“And Dr. Dante?”
“Other than the unsanitary conditions, malnutrition, general signs of neglect, he was in reasonable physical health.”
Gordon picked up a package of butterfly stitches. “Hold still.”
Laura did. “He went into the foster care system and never stayed in a home long.”
“Behavior issues?”
“Foster parents were disturbed by his indifference to them.”
“What they’d expect considering his upbringing?”
Laura had thought the same thing. “He was an A-minus high school student. On his own by the age of eighteen. Went to a commuter college while working full time, got good grades, saved money, earned a few scholarships. And never in all that time did he have a single close friend or relationship. Other than a few loose-knit study groups while working for his Masters, he didn’t even have a casual friendship group.”
“Sounds like the background profile for a serial killer.”
Laura laughed.
“Be still, my hands aren’t as steady as they used to be, and if I get these on crooked, I’ll have to peel them off, then you’ll be bleeding all over again.”
Laura rolled a look up at Gordon.
He smiled while holding a scowl.
“You’re not the only one to think that,” she said. “The state had him undergo multiple psych evaluations while in foster care.”
“What’d they say?”
“From the notes I’ve read, the psychologists were amazed over and over at his level of empathy toward people, sense of personal responsibility, and honesty. Yet, he had a seemingly complete disregard for connecting emotionally.”
“Lot of sociopaths learn to fake it.”
“I thought the same thing when I first met him. But he’s about as genuine as they come. He does lie though. He’s just terrible at it.”
Gordon patted the last stitch in place. “There. Not my best, but it will do.”
“Dr. Dante didn’t take Koda’s death well,” Laura said. “And he’s already shown he’s willing to put life and limb on the line to try to protect Luca.” Going into those woods like he did, he could have wound up shot if the search party had mistaken him for a hostile. “He knew better than any of us how powerful Nash Kelli was and never hesitated, even when he was blind and unarmed.”
“Sounds a lot like this little girl I knew once. She decided a barn swallow had set up house too close to a hornet’s nest, despite being told birds had raised young in that spot for years. I want you to know that little snot scaled the barn walls, climbed two sets of rafters—”
“Gordon.”
“And then she had the nerve to show up on my porch with her shirt full of baby swallows, expecting me to tell her how to feed them. Then cried when the bastards died because we ain’t no momma bird.”
“I never cried.”
“You bawled like the five-year-old you were.”
“No I didn’t.Youcried.”
Gordon made a disgusted sound. “Bird shit in my eye, that’s all.”
Laura shook her head.
“I said be still.” He made her tip her head the other way.
“The point is, for a man unable to connect to people emotionally, he became exceedingly attached to Koda, Nash, the other betas, with minimal contact. And Luca without ever meeting him.”