Show of Evil

'Well, I guess congratulations are in order,' Vail said.

'Maybe we can have lunch one day,' said Vulpes. 'After all, you are responsible for my… well, for my very existence, aren't you?'

'Sounds like a splendid idea,' Woodward chimed in.

'Maybe so.'

'Well, what do you think, Mr… Martin?' Woodward asked. 'Does the news give you renewed belief in redemption and resurrection?'

'Resurrection?'

'Raymond, here, resurrected from the ashes, so to speak.' Woodward said it with such anomalous pride that Vail was chilled again, not by Vulpes, this time by the egocentric doctor, a man so obviously dazzled by his own brilliance that he was blind to Vulpes's true nature. But then, ten years before, Vail had been just as pleased with himself for having saved Aaron Stampler from certain death.

Vail hardly heard the rest of the conversation. It was unimportant. He was just biding time until he could diplomatically get out of there.

'Well, I think that should be it for the day,' Vail heard Woodward say. 'I'm sure we all need to get back to work.'

'Yes,' Vail said, managing a meagre smile.

Woodward went to the door and called out to Max. Vail got up and walked around the table until he was behind Vulpes. He leaned over and said, ever so softly, 'Raymond?'

Vulpes didn't turn around. He stared straight ahead. 'Yes?'

'Supposing there never was an Aaron?'

Raymond continued to look at the wall on the opposite side of the room. He smiled, but Vail could not see it.

He knows. He knows and there's not a thing he can do about it. I'm a free man and he can't stop that because nobody would believe him.

Half a minute passed before Vulpes turned around. He stood up, his face inches from Vail's. He was smiling, but suddenly, for just an instant, his eyes turned to stone. Hatred glittered in them and the irises turned bloodred.

Like the chill he had felt when he entered the repair room, it came and went in the blink of an eye, but it was enough to send an icicle straight into Vail's heart.

Venable was right. Now he had seen it. It was like looking into the mind of - whomever? Aaron, Roy, Raymond - and realizing that he was no different, no less malevolent and invidious, no less capable of anything than the youth Vail had saved from death ten years before. The only difference was, now he was older, more dangerous, and about to go free.

'There'll always be an Aaron in my heart,' Vulpes said softly, tapping his chest. 'Just as there will always be a Martin in there. I owe everything I am to the two of you.' He said in his silken voice, smiling his sincerest smile, 'Thank you.'

Vulpes stood at the window and watched them walk back across the wide courtyard, Vail striding resolutely towards the entrance. He could guess what Vail was saying. He could almost hear his protest.

But he was wrong. Vail knew there was no percentage in arguing with Woodward. It was, as they say, a done deal and he was powerless to stop it.

'The press will have a field day with this,' he told Woodward.

'The press won't know anything about it. The release order has been signed by a local judge who is very sympathetic to our work. Raymond Vulpes will be released. The press knows Aaron Stampler. They don't even know Raymond Vulpes exists.'

For one fleeting moment, Vail toyed with the notion of bringing up the murders of Linda Balfour and Alex Lincoln, but he decided against it. It was only a matter of time before that news would come out. But Raymond had the perfect alibi. They would be chalked up as copycat killings.

Perfect. Vulpes had thought of everything. He hadn't missed a note.

'I assume you'll honour the confidentiality of this meeting,' Woodward said.

'Confidentiality?'

'Well, legally speaking, you're still his attorney.'

Vail shook his head. 'Conflict of interest,' he answered sardonically. 'As a prosecutor, I'd have to resign the job.'

'Give the boy a chance,' Woodward asked.

'He's not a boy anymore, Woodward,' Vail said.