She walked down the long, drearily lit hallway to a room that she knew well. It was a simple room, small, plainly painted, with a table and two chairs. True, one of the chairs was nailed to the floor and, also true, it had attachments for chains, but the room still looked rather plain.
She took her seat in the normal chair and took out her notebook, pencil, and spare phone. She made a point not to bring her real phone in and instead brought one that she used purely for recording. She didn't want any chance of a notification or a call messing with her work. Her nerves were less this time than they had been previous times. Perhaps she was getting used to it, perhaps her brain was just better at compartmentalizing, or perhaps she had begun to look forward to the sessions.
Soon she heard the clanking of chains and gruff voices coming down the hall. Her subject was brought in and roughly deposited into her seat. She blew an air kiss to the two guards who had escourted her in and they promptly left.
"Hello, Clarice."
"Hello, Jennifer."
"Aw you didn't like my joke," pouted Jennifer jokingly.
"Silence of the Lambs, very funny."
"I thought it was appropriate given our circumstances."
A silence fell for a moment too long.
"I will ask you like I always do, do you consent to our session being recorded."
"You betcha."
She unlocked the phone and opened the recording app and began to record. "This is Sarah Jennings recording a fourth session with subject Jennifer Townsend, inmate number 32461, on December 3rd at 1:23pm. For the record, do you, Jennifer Townsend, consent to being recorded?"
"Of course, Clarice."
"Thank you. Last time we talked about your childhood--"
"Riveting stuff, I'm sure."
"Today I would like to talk about Mr. Skillings."
"Tom?"
"Yes, Thomas Skillings."
"My first love."
Sarah jotted this down in her notebook. "You would characterize him as such?"
"Of course? How else do you characterize the person who takes your virginity?"
Sarah made another note.
"You're still not very talkative, huh, Clarice?"
"Just trying to get the facts, Jennifer."
"Well what do you want to know about Tom?"
"How did you two meet?"
"He worked out at the gym where I had my gymnastics classes. He sometimes filled in as an extra coach when Coach Igor or Coach Gregor was busy."
"Were those their names? Igor and Gregor?"
Jennifer smiled coolly, "You caught me. Their names were, as far as we were told, Peter and William. I don't know their last names."
"So you met at the gym."
"I caught his eye apparently. He bought me Gatorade and then asked to meet me there on days when I didn't have training. It was easy enough to get away. I just told my mom that I had extra practice and she was too high to ask for more details or check my story."
Sarah made another note. Jennifer had not previously mentioned her mom doing drugs. She had mentioned drinking alcohol, but nothing more.
"And how did your relationship with Mr. Skillings progress?"
"The usual way," smirked Jennifer.
"Could you elaborate?"
"We went on dates, we went back to his place, we fucked, the usual thing for someone of my age."
"And that age was?"
"Come on, Clarice, you can do the math."
"When Mr. Skillings died you would've been 16. I don't know when you met."
"I was 12."
"And was he your first victim?"
"First?"
"Yes, you were convicted of killing him."
"Yes, but you didn't say first kill, you said first victim. There's a distinct difference, isn't there, Clarice?"
(Prompt by Kimisha Cassidy)
Confession of a Serial Killer: The Untold Story of Dennis Rader, the BTK Killer by Katherine Ramsland (UPNE, 2017)
Full subject line: "Confession of a Serial Killer - Documentary on A&E in January 9781512601527"
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