Dr. Patel?”
Liam sighed. No, Sheriff, actually a demon and an angel showed up at our house, after surrounding us in a kind of leaf net. They were after my lover’s soul, you see. It’s a long story, but the angel, his name was Azrael, had a gift, it was to heal things like anxiety. He cured me, and I didn’t need the medication anymore. Did I mention the angel was in love with the demon?” Liam began to laugh aloud. Imagine if he told them that.
“Mr. Macdonald? Are you all right? I lost you there for a moment.” The sheriff was staring at him.
Liam laughed harder. Nothing he could say would make any sense. This was a nightmare, and there didn’t seem to be a way out. “Yes, I’m fine.” Liam wiped the tears that poured down his face. “And yes, I stopped taking the medication so I could get an erection. I’m a doctor, remember. I know how to wean a patient off drugs.”
Palmer nodded. “I had your SUV towed. It’s here in the parking lot. Don’t worry about it.”
“Ha, didn’t give it a thought,” Liam told him.
“I do have a question,” the sheriff added. “If you weren’t alone, where is Mr. Handover’s suitcase? We only found one, red.”
“It’s mine. Are you sure there wasn’t a green one?”
“Only one, a red one.”
“The hotel we stayed in last night, there has to be some record of... Amish booked it for us with my credit card. Did you contact the hotel? I told you about it in the car on the way here.” His heart was beating like a drum.
Brian lowered his voice. “There is no record of you or Mr. Handover at the hotel,” he said.
Liam put his face in his hands.
“Some people reported seeing you in Nore Turn last night.”
Liam stared at him. “That’s impossible.”
“More than one witness told my officers that a vehicle fitting the same description as yours was seen driving up and down Hasten Road all last night. You couldn’t have been at a hotel. You were in Nore Turn.”
“That’s not true. We were at a hotel. There was a hot tub. We had seafood.”
The sheriff stood. “Everything will be all right, Mr. Macdonald.”
“I demand you release me. What about my phone call? You can’t do this. I need to find Amish. Sheriff, please?”
The door closed and locked behind him.
“Sheriff!” Liam let out a scream of frustration. He hit the wall. “Amish, Amish, where are you?”
When the door opened again, Liam was looking out of the barred window. He could see the stars now in the night sky and a half-moon. They’d brought him food, which he hadn’t touched. He felt trapped. He knew enough about psychiatry to realize that any doctor would think he’d gone off the deep end. Maybe he should lie, say he’d made it up? It was too late for that.
The man who walked in looked like a modern version of Sigmund Freud. Great. “Doctor Macdonald?” He held out his hand. “I’m Doctor Kent, Roger Kent.”
Liam shook his hand. “I’m not crazy.”
“I never use that word,” he said, smiling. “Please, have a seat.”
Liam sat down opposite him. “Why am I being held here?”
“You have been remanded into my care until a hearing can be arranged. During this time, I will do an evaluation in order to see how we can help you.”
Liam shook his head. “You can’t help me.”
“Oh? And why is that?”
“Unless you know where Amish is, and I’m beginning to think that no one knows, that my greatest fear has come to pass.” Tears filled his eyes.
“How long have you been seeing this Amish?”
“Seeing him? Oh, you mean, imagining him?” Liam couldn’t help the sarcasm in his voice.
“Is that what he is, a product of your imagination? Did you see him before your time in Yemen?” The doctor waited.
“He was with me in Yemen, and before Yemen.” We fought demons together. We saved the God-damned world.
Dr. Kent was scribbling something in his notepad.
“Dr. Kent. We are both men of science, are we not?”
“I’d like to think so, yes.” He smiled.
“Do you believe there are things in this world that can’t be explained?” Liam waited.
“Do you?”
“I do now.”
“Tell me what Amish means to you, Liam?” He leaned forward.
“Amish is infinite possibilities, the very struggle of human nature, the triumph of good over pure evil. He is my savior, the savior of this world, although no one knows it. Mostly, he’s the one I love.”
“So Amish is like God?”
“No, not God. A