The Medusa Touch Page #2

to have such a dreamer.

He's not like any of us as far as I see,

with those fish eyes

and that stupid mouth, half open.

I wouldn't mind if he saw things.

You're too hard on him,

he's naturally introspective.

Don't try and muddle me with long words,

Henry Morlar.

He's a fool

and I know where he gets it from.

And that and hereditary facts...

Come away from there, you stupid little...

- Henry, can't you control him?

- Get your hands off that.

- Let him enjoy himself.

- Are you taking his side against me?

Should I do everything myself?

Serve the lunch, pack it away again.

Ever since I've had that child...

John, get over here, help your mother.

Had you played with the brakes?

You didn't yell, you didn't warn them?

When I saw them from that hotel window,

I knew it was...

...inevitable.

- Are you sure that isn't an excuse?

- the simplistic interpretation.

If it were the only incident...

- there were others?

- Several.

All equally inevitable.

I felt them to be.

He's carried that kind of conviction

right through his life?

Yes, that's one way to describe it.

Doctor, Mrs. Harrison's here to see you.

I'm sorry, Inspector, I have a patient now.

- If I can be of any further help...

- you can.

I want to hear those other incidents.

If he believed he was involved in disasters

he may have convinced someone else too.

And they sought revenge.

I hardly think so.

Most people are very sane about delusions.

It's only the deluded themselves

who take their stories seriously.

I could come at 6, after you've finished.

Tonight?

There's a murderer or at least

an attempted murderer somewhere in London.

And I would like to find him.

I'm meeting someone for dinner.

All right, Inspector, 6 o'clock.

Thank you.

Does "West Front" mean anything to you?

He wrote it in his journal

next to your name.

No, I don't know what that means.

Thank you, Doctor.

- Please, try to keep the corridor clear.

- Sorry.

- Anything?

- No, sir, he's hardly alive.

I've met a Doctor Johnson, is he here now?

I think so, they're all pretty busy

and a bit unhappy about the bed

being tied up.

- It doesn't seem as though...

- Wait, there he is.

We'll have to have more plasma.

Call Leeds and try to get McManus here.

Give them the full list of casualties.

Inspector Brunel,

what a pain in the derriere you're being.

White, separate the children's figures,

that'll get McManus.

It's a waste of time,

we can't really afford that apparatus.

Waste of your time too.

- If We could Get one word from him.

- The jaw's off its hinges.

He couldn't form a word if he was sensate.

He could write one.

See that?

That's his pulse.

Now look at that

and you'll be watching a miracle.

That's the EEG, his brain.

It shouldn't be working at all

after the way it's been smashed.

The brain's a power to itself.

Brunel, when that brain stops screaming,

I'll need that bed badly.

Stay by him and keep

your pad and pencil ready.

It's all right, the Assistant Commissioner

wants a word with you.

Your office said you were on the way

to his publishers, I just wanted a word.

Your privilege.

- Are you on anything else?

- Yes, sir.

- there was a knifing in Clapham Common.

- Drop it.

We want to know who did it.

So do I.

I'm glad it fell to you.

We wouldn't dream of taking you off it.

Why don't you go and chat

in Piccadilly Circus?

You'd stop a bit more traffic there.

Is there something else?

No, just keep me informed.

He was a brilliant writer

and his last books were the best.

- What were They about?

- Evil and the power.

He had the gift for tying one to the other,

but nobody wanted to know.

Copies always sold,

but somehow they never got reviewed.

Could he have made enemies

with what he wrote?

You'd better read him and see.

Since no one paid very much attention,

I doubt they inspired murder.

It's funny,

there was something about him,

very private,

very intense, a little menacing.

It's not strange someone tried to kill him,

but I couldn't tell you why.

And his personal life?

I'd be surprised if he had one,

he was so self absorbed.

In all the times we met,

I can only remember one moment

that didn't have to do with business.

I've read your manuscript.

It's very exciting.

I love your satirical dissection

of the Prime Minister.

But there's this other bit that worries me.

- It's God who should...

...stand at the bar of public opinion.

That almighty enemy of evil should face

the jury of his victims,

the helpless, the hopeless deformed,

the despairing.

It's a little strong.

I'm not responsible

for what my characters say.

Colby's despair entitles him

to taunt that celestial non-entity.

But your readers won't see it that way,

they'll say it's you.

I can live with that,

I've known despair too.

As you say. There was this...

Another section I wondered about.

How incredible!

Just a moment, I think we ought to...

They sat there for over 3 hours.

They were still there when I left at 6.

Did you mention him the next time you met?

No, you didn't intrude

where Morlar didn't want you to be.

And the tramp, do you remember him?

- could you describe him?

- Not really.

I have a poor memory for faces.

Thanks for your help.

I'm sorry, it's just the only

personal anecdote I have.

For the state he's in

he must have a bloody reason to stay alive.

I cannot live alone with this knowledge.

What is more I cannot die with it.

It's the terrible beauty of a cleft stick.

Either end can beat you to death.

God and gentle Jesus are now "in".

Mouth pious nothings

and then grab the biggest fee you can.

No sign of L.

The walls of Jericho fell

to the power of thought.

So what is the meaning of impossibility?

Zonfeld, if only she knew".

You'll go blind, Inspector.

We've been sifting through the tenants,

it's a blank draw so far.

Only one woman ever spoke to him to get him

to join the Tenant's Association.

He said:
"Don't bother me again with your

Middle Class crap" and closed the door.

I'm learning to admire the man

more and more.

What even his collection of pictures?

Look at Medusa over there,

she's not very pretty, is she?

She was a monster created

to do battle with the Gods.

She's supposed to turn you to stone,

not look pretty.

Come, I want to show you something.

- What's the word from the hospital?

- the same.

I would like an extra crew to check

the working tenants tonight.

Anything suspicious: I want it on paper.

Will they give us the personnel for that?

They will.

Look.

Floods, tornadoes,

earthquakes, massacres,

riots,

killings, air crashes,

famine... nothing but disaster.

He has reams of them

going back across the years.

- It's morbid.

- Maybe.

But when you see them collected like this

you realise how much disaster we live with.

How far would he get?

He had some risk at Windscale,

The B.1. Bomber crash,

the American submarine.

The last is the Jumbo business here.

If he'd lived a little bit longer,

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