THE ALTER PREY
A Psychological Suspense Novel by Frederick Mulae
What would you do if you woke up and found yourself covered in blood? If when you looked in the mirror, the reflection staring back appeared nothing like your own?
Imagine finding mysterious purchases on your credit card bill. A new brand of beer in your refrigerator. Out of character additions to your wardrobe that you would never wear. You might think you’re dreaming. Or perhaps the subject of an elaborate prank?
For respected clinical psychologist STUART RYDER, such inexplicable happenings have become his every day experience. After a routine age regression on a client triggers a disturbing recollection of his own childhood trauma, Stuart stumbles upon something, or someone, he never expected—PAOLO—an alternate personality created by Stuart’s mind to mask the insufferable pain of his past.
The two find themselves in a harrowing game of skirmish as Paolo leads them down a dark and twisted trail of revenge and murder.
A battle of wills is fought over which identity will reign supreme. Can Stuart triumph and regain some semblance of his old life, or will Paulo take over once and for all and ruin both their lives forever?
Chapter 1
‘Sometimes the appropriate response to reality is to go insane.’
—Philip K. Dick.
Jennifer lay semi-upright in the velvety reclining chair, trying hard not to disappoint her hypnotherapist, Doctor Stuart Ryder. ‘Now, Jennifer, I want you to take two deep breaths with me,’ he said in a soothing voice. ‘In, slowly… hold… hold… and exhale. That’s great. Now again…’ He was sitting next to her on a swivel button stool on wheels.
Stuart had carried out the laborious preparatory work when he first opened his doors for business—getting out there, calling on all the local and a few not-so-local medical general practitioners. He aimed to introduce himself and establish a reciprocal association and offer his supportive services.
With this hands-on approach, he had achieved rapid success in growing his clinical psychology practice.
A year on, and Stuart could not believe his accomplishment. He had allowed himself twice that period to build his client calendar to its current level. His clinic being in the heart of a young and trendy business district hadn’t hurt any.
To Jennifer, Stuart Ryder appeared to be in his mid-to-late twenties, early thirties. He wore dark trousers, a matching vest, and a white open-neck shirt—his general dress style, not wanting to appear stuffy in a suit yet professional enough to boost his clients’ level of expectation.
Jennifer noticed the silver chain attached to a buttonhole on his vest. After the traditional loose circlet, the other end disappeared into the vest pocket. Even though she was a few years older than him, fob watches were still before her time. But Jennifer was sure that an old-style timepiece rested in the pocket on the other side of the vest. She wondered if he would use it to hypnotise her in much the same way as she had seen in old movies, where they used it in pendulum mode to induce a deep, compliant trance.
Jennifer had never been to a regular psychologist, let alone one specialising in hypnosis. If it were not for her flatmate Louise, she would never have considered such a submissive and unquestioning therapy style. But it had worked well for Louise. A full six months since her treatment, and she was still off cigarettes. Equally important, she hadn’t put on a gram of the customary kilos that were a common after-effect of quitting nicotine.
‘Stuart gave me extra suggestions so I wouldn’t offset the lack of cigarettes by overeating,’ volunteered Louise. ‘So make sure you remember to tell him to do the same for you. And don’t forget—I saw him first!’
‘Sorry girl, anything over three months doesn’t count,’ replied Jennifer.
‘He’s too young for you anyway,’ teased Louise. She was a few years younger and occasionally pitched an age-related snipe. But Jennifer knew they were empty remarks and never took them seriously. She had been working for a small events company for quite a while before Louise joined the team. The owner-operators were both males, and with the usual gender rivalry always on the agenda, the two girls soon became best friends and, later, flatmates.
Jennifer considered the young hypnotherapist to be a twenty-first-century update of the old big-screen images, including the predictable yet refashioned version of the goatee, a style of beard that had invariably been synonymous with hypnotists.
Stuart Ryder was of average height with longish brown hair and dark, commanding eyes. His natural, well-proportioned physique appealed to Jennifer way more than the present-day beefed-up body form. For a fleeting moment, she wondered why Louise hadn’t already moved on him. Surely six months was long enough to overlook the doctor-patient taboo.
Jennifer had recently dared to bring home one of the so-called sculptured heavyweights. ‘Purely for stress relief,’ she had said, grinning at Louise the following morning over a Special K breakfast.
‘What was he like? You were very quiet,’ said Louise.
‘I had to keep his mouth busy to stop him from calling out his own name,’ countered Jennifer, laughing.
‘Was he a big guy?’ asked Louise, continuing with the spirit.
‘Yeah, you could say that. Undressed, he looked like a stuffed turkey—all puffed up and ready for my oven,’ Jennifer replied. But then squirmed, biting her lip when she heard her own crude joke.
‘I think you take everything too negatively, Jen…’ said Louise, ‘Not to mention too frigging personally.’
‘Nah… I’m just trying to see the humorous side of today’s propensities, or should I say clichés?’
‘Fancy words aside, I love their firmness—I can’t stand overfed jelly-bellies,’ pronounced Louise before adding a tongue-in-cheek summation of her own. ‘Jen, you should look at men more positively… in the same light I do; you know, social dildos.’