by Deryck Jason
“It’s so vague, listen...”
Jacobs began reading aloud.
“Clown, Dog, Doll, Bear...”
Bear flashed into MacNamee’s head for a split second before Jacobs continued.
“…Dummy, two smaller dummies, plastic soldiers. We’d have to round up toys from every kid in town!”
“Well that’s not an option…” Oates said “…People are fretting as it is without raids on their kid’s bedrooms. We do what the old doctor said, we find out who the dolls are targeting and bring them here, together. As he pointed out the murders aren’t random, we’re all targets too, so our best chance is to stay together.”
Graham interrupted MacNamee, having a clear problem with what was said.
“Sorry, what was that Sheriff? Who are all targets?”
MacNamee turned to Jacobs suspiciously, apparently Jacobs never mentioned this.
“We are guys. Not you two, just us.”
Jacobs tried to clarify.
“But surely we are too, just by being here” asked Murdoch.
“We don’t know that!” Jacobs said firmly, as if strengthening his tone would strengthen his opinion as well.
MacNamee stared at him intently, speaking quietly yet equally as firm.
“Yes, we do!”
Murdoch sat back in his chair and crossed his arms.
“Well that’s good to know” said Graham sarcastically.
“Look! Even if we are all targets it’s not a big deal as long as we stick to the plan! Sheriff, we should hole up here, it’s gotta be the safest place in town. We bring everyone back here, we arm them and we lock up the doors and windows. I think the most important list we have to make is the ‘who aren’t targets’ list.”
Oates looked at Jacobs, pondering.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, if we keep the station business as normal while we’re here there will be extra lives at risk because your officers will be here.”
Murdoch and Graham shared a look, knowing they were put at risk without any of the same concern. Jacobs continued:
“But if we can figure out who wouldn’t be at risk as well as who would be then we could keep the number of targets to a minimum, and the town, in theory, would be safer while we’re all holed up here.”
Oates was nodding, he liked this.
“But how do we figure out who isn’t safe?”
“We don’t!” interrupted MacNamee, fatigue turning to anger “We make a list of who is, and exclude everyone else, it’s that simple!”
Matthew Bizet wasn’t the best looking of men but that didn’t seem to matter much. Rife with confidence, he could charm any women he wanted. Most guys however found him arrogant. This was most probably why he was friends with Tony Oates, because, next to him anyone could appear humble. Lying awake in bed next to his most recent trophy, he stared at the ceiling. His little house wasn’t much. He worked in construction but thanks to the recession, business was slow. Turning over to face him, the little blond was feeling good. Matthew targeted inexperienced girls so he could be selfish in bed and get away with it; she was unable to tell the difference between his terrible performance and a good one.
“Morning lover” she said, staring at the side of his head.
Matthew squinted his nose.
“Wow Chloe, you’ve gotta watched that morning breath. Tell you what, there’s some mouthwash in the bathroom.”
The blonde frowned; she threw the covers off and stormed out of bed.
“My name’s not Chloe” she grumbled as she headed towards the bathroom.
“Oh yeah that’s right” Tony said quietly as he stared at her ass. “Ah to be eighteen again”
He quietly recalled how Chloe was her friend who he initially wanted to hook up with. He couldn’t remember this one’s name at all.
Glenda looked at herself in the mirror, unhappy with what she saw despite her natural beauty. Really she shouldn’t have cared about her breath or gone to the bathroom to get mouthwash at all but with Glenda, vanity would supersede dignity any day. Glenda scanned the area for the mouthwash but saw nothing. Checking under the sink she saw nothing but a bag of cotton balls and discarded toilet roll holders. Apparently Matthew was too lazy to throw them away, instead, putting them out of mind under the sink each time he used one up. She looked back at the mirror, deciding to check the medicine cabinet. The boxy mirror opened shakily revealing a varied selection of condoms and lubricants. After a long look of disgust she spotted the mouthwash. She took a swig and quickly spat it down the sink. Looking down with a sigh she watched the green liquid swirl its way down the black hole into the drain below. Closing the mirrored door she checked her teeth, everything seemed fine so she turned to head back to the bedroom. Frozen, she stopped. Dummy stood, staring right at her, his eyes black. His mouth cracked into a devilish grin, she opened her mouth to scream but something dropped on her from above, taking her straight to the ground.
Matthew looked at the clock; she had been in there for twelve minutes. Normally he wouldn’t care but he had a lot of things to do today and he wanted rid of her. She hadn’t even dressed yet; normally he liked his conquests to be gone earlier than this. Cursing her tardiness he got out of bed and slipped on his clothes. He figured if she saw he was dressed it might encourage her to leave. A convincing liar to women, Matthew already had the apologetic tone picked out for her before he was finished putting his clothes on. Experience had taught him that if you fake apologize; girls were more likely to forgive you, thus avoiding a time consuming argument. Sauntering, yawning out his bedroom; the bathroom was halfway down the hall. He would really love the guy who designed this house to get a punch in the face for putting in wooden floors and having the bathroom so far away from the bedroom; or how about the fact there were no windows in the hallway or the bathroom, only ambient light when other doors around them were open. He found this especially frustrating in the bathroom as you always had to have a light on to see, otherwise he would be mopping up his own urine from around the bowl on a constant basis. Nothing was more of a turn-off for the girls he brought home than stepping in a man’s pee. Matthew stopped outside the closed bathroom door and put on his most sympathetic voice.
“Hey babe, you found the mouthwash? I’m coming in ok.”
“Ok sweetie” came what sounded like Glenda’s voice, only a little more strained”
“Sounds like she isn’t mad at me” he thought to himself “maybe I can get rid of her faster than I thought.” He opened the door while yawning and looked ahead at where her eye level would be, finding nothing. When his eyes focused to the bright bathroom light he looked down and couldn’t believe what he saw. There she was on the floor, her once beautiful naked body covered in toy soldiers, the kind he used to play with as a kid. They were cutting her up, her mouth was duct taped as were her arms and legs. Slicing her up with knives and little muskets the soldiers were showing no mercy. One soldier hacked at her eye with a tiny machete, causing blood to flow freely. From the other eye she cried, screaming for help through duct tape while she did. With the soldiers hacking at her breasts, ribcage, arms and legs it would take the girl only a half an hour to bleed out despite the small weapons. Despite Glenda’s good eye staring at him, begging for help, Matthew could not move. He stood for a few moments watching as the soldiers ignored him, busy carving up Glenda as her body writhed in agony. After what seemed like weeks he made his decision, he pulled the door shut hard. When he closed it the noise stopped, but he knew her suffering would not stop.
“Where are you going sweetie? Please don’t leave me.”
The voice behind him was similar to Glenda’s but strained like before. He turned around and looked down the hall. A small doll was standing looking right at him, its classic black suit and smiling face belied a terrifying reality; it was alive. The doll opened its mouth and Glenda’s voice came out again.
“Don’t go baby, I just wanna have some fun.”
Against the do
lls wishes, Matthew turned and ran down the hallway into his room slamming the door behind him. Grabbing a desk chair, he wedged it up against the handle; he had never felt fear like this in his life and it wasn’t about to get any better. Turning suddenly only to see the large dummy at the other side of his room watching him, fear gripped hard. Shakily, he tried reasoning with the imposing figure before him.
“What do you want? I didn’t kill that guy, it was Tony and the others!”
Another smaller dummy on a table by the door announced its presence by speaking like Glenda.
“Liar!”
He didn’t know which one to watch, especially when something started thumping at the bedroom door trying to get in. Suddenly the larger dummy opened its mouth and spoke. His voice was shrill and full of rhythm:
“Truth; is why we are here. You could have told the truth but instead you went along with the lie, now you must die.”
“No…” pleaded Matthew.
In desperation he ripped the bedside lamp out of the wall and wielded it as a weapon. Dummy looked puzzled.
“A lamp? You never were the brightest were you Matthew?”
Cackling, Dummy thrusted out his arms and ran towards Matthew. Suddenly aware of his choice of weapons may not have been great he panicked. Turning rapidly he threw the lamp straight through his bedroom window; smashing it instantly. With no time to care about the shards still protruding he dove out, cutting his leg as he did so. Just as Glenda’s vanity superseded her dignity, Matthew’s terror superseded his pain so he got to his feet instantly. As he limped off down the lawn and realized he wasn’t being chased he stopped. Unsure what was driving him to look back didn’t stop him from doing so. Dummy stood at the broken window watching him, hands by its side its eyes burned into his. Speaking with Glenda’s voice Dummy yelled from the house while Matthew stared in horror.
“Don’t worry sweetie, we’ll be seeing you soon!”
“Ok I think that’s it” stated Oates. “We have seventeen names on the list including the five of us, my nephew Tony is safe for now, Deputy Lynch will be with another cop and Mayor Shannahan will be in his office which is quite protected. That leaves nine people we need to pick up and get here before anything else happens.”
Jacobs interjected.
“We’ll have to act fast to avoid more collateral damage. Say one of them was attacked in a gas station for example, the attendant could be at risk.”
“That’s why I suggest I go alone, you four go in pairs, I’ll give you simple directions to where you have to go and the rest will be signposted.”
“Ok, sounds good, Sergeant Jacobs and I will go together.” MacNamee responded.
Both Murdoch and Graham nodded in agreement. The group prepared to go their own separate ways. Oates started telling each pair where they should go to find their first name on the list.
“Ok, Doc, Sergeant, you two head down to…”
Before he could finish he was interrupted by a banging on his office door followed by a figure barging in uninvited. Matthew almost fell straight to the floor, tired scared and in pain from making the journey to the station on foot, despite his cut leg.
“Sheriff!” he cried out, of breath. “There’s been another murder!”
Dora was quick to follow behind him.
“I’m sorry Sheriff he just barged right through.”
Oates gestured to Dora that it was ok as the two detectives help Matthew to a chair.
“Christ Matthew, are you alright?”
Oates looked at the bed-headed Bizet, sloppily dressed with a large dark spotted on his deliberately torn blue jeans where his leg bled.
“I saw it Sheriff...” he paused as he still could not remember her name. “A bunch of soldiers killed a girl I was with last night. Not real soldiers, but they were alive. They were the kind I used to play with as a kid! Then some dummies almost killed me! Can you believe that? Some fucking dummies! I only half believed Tony when he said the thing that killed Earl was like a toy, but I sure as shit believe it now.”
Oates picked up his phone and dialed an internal line, it rung for a few moments before being picked up.
“Dora, call the coroner, tell him to get ready, another body will be coming in soon.”
Dora was not used to the recent promiscuity of requests for calls to the coroner and it showed in her voice.
“Ok Sheriff, I’ll let him know.”
Oates hung up and looked at Matthew.
“I’m sorry for your loss Matthew but we have no time to mourn. The fact that you’re here means we have one less person to look for”
“Why would you be looking for me?”
“Sergeant Jacobs will explain it to you in the car. Since you know your way about town you’re going to help him find the other people on our list. Do you want me to take a look at your leg before you go?”
Oates asked the question forgetting MacNamee was a doctor. It was his station and Matthew should be under his protection.
“No, it’s alright” said Matthew “I’ll survive.”
“Ok, good” continued Oates “Doc, you and me will go to Matthew’s house, to see if any of those little toy bastards are still there. Detectives, you two follow us, when I make sure the coast is clear, I’ll call in some of my boys to take care of the body and we’ll continue our search. Sergeant Jacobs, you and Matthew are going to head into town, get to the church in the main street and then call me or MacNamee and I’ll give you directions to one of the names on the list. I need to think about who would be the quickest to find. But I can do that one the move.”
Jacobs was not used to being ordered around like this, but the Sheriff’s plan was pretty sound so he nodded in agreement.
“Alright guys we know what we were all doing so let’s get it done, we don’t have a lot of time here.”
Oates took point, heading out into the main hall where other cops looked on as the group headed out. Jacobs leaned in to Oates.
“Sheriff, when are you going to clear out the station, the other cops can’t be here when we have everybody rounded up.”
Oates turned to him while walking.
“Once we have cleared Matthew’s house I’ll send the of them over. The rest I’ll have patrolling the streets and answering other calls. I’ve already arranged to have a floor in the hospital serve as a temporary station for them. It’ll just be us in here.”
Jacobs wasn’t sure whether that statement comforted him or made him more nervous. Just before they could leave into the sunshine drenched courtyard Dora halted them.
“Sheriff!”
Oates turned round to see what the problem was.
“What is it Dora?”
“I couldn’t get ahold of Murray.”
“Did you call his office?”
Dora nodded.
“It just rang out.”
The ominous tone in her voice prompted Oates to turn to Jacobs with a look, instantly conveying an unspoken message.
“We’ll go check it out” the Sergeant said before turning to Matthew “Come on kid, you can show me the way.”
CHAPTER 33
Connor was in the relaxation room of Hallcombes with Doctor Frieda. Frieda, who only found out not so long ago that with Crass and MacNamee gone, he would be the boy’s primary carer. Still terrified of the boy Frieda was simply there to observe, not interact with the child. As Connor read silently the doctor tried to figure out what he was thinking. Memories of the little moments the two of them had shared over the last few days came into his mind; the way he stared at Frieda, the comments about this thing known as Dixie and that kissy face he made when MacNamee was on his rampage. All of these incidents and more were rattling around in his brain. As he watched the child, thinking about the way he proved the other doctors lack of respect for him, self-loathing started to take over and not for the first time. The truth that he was an awkward adolescent himself (with major self-esteem issues) was known to no-one. Since joining medical school his self-worth
had increased exponentially and when he graduated top of his class, memories of his gloomy youth had begun to fade. But now, thanks to his dealings with the boy, these feelings were surfacing once again. As Connor read, Frieda stared into his face, lost. He poured over the boy’s dealings with the other doctor’s and the cops. He thought about how everyone was in the loop except him and everyone knew it. He touched upon a niggling thought that told him he was a joke to everyone. Connor had brought up this point, but really the seed had been planted years ago, all Connor did was water it. His paranoid mind starting to expose itself he started thinking of facts to reinforce this thought, as if hating himself was not enough, his self-depreciating side actually tried to prove it. He recalled looks people gave him over the years, words they said and twisted those memory fragments into something negative. His brain took trivial details and turned them into negative points. He convinced himself casual looks people gave him were actually contemptuous ones; suddenly those innocent glanced had voices and those voices had insults and jibes. He started to piece together a jigsaw of depressive memories in his mind. Connor truly was in his head and he knew it, but did that mean the boy was wrong. The old cliché of “just because you were paranoid didn’t mean the world wasn’t out to get you” rolled around in his brain. It was strange the doctors did not tell him about the video, or Dixie, or the fact they believed Andy’s death was actually a murder. He had thought about this a lot; in fact it was all he thought about. When Connor Williams decided he was going to toy with Frieda he pulled on a string, a string that was still pulling, unraveling the fabric of the life he had worked so hard to create. Single, Frieda always told himself he was too busy with the hospital to go on dates or even go out and meet friends. But somehow others managed it. He could understand MacNamee being married, a guy as good looking as him did not stay single for long but Crass? “The guy was a dinosaur!” he thought to himself. Before Frieda could get too heated he felt a gaze. Lost, staring through Connor he noticed the boy was now staring back at him. Jolting himself into life he tried to act unafraid.