Inanimate (30 page)

“
You said there were seven.
Who were the other two?”

Crass
was on a roll here, and the men could
feel it

“
Stephen Benchley. He found the
bodies in the house, he shot one of the cops at my station, and
then he got shot himself. They both died
.” Oates said softly

“
I’m sorry to
hear you lost one of your own
Sheriff but it seems those were the only two deaths unrelated to
the others. What were the circumstances surrounding the
shooting?”

Oates
sighed, having to relive the events
didn’t please him one bit.

“
Stephen was basically catatonic
until he saw the little gir
l Jessica, Lucy Ellis’ niece. He freaked, grabbed
a gun from one of the other officers and tried to shoot her. I
guess she reminded him of what he saw and it ended up being too
much for him.” Oates paused “It’s too much for anyone to
take.”

“
Where
are you going with this Doc?” Jacobs
asked.

“
The victims who were killed by
these dolls were targeted,
and with the exception of Benchley and the
Sheriff’s colleague they weren’t random. As Connor said, he has a
list of people who the dolls are going to kill. So instead of going
and finding them, we could make them come to us.”

MacNamee suddenly tuned
in to Crass’s idea,
so excited that formality slipped away from him.

“
Good thinking Ben. So if we
could figure out who’s on that list and keep them together, we
would have a better chance of catching the dolls.”

“
Exactly”
stated Crass, “And here’s the best
part, we already have a list of what dolls we’re looking
for.”

“
What do you mean?”
asked
Oates.

Crass
turned to Jacobs

“
Sergeant, remember when you
brought the toys from Connor’s house, what else did you
bring?”

Jacobs clued in suddenly.

“
An inventory
list!”

Crass smirked slyly.

“
And I have that very list in the
drawer in my office.”

“
We’ll need to get working on a
list of targets. But at least now we have a plan”
said
Oates

“
That we do Sheriff. That we
do”

In the parking lot of Hallcombes
a security guard
was having a smoke break when he spotted something. A door
left ajar on a cruiser.

“
Damn cops!” he
mumbled to himself,
secretly bitter he never joined the force, instead spending his
days walking around a mental institution. He walked over, had a
quick peek inside and then closed it once realizing there was
nothing exciting in there. He stood, puffing on his cigarette as
Oates came to the door, chatting with MacNamee and
Jacobs.

“
Ok I got some stuff to
organize at the
station” said Jacobs “But I’ll be down in the morning, I’ll bring
Doctor MacNamee here with me.”

Jacobs
was talking to both men, but
directing himself towards Oates who nodded.

“
Ok, that
sounds good; Doctor Crass and I have
paperwork to finish for other patients here before we leave. So
tomorrow it is.”

“
Tomorrow then, I’ll
have my guys keep on
patrolling till then, just hope no more bodies show up” Oates said
morbidly.

“
I’m sorry it can’t be sooner
Sheriff, but we can’t just leave at the drop of a hat, we have over
fifty other patients here, and we’re stretched thin as it
is.”

“
I understand your reasons
Doctor”
said
Oates, “But that doesn’t mean I have to like them.”

With that Oates
headed into his
cruiser and pulled out of the parking lot.

“
Nice guy” Jacobs
said sarcastically.
“How did he react when Connor gave away our thoughts on Andy
William’s murder?”

“
Not well” MacNamee
said, deliberately
playing down the situation.

“
Ok Doctor, well I’m gonna go,
I
have some
things to do at the station, gonna see if I can get a couple more
guys in on this too.”

“
I think we’re going to need a
lot of help Sergeant
.”

As Jacobs eagerly
headed into the car
park he called back to MacNamee as he walked.

“
Come by the precinct about
eight, we’ll
leave from there.”

MacNamee simply
waved from the
doorway as Jacobs disappeared into his car.

CHAPTER 30

Thunder cracked above the city thanks
largely to the lingering fall heat. Rain poured down hard creating
large puddles all over the large parking lot. Hallcombes was
prepared for weather like this. Despite the fact the electrical
systems were old; they hadn’t flickered during any storm the city
had seen yet. MacNamee worked quietly in his office as the rain
beat down outside, unflinching while lightning took over the
background. When he was a kid, his two sisters used to be afraid of
the thunder, but he never was. It fascinated him, he was amazed by
the idea that this great rumbling sound that could dwarf an entire
city could appear out of nowhere. He used to read books on weather
systems, amazed by even the simplest things other people never
thought much about; like the wind. As a kid, he would actually
encourage people to think about the wind.

“
How
did it blow?”

“
In the middle of a huge
wide open space, what powers it?”

Every now and again one of the
adults he spoke to
would come back and tell him something about pressure
systems and such, but the scientific explanation never really
satisfied him. He was always more interested in watching other
people think about it. His fascination with the science of
meteorology was what led him into the science of the brain. Really
there were a lot of similarities between the two. For instance, a
dense fog that blankets a city’s streets could be compared to
amnesia, or a great flood brought on by a hurricane could be like
being in a coma. Or a violent thunderstorm could be what Connor
Williams’ went through in his life. There were periods of calm in
him, but also great rumblings, then flashes of pure energy, causing
damage where it struck. The thing was, most of the weather patterns
had been explained away by science, but many matters of the brain
had not, and MacNamee did always enjoy the mystery. So tonight he
sat amongst the thunderstorm, filling out paperwork and signing off
on medication treatments for the numerous patients under his and
Crass’s control. He didn’t call home tonight, he was too busy. He
meant to, but he got sidetracked, he knew Greta would wait up for
him anyways.

The front door of Greg and Greta
MacNamee’s townhouse opened and closed. The figure shook the water
off its body and looked around. The bottom of the house was dark;
only a dim light could be seen, emanating from beyond the top of
the stairs. Quickly, silently, the figure jogged up the stairs,
searching out the light. Light trickled in from high windows in the
hallway. Street lamps combined with moonlight painted the floor
with long yellow rectangles, forming only where light met shadow.
From the bedroom door, the longest of these rectangles was created,
coming from the large windows facing the shining moon. It was
there, in that oblong yellow space where the figure was illuminated
for the first time since entry to the house. A creature that has
nothing to fear does not fear the light. And so, this creature made
its way towards the source. Greta lay with her back to the
door.

“
Hey baby. You were working late
tonight?”

The bedroom door
squeaked as the
figure entered, approaching the bed. Greta lay in her silk black
nightgown, low-cut in the chest and cut just below the buttocks.
Too hot for blankets she lay with them coiled down below her feet.
The storm raged outside but she didn’t take any notice. She was not
a little girl. She was not afraid of just a little natural chaos.
Moonlight illuminated her figure. It washed over her body,
accentuating her natural curves and toned physique. She lay awake
with her eyes closed, she knew her husband like to play games, and
she was more than happy to play them too. Something scratched her
back, just hard enough to create white lines on her tanned
skin.

“
Baby
, you need to cut your
nails.”

She remained still with her eyes closed
and back turned. Only, she was smiling now. Another arm moved round
and stroked her underneath her chin, fur pressed up against her
back.

“
Since when do you wear a
sweater in bed?”

Her voice was husky, her breath quickened.
A claw slipped under the strap of her nightgown and slid it gently
over her shoulder blade. There was no noise except her breathing as
the strap slid down her arm. Greta moved up a hand and pushed the
strap back over her shoulder, smiling still.

“
Oh no, you don’t get the goods
that easily
.”

Playfully, she rolled over and opened her
eyes only to find an empty bed

“
Baby?”

She looked around, puzzled, knowing
someone was in bed with her just a moment ago.

“
Oh, you want to play do
you
. Well
lucky for you I like these games.”

She giggled as she crawled cat-like out of
bed, pouncing onto the floor then stood tall, scoping the room.
Lightning flashed outside, periodically adding to the much more dim
light trying hard to illuminate the room. She tiptoed over to the
en-suite bathroom and peered round the corner. Although the bedroom
lit naturally, enough for her to see, the bathroom was not. But
turning on the light would spoil the fun of hide and seek. So she
moved, in the darkness of the windowless bathroom straight towards
the shower curtain.

“
Gotcha!”

She was yelling at an empty tub. Moving
back into the room she noticed a teddy bear. Smiling, she
approached it. It sat with its arms by its side, its stare was
vacant.

“
Aww Greg, he’s cute!
But you won’t
distract me that easily!”

Greta
didn’t lose track of the game. She
thought about where he could be while announcing her plans to the
intruder she believed to be her husband.

“
So if he’s here, you must have
put him there when I went into the bathroom, which
means...”

While Greta tried to figure out the place
MacNamee could be hiding her eyes drew her to the
closet.

“
You’re in here!” she exclaimed,
opening the door, just as lighting flashed outside, revealing
nothing inside.

“
Hmm!” she
said loudly, tapping her chin.
“Where else could you be?”

Quickly, she moved to the bed. She got to
her knees in front of Bear and grabbed the cloth which concealed
the gapped area underneath the bed.

“
Ah-hah!”

Still nothing. Lifting her head without
returning to her feet she looked at Bear and sighed.

“
Ok, let’s ask our little friend
here. Do you
know where Greg is sweetie? No?”

She
figured Greg must be watching her so
she offered a little teaser, wiggling her bum she moved in closer
to Bear.

“
Maybe it’s a secret.
Will you tell me
now?”

Greta
was so close to Bear that she didn’t
notice razor sharp claws flicking out from his paws one by one
until there were four three inch metal blades on each paw.
Confident Greg would jump out at her at any moment she moved her
body backwards and her heart froze. Bear’s once vacant expression
was twisted into an expression of pure rage, its eyes glowed a deep
red. Fear almost paralyzing her she managed to utter three
words.

“
What the hell?”

In an instant Bear thrusted his left arm
up under her chin, driving four claws deep into her head, pain
rooting her firmly to the spot. As she choked in uncontrollable
agony she was unable to scream. Bear’s mouth started to open; the
furry monster had her exactly where he wanted her. All she could do
was watch in horror as the creatures head widened, its jaws
expanding like a snakes’, able to fit her whole head in his mouth.
She flailed her arms in excruciating pain; her brain was not
working properly. She could not manage a single defensive act to
stop what was going to happen to her. The Bear’s mouth opened so
wide she could not see past his head, only a black hole was in
front of her. As her arms desperately swiped at the creature in
front of her, the only sound of her demise was a soft gurgling as
blood leaked into her windpipe. Bear slammed his right paw into the
side of her head, securing her brain like an axe in wood. Then he
took his left paw out her chin and slammed it into the other side
of her head. Greta had only seconds to live. But as the gaping
black mouth closed in around her, those last seconds were to be her
most horrifying.