38.

~ Seeing Rebecca Hamilton's smiling photograph on the news, a banner headline with Norma's house in the background that said: body found frozen in basement, had hit Alex hard.

There was a time, long before he met Norma, when Rebecca had made him happy. Well, maybe not happy, but she didn't make him miserable.

She thought like he did back then. Was cynical like he'd been. He hadn't liked the person he used to be, but she'd accepted him and was a good match for him.

Now, knowing her fate, knowing she wasn't lounging on a beach somewhere like he'd always imagined, he felt an enormous sense of guilt. No one deserved what had happened to her. No one.

~ A week had gone by since they found out about Norman, and the Romero family had closed ranks tightly around each other. Dylan and Emma had flown in from Florida and Julian was pulled out of school to do independent study.

Thankfully, his school was fluid enough to allow such a thing so long as Norma turned in his completed homework at the end of the week.

It had been a tense few days of not knowing what to do and expecting a media storm to rush the building any day. Of Mr. Warren calling them up and firing them. Declaring they were certainly not the people he thought they were.

Yet, nothing happened. No one seemed to piece it together that the grotesque murders in Oregon had any connection to them. Norman Bates even claimed to have no living relatives and as far as any of the towns people knew. He was a hermit who'd lived in the big house for more than ten years.

In an interview with crime TV, local citizens swore up and down that Norman's mother, who's name they couldn't remember, Norah, Naomi… something like that, had died ten years ago and no one really remembered her.

Others said she'd run off with some man and left Norman all alone. That that man had killed her, or she'd killed him and then herself, and it was very tragic.

Still others said she'd married Sheriff Romero, but since he was such a hard ass and she was a bit nutty, it was unlikely that marriage took. In fact, Sheriff Greene stated Norman Bates' mother, who she didn't mention by name, no one did, had married the former Sheriff Romero more than ten years ago and left town. That she was told on good authority the couple had broken up and had lost track of each other.

The general consensus was that Norman's mother had died. Had died tragically and most likely heart broken into the bargain. That, being abandoned by his demanding, overbearing mother, Norman had gone over the edge and started his killing spree, most likely starting with Rebecca Hamilton.

Alex had winced when they showed her picture on TV. An attractive redhead smiling at a party he'd attend many years ago. The first time he'd ever met her in fact. When he'd first been elected Sheriff and hadn't any idea he'd sold his soul to Bob Paris.

It was all his fault. He'd sealed Rebecca's fate when he made his deal with the DEA and FBI. Not that he'd had any option. He'd just found out Norma was expecting Julian and he had to protect them. Everything else was collateral damage.

"Everyone thinks I'm dead?" Norma scowled at the TV.

Julian was in his room and was denied internet. The adults, Alex, Norma, Dylan and Emma were settled in front of the TV watching as if the fate of the world was hanging on each update about Norman Bates.

Updates that were scandalous, true, but were fewer now that news broke of the mother who murdered her very attractive toddler earlier that week and hid her body in her boyfriends' house. The media loved an attractive toddler with a ready made villain to blame for her death.

Norman Bates had killed grown women; women who were adulterers, runaways, wanted by the FBI or lacking the same media appeal.

Also there was the problem of Norman Bates himself when it came to attention from the press. He hardly looked like a monster. If you passed him on the street, you would barely glance at him. Your eyes would slide right over him and view him as harmless, he was that unassuming. He looked thin and pale next to the beefy guards walking him to the car in handcuffs. His once shaggy brown hair was already streaked with gray at the temples and no casting director would ever pick him to play such a role. He looked like an aging librarian or school teacher. Perfectly harmless and didn't intrigue the cameras to follow him.

"It's the Liberty Valance effect." Emma suggested woefully. "People want the legend not reality. It makes for a better story that you died tragically and left Norman alone. It's the story the people want. The press will give them what they want even if it's not the truth."

"But none of it's true. I tired to help him. I married Alex to try and help him, he refused treatment. They're saying I was an overbearing shrew of a mother." Norma argued looking heartbroken.

"Norma, this is a good thing; everyone thinking your dead." Dylan said rationally. He looked annoyed with her. "No one's going to come for you or Julian. They won't to focus on you if everyone thinks your dead. You won't have to defend yourself or give weepy interviews. You and Romero can go back to living normal lives when this is all over."

Norma scowled at her son and hadn't noticed Alex had slipped away.

~ Alex's security team was aware that something was up, but knew better than to ask. Their boss was a private person and so was his wife. They suspected it was a family issue and left it at that. They said nothing when they saw him cross the front desk and go to his office.

~ Sheriff Greene could hardly believe this was her life. How could such a monster have been breeding under her nose? How could Norman Bates have fooled her? She'd seen him all the time and never suspected. Never thought twice about it. Of course, she'd never suspected he and Madeline were carrying out an affair either. They had spent a lot of time together, but Greene had assumed what most people in town did, that Norman Bates was a closeted gay man and Madeline was his friend. Nothing more.

She wished now, with all the media outside her office flashing pictures and up at the old house and motel that she'd listened to Alex Romero. That she investigated what happened to Earnest the former manager.

Now, they were dragging bodies from the bay and there was the ugly situation of Rebecca Hamilton down at the morgue to deal with. They still couldn't find any family for the poor woman.

Regina chimed on the intercom.

"Sheriff, it's… it's Alex Romero. The old Sheriff, line five." she said excitedly.

Greene looked at her phone. All the lines were busy and she quickly picked up the receiver and snapped line five.

"Hate to say I told you so." Alex said in a dark voice.

"Then don't." Greene spat. "If you're calling to be an asshole, we've got plenty of finger pointing going on already."

"Where is Norman now?"

"Lock up. Where else?" Greene huffed.

"Has… has anyone identified Rebecca Hamilton?" he asked. "You're sure it's her? She was missing for a long time."

"A positive ID was made from her teeth and fingerprints." Greene said.

"He froze her." Alex said. It wasn't a question.
"I can't answer that." Green said sadly. The news had gotten a shocking about of things right.

"Norman was good at taxidermy. He put his animals in the freezer. Is that… I mean… " Alex said uncomfortably.

Greene closed her eyes and prayed not to be sick again. The autopsy had spared no details when it reported that Norman had removed all of the vital organs and stuffed her with sawdust. That he'd kept her neck up with metal wires used for birds in taxidermy. That she'd have to be cremated because a body like that would never be fit for burial. It might also attract grave robbers.

The worst part of Rebecca Hamilton's case was the room Norman had kept her in. He'd decorated it like she was still a living creature. Placed books and curios on shelves. Flowers that froze in place and surrounded her with his other macabre creations. Dressed her against the cold and had cried, sobbed really, when he'd guessed they'd discovered her body and would disturb it.

They'd been expecting the body to show signs of sexual abuse. That would have been the icing on the cake. Weren't their horror stories about just such a thing? Grave robbing to do the unspeakable? Doing morbid and disgusting things to a dead body?

But the autopsy showed no signs at all of any kind of abuse. Aside from the very visible bruises on her neck. Strangulation was most likely her cause of death. No, it was as if Norman had placed her on a pedestal. Almost like a queen; crown on her head and all.

"You knew Norman Bates was dangerous." Greene accused Romero.

"We had him in PineView for a reason." Alex said darkly. "We didn't want him out. It wasn't just because we wanted time alone or because we wanted to get rid of him. He'd been dangerous for sometime, we just couldn't prove it and it was difficult to put him there for treatment."

"I need to speak to his mother. Is she still alive? Do you know where I can reach her?" Greene asked.

"I'm sure if she wants to talk to you, she'll call." Alex said cryptically.

"One cop to another." Greene said. "How many bodies do you think we'll pull out of that lake? It's where Norman says they are."

"I don't know." Alex said with a deep sigh. "But I certainly don't envy you right now."

"Got any idea where to contact Rebecca's family? We'll have to cremate her. I've got no one to accept her remains."

There was a pause.

"Send them to me. I've got a P.O. box in… um Florida." he said.

"You're sure?" Greene asked.
"I was her friend. Once. I feel responsible for her." he said.

"Fine." Greene said and took down the numbers.
"Didn't Norman have a brother? Is he still alive?" Greene asked. "We need to talk to him."

"I haven't talked to him in a long time. I don't know where he is." Alex said harshly.

~ Alex sat up late that night in his office. It was odd that he'd decorated it almost exactly like his old office when he'd been a Sheriff. Desk here, chairs here, photos here. Instead of numerous citizenship awards and recognition plaques from the city, Norma had framed Julian's art work and hand prints over the years.

His wife and son smiling at him through framed photographs on a side table. A decade ago, these same frames held lifeless pictures of him shaking hands with the mayor and once the governor of the state. Now, it was Julian in his Halloween costume, Julian and Norma at Santa's Village with the bright lights around them. Himself and a newborn Julian freshly home from the hospital. The baby's thin little legs kicking up in the air.

Alex had been terrified of his own son those first few sleepless days. It had rained a lot and they felt completely isolated. Julian was so small and he was afraid he would hurt him.

Norma had know exactly what to do though. She'd been his hero and he wouldn't have trusted anyone else to take care of his child.

Now, all those years had passed so quickly. As if he'd stolen them. Cheated another fate that would have befallen him if he hadn't exchanged Rebecca's life for his own.

If he hadn't sent Norman Bates away to PineView, hadn't given Rebecca over to the DEA, she might still be alive. Norman might be fine. Would he and Norma still be married? Would Julian still be here?

Alex and Norma had clung to each other like drowning people. They had lost everything after the DEA raid and fled White Pine Bay with just each other, Bob Paris' run money and Julian barely stirring to life inside his mother's womb.

Was it wrong of Alex to blame himself for Rebecca's death? God only knows what Norman did to her. He'd given Sheriff Greene the PO box to a warehouse that Dylan managed. Dylan could send the ashes to him and he would think of what to do then.

A part of him wanted to go to Whit Pine Bay. Wanted desperately to look at Norman Bates behind bars and smugly tell him he knew it would happen.

He would tell Norman that he knew he'd get caught. Criminals like him always got caught and he was glad someone proved that piece of shit did it. That of course he and Norma were still married. Married and you know what? They still made love quite regularly. That her legs were weak after and she always had a smile on her face.

That they had a son together and you know how babies are made, right, Norman? That's right, the stork didn't bring them. He made his son right on the living room couch, or maybe it had been upstairs in the bedroom. It hardly mattered now. Julian was here and he was far better than you, Norman. He was the son your mother always wanted.

'I gave her the child she always wanted. I'm the husband she always deserved and needed. The man of the house you could never be.

Now, I'm going to enjoy knowing that you'll rot in prison forever, Norman. Rot in here forever and the rest of us, Norma, Julian, Dylan and Emma are safely away from you. You can't ever hurt us again.' he thought happily.

And as if by some kind of curse had been lifted, Alex felt free of Norman Bates. He knew, almost without fail that the media wouldn't come looking for them. Norman Bates wasn't sexy enough for them. He was clearly mentally ill, didn't hate the government and targeted women who were less than innocent. Madeline Loomis with her pretty face and smile was the favorite victim and the media loved to say how she was married but cheating on her husband with Norman Bates. Almost as if she'd deserved what she got.

Alex and his family were free. Hopefully, if they were lucky, the news coverage would die away in a few weeks and they would never have to think about Norman Bates again.

Yes, Alex wanted to go to White Pine Bay and ogle at the killer behind bars as if looking at a specimen in a zoo. Wanted to smugly tell Greene again that he'd warned them and no one had listened to him.

He wanted to do those things, but a memory of his wife came back to him. A memory as hard and violent as if it had happened yesterday.

Norma, his bride, standing in the hallway of the old house. Her beautiful face distorted and trying so hard to keep from crying. Telling him the awful sickening truth about what her brother had done to her when she was a teenager. How she was ashamed of it and knew it would embarrass him as an elected official. How she cared about him enough not to see him hurt and her own humiliation was fine so long as he was protected.

Her face had screwed up like a child's when she told him to pack a bag and encouraged him to leave her. Her disgust for herself evident on her face and she knew he would share it.

But he hadn't left her. He would never pack a bag unless he was following her and he knew that if he went back to White Pine Bay now, if he packed that bag, she would think he was leaving her forever. Leaving her over this; over Norman of all people.

A specter from their past that didn't effect them at all anymore. Couldn't possibly hurt them.

No. He wouldn't pack a bag tonight or any other night. After she'd confessed what had happened with her brother, after Alex assured her he didn't care and they never had to talk about it again, he'd taken her upstairs and made her forget any other man had ever existed until morning.

That's what he had a mind to do tonight. It had been a busy day and already Julian would be sleepy. Dylan and Emma already saying they would get a hotel room nearby.

He needed, to get out of this office and go home to his wife. Check on his sleeping son, say goodbye for now to his step-son and daughter-in-law. Then he'd pretend he was newly married to Norma Bates. His hands always moving down her waist and to her bottom.

'Come on, Mrs. Romero, we have to make it look like we're really in love. Really married.' he would tease her as he often did when she played a little hard to get.

Yes, he was done thinking about Norman Bates for tonight.

~ Dylan, per his step father's instructions, had sent Rebecca's ashes to Hawaii to be scattered by a funeral service that specialized in such long distance requests. They'd emailed Alex photo's of a very nice moonlight ceremony where Rebecca ashes, along with several others who had the same wish, were released on top of a mountain cliff one by one.

The island spiritualist who performed the ceremony had wanted Alex to know the wind had come up very quickly for his friend the moment her ashes were released. That the winds took her willingly and he should be very happy that she's free, ridding around on the winds.

Alex wasn't as enlightened to think Rebecca was flying in the winds now. But he'd always pictured her on a lovely beach somewhere and felt this was the best he could do for her now.

He read the letter once, looked over the pictures and told Norma about it. They both agreed it was nice and were happy they had done it.

~ As for Norma and Julian, a month after the media laid siege on White Pine Bay, everyone seemed to forget Norman Bates and his sick crimes. Norman Bates wasn't as eye catching as the angle of death nurse who killed fifty patients in the past year before she was caught. He wasn't as interesting as the man who lead a cult to kill people later that year. People just forgot about the unassuming man who killed a few women and put one in a freezer. There were worse crimes.

Julian had questions and his parents tried their best to answer him. They told him Norman had problems. He'd been violent and that he'd been in treatment for a while before he'd been released.

"Is it genetic?" Julian had asked.
"No." Alex said quickly without waiting for Norma to chime in. "What happened to Norman happened because of his father. You're my son. It won't happen to you."

~ Sheriff Greene's troubles would never be over until she died. Norman Bates would haunt her for the next year until a sudden heart attack took her at her home.

All of her deputies liked the caring, new age Sheriff who always asked about their day and they blamed her death on Norman Bates. Sheriff Greene being his victim just as much as any other with all the guilt she'd felt over his crimes.

The lake was dragged for over a year. Well after the media blitz had started, ended and everyone lost interest. Norman Bates was arrested for the murder of Madeline Loomis but upon the discovery of Rebecca and the wealth of evidence she'd given them, new, more serious charges were added.

It took weeks to find Madeline Loomis' truck with her body wrapped in the motel's shower curtain. The body of a teenage runaway named Penny Lawson was found weighted down, but search teams had trouble finding anymore remains.

The problems were time degrading the bones in the water, the tide pulling them out to sea, and Norman Bates' memory.

He'd been found not mentally competent enough to stand trial. Mother speaking on his behalf and telling investigators all about the people she'd killed.

They'd been concerned because of the dozens of unclaimed suitcases filled with woman's clothing in Norman Bates' attic and basement.

After investigators had finished cleaning out the old house and the motel, a few months before the trial, there was a mysterious fire that ravaged the property. Many people believed that the house and motel were burned to the ground because they didn't want the town to become a macabre tourist attraction. A place for kids to break into and scare each other with ghost stories.

It had happened with the home where John List had killed his family and that awful business with those women kept in a basement for years. No one in town wanted the notoriety of what had happened. Didn't want the news cameras to come around and shoot pictures of the house and motel again. Of it to become a horror story property that only sick individuals would seek out.

Less than a year after the fire, it was a vacant lot again. Owned by the city and put to no use at all. Only a chain linked fence was put around it to keep people away.

Norman was remanded to the county psych ward. The same facility his mother had so hated all those years ago.

Without seeing a doctor, he'd been medicated and shackled to a gurney for a few days. Left to lay in his own urine till the drugs wore off and a nurse could collect him to clean him off and make sure he was fed.

Inside his mind, Mother had vanished. The house on the hill had vanished. Rebecca was gone and Madeline was missing to. Nothing was there except blackness, cold, the smell of urine, and horrible screams.

Loving all the feedback I've gotten for the last chapter. Just a few more chapters and this story will be done.