Prodigal Son

He showered. Restless and energized, he had no interest in relaxation. He dressed to go out, though he did not know for where or what purpose.
        From another decanter, he poured another cognac into another snifter.
        On the intercom, he spoke with William, the butler, who was on duty in the staff room. "There's a dead thing in the library. William."
        "Yes, sir."
        "Contact my people in the sanitation department. I want that useless meat buried deep in the landfill, and right away."
        At the window, he studied the lowering sky, which had grown so dark with thunderheads that an early dusk had come upon the city.

CHAPTER 85
        
        AT HARKER’S APARTMENT BUILDING, Carson and Michael took the elevator to the fourth floor to avoid the stink of mildew in the public stairwell.
        Homicide, CSI, and curious neighbors had long ago faded away. The building almost seemed deserted.
        When they reached the fourth floor, they found Deucalion waiting in the hallway, outside Harker's apartment.
        To Carson, Michael murmured, "I didn't see the Batmobile parked out front."
        "You won't admit it," she said, "but you're convinced."
        To her surprise, he said, “Almost."
        Evidently having heard Michael's murmured words, Deucalion said, "I used the Batcopter. It's on the roof."
        By way of apology, Michael said, "Listen, that crack didn't mean anything. That's just me. If I see a joke, I go for it."
        "Because you see so much in life that disturbs you, the cruelty, the hatred," Deucalion said. "You armor yourself with humor."
        For the second time in an hour, Michael found himself without a comeback.
        Carson had never imagined that such a day would dawn. Maybe this was one of the seven signs of the Apocalypse.
        She slit the police seal on the door, used her Lockaid gun, and led them inside.
        "Minimalism minimalized," said Deucalion as he moved into the sparsely furnished living room. "No books."
        "He's got some books in the attic," Carson said.
        "No mementoes," Deucalion continued, "no decorative items, no photographs, no art. He hasn't found a way to have a life. This is the cell of a monk… but one who has no faith."
        Trying to get back in the saddle, Michael said, "Carson, he's an absolute whiz at this."
        Deucalion looked toward the kitchen but didn't move in that direction. "He sometimes sits at the table in there, drinking. But whiskey doesn't provide him with the escape he needs. Only occasional oblivion."
        Earlier, the standard premises search had turned up a case of bourbon in the kitchen.
        Looking toward the bedroom, Deucalion said, "In there, you will most likely find pornography. Only a single item. One video."
        "Exactly," she confirmed. "We found one."
        When it turned up in the search, Michael had referred to the porn video by various titles - Transvestitesylvania, The Thing with Two Things- but now he said nothing, impressed to silence by Deucalion's insights.
        "He found no thrill in images of copulation," Deucalion said. "Only an even more profound sense of being an outsider. Only greater alienation."

CHAPTER 86
        
        FEARFUL OF THE day-bright world in all its dazzling busyness, Randal Six earlier took refuge in an alleyway Dumpster.
        Fortunately, this enormous container is half filled with nothing more offensive than office trash, largely paper and cardboard. There is no restaurant or produce-market garbage, no organic stench and slime.
        Throughout the day, until the storm clouds come, the sun beats down on Randal. This is the first sun of his life, bright and hot, frightening at first, but then less so.
        He sits with his back to a corner, cushioned by paper refuse, his world reduced to manageable dimensions, and works one crossword puzzle after another in the book that he brought with him from his room in the Hands of Mercy.
        Frequently traffic passes through the alleyway. And people on foot. Initially he pauses in his puzzle at each possibility of an encounter, but eventually he realizes that they are not likely to disturb him.
        If a sanitation truck comes to empty the Dumpster, he is not sure how he will cope. This possibility didn't occur to him until he had already taken sanctuary in the container. His hope is that trash is not collected every