Hide and Seek (23 page)

CHAPTER 49

03:18am

Peter leaned back in his chair, staring at the doctor for some sign that this was some kind of
sick joke. The doctor continued.

‘Have you heard of dissociative identity disorder?’

Peter stammered, ‘What, like schizophrenia?’

‘The two have similarities but are not quite the same. Let me explain. Someone who suffers a severe sexual, physical, or psychological trauma can disassociate themselves from the trauma by fracturing into two personalities. This is especially common if the person experiencing the trauma is a child. You see Peter, when we are children we are still developing a personality structure. So a severe trauma can greatly interfere with a child’s natural character development and can condition the brain to form dissociative identities. It’s quite common for there to be one host personality, but an alternate part of the personality can become dominant and take control of an individual’s behaviour. When this occurs it is also common for there to be an associated memory loss
, which is why you have no recollection of these events.’

Peter shook his head incredulously.

‘This is complete bullshit.’

He waved his arms around gesturing to the officers.

‘Do you really believe this shit he’s coming out with?’

The Sheriff and the officer both stood stone-faced. He returned his attention to the doctor.

‘Let me get this right. You’re saying this boy in the paper, this boy who was abducted was me and I can’t remember it because I created an alternative personality?’

‘Yes, and in comparison to other cases I have seen it was an
effective defence mechanism. More than half of the people diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder go on to have various physical and physiological problems. Yet you did not. And it appears that your alternate personality did not manifest itself again until about a year ago. I believe you call him Celo.’

Peter sat back in his chair looking around the room as it swirled around him. Everything felt simultaneously close and
yet far away. He now realised that if the story about him as a child was true, they were using it to implicate him in the day’s events. Celo must have known that this would happen; he must have really done his homework.

‘He’s got you all fooled. Celo is not an alternative personality. He’s real. I know he is. I’ve been speaking to him on the phone all day.’

‘Peter, you just imagined you were speaking to Celo but you were really speaking to yourself.’

Peter looked at him bemused and shook his head.

‘People do it every day, they talk to themselves,’ the doctor added.

‘This is bullshit. Plus you said if an alternative personality takes over then the other forgets everything. Now you’re saying I’m having delusions and speaking to my own alternative personality?’

The doctor was about to speak but The Sheriff broke his silence and barked impatiently.

‘Look. You can’t have been talking to anyone on the phone because it didn’t even have a SIM card in it.’

Peter stared at The Sheriff as a frantic feeling of paranoia swept over him.

‘What? That can’t be right.’

He pointed accusingly at The Sheriff.

‘One of your men must have taken it out. One of your men is involved in all of this.’

The Sheriff responded in a matter-of-fact manner.

‘I was the one
who examined your phone, and there was no SIM card in it.’

‘Liar,’ Peter shouted rising from the chair.

‘Sit down,’ The Sheriff shouted.

The doctor interjected, ‘Please calm down Peter.’

‘Calm down? This is a fucking conspiracy. Can’t you see that? Why am I asking you? You’re probably in on it as well.’

‘Sit down,’ The Sheriff repeated with more authority.

Peter observed The Sheriff’s twitching fingers hovering near his baton. He took his seat again and the doctor continued.

‘There is no conspiracy Peter. Your alternative personality set up and arranged this game of Hide and Seek
.’

‘No. Cas has something to do with this. I’m sure of it. Have you found him yet?’

The doctor took a second to compose himself before speaking.

‘Peter, the police found his body in the women’s changing room at the school. He’s dead.’

Peter stared at him in shock.

‘It wasn’t me. I was unconscious.’

‘I believe that Cas’ escape was clearly not part of Celo’s plan and so when he attacked you Celo became the dominant personality and killed him.’

Peter tried to recall what happened. In hindsight it did seem strange to him that being hit in the arm and falling against the lockers would be enough to knock him unconscious. Plus it hadn’t happened immediately, he remembered feeling groggy like he had felt when he woke up in the cabin.

‘I killed Cas?’

‘No Peter. Celo killed him. He was the one who planned and started this whole game.’

‘But I don’t understand how he could have set all this up? I’ve only been here since yesterday.’

‘
Actually, it’s likely that you’ve been in Bilton for more than just one day Peter,’ the doctor replied.

‘What?’

‘When the police found out who you were they checked on the PNC and found that you were reported missing almost a year ago.’

‘What
’s a PNC?’

‘
The Police National Computer.’

‘
And it says I’ve been missing for a year? It must be wrong.’

‘It’s not wrong Peter.
You’ve been missing for a year and we have good reason to believe that you have been living at the cabin in Durden Woods for at least the past six months.’

‘Why?
’

‘
Because Robert Paulson was released from prison in May.’

Peter sat upright. ‘What?’

‘The cabin in Durden Woods belonged to Robert Paulson. The police have found a body buried under the cage in the corner of the basement. It was covered in quicklime to mask the smell.’

Peter recalled the smell coming from the white crystal chunks amongst the disturbed ground on the floor of the cage. The doctor continued.

‘It’s too early to tell, but we believe forensics will show it to be the body of Robert Paulson. We think Celo came back here and killed him as retribution for what he did to you. And then buried him in the cage where he held you captive as a child.’

‘Look, I’m not going to lie. If it is this
… Robert Paulson, then I’m glad the bastard is dead, but I can’t have been here for the last six months. I can prove where I was last week. Ring my company. I’ve been working late nights with a team of people for the last month to get a contract bid finished. Ring my wife Janine, she’ll tell you. We all went to Blackpool Zoo last Saturday.’

‘
I’m not saying these things didn’t happen, but they didn’t occur in the last year. It is common for the host personality to take memories out of sequence or fabricate new memories to explain and validate the period of time where the alternate personality is in control.’

‘
But wait a minute. You said I’d been missing for a year but then you said Robert Paulson was released in May and that I’ve only been in Bilton for six months. What was I doing for the other six months? Are you saying I was Celo before Robert Paulson was even released from prison?’

‘Yes.’

‘But why? After more than twenty years why would I suddenly change personalities completely out of the blue?’

‘People relapse
for a number of reasons. The most common is when the host personality suffers another traumatic event which it cannot cope with. In this scenario the host personality disassociates itself from the event and the alternate part of the personality becomes dominant as a coping mechanism.’

‘
Another traumatic event?’

Doctor McNulty paused to take a deep breath.

‘Peter, does yesterday’s date, 25
th
November, have any resonance with you whatsoever?’

He thought back to earlier, when he was entering Low Grange and heading towards the school. Something had seemed familiar about the date, like he should be remembering something that happened. He searched his mind again but it was blank.

‘Yes, there’s something familiar about the date. I’ve been trying to remember all day, but I don’t know.’

Out of the corner of his eye Peter could see The Sheriff and the other police officer shifting uncomfortably on the spot
, as if they knew what was coming. He looked at the doctor who was already trying to give him a reassuring and comforting smile. A lump formed in his throat as he realised there was obviously going to be another revelation to upset him.

‘What is it?’

The doctor retrieved a piece of paper from his folder and slid it delicately across the table.

‘I’m sorry Peter, but your wife and son died
on 25
th
November last year.’

T
ears came as he looked at a copy of his wife’s death certificate. The doctor placed his hand on Peter’s trying to comfort him.

‘How?’
he sobbed.

‘
Brake failure. They were involved in a head-on collision with another car.’

CHAPTER 50

04:00am

The Sheriff and the other officer escorted Peter back to the cell. He collapsed onto the bed, shuddering as the waves of emotions rippled repeatedly through his body. Through the grill on the door The Sheriff watched as he curled up on the bed, hugging the quilt which spilled out above his arms and covered his face.

The Sheriff closed the grill and walked back into the interview room where the doctor was reading another document contained in his folder. The doctor, aware that The Sheriff was starin
g at him in silence, looked up.

‘Yes?’

‘So basically he’s insane?’

‘He
’s had a mental breakdown.’

‘How is all this going to affect his conviction?’

‘His lawyer is likely to plead diminished responsibility and with all the evidence of his condition on file, coupled with the loss of his wife and son, the court will probably accept the defence.’

The Sheriff scowled. ‘That man killed my son
-in-law and almost killed my daughter. And you’re telling me he’ll probably just get thrown into Broadmoor?’

The doctor nodded in acknowledgement. ‘I’m sorry.’

‘I can understand why he’d come back here and kill Robert Paulson after what he did to him but why this game of Hide and Seek with my daughter and her friends?’

‘
I won’t know for sure until I can speak to his alternative personality but I have a theory. I listened to the recording of the interview from earlier. Peter said that Celo kept telling him this game was an opportunit
y
to save the people he cared about. I believe Celo blamed your daughter and her friends for leaving Peter in the woods when he was a boy. But instead of killing them he set this game up to give Peter the opportunity to save them because he wasn’t given the chance to save his wife and son. It seems like the whole game was a cathartic exercise to help Peter cope with his grief.’

The Sheriff shook his head.

‘So he murders four people, well five if we find that he did kill the person buried in the cabin. And he seriously injures another so she’s going to be scarred for life. And he does all of that to try and make himself feel better?’

The doctor didn’t kn
ow what else he could tell him. He shuffled the paper laid out on the desk into his folder and stood up.

‘We won’t be able to find out anything else tonight. I suggest we leave him for now and I’ll come back in a few hours. I would appreciate it if you or one of your officers could check in on him from time to time. There is the possibility that he could relapse.’

‘Yes sure, we’ll keep an eye on him.’

They walked out of the room and down the corridor towards the r
eception area.

‘How are you coping with all this?’ The doctor enquired.

‘I don’t know. I don’t think it’s sunk in yet. I guess I’m just keeping busy and trying to do my job.’

‘
And how is your daughter doing?’

‘I think she’s still in shock. I haven’t been able to spend much time with her over the last few hours.’

‘I understand. You should go and see how she is. It’s been a traumatic day for you both. If either of you need to talk to someone about it, I’ll gladly help where I can.’

The Sheriff smiled and
nodded.

‘Thank you. We’ll see how it goes.’

He shook the doctor’s hand and watched as he left the building. A flurry of camera flashes lit up the entrance to the police station as the journalists gathered outside took photographs of the doctor.

‘
Fucking vultures.’

He headed down the corridor and went into his office. Michelle was lying asleep on the sofa with her head in Steve’s lap as he watched her and stroked her hair.

‘How long has she been asleep?’ The Sheriff whispered.

‘A few hours,’ Steve replied.

‘Good. And how are you holding up?’

‘
I can’t believe this is happening. That Peter is behind all this. I wish I’d done something.’

‘
You weren’t to know Steven. You did the right thing coming to me and telling me he went into the woods. Otherwise, we might not have found him and who knows what else the bastard could have done.’

‘So what’s going to happen to him now?
’

‘
I don’t know and I don’t care. All I care about is making sure Michelle is alright. She’s lost her husband and I’ve lost my son-in-law tonight. But we haven’t lost the father of my grandchild.’

Steve looked at The Sheriff in shock. He had no idea that Michelle’s father had any knowledge of their affair and he was especially surprised that he had come out with it so bluntly.

‘Steven, this is a conversation I was going to have with you anyway. You’ve been acting like a big kid for most of your life but it’s time to grow up now and take responsibility. I need your help to make sure Michelle gets through this. Do you understand?’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘Good. I have to go and fill out some reports. We’ll talk about this more later.’

The Sheriff turned and walked out of the office without waiting for any further response or acknowledgement from Steve.

Peter sat on the
bed hugging the quilt tightly and staring blankly at the walls enclosing him. His eyes were bloodshot and exhausted of tears. He thought about all the fences and walls he had climbed over during the course of the day. Those barriers which had been erected to keep the dangerous people out - the monsters like him. All day he had yearned to leave this town and go home but that wasn’t going to happen now. He knew where he would be going. An institution which was also likely to have fences but this time they would be designed to keep the monsters in. Maybe that had been Celo’s plan after all. There was nothing left outside the gates that he cared about anymore.

Peter felt
groggy and the walls surrounding him started to blur. At first he panicked and tried to steady himself, taking deep breaths. Then he wondered if it was Celo. Is this what it felt like when he took control? If so, then why was he fighting it? He wanted the pain and heartache to go away. He surrendered, closed his eyes and drifted off into unconsciousness.