Show of Evil

psychologically stable. No fugue events, no more appearances by either Aaron or Roy. In fact, for the last several months, Raymond has rarely mentioned them. He's become far more interested in the present and the future than the past.'

'What you're telling me is that Raymond Vulpes is sane?'

'As sane as we are. In this case a very troubled teenager has been replaced by a charming, educated, intelligent man. A charming fellow with a genius level IQ and a remarkable memory. He's rational, well-adjusted, has a stunning spectrum of interests. We're good friends, Raymond and I. We play chess together, discuss movies and books - he reads incessantly, everything from textbooks, magazines, fiction, nonfiction, how-to-books. His thirst for information is unquenchable.' Woodward stopped and smiled.

Looking at Woodward's smug, self-satisfied grin, Vail's uneasiness towards him changed to contempt. When he talked about Raymond, Woodward sounded like a modern Frankenstein who had taken Aaron's skin and bones and fashioned them into a human being on his own design.

'My question was, has he had visitors, communication, letters, phone calls, anything from the outside world?' Vail asked.

'Basically, no. We have had, in the past few months, visiting doctors who have come to observe what we've done with him. Always, of course, in concert with members of the staff. It's purely academic. Q and A, no social involvement whatsoever.'

'No phone calls?'

'Who would call him? He hasn't received a letter, not even a postcard, in a decade.'

'And he doesn't correspond with any one?'

'To tell you the truth, Martin, I don't think there's anyone Raymond wants to correspond with. Look at it this way: He knows a great deal about his past, but not everything. He knows enough to understand what happened to Aaron and why Roy appeared. Some things don't interest him. I suppose in a way you could compare Raymond to an amnesiac. He's learned enough about his past to be comfortable with himself. He doesn't need or want to know any more.'

Woodward stood up and walked to the door. 'I'll send Max to get him,' he said. 'Excuse me for a minute.'

Vail took out a cigarette and toyed with it. Everything Woodward said seemed perfectly logical. It was medically plausible, not even that uncommon. It all made perfect sense.

Sure it did, Vail thought. Here was a psychotic madman living comfortably in an insane asylum, where he has convinced all the doctors that he has been miraculously transformed into a real sweetheart named Raymond Vulpes, who was perfectly sane.

Talk about the inmates running the asylum.

Vail didn't believe a word of it. And he was prevented from discussing Aaron's remark after the trial by the rules of confidentiality.

A few minutes later, Max entered with Vulpes. He was still smiling, but his joviality had been replaced with a subtle caution.

'Anybody care for something to drink?' Max asked pleasantly.

'I'll have a Coke,' Vulpes said. He was standing on the opposite side of the table facing Vail.

'Evian for me,' Woodward said.

'Coke sounds good,' Vail said. They sat down, Vail and Vulpes facing each other and Woodward at one end of the table, like the moderator on a talk show.

Vail did not know what to say. Congratulations on your new persona? Welcome to the world, Raymond? Whatever he said would be hypocritical at best.

'Well, you wanted to meet Raymond. Here he is,' Woodward said proudly.

'You'll have to forgive me, Raymond,' Vail said, 'I'm a bit overwhelmed by miracles of science.'

The smile faded from Woodward's face. Vulpes did not react at all. There was still a hint of the smile on his lips. His eyes bored into Vail.

'Most are,' Vulpes said. 'The doc is doing a book on me. Could win him a Pulitzer Prize, right, Sam?'

'Well, we'll see about that,' Woodward said, feigning modesty.

'It seems strange to me,' Vail said. 'For instance, you just appeared. Don't you ever wonder who your mother was?'

Without hesitation Vulpes said, 'My mother was Mnemosyne, goddess of