Inanimate (20 page)

“
Nothing we could see”
stated
Tim.

MacNamee was so unsettled by this last
comment that he didn’t even realize he raised his voice.

“
What
does that mean?”

“
J
ust what he said,” answered Crass. “There
was obviously something in the hall that night, I’ve seen the
prints. But I can’t explain why it didn’t show up on the
camera.”

MacNamee
relaxed a little. The fact that Crass
was ready to accept something beyond the realms of science was
cause enough for him to as well. The old man stood, thinking.
Although he had a very scientific approach to most matters he was
no ignoramus. There was clear evidence that proved there was
something in the hallway, something that simply could not be seen
by the human eye. Unbeknownst to the three was the fact that the
beast was seen by one pair of eyes that night, Connors’.

“
Ok”
MacNamee relented “Let’s say
there
was
something in the corridor last night, and that
was
it’s breath we saw
in the video, that would have put its height at more than seven
feet off the ground.”

“
Closer to eight” Tim
interjected

“
Ok, well there
are only a handful
of people in the world who could even come close to that, and with
the amount of condensation there was...no one has a lung capacity
like that.”

Crass and T
im met eyes.

“
What?”
asked MacNamee, noticing the
glance.

“
I saw the prints in the
floor”
said
Crass “Tim said he told you they were paws, but I looked at them in
the light.” Crass paused, “they look more like hooves.”

“
What do we do now then?
Call the police? Tell them there was an intruder in here last
night?”

“
And show them this?” Crass
asked rhetorically. “No, Greg, we don’t want to involve anyone else
until we know what we’re dealing with.”

MacNamee wondered if this decision was the
best one. He felt it was common practice to report any intruder (no
matter how unusual) to the proper authorities. But, at the end of
the day, crass was his boss and it was his decision to
make.

“
There’s
more Greg.”

MacNamee
sighed “What?”

“
I took a walk past Connor’s room
after I saw the tape, and all his toys
are missing.”

MacNamee
turned white.

“
Did someone
take them?”

The image of the ventriloquist dummy
staring at him flashed into his head, with the Sheriff’s
description of their main suspect ringing in his ears.

“
Well someone did yes, but I have
the only key, plus the backup in this office, and Tim was in here
all night.”

Tim
looked up at MacNamee.

“
And I
sure as
hell
didn’t go in there.”

MacNamee
looked intently at Crass before
speaking.

“
Ben
, you and I need to talk,
alone.”

MacNamee
had his hands in his hair before the
door even closed in Crass’s office.

“
What Greg? What’s got you
so agitated?”

“
You mean apart from that
tape?”

Crass scolded
him with a look and
MacNamee was apologetic.

“
I’m sorry Ben
. I know what you meant; it’s
just been a rough morning.”

“
For all of us
,” reminded Crass. “Have a
seat.”

Again MacNamee would rather stand but he
knew that this time Crass’s suggestion was actually a disguised
order. The two sat down at opposite sides of the desk. The room was
warm, the colors complimented the temperature, provided a very
comfortable setting in which to unwind and fill out paperwork.
Crass didn’t believe in clutter, his office was efficiently
organized without looking barren.

“
Ok Greg, spill
it
!”

“
I got a phone call this morning
from the
Sheriff of Staunton, just outside the city.”

“
Oates right?”
asked Crass, his
memory of Andy William’s death report still fresh.

“
Yeah, that’s the guy.
Well, he asked me to
check on Connor this morning so I called up Tim and asked him to
check in on him but…but I’m sure Tim already told you
that.”

Crass simply
nodded, waiting for the punch
line.

“
The sheriff told me after I
called him back that the reason he was asking about Connor was that
they had just had a double homicide over there and they think the
killer may be a child.”

“
Well of course it would make
sense he would ask us, what with Connor’s high profile and the fact
his father was killed in Staunton…”

“
I
totally agree, but here’s the thing.
Sheriff Oates told me they couldn’t be sure it was a child. They
have a still photo taken from a video camera at the scene which is
dressed like the ventriloquist dummy Connor had in his room, the
dummy you just told me disappeared sometime last night.”

Upon hearing this Crass
simply
sat
back in his chair and clasped his hands in his lap. MacNamee looked
at him with begging eyes.

“
Ben, tell me I’m crazy, tell me
there
’s
another explanation.”

Crass
looked down at his hands, unable to
tell the young Doctor what he wanted to hear. In the silence,
MacNamee started to lose his temper.

“
Doctor Crass, please tell me
there’s another explanation!”

“
I’m sorry Greg but I just can’t.
Yesterday, sure I would have said there was no way that could
happen, but, in light of what we just saw I can’t rule anything out
right now.”

“
But it’s a toy! It’s not
possible!”

“
Greg, use your brain! Ignore
what you’ve been taught for a moment and look at the evidence.
Something made large hoof prints in a solid concrete floor.
Something which stood eight feet tall and was able to scratch a
concrete wall so hard, it created sparks as it moved. Something
which was absolutely invisible to the naked eye, a feat in itself
utterly impossible to comprehend; and now the boy’s dolls have
disappeared from a locked room after a mysterious light illuminated
it. I really don’t see how science can explain these facts Greg,
can you?”

MacNamee
didn’t argue. If he was being honest,
he couldn’t really see how the evidence could be explained
scientifically either, he just didn’t want to admit it. After a
long moment of pondering, MacNamee finally spoke.

“
Ok, so what do we
do?”

“
L
et’s make our next move scientifically;
the logical step is to talk to the only witness to these
events.”

“
Only witne
ss? You’re talking about
Connor?”

Crass
nodded.

“
It would be best to let Frieda
do it. As we’ve discussed, Connor seems to enjoy making a fool out
of him the most so he might be more inclined to give away more
information with Frieda.”

“
We have to be careful though. If
this is going the way we think it is, we’ll have to let as few
people knew as possible. We don’t want to start a
panic.”

The two men
sa
t silently
for a moment; both getting the feeling this whole day was going to
get worse before it got better.

Connor Williams sat
directly across from
Paul Frieda, the colorful table was a stark contrast to Connor’s
dark temperament right now. As the realization set in that he had
the power to kill, an air of omnipotence was slowly filtering into
his body.

“
So Connor
…” Frieda began. “You’ve probably
noticed that people in the hospital are a lot more chatty
today.”

Connor
didn’t respond, he was aware of the
fact but chose not to acknowledge it. Unyielding, Frieda
continued.

“
Do you
know why that is?”

Connor
smiled, relishing an opportunity for
entertainment.

“
I could guess.”

“
And what would be your
guess?”

“
Hmm
…”

Connor
looked off into the distance,
feigning deep thought.

“
Probably because of the man in
my room, the one who brought the light
…”

Frieda
perked up, as did the doctors from
behind the glass. Both stood in silence, listening intently at what
was being said.

“
Was he the one who took your
toys?”

Connor
smiled broadly.

“
He did a little more than
that
.”

“
Would you care to
explain?”

“
Well, it’s hard to explain.
Basically, he gave me power.”

From the one way glass, Crass
and
MacNamee
were watching closely. A bucket of toys sat behind Connor, numerous
small action figures sat in a pile on top of one
another.

“
What kind of power did the
man give you Connor?”

Connor
leaned across the table and focused
his gaze on Frieda, who was desperately trying to remain in
control.

“
Lots of power
…”

Connor
whispered. All of the toys in the
pile snapped their heads round to meet Frieda’s eyes for a second
then snapped back to their original positions. The doctor’s heart
skipped a beat. He closed his eyes for a second and pretended he
didn’t see it. MacNamee and Crass didn’t see it either; they were
too engrossed in Connor’s actions. Connor sat back in his chair and
returned to his usual morbid glare. Frieda sat in silence,
switching his gaze between Connor and the toys that turned towards
him. He wasn’t even sure he saw anything as they were all perfectly
still now.

“
The man in my room, he’s the one
who brought Dixie with him
.”

Connor’s words brought
Frieda out of his
thoughts again, reminding him that he needed to act like he was in
control even though no-one (particularly Crass) believed that he
was. Behind the glass, MacNamee turned to his colleague and
whispered “Dixie?” The two exchanged puzzled looks.

“
Who’s Dixie?” Frieda
asked, trying to
keep hold of the boy’s attention.

“
Dixie was the one you saw in the
video tape. I saw the camera in the hallway when you brought me to
this room, so I’m assuming you saw him on that.”

Connor
wasn’t aware that Dixie didn’t show
up on the camera, but Frieda was not informed of the tape at all.
MacNamee and Crass did not feel it was important to tell
him.

“
I haven’t seen any tape Connor.
Please, what did Dixie look like?”

Connor
acted surprised then laughed
mockingly.

“
You haven’t watched
the tape? You must
have, someone must have looked at it considering the damage Dixie
caused. It would be pretty obvious to anyone to check the security
tape. Unless…”

A tho
ugh popped in Connor’s mind and he
decided to run with it.

“
Ok, I’ll believe you haven’t
seen it.
Well, let me enlighten you a little. Dixie is a monster. He
has horns on his head and hooves on his feet.”

Crass and
MacNamee looked very nervous at
the description, Crass’s assertion that the prints were hooves
instead of paws had just been proven to be accurate. Connor
continued:

“
He’s
very tall and breathes very heavily.
He wouldn’t even need to use his sharp claws or pointed teeth to
harm a person; he has the strength to simply tear their limbs off
one at a time.”

Connor
stopped a moment, savoring the look
in Frieda’s eyes. The boy had already planted a dangerous seed in
the doctor’s mind and now he planned to water it. Smiling
menacingly, he continued.

“
But surely you must have seen
the video. Your colleagues have to have seen it and I can’t believe
they would have sent you in here without informing you about the
huge beast that entered my room.”

Connor gently
chuckled.

“
Surely your colleagues
respect you more
than that? I mean they must have told you something, did they just
tell you my dolls were missing?”

Frieda’s eyes lowered slightly and he
started to blush, giving Connor the answer he wanted.

“
They did, didn’t they?
They sent you in
here knowing there was so much more to the story than they were
willing to tell you. Why is that? Aren’t you part of the
team?”