Inanimate (32 page)

“
Jesus Greg. What
happened?”

“
One of those
things.”

“
Have you called
anyone?”

“
Just you.”

“
What about the
police?”

“
What could they do? Besides
lock me up?”

Crass was nervous at just how calm
MacNamee seemed.

“
Greg, wait outside the house.
I’m coming to get you.”

“
No, I’m not coming over, and
you
shouldn’t
leave the house. You need to stay in, protect Wilma; the same thing
could happen to her if you don’t. You stay in and you lock
everything up tight.”

“
What about you?”

“
I’m going to Staunton with
Jacobs, but first I’ve got to pay a visit to a friend of
ours
.”

The bitterness in MacNamee’s
voice
frightened the old doctor, especially as he knew exactly
who he was referring to.

“
Don’t go see him Greg,
you
won’t
find answers, you’ll just get yourself into trouble.”

“
I’m already in trouble Ben, and
that little bastard
is responsible for Greta.”

MacNamee
broke down over the phone. Crass felt
deeply sorry for him but he knew the course of action he wanted to
take was a bad one. Still, he could not do much about it. MacNamee
was right, Crass needed to stay indoors now and protect his
wife.

“
Greg, promise me you
won’t go see
him.”

Crass
tried his best but MacNamee was
beyond convincing.

“
I’ll call you
tomorrow”

MacNamee’s dead tone
sent a chill down
the old man’s spine, he knew that right now only one person could
prevent him from making a terrible mistake.

Tim Jackson
sat in his security office, he
wished he didn’t have to be here, but he needed the money and there
were not many jobs going right now. He did have bills to pay and
kids to support after all. He jumped as the phone rang, he found
himself jumping a lot more often these days.

“
Hallcombes security
office”

“
Tim! This
is Doctor Crass, I need you to
give me your full attention and do exactly as I say with no
questions asked.”

Tim
sat up straight, he had never heard
this tone from the old man before so he knew it was
serious.

“
Yes, Doctor
Crass
.”

“
Doctor MacNamee
is coming to the
hospital; he is going to be very upset and angry. Whatever you do,
do not give him the key to ‘Room 101’ no matter what he says or
does. He may try and take it by force, he may even try and break in
when he doesn’t get it, but whatever happens, he must not be
allowed in to Connor Williams’ room.”

“
Sir, what’s going
on?”

“
Tim, I asked you not to ask
questions didn’t I?”

Tim immediately reprimanded
himself.

“
Yes sir, sorry
sir”

“
Tim, this
is extremely important, besides
the key I have in my possession, you have the only other one in the
office, it is imperative Doctor MacNamee does not get
it.”

The two hundred and thirty pound
Tim
was aware
that physically MacNamee was no match for him, but he couldn’t help
but wonder why Crass would ask him to do this.

“
He’s on his way now Tim.
Can I count on
you?”

Tim
swallowed hard. “Yes sir.”

“
Hello doctor”
said the nurse at
the reception desk but the greeting fell on deaf ears, MacNamee
simply stormed past her. Steaming through the halls at that time of
night, there were very few people there to see his moment of
weakness. MacNamee was in no mood to care either way though, even
if the halls were packed full of staff he still would not have
halted his charge.

“
Where
are the keys for room
101?”

MacNamee
burst into the security office. Tim
had been busy, rehearsing in his head what we would say and do when
MacNamee came in but now the moment was upon him and he was
clueless. Taking too long to answer, MacNamee checked the steel
cabinet himself but found an empty hook where the key should be.
Menacingly he turned towards Tim.

“
Where
is it Tim?”

“
Doctor Crass said I wasn’t
to give it to you.”

Tim
spoke shakily despite the fact he was
much larger than MacNamee.

“
Did he? Well Doctor Crass isn’t
here, I am and I am your boss, and I am telling you to give me the
key Tim!”

MacNamee
spoke slowly but his voice was
strong.

“
I’m sorry doctor, I
can’t”

MacNamee, out of
frustration
slammed his hand down and swept everything off Tim’s desk
sending paper everywhere. MacNamee’s breathing was heavy, he looked
at Tim standing nervously firm in his place. The doctor’s eyes
welled up uncontrollably.

“
Dammit
Tim Greta’s dead! The boy in that
room is to blame. I just want to know why. I tried to help him, I
wanted to help him! She had nothing to do with this!”

MacNamee
put his hand on the desk, holding
himself up as his emotions took hold. Tears started to form in
Tim’s eyes, he felt for MacNamee, slumped broken before
him.

“
Doctor MacNamee, I’m so sorry
but I
can’t
give you the key.”

Tim
was terribly apologetic; his empathy
for MacNamee knew no bounds, except giving him what he was asking
for.

“
You
can’t? Ok fine!”

Even in his fragile yet volatile
state MacNamee
was not stupid enough to try and take it by force,
logically the only place Tim would have it was on his person and
MacNamee had never been in one fight in his life. He turned and
stormed out the room, gliding up the corridor with only moonlight
to guide his way. He was a man possessed by wrought. Stopping at
room 101 he peered in through the window and saw Connor asleep on
the bed. Suddenly his wrought turned right back to rage.

“
You little fuck! You’re
sleeping? You’re fucking sleeping?!”

Screaming, he banged on the
door!

“
Get up you little shit! You
killed my wife!
How can you lie there sleeping?!”

Suddenly, all around him the
lights
flicked on, illuminating the darkness. Patients started to
stir as MacNamee beat on the door with both hands screaming at the
top of his lungs. Tim, having turned on the lights was now moving
down the corridor rapidly on an intercept course with MacNamee.
Sound effects created by psychotic patients echoed in the halls,
some imitated MacNamee’s cries, others make odd shrieking noises.
Like waking up in a familiar jungle Connor sat up in bed unfazed.
MacNamee stopped banging as the boy met eyes with him. The two
locked gazes but Connor slowly smiled a proud smile, happy with his
work. This was MacNamee’s last straw. Tim had not interrupted him
until now, until MacNamee took a step back and put all his weight
into a strong boot to the door itself, trying to force entry. Thuds
bounced off the walls, all the way down the corridor, shaking the
very hospital to its core.

“
Doctor MacNamee you need to
calm down”

Tim
called out to no avail. Kicking the
door over and over Connor simply sat, smiling back at him through
the glass, encouraging more kicks to the ageing metal lock.
Patients grew louder in more numbers and the noise quickly woke up
one of Hallcombes temporary squatters. Frieda was awakened quickly
from the sleep at his desk. Quietly he poked his head out his
office door like a rabbit from its hole to see what the commotion
was. He stepped out into the hallway unnoticed as Tim, positioned
like a football player ready to tackle a runner aimed his body
towards MacNamee.

“
Doctor MacNamee, I’m sorry for
your loss but you
have to stop this now!”

MacNamee
continued his tirade on the door. It
was only when Tim started to see the door loosen up on its old
hinges did he take action. Swooping in he threw his arms around the
doctor, using his weight to squeeze the air from the lungs of the
furious doctor. Tim lifted MacNamee off the ground kicking and
screaming, then with one big squeeze he let go, dropping the doctor
to his knees, breathless. Panting on the floor, MacNamee spit as
Tim stood above him.

“
Tim…are you going to give me the
key?”

MacNamee
asked in one last attempt.

“
No sir
. I’m sorry sir.”

With that, MacNamee
got to his feet and
headed off down the corridor to a chorus of screams by the
patients. Breezing down, he didn’t even notice Frieda despite the
fact he walked right past him. MacNamee headed straight towards the
exit. Frieda sheepishly walked up the corridor to Connor’s room.
Tim decided there was no point in him hanging around, he had to go
back to the office and sort out a work order to have Connor’s door
repaired. Lord only knew how scared people would be if they thought
the boy could escape whenever he wanted. Walking down the corridor
he walked past Doctor Frieda also.

“
Sorry about that
doctor
.” Tim
said while Frieda simply nodded back, on route to 101.

Frieda looked through the glass
at Connor who was
still sitting up in bed. Connor, the boy alone in his room
looked through the glass at Frieda and made a kiss motion. Frieda
looked back at the boy, scared stiff as the lights started to go
off around him. Turning, he ran back to his office, he didn’t feel
safe here anymore, maybe it was time to go back home after
all.

CHAPTER 31

“Sergeant Jacobs please.” The gloomy voice
muttered at the precinct. Accompanied by disheveled appearance
there was no way the cop was going to let this man past the
desk.

“
Is there something I could do
for you sir?”

The condescending tone in
t
he officer’s
voice really pissed MacNamee off, he had had a horrible night, he
did not need this.

“
Yes there
is something you could do for me
actually; you could go get Sergeant Jacobs!”

“
Now sir, there
is no need to raise
your voice.”

MacNamee
started to lose his cool again, this
man was talking to him like he was a child.

“
Raise my voice? I’ll raise
this fucking roof if I want to!”

“
Now sir, I suggest you calm
down!”

Before MacNamee
could respond he
caught his first break of the evening, Jacobs just so happened to
be walking past from the vending machines. With a diet soda in hand
he spotted the commotion and called over to the desk
cop.

“
It’s alright officer, let
him through”

As MacNamee
walked past, the young officer
eyeballed him intently but MacNamee didn’t bother
looking.

“
Are you alright Doc? We weren’t
supposed to meet till morning.”

MacNamee
didn’t respond as they entered
Jacobs’ office. Graham and Murdoch were sitting patiently; they had
been discussing the trip with their Sergeant.

“
Doctor MacNamee these
are detectives
Graham and Murdoch, they will be coming to Staunton with us in the
morning...”

“
My wife’s dead”

MacNamee
blurted out dryly; he used up his
emotions at the hospital. Jacobs stood for a moment,
stunned.

“
Sorry guys” he
said to the
detectives “Could you give us a minute…”

“
No!” Interrupted MacNamee “They
might as well stay and hear this, they’re coming with us after
all.”

As the doctor
moved past them,
inviting himself to sit down on the couch in the office, the three
cops all sat patiently, waiting for the him talk. Jacobs’ office,
some might say was quite boring, though he preferred the
term
“functional.”
The room simply had a couch, a desk and chairs, a
filing cabinet to have hardcopies of the files on his hard drive
and a couple of pictures on the wall. The color scheme was light
blue walls with light green carpets, designed to stimulate ideas
when really it just stimulated conversation on why anyone would put
these two colors beside one another and call it decor. MacNamee sat
looking down at the carpet, trying to control his breathing before
telling the men what happened.

“
Have you told anyone about
this?” Jacobs asked MacNamee after he finished his
story.

“
Just one of the other doctors,
and as for the cops, well, I’m telling you now
.”