Chapter 4 [[Draft]]
Certainty Betrayed
Chapter 4
James
James walked into the kitchen and turned on the water at the tap. He let the water run to clear any contaminants while he placed a paper liner in the basket of the coffee maker. He opened the can of Folgers and frowned as he poured the grains into the filter. He preferred Maxwell House. He walked back to the sink, filled the carafe and turned off the faucet, poured the water into the back of the machine, and started the brew.
He wandered back into the living room to wait for the coffee. As he sat down on the ugly flowered fabric of an outdated couch, he carefully avoided looking at the two bodies crumpled in the corner between the overstuffed chair and the large potted Ficus near the front door. He reached for the remote on the coffee table in front of him and turned on the old tube TV sitting on a table across the room.
What did they do to her? Where is she?
Scanning the channels, James stopped at a local news report and set the remote down. He half listened as he shifted through a stack of magazines on the coffee table and selected an issue of Motor Trend that was only a few months old and checked the content’s list. He then turned to the correct page and began reading about the new Porsche 718 Cayman. James preferred the convertible Boxster, but the Cayman was OK. He had always been a fan of Porsche sports cars.
His attention was drawn back to the television.
“…murder of a patient and two staff members, including a nurse.” said a middle aged Asian woman on the screen. “We have Carla Miller on scene.” The scene switched to another woman holding a microphone.
“Thank you Mina. I’m here at the State Psychiatric Hospital with the hospital’s Risk Manager, Dave LaPierre.” The reporter turned to Dave, “Mr. LaPierre, it’s reported that a dangerous patient has escaped your facility and is on the run, can you tell me what happened?”
“I can only give general details, but yes, a patient has escaped the facility. The State police are in charge of finding him.”
“And I understand there were three people killed, including another patient, is that correct?”
“I can confirm that there were three people killed during the escape, but I cannot give you any details on the victims or the circumstances surrounding their deaths. This is an active police investigation. All information of that kind will need to come from the investigators covering the case.”
“Did the escaped patient do the killings?”
“I’m sorry, but I cannot answer that question at this time.”
The camera moved Dave out of the frame and focused on the reporter.
“So we have confirmation of three deaths here at the state hospital and an escaped psychiatric patient at large. I spoke with police just prior to this report. They are also not providing us with much detail yet, but they did confirm that the escaped patient is unmedicated and should be considered dangerous. They are asking the public to be on the watch for this man…”
The image on the screen changed to a portrait picture of James he recalled being taken by his group home about a year ago.
“…and to notify State or local police with any information. We are told the suspect fled in a blue Honda Civic and went West on Civic Center as he left the hospital grounds. I’m afraid that’s all the information we have at this time. Back to you Mina.”
They know. They will come.
James stood up as the image on the TV screen changed back to the studio reporter. He stopped listening and walked back into the kitchen. He could see the front end of Charlie’s Honda parked at the top of the driveway just in front of the detached one-car garage. He grabbed the keys off the counter and stepped out the side door into the driveway. He sat down in the driver seat of the Honda and moved it into the back yard alongside the garage.
Opening the garage door, James found an old silver Buick Century that appeared to be in good condition. He searched along the wall and found an old canvas tarp. He pulled it outside to the Honda and covered it, weighing the corners of the tarp with some cinder blocks he found among the overgrown weeds behind the garage. He closed the garage and headed back into the house.
Once back in the kitchen, James grabbed a coffee cup from a wooden dowel tree sitting on the counter next to the coffee machine. The cup read “Best Grandpa” with a heart in the background. He filled the cup from the pot, which had only completed three quarters of its brew, then went back to the living room at the front of the house.
As he sat down, he noticed the bodies again by the front door. He forced away the images of the elderly man collapsing from a blow to the head, and the woman falling as she scrambled away whimpering in fear.
What did they do to her?
James managed to push the voices away as well as the images. He reached for the remote and turned off the TV. He picked up the copy of Motor Trend and sipped his coffee as he finished the article about the Porsche Cayman.
James continued to read the magazine, only stopping to fill his coffee cup a couple more times. The coffee was OK, but he wished it was Maxwell House. Once finished, he set the magazine on the table and took his cup with him as he headed upstairs.
At the top of the stairs, he found the home’s only bathroom and two bedrooms. One obviously belonged to the couple downstairs. He avoided that one. He instead went into the guest room and placed his cup on the bedside table. He went across the hall and used the bathroom. Searching through the vanity drawers, he found a toothbrush still in its packaging. He removed it and brushed his teeth with water before returning to the bedroom and lying down on the bed.
Get out.
James ignored the voices and closed his eyes. In a few moments, he was sound asleep.