, who stood by the door.

"Mrs Spalding, you just knock the door if there's anything," he said and with a final nod at the two of them, whether it was Matthew or Emily he did not know, Thomas left the room and went into the adjacent room behind the one-way mirror. Lynne joined him shortly after, a smile plastered all over her face.

"How did the ghost in the attic take it?" Thomas asked.

"We've got twenty-four hours," Lynne replied. "How is she?"

"Nervous but well prepared, I think," Thomas said. "She had some doubts whether to come or not, her usual cases having to do with murderers not abductors."

"Well, let's see if she can't find some parallels," Lynne put her arms across her chest and stared attentively through the mirror and into the interrogation room. They could hear the audio through a speaker. The papers rustled in Emily's hands as she piled them up.

"This is going to take a while," she said smiling apologetically at Matthew. "I need both an account of your upbringing, childhood, school years and connection to family, parents and authoritative persons in your life as well as a psychological test to see if you have any symptoms of mental disorders." She looked up and was slightly startled to see Matthew just smiling at her, his eyes fastened to her and his hands resting limp on the table in front of him. He didn't answer, didn't even show the slightest sign of hearing what she had just said. She concluded that he probably had and reached out for a form and a notepad, readying a pen to take down notes.

"First I need a few facts," she said. "Name?"

"Matthew James Darklighter."

"Age?"

"Forty-two."

"Date of birth?"

"Eighth of January, 1978."

"Gender?"

"What do I look like?" Matthew grinned.

"Well, I don't suppose you're transgender?" Emily replied and Matthew laughed kindly.

"No, although people have asked questions regarding the length of my hair before," he said and winked at her before returning to his expressionless state.

"Nationality?"

"English, flesh, blood and bone."

"Parents?"

"At the moment none, but do tell me if I'm being adopted. I'd like a head's up."

"Their names, please," Emily requested kindly.

"Evelyn Angelsis Darklighter and Arthur Emmanuel Darklighter."

"Brothers and sisters?"

"Plenty. Isobel Stella Darklighter and Vladimir Konstantin Darklighter."

"Children?"

"My son, Gabriel Jacques Darklighter."

"Any close friends?"

"Two or three. Depends on who you ask." A light smirk appeared for a second at the corner of his mouth.

"Occupation?"

"Chief Executive Officer of Northern Lights Industries and Darklighter Cooperations."

"Marital status?"

"Unmarried."

"But with a partner?" she raised an eyebrow

"Not exactly."

"Can you elaborate?"

"No," he smiled kindly. She turned the page of the formula.

"Right, so a bit about your childhood. How was it? Do you have any pleasant memories? Any traumatic occurrences?"

Matthew leaned back, his eyes scanning her face. He knew for a fact that what resembled a tinted window behind her was really the one-way mirror behind which Lynne and Thomas stood observing the scene. It was a risky game, but so far he had played all the cards right.

"My parents were killed when I was very young. I was brought up by my brother and sister. I took over the family business at the age of eighteen."

"That must have been hard."

"Not really. My studies led me straight to the chair. My teachers called me talented. I must have been."

"What were those studies?"

"Social Economics and International Communication and Management. I finished my Ph. D. when I was twenty-eight."

"You mentioned you had a son which must also mean you had a wife or a woman in your life at some point. Where is she now?"

"She died fifteen years ago," he lowered his gaze shortly to show his remorse. When he looked back up again any trace of it was gone. Emily took a note.

"You must have been young when you had your son."

"Twenty-two. We marry young in my family. To secure the blood-line."

"Sounds rather conservative."

"But effective," he replied. She nodded acknowledging, noting again.

"So, your parents had no say in your upbringing?"

"Not as such. I was too young when they died to remember, and my brother and sister taught me the best they had learned. My sister mostly."

"How did that turn out?"

"How does it look like it turned out?" he smiled. "Quite well, don't you think?"

"How do you remember your parents - if you remember them at all?" she asked kindly and ran the pen along her bottom lip as she watched him. He shrugged.

"Nothing," he said offhandedly. "Both were distant and dark figures."

"How old were you when they died?"

"Two or three. I can't remember."

"How old were you when you entered school and which did you attend?"

"I was probably around six, and the name of the school I can't recall, but it was a private school, somewhere in Oxford."

"How was school? In your opinion," she added quickly.

"No stress, easy-learning. Good teachers."

"No competition? Bullying? Boys do tend to fight, I know for a fact my own do," Emily said smiling. Matthew allowed a sympathetic laugh to escape.

"I guess I was, what do you call it?, the quiet boy, minding my own business mostly. I seldom had any trouble, and if I did, it was with the teachers."

"What kind of trouble would that be then?"

"They thought me too talented. I was referred to another school after two years. It was primarily for children with higher IQ than average. I passed my exams, attended college abroad in France, returned to Oxford to study at the university where I got my Ph.D."

"You focused mainly on studying, I presume. How about your social life?"

"Well, I had my family, for one, and I married at the age of twenty," Matthew elaborated. "There's that."

"So, no socializing except from with your family?"

"Not as such, unless you call socializing intellectual debate and conversation during lectures and in related study groups. I attended a few book clubs and developed a fondness for discussing with some of my class mates, but I presume socializing, in modern terms, is more about," he tasted the words before proceeding with a smile, "going out and dancing the night away, intoxicated by alcohol and such stimulants."

Emily choked down a laugh. "Yeah well, I wouldn't imagine you'd be a person interested in such activities, but I was thinking along those lines."

"Well, then I have to say, you're just as smart as you look, Mrs Spalding," Matthew replied. Emily suppressed a smile and moved on.

"So, you say your sister and brother took care of your upbringing. How were they, as authoritative persons, to you?"

"Determined, insistent, disciplined and talented. Some times they could have passed as my parents. I once forgot they weren't. Quite embarrassing, to be frank." Emily noted down as he spoke and glanced up from her notepad.

"How about teachers, mentors or other such figures from your educational background? How did they pose in your perception of authority and, perhaps, morality?"

"They were guides, messengers of wisdom, but nothing else than that," he replied. She nodded understanding.

"And your wife? What impact did she have on you while you were acquainted and married?"

"I think you should ask the other way around," he winked at her. "After all, the marriage was arranged and I knew her beforehand."

"But it was with consent?"

"From both sides, yes."

"There was never any domestic violence during your marriage?"

"No!" Matthew looked appalled at her. "Never."

"None from your siblings' side as well?"

"We were siblings, we had our fights, but as civil people. We debated, discussed, threw tantrums and such, but never anything physical."

"What about towards your son?" Emily looked up from the notepad and surveyed his reaction. He folded his hands and leaned in over the table, the face now bereft of a smile and ice in his gaze.

"Well, if I had, I wonder why he was so sad at seeing me leaving the airport at the mercy of the dear police men," he sneered. Emily tossed a strand behind her ear and lowered her gaze.

"Your son has a quite a reputation with crime and drugs, and judging from this reckless behaviour he could have suffered from traumatizing experiences in his home since early childhood," she remarked.

"If you want to interview him do that instead of interviewing me," Matthew replied grimly.

"Well, I do have to ask these questions, Mr Darklighter," she said, "considering the fact that the accusations presented in your case involve child abduction. Such cases often involve a perpetrator with a history of abusive behaviour, either violent or sexual - or both."

"Well, I don't have any record, do I?" Matthew smirked mirthlessly. Emily paused and glanced at him gravely.

"Not yet, Mr Darklighter," she said. Matthew's smirk widened. Lynne's hands tightened around her arms as she stood and watched behind the mirror. The interview continued in a less friendly atmosphere.

"Any history of alcohol or drug abuse? Yourself or in the elder generations of the family?"

"None."

"Sexually deviant behaviour?"

"Define sexually deviant behaviour."

Emily tapped her pen on the notepad. "Non-heterosexual behaviour," she said finally.

"Well, I don't meddle in what my family members regard as their sexual preferences, but seeing that I've been capable of fathering a child, I'll let you do the math," he answered.

"Never any experimenting at a younger age?"

Matthew rolled his eyes and concluded that he'd better satisfy her curiosity to appear more human. "Once or twice, but never anything that interested me, and my desires have always drifted towards the opposite sex."

"Have you ever harmed a person or an animal and not felt remorse?"

"What kind of question is that?!" The fact that he wasn't far from that very situation didn't bother him.

"Have you ever witnessed any tragic accidents or deaths?"

"Not as far as I can recall, unless you count the tasteless display of war and catastrophes by the media."

"How well do you cope with emotional distress, like anger, jealousy or sadness?"

"I tend to speak to my siblings or my son, if there's anything troubling me."

"Have they ever expressed your emotions as a burden?"

"Never. We confide in each other when things get out of hand. We help and support. That's what family is for."

"How did your son react when your wife died?"

"He was very distraught, but I took care of it the best way I could back then. I had a heart to mend myself, but we were there for each other when we needed it, and we bonded, despite our common loss."

"He never rebelled against you?"

"You mentioned his reputation yourself, Mrs Spalding. If that wasn't rebellion, I don't know what is."

"I'm speaking in a more personal manner of rebellion against you entirely."

Matthew put his head back and laughed; it filled the room, just as mirthless as his smirk had been, and he shook his head. "No, he's always been keen to project his distress onto something more material."

"Has he had any psychological evaluation done? Therapy? Treatment? Rehabilitation after prolonged drug-use?"

"No, but he's coming off better these days than in the past," Matthew couldn't disguise a partially genuine smile. Emily scanned her notes before encasing them in a brown folder.

"I think that's all I need for now," she said and rose with a final glance at Matthew, who rose as well and extended his hand. She shook it shortly, eager to get out, but somehow he held onto her a second longer than she had anticipated. His hand felt cold and it wasn't from the dank climate in the interrogation room or the chains around his wrists. Like a sleek, cold fish out of the refrigerator, the hand of a business-man who sat behind a desk every day.

"Enjoy," he said, the smile never reaching his eyes. Emily left hurriedly through the door and Matthew sat down again, his gaze slowly traveling from the door and to the two-way mirror. Lynne felt it under her skin, and she looked back sternly, determined but gradually realizing that she had taken one step too far this time. She would never be able to jail him for a prolonged period of time. But she would die trying.