Under the bridge we were safe. I slept there sometimes when it rained. I laid Jonathan gently on the cold concrete floor.

Neither the monster nor the criminal wanted to kill this bland, orderly little man, this police officer, this insignificant creature. The enemies must always be powerful, and the killing unpredictable, for the cause to be glorious. There, I would have needed only a flick of the wrist to finish off this unconscious bespectacled grub.

I picked up a passing rat and stuffed it behind the psychiatrist's collar. It wiggled under his shirt, and it made him wiggle back when the rodent bit him. The rat ran away from the sleeve of the gown.

Jonathan opened his eyes and focused them on me. No expression. The other psychiatrist had at least felt terror when I had slit his throat. Perhaps he had finally figured it out?

He asked me how, first of all. I told him that I always left some dynamite behind, just in case. This post office had a pretty good alarm system, so I might as well not take any unnecessary risks. Besides, it's always more fun to make the places I pass disappear: a detective with time on his hands could have fun tracing my route on a map of the city by connecting the dots of the blown-up buildings.

In fact, if he did, he would see that I was having fun drawing a huge clown face. This post marks the left corner of the mouth, and I still have one eye, the chin and the hair to do...

To my astonishment, Jonathan smiled. I kicked him in the ribs and he let out a hoarse chuckle. He asked me where my chemistry equipment was - I must have had some, since I was making dynamite. I crouched down, my face beaming: I'll have to find the real Jonathan Crane one of these days, he looks like a man of interesting potential.

I dropped heavily to the spot where the Jonathan I had imagined had stood. My subconscious was right: I had to go to the biological chemistry warehouse, because I had a potion to prepare. Maybe it would help him to understand, if he couldn't do it on his own.

The rat was watching me from his hole. I blew him a kiss with my hand, then a stone, and laughed as he scurried away.