Reborn In a Murderer’s Embrace (Dexter) novel Chapter 327

"You gave them to me." Colin's fingers traced the lower-right corner of the specimen, where a black signature with the letters 'C' - Caldwell's initial - was inscribed.

I stared at Colin, my breath catching. "Me? I gave these to you?"

All of these specimens?

"You said that the beauty of a shooting star lies in its fleeting moment. That the brief bloom of a night-blooming cereus is enough to dazzle everyone..." Colin turned to look at me, his voice as raspy as ever.

But it seemed to carry an endless stream of loneliness, grievance, and guilt. "Life is short, to preserve them forever, this was the only way."

I was shocked as I gazed at the walls filled with butterfly specimens. For a moment, they all seemed to come alive, flapping their wings, taking flight.

"I can't believe I would... like these," I said in astonishment.

Colin took my hand and led me into a room in the basement.

The door had a keypad, sturdy like a bank vault.

As the door swung open, I followed Colin inside.

When the lights flickered on, a tingling shock ran through my entire body.

Had Colin... finally opened his heart to me?

In other words, was he finally willing to trust me completely, revealing his hidden secrets, his scars, all out in the open for me to see?

An entire wall of the basement was covered with Colin's investigations - about Damian, about me, my parents, the people from the orphanage, and... some individuals I didn't recognize.

And there was the current serial murder case.

It was like he was watching over everyone, like the hand of God, orchestrating everything.

I looked at Colin, a mix of panic and fear in my eyes.

He... he couldn't really be the killer, could he?

Colin led me to a wall of photographs and pointed to the bottom left corner. "This isn't the first serial murder case. Three years ago, after I left the psychiatric hospital, there was a series of mysterious deaths among the doctors there."