DR. GRIMM: What?
DR. LEWIS: It’s that bleached blonde from accounting, isn’t it?
DR. GRIMM: Who?
DR. LEWIS: Miss Silicon Valley! I’ve seen you checking out her fake boobs.
DR. GRIMM: Kate, there’s nobody here. Nobody. Just me.
He puts his arm around Kate and rushes Dr. Lewis to the office door, speaking frantically as they move.
DR. GRIMM: Let’s go somewhere! Let’s go get some coffee, okay?
Dr. Lewis stops when she notices that Dr. Grimm isn’t wearing his tie. This is very unusual for him.
DR. LEWIS: Where’s your tie?
Dr. Grimm fumbles around trying to think of a reasonable answer.
DR. GRIMM: Uh…uh…I’m just not wearing it. C’mon let’s go!
Dr. Lewis pulls away from him.
DR. LEWIS: Franklin, you’re acting strange!
She rushes to Dr. Grimm’s office door.
DR. GRIMM: Kate! No! NO!
She bursts into the office before Dr. Grimm can stop her.
DR. LEWIS: OH! Oh Franklin…
(She puts her hand over her mouth)
Is that…
Dr. Grimm Stands in the doorway.
DR. GRIMM: (Now calmed)
It’s Dr. Clark.
DR. LEWIS: Is he…dead?
DR. GRIMM: He fell.
(Pause)
He fell and hit his head.
(Pause)
I did everything I could for him, but…he didn’t make it.
Kate runs to the body and uncovers Dr. Clark.
Dr. Grimm steps into the room, shuts the door behind him and locks the door.
DR. LEWIS: Call a nurse! Get a cart in here!
Kate begins to check Dr. Clark out, specifically looking at his head area.
Dr. Grimm looms in the corner of the room behind her. He reaches into a box and pulls out a large syringe.
Kate continues to look around at Dr. Clark’s head.
DR. LEWIS: (Puzzled)
I don’t see any signs of head trauma.
Kate then takes her attention off of Dr. Clark’s head as she notices the red abrasions on Dr. Clark’s throat. Kate touches the abrasions and a peculiar look comes over her face as it begins to dawn on her that Dr. Clark has been strangled.
Dr. Grimm, now directly behind Kate grabs her head and holds it against his body as he slams the air filled syringe into Dr. Lewis’ ear. Her eyes widen as he pushes the plunger down. She begins to convulse violently before finally becoming still and slumping. Dr. Grimm lets her body go and she falls on top of Dr. Clark’s body.
Dr. Grimm rushes to a nearby plant and stuffs the syringe in it. He grabs his hair with his hands.
DR. GRIMM: What have I done? What have I done?
He looks at Dr. Lewis’ body and winces.
DR. GRIMM: Oh no! What am I gonna do? What am I gonna do?
He falls heavily into his chair as he contemplates his next move. He is panicked and frantic and freezes when he sees the phone.
DR. GRIMM: I’m going to call Ski Mask!
He grabs the phone, dials and waits impatiently as it rings.
DR. GRIMM: C’mon, answer! Answer!
◆◆◆
Melissa whimpers as Ski Mask…the man we previously knew as Max… pulls off his outer shirt revealing a tan t-shirt and begins to undo his belt, but freezes when he hears a cellular phone ringing in the attached bathroom. He refastens his belt and walks to the bathroom door.
SKI MASK: I’ll be right back, don’t go anywhere.
Ski Mask enters the bathroom and shuts the door behind him
He eyes the ringing cellular telephone and picks it up.
SKI MASK: Hello?
Ski Mask is cool, calm and collected. During the conversation he casually begins to go through the medicine cabinet looking at items. Eventually, he finds a toothbrush and some toothpaste and brushes his teeth as he talks.
Dr. Grimm on the other hand, is rather frantic.
DR. GRIMM: Ski Mask? Oh thank God I finally got a hold of you!
SKI MASK: What do you want? I’m busy!
DR. GRIMM: Did you find Bromley?
SKI MASK: Yeah.
DR. GRIMM: (Shocked and excited)
You did? You did? Really? Is he there? What’s happening? Did you catch him…?
SKI MASK: Will you settle down!
DR. GRIMM: Is he secured?
SKI MASK: Yes!
DR. GRIMM: (Elated)
Finally, something goes right today!
(Takes a breath and calms himself)
Did you have any problems?
SKI MASK: Piece of cake.
DR. GRIMM: Where did you find him?
SKI MASK: He came back to his old house.
DR. GRIMM: You’re kidding. You were right!
SKI MASK: Of course I was right. I’ve been guarding this maniac for over two years. I know him. I know what makes him tick.
DR. GRIMM: How did you get into the house? Did you sneak in and take him by surprise?
SKI MASK: He invited me in.
DR. GRIMM: What?
(He laughs a bit)
How did you manage that!
SKI MASK: Haven’t you been listening? I know him! I know his tendencies! All I had to do was talk about family a little bit. So I made up some bullshit about having a strained relationship with my father and that was pretty much it.
DR. GRIMM: (Shaking his head)
He actually went back to his house? Amazing. I thought he’d be smarter than that.
SKI MASK: Smart has nothing to do with it. He’s intelligent, sure, but he has a drive that he can’t control. He’s obsessed with things being perfect. To him this is the perfect house. There was no way he could keep from coming back. He wants to live in the perfect house with the perfect family. That’s what drives him. It overcomes his intelligence. He is insane, after all.
DR. GRIMM: I really thought that he would leave the area! I should put you on my medical staff, Ski Mask!
SKI MASK: No thanks. You shrinks have your ways, I have mine.
(Pause)
Anyway, he was no match for me.
DR. GRIMM: Did you kill him?
SKI MASK: No. I think it’ll be best if we just sedate him, bring him back to the institution and I’ll hang him in his room. Make it look like a suicide. You can come up with some creative bullshit as to why you didn’t inform the media. I’m sure you’ll come up with something plausible.
DR. GRIMM: Yes, I know just how to handle it.
SKI MASK: Oh, by the way…I’m gonna have an innocent bystander casualty.
DR. GRIMM: What? Who?
SKI MASK: Just some slut. She saw me. I can’t let her live. Nothing for you to worry about.
DR. GRIMM: I see. Uh…on a related note...I have something else I need you to help me with.
SKI MASK: What?
DR. GRIMM: Uh.
(Having a hard time saying it)
It’s uh…
SKI MASK: Spit it out!
DR. GRIMM: I have a couple of casualties here myself.
SKI MASK: What do you mean?
DR. GRIMM: Well, I…
(Taking a breath)
You know Dr. Clark and Dr. Lewis?
SKI MASK: Yeah.
DR. GRIMM: Uh, I…well, uh…in a word, they’re dead.
SKI MASK: What!? What happened?
DR. GRIMM: It was…I…they knew too much. They saw too much. They just…
SKI MASK: Wait! Are you trying to tell me that you killed them?
DR. GRIMM: Oh, I’d rather not put it in those terms but I didn’t know what else to do. They, they had too much information...they just…
SKI MASK: Settle down! I’ll take care of it! All we have to do is…
There is a quick, sharp scream from the other room. Ski Mask looks in the direction of the scream, wondering what that was about. He stops talking as he listens.
DR. GRIMM: Ski Mask? Are you there?
Yeah, I’m here. Listen, get over here as soon as you can and help me with these guys first and then we’ll clean up your mess.
DR. GRIMM: Over there, uh okay, sure. Sure.
SKI MASK: I gotta go.
Ski Mask hangs up the phone.
Dr. Grimm takes a breath, stands up and walks to a nearby mirror. He straightens his shirt and looks at his reflection assuredly.
DR. GRIMM: You can do this.
(Lets out a deep breath)
You can do this. It’s all going to work out just fine.
He exits the room.
CHAPTER 12
FRIDAY
Evening
Dr. Grimm pulls up to the house and parks.
He sits in his car for a moment and eyes the outside of the house before leaning over to the glove compartment. He reaches in and pulls out a gun. He looks at the gun, back at the house and gets out of the car.
He carefully places the gun inside his jacket pocket and slowly walks up to the house. The lights are on. Things seem quiet. He looks around and knocks on the door.
There is no answer.
DR. GRIMM: C’mon.
Dr. Grimm is getting antsy. He does not want to be seen outside of the house.
He knocks again.
When there is no answer he turns the knob and enters. All is quiet with the exception of a loud dripping sound that appears to be emanating from a room deeper within the house. He shuts the door behind him.
DR. GRIMM: Ski Mask?
There is no answer.
Dr. Grimm looks to his left and startles at the sight of Melissa sitting in a chair with her eyes wide opened staring at him. Dr. Grimm puts his hand on his chest and takes a breath. He walks to Melissa and studies her closely. She is obviously dead. Likely, the innocent bystander casualty that Ski Mask spoke of.
Dr. Grimm turns and notices a few magazines lying on the living room floor. They are open and cluttered in appearance. Dr. Grimm stops and picks them up. He pauses when he sees the abnormally large breasts on the cover of Bra Busters.
DR. GRIMM: Holy shit.
He puts the magazines together and stacks them neatly on the coffee table. He then walks toward the kitchen.
DR. GRIMM: Ski Mask?
The dripping is louder.
DR. GRIMM: (To himself)
Where the hell is he?
Dr. Grimm enters the kitchen and sees the source of the drip which is the kitchen faucet slowly dripping onto a stack of dirty dishes in the sink. He crinkles his nose at the sight.
DR. GRIMM: Disgusting.
Dr. Grimm reaches the sink and twists the faucet knob to stop the drip. He turns and is startled by the sight of the home owner, Alex. His dead body is propped up in the pantry.
Dr. Grimm’s shock quickly turns to that of confusion. Ski Mask only mentioned one innocent bystander casualty. Who the hell is this? Dr. Grimm runs his hands through his hair and thinks for a moment.
He walks out of the kitchen into the dining room. He notices a light shining from under the door in the next room, so he cautiously approaches the door and pushes it open. All is quiet, but Dr. Grimm can see someone sitting in a chair. The chair is facing the wall, so he can only see them from behind. He slowly makes his way to the person in the chair and touches them on the shoulder. The head rocks back slightly revealing the dead body of Ski Mask.
As he recognizes Ski Mask, he hears loud footsteps from the floor above. More than footsteps, it’s the sound of someone running.
Dr. Grimm steps out of the room as he follows the sound to the top of the stairs. Dr. Grimm’s jaw drops as he sees John Bromley, a grimace on his face and bloody knife in hand, charging down the stairs toward Dr. Grimm.
Terror fills Dr. Grimm as he staggers backwards and falls over all while fumbling for his gun. Finally he gets control and while still in a sitting position he pulls out his gun and points it at Bromley.
DR. GRIMM: Stop or I’ll shoot!
Bromley stops in his tracks, huffing.
BROMLEY: Dr. Grimm? What are you doing here?
DR. GRIMM: Don’t you move!
BROMLEY: Welcome to my home Dr. Grimm. Isn’t it perfect? The perfect home. Now all I need is find the perfect family and I’ll be complete.
DR. GRIMM: Listen! I’m in control now, so I think it might be a good idea if you just SHUT UP!
A sadistic look cascades over John Bromley’s face.
JOHN BROMLEY: That’s no way to talk to the head of the household, Dr. Grimm!
DR. GRIMM: You killed Ski Mask!
BROMLEY: Ski Mask? Ski Mask isn’t here.
DR. GRIMM: (Pointing to the room)
I just saw his dead body in there!
Bromley begins to realize the situation.
BROMLEY: So that was Ski Mask who I carved up earlier.
(Pause)
But why would Ski Mask have come out here?
(Thinking a moment)
Ahhh. I see what you did.
(Shaking his head, scowling)
That wasn’t very nice of you to send Ski Mask after me, Dr. Grimm.
Bromley takes a step toward Dr. Grimm and brandishes the knife.
DR. GRIMM: John…don’t.
John steps closer.
DR. GRIMM: Drop the knife…
John stares hard at Dr. Grimm and takes another small step while squeezing the handle of the knife and gritting his teeth as if contemplating a charge. Dr. Grimm holds the gun out, grips it tighter and shouts.
DR. GRIMM: Listen John, you drop that knife right now or I will SHOOT YOU!
Bromley stops and glares at Dr. Grimm, finally opening his hand and letting the knife drop to the floor.
BROMLEY: Have it your way, Dr. Grimm.
DR. GRIMM: Good boy, now hand me that extension cord.
He motions to an extension cord on the table behind John. John does as he is told but wheels around quickly to hand it to Dr. Grimm.
DR. GRIMM: Ahh! Slow! Move slow.
Bromley follows the instructions and in a slow manner hands Dr. Grimm the cord.
DR. GRIMM: Turn around! Put your hands behind your back.
Bromley does so.
DR. GRIMM: (Steadying the gun on Bromley’s back)
Don’t you try anything!
Dr. Grimm, needing to hold the gun with one hand, has difficulty tying Johns’ wrists with his lone free hand. Instinctively he begins to use his other hand, which is holding the gun.
The moment that Bromley feels the gun come off of his back, he spins around and grabs for Dr. Grimm.
DR. GRIMM: Shit!
(Fumbling about for the gun)
No!
The gun falls to the floor and John Bromley squeezes his large hands around Dr. Grimm’s throat. Dr. Grimm gasps for air as his hand flails around the surrounding area hoping to find the cold steel of the gun, but all he feels is hardwood floor. Dr. Grimm begins to weaken as John constricts his hands more.
Out of the corner of his bloodshot eyes, Dr. Grimm can see the glistening of light on the gun which is just slightly out of his reach. He dips deep into the last reserve of energy and slides his body over enough to grip the gun which he immediately thrusts against John’s throat. John’s grip loosens and Dr. Grimm lets out a hard cough as he speaks.
DR. GRIMM: Get off me!
John Bromley does as instructed.
Dr. Grimm takes a calming breath and then barks orders at John.
DR. GRIMM: Turn around. Now!
John does so.
DR. GRIMM: Lie down on your stomach and put your hands behind your back!
John does so.
DR. GRIMM: (Speaking slow, clear and assuredly)
You listen to me and you listen to me good! I’m going to tie your hands behind your back. If you move so much as a hair, I’m going to put this gun to the back of your head and I’m going to blow your brains out.
(Pause)
I’m going to blo
w them out all over this nice hardwood floor.
(Pause)
Do you hear what I’m saying?
(Pause)
Do you understand?
John hisses his answer with a defiant tone.
BROMLEY: Yes sir.
Dr. Grimm cautiously puts his gun back into his pocket, grabs the extension cord, bends down and starts to tie Bromley, this time without any problems.
Maniac on the Loose Page 6