Page 6 of Go Now
'Attitude to homosexuality, conceptions of justice.'
‘Death and the afterlife.’
‘Taboos and prohibitions.’
Kate watched them, fascinated.It was like they were playing a word game, or perhaps participating in some highly experimental theater.It took her a while to realise that they were thrashing out a running order for the forthcoming interview.
‘Danger, sources of fear.’
‘Snap!’said the woman, twirling one of her many silver rings.For some reason, this was very funny, and they both laughed.
‘How’s Irving?’
She rolled her eyes.‘Still obsessed with the billing system.’
‘Someone should say to him, “Irv – these little envelopes, don’t theyremindyou of anything?”’
The woman laughed – it was an incongruous, girlish giggle, someone else’s laugh.And who knew?Psych evaluators had in-jokes, too.The woman leant closer to her colleague, clearly on the verge of saying more, but then was interrupted by the sudden clanking of chains.As the door opened, both psychiatrists straightened up and put on serious faces, like schoolkids when the teacher has arrived.
Another, even bigger guard escorted Cox inside the room, and there was a protracted unlocking and unravelling of chains and cuffs.Eventually, he was seated in between the two psychs, his hands free but a long steel cable tethering him to the table.
He'd shaved his gray hair off, she noted, the chiselled look more pronounced now he'd lost some weight.But the piercing gaze seemed less intense.And overall, she thought, he seemed diminished.But perhaps she just wanted to see him that way.Five weeks ago, he'd soaked her in diesel and attempted to blow her and himself up in a church.Not just any church.The church where her father had been murdered years before.She was bound up in the case, from start to finish, or rather, from the start to where it had got now.And she longed to be free of it.
He looked calmly at his hands while the pair introduced themselves as Doctors Hugo Frisch and Eleni Katzoulis.Inevitably, they followed this up with what psychiatric professionals called ‘the neutral gaze’.Having been on the receiving end of no small amount of neutral gaze, Kate could confirm that it was anything but neutral.It was extremely irritating.It essentially meant them staring at you until the awkwardness forced you to speak.
It didn’t go quite as expected this time, though, because Frisch was eventually the one to speak up, asking quietly, ‘What does the word ‘Father’ mean to you, Elijah?’
Cox opened his mouth, probed his teeth with his tongue, and then closed his mouth, all without giving any sign of having heard.
‘And Mother?’asked Katzoulis.
Cox chuckled, as if at a private joke.The psychs scribbled notes.
‘How old were you when you lost your virginity?’
Cox shot Dr Frisch an inscrutable look, but still said nothing.
‘Your first sexual encounter.Was it your choice, Elijah?’
Cox suddenly stared straight ahead for the first time; his eyes met Kate’s.Kate involuntarily shifted in her chair, her heart banging.
He can’t see you.
She knew he couldn’t see her, but it was unnerving nonetheless.
‘Are you going to speak to us, Elijah?’
‘Why does God let bad things happen, Elijah?’
‘What disgusts you?’
‘When did you light your first fire?’
The psychs kept the questions coming.Elijah said nothing, and after that first sardonic laugh, gave no further recognition of their presence.His eyes, a cold blue, kept looking ahead, but roaming a small area, as if he was tracking the movements of an insect on the wall.
‘Where do your thoughts come from, Elijah?’
His eyes stopped roaming.They fixed again.They fixed right on Kate, and as they did so, a thin smile emerged on his lips.He leant forward in his seat.
