"Jim, I need to know where that little girl is. I need to know."
"I can't tell you," Wood said, putting his elbows in his knees and resting his head in his hand.
"Can't or won't?"
"I can't," Wood said. "If I did, nobody would understand me. They wouldn't understand what I did."
"Jim," Shaw said, "I understand you. I'm not gonna judge you, I won't think any less of you. But I need to know what happened."
"If I tell you, you'll think I'm the scum of the earth," he said, beginning to sob. "You won't be nice to me anymore."
"Jim, she's dead, isn't she?"
Wood's hands were in his lap, clenched. He seemed to be making an effort to maintain his composure. He looked straight ahead and took a deep breath. He nodded.
"Jim, I already knew that. Why was it so hard to tell me what happened?"
"Because I'm evil," Wood said, staring up at the wall behind Shaw's desk. "Because I'm an evil monster and I'm an animal."
--Excerpted from Eye of the Beast. All rights reserved.