Part 15 (1/2)
Thornberry's face became almost human with a big smile. ”Oh, yes, obviously.”
”Could that energy he puts into escaping be channeled, led, educated--in some way--to constructive thinking? Put it this way: could Dalton be led to thinking about making a jail escape-proof?”
”A most excellent therapy,” and Thornberry was actually beaming.
”General Bennington, I am beginning to have great hopes for our work together as we start to see more and more eye to eye.”
”Let's go back to Clarens,” Bennington said. ”Son of wealthy parents, a good education, the only child in a family who seemed to have everything, including parents who loved both each other and the child--why does he kill, ask to be caught, and then hide so well?
”What therapy does your science have for him, Dr. Thornberry?”
Thornberry's lip-pursing again made his face a skeleton's.
”There are areas of human behavior--”
Bennington observed that Scott and Mosby had turned away from the conversation to the immediacies of patrol distribution. Scott was being eloquent on how lighting cut down crime and Mosby was a.n.a.lyzing the idea in terms of house-to-house combat at night under slow-dropping flares.
For further insurance of privacy, Bennington pulled Thornberry into the corner of the room most removed from the others.
”Doctor, let's forget about Clarens for a moment. I want to talk about Judkins.”
”Yes, general.”
”How did you hypnotize him? And don't hand me any of that stuff about him being sensitive because of his job.”
Thornberry smiled. ”You've seen too many conditioned men, and in a way I'm surprised that I got past Chief Scott with my ... General Mosby should have been more alert, too.
”You're right, it was his skin, not his job.”
”I'm still puzzled.”
”I won't go into the physical structure of the man, his character as revealed by his choice of profession, and so on. Briefly, he is hyper-sensitive to the thought of physical pain, that's all. So I gave him a simple choice. Talk to us in such a way that what he said could never be used against him, or go for a ride with you, Chief Scott, and General Mosby.
”This is very odd, a fact I must further check into, that your name frightened him most.”
”_You_ threatened someone with violence!”
Thornberry sniffed. ”It was no threat. I knew the man and simply appealed to him in the proper way. Then with the spray of cannabis indica that I carry, I speeded his willingness--”
”Marihuana!”
”Please don't be so shocked!” and Thornberry was horrified that Bennington should be shocked. ”The prescription I use is a carefully compounded medical dosage specifically prepared to promote suggestibility....”
”Doctor, I am not in the least suggesting that you would use any method or drug not thoroughly commended by your profession.
”In addition, I am delighted beyond expression that you found some way to learn what we needed from Judkins.
”But, just as I was surprised that your profession did find a use for a drug previously condemned, I now want to be surprised in another way: