Take the Reason Prisoner

consolingneighbors. Bennington, Scott and Thornberry stood looking down at theneatly dismembered body. Behind them General Mosby spoke to three ofhis soldiers.

  "Good work, men. Keep it up and get back on your beats. You know nowwhat you're hunting for. I'm sure you'll hunt even harder."

  The slapping sounds of rifles saluting, the clicks of heels, thescrape of boots in an about-face and a scrap of conversation floatedto Bennington. "Any mother who lets a kid out as late as this...."

  Mosby joined them and picked up where the soldier had left off. "Howdid it happen, Scott?"

  "It's hard to get anything out of the mother right now," Scottreplied, "but I got this. They were waiting up for the father--he's onthe swing shift--and the kid wanted ice cream. The store's just aroundthe corner and the mother was busy ironing, so she gave the kid aquarter."

  The chief of police turned away from the body, turned away from thelines written in blood on the wall--"PLEASE CATCH ME QUICK". He wentto his car and switched its radio to one of the local stations.

  "_Stay off the streets. If you are in your car, do not stop foranything except--and listen carefully--at least three men in army orpolice uniforms. Do not stop for any man standing alone. Do not leaveyour home except on the most essential business. If you must leave donot go alone. Repeat: Do not leave the house alone...._"

  Scott switched back to the police band. "What we just heard is onevery radio and TV station covering Harrisburg."

  Another police car drifted into the alley, emptied men and equipment.

  "We can go," Scott said. "My men will take care of the routine."

  All of them were silent as they crossed the Market Street Bridge intothe central section of town, deserted except for police and armypatrols.

  "Belton Hotel," the radio squawked. "_Judkins has been picked up atthe Belton._"

  "Now I'll find out what he has told them," Thornberry exulted, "andthen we'll have no trouble finding Clarens."

  * * * * *

  "You know my name, you know my present address, and I'm not saying anymore until I see my lawyer." Judkins had been saying that for half anhour and his words had not changed.

  Mosby tugged at Bennington's sleeve. Together they moved to a cornerof the hotel room, and at Mosby's nod, Scott and Thornberry joinedthem.

  "Get out of here for five minutes. When you come back, he'll be gladto talk."

  Mosby wasn't joking.

  "I want to do the same thing," Scott said bitterly, "but I can't doit."

  "You're under civil law," Mosby stated. "This town is under martiallaw. I might be able to get away with it."

  "Not a chance," Governor Willoughby had joined them. "It would meanyour career, general. Even the President couldn't protect you."

  "Clarens is out there," Mosby argued, pointing out the windowoverlooking the city. "Did you see that little girl?"

  "No, but I heard about it. And I saw the man," the governor answered.

  "I was there," said Thornberry abruptly. "Will you gentlemen let me,_just_ me, alone with Judkins for five minutes?"

  All four of them, the two generals, the police chief, the governor,stared at the psychologist.

  "Yes," Bennington decided for the group. "We will."

  * * * * *

  _Doughboy...._

  Bennington stopped after his first step back into the room, wasjostled by Mosby following closely behind. He moved forward to wherehe could see both Judkins and Thornberry.

  The hypno-tech sat bolt upright, his face like that of anewly-conditioned prisoner, completely blank.

  Thornberry's face radiated pride.

  "These technicians are all alike," the psychologist sniffed. "Theirwork makes them especially sensitive to hypnosis."

  Bennington looked at Judkins, then back to Thornberry. "You mean...."

  "I mean that I can ask Judkins anything we want to know and he'll givea truthful answer." Another sniff. "I've forgotten more about hypnosisthan he'll ever know."

  "This won't hold in a court," Chief Scott warned.

  "But it may save a life, maybe more than one," Bennington answered."Thornberry, you did a good job of those guards. You questionJudkins."

  "Wait a minute," General Mosby said. "How fast can we get a taperecorder?"

  "Why waste time?" asked Bennington. "You can't use this in court."

  "Hell, Jim, stop thinking about courts-martial; there's more than_one_ court. Let's fry these boys in the court of public opinion. Thenews services aren't bound by the rules of evidence. We can worryabout other courts later."

  "I can get you a tape recorder in two minutes," Scott stated. "Ourpatrol boys always carry them to take statements at accidents, beforethe victims get over their shock enough to start lying. And we keepone in the office, too."

  Thornberry looked at Judkins and a self-satisfied smirk crept over hisface. "No need to worry about lies from this one."

  * * * * *

  Judkins spoke in a low monotone not much louder than the soft hiss ofthe machine recording his words. Question by question--in Judkins'condition, each query had to be specific, Thornberry said--the patternemerged.

  Basing his request on his position as a member of the prisoncommission, Senator Giles had invited Judkins to lunch with him. Thesenator, however, despite his statement that he wanted only to be surethat Duncannon was getting the best personnel, had not confined hisquestions to Judkins' background.

  Was the hypno-tech alone when he conditioned the men? Any setstatement to be made? Could Judkins add to the instructions given eachconvict without the knowledge of the prison authorities?

  The following day, both Senator Giles and Representative Culpepper hadcalled upon Judkins at his sister-in-law's home. Bluntly, they offeredten thousand dollars if the technician could guarantee that Rooneywould never be able to talk about the income tax racket.

  When Judkins had explained that any conditioning he could give wouldbe as easily removed by another tech, the two men had gone into acorner and consulted in whispers.

  They had emerged from the corner with this offer: First, they wouldbargain with the new warden to get Rooney a job as a trusty. If thatfailed they offered Judkins twenty thousand dollars and a hideout inNew York--until they could set him up outside the country--if he wouldcondition a group of prisoners to riot and discredit Benningtonimmediately.

  "What Rooney must be sitting on!" Mosby murmured in Bennington's ear.

  "Was sitting on," Bennington said bitterly. "He was the fat belly withDalton and Clarens, the one who didn't make it."

  The story flowed on under Thornberry's skillful questioning.

  * * * * *

  At noon yesterday, a frightened and angry Giles had called Judkins,had boosted the bribe to thirty thousand and demanded immediateaction.

  "What did you tell the prisoners?" Thornberry's voice was as even asJudkins'.

  "I was their friend and their only friend; every one else was theirenemy. I told them they must be quiet and obey all orders until thelast man received his coffee in the mess hall. They were then to throwtheir trays at the people around them. I told them where to go forguns. I told them that then they would forget all that I had said,that they would know how to take care of their enemies."

  "Gentlemen, do you realize what this means, in terms of theconstitutional psychopathic inferior? I refer to Clarens, not Dalton.Dalton reacted as Judkins directed, including to forget that he hadbeen told everyone was his enemy. Dalton, we know from his record,actually disliked to use weapons even as a threat.

  "But we can be sure that Clarens has not forgotten."

  "Why not?" Mosby demanded.

  "Because the instructions he received only intensified what he himselfbelieved before Judkins worked on him. As soon as he had a chance helooked for his kind of weapons. How he got her there, we won't knowuntil we catch him, but note that he killed the little girl in theequivalent of
a cavern.

  "And the man in the park, that, too, took place in what wasnecessarily an almost secret spot.

  "Those orders Judkins gave, we _know_ Clarens is still responding tothem...."

  Thornberry hesitated a moment, then completed his thought. "And so wemust intensify our patrols on the darker streets. With this poor boybelieving that every man's hand is turned against him, he is nowlooking for some dark place in which to feel safe. He is in essenceretreating to the foetus--"

  "Sounds good, but tell me the rest later, Doc."

  "General Mosby, you and I want to call our roving patrols," and Scottheaded for the door, Mosby right behind him.

  "By the way, Doc," the chief called back over his shoulder, "whenyou're done with that guy, just tell one of my men. We've got aspecial, reserved, very solitary cell for him."

  More slowly, Bennington followed Scott and Mosby.

  The area of the hunt had perhaps been narrowed. Their quarry--thebeast with steel knives for talons--would be found in a dark, desertedplace.

  * * * * *

  Bennington noted that Thornberry stayed with Judkins for about tenminutes before he joined the group around the map of Harrisburg in theOperations Office.

  Personally, the warden was glad that his assistant was not present;the discussion would almost certainly have produced and explosion fromthe psychologist.

  Scott began his gloomy analysis after both he and General Mosby hadredirected their patrols to heavier concentrations in Harrisburg'sdim-lit and winding side streets.

  "I hate to hunt this kind," the chief said gloomily. "You just neverknow, never know anything, except that they're going to kill again.

  "I just hope he has cooled off and that he wants to sleep a while."

  Bennington noted with amused interest the startled glance GeneralMosby gave the Chief of Police. Mosby's greatest strength and greatestweakness, both in the field and garrison, was his complete refusal toaccept or excuse aberration.

  Scott had caught the glance, too, and continued. "I got a good lab,general, smart boys willing to pull extra duty. They've already toldme that Clarens reached--after he killed the guy in the park--anemotional climax."

  Bennington watched his former Division Commander's face harden asexpected.

  Scott continued: "That's why I said, I hope he's crawled off, wants tosleep a while. Every place he can get a bed in my town, I'll know theminute he wants to lie down.

  "Then I'll take him, like this"--the big hand crushed uponitself--"dead or alive, and I hope I have to take him dead."

  "Why _dead_?"

  "General, sorry, _warden_--no, I'll go back to the way I know youbest--General Bennington, Clarens simply isn't the business of anykind of normal living.

  "You take a guy who cracked a safe, knocked off a payroll, robbed abank, he's like any good business man taking a risk; he has insurance,he's got an out.

  "He can buy me, he can talk to the D.A., he can get the court to goalong if he's caught. He just says, I'll tell you where the stuff isif I get the minimum.

  "O.K., we're wrong, we should go black-and-white, we should say no toany kind of deal, I shouldn't let a little guy go just because I'drather grab the big one. Only, unconditional surrender doesn't workany better in my job than it does in yours on a battlefield."

  * * * * *

  "We've learned it doesn't work too well," Bennington agreed, "but whathas this to do with Clarens?"

  "General, you did the right thing up at Duncannon when you decided totalk to Musto. He was a man in business, with something to buy andsomething to sell. He could be dealt with.

  "Now think this through: Suppose everybody in that AdministrationBuilding had been a Clarens. And I heard that you said this, GeneralBennington, that there has to be some sort of mutual trust forbargaining. You could deal with Musto because he is, and I'll make thepoint again, a sort of business man even though his business isn'tlegal.

  "But Clarens...."

  Chief Scott let the silence build while he lit a cigarette.

  "But Clarens wants to be caught," Mosby said.

  "He does?" Chief Scott pointed to the map. "General Mosby, you and Iboth know that all he has to do is sit down on the curb underneath anystreet light.

  "Let me change that. We would have him ten minutes faster if he satdown on the curb of any dark street.

  "No, he doesn't want caught, except maybe those first couple ofminutes when he's almost human, those first couple of minutes afterhe's killed somebody. And if you have to kill someone to have humanfeelings yourself--that's not for most of us and that's why I hope hefights back and I have to take him--dead."

  Chief Scott turned back to the map of Harrisburg. His forefinger randown the river, pausing at each of the many bridges. Then he turned tothe generals.

  "Maybe we've got him pinned. We've had the bridges sealed tight and ifDr. Thornberry is right, he won't chase west because Pennsylvanialand, especially around here, is selling real high and that's stillvery open country.

  "And that's not for Clarens, he wants back into our little city, backwhere things feel close and he feels _inside_."

  Bennington found himself looking at Mosby, with the glance returned.

  Mosby spoke, reluctantly. "He could be through us, Chief Scott."

  "_How?_"

  "The same way my men come back to camp and it's a natural way that'srarely stopped."

  "Clarens had no military experience!" Scott said.

  "No, but he's read a lot--that came out at the trial--and he's underpressure, so he'll remember what he read," Bennington said.

  "Tell me this way you can walk invisible across a lighted bridge," andScott was still unconvinced.

  "You don't walk over, you ride over," Mosby said. "I would work itthis way.

  "I would stop in a bar and buy a drink that made me smell five feetaway. I would order and get rid of a couple more of them, veryquickly, then I would tip the bartender to call me a cab.

  "And by the way, of course I wouldn't be drinking any after the firstone.

  "But when the cabbie came, I'd offer him a drink, wave a big bill ortwo that meant a good tip, and give him a good address--for instance,the hotel that takes up the biggest space in the yellow pages of thetelephone book.

  "I would get into the back seat of the cab still holding on to thebiggest bill or two out of those we took from the cleaning truck and Iwould pretend to fall asleep.

  "With that cab driver convinced that he's hauling a drunk just achingto give away a big tip--and any normal human being perfectly sure thata wanted killer would never walk into a bar, get loaded and order acab to take him to the biggest hotel in town--what are my chances,Chief Scott?"

  * * * * *

  The chief did not answer directly. Instead, "And I'll bet he wins thatappeal he's got going, too."

  "What did you say, Chief Scott?" Bennington asked.

  "We got the word a while ago from Delaware by teletype. Clarens hasthree good lawyers fighting an appeal from the conviction on everygrounds you can think of, including that the confession was beaten outof him.

  "That's why I hope he wants to fight when I catch up with him, andthat's what Delaware hopes, too.

  "But here comes Dr. Thornberry, General Mosby. Let's ask him whyClarens hides so well when he says he wants to be caught."

  Thornberry pursed his lips so tightly that his face became a skull'shead, then he answered.

  "In some areas of human behavior...." he began.

  "Dalton," Bennington interrupted, "does he make a game out of gettingaway when he's caught?"

  Thornberry's face became almost human with a big smile. "Oh, yes,obviously."

  "Could that energy he puts into escaping be channeled, led,educated--in some way--to constructive thinking? Put it this way:could Dalton be led to thinking about making a jail escape-proof?"

  "A most excellent therapy," and Thornberry was actually bea
ming."General Bennington, I am beginning to have great hopes for our worktogether as we start to see more and more eye to eye."

  "Let's go back to Clarens," Bennington said. "Son of wealthy parents,a good education, the only child in a family who seemed to haveeverything, including parents who loved both each other and thechild--why does he kill, ask to be caught, and then hide so well?

  "What therapy does your science have for him, Dr. Thornberry?"

  Thornberry's lip-pursing again made his face a skeleton's.

  "There are areas of human behavior--"

  * * * * *

  Bennington observed that Scott and Mosby had turned away from theconversation to the immediacies of patrol distribution. Scott wasbeing eloquent on how lighting cut down crime and Mosby was analyzingthe idea in terms of house-to-house combat at night underslow-dropping flares.

  For further insurance of privacy, Bennington pulled Thornberry intothe corner of the room most removed from the others.

  "Doctor, let's forget about Clarens for a moment. I want to talk aboutJudkins."

  "Yes,