Otherworldly Maine by Noreen Doyle Read Free Book Online

with the traumas of Harp Ryder’s history or those of mine. Mine were already somewhat known to him. “I wish you had time to talk all this out to me. You’ve given me a nice summary of what the physical events appear to have been, but—”
    â€œDoctor,” I said, “it happened . I heard the animal. The window was smashed—ask the sheriff. Leda Ryder did scream, and when Harp and I got up there together, the dog had been killed and Leda was gone.”
    â€œAnd yet, if it was all as clear as that, I wonder why you thought of consulting me at all, Ben. I wasn’t there. I’m just a headshrinker.”
    â€œI wanted . . . Is there any way a delusion could take hold of Harp and me, disturb our senses in the same way? Oh, just saying it makes it ridiculous.”
    Dr. Kahn smiled. “Let’s say, difficult.”
    â€œIs it possible Harp could have killed her, thrown her out through the window of the west bedroom—the snow must have drifted six feet or higher on that side—and then my mind distorted my time sense? So I might’ve stood there in the dark kitchen all the time it went on, a matter of minutes instead of seconds? Then he jumped down by the shed roof, came back into the house the normal way while I was stumbling upstairs? Oh, hell.”
    Dr. Kahn had drawn a diagram of the house from my description, and peered at it with placid interest. “Benign” was a word Helen had used for him. He said, “Such a distortion of the time sense would be unusual . . . Are you feeling guilty about anything?”
    â€œAbout standing there and doing nothing? I can’t seriously believe it was more than a few seconds. Anyway that would make Harp a monster out of a detective story. He’s not that. How could he count on me to freeze in panic? Absurd. I’d’ve heard the struggle, steps, the window of the west room going up. Could he have killed her and I known all about it at the time, even witnessed it, and then suffered amnesia for that one event?”
    He still looked so patient I wished I hadn’t come. “I won’t say any trick of the mind is impossible, but I might call that one highly improbable. Academically, however, considering your emotional involvement—”
    â€œI’m not emotionally involved!” I yelled that. He smiled, looking much more interested. 1 laughed at myself. That was better than poking him in the eye. “I’m upset, Doctor, because the whole thing goes against reason. If you start out knowing nobody’s going to believe you, it’s all messed up before you open your mouth.”
    He nodded kindly. He’s a good joe. I think he’d stopped listening for what 1 didn’t say long enough to hear a little of what I did say. “You’re not unstable, Ben. Don’t worry about amnesia. The explanation, perhaps some human intruder, will turn out to be within the human norm. The norm of possibility does include such things as lycanthropic delusions, maniacal behavior, and so on Your police up there will carry on a good search for the poor woman. They won’t overlook that snowdrift. Don’t underestimate them, and don’t worry about your own mind, Ben.”
    â€œEver seen our Maine woods?”
    â€œNo, I go away to the Cape.”
    â€œTry it some time. Take a patch of it, say about fifty miles by fifty, that’s twenty-five hundred square miles. Drop some eager policemen into it, tell ’em to hunt for something they never saw before and don’t want to see, that doesn’t want to be found.”
    â€œBut if your beast is human, human beings leave traces. Bodies aren’t easy to hide, Ben.”
    â€œIn those woods? A body taken by a carnivorous animal? Why not?” Well, our minds didn’t touch. I thanked him for his patience and got up. “The maniac responsible,” I said. “But whatever we call him, Doctor, he was there