Inanimate (29 page)

“
He
gets inside your head, he’s very
clever.”

“
What
is he doing?” MacNamee asked
Crass.

“
Christ
knows…” replied the older Doctor as
he leaned in, pressing a button so his voice could be heard on the
other side of the glass.

“
Bring Connor
in
!”

Just as Connor
entered, Frieda
leaned in close and whispered in Jacobs’ ear.

“
Don’t let him get in your
head
.”

Jacobs, unsure
of what to say,
simply watched the boy sit down opposite them.

“
So that’s him?” Oates
asked

“
Yeah, that’s
Connor
.”

“
He
doesn’t look like much” said Oates,
watching the boy.

“
He’s just a child
Sheriff”
replied Crass.

“
Tell that to my boys at the
station.
They
have him billed as the devil himself.”

MacNamee
decided not to antagonize Oates;
after all he was dealing with a lot. Instead he tried to be
sympathetic.

“
I’m sorry you
have to deal with
all this Sheriff, six bodies is a lot to handle.”

“
Seven” corrected Oates. “Earl,
the owner of Earl’s bar was killed last night.”

“
Earls’ bar?”
Enquired Crass

“
Wasn’t that where Andy Williams
was drinking?”

“
Y
ep” replied Oates quietly.

Jacobs
sat across from Connor with a notepad
in his hand. MacNamee already briefed him on the last interview,
where Connor described a strange man in his room, and his
description of Dixie.

“
Hi there Connor, do you
remember me?”

“
Of course”
replied Connor “It’s only been a
few days. How have you been Sergeant Jacobs?”

“
I’m doing well Connor,
thanks for asking.”

Jacobs was taken aback by how polite
Connor was.

“
How
have you been?”

“
I’m ex
cellent, I’ve never been better” said
Connor, glancing at Frieda and smirking.

Jacobs'
noticed Frieda couldn’t take his eyes
off the boy. He looked nervous, as if anticipating
something.

“
Connor, I’d like to talk to you
about some accidents that
have been happening.”

Connor
was staring right into Frieda’s
eyes.

“
Connor?” Jacobs
asked, trying to get
the boy’s attention. “…Connor!”

Casually Connor
re
turned his
gaze to Jacobs. The atmosphere was very tense and Jacobs could feel
it all around him.

“
Did you
heard me Connor?”

As if he had been listening the
whole time Connor
shot back.

“
Accidents? What accidents
are you talking
about?”

“
I think you
know what I’m talking about
Connor” said Jacobs, deliberately calm.

“
I’m afraid I don’t
Sergeant
.”

“
Come on Connor, the people
who
have been
dying these last couple of days.”

As if stung by
realization, Connor
provided an over dramatic noise to the conversation.

“
Oh! The
murders!”

“
Yes Connor, the
murders.”

“
Well, I wouldn’t call them
accidents, would you?”

Connor gazed intently into Jacobs eyes
much as he did Frieda’s.

“
So you do
know what I’m talking about
then?”

Leaning across the table
Connor
was
choosing his facial expressions very carefully, each conveying an
over exaggerated sense of bewilderment.

“
Well
no, not really. I mean, you can’t ask
me what I know about some accidents if you are actually referring
to murder, that doesn’t make sense. It’s like asking me what I know
about fish, when really you’re asking me about birds.”

Jacobs
didn’t appreciate being spoken down
to like this, especially by a child, even if it was a psychotic
one.

“
Ok Connor, I
apologize.”

Jacobs
stated through a fake
smile.

“
What do you
know about the
murders?”

“
I
know a lot about them. What would you like
to know?”

Jacobs almost
couldn’t believe his
luck, he was the first to admit (as if it wasn’t blatantly obvious
to everyone watching) that he wasn’t a natural when it came to
dealing with kids but so far he seemed to be getting maximum
information with minimal coaxing.

“
Well ok
then. Let’s start off with who’s
committing them?”

Connor
smiled.

“
Look at you Sergeant, going for
gold right away. No warm-up information, just straight for the
prize.”

Jacobs forcefully
smiled
back.

“
That’s me
.”

“
You should
know who’s committing them; it
was you who had them brought to me?”

From behind the glass
Oates
perked
up. He leaned into the glass as closely as he could while Connor
confirmed what Crass and MacNamee already knew.

“
I didn’t bring anyone to
you
son.”

“
Not anyone,
anything Sergeant. You brought
me my dolls; they’re the ones you need to find if you want to stop
all this.”

Jaco
b’s heart beat faster while Frieda
started to sweat.

“
What do you mean your dolls
Connor?”

“
Come on Sergeant,
everyone
has
figured this out by now, it’s no mystery anymore. Or if they
haven’t they certainly should have. You brought them to me. All of
them: Basket, Bear, Dog, my soldiers, my dummies and
Betsy.”

“
Betsy?”
cried Oates, “that’s the name
Benchley was raving about, that’s the one he said killed Jimmy. Who
is she?”

MacNamee
looked at Crass

“
The porcelain
doll?”

Crass nodded gently in
response
while Oates just stood there shocked.

“
Ok Connor, say I was to
believe you, how do we stop them?”

Connor
laughed.

“
I do admire you for asking the
big questions right away Sergeant so I’m going to be truthful with
you. You
can’t! You can’t stop them; they are conscious beings now,
moving on their own free will.”

Jacobs
realized he wasn’t going to get
anywhere with that question so he moved on.

“
Ok, why did this all
begin?”

Connor’s smile faded.

“
Come o
n Sergeant; don’t play dumb with me
now.”

“
Excuse me?”

“
I said, don’t you play
fucking dumb with me!”

As the boy’s temper rose so did the worry
in Jacobs, there was something unnatural in his anger, something
inhuman in his voice.

“
Now Connor,
please remain calm.”

“
You only have yourself to blame
for this Sergeant, all this mess. If you had been honest with me
instead of telling me some bullshit lie...”

“
Connor I don’t
know what you
mean...”

“
You cops
are no different from these cunt
doctors! The so-called truths you tell people are thinner than the
walls of that pathetic excuse for a room they keep me
in.”

Suddenly Jacobs
was aware of what
Connor was referring to and it showed in his face, guilt spread
across him like a rash. He couldn’t hide anything from the boy
right now.

“
What? You didn’t think I
would
hear
you? Right outside my fucking room?”

MacNamee and Crass stood in an all too
familiar pose, gritting their teeth as another revelation came to
light.

“
What
is he talking about?” Oates blurted
nervously.

“
You came into my room”
continued Connor
“And you told me my dad’s death was an accident, and I believed
you. I believed you because you’re a cop. And little kids are
supposed to believe cops. Then as soon as you left you admitted
your lie to the people who are supposed to be helping me. My dad’s
death wasn’t an accident, it was a murder, covered up by small
minded people, and now, you and them will pay as one.”

“
Are you fucking kidding?” Oates
screamed at the two Doctors. “All this time you haven’t believed my
report, and worse, you let the boy hear that you didn’t believe it?
What kind of idiots are you?”

Crass
would not be spoken to like this, not
by a Sheriff willing to partake in such criminal acts.

“
How dare you call us
idiots
you
damn hick! If you had told the truth in the first place none of
this would have happened! Christ, anyone could see the glaring
holes in your report!”

“
You arrogant bastard!” Oates
yell
ed back
“I should put you in your place right here!”

Crass
stepped towards him.

“
Do you see me stepping
down?”

A small part of MacNamee wanted to see
the two sturdy men go at it but he knew that wouldn’t solve
anything. So he stepped in-between them.

“
Guys, guys please!”
MacNamee yelled,
thankful that the room was sound proof. “It’s done now, Connor
knows. We have to deal with that. But we have to work together on
this. You heard the boy, we’re all marked.”

The reminder of the ominous
threat
was
enough to diffuse the situation between the two men. As they
parted, MacNamee couldn’t help but smirk at Crass. He had never
seen the old guy lose his temper like that, truth be told he was
glad to see he could handle himself, even if it did make him all
the more intimidating.

As all this was going on behind the
scenes, Jacobs simply sat looking across at Connor.

“
Your move
Sergeant
.”

“
I think that
will do for now” said Jacobs as
he got to his feet.

Connor re
turned his gaze to Frieda and
grinned. Frieda was unable to look away as Connor said
quietly:

“
Dixie
can’t wait to meet you.”

Frieda’s eyes
widen
ed as
his fear exposed itself. He hoped dearly there was no substance to
this threat.

MacNamee
didn’t sit behind the desk in his
office; that would be too formal given the circumstances. The four
men stood, discussing options for containing the
situation.

“
I’m not saying the boy
isn’t telling the
truth, I just wouldn’t know how to stop these dolls he’s talking
about.” Jacobs stated bluntly.

“
I think right now what we
have to do is find
the dolls that were in his room and destroy them” said
MacNamee.

Jacobs
chuckled “You make it sound so easy
Doc, what are you suggesting? That the Sheriff put out an APB on
Buzz Light-year? If these things were easy to stop there wouldn’t
have been murders in the first place.”

MacNamee
was annoyed at Jacobs’
comment.

“
Well, what would you
have me do about
it?”

“
We just
have to find them” Crass interjected,
stroking his chin; this was the first he or Oates had spoken since
the incident in the interview room.

“
No disrespect Doctor but you’re
simplifying this as well, we just find them? That’s it? It’s not
going to be that easy!” Jacobs stated while the others
listened.

MacNamee
was aware how savvy Crass was, if he
was prepared to make an obvious statement like that, he was sure
there would be follow up. Oates stood quietly, listening to
suggestions before stepping in with some of his own.

“
Let’s think about this
logically fellas”

“
Here we go” thought MacNamee,
admiring his mentor.

“
The murders that
have taken place,
there were the two in the motel, the two in the house, and the bar
owner, each had something do with Andy Williams’ death either
directly or indirectly am I right?”

“
Yes” Oates
confirmed.