Go Out With A Bang! (6 page)

'I
suppose so. I must admit, I had been thinking it was something more
down to Earth. Sort of.'

'I don't
understand?'

Bernie
looked Poppy in the eyes, wondering if he should say what was on
his mind. They had gone too far, now. 'Just a theory. Who do we
know who wouldn't think twice to involve the Ferret in one of her
mad cases?'

'Oh,
come on. My mother?'

'Hmm.
Let's face it. It makes as much sense as revenge filled
witches.'

'And
just as dangerous. Whatever it is keeping him away from me, he had
better get back to me soon. He needs to be here with me. Me and his
baby.'

'Poppy?'

'I'm
pregnant. I've just found out, and Fred doesn't know,
yet.'

Chapter 15

The
Chief had summoned Morris and Crowe to his office and could feel
their discomfort. 'Nothing from the Scene of Crime
team?'

'No,
Sir,' said Morris. 'I must admit I'm at a loss as to the direction
to take.' At the back of Morris's mind was knowing this
conversation should be with D I Andersen, not the Chief. Something
else was going on, he was sure.

'We
might not get anything until they strike again, Sir,' offered
Crowe, also wondering why he was standing in front of the Old
Man.

'Possibly.' The Chief leaned back in his chair considering
just how much to divulge. 'I had an interesting chat with my niece,
yesterday. She told me what happened at the end of that witch
case.'

Morris
and Crowe shared a look. Were they in trouble?

Morris
said, 'Sir. With respect...'

The
Chief raised a hand. 'I probably owe you two my niece's life. For
that I thank you.'

Crowe
said, 'It was Ferret who saved the day. I never saw such
guts.'

'I know
that, also. Poppy was wondering if there were still repercussions
from that case, coming back to haunt us. Is that why he is missing;
maybe taking the danger away from his wife? Opinions?'

Morris
gave his. 'Like Vince said. Ferret's courage isn't in question. I
saw him with the noose around his neck, ready to die to save Poppy.
But we saw things not of our world; we discovered there's an evil
surrounding us we didn't know even existed. I think we got the
slightest glimpse into another world; not an experience I ever want
to repeat. Could that evil still want Ducket? I suppose we couldn't
rule it out. What we experienced that night, well. Who could
know?'

'But you
don't think so?'

Morris
found his thoughts being dragged back to a house full of evil,
where a creature was called from the bottomless pit of hell. He had
been transfixed to the spot, as the monster with the leg of a bird
stomped around them, his claws, long and vicious, making teeth
grinding scratching sounds on the bare floorboards.

He could
still smell, even taste that fetid, rancid breath of the thing from
another dimension as it strutted before him. He had fought evil
every day of his life, but this was the stuff of nightmares, and
remained only partially submerged in the darkest recesses of his
mind. The Chief had asked for his honest opinions. Did he think
evil like that could ever truly be destroyed?

'All
that was left over from the witches were little piles of ashes. But
something that lived centuries ago, I'm not sure what that
means.'

Crowe
said, 'I don't see it. That chicken legged freak took them home
with him. They aren't coming back.'

'I hope
so,' the Chief said, 'Which comes back to my original theory why
Ducket's missing. Sandra.'

'Oh,
God,' said Morris. 'No disrespect to your sister, Sir, but if she's
back, some big bad shit is going down.'

The
Chief agreed. 'Keep on your case. Forget about Fred. But if he or
my sister makes a sudden appearance, they become your priority. Got
that?'

'Yes,
Sir,' said Morris. 'Anything else, Sir?'

'Yes. If
you two ever hold back information about a case ever again, no
matter how strange, you can look forward to issuing speeding
tickets until the day you retire. Understood?'

'Yes,
Sir,' said Morris and Crowe together.

'Glad we
cleared that up. Now get the hell out of here.'

Chapter 16

'Are you
absolutely sure?'

'Uncle
Bernie. I'm not a kid. I've taken a pregnancy test.'

Debbie
shot him a warning look. 'Of course she's sure.' She poured more
gravy on her roast beef dinner and glanced at Poppy. 'Men,' she
said with a sigh.

'I wish
I had known before he disappeared,' said Poppy. 'If he had known he
was going to be a dad, he'd never have gone.'

'I had a
chat with Morris and Crowe today,' said Bernie. 'Everything out in
the open. They can't see it being a witch thing.'

'Mom?'

'It has
all the hallmarks. To be honest, it scares me. What can be so bad
and big to make Fred go the way he has?'

Debbie
pushed her empty plate away. She had an idea that whatever the
cryptic conversation she was hearing between uncle and niece, it
held veiled dark secrets she wasn't a part of. She gathered the
plates, scraped the scraps into the waste disposal and loaded the
dishwasher. Then she turned to face Bernie and Poppy, her back
against the worktop, her arms folded and her expression
fixed.

'Right.
I want to know if I'm part of this family or not.'

'Debbie?'

'Don't
you Debbie me, Bernie. I'm here listening you two talk about all
kinds of weird stuff. What am I? Somebody who just lives here? That
is not like being a part of a family.'

'What's
your problem?' said Bernie, having suffered enough confusion with
all that was going on. He didn't need any more.

'My
problem? I hear talk of witches, demons, peculiar
sisters...'

'Excuse
me? My sister isn't...Okay. Not quite like the rest of us. She
kills people with her bare hands. That doesn't make her a bad
person.'

'Oh. So
glad to hear that. Kills people, but really, really nice once you
get to know her. And these witches?'

'Back to
hell where they belong. Honestly. The witches are all
gone.'

'Can you
hear yourself? The witches are all gone? Either you include me, or
I walk.'

'Debbie..'

'Bernie.
Don't you Debbie me. Talk or I walk.'

Bernie's
back was against the wall. 'There's no need to threaten me, Debbie.
Please sit and we'll tell you how it is.'

'This
had better be good.'

Bernie
waved to a seat. 'Debbie. I need you. Please.'

Debbie
looked into their imploring eyes and sighed. Then she sat, prepared
to listen.

Chapter
17

'You
have to keep this to yourself, right?'

'Bernie.
I can keep a secret,' said Debbie.

'I know.
Right. You'll find out soon enough, I suppose. Where to start. My
sister Sandra, Poppy's mother, faked her own death, many years ago.
She had a sail boat, went out in it, never came back.'

'She
drowned? An accident?'

'No. She
did it on purpose. Not dying, I mean. She let us all think she was
dead. Left a note on the sail for us to find. Turns out she's a
secret agent.'

'Your
sister was a secret agent?'

'
Is
a secret agent. Still active. Goes around killing
people. Only the bad ones, you understand.'

'She
shoots bad people?'

'No. No.
Of course not. She uses her bare hands. Very good at it,
apparently. But she gets involved in some really strange things.
Terrorists. Spies. The usual.'

'The
usual. Right.'

'Usual
for her. That's why we never see her. She's afraid some of the
people she's been working against will get to her through us, her
family, so she stays away from us. She has been known to work with
Fred. She values his talent with computers.'

'So you
are saying Fred is with your sister? That's a good thing, right?
Can't you call Sandra and ask her about Fred?'

Poppy
said, 'Debbie. My mom isn't your regular mother. She's like a
ghost. Turns up out of the blue, always bringing trouble with her.
We can't just give her a phone call.'

'But at
least if Fred's with your mother, he'll be safe. They'll look out
for one another.'

Bernie
said, 'We hope so, but if Fred can't or won't contact us, it means
he wants to keep us well out of the picture. It's their way of
protecting us.'

Poppy
said, 'It also means whatever they're involved in is something big
and dangerous.'

Debbie
said, 'Oh, Poppy. I had no idea. But Fred's got his head screwed
on. I'm sure he'll be fine. But what's all this talk about ghosts
and demons?'

'Not
ghosts. Witches.'

'What
was
I thinking? Witches. Not
ghosts.'

Bernie
said, 'No such things as ghosts.'

'Just
witches and demons.'

'Quite a
lot of witches around, apparently,' said Bernie.

Poppy
said, 'Remember those witches found hung a few months back? It
turns out Fred was a witch-finder in another life. The witch he had
hung wanted revenge.'

'As
insane as it all sounds, I kind of get that.'

'They
used me as bait to get to Fred,' said Poppy. 'The witches summoned
up some kind of demon. Fred told him...'

'A
demon? Fred spoke to a demon?'

'Ugly.
Big. Bad breath. One leg was the leg of a chicken.'

'Yuck.'

'Tell me
about it. Anyway, Fred told him if he let me go, they could take
him instead.'

'What a
legend. He destroyed the demon?'

'No. Of
course not.'

Debbie
said, 'Silly me.'

Poppy
said,'The demon took the witches with him to hell. That was the
last we saw of them.'

'You did
ask,' said Bernie.

'I'm
beginning to wish I hadn't, now. So the witches are gone,
right?'

'Absolutely,' said Bernie. 'We think so. Reasonably sure.
Yes. Gone. Nothing to worry about.'

Debbie
got up, her mind in a whirl with the revelations. 'Nothing to worry
about. I'll bear that in mind.'

'Debbie?'

'Not
now, Bernie. I'm off for a lie down.'

Chapter 18

Detective Inspector Dale Andersen looked at the Ferret's once
pristine office and knew how horrified Ducket would have been to
see the state it was now in. The “Kids” as Jordon Fletcher and
Trish Bailey were referred to by him, Morris and Crowe, were still
sitting at the hi-tech equipment. They were surrounded by take out
cartons, snickers wrappers and drinks cans.

'One
question. Have you got anywhere?'

Bailey
said, 'Not really. I've never come across a computer I couldn't
dominate before. Ferret is in a league of his own.'

'You got
that right. You might as well call it a day.'

Fletcher
took his glasses off and wiped the lenses on the hem of a grubby
looking T shirt. 'We got so far,' he said, defensively. 'A little
more time and...'

'Wow,'
said Bailey. 'Somethings happening.'

Bailey
was right. Everything suddenly lit up. From one end of the room a
monster screen dropped down from the ceiling.

'What's
going on?' Andersen wanted to know.

The
“Kids” could only watch as the information in Ferret's computer
flashed around the screen at impossible speeds.

'Somebody has hacked in,' said Fletcher. 'The data is being
downloaded to another computer.'

'You
cretins,' snapped Andersen. 'You've compromised Ferret's
hard-drive. His stuffs being stolen.'

'We
didn't get that far,' said Bailey. 'This isn't our
fault.'

'Get the
bloody thing turned off,' barked Andersen.

'Can't
just do that,' said Fletcher. 'It'll stuff it all up.'

'No
shit,' said Andersen. 'I think you two have already done a bloody
good job of doing that.'

All they
could do was watch the flashing screen, until it went
blank.

'My
God,' said Bailey, knowing just who would cop the blame for the
travesty. 'Inspector. This isn't our fault.'

'You
reckon? Look at the screen,' said Andersen.

The
message in red bold letters made it all clear.

“
GET
THE HELL OUT OF MY OFFICE. FERRET.”

Then the
computer turned itself off.

'You
heard the man,' said Andersen. 'Clean up your crap and get your
sorry asses out of here.'