When Doctor Steinberg tried to set a date for the next session the man said, “We’ll get back to you.” Then the patient rose from the couch where he had been seated, paid his bill in cash, and walked to the door. The psychologist was sorry to seem him go. This was the most interesting case he'd ever come across. Neurotic, aging yuppies, worried about success and the lack of fulfillment and happiness in their lives, were, as far as he was concerned, basically a pain in the butt, but Phillips was different. This was a patient who wouldn't put him to sleep.
Multiple personalities are rare, though not as rare as once thought. Usually they existed separately in an individual. One in which the personalities were so well integrated was one for the journals. They, he was interested to note that he could so easily use a plural pronoun for him, weren't at all upset at their condition. In fact, they'd adapted to it finding a way to use the strong points of each of the personalities when the need for that particular trait arose. To his disappointment they weren't interested in exploring the past and discovering what traumas had caused this condition. They claimed to know, to have taken care of it, and told him forcefully that it was none of his business.
Instead, they'd used him as a group therapist to settle a few disputes about scheduling. With five of them it got complicated. After heated discussion, Frank agreed to end his workouts earlier so he could take a shower on his own time. Elaine promised that she wouldn't go to any more movies that started fifteen minutes before someone else was due to take over what they referred to as the driver's seat.
As he understood it, a car wasn't a bad analogy. The passengers had the option of looking out the windows and seeing what was going on or sleeping, fantasizing, or talking. They apparently could make comments and suggestions to the driver, and this was an issue. One of them, Joe, was religious and often got offended at the others' activity. One complaint was that he had a tendency to quote from the Bible while one of the others was making love.
The doctor had offered to continue at no fee, but they refused forcefully. He'd thought about offering them money, just to have them answer a few questions, but he couldn't bring himself to go that far. What he really wanted to know is why the woman was there and what her relationship was to the others.
After the door closed, he pulled out his notes and reluctantly admitted that he didn't have nearly enough to write an article for the journals. There was a lot they weren't telling him, like exactly how they earned a living.
Joe - organized, logical, able to get up before 6 in the morning. Health nut - tried to make sure they ate a good breakfast. Moral, ethical, strong religious beliefs. Handled finances.

Frank - Tough, angry, driven. The sergeant who assigned tasks and kept things together. Ex marine. Knows martial arts and weapons, wants to buy a motorcycle. But he can be conned. In the session he had traded a prime Saturday night time slot for a promise that he would be consulted by Paul as to which woman he should try to pick up. Liked women, but not the complications they brought into his life and though he would not readily admit it, had trouble picking them up.

Paul - the poet who drank far too much and fell in love with every woman he met. His conquests seem to provide the primary sexual outlet for the rest of them.

Elaine - tender, nurturing, and compassionate, an outgoing person who was able to get strangers to tell her their darkest secrets over a cup of coffee. The den mother for the others. The mother they never had?

Willie - the crazy one who was kept in the closet most of the time. Was willing to take incredible risks. Once went hang-gliding during a thunderstorm. Could not be depended on for household chores. According to the others he could not be trusted with women, liquor, or razor blades.

Willie was the one who worried the doctor. Willie had the potential of killing himself or others. They had allowed him out only briefly, and that was enough to convince Steinberg that he was out of control. Even though Frank claimed to have killed people while serving in the Marines, he was intact, not someone to pick a fight with, but not a free-floating menace either. The Doctor suspected that Frank had let Willie do the actual killing which was why he exhibited no evidence of the stress syndrome that plagued so many vets.
Willie, he suspected, actually liked it, and that was dangerous. Dangerous to all of them. Willie was, he thought, to the rest of them what a gusting crosswind was to a tightrope walker.

Chapter 1

When the phone rang at two thirty in the morning we knew it probably meant business. Joe was the one who was given the responsibility for answering the phones and handling most of the public end of the business. Besides, he was the one who woke up the easiest.
"Phillips here."
"Hey, sorry to wake you, but I've got a live one." McCormick was a criminal lawyer who specialized in getting the black sheep of the upper crust out of "jams", as he called them. He wasn't sorry to wake us, but he paid well.
We sat up in bed, Joe already had a pad and pen at the ready, and had switched to the speaker phone. "What you got?"
"A gooey mess. Young lady went slumming with some of her friends. The night ended badly with her escort getting himself killed, probably something to do with the ounce of coke the cops found in the glove compartment. The girl was driving, and it seems like she ran one of the perps down. The DA is still deciding what to do with it, but I'm betting I can get her out on bail before dawn spreads its golden glow through the holding pens."
"What do you need?"
"I need someone to baby-sit her. And to find out what went down. There's more to this than meets the eye."
"Where and when?"
"Manhattan - Part 3, we're lucky we got Judge Brice, he trusts young white kids from good homes. As soon as you can get here."
'Tell him the rates went up since the last time we worked for him,' Frank chortled, 'this sounds like one we can really milk.'
Joe thought about it for a minute, "I take it we can expect the fees to be generous?"
"You bet, her parents will do anything to keep their precious daughter out of the slammer."
'You always did have a way with words, Joe, but I think we'd better get a price out of him before we get moving.'
'Look Frank, once we get the case it will be too late for them to do much negotiation. What we have to do is get there and get ourselves involved.'
We got out of bed and slipped into a worn, but still serviceable, suit. Since we didn't know when we were going to be back, we turned on the answering machine, and picked up the gym bag that Joe kept packed and ready by the door.
'Should we wake the others,' Frank asked?
'Naw, let them get some rest. They're used to waking up in strange situations. Besides I want to talk to you about Willie.'
'Ok, you worried about something?' Frank was the one closest to Willie, the only one Willie would listen to when he got agitated.
Joe locked the door, double checking it as he always did, 'Not worried, but I don't like the way he's been making noises about wanting more time. I was thinking maybe we should go back to that shrink, and see if he could do something.'
'I don't think so, not right now. We've had a pretty good balance the last few months, and shrinks have a way of rocking the boat. Anyway Willie's got a point, when's the last time he had some time to himself?'
'Two months ago, and we ended up in that club where the queers dressed up in leather and did things to each other that would make the Hells Angels blush.'
'So. What was the harm?' Paul asked as we pushed the button that sent the elevator down to the garage, 'He didn't do anything did he? By the way, where are we going?'
'The harm was that I don't like queers, and Elaine started having weird sex thoughts again. You know how I feel about that,' Frank answered.
'Take it easy Frank. Elaine has got a right to be confused. She's the only woman here with us, and her plumbing isn't exactly the way she wants it. And she gave in on the clothing issue.' The elevator doors opened, and we stepped out. Joe asked, 'Which car you want to take?'
Frank loved their good car and didn't want to see it mangled. 'Take the junker. We're going to have to park on the streets near the court house. If we need flash we can switch them later.'
'Unless we get the job of driving her home or someplace.'
'You've got a point, Joe, but if a junkie messes the car up, you got to let me take the sucker out.'
'Just remember to wear gloves, it doesn't do us any good if our knuckles are all torn up when we got to shake hands with our client.'
'And let me drive.'
Joe ceded grudgingly and gritted our teeth as Frank pulled out onto the deserted, rain washed streets of Manhattan. Paul slipped back into his world as we hurtled towards our next paycheck.

She was pretty even though she looked like hell. There was a still damp vomit stain on her blouse, her hair was tangled, and her eyes told of having gotten an intensive education in the holding pen. Elaine, who had wakened on the ride over, took a look and said to her, "Just hold it together for a little while longer. Pretend it's a play you're in."
The girl looked up at us and nodded. After a minute she stopped gulping air and seemed to settle down. We turned to the lawyer, who said, "We're due up in about fifteen. If the old man gets back with his bank books in time I'm sure you'll be able to take her out of here. In the meantime, I want you to start working on the mother. She's saying that everything will be fine, that once they get out of here she'll be able to take care of anything." He shook his head, "I don't know much, but the dude she ran down had a street name, 'Easy Money', and, if my guess is right, he ran with a bunch of other guys with street names. Even though they might not call themselves a gang, there are aspects of this the mother isn't going to be able to take care of."
Elaine took another look at the daughter, "Unless I miss my guess, the reason we're here is because she didn't even come close to taking care of everything."
The lawyer nodded.
Joe asked, 'What do you think Frank, how do we approach her?'
'I never was much good at talking to rich folks, but you better let me handle the part about how if things get tough they're going to need someone who knows how to take care of himself.'
'Ok, I'll lead off, and when I say, "I have some experience in these matters," you jump in with a couple of sentences. But don't get too graphic.'
'Something like "They could hurt her pretty bad. I wouldn't guarantee that cosmetic surgery would be able to restore her?"'
'Yeah, that'll do if you forget the cosmetic surgery part. What I want is that part of your voice that sounds like you gargle with gravel. But you can leave out saying dese and dose.'
"Mrs. Finch, I'm Phillips, your attorney called me." For someone who had been dragged out of bed in the middle of the night and was having a major crisis, she looked remarkably composed.
"Yes, though I'm not sure why."
"Right, it is a precaution, but my guess is that your daughter may accidentally have gotten mixed up in something that's a little bigger than he can handle from a legal end."
"What do you mean?" The woman asked, not looking at all like she wanted to hear the answer.
"The police report indicates that there were some rather unsavory elements involved in the incident, and there remains the possibility that they may not be entirely willing to let the courts settle it. I have some experience in these matters,"-'take it Frank,'-" Frankly, Mrs. Finch, I believe your daughter may need some protection for a while, until the facts get themselves sorted out."
"You mean a body guard?" Her voice and her expression each conveyed distaste.
"Not a nice idea is it? But I assure you that it's better to take the precaution. Some of these characters are pretty uncivilized, and I don't think your daughter should be exposed to any risk of physical harm."
"Physical harm?"
"I'm afraid so. I'm equipped to handle someone whose idea of settling this is to carve his initials in her cheeks," - ' FRANK!' The woman blanched. 'Frank you promised.'
'She needed a little push, and I didn't tell her what would really happen.'
'I'll take it now.' "I'm sorry if that upset you, but," he swept his hand around the packed courtroom, "you can see that she isn't exactly in her element here."
The woman's eyes darted quickly around the room and settled back on ours. "Very well, but just until we can determine if there is a threat against her." They had to be rich for her to have such an obvious dislike of spending money.

The dear daughter was being charged with drug possession and a count of manslaughter tossed in by a playful assistant district attorney. The husband returned with the bank books just in time to keep her from being shipped to Rikers.
Now that we had the job Frank took the lead. He scanned the faces of the underclass that filled the hall looking for any that showed any interest in her. They made it through the lobby and were halfway out to the street before he saw the signs of the ambush. Two men, overgrown kids really, moved from behind a bus shelter. To the right there were was another man, he was huge. He had about twenty pounds on us we guessed, but was shorter and thicker, bulky enough to block the sidewalk by himself.
It was possible that they were recently released muggers looking to score cabfare home, but we doubted that. It was too late to head back inside, "Wait here," we said, stepping forward.
"Yo man, we got no beef wit you," said the closest man. "We just want a few words with the young lady." He stopped, and put his hand in his jacket.
Frank didn't bother to reply; instead he stared at the man, and listened hard for the steps that he knew would be coming from our right.
With a client to impress it was better to let the bad guys make the first move. Then it was important to keep our ass from getting pounded, so Frank had to counter it just right. The big man moved well, but not too quietly. Frank took a quick glance to his right and then moved. He moved towards the lunging hulk, found the center of gravity, and let the laws of physics do their thing. There was no weapon as he'd expected, so he was able to use all his energy in directing the large man's flight towards the two who were hanging back ready to take advantage of whatever happened.
They weren't ready to catch the large man who crashed into them like a pro football player trying to score a goal. They all went down in a heap and Frank was on top of them before they had a chance to untangle themselves. With the quiet efficiency he'd learned years ago, he reached down and broke four fingers on each of the two hands which were exposed. Next he kicked the large guy in the nuts, and then stomped the knees of the man who'd spoken. He would have a beef with us now, Frank thought, as he heard cartilage pop followed by a muffled scream. The other one was starting to get up. Frank grabbed his broken hand, and pulled him to his feet. Our other hand grabbed the man by the neck and lifted him clear of the ground. "I got a message for you. Don't fuck with the lady; she's got friends you don't want to meet." He punctuated it by slamming the man into the glass panel of the bus shelter. For a second it held but then the panel bent and exploded in a shower of shards that tinkled merrily as they fell onto the concrete.
The large man had rolled off his partner and was curled up in a ball making little mewing sounds. The third man was sitting up holding his knee. 'Let me take this one Frank.'
'I don't need to kill him, but if we ever see him again, he's yours.'
We stepped closer. The man stared up at us. Frank said, "If I break your back you won't feel the pain in the knee, what do you say?"
The man tried to scoot away, then he reached for his pocket. Frank couldn't let that happen. Our foot flashed out, broke the man's right arm. We hoped across the body, and kicked again, and broke the other arm. 'My turn,' Willie swooped down a strike aimed at the neck. Frank took control long enough to direct it to the jaw. He would be eating through a straw, but at least he'd be breathing. 'Spoilsport - at least let me hurt the other guy.'
Frank's adrenaline was too high for him to resist and he watched as Willie wordlessly stepped up to the fallen giant. The man was in a lot of pain, not much of him was exposed, Joe jumped in,' Hey the others are watching, leave him be.'
'Sure Joe,' Willie said, and reached down and patted the man on the cheek. The man made a move and grabbed our ankle in one of his huge fists. Willie swung the other foot, our toe hitting the man's mouth. The hand relaxed and we jumped away, but not before Willie kicked him in the mouth again, just to make sure some dentist would have a clean slate to work with.
Joe forced him out, jumped into control and had us turn away and walk back to where the others were standing. They were huddled together like a miniature wagon train, Frank thought, as we dusted off our hands and looked up and down the street, making sure the bad guys hadn't brought any backup. While we were getting our breathing back to normal, we waved them towards us and guided them around the fallen bodies towards our car.
"Perhaps Catherine would be better off if she stayed at our place in the Hamptons for a few days," said Mrs. Finch.
We nodded, "That might be for the best," Joe replied.

Chapter 2

Mr. Finch, saying he had pressing business, and Mrs. Finch, who claimed equally important engagements that she could not possibly break, returned to their townhouse while we drove Catherine east along the still deserted Long Island Expressway. Frank made sure we didn't have a tail then, keeping a sharp eye out for cops, let the car cruise towards the dawn. Catherine settled into the seat and watched us from deep inside her hollow eyes. She smelled of vomit and fear. After a few minutes Elaine asked, "Feel like talking about it?"
"No."
'Ask a silly question...,' Frank mused, 'Why don't you ask her if she'd rather be back with the dykes in the holding pen?'
'Crude, where ever did you learn to talk like that?'
'Crude but effective darling.'
"Ok," Elaine continued, "but it's got to be a shock having one of your friends killed, you in an accident and then getting arrested. It certainly isn't how you had the night planned."
Catherine sat up a little straighter and said, "Look, I don't want to talk about it - ok? I appreciate what you did outside the court. But you're going to get paid for that. Stick to the protection and leave the other stuff for the shrinks."
Frank jumped in, "Hey, take it easy. I don't give a damn about the shrink stuff. I just want to know what I'm up against. Are those guys the only ones who are interested in you?"
"What do you mean?"
"Your mother would ask, 'what ever possessed you to go to Harlem,'”he imitated her voice as he said that- “I know better. My question is - was that ounce the cops found the whole deal or was it a taste?"
"I don't know, John, the one who got killed was handling that. I was just there because I could get the car tonight."
"Well, was John dealing to a lot of people or was it just party supplies?"
"He always had coke. I never had to pay for it, and I guess he sold some. Look can we cut the twenty questions?" She turned and looked out the window at the landscape which was slowly gaining a gray form as day approached.
'So what do we do? Baby-sit the bitch until some bad guys come to play patty cake,' snarled Willie? 'Give me the next twenty miles and I'll have her talking.'
'In twenty miles you'd have her babbling and it would take all the king's shrinks to put her mind back together again.'
'Well about time you joined us Paul,' said Joe, 'how's the hangover?'
'Not too bad considering you only let me have two drinks, next time I'll have to order doubles.'
'Well you missed all the fun, you could have written a poem about the sounds of snapping bones and dripping blood.'
'Glad I missed it. Who's the girl?'
'Back off, she's a customer.'
'So? Some of my most intense romances have been with damsels in distress.'
'All right that's enough.' Frank's voice cut through the chatter in our head. 'We'll have plenty of time to find out what makes her tick when we get to where we're going, Joe you got the directions right?'
'Yeah, the place is way out; when we get to Riverhead you just follow the signs to Montauk. By the way, I get the feeling there's a lot more to this one than meets the eye. I have a feeling this one's going to take us places we haven't dreamed of.'
'Yeah?'
'Yes, there was something about Mr. Finch that gave me the creeps.'
'And all this time you told me you don't believe in gut feelings, Joe. Something about scientific method, wasn't it?'
'Look Frank, I'll bet you got the same suspicions too. What father is going to let his precious little daughter ride off into the night with a hulking menace he'd just watched demolish three men on the streets of New York?'
'You got a point there. Still, he did get the idea that we are the good guys. But I'd sure as hell want to ask her a few questions. That's what parents are supposed to do when they bail their kids out of jail, it's part of the job specifications. I didn't hear even one "I hope you have learned a lesson."'
The house was well beyond cottage, even more than a house, but slightly less than a full fledged mansion. There was a top of the line security system, what had to be five acres of grounds, and a view of the ocean that was going to get exciting as hell when the next hurricane comes to play. Although it had lots of glass, it wasn't impossible defensively. The two live-in staff let us in, clucking over Catherine's condition, and giving us the look that told us they'd be counting the silverware after every meal. They showed us to a small room in what was obviously the servant's wing. It was small, had a lumpy bed, and induced outrage. It took Joe five minutes to convince the rest that it wasn't worth arguing about immediately. 'First rule is don't push the help unless you like your toast burned, your coffee weak, and your food cold. Once they see we're protecting the heiress, then they'll come around.'

It was Elaine who heard the doorknob rattle. She woke Frank who slid out of bed and yanked the door open. Catherine took a couple of stumbling steps into the room. Frank pulled the killing blow he was prepared to deliver and caught her by the arm. "Well, good morning. Miss - Are you feeling better? By the way, we'll get along better if you don't sneak up on me."
'Frank, be nice and maybe you ought to consider putting some clothes on.' Catherine didn't pull away, didn't seem to either realize or care that we were naked. "I woke up and didn't know where I was. I was having a dream that some people were after me, and I was scared."
Frank moved his hand up to her shoulder, 'I'd better take over Frank.' Elaine took a step back and pulled a pair of shorts from their bag. We stepped into them and finished dressing by pulling on a tee shirt. "Ok, can I get a cup of coffee around here?"
Catherine led us into the kitchen and watched as the cook got a cup out of the cupboard and poured us a cup. We then followed her out onto the large weathered deck which over looked the beach.
Elaine took first crack at her, "This is a nice place."
Catherine nodded, "I always felt safe here when I was growing up. That's why I was so freaked out earlier."
"It's going to keep eating at you until you let it out. You know that don't you?"
The wind blew through her hair, she had showered and looked a lot better for it. If she had smiled and adopted a slightly relaxed position she could have been the picture of a carefree soul. She nodded, "Yeah, I kept dreaming about it last night." She took a deep breath, "Why can't it be over?"
"It may be, for all we know, but we want to make sure."
"What do you want to know?"
"Let's start with who was in the car, how long you knew them, and what they were doing there."
"There were four of us. John, he was going to have a party later and he told us he needed to replenish his supply. I went because I had a car, and Marsha, she was sort of his girl, and then there was Eddie, I guess he was my date."
She stared out across the beach at the crashing waves, "John went into the bedroom, and came back with a briefcase, then we went down to the garage and drove up into Harlem."
"Did he say who he was going to see?"
"He said he had to meet his man on a certain corner. On the way uptown I saw him open the briefcase and I saw it had a lot of money in it."
"How much?"
"I don't know, but the bills were twenties or fifties and there were four stacks held together with rubber bands."
"Did you see anything else in the briefcase?"
She nodded, "yeah there were some vials and bottles, I'd seen him use them to test dope at the apartment, to show us how pure it was. He got off on having dope that he claimed was as pure as Mother Theresa. And there was a gun. He put it next to him, between the door and the seat, when we crossed into Harlem. When I saw that I began to get scared."
She paused, Elaine commented to the rest of us, 'At least she had the sense to be scared.'
'Right Elaine, and she went ahead and did it anyway, that doesn't get many points.'
Elaine was set to defend her, but Frank cut that off by asking, "So what happened?"
The sweet innocent kid took a deep breath and continued, "We drove to some place, it was in the middle of a bunch of burned out buildings, and we pulled over to the curb on the left. Another car came along on the passenger side and the man rolled down the windows. He handed a small bag across and John does this test on it. He was making something of an ass of himself doing it, telling them how he was never going to get burned. Then he passed a bunch of the money across, and reached out to get a bag they were holding. I didn't see it happen, but he slumped back and there was a knife in his throat. Then I saw a bunch of guys moving towards my side of the car on the sidewalk, and I guess I panicked. I hit the gas. One of them jumped out in front of the car, I think he may have had a gun, and I couldn't avoid hitting him. Eddie is in the back yelling, 'Go. Get the hell out of here,' and that's what I did. About a block later I ran into a double parked car, and that's when the cops showed up."
"Tell me about the money again."
"It was thick stacks, it looked like there was a whole lot of it."
"Did John and the man say anything you remember?"
"Yeah, he said 'I got the loot, you got the toot?' The other guy I couldn't hear very well. John did his whole 'I only buy the very best' routine, and it was obnoxious. Then when he passed the case across he said, 'don't get nigger rich with all this green.' I couldn't believe it, what an asshole."
"That was when they killed him?"
"Yes, just about then. They made it look like they were about to hand him a canvas bag."
'It's a miracle he lived that long.'
'Cause of death should have been enlarged asshole.'
'Yeah,' Willie chimed in, 'it was so big he fell through it, turned himself inside out.' He chortled, 'can you imagine it?'
Before he could get started on the possibilities Frank asked, "Did you get a good look at the people in the other car."
"Not really, I was real nervous, and I didn't want them to see me either."
'I'll bet they think she can identify them.'
'That's a good bet. Something else about this smells wrong.'

All works are Copyright by Todd Vogel