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🕑 Added 2025-04-10 07:30:01 +0000 UTCAnatomy of a Killer
Chapter 51 – Dexter’s Bad Luck
“Dex, what’s wrong?” Ángel approached Dexter, who was sitting silently, away from everyone else.
“I had a bad night.” Dexter couldn’t possibly explain everything he had gone through the night before.
He had Tara right there, ready to sedate her and take her directly to the place where he’d hold his own trial. But who would’ve thought his sister Debra would show up so close to where Tara was?
She had been overly motivated in the Ice Truck Killer case—so much so that Dexter himself had to give her a few hints so she could make great contributions and finally achieve her dream of transferring to the Homicide Division.
Her obsession with living up to their father’s legacy was so intense that she poured all her skills into finding Tara before she could be killed.
That theory wasn’t just Larry’s—it was also shared by Debra and Dexter. The possibility that the Ice Truck Killer wanted to silence Tara before she could give a description of his face was too great to ignore.
That’s why the police department pulled out all the stops and requested outside collaboration to capture her.
It was a surprise when Debra Morgan—who had repeatedly asked to be part of the Homicide Division—was the one to catch Tara.
“I think your sister will finally have the chance to join the department she’s fought so hard to be a part of,” Ángel said happily. After all, having another Morgan around was a good thing.
“Yeah, she deserves it.” Dexter, on the other hand, wasn’t thrilled—but as her only close family, he had to give her the praise she deserved.
“You hear I caught that fight?” Debra asked as she walked up to her brother and Ángel, who was speaking.
“Yeah, that was incredible.” Dexter congratulated his sister with his best smile.
“And also really stupid.” Just then, Larry approached from behind and asked, “In your head, so full of obsession with joining Homicide, did it not occur to you to consider where you found her?”
“What’s wrong, Larry?” Ángel was confused by Larry’s irritability—he had never behaved that way before.
“A damn hotel, Ángel. The killer we’ve been hunting was in that same building. I wonder why he didn’t do anything to you.” Larry looked at Debra with frustration and pointed at her. “If you had called for backup, we could’ve taken testimony from everyone there, but I wasn’t notified—and you ruined an entire case.”
“Damn it…” Ángel, unaware of the details, looked at Debra with a bit of understanding.
“If I hadn’t caught Tara, would you have preferred a corpse instead of her alive?” Debra shot back angrily at Larry, who walked away.
“Debra, calm down,” Dexter said with surprising serenity. That possibility hadn’t crossed his mind. What if the Ice Truck Killer had been at the same place where Tara was?
That would mean the chance of him being seen was high. If his sister hadn’t arrived first, Dexter could have been exposed to the main killer in the case they were working on.
Larry, smirking, rubbed his forehead and said, “All I ask is that people do their damn job the way it’s supposed to be done. Was it really that hard to think about possibilities beyond a single action?”
As Larry raised his voice, he caught the attention of Sergeant Doakes, who approached to address the situation. “What’s going on here?”
“Nothing. Just someone being an idiot,” Debra said, shooting Larry a look before walking away.
Dexter followed her, not wanting to get involved, and Sergeant Doakes turned to Larry, waiting for an explanation.
“The main suspect in the case was in that hotel, ready to kill Tara,” Larry said, pulling a pill from his bag and swallowing it.
“Is that just a guess?”
“I don’t guess...”
“Then what?”
“Debra only called for backup after she caught Tara—not before, when she most likely knew she was already there. If she hadn’t been so reckless, we might have the killer in custody.” Larry didn’t feel like explaining more, so he looked at the sergeant and asked, “Did you see Tara?”
“Of course. You solved the case.”
“Part of it,” Larry replied, more composed now.
Interrogation Room
The fluorescent light flickered slightly above the table, its monotonous sound enhancing the tense atmosphere unfolding in the room.
Larry sat across from Tara, his cold, calculating eyes studying her even now. He knew she wasn’t like the others; it wouldn’t be easy to get what he needed. But he was used to seeing the most difficult pieces fall into place. And Tara... Tara was a piece that needed to fall.
The silence between them stretched, heavy like a taut rope about to snap. Tara sat there, expressionless, but the tremble in her hands was the only sign of what was going through her mind.
“They say you haven’t said a single word since you confessed. And while it’s not necessary, it would help us a lot if you described Elias’s appearance.” When Larry mentioned Elias, Tara’s body began to shake.
“You know?” Tara wasn’t surprised Larry knew. From the beginning, she had sensed that the man before her was far too dangerous. In the end, she had been right—she couldn’t fool Larry as easily as she had fooled other detectives and officers.
“You know, Tara...” Larry let the silence stretch as he calmly watched her. “We don’t get opportunities like this every day. And I’m not talking about luck. I’m talking about something more... valuable.”
Tara looked up, meeting his eyes, but said nothing.
“What you have in your hands isn’t just a confession... It’s the map to end all of this. And believe me, I know you don’t want this to end with more blood on anyone’s hands. Or more innocent people dying.” Larry dropped those words like stones in a still lake, hoping the ripples would reach their target.
Tara stared at him but didn’t give in. He knew that kind of resistance well. But there was something more behind it. He knew that despite her calm appearance, Tara had been marked by something much bigger than herself. And now, he had to make her talk.
“You’re going to help me stop him,” Larry said firmly, crossing his arms over his chest. “And I’m not asking for much. Just one small thing... Describe Elias. I need your help to draw him so we can finally catch him.”
Tara frowned, her face hardened by distrust. Larry watched her closely.
The reason they were after Elias was that they had no records on him, which likely meant he was using a false identity—or he was an immigrant.
“You know what happens when someone has information that can change everything, don’t you?” Larry continued, his voice low, almost whispering, but with a threatening tone. “They get a favor... or they don’t.”
Tara let out a long sigh. Finally, her lips moved. “Do you think that will help me with what’s going to happen to me?”
“I just want to know enough,” Larry said, watching as fear began to appear in Tara’s eyes. “Just a description, an image.”
Tara stayed silent a moment longer. Her hands trembled, but not out of fear. It was the weight of what she was about to reveal. At last, with a resigned expression, she whispered, “He was... a tall man. Dark eyes. His face… there was something strange about it, something that made it hard for me to look at him for too long.”
Larry nodded without interrupting her, his mind already working at full speed. “Good. And the rest of his face? His jaw? Any scars?”
“He had a scar across his eyebrow... and something about his mouth, like he was always clenching it.”
Larry gave a slight smile, though not a kind one. This was more than he’d expected. The image of Elias was beginning to take shape in his mind.
“Perfect,” Larry murmured, thinking about the shape of the face this woman was describing. “That’s what I needed. But what about his voice? What did it sound like?”
Tara hesitated for a moment, then continued. “It was slightly deep.”
Larry nodded with a cold gaze. “You’ve got it, Tara. Now, I want you to tell me everything. Every detail you remember.”
The next few minutes were a mix of rapid questions and answers, as Tara finally gave in to the need to reveal what she knew.
When she finished, Larry looked at a sketch in his hands—an accurate depiction of Elias based on the woman sitting across from him.
He still needed to confirm it with Tara’s son, but everything pointed to it being correct.
