Beastly House

Chapter 23

 "George!" Phalen said. "I never suspected him."

The group was seated in the large library that overlooked the lake. The setting was beautiful, marred only by the knowledge that two murders had been committed on the property, and two evil men had escaped. Destinations unknown.

"How did you know?" one of the patients asked Flix.

Flix was standing in the center of the room. His suit was as crisp as the new morning.

"I didn't, until last night. I will be as brief as possible, for I understand many of you have trains to catch or private cars awaiting your arrival.

Several things set the hairs on the back of my neck on end.

I kept wondering why Quintland was so quick to finger young Jannins. I was convinced that the railroading of that young man was due to the doctor's financial predicament. If his patients flew the coop, out of fear, the institution would have to lock its doors. That theory proved only partially true."

"How could someone in Quintland's position have access to so much hooch?" another asked.

"Connections," answered Wolcott Abercrombie.

"Yes. And many that had to be unsavory," said Phalen.

"But didn't you say George was our man?" asked Mrs. Hood.

"I did. I believe that George was the mastermind. The others, George used, like a puppet master, to his own ends. Many of you have experienced George's crass behavior. It was designed to throw you off balance, to make you pity the poor man trapped inside a wasted body, to make you seethe with anger at the impossibly cruel words he said to you. All of his actions were his way of keeping your mind spinning while he wove his evil web.

Doctor Quintland provided George a plausible screen to hide behind as he continued his operations. I think George paid the doctor handsomely for harboring him. And the doctor played along with George."

"But how are we to believe that George is capable of such horrible deeds. George is a cripple," said Mrs. Hood.

"A poor invalid, a decorated war hero, and a man above reproach. That is the mask George wore in front of us all," Flix said. "But it was all lies. Those things were only what he wished us to believe, Mrs. Hood. It was a clever ruse. I must admit, I fell for it, like everyone else.

I think Avery saw through his subterfuge, perhaps while on one of her woodland excursions. I believe she saw George standing and talking to a stranger. I remembered the insult she hurled at George about being perpendicular. Remember her comment, 'Nasty little bohunk. Perpendicular paraplegic.'

It made no sense to me, at the time, but they were very dangerous comments to make to George. I believe that it was at that moment, Avery sealed her fate. George had to eliminate her. If Avery talked, his ruse was up.

I was fumbling about like a blind man in the dark until I spent time in George's room. You see, when I had the chance to visit with George, on the offhand invitation of joining him for a drink in his room, there were several alarms that immediately went off in my head. After only a few moments in his room, I was sure George was an imposter."

"What on earth are you jabbering about, Flix?" Mrs. Hood asked.

"George is not a war hero," Flix said.

"What!"

"Who told you those stories, Mrs. Hood? Dr. Quintland?"

"Yes. He did mention it, offhandedly."

"The medals in George's room are a sham," Flix said. "Oh, the medals themselves are quite real, and from a variety of countries. But, they were purchased or stolen. Not won.