The Psychologist and the Psychopath (David Joseph Mysteries Book 2)

Book summary

In The Psychologist and the Psychopath, David Joseph, a skilled psychologist, becomes entangled in a deadly cat-and-mouse game with a vengeful psychopath targeting those connected to his past cases. As the body count rises, David and his brother-in-law, Inspector Raj Kumar, must confront an adversary that pushes them to their limits in a race against time.

Excerpt from The Psychologist and the Psychopath (David Joseph Mysteries Book 2)

First Strike

Two men were talking in a bar over drinks. One of them was Anil, a short, overweight, flabby specimen of a man with shifty eyes. He had recently been fired from his job for incompetency, being perennially late for work, and absenting himself from work far too often. The other man, who had introduced himself as David and said that he just did not like to drink alone, was slowly pushing the conversation towards the reasons for the man being fired. “How can they fire you for being absent from work a few times?” David said with indignation. “I’m sure you had a good reason!”

“Yes, I told them that I wasn’t feeling well,” responded Anil. “But then they insisted that I see the company doctor.”

“And did you?” asked David. Anil looked a bit guilty and replied, “Well, I had to, that’s the rule.”

“And what did the doctor say?” asked David in a very solicitous tone of voice as though he was worried that Anil had some terminal illness. Anil fidgeted a bit and then said, “Well, he gave them a report that stated that I was drinking too much.”

“What rubbish!” exclaimed David. “Can’t a man have a few drinks after a tough day on the job?” He then added in a knowing voice, “No, no, my friend. I am telling you that most probably they were just looking for an excuse to get rid of you. We must think of a way for you to get your revenge!” Anil looked a bit uncertain at the way the conversation was progressing, so David immediately called a waiter over and said, “Hi! I’m David and this is my good friend Anil. Let’s have another round of drinks!” He kept plying Anil with drinks and continued to press home the theory of a conspiracy to get rid of Anil just because he was too good at his job and maybe they did not want to give him a raise. Pretty soon, as he became more intoxicated, Anil started believing the whole fantasy and gradually became more and more indignant. When he estimated that Anil was aggressively drunk but not blind drunk, David again said, “We must figure out a way for you to get your revenge, Anil my friend. You agree?”

“Yes, yes, my revenge!” exclaimed Anil. “I will show those rich bastards just who I am!” As though he had just had a flash of inspiration, David suddenly exclaimed, “Hey, I’ve got an idea! You know the owner’s son, what’s his name? Abhijeet?” Anil nodded in agreement and David carried on, “You said that he had a girlfriend called Reshma, right?”Again Anil nodded in agreement and David said, “Well, I propose that we kidnap her just to teach them a lesson!” Even through his drink-sodden mind a small warning bell sounded and Anil hesitated and said, “But that’s pretty dangerous! We could hang for doing something like that!”

David called over the waiter and again said, “Hi! Remember me? I’m David and this is my good friend Anil. Let’s have another round!” Then turning to Anil after the waiter had gone he explained, “Listen, we are not going to do anything stupid. We will just pick her off the street, put her in my car and drive off. After we have covered some distance we will just leave her on the road and drive away, as simple as that!” Anil responded with a cunning drunken expression on his face, “But she will give our descriptions to the police, then we will get caught!” David leaned forward and in a conspiratorial whisper said, “Ah! But you see my friend, she will not be able to because we will just cover our faces! I happen to have two full-face masks in my car!” He leaned back and continued to persist, “How about that, huh? Come on Anil, this is your chance for revenge. Imagine how scared they will be. That will teach them a lesson for what they did to you!” Anil by now was drunk enough that anything seemed possible to his mind. He sat up straight and said, “Okay David, let’s do this. You are truly a great friend!” Then he frowned and said, “But how will we know where she is?”

“Oh, do not worry,” said David confidently. “We will find her, you’ll see. Come on now, let’s go and do this. Your great revenge my friend!” He slapped Anil on his back and helped him to get up.

He paid the bar bill and they left the bar and walked to David’s car with David half supporting the drunken Anil. Oddly enough, David did not seem to be drunk, although he acted drunk whenever Anil turned to talk to him. Maybe that was because most of David’s drinks had ended up on the floor beneath the table and chairs where he had surreptitiously been dumping them. Since he was having his drinks neat with nothing added it was an easy thing to do. Now he got Anil into the car and then got behind the wheel and drove away. He seemed to know exactly where to go and kept looking at his watch, while at the same time responding to Anil’s drunken talk and boasting. He soon coasted to a stop in front of an ice cream parlour and told Anil, “Now my friend, listen to me. The girl will be coming out shortly. Together we will just grab her and throw her in the back seat. You sit with her and keep her quiet while I drive. Got it? Remember, we are not going to do anything to her, so just keep her quiet for a while, okay?” Anil nodded drunkenly while swaying a bit and David produced two monster face masks and giving one to Anil he put on the other. “See?” he told Anil in a hollow sounding voice. “You can’t recognise me. I am a monster!” There was an undercurrent of menace in his voice when he said it but Anil of course was too drunk to notice. Giggling and chuckling drunkenly he put on the other mask and in a theatrical voice said, “Yes! I’m a monster too!”

Just then David, who had been watching the entrance to the ice cream parlour said, “There she is! Now remember my friend and concentrate! Just throw her into the back seat and get in with her. You understand?” If Anil had not been so drunk he would have wondered how David knew that the girl was Reshma. Instead he said, “Hey! Of course I understand! Come on, I will show you what I’m made of. This is my revenge, remember?” He said it with drunken bravado. Reshma came out with two other girls and just as they were passing the car, the two men jumped out and grabbed her. Rather, David jumped out and grabbed her while Anil stumbled out of the car. David held her mouth closed with one hand so that she could not scream, and with the other he opened the door to the back seat and threw her in bodily. He then caught hold of Anil and pushed him in as well. In a flash he was back in the driver’s seat and locking all the doors he drove away.

All this took just a little more than a minute, and by the time Reshma’s two friends recovered from their shock and started screaming, the car had driven away and had disappeared after taking a left turn at the intersection. In the car Reshma started screaming and tried to open the doors, but she could not do so as they were centrally locked. Without speaking, David drove fast and then turned into a side street and drove on until he came to a lonely street that had only the back entrances of houses facing each other on both sides of the street.

Meanwhile Reshma kept struggling with the drunken Anil, but with the doors locked she could not get away. Stopping the car at the back gate of a house, David suddenly turned around and hit Reshma violently on her jaw. She fell back in the seat unconscious and David then unlocked the doors and got out. The fast action seemed to have sobered Anil’s mind and he now looked at David and said fearfully, “This is bad, this is very bad. We are going to hang for this. Why did I listen to you! What have I done, what have I done!” Without speaking, David produced a pistol and hit him on the side of his head and Anil also fell unconscious. Carefully looking around to make sure that no one was at their back entrances, he then opened the gate wide, got back in the car and drove into the backyard. He then got out and closed the gate which was at least 10 feet in height and completely blocked the view of anyone from outside trying to look into the backyard. Producing some zip ties from his pocket, he cuffed the wrists and ankles of both Reshma and Anil. Then he picked up Reshma and carried her into the house and down a trap door into a cellar where he strapped her to a table. He came out again and dragged Anil into the house and down into the cellar where he strapped him to a chair which was bolted to the ground. He stood back and surveyed the two with satisfaction. He took out two capsules of ammonia or smelling salts and broke one each below the noses of first Anil and then Reshma.

Soon both of them had regained consciousness and Reshma began struggling with her bonds. David bent over her and said with a grin, “No use in struggling, my pet. You can’t get free.” Anil, who by now was quite sobered up, shouted at him, “What the hell are you doing David! Let me go! You said that we were not going to do anything to her.” David turned around and smiled at him and Anil shuddered involuntarily. He could not believe that this was the same friendly man who had sat with him in the bar and claimed to be his friend. It was as though his face had undergone a transformation and Anil could hardly recognise him. Although he did not appear friendly now, there was still no menace in his look or posture. It was the eyes that caused Anil to shudder. They were dead eyes, Anil thought to himself, they were the eyes of a devil! He shuddered again but gathered his courage and said, “This has gone far enough David! Let her go and let me go. You know I won’t say anything, just let me go. Please!” David smiled at him, although the smile did not reach his eyes, and said, “Of course I am going to let you go Anil my friend! But first I will exact your revenge on this girl and then you can go.”

“No, no, please, please,” begged Anil, his courage deserting him. “I do not want any revenge, it was stupid of me, I was drunk, please do not do anything to her. Just let us go David.” But David’s expression suddenly turned cold and he said in a dispassionate voice, “Of course you do not want to do anything you drunken fool! I knew it would be easy to get you to do what I wanted. People like you are weak and dull and stupid. It’s a wonder they did not fire you long before this. But this is not about you, this is about me and my revenge! Now just shut up and let me get on with what I have to do.” He then took down a full-length leather apron from the wall and put it on. He went to a table which was near to and at the side of the table where Reshma was strapped down. It was then that Anil saw all the implements on the table and he sucked in his breath with fear. David turned and gave him that cold smile once more, and then picking up a sharp looking knife he concentrated on Reshma. Soon Reshma’s screams and Anil’s screams and sobbing echoed in the cellar. But the cellar was soundproof and nothing could be heard outside.