Robert Bloch's Psycho (34 page)

Norman underwent two treatments, neither of which had any positive effect, and Dr. Steiner ordered that the therapy be abandoned in Norman's case.

*   *   *

Several months after Dr. Felix Reed's disappearance, two custodians cleaned out his office in preparation for the psychiatrist who was to replace him. The police had already searched the office, and Dr. Steiner had removed the patient case files and any other pertinent hospital business from Reed's papers. What was left was a small box of personal effects that was mailed to Reed's father, a widower in Topeka, who had declined the offer of his son's books.

The custodians were told to take them to the staff library, where they would be sorted and either retained or discarded. If the books were in poor condition, the custodians were to take them directly to the incinerator.

The two men took them by the armful off Reed's shelves and loaded them onto a cart. Most of the books seemed to be in good condition, and they threw only a few, beat-up paperbacks, or hardcovers whose bindings were detached, into the wheeled barrel they had brought for the junk.

There were some old newspapers and magazines on the shelf in the closet, and it was while they were removing them that one man noticed the upper shelf. He reached up and felt around with his fingers, made a sound of disgust, and looked at his hand.

What appeared to be a dark brown mold clung to his fingertips. He wiped it on his uniform pants, then got a chair to more easily reach the top shelf. What he had first touched was Adolph Ollinger's deteriorating leather-bound journal, tucked inside of which were the old floor plans and the personal notes that Felix Reed had written about the case of Norman Bates.

“These must've been up here forever. The leather's rotting away, don't get it on ya,” the custodian said as he gingerly handed a pile of books down to his colleague. “They're in lousy shape, and the old magazines too—just throw 'em in the barrel.”

A half hour later, the contents of the barrel were dumped into the incinerator. Several minutes after that, they were nothing but ash.

 

EPILOGUE

While Norman Bates lay on his bed late one Friday night, locked in his room and in himself, a twelve-year-old boy named Adam was sitting on the davenport in his living room, watching a silent movie on
Horror Theater.
It was the first time he'd been allowed to stay up late alone, and he was huddled against the arm of the davenport, a knitted wool afghan tucked up around his shoulders. He was wearing both pajamas and a bathrobe, but the afghan made him feel safer, knowing that he could pull it up over his face if he had to. So far, he hadn't. Having his dad's reading lamp on helped too.

The movie was called
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari,
and was about this doctor who was using a
somnambulist
(the word was new to Adam, but he figured it meant a sleepwalker) to murder people for him. When Cesare the Somnambulist opened his eyes for the first time, Adam thought he was going to have to go to the bathroom, but he didn't. That was the worst part. From then on he wasn't really scared, not even when Cesare grabbed the girl from her bed and looked like he was going to kill her before he just ran away with her.

The ending was kind of confusing, but the doctor at the asylum wasn't really the bad guy after all, and the guy who'd been telling the story was a patient himself, and he'd made it all up, and just
thought
the doctor was this evil Caligari.

When it was over, Adam turned off the TV and sat there thinking about the movie. It was amazing, he thought, that this crazy guy could have made up this whole story in his head and believed it. It was the first time in Adam's life that he fully realized that people could be sick in their minds as well as their bodies, and the idea kindled something inside him. In the days and months ahead, he would begin to consider becoming a doctor who studied and cured the illnesses of the mind.

But Norman Bates, free only in his dreams, would have to wait in darkness for another twenty years until Adam Claiborne grew up, became a psychiatrist, came to the State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, sat across from Norman, and helped to release him into the light once more.

 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thanks to Brendan Deneen, my editor, for so ably guiding this journey.

Thanks to Sally A. Francy, and Richard Henshaw for entrusting me with a fictional character that has grown beyond iconic.

Thanks to Nicole Sohl, and Bruce Kilstein for all their help.

Thanks to my wife, Laurie, and son, Colin, for their constant love and support.

Thanks to Mom and Dad, who, in 1960, let a little kid buy a very special paperback with a screaming woman and a rocking chair on the cover.

And thanks, most of all, to the author of that novel, the
primum mobile
himself, Robert Bloch, for creating not only Norman Bates, but an entire new genre of fiction as well.

 

ALSO BY
CHET WILLIAMSON

The Night Listener and Others

Hunters

Defenders of the Faith

Figures in Rain

The Searchers: Siege of Stone

The Searchers: Empire of Dust

The Searchers: City of Iron

Second Chance

Reign

Dreamthorp

Lowland Rider

McKain's Dilemma

Ash Wednesday

Soulstorm

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

CHET WILLIAMSON
's
parents took him to see the film of Robert Bloch's
Psycho
when he was twelve, and he has been a reader and disciple of Bloch ever since. His stories have appeared in
The New Yorker, Playboy,
and many other magazines and anthologies. A collection of his stories received the International Horror Guild Award. He has twice been a final nominee for the World Fantasy Award, the MWA's Edgar Award, and six times for the HWA's Stoker Award. He has narrated over thirty audiobooks. You can sign up for email updates
here
.

 

Thank you for buying this

St. Martin's Press ebook.

 

To receive special offers, bonus content,

and info on new releases and other great reads,

sign up for our newsletters.

 

Or visit us online at

us.macmillan.com/newslettersignup

 

For email updates on the author, click
here
.

 

CONTENTS

Title Page

Copyright Notice

Dedication

Epigraphs

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Epilogue

Acknowledgments

Also by Chet Williamson

About the Author

Copyright

 

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.

 

THOMAS DUNNE BOOKS.

An imprint of St. Martin's Press.

 

ROBERT BLOCH'S PSYCHO: SANITARIUM.
Copyright © 2016 by Sally A. Francy. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

 

www.thomasdunnebooks.com

www.stmartins.com

 

Cover design by Ervin Serrano

 

Cover photographs: man by Eugene Sergeev / Shutterstock; corridor by Oliversved / Shutterstock

 

The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-publication data is available upon request.

 

ISBN 978-1-250-06105-8 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-4668-6677-5 (e-book)

 

e-ISBN 9781466866775

 

Our books may be purchcased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact your local bookseller or the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at 1-800-221-7945, extension 5442, or by e-mail at
[email protected]
.

 

First Edition: April 2016