Lee studied her a bit. Perhaps she had never seen the true pain another young child could feel. Or her peer, trying to hide their bruises. “Maybe.” He said at last. “It also doesn’t justify the right for the abuser to continue harming the innocent when someone can do something for the one too afraid to stand up for themselves.”

He sighed, warming his hands on the teacup before sipping its contents. “Then again… I’m probably more selfish than I thought. Not that I’ll do anything about it.” He stood, setting his cup down. “How about this: Before we continue, why don’t I show you my archive? Before I even touch my target I force them to admit to their habits and actions of the past and present. Come, I’ve taped them all.” He paused, halfway across the kitchen to the basement door. “You won’t see more than the confessions, though, don’t worry about that.”

He stepped to the basement door and opened it, staring at Tabitha as though speaking silently for her to follow along.

With a huff Tabitha shook her head. "No it doesn't, but there are ways other then murder to make them pay." Maybe she was being righteous and cold, but there was really no other way for her to view the world. It was just impossible for her to understand why anyone would harm their child like that, nor why anyone would kill or stand aside blind to another's pain. That just wasn't her way, at least she didn't think it was.

What he said made her nervous as she placed her white cup onto the table. The scrapping of the chair on the wood grated on her nerves and made her want to grit her teeth. Instead, Tabitha let out an angry huff. "You can't always trust what people say when you force them. They'll let things slip out to make the pain, the discomfort, stop even if they aren't guilty of anything." Blushing a little, she shook her head. She read way too many murder mysteries, and watched way too much Criminal Minds. It was beginning to seep into her brain.

Not that it was a bad thing under these circumstances. It helped her stay calm, even as her brown eyes filled with a bit of fear. The threshold was lay beneath the soles of Tabitha's sneakers, and beyond a darkness she didn't want to enter. Yet her morbid curiosity made her want to know what exactly these people had done.

((Oh my, this is a lot!))

Lee shook his head at the girl. Not necessarily at her, particularly, but at her words. She definitely watched a lot of shows revolving around crime. Perhaps only scripted shows. He, on the other hand, preferred the real things. Forensics, criminal profiling, mental advantages and disadvantages, and various real-time crime solving. It wouldn’t make anyone an expert, but at least the shows detailed very specifically the slips and mistakes other killers made and how to avoid them, so Lee remembered not to make those. Then again, he never killed in town. He always lured the targets away, into alleys, never near the road that led to his home.

He moved first down the stairs so Tabitha could, perhaps, feel more in control of the situation. The stairwell led into a kitchen, and to the right, an open floorplan. It was a small living room decorated in the nineties feel, with dark wood paneling walls and a dimly green carpet. An outdated television stood to the farthest wall to the right, facing the kitchen, whose yellow glow threw shadows into the living room before Lee flipped a switch. Though the television was outdated and the furniture was dark brown and seemed to be overstuffed, the DVD player and recording systems were shiny and new. He knelt in front of the DVD player and chose a marked disc from a stack of clear plastic plates, putting it in and turning the television on.

“I want you to know something.” He said, looking back at Tabitha. “I’ve not done a thing to harm these people before their confessions. I already know that, when in pain, when under attack, you’ll say anything to appease the attacker. You’ll do anything just to get them to stop, even if it takes away your dignity, and makes you feel... filthy.” He gritted his teeth for half a second. “These people don’t know where they are, but I’ve let them calm down before asking them anything.” He pointed to the plate he took the DVD from. “In there is the information this particular person confessed to, taken from the site they were listed in, and it includes to URL. I haven’t forced them to say anything other than the truth.”

There he stopped, and pressed the ‘play’ button. For a moment only static filled the screen, until a jumpy picture came on and slowly steadied itself. A single light bulb hung from the ceiling in a cinder block room. Under the sickly glow a man sat handcuffed in a chair, blindfolded. “What’s your name?” A voice that sounded like Lee’s, only soft and dangerous, spoke.

“Harley. Anderson.” The man seemed to be calm, but a very noticeable tremor in his voice gave away his worry.

“Age.”

“F-forty.”

“Are you in any way listed in the Internet as being dangerous to others? Arrests, convictions, or labels?”

“I...” He swallowed hard. “I was arrested. For domestic violence. Child abuse.”

Silence reigned as the camera shook a bit, as though being switched from one hand to the other. “When was this conviction?”

“Last year.”

“And have you ceased your behavior?” Silence. “Anderson. I asked you a question.”

“No.”

The Lee standing in the room switched off the television. “Obviously,” he said, “Harley didn’t learn his lesson. He, like so many others, won’t learn from a simple arrest, conviction, jail time. In fact, it just gets worse sometimes.” He replaced the DVD in its place and returned it to its stack. “He confessed without being harmed, other than restrained with handcuffs. I didn’t force it out of him. Over a hundred go the very same way. Some a bit more hysterical than others, some disgusting and horrible. And none felt remorse. A few tried to lie. But you know, when you ask a question enough, they’ll say what they truly feel.” He laughed quietly.

She wondered if perhaps he'd had to go trough something like that. The thought made an uncomfortable shiver run trough her , just as the sight of that person confessing his crimes did. To know that so many of them had gone trough here, it was nearly unimaginable. So many people killed for their deeds ... And all by one person too! Tabitha wasn't quite sure what to think now, or what to say.

So she went to sit down on a lumpy feeling couch with an uncertain expression. This was all quite a lot to take in, and gave her much to think about. She'd never really thought out about like this before, the question of the death penalty and how the law punished those who committed certain crimes. It was all giving her a head ache.

"This is a lot to think about..." Almost too much all at once.

Lee brought himself up from the floor and onto the seat of the chair right behind him. “It was for me, too.” He admitted. “After I’d done away with my parents. I had to consider my options. The options of the ones too afraid to speak up for themselves. I’d seen them, in town, a lot. I watched them. I could see the same look in their eyes that I used to have when I looked in the mirror. The look that screamed ‘help’, but no one could really understand it. Or see it. I was lucky enough to act before I was killed, but I know others haven’t been.”

He stood, then. “I won’t try to defend my actions.” He added. “I don’t justify them if they can’t be justified in the eyes of some.” He went toward the stairs. “You can think about it here. Go through the confessions if you like. There’s a bedroom there.” He pointed to the door at the back of the room, near the round kitchen table. “With a bathroom included. Just don’t go through that door.” He indicated the door opposite the first one. “You won’t want to see what’s back there.”

Leaving that as his farewell, Lee went back upstairs.

((Mystery door that you aren't supposed to open ... Guess what, Tabitha is going to go for it. ))

She remained silent until Lee left. Tabitha eyed the door he'd told her not to look trough curiously. Shaking her head, the young woman walked to the bedroom then into the bathroom. It was with a certain sense of trepidation that Tabitha settled in for a nice long shower. Warm water flowed and steam filled the little room. Refreshing as it was, it still didn't make the blonde feel any more at ease with her situation.

Once done, the young woman clambered into her clothing again. With some trepidation she moved towards the mystery room. He had said she wouldn't want to see what was inside, but that just made her want to find out what lay within. If Lee hadn't said a word, chances were Tabitha wouldn't have pressed her palm against the metal knob to twist the door open.

Lee returned to the main floor with only a bit of apprehension. He couldn’t put it past her to run off, perhaps, go to the police, and bring them here to uncover his scheme. He couldn’t just kill her, she hadn’t done anything wrong. And that would play on his mind, in his dreams, and eat him from the inside out. He wasn’t one to feel guilt, in fact, he couldn’t, but that injustice, the fact that he killed without good reason would ruin the enjoyment he felt at doing away with the ones who caused pain to the innocent.

He went to the living room, and flopped down in front of the fireplace. Lulu had taken to lying down in front of the small fire that was still burning from earlier. It didn’t do much more than add light to the room, rather than heat the area, but Lulu had claimed the hearth as her own, and only moved to hop onto the couch and lie on Lee. Perhaps, he thought silently as he ran a hand along Lulu’s flat head, he shouldn’t have told Tabitha not to go through the door near the old record player... Of course it was only the confession and killing room, nothing was there other than the table attached to a lift that maneuvered it from horizontal to vertical, and the steel chair with the handcuffs on its seat. It was the room beyond, whose door was also closed, where sat the yet-to-be-dried remains of Harley Anderson.

She eyed the room, and recognized it as the one that man had been talking in. Tabitha shuddered at the sight of the chair with handcuffs and averted her eyes. Another door! Perhaps this one might be the reason why he'd told her not to enter here? Le was a confessed killer, he'd done nothing to hide that from her. What she did next was a horrible idea, but her morbid need to know made her turn the knob to this second door.

A scream welled up into her throat, but Tabitha choked it down as she stumbled back. The young woman slammed the door shut, and sat down in the chair that man had used not too long ago. This wasn't the time to panic and cry. All of this had been her own doing, this situation created by her actions. Now Tabitha needed to figure out a way to leave this place and the oddly sane madman who had killed time and again.

With such thoughts in her mind, she slipped out of the interview room. Her eyes searched around for Lee, and not finding him the young woman felt oddly lonely. After such a sight .... Even the company of the killer who'd caused such harm seemed good. She was that shaken up as she ran up the stairs to the first floor she'd seen in the house.

Lee was staring at a picture on the wall beside the kitchen archway. Lulu’s heavy head was lying on his chest, so it was difficult to breathe. Yet, Lee couldn’t push her off. The sack of bones was the only real friend he’d ever had, if very heavy. The picture was of a lake, much larger than the pond on his property, so much so that it stretched out of sight like an ocean. It was Lake Michigan, one could see a bit of Chicago off to the right if they looked carefully. But he was staring at the over-saturated colors that gave it a more... appealing state. He liked the picture. Perhaps because it seemed happy.

He glanced around when he saw Tabitha come through the archway. “Didn’t follow my advice, did you?” He asked. “Front door’s locked, the windows are too narrow to get through. But you can stay up here. I haven’t thought about what to do with you yet.” Lulu glanced up and huffed.

Tabitha let out a chocking laugh, and proceeded to plop down near Lee. She eyed him, then the dog, and reached out to pet Lulu. "Curiosity got the better of me, and don't worry I already know there's no running." Even if she got outside, she had zero survival skills. That,or Tabitha was certain she'd get lost or get hit by a car. Her luck usually ran in a rollercoaster, and right now was the low time.

She was beginning to calm down now that the body wasn't in front of her. "Couldn't you at least have locked the door?"

(shoooort!)

Lulu responded to Tabitha calmly, lifting up and finally sitting on the cushion nearer Tabitha and beside Lee at the same time. Lee rolled his eyes. “Lock it? Why? There’s only me here most of the time, and Lulu can’t work the handles.” He patted her, but kept his gaze on Tabitha. “Have you decided what should be done?” He asked.

((No worries, it’s also short for me!))

The young woman let out a chuckle at that as she tried to get the image of that man out of her mind. Tabitha's hand trembled as she continued to pet the dog, and turned to look up at Lulu's owner. His question puzzled her, confused her. Blonde hair drifted to her shoulders, just a little disheveled after her mad run for company. "I don't know what you mean. Done about what?" It was so easy to forget what they'd talked about earlier, but impossible to shove the memory of that bloody body out of her mind.

((It happens, lol)

Lee raised a brow. “Did the sight of Mr. Anderson wipe our conversation from your mind?” He asked. “What I mean is, do you know what should be done about... our situation? More specifically, yours. I won’t let you just go back to town randomly, that’s stupid. I can’t kill you, you don’t deserve it, even now. Lulu seems to like you, so I don’t think she’d appreciate my doing away with you in such a manner.”

He rubbed Lulu’s ear between his fingers. “I’ve thought a bit about it. And I hate what I’m about to say, but... Perhaps you’d do well as an assistant. In some way that doesn’t have to relate to the disposal of my targets, if that’s not your... forte.” He eked out the words as though it were paining him to say them. “Eh, something like that. What say you?”

((True, true. Especially with conversation posts!))

Lee's words surprised Tabitha more then she wanted to admit. She didn't have much of a choice in things, but she did indeed have some choice. This was going to take some serious thinking over, and preferably not in the presence of this strange man. The word 'strange' just didn't seem like a strong enough description for Lee, but for the moment the blonde could think of nothing else. "Would you explain what you have in mind?"

She didn't want to become an accessory to murder. The police would certainly capture her along with him and be under the impression that they'd been working as a team, with her as willing as he. That wasn't true though! It was coercion, plain and simple. She'd seen what Lee could do when he put his mind to it, and Tabitha decided she truly didn't want to be in that position. "And if I do help you, if the police come .... You'd tell them the truth right? I really don't have much of a choice considering the circumstances."

Lee sat back, and Lulu laid back down. “I tend to be far too careful... for any link to be bound to me and the disappearances. However, I know no one’s perfect, so slip-ups could always happen. If that were the case I’d send you to a safe place. I’ve got a lake house outside Fishlake National Forest in Utah, secluded, much like this house. You’d be safe there while I took the fall for my previous murders, and those I’d planned long in advance. To answer your question: No, you wouldn’t come down with me if I ever got found out.”

He bit the tip of his tongue while he thought about his next response. What would she do? A good question. Perhaps it’d be best to avoid any particularly gruesome work at first. Maybe even work relating to his... job... at all. “Well, if you’re too put off about the idea of handling the dead, you’d do well to bother with something else. Perhaps, take care of the strawberry patch... Set up the camera in the basement for recording. Not much else, at least, not at first.” He leaned forward and stared at Tabitha. “Not until you think you’re of stronger constitution. Does that sound fair?”

It was a horrifying relief to know she wouldn't be blamed for the things he would make her do. Or rather, for the things she'd do in order to survive. "I don't want to have anything to do with .. With what you do. Taking care of strawberries, sure. Cooking, alright, and even cleaning. But nothing to do with that." Tabitha turned her head slightly to eye the dog, and reached out to pet her again. Lulu would be a comfort during all of this, though she didn't doubt the dog would attack anyone who would want to harm her master.

Lee was staring at a place on the floor as though it had offended him. It was near the fireplace, but nothing more than the wooden floor and a throw rug was there. “I wouldn’t put you in a position you dislike. Do as you wish around the house, review the DVDs if you’d like. Just to let you know, however: I don’t sleep easily. I can hear movement through several rooms. And if Lulu lets me know you’ve gone, I can easily escape without a trace.”

He stood and stretched. Lulu joined him, as though predicting his movement. “I’ll burn the house if need be.” He added. “No terribly useful traces left behind. No criminal record.” He went around the couch and to the door. “If you think you’re safe up here, you can pick a room upstairs, or live in the basement apartment. Nothing terrible is up here, so don’t think you can’t look around.” He opened the front door and let Lulu outside, following without another word.

She wanted to laugh and rail at him. He spoke of not putting her in such a position, when already Tabitha found herself in just that spot. The blonde didn't want to be there, not at all! Who wanted to be held prisoner against their will without a choice in the matter? For if she tried to escape it would be death, and at the moment she wasn't desperate enough to risk such a thing.

The young woman watched in silence as Lee left with a thoughtful look upon her face. Downstairs lay all the horror he'd created. Tabitha shuddered at the thought of sleeping downstairs. Instead she wandered around, peering trough doorways and peeking inside at the rooms on this level then going up the stairs to settle upon a room to call her own. It was as far as she could get from the lowest floor of the home.

Lulu trotted down the old road. It was mostly dirt nowadays, with a few track marks from his truck. Downward, beyond the view of his house, he found a car. No doubt it was Tabitha’s. He withdrew a knife from his pocket and slashed the tires, lifted the hood and cut the brake lines and fan belt. He tried the door, finding it unlocked. Beneath the dashboard he cut various wires without much notice to which ones they were. Lulu went around the car a few times, sniffing about with curiosity.

When Lee and Lulu returned, he grabbed an old basket from the bottom steps and went around to the back. Off to the left of a shaded pond and closer to the house, a strawberry patch sat in sunlight. It’d been a week since he checked for any ripe berries. He and Lulu moved through, and as he gathered the handfuls of huge berries, Lee had to consider his options. What would he do now? He didn’t want any new distractions. If Tabitha didn’t want to stay, what would he do? He couldn’t kill her, she hadn’t done anything. It was a classic case of ‘being in the wrong place at the wrong time’.

((I think we should drop the other rp, and just keep this one. Sound okay to you?))

She looked around curiously, poking in places and peeking in closets and drawers without remorse. After all, Lee had said the worst of it was downstairs. Tabitha settled on a room pointed away from the road with a view of the strawberry field in the back. It was rather strange for her, considering the circumstances, but she would much rather have been outside with Lee and his dog then inside all alone.

The company of the dead was far more frightening then that of the living, even if it was the person responsible for the mess. Without really thinking it trough more then that, the blonde made her way back down the stairs and out of the house. She paused to look at the road with a torn expression. It would be so easy to start running to try and find her car and leave. There was a part of her that was strangely fascinated with why someone would ever want to harm another, even if Lee had already explained what he'd been trough she still found it hard to believe.

He could have chosen to get his revenge differently, and legally, but instead he was going about it like this. Before she knew it, Tabitha was in the back yard and kneeling in between rows of strawberry plants to pick some of the red berries carefully. It wouldn't do to tear off the berries without the stems, or to crush them accidentally.

((Sure, I wouldn't mind! Some things just dwindle after a while))

The early arrival of summer had allowed his plants to harbor more, larger fruit. Lee couldn’t quite get enough of strawberries, they being one of the only plants he could grow. He’d half filled the basket by the time Tabitha came out. He was told of her appearance by Lulu, who growled for a moment before recalling who it was. He let the girl go for a while before standing from his place and taking up his basket, setting it on the ground beside her. “Best to use a basket to avoid accidental crushing.” He said.

He crouched on the other side of the row and picked off a few basket worms. They seemed to be rather prominent this season. “It’s good you decided not to run off. Had Lulu heard you, she wouldn’t have hesitated to attack.” He glanced around and found the dog, rolling in a clover patch.

((Oh good, this one has enough tension with just them to keep it going for a while I think. And it'd be easy to add more.))

She smiled and nodded, before remembering why exactly she was picking strawberries there in the first place. Tabitha glanced down at the berry in her hand for a moment before finally deciding to sample one of them. It was deliciously sweet. The blonde shouldn't have been surprised, but she was. Her eyes lifted to meet Lee's before falling again a little nervously to the berries.

"Well, I had thought about it but ... " Tabitha didn't exactly want to admit that she wanted to understand how Lee's mind worked. Something like that might make him angry, and she'd already learned that rousing such emotions in the man wouldn't bode well for her.

((Definitely. And it seems my RP thread is more interesting to people than I thought! So I've not got a short supply))

Lee nodded slowly. He didn’t answer at once, but stared at the strawberry he’d just pulled. It looked rotten. He made a face and threw it out of the immediate area, to be chased and devoured by Lulu.

“I’d thought you would.” he said. “Think about taking off, I mean. The fact you didn’t shows restraint, and the ability to tolerate what others in your position would find intolerable.” He stood and dusted his hands off. “When you’re done here you can put the basket in the kitchen. Lulu will stay with you.”

At the mention of her name, the dog meandered up, tongue lolling to the side. When Lee patted her, she sat and snorted, as though she’d understood what he said a moment ago. With that farewell, he went past Lulu and to the pond. He knew he had some work to do downstairs, still, but didn’t quite feel interested in it yet. He’d take care of it during the night.

(Well that's good to hear! ))

She couldn't help but giggle a little, though it wasn't really all that funny. "If you don't stop complimenting me, I'll think you want to be friends." The idea seemed all too absurd in Tabitha's mind as she bent down to work on picking more strawberries. It was soothing in a way, even if it did make her back ache. Then again, she wasn't at all used to plucking berries up from the bushes. Maybe the young woman had gone on family outings to do so, but it had all been such a while ago.

As the dog settled down, she tilted her head to the side. Well now, here was a bodyguard and guard all rolled into one. There was no escaping with the dog around, but Tabitha found herself rather enjoying Lulu's silent company.

Lee went to the orange tree. He hadn’t planted it; it had sprouted not long after he killed his parents. Perhaps it was a sign, but he hadn’t taken care of it like he had his strawberries. Nonetheless, it had grown, even through the dry spells the land was so prone to. Perhaps because it was so close to the pond itself. He laid under it, and was almost hit with a ripe citrus that fell at his movement. Picking it up, Lee studied it. What had he gotten himself into?

Tabitha wouldn’t want to stay here forever. Definitely. She’d probably try to face the long walk back. It was, after all, an hour by car if you sped over the limit. Lulu wouldn’t allow that. She did like people, but not when they were uninvited or trying to get away. She’d wake Lee if he was asleep, or begin howling as loudly as she could. And her howls tended to be earth-shattering.

He didn’t want to worry about it. He’d have to finish up the body downstairs, and soon after, go find someone else. Lulu would have to keep an eye on Tabitha, or Lee would have to forego his plans.