Demon Child

suspicious. But I doubt Brutus will leave anything alive for the gun to handle.” He petted the dog again. “But I would derive great pleasure from analyzing you.”
        Jenny looked at Richard.
        Richard said, “Go on, then.”
        Hobarth smacked his lips. He looked as if he wanted his pipe, but he didn't want to put down either gun to get it. He advanced across the open space, the dog hanging close at his side, never taking its eyes from them. They were absolutely deadly eyes, the bloodlust visible in them. Thirty feet from them, he stopped, brought the dog to heel.
        “I know very little of your background,” Hobarth went on. “Just that your parents died in an automobile accident when you were young and that your grandmother died suddenly less than four months ago. But, watching you and knowing that little bit, I think I can see some classic patterns of mental behavior in you.”
        He waited for her to respond.
        “And?” she asked. Now she was more frightened than ever. She did not think she wanted to know about herself, to peek into her own mind and see how it worked. But she had to buy time for them.
        “You are desperate for stability-in much the way Freya was. And she was. I didn't lie about that part of my analysis. I just used the truth to bolster the places where I had to stretch the truth. Anyway, you crave stability, security, safety. You verge on mild paranoia, always looking for some evil force that is about to do you in.”
        “And you're that evil force,” she said.
        “But only because your paranoia and your need for security helped things work out that way. You see, you were afraid of Richard because you couldn't understand him. It is the same reason why you are afraid, to one degree or another, of everyone about you. And until you realize the source of your problem, you'll always be that way. Because intelligent, thinking men and women are always impossible to completely understand. You could know Richard a lifetime and still be surprised by him. The only people you will make friends with are dense people, people with so little intelligence and wit that you can understand everything about them and feel safe. Or…”
        “Or?” Jenny prompted.
        “Or you'll make friends with people who wish to deceive you. If someone plays a role, puts on a simple facade and becomes a stereotype, you'll think you know them, and you'll be friends with them. I am the perfect example of that. You thought I was the nice, understanding, omniscient psychiatrist right off the television tube. You befriended me. I think you even fell in love with me. Just a bit? I thought so! I was playing a role that offered you security and contentment. You accepted me quickly.”
        “That's the complete analysis?” Jenny asked. She had been shaken by what he had said, right down to the last cell in her body. All of it had been so painfully true.
        “Pretty much, yes. You should always remember that the unexpected is only unexpected because it manages to sneak up on us in some familiar and reassuring guise. When you think you know someone perfectly-that's when you should begin to suspect that they aren't being completely honest with you.”
        “Too bad she won't have a chance to use your advice, Hobarth,” Richard said.
        He still held Jenny under his left arm. He felt warm and solid beside her. She was humiliated to know that she had thought so wrongly of such a good man as he -but at least, before the end, she stood corrected.
        “Yes, isn't it?” Hobarth asked. He knelt beside the dog and hugged its burly head.
        “Look,” Richard said, “you know you won't get away with this. Two more bodies will have the police in here again.”
        “And all they'll find are two corpses badly mauled by a wolf. The same wolf who has already given the area so much trouble.”
        Brutus was licking his chops and nuzzling his master with all the cuddly affection one might expect in a house dog. Nevertheless, he would tear them apart when the time came.
        “There's going to be a hunt,” Richard said. He squeezed Jenny more tightly, reassuringly.
        “I expect so,” Hobarth said. He was growing bored with them. He was preparing to give the dog its command.
        “You don't get my point,” Richard said.
        The doctor looked up. “And what is your point?”
        “They won't find a wolf.”
        “Why should