Линвуд Баркли - A Noise Downstairs

It had everything.

Sex. Murder. Mystery.

Coming back from the brink of death.

The fucking thing would write itself, once he decided which direction to take it in. This was the key to putting his life and marriage back together. He wasn’t doing this just for himself. He was doing it for Charlotte. He wanted her to see that he could be strong, that he could get his life back.

Enough of this sad-sack bullshit.

Maybe he could even be the man she’d want to have a child with.

But hey, let’s take things one step at a time.

Paul reflected on how he’d come across these last few months. Christ, even Bill seemed worried he might kill himself. Yes, he’d been depressed. He’d been traumatized not just by the event itself — the nightmares, the anxiety — but also by physical manifestations. Headaches, memory lapses, insomnia. Who wouldn’t be depressed?

But suicidal?

Had he come across as that desperate? Maybe.

“See how you are when you’ve got Kenneth Hoffman visiting your sleep every night,” he said to himself.

Shit.

Of course.

The typing he’d thought he’d heard was clearly part of a Hoffman nightmare. Paul must have been dreaming about those two women typing out their apologies. Charlotte’s gift of that antique Underwood had triggered a Hoffman dream that zeroed in on that aspect of his crime.

That was the chit chit chit he’d heard in the night. Jill Foster and Catherine Lamb tapping away.

Paul got out his phone. Josh was very likely at the game now, so Paul wasn’t going to call him. But Josh might see a text.

Paul quickly wrote one.

Hey pal. Luv you. Sorry about this morning. Ur Dad was a jerk. Hope u r having fun at the game.

He sent it. Paul stared at the phone for a long time, waiting for the dancing dots to indicate his son was writing him a reply.

When none came after three minutes, Paul put his phone back into his pocket.

“So, Gavin, how did you spend your weekend?” Dr. Anna White asked as the two of them settled into their respective chairs in her office.

Gavin appeared thoughtful. “Reflecting.”

Anna’s eyebrows raised a fraction of an inch. “Reflecting?”

He nodded. “About the hurt I’ve caused, and if there’s any way I can make amends.”

“Amends.”

“Yes. Do you think it would be possible to arrange a meeting with the people I’ve wronged so that I might apologize?”

Anna eyed him warily. “I don’t know that a face-to-face would be the way to go. I think it could end up badly for all concerned.”

Gavin, innocently, asked, “How so?”

“I think the woman whose cat you hid would be too fearful, and that father you called...” At this point she shook her head. “I hate to think what he might try to do to you if you were in the same room.”

“You might be right,” he said. “Maybe I should write something instead.”

“We’ll get to that. But besides reflecting, what else did you do with your weekend?”

“Not much,” he said. “Well, I worked Saturday. I usually work evenings at Computer World, but they’re not open Saturday night, so I did a day shift.”

“Did you work Friday night?”

Gavin nodded. “I did.”

“What time did your shift end?”

“Nine,” he said slowly. “Why are you asking me?”

Anna hesitated. “A troubling thing happened to someone on Friday night.”

“Someone? You mean, someone you know?”

Anna slowly nodded.

“Another one of your patients?” he asked.

Anna studied him for several seconds, weighing how to proceed. She ignored his last question and continued. “Someone did a very sick, very cruel thing to her.”

“This person you know who might be a patient,” Gavin said.

“Her dog was recently run over by a car. Someone snuck into her house and hung a dead Yorkshire terrier in her bedroom. According to the tag, the dog had belonged to a family in Devon. They were making up the missing posters when the police notified them.”

Gavin sat back in his chair and put a hand over his mouth. “Wow. That’s pretty sick.”

“Yes,” Anna said. “It is.”

“So, you’re telling me this why?” he asked.

Anna hesitated. “The other day, when I came in here, you were standing over there. Behind my desk.”

Gavin looked at her blankly, then shrugged. “Uh, I guess.”

“What were you doing over there?”

Gavin glanced over to that part of the room. “Just looking at the books.”

“You’re interested in psychology texts?”

Another shrug. “You don’t know what a book actually is until you look at it.” He grinned. “You could use a few more graphic novels.”

“When you were over there, Gavin, did you look at my computer?”

“Huh?”

“My laptop. Were you looking at my laptop?”

Gavin’s eyes narrowed. “Holy shit. Let me guess. This lady with the dead dog hanging on her door, she is a patient, and you think I was fucking with her head?”

“I didn’t say the dog was hanging from her door.”

Gavin blinked. “Yes, you did . That’s exactly what you said. Jesus Christ, you’re actually accusing me of this.”

Anna hesitated. “I haven’t accused you of anything, Gavin.”

“Of course you are. What did I do this weekend? Where was I Friday night? This is unbelievable. I come here for help . I come here, trusting you to help me deal with a personal crisis, and what happens?” He shook his head. “This is fucking unbelievable. So I guess every time something bad happens to anyone in Milford, I’m immediately the number one suspect. Was there a hit-and-run this weekend? A bank robbery? Did someone steal a candy bar from the 7-Eleven? Do you think I had anything to do with those things, too?”

Anna had begun to look slightly less sure of herself. “You have to admit, Gavin, that what happened to that woman is not unlike the stunt you pulled, the one that landed you here.”

“I swear, I don’t even know who that woman is. What’s her name?”

“I can’t tell you that.”

“Yeah, well, if you think it’s me, you might as well, since I’d already know it, right? But I don’t. If I’m the prime suspect, why haven’t the police been to see me?”

Anna said nothing.

“So wait, not only are you accusing me of doing this horrible thing, but you think I’m snooping around in your computer? Checking out who comes to see you and what their problems are?” He shook his head and adopted a wounded expression. “Wow. So this is the kind of help and understanding I’m getting. I’m sure going to get better coming to see you a couple of times a week.”

“Gavin—”

He stood. “I can’t do this.”

“Gavin, killing an animal is a sign of a more serious issue than any we’ve dealt with so far. You need to understand that—”

“Understand what?” he shouted. He jabbed a finger in her direction. “I should report you or something. There must be some kind of ethics commission or something for you people. They need to know!” He stood.

“Gavin, sit down!”

“No, I think I’ve had just about—”

The door suddenly swung open. Paul Davis stood there, looked quickly at Gavin, then at Anna.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I heard — are you okay, Dr. White?”

She got out of her chair. “We’re fine here, Paul.”

“I heard shouting and—”

“Whatever your fucking problem is,” Gavin said to Paul, “don’t expect her to help you.”

Paul gave Gavin a long look. “You need to calm down, buddy.”

“Buddy?” Gavin said. “Are we buddies?” He regarded Paul curiously, as if wondering whether they had met before. “You’re Paul? Did I hear that right?”