“I’ve gotten to the point in my life, Amos, where all I have is time. My professional work is done. My wife is deceased. My health is declining. My old friends are dead. My children have their own health problems. My grandchildren are graduating from college and starting their own careers. So your visit is very welcome to me.”
Decker settled back and kept his gaze on the man while Jamison shot glances between them.
Decker said, “How long have you been gone from the Cognitive Institute?”
“They put me out to pasture ten years ago. I would have stayed longer, but my eyes were starting to go even then.”
“They’ve moved.”
“I know. I keep in touch. The institute has grown, you know.”
“No, I didn’t.”
“Hence the move. They needed more space. We’ve come light-years since you were with us. We know so much more.”
“And you obviously remember me.”
“You would be hard to forget. Our only professional football player. It was quite unusual.”
“I went into law enforcement when I left here. First as a cop. Then a detective.”
“You mentioned that was your ambition when you were here.”
“Yes, I did.”
“Good for you. And have you had a productive career?”
“It’s had its ups and downs, like most careers.”
“Hopefully more ups than downs.”
“You may be able to help with that.”
Rabinowitz frowned. “I don’t understand.”
Decker mentioned the Mansfield case.
Rabinowitz said, “I heard about that, along with the rest of the country. So tragic. So awful. So many lives just…ended. For no reason.”
“I’m working that case. And there is a reason. In fact, it might have a personal connection to me.”
“How so?” Rabinowitz said sharply.
“I think someone at the institute while I was there is involved with the massacre at the high school.”
Rabinowitz gripped the edge of his armchair. “What!?”
“I can’t give you specifics, but the killer communicated the old address of the institute to me. He said that I had dissed him. He indicated that was why he killed all those people.”
“Oh my God!” Rabinowitz nearly toppled from his chair, but, moving fast for a big man, Decker managed to snag his arm and hold him in his seat.
Decker looked at Jamison. “Water?”
She jumped up and hurried into the next room. She was back in less than a minute with a glass of water. Decker gave it to Rabinowitz, and he drank down a bit before carefully placing it on the table next to him.
“I’m sorry,” said Decker. “I shouldn’t have just dropped that on you. Sometimes…sometimes I just don’t realize…”
Rabinowitz wiped his lips with a trembling hand and then settled back in his chair. “Your neurological switches were set awry, Amos, for want of a better term. I know that certain societal parameters and cues are difficult for you, as they were for many of the folks who passed through our doors. It just goes with the territory. Parts of the brain become extraordinary in what they can do, while other parts, well, other parts regress a bit, at least from a societal perspective. It’s all a question of priorities for the mind.”
“That’s why I’m here. The folks who passed through your doors. One of them could be our killer.”
Rabinowitz shook his head, his brow scrunched up in distress. “I find that so very…terrible. And unlikely.”
“Damaged minds, Dr. Rabinowitz.”
“I think you can call me Harold now, Amos. We no longer have a doctor-patient relationship.”
“Okay, Harold. Damaged minds, even turned exceptional in some ways, are capable of many things. Some good, some bad.”
“But surely you remember quite vividly the people you met at the institute. Did you see a callous murderer among them?”
“Honestly, no. And I can’t remember ever ‘dissing’ any of them. I can’t recall insulting anyone while I was there.”
“He had his protégés, and I wasn’t one of them.”
Rabinowitz said, “Chris did have his favorites. I would like to think that I treated all of our patients with the same level of courtesy, respect, and thoroughness. But I’m also human, and I of course would have certain cases that interested me more than others. There are very few blunt-force brain trauma cases where the patient actually died before being resuscitated that result in the sort of cognitive rerouting that took place with you, Amos.” Rabinowitz paused to smile. “And I’ve been a Bears fan for over sixty years, and though you played for Cleveland, you were the only NFL player to ever come through our door. Now that you mention it, I do remember Chris having issues with that. Whether it was from a genuine dislike of you, or rather from the effects of his personal issues that later led him to leave the institute, I don’t know. But he seemed to think that with you our priorities were off.”
“I don’t get that,” said Jamison. “What would he base that on?”
Decker answered, “Sizemore thought that, being a football player, I had accepted the risk of getting my brain destroyed. I guess he thought I was taking up the space of someone who deserved to be there more.”
Rabinowitz said, “Now, that I didn’t know.”