Chapter Four: Not Much To Tell

May 18th

2:37 p.m.

"Gerbils. Little bitty ones. They like to hide under the remote control."

Richter eyed the man on the couch bemusedly. "Gerbils."

"Oh, yeah, made the most awful ruckus, kept me up half the night. Traveling's fun, but staying in a hotel room always makes me wonder if the person there before me wiped their feet when they came in. That's how the little guys get inside, ya see. I used to wonder why hotels always screwed the remote for the TV down, and then I saw one of them, scurrying underneath. It's so we don't find out they're under there."

The psychiatrist leaned back in his chair and tapped the end of his pen against his lower lip. "Somehow I get the impression that you're about as concerned about miniature-gerbils as you are about the monsters under your bed."

"Hey, those monsters are persistent! They had to spray the whole ward for 'em a couple of weeks ago."

"Murdock, would you like to know what I think?"

His patient rolled over, cupped his chin in the palms of his hands, and batted his eyes. "Ahm quiverin' in anticipation."

"I think that you're playing along with a certain neighbor of yours so he thinks he's still got someone on his side."

"What, Behl? Aw, nothin' wrong with ol' Behl. If he says there's somethin' movin' around under his bed, I gotta take his word for it. He's older n' wiser than the likes of me. Calls me 'Snot' 'cause he thinks I'm just a snot-nosed kid. Who am I to argue?"

"Do you really think that playing along is going to help him?"

"Can't hurt him any, where do you go from here, right?"

Richter half-smiled. "I suppose you have a point. Although, speaking of hurt, I heard that you had a bit of an adventure earlier."

Murdock flipped onto his back and laced his fingers together over his chest.

"Nothing particularly interestin'."

"Well, tell me the boring bits, then."

"Not much to tell."

"Murdock, if I don't know what's going on, I can't help. The official report says that you 'flew into a violent rage after forcing your way into one of the staff's break rooms'. Doesn't much sound like you, in my opinion. Of course, when you take into consideration which orderly was in the room with you, one starts to wonder if there's a lot more to the story than is being told."

"I'm guessin' there's no word from that pretty little nurse who high-tailed it outta there."

"New kid, doesn't want to make waves. No, and I doubt there'll be one."

"Tell me, Doc, what do ya do with someone who's dumb enough to make everyone's lives miserable, but JUST smart enough to not get caught? None of the staff ever calls him on it, and no one ever listens to what us walking cuckoo clocks have to say."

Richter sighed and shifted in his seat. "Look, unofficially I salute you for trying to be everyone's knight in shining armor..."

Murdock chuckled dryly. "Just call me Cap'n Awesome!"

"... but you already know that officially I can't have any part of it. I can't even put the man on report because I didn't SEE anything."

"So the status quo continues on. The pages turn. The big bad wolf keeps knockin' on the door." He lowered his voice and sang softly. "Big wheel, keep on turnin'. Proud Mary keep on burnin'."

Richter glanced at the clock. "Well, this Proud Mary has another appointment in a few minutes. Anything you want to share with me before then?" He raised his eyebrows pointedly.

"Nah, can't say that anything leaps to mind."

He watched the man peel himself off the consulting couch.

"Just do me a favor and watch your back. He's twice your size and your friends aren't around to keep an eye on you."

Murdock turned with his hand on the doorknob and blinked in exaggerated innocence. "Still don't know whatcher talkin' about, Doc."

Author's Notes:

I always liked Dr. Richter, he seemed to have a pretty good idea of what was going on, even though he couldn't prove it.

For those of you keeping track, this story starts just about the time second season ends and carries on into the third season (though that's hardly integral to the plot), and therefore we're more than a year away from the episode "The Doctor Is Out", in which Richter finally gets proof of his ongoing suspicions that Murdock is part of the A-Team.

Oh, and now we know why Behl calls Murdock "ya schnowt".

Coming up next: The Mammoth strikes again, I get to type more of Behl's obnoxious dialogue, and Murdock spends some time on the roof.