Inanimate (10 page)

MacNamee
veered across the front of Crass and
ushered him into his office. Storming up to the window Crass stared
out at nothing in particular. The warm surroundings of MacNamee’s
office were calming to his senses. A plush mahogany desk with
matching leather couches and an oak bookcase suggested this young
Doctor had more taste than anyone would expect. Crass spied the
Scotch decanter; however he knew better, they normally kept that
for after hours.

“
Look Ben, Connor
is going to be with
us a long time, this is just a temporary setback. Give Frieda a
chance; he is good at what he does.”

With a sigh, Crass
relented
.

“
Of course you’re right Greg. The
youngster was probably exhausted too. We’ll try again
tomorrow”

Crass looked back at the decanter and felt
he was allowed to give in to his temptation; after all he was the
boss.

“
How about a drop of that
Scotch?”

CHAPTER 11

He pulled off the interstate only thirty
minutes ago leaving no discernible trail. Stopping only once for
gas he decided it would be best if as few people as possible
spotted him. It was only dusk but already the neon signs on the
outskirts of the town were starting to come on.

“
Welcome to Staunton” the sign
read.

Perhaps there was a message
indicating population but Andy didn’t no
tice. He only just saw the name. In
fact there could have been a picture of Andy’s deceased wife on the
sign but he still wouldn’t have noticed. The motels advertised
their rivaling wares with gaudy green and blue signs with names
like “Morning View” or “Pit Stop.” Oddly enough the one with the
most cars and therefore the most business was named “La
Cookeracha.” He paid attention to these motels as he wanted to stay
in the quietest one which turned out to be the “Morning View.”
Having already driven past it, Andy waited for his chance. He swung
the wheel and made a U turn to double back to the “Morning View
Motel.”

The door
jingled as he entered the office. It
seemed like it got darker, faster outside. The large glass window
to the outside showed a practically empty parking lot with night
creeping in fast. In the quiet of the office, the only noise seemed
to be coming from a television in a living room behind the desk. A
man laughed at America’s Funniest Home Videos; Andy recognized the
theme music from the days when he would watch re-runs of it with
Martha. Andy dinged the bell and allowed the dull sound to work its
summoning power. After a few moments a voice was heard before the
throaty operator even appeared through the door.

“
Room for one?”
asked an overweight
popcorn-muncher, still with kernels in the corner of her
mouth.

As Andy
accepted her assumption he wondered
if it was butter on her cheeks or she was just that
greasy.

“
Well sir it’s your lucky day.”
She spattered, firing out crispy chunks of popcorn in Andy’s
general direction.

The girl started
off on a morbid
store jingle with all the enthusiasm of a turkey at Christmas. Her
numb voice did nothing to hide the tackiness of her
speech.

“
Here at the Morning View Motel
chai
n, we’re
having a room fallout for fall only. In fact you will fall over
when you hear our prices.”

The girl paused.

“
That will be $19.95
please.”

With a delay the woman
poked out her T-Rex
arm to a confused Andy.

“
You don’t have to sell me
anything. I already want to stay here.”

“
I need to say it, it’s part of
our marketing campaign.”

Andy
glanced over his shoulder to the
empty parking lot.

“
It’s working” he said dryly and
handed her a $20 bill in return for a key.

“
Room 12
” the girl said, ignorant to his
jibe.

The darkness seemed to have closed in fast
around him. Poorly maintained trees loomed over the building that
housed the rooms, stretching out over the top like arms reaching
out for him. His head down, tunnel vision guided him down the road
to room 12. Without even bothering to look around the room he had
rented, he dropped his coat and looked at the one thing he cared
about; the bed. Having brought nothing with him, Andy had nothing
to unpack. Leaving everything behind that reminded him of home
meant leaving everything behind. Mentally wracked with exhaustion,
Andy collapsed on the bed, his eyelids closed like vault doors.
Face down he slept while the latch on the door swung behind him, he
didn’t care enough to lock it.

Two zombies watched television in the
motel operators living area. Drivel drifted from the screen to
their eyeballs, feeding gluttonous lethargy. As the end credits
rolled up on another program, Amanda ordered her slovenly partner
Kyle to get more snacks from the built in kitchen. As he rummaged
through the cupboards, finding nothing right away, wrestling with a
deathly fear that they could be snackless for the remainder of the
evening, he was surprised to hear Amanda’s first enthusiastic
sounds of the night accompanying the local news anchor. He turned
his meaty head round just in time to see a news report updating its
viewers on “The Baby Killer” case in the city. Amanda spotted a
picture of Andy, listed as “Father of Baby Killer” which was the
reason for her gurgling with excitement.

“
That’s the guy I just served!
Room 12!”

“
The news anchor?” Kyle asked,
generally uninterested in anything but snacks.

“
No retard! The baby killer’s
father!”

“
Fuck off
.”

“
No, I’
m serious. That’s the guy! He’s
staying here.

“
Well...so what?”

“
So? So, I’m going to call Sandy,
she’s not going to believe this!”

CHAPTER 12

The sky around Hallcombes had broken up
and it had turned into a clear crisp morning. MacNamee arrived
earlier than usual today as he normally did with a new patient.
Despite the fact he did not really want to be treating this
particular patient, he couldn’t change the fact that he was. So it
was his duty to try and make the transition for the boy as easy as
possible. He knew that being institutionalized was never easy for
anyone; insane or not. MacNamee was certainly early today but no
matter how early he got there he was never earlier than Crass.
Studies say there are only a very small percentage of people who
could function on less than four hours sleep a night and Crass was
one of them. Crass normally arrived at work at 6am; he would have
his paperwork completed by 6:45 daily while most didn’t start their
shifts till around 9. MacNamee found this quite extraordinary
really. The man was never seen with a coffee in his hand either;
quite often a glass of water was all he needed to stay alert in the
morning. Not MacNamee though. Regardless of whether or not he
really needed it, he certainly enjoyed his early morning coffee
stop. “Triple Tall Americano with vanilla” was his tipple, which he
happened to be savoring on his way to meet up with Crass in his
office. Two knocks today, that’s all Crass was getting. MacNamee’s
passive resentment towards the fact Crass always beat him to work
took a luke warm form today. The way Crass yelled “Enter” always
reminded MacNamee of Star Trek, the way Captain Picard had yelled
it many times. This always made MacNamee smile as he entered the
room to the busy old doctor. In many respects, MacNamee thought
Crass was somewhat like Captain Picard, minus the baldness. They
were both distinguished, older gentleman with a lot of
responsibility. They commanded respect wherever they went and had
rugged, intimidating demeanors. However MacNamee would never raise
the comparison, as Crass did not enjoy watching a lot of
television, much less science fiction.

“
Good morning
Doctor”

MacNamee
spouted as he pulled up a chair
opposite Crass.

“
Good morning
Greg
.
Americano?”

MacNamee
lifted his cup to him in
acknowledgement.

“
You’ll give yourself high blood
pressure
”

MacNamee didn’t respond to the comment,
thankful the old man didn’t know there was an extra shot of
espresso in there.

“
How
has your morning been so
far?”

Organizing
some papers Crass
responded.

“
I called
Frieda
.”

MacNamee
almost choked on his
coffee.

“
You called Frieda?
Why?”

“
I wanted to talk to about
yesterday”

“
It’s six
-thirty in the morning Ben. Couldn’t
it have waited until later, he isn’t due in till nine.”

“
What difference does the time
make, you and I
are here…and no, it couldn’t”

MacNamee
conceded, he had said his piece. He
simply smiled. He was sure Frieda would not have enjoyed being
woken up by Crass, but he would have liked to have seen his face
when he got the call.

“
So?”

“
So what?”
replied Crass

“
Well, aren’t you going to
tell me about the call?”

“
It’s
simple really, I want Connor to open
up. And, after yesterday, I didn’t want our future chances dashed.
So I asked our resident expert on the best way to allow the child
to feel more at ease here. He suggested toys”

“
What kind of
toys?”

“
His toys, Connor’s toys, the
ones he kept in his room at home. It’s no hassle, it’s not like
they were evidence. I already called the police station, they’re
bringing them over later this morning.”

MacNamee
looked at his mentor in
admiration.

“
You don’t waste any time do
you”

A wry smile crossed
Crass’s
face.

“
Come on Greg, you
know me better than
that.”

The two Doctors strolled down the long
corridor.

“
Now
…” started Crass

I don’t
know if he’ll be coming personally,
but our contact for the boy at the station is a Sergeant Jacobs. He
was the officer in charge of the case, dealt with Connor and the
father too; it was him I talked to on the phone. You might want to
remember that, it could come in handy.”

“
Sergeant Jacobs, got
it.”

“
Ok, now let’s get some breakfast
shall we?”

The two men
head
ed off to
the canteen for a quick bite.

Outside
the city, in the little town of
Staunton, Andy Williams slept soundly, the pillow rose slightly as
his great snores sucked the cloth towards his mouth. Beside him,
the unlocked door belied a bad habit of his. In times of haste or
fatigue he never got the hang of closing doors properly. This bad
habit was about to lead to the expeditious discovery of his
disappearance. Right now, in the city, a police officer was
approaching his door in midst of requisitioning some toys for
Andy’s institutionalized son. One notoriously heavy policeman’s
knock on the wooden door sent it ajar. Foul play was on the cop’s
mind as he drew his sidearm and entered the house.

“
Mr. Williams?”

But the place was empty. Calling in the
situation from the hallway, the cop searched the house to no avail.
It remained empty.

Crass and MacNamee were finishing up their
breakfast while chatting slowly. They did not usually sit in the
canteen for so long but after yesterday’s debacle with Connor they
wanted to make sure they had their plan worked out for the day
ahead. A call from the PA system interrupted them.

“
Paging
Doctor Crass. Doctor Crass please
report to your office. Thank you”

Crass
looked at MacNamee.

“
My office? Why would I need to
report there?
”

“
Come, on,
let’s go see.”

The hospital
was starting to bustle as staff
came and went for their breakfast, filling up the halls as they
walked between patient’s rooms. As Crass entered his office, he was
greeted by two men; both in suits, but both Doctors could tell they
were cops right away.

“
Are you Doctor
Crass?”

“
Yes I am”

“
I’m
Sergeant Jacobs this is Detective
Hunt, we brought over the toys you requested.”

“
Thanks very much
Sergeant.”

Crass
stood for a moment looking at the
gritty sergeant standing next to a comparatively clean looking
officer. He got the feeling there was something else or the
sergeant wouldn’t be here.

“
Surely it
doesn’t take two cops to deliver
a bag of toys.”