by Deryck Jason
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 though 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?”
MacNamee turned to Crass.
“We have to stop this, it’s too much!”
Crass simply raised a hand; he wanted Connor to give up more information, regardless of how it made Frieda feel.
“Well I have to say Doctor Frieda, if it was me…” Connor lowered his voice to a whisper “…I’d be pissed off!”
Frieda looked at Connor hard, trying to search for lies, but there weren’t any. Connor’s words rung hard in the ears of the Doctor before him, causing him to ask himself questions.
“Was there a tape? Why didn’t they show me it?”
“You must be mistaken Connor, there is no tape. If there was I would know about it.”
Frieda said this with every ounce of confidence he could muster but Connor simply chuckled again.
“You’re sure about that Doctor? You’re colleagues definitely wouldn’t keep you in the dark about this would they? They care more about your safety than you think? Don’t worry; I believe you didn’t see Dixie. In fact I’ll make sure and send him round to your house tonight so you can get a real good look at him.”
Frieda stood up noisily; the whole session had been too much for him. He stormed out of the room and out into the corridor, making a beeline straight for Crass and MacNamee.
CHAPTER 22
“What the hell was that sir? You didn’t think it was important to tell me about this Dixie?”
Frieda was furious with his boss Doctor Crass for not telling him what he knew beforehand but he resented MacNamee more, for it seemed he was also in the loop. MacNamee gave Crass a look, which quietly enraged Frieda further. It wasn’t just his good looks that the other doctors were jealous of; it was also his relationship with the boss.
“I’m sorry Doctor Frieda” Crass said with a professional apology “I made the decision not to tell you. Both Doctor MacNamee and I have seen the video, along with the orderly on shift that night but that’s it. We felt the fewer people knew about it the better, we didn’t want to start a panic.”
Frieda looked at the old man then switched his gaze to MacNamee who dropped his eyes to the floor. The old doctor’s logic seemed to calm him down a little.
“But sir you pretty much hung me out to dry there. He made me look like a fool. Again! And it didn’t have to be that way.”
If Doctor Crass had his way he would tell Frieda to stop whining and get back to work, however the situation called for diplomacy. Crass knew he might need Frieda to speak to Connor some more. Regardless of how it made Frieda look the old man had learned a lot about Connor and his visitors from their meetings and now that something strange was definitely going on, he needed those meetings to continue.
“You’re right Paul, what I did was quite disrespectful. But the truth is we need you on this. We had to keep you in the dark about the tape because that was the only way Connor would feel he had the advantage and that was the only way he would tell us about the creature. Connor reveals information to you, and we need that right now.”
Frieda was suspicious.
“Why the sudden push to get him to talk? He isn’t going anywhere.”
Crass didn’t inform him of the murders; instead he told a lie he felt was beneficial to the situation.
“We need to help this child Paul; he has been let down his whole life. It’s time someone did something about it. He needs you. I need you.”
Despite the fact this statement made Crass feel very uneasy he said it regardless, in his mind he had to. Falling prey to the smooth, personalized praise of Crass, Frieda relented. He looked at MacNamee who struggled to maintain his sincerest look.
“Ok, but no more surprises!”
Crass nodded back.
“No more surprises.”
Jimmy Collins enjoyed these sunny afternoons. The southern heat was about the only thing that made Staunton a bearable place to live, even in fall. Sure, his town was old, full of history and there were a few things for the tourists to do but for a local, the only thing you had to look forward to was drinking, playing pool and the possibility of leaving Staunton someday. Still, all the sour thoughts of his little goldfish bowl n
amed Staunton disappeared when the heat was upon him. It was unusually warm for this time of year and the sun was rife on the streets. Passing under tree shades in this family neighborhood Jimmy enjoyed the cooling sensation he got until he stepped back out into the sun again.
“This must be global warming. I love it!”
Jimmy thought to himself as he strolled along, en route to see his girlfriend. The thoughts of a couple of days ago had started to disappear in Jimmy’s mind, that’s how easy it was for a dead man to be forgotten. Although Jimmy didn’t physically harm Andy, he was fully aware of Tony’s temper when the fight began and he made no effort to stop it. It was all behind him now though.
“A few beers and a bar fight gone bad.”
That was how he justified it to himself.
As he neared the house his stomach rumbled, he knew he would be getting lunch here, but he also knew Lucy was a terrible cook and so wished he had picked something up before he left his house. Ringing on the doorbell, he waited a moment. Lucy answered, wearing his old college football shirt and sweat pants. Lucy Ellis looked good in anything she wore but Jimmy especially liked it when she wore loose fitting clothing, he found it more of a turn on than being able to see absolutely everything. With only a slight greeting Jimmy pushed past her and slipped into the kitchen, leaving Lucy to close the door. He grabbed a beer from the fridge then came into the living room. Sitting down he kicked off his boots and turned on the television. Lucy was used to this type of behavior, by now none of it surprised her. Parking next to him on the couch while Jimmy stared at the TV Lucy started her usual, mostly one-way conversation.
“I got called into work tonight; they picked up more reservations so they need an extra body.”
Grunting, Jimmy swigged his beer.
“What’s for lunch?” he asked, slightly frightened of what culinary disaster he might be forced to eat.
“I have some chicken and fries in the oven”
This pleased Jimmy. Frozen food was hard to screw up, and if it did taste bad, there was always ketchup for him to turn to. Jimmy was able to relax now; he knew he would at least have something edible to eat today. As Lucy cuddled into him on the couch, his manly instincts started to tingle. Putting his arm around her he kissed her on the head, the scent of her strawberry shampoo got his blood flowing. Believing his subtlety was better than it actually was, Jimmy went in for another kiss. A small one at first and then another, gradually turning his body he tried to get his hands involved in the action. This was when Lucy decided to stop it.
“Jimmy…I don’t want to.”
The four words which have deflated many other men’s libidos in the past had the same effect on Jimmy’s. With an over exaggerated huff, his frustration whined in his voice.
“Why? We probably have like ten minutes before lunch.”
“My niece is upstairs.”
“Really? Why?”
“She was sick so she couldn’t go to school, but my sister had to work and couldn’t watch her so she called me. She’ll only be a couple of hours.”
“Well, she’s upstairs, couldn’t we just...you know.”
“No!” exclaimed Lucy “What if she came down?”
Jimmy realized he wasn’t going to be getting any action today so nothing much else mattered to him.
“She has to learn sometime” he mumbled.
Lucy was pissed, not least at the fact that Jimmy made the remark right in front of her. She got up from the couch.
“You’re fucking sick Jimmy, she’s seven! Whatever, I’m going to go check on her!”
“Bitch!” Jimmy uttered as she left the room.
Lucy jogged up the stairs, wanting to get away from her boyfriend quickly. She walked down her hallway. Even though it was only about a dozen feet to the end she savored the journey. Her parents had bought her this house six months ago but they were still in the process of decorating. The areas that were finished though (like the hallway), looked pristine. Olive green walls were covered in pictures; some of Lucy with family and friends, and others were just pictures selected from stores because they looked good. Lucy’s bedroom was at the end of the hall; this was where her niece, Jessica liked to play when she came over. Pushing open the door to her bedroom Lucy smiled. She didn’t really believe Jessica was sick, the kid probably just wanted the day off school, and now looking at her she saw she was right. Jessica wasn’t in bed, where her mother had left her before she went to work, she was up having a tea party with some dolls. Lucy stood at the door for a moment, she noticed Jessica’s large Barbie doll which stayed at the house for when she came to visit and the cuddly toy elephant, Jessica’s favorite. She took that elephant everywhere and for some reason it had a smile stitched on to its face. Lucy always found that odd, never in her life had she ever seen a smiling elephant. Strangely though, there was a fourth member at the tea party who Lucy didn’t recognize. A well-dressed porcelain doll sat with the two others and Jessica, sitting at the table looking quite comfortable. This wasn’t Lucy’s doll and she didn’t see Jessica bring it in with her. Looking at it she thought she would have definitely noticed Jessica bring it in as it was fairly large, standing above Jessica’s waist.
“Jessica where did you find that doll?” asked Lucy, moving into the room.
“I didn’t, she found me. Her name is Betsy, she and some friends came in from the city.”
Jessica responded while pouring her imaginary tea.
Puzzled, Lucy decided to leave it alone. It was early when her sister dropped Jessica off and Lucy had worked late last night, maybe she was just too tired to notice it with her. Lucy bent over the table to get a look at the doll.
“Ok, well lunch will be ready in ten minutes, so you’ll need to say goodbye to your little friends for a while.”
Lucy leaned in to take Jessica’s are but Betsy’s head swiveled round and looked up at her. Betsy’s movements were fluid, not doll-like at all. Stepping back in fright Lucy cried out then giggled awkwardly.
“Whoa Jess! You didn’t tell me she moved.”
Jessica beamed.
“Oh yes, Betsy moves! She walks and talks, I bet she sings too!”
Jessica was looking fondly at Betsy as the dolls head moved slowly back round to face the little girl.
“It’s strange” commented Lucy “It doesn’t look like one of those moveable dolls, she looks antique.”
“She’s perfect!”
Lucy was a little shaken, she changed her mind about bringing Jessica with her, instead decided to let her play some more, Betsy gave her the creeps and she wanted to leave the room.
“Ok, well remember, lunch in ten minutes.”
As Lucy headed down the hall she could hear Jessica talking behind her.
“That doll was creepy,” Lucy thought to herself.
Jimmy was all apologies when she came downstairs
“Hey sweetie I’m sorry I said what I said I’m just hungry.”
Lucy sighed, she was hoping this wasn’t just another fake apology to try and get back into her pants, usually however, it was.
“Look, I forgive you, just sit down; I want to finish making lunch.”
Sheriff Oates sat at his desk looking at the same picture from this morning, the same face caught on video of the mysterious suspect in the double murder case. Oates hadn’t slept yet, he knew that he couldn’t keep this information a secret forever, word of the murders were quickly spreading as they had only recently notified the victim’s families. He wondered if the process of notifying the families would be easier if the murders took place in the city. It was just so personal in a small town like Staunton. It’s not to say that everybody knew everybody, that wasn’t exactly true. It was just that people had a lot more links to each other here than they would have had in a larger population. Thoughts of the victim’s families really took hold when he thought how he had to tell them there were no suspects. An “ongoing investigation” provided little solace to grieving mothers but it he was all he co
uld say. Unfortunately for them, Oates’ duty was to the town as a whole. Letting slip theories of killer kids or worse killer dolls could tear the town apart and he was not about to see that happen, not after all he had been through. His cell phone dragged him back from his thoughts, flipping open the speaker and resting his head on his hand he answered.
“Sheriff Oates.”
“Hello Sheriff this is Doctor MacNamee from Hallcombes Psychiatric, how are you?”
Oates thought MacNamee’s small talk was in poor taste but he played along regardless.
“Just getting things done Doc, what can I do for you?”
“I have some information on those murders you that might interest you.”
“Ok, shoot Doc. I’m listening.”
“Well, as it turns out, we had a couple of incidents here ourselves. I mean nothing on the scale you’re dealing with but still, pretty big compared to our normal routine.”
“Uh-huh.”
“It turns out someone stole the toys from Connor Williams’ room, including the ventriloquist dummy’s he had in there.”
Oates suddenly perked up.
“Stole? Do you have any leads?”
MacNamee was very reluctant to open up a can of worms by answering this question honestly.
“Um no, we’re still looking into it. But I can tell you that the description you gave me of the suspect in the picture was dressed the same way as the dolls Connor had in his room.”
“Which means a child was wearing the clothes of the dummy? The child who committed the murders!”
MacNamee paused.
“Um, yes that’s one explanation.”
Oates was by now fully aware that MacNamee was suggesting the dummy as the killer, the same way Deputy Lynch did. However, as of yet he still wasn’t buying it, so he pretended to be ignorant to the theory.
“What other explanation could there be doc?”
MacNamee sensed the games being played between the two and decided to try and level the field.
“Look Sheriff, we’ve had a couple of somewhat frightening facts come to light here recently involving Connor Williams and if there is any truth to them, which we believe there is, we could be looking at more than simple murders.”