Show of Evil

waved them in without bothering with the sign-in sheet.

The wide hallway continued inside the steel-guarded entrance. Light streamed in through the glass-panelled roof. The walls on both sides were lined with locked rooms. There was moaning behind one of the doors, but the hall itself was empty. Woodward led them into the first room on the right.

The room contained a small desk with two chairs, a padded wooden chair, a table and a TV, and a cot. The window was five feet above floor level. The entire space and everything in it - walls, furniture, and floor - was painted pure white.

Vail remembered the room. Except possibly for a slight rearrangement of the furniture, it had not changed in ten years.

'Is this, uh, what's his name again?'

'Raymond Vulpes.'

'Is this his room?'

'No, no, this is the visitor's suite, as we jokingly call it.'

'So they have visitors here.'

'Yes. Patients in max are not permitted any visitors in their quarters, so we provide this homey little visitor's room. They're not permitted to associate with other patients, either.'

'Can't they talk to each other?'

'No, sir. Sounds a bit medieval, I know. The reason, of course, is that they are in various stages of recovery. Social intercourse could be disastrous.'

'I should think total isolation would be just as disastrous.'

'There are people around,' Woodward said with a shrug. 'Therapists, security people, some staff. It's not solitary confinement. And they can spend an hour or two a day outside.'

'They just can't communicate with each other?'

'Quite right.'

'So Aaron hasn't had any communication with the outside world in ten years?'

'You mean Raymond.'

'Raymond, Aaron,' Vail said with annoyance.

'It's an important, even crucial distinction. Sit down, Martin. I hope that what I'm about to tell you will give you a sense of pride.'

'Pride?'

'You had a part in it. Had it not been for you, Raymond would never have existed. The host would certainly have been dead by now, either by electrocution or terminal injection.'

'Who is Vulpes?'

'Raymond is what is known as a resulting personality.'

'A what?'

'Resulting personality. Roy was a resulting personality. Now Raymond is one.'

'So Aaron's split into a third person?'

'Yes and no. He's certainly a third person. However, the others no longer exist. It's not a unique case, although it well might become one.'

'How?'

'If we've stabilized Raymond. By that I mean he won't split again. They usually do.'

'Where did Raymond come from and when?'

'He was created to mediate the problems between Roy and Aaron. He first appeared almost three years ago.'

'Who created him?'

'Aaron was always the host.'

'Another escape mechanism?'

'Not an escape. An alternative. Another form of transference. As I explained to you, transference is the conscious or subconscious mirroring of behaviour patterns from one individual to another. This also applies to personae in a split personality. It's a form of denial. The schizoid places guilt on another individual, in this case, a new person - voila, Raymond.'