When Romero woke up, he could have just stayed in bed all day. It was Sunday, and he could hear the rain pouring outside. But the one thing he wanted to do was talk to Deputy Lynn. She needed to know now that they had gotten the right guy for Blair Watson's murder.
Romero drove to the station, one hand on the wheel, one stroking his chin. He was thinking about whether to rebuild or just get a new place all together. Obviously he couldn't stay at the Bates Motel forever. Not that he wanted to. He was a private person, and sharing walls with other people wasn't exactly his idea of privacy. Especially with Norma going in and out of his room every day. He kept a lot of his belongings in his office and truck, so that she couldn't snoop.
Norma was down in the motel office late that morning. Yesterday had been hard on her, so she'd slept in. Norman however had been there since seven. "Good morning Norman. Look what I brought you." Norma greeted her son brightly, handing him a breakfast muffin on a small plate. "Thank you, Mother." Norma watched him eat it, deep in thought. Norman smiled as he ate, but as soon as he finished he was out the door. "I'll take this back up to the house. I found a bird this morning that I want to start working on."
"Norman!" Norma called after him, but her son was already running up the stairs to their home. She sighed, sat down in her chair and opened the laptop, checking for bookings. There were no new reservations. Sighing again, Norma's thoughts returned to the subject she'd been thinking about all night. How to get Norman out of that basement. It just wasn't normal for a seventeen year old boy to be stuffing dead things. Isn't that how people turned into serial killers?
Romero arrived at the station and immediately called Deputy Lynn into his office. "Sheriff?" She made her presence known, standing in the doorway. "Shut the door." He said, without looking at her. She did as told, moving around his desk to sit in front of him, arms crossed. He finally looked up from his laptop. "I had Norman Bates take a polygraph. He's innocent." He said slowly, watching her. She looked surprised. "Polygraphs aren't always reliable." Her expression changed to one of defiance.
Romero raised his eyebrows. Lynn wasn't a bad cop. A bit overzealous, maybe, but she was still learning about how things worked in this town. He closed the laptop and stood up, opening the door for Deputy Lynn. "Don't forget what I said," he answered. It was a vague threat. Putting on his leather jacket, he followed Lynn out, deciding to actually take his day off after all.
Norma decided that enough was enough, as far as Norman's taxidermy was concerned. She marched up to the house, an excuse to get him back down to the motel already formed. "Norman!" She called as she closed the front door behind her. She walked quickly to the basement, hurrying down the steps to see Norman about to make his first incision into a small brown bird. "Norman honey, I need you to look after the motel until I get back. " Norman looked up at her. "Okay Mother. I guess I'll start this later."
"I'm sorry Norman. I forgot I had to go to the council today for a meeting," Norma lied. Norman washed his hands and then followed her back to the motel office silently. "I won't be long," Norma promised as she got in her car and started it. She smiled and waved to him as she drove away, thinking about what she was really going to do while he cleaned the rooms this morning.
Romero was just walking to his truck when Norma skidded to a stop next to him. "Can I buy you a coffee?" she asked, looking a little desperate. What now? Romero wondered, thinking before answering. But he couldn't say no. "Ah, sure…?" He looked at her questioningly. She didn't give him a reason. "Meet you at the place across from the dock in five," Norma said, before driving off. Romero watched her go, perplexed. Was she in trouble again?
He reached his truck, started it, and drove to the meeting point, parking next to Norma. She got out of her car, smiled at him but didn't say a word. They walked into the café together and sat down at a booth by the window. Romero waited until a waitress had taken their orders. "Are you going to tell me why you're buying me coffee?" He asked, a touch of annoyance in his tone. Norma's eyes met his. They looked a little tortured, like she really didn't want to be here.
"I wanted to ask you a favour. You really upset Norman, making him take that test," Norma said, not breaking eye contact. Alex looked away, out the window. Norma thought she saw a guilty look cross his face momentarily. "Alex, Norman is a sweet, sensitive boy. But he spends far too much time down in our basement, and it's not normal. I want him to be normal." She stopped talking as their coffees arrived. Romero took the opportunity to remind her of what normal was for teenage boys. "Norma, it is normal for teenagers to want to be away from their parents. You've got to separate at some stage."
"What's not normal is that he's down there stuffing dead things, Alex. Taxidermy. I don't want him doing it anymore. I want you to talk to him." Norma looked at Romero for his reaction, but as usual there wasn't much of one. He had an excellent poker face.
Romero stared at her. He didn't know what to think. His attraction to her clouded his judgement. He took his time before responding, carefully studying her for a clue. Taxidermy was definitely an odd choice of activity for a kid Norman's age. Romero took a few sips of coffee, thinking about whether to agree to it or not. "And what exactly do you want me to say?" He asked finally, setting the cup back down on the table. Norma smiled again, looking quite happy although he hadn't exactly agreed to anything yet. "I don't know, anything. Whatever your father said to you at seventeen that made you who you are today." Norma answered nonchalantly, sipping her coffee. "What? Norma I'm not his fath-"
"Well obviously. You're a lot better than him." Norma talked over him. Romero fell silent. He knew Norma was a widow. Why would she talk of her dead husband like that? Romero suddenly felt very curious and wanted to do some digging. "Alright, okay. I'll do it." Romero stood up, deciding to end the conversation there. "Thanks for the coffee."
Norma watched him leave, feeling victorious. She'd realised Norman needed a father figure, a man to look up to. Sheriff Romero was perfect for the job. Especially as she realised there was something between them. Occasionally, their eyes met and she knew he was attracted to her. She was attracted to him, too. Yesterday, when she'd seen him half naked, she'd come close to reaching out and touching him. He'd put his hands on her more than once. Like that time he'd picked her up from the council and taken her to his station to wait for Norman. And the other day, right after she'd found out Nick Ford had taken Norman.
Norma drank the last of her coffee and looked out the window as Romero drove past. She realised that other than his occupation and his personality, she really knew nothing about him. It didn't bother her, she trusted him completely. It was on more than one occasion now that he had saved her family. He could be forgiven for trying to find out whether Norman murdered his teacher or not – Norma was still sure Norman had done it, after all. He'd killed his own father.
Romero had been headed back to the motel, before Norma interrupted him. Now he was going straight back to the station, to find out everything there was to know about Norma's husband's death. An afternoon of anonymity in the next town over would have to wait until his next day off. Being the Sheriff, there wasn't many of those. And since everyone in White Pine Bay knew who he was, he could never really let his guard down around here.
Sitting down at his desk, Romero opened his laptop and typed in his username and password. He was about to run a search when he realised he didn't even know the man's name. Or where Norma had come from. "Damnit." He said to himself, leaning back in his chair to think. He ran a hand over his stubble, staring into space as he thought about how he was going to get that information.
Norman Bates. Talking to the kid would come in handy, now.