The Hammer of Amalynth

by Michael Galloway

  Madeline looked back. “No. I’m someone from a church he used to go to.”

  The woman sighed. “Yours too, huh?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “He used to go to my church, too. Didn’t stick around long, especially after his wife passed. You heard about her, right?”

  Madeline wished she had brought her notebook from her car or recorded the conversation on her cell phone. “I read about it in the paper.”

  “Yeah, she died of heart failure. She was so young, too. He was pretty torn up about it. Tried to help the best I could but he didn’t want to talk about it much. Now he’s never around much except late at night.”

  “Who takes care of his lawn?” It was an offbeat question but every once in a while something unpredictable came out of the approach.

  “Oh, he has a service for that. I wish we could afford that,” the woman said as she motioned back toward her garden with a hand shovel.

  “You said he didn’t want to talk about it. Did he ever talk much about his wife before she passed away?”

  “Sometimes. Kelly and I were good friends until near the end. Until they ran out of options.”

  “You mean treatment options?”

  “Right. They tried so many things. Different churches. Different doctors. People even laid hands on her. Oh, and Doctor What’s-His-Name, he was the worst. I told her not to use him but she didn’t listen.”

  “Which doctor was that?”

  “Huh? Oh, he’s over at Avera McKennan. I think his name was Overland or something like that. Maybe…Overstar? He used to have his own private practice on Louise. Can you believe it? That doctor told them it was the flu. She kept coughing but they didn’t figure out it was a bad heart valve until it was too late. Now he’s pretending to be a cancer specialist. Talk about nerve.”

  “Do you know if he ever went to St. Andrew’s? Over on Louise?”

  “Who? The doctor?”

  “No, Mr. Amalynth.”

  “Maybe. I don’t know. That does sound like a place they tried.”

  Madeline smiled. “Thanks for your help.” She said as she returned to her car.

  “Hope you find what you’re looking for. Should I tell him you stopped by?”

  “No, that’s okay.”

  “I can let him know. It’s not a problem. Maybe he’d like a visitor or two. What’s your name again?”

  “Just tell him I’m from Spirit of Grace.” Madeline hurried back to her car before things got any deeper. The woman was a fount of information, but she knew that worked both ways. Before she closed her car door she noticed a small shiny object on the edge of the driveway. She bent down, picked it up, and pocketed it.

  She drove off without looking back and only stopped when she got near a public park a mile away. She pulled out her cell phone and dialed John’s number. Before he could even finish saying hello, she spoke up.

  “I think I’m onto something,” she said.

  “Where are you?”

  “I’m near Sherman Park.”

  “What did you find?”

  “I went to his house.”

  “Seriously? Why would you do a thing like that?”

  “He wasn’t home. But I chatted it up with his neighbor. Turns out his wife died of heart failure. Sounds like they tried doctors, churches, everything. But the neighbor did give me the name of one of his wife’s doctors.”

  “What are we going to do with that?”

  “I think we should pay him a visit.”

  “He’s not going to talk.”

  “He doesn’t have to.”

  “So…why visit him?”

  “She said he was the worst doctor. Sounds like his reputation precedes him.”

  “She might have been exaggerating.”

  “Maybe. But what if he’s a target? Oh, and she thinks Dr. Amalynth may have gone to your church. But she says he is never around now except late at night. He’s stopped talking to everyone, too.” Madeline checked her mirrors and looked around the neighborhood. In the park a pair of kids flew a rectangular red-and-black kite high up in the sky.

  “Any signs of the truck we saw the other night?” John said.

  “No. But I did find something at the edge of his driveway.” She pulled the object out of her pants pocket and held it out in front of her in order to describe it to him. “It looks like a thin metal disc. About the size of a nickel.”

  “Anything on it?”

  She flipped it over and brushed it against her pants to wipe the dirt off. “It looks like a hammer.”

  “Bring it over. I’ll add it to my collection. I guess we can pay a visit to this doctor if you think it’ll lead somewhere.”

  “You don’t sound convinced. Why is that?”

  “Something I read.”

  “So you think your church getting hit was just a random coincidence? And the counselor’s office?”

  “No. I didn’t say that. I just don’t think whoever is doing this is as in control as he thinks he is.”

  “I don’t follow.”

  “Look, not to change the subject, but I’m sorry about my overreaction to your prayer at the restaurant. I don’t know what I was worried about.”

  She closed her eyes and frowned. “John…forget about it.”

  “I can’t. I read some of the Book of Job the other night. Job was pretty public about his faith despite all he went through. I can do without his counselors though.”

  A smile returned to her face. She glanced up into her rearview mirror and spotted a truck as it approached from behind. The truck turned down a side street and it did not fit the profile of Dr. Amalynth’s vehicle because it was new, black, and had an extended cab. Nevertheless she took it as a cue to keep moving. “I think I should get back on the road again. I love you and I’ll talk to you later.”

  “I love you too.”

  * * *

  Madeline drove until she reached the nearest public library. The library was a sleek modern structure from the outside with a stone wall that jutted out of the front of the building like part of a game board. The word ‘library’ was spelled out with the letters running vertically like tiles on a stone version of a Scrabble board. The foyer was spacious inside and just beyond that the book shelves reminded her of the bookcases in her living room. Libraries often brought her a measure of peace and security these days and they were places she visited with her parents back when they were together. As a child, she lost count of the afternoons she spent hiding in books rather playing in parks.

  She roamed over to the library catalog terminal, which was just inside the metal-detector front doors of the building. She did a quick search for books on electrical circuit design with the hope of picking up a few titles that John could skim through and summarize for her. She wrote down the titles on a scrap of paper and dashed over to the shelves.

  One by one she hunted down the titles and withdrew them. Out of the four titles she wrote down, she only kept two. As she skimmed through the other books, hoping to find something of use, her fingers stopped at the sound of a male voice from two aisles over.

  “Ma’am? Can I ask you a question?” The man said in a heavy Cuban accent.

  At first, Madeline thought the man was talking to her until she realized a librarian was standing nearby. The librarian—a tall, slender, short-haired brunette with doe eyes—walked over to the man.

  The man continued. “I was looking for a book on spiders, but I think I’m off by a row or two,” he said.

  “Sure thing,” the librarian replied in a soft voice. “Follow me.”

  The librarian and the man passed by Madeline’s aisle. Madeline rounded the corner on the opposite end of the aisle and ducked into a nearby study cubicle. She opened a book to hide her face and listened.

  “Were these the types of books you were looking for?” The librarian said.

  “Perfect. Thank you. Now just because a person picks up a book doesn’t mean they can comprehend it,” he joked.


  The librarian laughed and left to return to the information desk. Madeline peered above the cover of her book and confirmed her suspicions. Yet for some unexplainable reason the courage left her unable to walk up to Dr. Amalynth and confront him. She ducked back down.

  Wham! Dr. Amalynth slammed a book down onto the table in the cubicle behind her.

  She jumped up and nearly knocked her own book onto the floor. She thought several times about turning around but instead stared straight ahead.

  “You know what great electrical engineers and spiders have in common?” Dr. Amalynth said in a low measured voice.

  He paused but she did not reply.

  “They both try to take the shortest path possible to a solution.”

  Madeline quietly closed her book and stood up to leave.

  “The most efficient ones work fast and use the least amount of material possible,” Dr. Amalynth continued.

  “I thought spiders only came out at night,” she said as she stepped out into the aisle, still refusing to look back.

  “It depends how…disturbed they are.”

  “They have to sleep sometime, though.”

  “And the sleep of a laboring man is sweet is it not? Isn’t that what the good book says?”

  “It also says that all deeds will be brought into judgment, whether they are good or evil.”

  “Well, when you go and visit the good doctor be sure to ask him about his license plate. Can and will are two entirely different concepts. The light of judgment will reveal that one.”

  She hurried up to the front desk and checked out her books with trembling hands. She bit her lower lip and made eye contact with the librarian who helped Dr. Amalynth. She then clutched her books under her arm and walked off. Just before passing through the metal detectors she glanced back at the study cubicles only to find he was gone.

  Chapter Eight

  John and Madeline parked in a lot at the Avera McKennan Hospital in Sioux Falls and walked toward the nearest entrance. The hospital was part of a complex of buildings that reminded John of a small college campus. The maze of teal signs and gray with red-brick buildings was disorientating at first so he let Madeline lead the way. By the time they made it inside, John realized they could have taken a skyway instead. Their pace was slow and deliberate as if neither one knew how to best proceed.

  “Do you think we’re doing the right thing?” Madeline said with a hint of doubt in her voice.

  “What else can we do?” John replied. He stuffed his hands into his pockets.

  “What if it’s the wrong guy?”

  “I thought you looked him up.”

  “I did. I looked at his bio and his picture. I even dialed his office and they told me when he was going to be here. It’s just…”

  “What?” John gave her a blank stare as the automatic entry doors parted before them.

  “Ever get the feeling you’re about to talk to a dead man?”

  Inside, they followed the carpeted corridor past the information desk and the elevators until they reached the cafeteria. The cafeteria was split into two sections. One section contained a salad bar, a grill and sandwich station, and a pair of refrigerator cases full of ready-to-eat items. Near the exit a cashier stood and beyond that there was a section for seating. The seating area was half-filled with a mix of hospital employees and visitors.

  As they surveyed the refrigerator cases, John leaned over and whispered, “See him yet?”

  “No.”

  Madeline helped herself to a cranberry-and-walnut chicken salad while John ordered a bacon cheeseburger and Cajun-seasoned fries from the grill area. After they paid for their food and drinks, they sat down in the corner of the cafeteria nearest the door in order to have the widest view possible.

  Madeline sighed as she poured raspberry vinaigrette dressing onto her salad. John downed his burger in record time and by the time he finished she was only halfway done. They waited nearly an hour and just after John dumped their trash he motioned toward the exit doors.

  They took one last look back and Madeline grasped John’s arm. A doctor, dressed in pale blue scrubs, carried a brown tray with a carton of milk and a grilled chicken sandwich over to the far side of the seating area. She crept toward the man and John followed. They sat down across from the doctor, who appeared to be a surgeon, and smiled.

  The doctor did not smile back as if his face was chiseled out of granite. He had a full head of dark brown hair, piercing blue eyes, and a sunburn as if he fell asleep face up on a beach somewhere. His nametag read “Dr. Overland”. He put his thick hands on the table as if he was going to get up and move somewhere else.

  “Can I help you?” He said in a deadpan voice.

  John questioned whether they were meeting with the right guy and if they were, if there was ever going to be a right time for this. He looked at Madeline and she looked back at him. John cleared his throat and started in, despite Dr. Overland looking like a dog whose food dish was just kicked away.

  “We think you’re in danger,” John said.

  “Really? How so?” Dr. Overland replied. His granite features did not change.

  “Did you ever have a patient by the name of Mrs. Amalynth?”

  Dr. Overland drew back and crossed his burly arms. He looked to the side and then back at them. “I can’t discuss that.”

  For a moment, John could see the name meant something to the doctor.

  Madeline jumped in. “The reason we ask is because we think someone might be after you.”

  “Heh. That wouldn’t surprise me. I’m used to threats.” The doctor looked like he wanted to turn his head and spit.

  “Not like this one,” John said trying to make himself sound stern. “Be careful when it storms.”

  The doctor scrunched his eyebrows together. He leaned in to whisper. “Who told you I was here? Was it Mary back at the clinic? Figures. All the new ones are like that. Think they know better than I do. Look, I deal with death threats all the time.” He pulled out his cell phone and set it onto the table. Then he folded his hands together. “Should I phone the cops?”

  John motioned toward the hallway. “Let’s go, Madeline.”

  They both stood up and the doctor dropped his cell phone back into his pocket. He then bit into his sandwich and looked unconcerned.

  At the exit doors of the cafeteria John looked back and said, “Listen mister, you don’t have to believe us. But I’m one of the ones who got hit already.”

  * * *

  When John and Madeline returned to the truck, Madeline spoke up. “Well that was a disaster. I don’t think he believed anything we said.”

  “I think he listened. He just didn’t know whose side we were on,” John replied with confidence in his voice.

  “I feel like an idiot. Sorry for putting you up to this.”

  “I think he’ll get the message. Eventually.”

  “When?”

  “When it rains. Could you do me a favor? Look up the weather forecast for this weekend.”

  Madeline pulled out her phone and thumbed through a few screens. She read off the results to him. “Friday, sunny. Saturday, thunderstorms possible late. Sunday, storms all day.”

  John did a few quick calculations in his head. He studied the forecast maps last night to scope out any possible late season chase opportunities, but the setup looked marginal for tornadoes at best. Heavy rain and some gusty thunderstorms were in the realm of possibility though.

  “I wonder if the doctor works on Sundays,” John said.

  “You’re not thinking of trying to talk to him again are you?”

  “No, we’ve done enough talking. Now it’s time to see if our friend is going to show up.”

  Madeline let out a loud sigh. “He’s already shown up.”

  “What? When? Do you see him?” John spun around and tried to scan through the rows of cars.

  “He’s not here. But after I talked to you from the park I stopped by the library. I picked up a couple book
s on electrical circuit design to see if you could learn anything useful from them. Here.” She reached into the backseat and pulled two books out of her blue denim tote bag. She showed them to John and then set them back into the backseat next to his Bible. She continued, “I figured the books might help us. But before I left the library I heard a voice from another aisle over. It was Dr. Amalynth. The creepy part was then he sat down behind me. He said if we ever met the doctor to check out his license plate.”

  John gave her a startled glance. “Let’s go for a little drive.” He backed out and wove between the rows of cars at low speed. He spiraled his way through the levels of the ramp until she spoke up again.

  “There. Stop,” she said. She pointed to a shiny black BMW with a vanity plate that read “DRCANWN”.

  “Doctor Can Win?” John said in disbelief. “That’s bold.”

  “Amalynth said something like ‘can and will are two entirely different concepts. The light of judgment will reveal that one.’”

  At that they left the parking lot. John shook his head and said, “I have a feeling the sky’s gonna get a whole lot darker than what they’re forecasting.”

  Chapter Nine

  When Sunday morning came, John sat alone in his truck and leafed through the two electrical circuit design books Madeline got for him. Although he took a class in electronics back in high school and knew how to build circuits with microprocessors and servo motors, these books were deep on theory and equations that were unfamiliar to him. As he reached the end of the second book his mind began to wander.

  It was past eleven now and he made the decision somewhere in the middle of the night not to go to church today. Instead he slept in late and the slight guilt he felt from that choice weighed on his mind. He set the electronics books into the backseat next to his Bible. He felt an urge to continue on with his Bible reading and to pass the time he grabbed the book and opened it up to the first chapter of Genesis.

  Four chapters and twenty minutes later he stopped after the part where Cain killed Abel. He glanced up. Dark clouds blanketed the sky. Yet here he was, hiding in the shadows of the hospital parking ramp, waiting for Dr. Overland to leave for the day. As he waited, he began to question his motives.