Show of Evil

'You tricked yourself. You provided the multiple personality defence…'

'I didn't know you two would use it to sell me out. I knew when he came up to see me in Daisyland the other day he was going to try and ruin me. Hell, he would have looked like a fool if he tried to stop me from leaving, but he was too smart for that. We had the perfect plan, Hydra and me. Hydra got Shoat and I was supposed to get Venable. I could have been back in the room with a perfect alibi. I could've laughed at Vail. I could've got them all - Venable, Shoat, Stennet, you - all but Vail. I would've let him live in his own hell. Then that bitch, Venable, screwed me up. Look at my face. She did that!'

Molly said nothing. She stared at him in disgust as he straddled her, resting on his knees.

'He should've pleaded temporary insanity, I could have walked out of there free and clear.'

'That's ridiculous, he couldn't - '

'Don't speak to me like that!'

'I'm sorry.'

'You're not sorry. You're patronizing me. You should know better.

She shut up and stared at the ceiling again.

'Vail was so fucking clever, playing all those little legal games of his in court, dicking around with that insufferable Shoat. Jesus, I could have done better.'

No answer.

'Ten years of drugs and shock treatments, egomaniac doctors, panderers, panderers, they were all fucking panderers.'

He turned to the night table and put the scalpel down. He picked up a hypodermic needle, stared at its point. He picked up the vial of morphine, inserted the needle into it, working the plunger until it was full of the deadly painkiller.

'Well, now, Mr Vail understands what it's like to hate enough to kill. And it's going to get worse.' He settled down on her and held the needle in front of her face. 'One hundred ccs, Doc. Permanent sleep, like the shot they give you when they put you away like a dog. I'll give it to you a little bit at a time, so the pain won't be so bad. A cc here, a cc there, here a cc, there a cc…' he sang.

He had lost it, she realized. Disassociated. Calm replaced by rage. Whatever he was going to do, he would do, she knew that now. She closed her eyes and waited with an eerie calm for the inevitable. She hardly felt the needle when it pierced her arm.

Thirty-Eight

An exhausted young surgeon walked out of operating room three. He was surprisingly young, a tall, lean man with his long black hair tucked up under his green surgical cap. His surgical gown and shoe mittens were blood-spattered. His eyes were bloodshot. He pulled off his mask and breathed a sigh of relief. Vail approached him.

'Doctor? I'm Martin Vail. Any news?'

The young doctor smiled and held out a large hand with long, delicate fingers. 'It's a pleasure, Mr Vail. I'm Alex Rosenbloom. Your man Stenner is one tough cookie.'

'He's going to make it, then?'

Rosenbloom nodded. 'But an hour ago I wouldn't have bet on it. We almost lost him twice.'

'Thank you, sir. Thank you very much.'

The young doctor slapped Vail on the shoulder. 'I'm thankful I didn't have to bring bad news out,' he said. 'Look, I know you've been very patient. They're taking him into Recovery now. You can stick your head in for just a minute.'

'Thanks. There are a lot of us here that thank you.'

'I heard the whole DA's staff is here,' Rosenbloom said. 'He must be a very special person.'

'Yes, he is.'

Vail entered the small recovery room. Stenner seemed frighteningly tiny and frail. He looked grey and vulnerable with his arms attached to a half-dozen IV tubes and various machines beeping and humming beside his bed. Vail took his hand.

'Welcome back,' he said softly.

Stenner groaned.

'Can you hear me, Abel?'

Stenner's eyes opened a hair and he stared, unfocused, at his friend. He blinked his eyes once.

'You're going to be okay, my friend. And so is Janie. Thank you. Thank you.'

Stenner slowly blinked his eyes again.

'We've got Stampler in our sights,' Vail lied. 'Just a matter of time.'

Under the oxygen mask, he saw Stenner's lips form the word 'Good.' Then his hand slipped out of Vail's and he fell asleep.

Vail stood by the window, staring out at the first red signs of dawn. It was nearing 5 A.M. and everyone was exhausted. But the crisis seemed to be over. Both Stenner and Venable were holding their own and for that Vail was grateful. He gathered the troops together.

'I think it's safe to call it a night - or a morning,' he said with an attempt at a smile. 'I'd like to work in shifts, keep somebody here around the clock. Naomi, work up a schedule, okay? I'm going to hang in here for a while longer.'

'I ain't goin' nowheres,' St Claire said emphatically.

'Me neither,' Meyer joined in.

'Look, we all need to get some rest,' Naomi said, taking command. 'Let's not forget we still have an office to run.'

'I'm going outside and have a cigarette,' Vail said. He went down the long hallway and out on the emergency dock. There was very little activity. The chaos of the night before had been replaced by an eerie calm. He lit up and watched the sky begin to brighten. Parver and Flaherty joined him.

'I hate to bring this up,' Parver said, 'but Stoddard is up for arraignment tomorrow. What're we going to do?'

'Postpone it until we see how Jane is doing. Hell, I don't want to deal with that right now.'

'I'm sorry,' she answered. 'I'll take care of it.'

'You're still having mixed feelings about Stoddard, aren't you?'

She thought for a minute and nodded. 'After finding that stuff in that closet room, I…' She hesitated for a moment, then finished the sentence. 'Don't worry, I'll handle it properly.'

'I know you will.' He smiled at Flaherty, who stood quietly by, holding her hand. 'You two take care of each other. Time has a bad habit of running out when you least expect it.'

'Yes, sir.'

'Better go home and get some shut-eye.'

The emergency doors swung open and St Claire peered out.

'I think we got us a break,' he said.

Buddy Harris was on the phone. The state police officer had been up all night, fielding false alarms and the usual nut calls that result from an APB. It seemed everybody in the city of Chicago had seen Stampler during the long night.

'But I think we got a live one,' he told Vail. 'I just got a call from the Indiana HP. They think they've tumbled on a stolen car with Illinois plates and an MD's tag. Probably wouldn't have noticed it for hours except the dumb bastard parked in a handicapped space next to a diner. It was spotted by a waitress a little after two A.M., so it's been parked there for a couple of hours. They ran the registration. It's owned by a Dr Steven Rifkin. There's no answer at his house, so I called the University Medical Center. They say he checked out of there about ten-thirty last night. Apparently he had a really hard day and was going straight home to bed.'

'You say Indiana has the car?'

'Yeah. In a place outside Indianapolis called Shelbyville.'

Vail thought for a moment. The name struck a chord.

Then he remembered the shrink at the Justine Clinic telling him Rene Hutchinson had taken computer lessons in Shelbyville.

'Jesus, Buddy, that's only a few miles from the Justine Clinic. My God! He's going after Molly Arrington. Call the Indiana patrol, tell them to get an address on a Dr Molly Arrington in Winthrop and get over there on the double. I'm going out to the airport and fly down there.'

 'Hell, that isn't necessary, Marty, they got—'