by Walt Staples -
“Sonny, this can’t go on.”
“Why not, Ray?”
“It’s not right. You can’t do things like that.”
“Don’t see nothing stopping me. Besides, why get upset now?”
“Look when it was a transient here or there, I didn’t say anything.”
“You got that right, Ray.”
“But now, children?”
“What do you mean, ‘children?’”
“Sonny, I know what you do, what you think. I know you’ve been watching them. Waiting for one to be alone. Just waiting.”
“So?”
“It isn’t going to happen.”
“And who’s gonna to stop me, Ray?”
“I am.”
“Ray, put that down. You don’t want to do this.”
“You’re right, Sonny, I don’t. But it has to stop. And if no one else can do it, I will.”
“Ray, can’t we talk this out?”
“We two have been talking since I can remember. It stops now.”
“Ray—“
#
“Who took the initial call, McGee?”
“Hennesy, enforcer from Section 4, Peacekeeper.”
“Bug pistol; he wanted to be sure.”
“Yes, sir. Sure makes a mess.”
“Wondered how long it would take.”
“You know the victim, Peacekeeper?”
“Yep. Arnold Sol. Pretty famous over at Forensic Psych.”
“How so, sir?”
“The most classic MPD case on Avenir.”
“MPD?”
“Multiple Personality Disorder, McGee. He only had two, but what made him a classic is they, the two personalities, were aware of each other.”
“What do you think happened, sir?”
“According to the door logs, nobody in or out.”
“No, sir.”
“Guess he lost an argument with himself.”
Fun piece.
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