They Say What They Say

Title: The Clockwise Man.
Fandom: DaVinci's Inquest.
Character: Bobby Marlowe
Rating: R.
Summary: Once upon a time he used to hate having a birthday so soon after Christmas and New Year. Now he doesn't mind so much anymore.
Note: Written for picfor1000 2006. Many thanks to phoebesmum and aukestrel for doing beta duty.






The Clockwise Man


On the first of December, realtor Lidia Roga was found raped and strangled in the bathroom of a house she was trying to sell. He co-workers got worried when she missed three appointments and didn't answer her cell. When a patrol car went to investigate, the officers found her with her skirt hiked up around her waist and blood covering her face.

One week later Don Wyre, 42, dock worker - no prior record – is in custody. They traced him through phone records and locals who were able identify his pick-up truck as one they saw one parked in their street around the time of death. Fingerprints and traces of semen placed him at the scene.

Don sits passively while they question him. They learn that he posed as a potential buyer to lure Lidia to the house. When she arrived, he knocked her out with a block of wood and dragged her into the bathroom where he raped her and then strangled her with his belt. He tells them this quietly and without emotion, and every cop in the room looks like they're about to puke when he's finally done. Even his lawyer is looking a little pale when he finishes.

When they talk to his friends and relatives, none of them can believe that he would do such a thing. He's always been such a loving husband and father; a good neighbour and an honest and hard worker. He didn't even know Lidia, nor had he ever done business with the realtor she worked for. It was a completely random, inexplicable event of the most terrible kind.

Bobby can't understand - will never understand - why one human being would want to willingly take the life of another. He does not get what drives an ordinary guy like Don Wyre to do this. Before they finish questioning him, Wyre's lawyer starts muttering about psych evaluations, temporary insanity, and a deal for pleading guilty. But nothing will make up for the fact that Lidia Roga is dead and Don Wyre killed her.

That night Bobby goes home and has cold pizza and a beer for dinner. He watches some movie on TV for a while, but turns it off when the news comes on. He's had all the news he can take for the moment.

~*~*~

On Christmas Day Bobby drives to Abbotsford to spend the holiday with his family. He'll stay the night and go home on Boxing Day because he's expected to spend at least twenty four hours with them. The rest of the year is fine; he's not expected to do anything. His parents are often in Vancouver, as is his sister and her husband, so he usually catches up with them at least every other month. But his grandmother is too frail to travel these days, and, as his mom points out, it won't be long before she won't be with them at all. And Christmas is her favourite time of year, so the least he can do is make an effort to be there for her.

It's not that Bobby doesn't want to spend time with his family. He loves them all very much and enjoys their company greatly. It’s just that town, Abbotsford, and all that goes with it that he can't stand.

Christmas is good. Christmas is more than good. Bobby arrives just before noon and his dad greets him with a hug and a pat on the back. Then both his legs are being tackled by stealth niece and nephew, and his sister is laughing at them all while his mom shouts, "Keep the noise down!" from the kitchen as Grandma Foster totters out of the living room to give him a welcoming hug.

Once the presents are done, they spend the next three hours eating and drinking and generally spending some happy time together. And Bobby has the best time because he doesn't have to think about perps and victims, about chasing down leads and making the pieces fit. All he has to do is be his mother's little boy, his father's son and his sister's big brother. That night he will sleep in his old room, now the best guest room, and somehow it'll be like he never grew up.

The next day he leaves for Vancouver in the late afternoon. Just as he always does, he drives past the old high school on his way out of town. It closed a few years ago and what's left of the old buildings have been boarded up and are waiting for the exciting new residential development promised by the billboard erected across the front gate. The football field has already been sacrificed to progress, as have the gym and the library. Bobby stares at where the gym used to stand and for a brief moment he wonders what Coach Westcott is up to these days. Wherever he is, Bobby hopes he's rotting in hell.

~*~*~

On the morning of his 46th birthday, Bobby wakes up as usual at 6, calls in sick, and then goes back to sleep until he wakes again at 9.30.

He has a shower as soon as he gets up, but doesn't bother shaving for the fourth day in a row, and puts on the sweat pants and t-shirt he wore to bed instead of getting dressed. He makes himself bacon and eggs, toast and coffee, and then he sits on the couch and channel-surfs between various talk and cooking shows until close to midday.

Guilt about wasting the whole day finally motivates him enough to dress and leave the apartment. He wanders around downtown for a while before he settles in a touristy coffee shop where he eats a slightly stale ham and cheese croissant and drinks four cups of coffee while he reads the papers. That night he'll have Chinese take-out for dinner and, aside from answering his mom's call on his cel, will hardly speak to anyone all day.

Once upon a time he used to hate having a birthday so soon after Christmas and New Year. Now he doesn't mind so much anymore.


FIN