Psycho by Robert Bloch Page A

rid of this one. Throw it in the swamp tomorrow.
    Now there was only the house to attend to. He'd scrub out the kitchen sink.
    It was almost two o'clock by the grandfather clock in the hall when he came in. He could scarcely keep his eyes open long enough to wash the stains from the sink top. Then he stepped out of his muddy shoes, peeled off the coveralls, stripped himself of shirt and socks, and washed. The water was cold as ice but it didn't revive him. His body was numb.
    Tomorrow morning he'd go back down into the swamp with his own car; he'd wear the same clothing again and it wouldn't matter if it showed mud and dirt. Just as long as there was no blood anywhere. No blood on his clothes, no blood on his body, no blood on his hands.
    There. Now he was clean. He could move his numb legs, propel his numb body up the stairs and into the bedroom, sink into bed and sleep. With clean hands.
    It wasn't until he was actually in the bedroom, donning his pajamas, that he remembered what was still wrong.
    Mother hadn't come back.
    She was still wandering around, God knows where, in the middle of the night. He had to get dressed again and go out, he had to find her.
    Or--did he?
    The thought came creeping, just as the numbness came creeping, stealing over his senses, softly, smoothly, there in the silken silence.
    Why should _he_ concern himself about Mother, after what she had done? Maybe she had been picked up, or would be. Maybe she'd even babble out the story of what she'd done. But who'd believe it? There was no evidence, not any more. All he'd need to do was deny everything. Maybe he wouldn't even have to do that much--anyone who saw Mother, listened to her wild story, would know she was crazy. And then they'd lock her up, lock her up in a place where she didn't have a key and couldn't get out again, and that would be the end.
    He hadn't felt like that earlier this evening, he remembered. But that was before he had to go into that bathroom again, before he had to go into the shower stall and see those-- _things_.
    Mother had done that to him. Mother had done that to the poor, helpless girl. She had taken a butcher knife and she had hacked and ripped--nobody but a maniac could have committed such an atrocity. He had to face facts. She _was_ a maniac. She _deserved_ to be put away, _had_ to be put away, for her own safety as well as the safety of others.
    If they did pick her up, he'd see that it happened.
    But the chances were, actually, that she wouldn't go anywhere near the highway. Most likely she had stayed right around the house, or the yard. Maybe she had even followed him down into the swamp; she could have been watching him all the time. Of course, if she were really out of her head, then anything might happen. If she _had_ gone to the swamp, perhaps she'd slipped. It was quite possible, there in the dark. He remembered the way the car had gone down, disappearing in the quicksand.
    Norman knew he wasn't thinking clearly any more. He was faintly aware of the fact that he was lying on the bed, had been lying on the bed for a long time now. And he wasn't really deciding what to do, either, or wondering about Mother and where she was. Instead, he was _watching_ her. He could _see_ her now, even though at the same time he felt the numb pressure on his eyeballs and knew that his eyelids were closed.
    He could see Mother, and she _was_ in the swamp. That's where she was, in the swamp, she'd blundered down the bank in the darkness and she couldn't get out again. The muck was bubbling up around her knees, she was trying to grab a branch or something solid and pull herself out again, but it was no use. Her hips were sinking under, her dress was pressed tight in a V across the front of her things. Mother's thighs were dirty. Mustn't look.
    But he _wanted_ to look, he _wanted_ to see her go down, down into the soft, wet, slimy darkness. She deserved it, she deserved to go down, to join that poor, innocent girl. Good riddance! In a