The Things Only He Knows

Chapter Eight

Layla sat by the window in her hospital ward, watching the little kids play in the garden.
"They suffered from cancer and other types of illnesses. Some suffered from agonizing experiences with their friends or families. We help them regain their mental health here," he explained as he drew nearer to her carrying two cups of tea.
    "Thank you, Doctor," she sipped on her tea.
      They remained silent for a minute, then he spoke. "This isn't a mental asylum, Layla. It's a mental hospital. There's a difference. We help people regain their emotional health, but they're not crazy. We don't... Electrify them... Punish them... Give them drugs... No, no, no, just medicine!"
She didn't understand why he was telling her that, so she just smiled at him. She knew she was in the hospital because she was a detective and she suffered a lot after working on a serial murders case. She suffered memory loss. She didn't remember anything from her life, not her friends, not her family. She only knew one thing, well, two. Firstly, Doctor Theodore Roosevelt was her friend who helped her with many crimes before, and he was now her fiancé. Secondly, she remembered one thing, Archie. Dante Colle Archiviste was the only name she remembered, and she didn't know why she did. She didn't know who he was. Archie was... A victim, they said.
"I'll have to go now, my dear Layla. I have an appointment with the Inspector. Remember him?" She shook her head in a no. He nodded sadly, and kissed her hand, which sent shivers down her spine. The bad kind of shivers. He left at last, and for some reason, she was happier with him away from her. His touch frightened her, and her body instinctively pushed him away.

Robinson waited for him to arrive. There was nothing to do until then except wait... And play with a few things here and there. He reached inside his drawer with his right hand and played around with the objects inside. He pulled a transparent plastic bag out, with a pen inside. A brown pen with the letters T and R written in gold. He knew what he needed to ask even though he already knew the answers to those questions.
    There was a knock on the door, and an officer came in. "Mr. Roosevelt is here, Sir. Shall I let him in?"
     "Yes," he nodded as he prepared to meet him.
      "Hello, Inspector!" Theodore greeted cheerfully waving his hand.
       "Hello, Doctor. Take a seat," he signed to the seat in front of his desk.
       "Gladly!"
       The inspector watched his movements meticulously with a small smile plastered on his face.
      "So, what did you want to speak to me about?"
      "Well... How's Layla?" He stared at his hands, or so it looked like. He was actually looking at something completely different in his mind, so his eyes rested on his hands instead.
       "Oh, she's doing much better now! There's nothing to worry about!"
       "It's weird... Why did she stab herself? It's not like her."
       "It seems she blamed herself for his death. That she could not stop the Phantom killer before he got to him."
       "I heard you..." He looked up to face him. "I heard you didn't tell his family he was helping with this case."
      "Well, I thought it wasn't that important to tell them. It's nothing to write home about!" He laughed nervously.
      "Is that so?" He laughed lightly.
      "I was... I was going through my daughter's things. Seeing what to keep and what get rid of. I found it hard to get rid of anything really but... I thought things like her... Umm, utensils or... School supplies. They won't really be needed anymore. I took a look in her drawers, and I found... I found an interesting pen. Tell me, Mr. Roosevelt, have you lost a pen lately? I lost one of mine somewhere and I have no idea where it's gone!"
     "Change of topic much? But now that you mention it, I actually did. About two weeks ago or so. It had my initials ingraved on it, and it was a favourite! I have no idea where I lost it since I've gone to many places lately."
      "Yes. I get that. Say, would you care for a drink?"
      "Here?" He looked around anxiously.
      "Why not?"
"I... Sure! If you will, I may as well join you! My pleasure!"
    "Good," he picked up a bottle of whiskey and poured each of them a glass. He laid the identical glasses on the desk and asked Theodore to pick one. Theodore did so, all while under the Inspector's gaze.
   "Yum! This is good stuff!"
   "Indeed," he sipped on his drink.
     "So, you were talking about your little girl! I must say I miss her!"
"Thank you for looking after her before, Doctor. She's in a better place now.
"It was my pleasure! She was a little angel!"
  "Yes... Except for the whole robbery thing, no?"
"Oh, all children are little criminals!"
"Yes... She.. She even stole your pen."
"Ye-" he paused. "Mine?" He blinked twice.
"Yes... I found it in her drawer. I only went with her once. It was always her mother who took her to your clinic, but I went once. That one time, she said she was quite fond of your pen. It seems she managed to grab it in the end."
"She did?"
"She did... When you were at my house?"
"I was..." He gulped. "I w-was in your house?"
  "Yes. When you wanted to make sure my daughter would kill them like you ordered her to. You used hypnosis to control all the culprits and make them commit those crimes. At that exact moment, at that exact place."
  "Hypnosis? What is this nonsense? I know no such arts!"
"What about the books in your office and your house?"
  "Who gave you the right to search my house?"
  "You did. Not too long ago, when my wife took my daughter and visited you. The last time ever. You'd called them to bring them there, using the excuse of my daughter's illness, and saying you had something urgent to tell her. That was a couple of days before the first crime,was it not? My wife came back disturbed having seen the decorations and the scattered books in your house. Black magic, voodoo, and hypnosis."
"Hold up now! It's rude to lump hypnosis with those two!" He attempted to get up, but couldn't. His legs didn't move. They refused to obey him.
"I'm sorry. I won't make the same mistake Layla made. That's teamwork after all, we learn from each other's mistakes. That drink was drugged. A drug that causes paralysis but not death. Maybe you'll lose your consciousness temporarily, but you'll wake up to find yourself unable to move anything but your eyes. If you're lucky, it'll be temporary, just a dozen years or so. If you're unlucky, I'm afraid it'll be permanent. Now, shall I tell you what I know? What Layla did that outsmarted you, 'Doctor'? She had a recorder pen. A recorder pen only she and I know about. She used it to record your confession, and trust me, the jury will love to listen to this!"
"That woman... Isn't she absolutely hot?! I like this... This teamwork," he fell off the chair when he tried to get up again. His arms were starting to feel numb and his legs had practically vanished. "Do you even have permission for this?"
   "With someone dangerous like you? Yes, I do. I do things in a lawful way, unfortunately. For you," he got up and went around his desk to stand in front of Theodore.
"Archie was your patient. And those dreams were always dreams until you decided to make them real. You were bored? Really? So you decided to follow Archie's dreams. But unfortunately for you, Archie came to you again! He didn't know you, but his dreams came back. Sure, he didn't see people dying this time, he only saw the patients of your clinic. He didn't see them because they were the culprits, he saw them because they were the victims of the Clown killer, the one who murdered his pregnant wife, in his dreams. They were victims just like him. And to stop us from finding out, you told them to kill themselves. And if they didn't, you'd do it for them! But, Archie's last dream was his own death, that's why he didn't see a culprit! It was his death! He was the last patient he knew. Those dreams weren't precognition, they weren't prophecies! They were imaginary nightmares with real life people taking on the lead roles! That's all it was! But it's just so happened, and unfortunately for you, that his dreams restarted again at the same time you started your murders."
"It was no coincidence! I'm sure that Archie had something more t--" his eyes shut down.
"You're right! It was not a coincidence! It was fate! Your fate to get caught and suffer the same way you made them all suffer!" His voice raised as his eyes burned with rage.
"Doc- no. Theodore Roosevelt, you are under arrest for incitement to murder, misuse of hypnosis, murder of Dante Archiviste and attempted murder of Layla Morris. You have the right to remain silent."

The end.