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"You know, if you asked nicely I could bring you a new book."
The worst thing about hospital is how much time he has to think. Even stuffed to the gills with Diazapam as he is, his mind is inclined to turn in on itself. Reading the Bible is the only respite from going over and over the things he should and shouldn't have done.
Matt Crower doesn't have many outside distractions here. The doctors don't like him, and he can't blame them. It's hard not to think of himself as one of them, and argue with every treatment decision they make. The nurses are patronizing. The other patients actually are crazy. Gail came to visit him once, but he didn't trust himself to see her. His only regular visitor is Lucas Buck.
"This is all I need," he replies, stroking the leather cover delicately. The Bible is getting dog-eared at the corners, but he doesn't think he'd be likely to share Lucas's tastes in literature.
The sheriff shrugs. "Faith is a powerful healer, Harvard, but I think you might be needing more than that to get you out of here."
It took Matt a long time to work out why he bothered to keep dropping by. Surely even someone as sadistic as Lucas Buck is would get bored with tormenting a mental patient eventually? It's like shooting fish in a barrel, and he must be able to get better entertainment than this. He has no doubt that Lucas could kill him if he wanted to - for all Matt knows, he could make him jump out a window or turn him into a toad. Instead he comes to visit, on average of once a week.
"You know, I think I finally have it figured out," he says, uncurling and getting up from the bed.
"What's that?" Lucas asks, smirking at him through the bars.
"Why you keep coming to see me. You just can't stand it that somebody still dares to disobey you, even though you stuck me in here." While there's one person in Trinity who isn't under his thumb, Lucas can never be content.
"You stuck yourself in here, Doctor Crower. In case you're too addled to recall, you walked into my office with a loaded gun. I could have had you put in a real prison."
That's what Matt expected - insofar as he had expected anything - when he picked up the gun. That he would end up in prison, maybe even dead. And that it would be worth it. He doesn't need to be in Juniper House, because the only crazy thing he's done lately is not pulling the trigger on Lucas Buck fast enough.
"Why didn't you?"
"Because I still hope that you can be rehabilitated. You could be a valuable member of the community, if you could just come to see things the right way."
"Your way isn't the right way," Matt says, gripping the Bible tighter.
Lucas opens the door to his cell and steps inside. He'd have sworn that the door was locked a minute ago. Then, it probably was. He's only surprised to find that the devil doesn't need to be invited in. Not that he thinks Lucas Buck is the actual devil, at least not in his calmer moments. It's hard to imagine Satan settling for ruling a town of less than ten thousand people.
"You must have realised by now that there's no point to this. Nobody else is going to come and get you out of here." Matt resists the temptation to back away as he invades his personal space.
"There are still other people out there to fight you, Lucas."
"Like who, Doctor Crower? You think Loris Holt would have done more than lend you a few books if she ever planned to do anything about me."
"Gail -" he starts, and then cuts himself off. She's the one who stopped him doing what he should have done, after all.
His smirk gets deeper. "Let's just say that Miss Emory and I have come to an understanding."
Matt didn't give Lucas the satisfaction of showing a reaction. But he believes it. It's easy to believe. Lucas ruled the town through charm as much as fear, and it wasn't impossible that Gail had fallen under his spell. Maybe that was even why she'd stopped Matt shooting him.
The worst thing about Lucas Buck isn't the things he does, its what he turns other people into. The people of Trinity are too corrupt to too scared to stand up to him. Gail, who has every reason to know better, is fucking him. He turned Matt himself into an unsuccessful assassin, and he hates to think about what will become of Caleb.
"Things don't have to be this way, Doctor Crower."
"Still hoping I'll decide to lie back and enjoy it?"
Matt doesn't feel that he's in any danger of developing Stockholm syndrome just yet. He has a reason to resist that the rest of them don't have. The only thing that gives his life any meaning right now is knowing that he's an annoyance to Lucas Buck. Not a threat anymore, but an irritation. A loose end that won't allow itself to be tied off.
If it wasn't for that, he wouldn't have a reason to go on. He would have run when Ben Healy offered him the chance, or at least died out there in the woods with a bullet in his back.
"Don't you think it's kind of perverse, the way you enjoy this?"
Matt laughs. "Look who's talking."
Lucas sighs, and turns to head for the door. "I can see there's no point talking to you today. I'll come see you again next week, Harvard."
"I won't be looking forward to it."
He'd have to be in here a long, long time before he'd welcome a visit from Lucas Buck. When that happens, he'll really start to worry about what he might turn him into.