“Yes,” she said, “Joe’s tried to explain that to me. I try to correct him when he calls that self the Killer. He pretends he doesn’t hear me.”

“He hears you,” said Rudy. “We’ve talked about it in therapy.”

Junie thought about that, then nodded. “So what are you trying to tell me? That the Killer has gotten off the chain? That it’s become his dominant personality?”

“Junie, please,” said Rudy, “let’s be clear … Joe does not suffer from multiple personality disorder. Not in any clinical sense of that diagnosis. His blend of shadow selves is unique in my experience. Joe perpetuates the three-personality verbiage, but they are really aspects of a central personality that is in great turmoil. He is plagued by self-doubts when he is not on the job and is almost inflexible when in combat. His inner certainty of right and wrong is uniquely structured, and it gives him one particular skill set that makes every other quality he possesses function with an unnatural efficiency.”

“You’re talking about his lack of hesitation? Isn’t that one of the reasons Mr. Church hired him?”

“Yes. It’s more than merely being quick-brained and having superb reflexes. Joe does not hesitate at all in combat.”

“He’s like that a lot,” said Junie wistfully. “Ever gone shopping with him? He doesn’t browse. He goes right for what he wants. And if you offer him a choice—like when we were browsing online at that place in Eureka, California, he likes—Big Fun Shirt Company—he’ll go through their catalog and then straight to checkout. No thinking about it, no waffling.”

“Yes, I suppose he does that.”

“He’s only slow and picky when buying beer. He’ll spend an hour in the cold aisle at Vons or Trader Joe’s.” She cocked her head to one side. “But this is off point. Where are you going with all this? Has the Warrior or Killer or whatever taken over?”

“If it had,” said Rudy, “I’d be able to sleep at night.”

“Oh my god. What are you saying?”

“When his family was killed on Christmas Eve, when you were so badly injured and nearly died, I believe we witnessed the birth of a new shadow self. A true shadow. Not a personality with dimension, possibly not even with morals or a mission beyond revenge. Junie, he calls it ‘the Darkness,’ and it is so large, so powerful, so potentially dangerous to him that he begged me to find a way to get rid of it for him.”

“Can you?”

Rudy shook his head. “I don’t even know. We talked about it during his convalescence, and because he was unable to access this new shadow self in any meaningful way that would allow him to evaluate it or even properly describe it … we made very little headway.”

“What do you know about it?”