Before saying another word, he uses his forefinger and thumb to open her right eye wide as she struggles against him. He allows a couple of drops of tropicamide to hit her eyeball, and before she can register her blurred vision, he does the same to the left, keeping her still in a choke hold.
“Stop! What is that?” she yells, pulling her head back.
“Tropicamide eye drops,” he responds flatly, making sure to add a little extra to each eye. “Ever had an eye exam, Emily? Experienced blurred vision for several hours and been told to please not operate heavy machinery?”
He smiles, knowing she can still make out his expressions, though not clearly. She blinks rapidly to try to clear her vision to no avail.
“You ever hear the phrase ‘C5, stay alive’？” He looks into her eyes as she stares back at him.
“Just let me go, please. I won’t tell anyone if you just let me go,” Emily pleads.
The survival instinct that got her here has moved into the bargaining stage. Jeremy leans his forehead into hers, so they are touching.
“Don’t interrupt.” He winks and pulls his head back. “You see, if you sever the spinal cord above the C5 cervical vertebrae, then you will most certainly kill the person attached to it. Why is that?”
He mindlessly flicks a bug from Emily’s shoulder and waits for a response.
“Just stop. Please stop!”
His face twists into a look of disgust. “Nothing? A second-year medical student, and you can’t answer my basic anatomy question?”
Emily closes her eyes. “Please,” she whispers.
He ignores her pleas and continues, “The C1 and C4 vertebrae flank the nerves responsible for letting your diaphragm know how to breathe.” He points the tip of the bowie knife at her diaphragm as he says this. “If you sever that particular part of the spinal cord, then you will asphyxiate, and you will die. C4, breathe no more.”
“Why are you telling me this?” She is panicking now.
“I’m not going to do that to you, Emily. Relax,” he continues. “What do you think? That I’m a monster?”
He gets close to her face again and then looks at the knife, twisting it in his hand. She watches, too, as the small amount of light that has crept in from the moon bounces off the blade. Again, the bayou has bent to his will. It has given him a spotlight for his show. A sharp pain shoots through her lower back. The red-hot sensation is all she can feel, and she realizes too late that he has plunged the bowie knife into her back.
“If you sever the spinal cord anywhere below C5, you’ll likely stay alive. But you will also most definitely suffer paralysis in the portion of the body below that vertebra,” he continues and pats Emily’s leg. “I chose the lumbar region.”
She grabs Jeremy’s shirt with her hand, twisting the black fabric with her fist and looking around wildly.
“It’s a fucked-up little rhyme, huh?” He grins again and pulls the blade out in one swift motion.
CHAPTER 20
ST. LOUIS CEMETERY NO. 1 looms on the left. Dark secrets of the past contained within its white walls are newly invigorated with this present horror. Wren imagines rows of the dead watching this monster at work. He’s made each of them an involuntary witness to his crimes inside of this sacred city.
The sound of an ambulance echoes through the street noise as it approaches. Leroux pulls the car behind Will’s. Without speaking, he and Wren step out into the thick air. The officers at the scene appear around the corner, looking serious and already glistening with sweat.
“Perimeter looks clear. Gates are secured. Landry and Knox are inside, clearing the way toward plot 1503.”
Will looks more serious than ever, and Wren knows why.