Show of Evil

'Well, sometimes…'

'Instant displacement.'

'You're saying dreams are a form of losing time, Doctor? That's what Aaron called it when he went into a fugue state and changed to Roy, losing time.'

'It's a common expression used by anyone who suffers fugue events. Let me put it another way. Say you drift into a nap in the middle of a concert, next thing you know the concert's over, everybody's leaving the amphitheatre. Would you call that losing time?'

'I'd call it boredom.'

Dr Samuel Woodward laughed. 'That's because you're normal,' he said. 'Normal, of course, being a relative term. The point is, a fugue is losing time. Usually not for long, a few minutes. Five, I would say is average. It can occur over a period of years - its victims, understandably, are usually afraid to talk about it. Of course, everyone who experiences a fugue event isn't necessarily a multiple, you understand.'

'How did you end up with Aaron?' Vail asked.

'That calls for a bit of biography, not that I want to bore you. I graduated from Harvard, interned at Bellevue, did my residency at Boston General, and then I was five years in psychiatric emergency at Philadelphia Memorial. I loved it. You saw everything, something new every day. That's when I first became fascinated by multiple personalities - MPs. From Philly, I went to the Menanger. And at Menanger I began to specialize in MPD. In fact, I've written several papers on the subject. When they offered me the position here, I jumped at it, and Aaron Stampler was one of the lures.'

'What made him so different?'

'Everything, sir, everything. His background, his intelligence, the nature of his crimes, cause and effect. Absolutely fascinating case. I had read the reports prepared by Bascott, Ciaffo, and Solomon, as well as Dr Arrington's summary. There were only two personalities involved. He hadn't splintered off into five, six, or a dozen, so it was a chance to deal with the disease on a relatively elementary level. A challenge. And — most important of all - he had not been treated. A lot of interrogation, therapy sessions, that sort of thing, but no attempt to treat the disease. Put it all together? Irresistible!'

He paused for a moment to relight his pipe, then: 'I also read the trial transcript. Quite a legal feat, sir. The trial, I mean.'

'I'm not sure whether that's meant to be a compliment or not.'

'Oh yes, a compliment by all means. Back in those days, using the MPD defence was quite daring.'

'It was a sticky problem - whether the jury would buy it or not. In court, the truth sometimes can be detrimental to the health of your client.'

'Is that why you settled it in chambers?'

Vail suddenly felt cautious. The question triggered his paranoia for a second or two. Did Woodward know Stampler had been faking it all along Vail wondered. Was he in on the game or had Stampler conned him, too? Vail quickly decided that Woodward had bought in to Stampler's malevolent trick.

'No,' Vail answered. 'The prosecutor triggered him. That's what put it into Judge Shoat's chambers.'

They walked a little way in silence, then Woodward said, 'Frequently, the initial reaction to multiple personality disorder is disbelief and rejection.' He paused for a moment, then added, 'And you're correct, sometimes the less the public knows about some things, the better.'

'I've often wondered who really killed the bishop, Aaron or Roy,' Vail said. 'What I mean is, Aaron provided the motive, but Roy did the killing. Legally, a case could be made against Aaron for conspiracy to commit murder, possibly aiding and abetting.'

'I disagree, sir, most heartily. They were two different separate and distinct personalities. Aaron didn't consciously conspire to kill the victims. In point of fact, he was as much a victim as the victims themselves.'

Vail thought about that for a moment and nodded. 'Good legal point,' he said.

'From the beginning of his treatment, I had to deal with Aaron and Roy as two different people,' Woodward said. 'The same heart, different souls, if you believe in the soul.'

'I believe in the conscience. I suppose they could be considered the same.'