Hard Spell (30 page)

  From the living room, somebody called my name. I started a little, and my hand brushed the computer's black and silver mouse, where it lay on a rubber pad that had "Carpe Noctem" printed on it in spooky-looking letters. The machine must have been in sleep mode, because that slight movement of the mouse woke it up. I heard my name again, and it sounded like the voice's owner was closer now, and getting pissed.

  As I straightened up, I saw that the monitor was now showing a professional-looking photo of a small stone building with water around it. It looked like it belonged on a calendar from Ireland, or someplace. You'd think Longworth's tastes would run more toward splatter porn. Go figure. I didn't recognize the image on the screen, but there was something…

  "What are you
doing
, Detective?"

  One of D'Agostino's guys, in a blue pinstripe suit and hundred-dollar haircut that made him seem more like a corporate lawyer than a cop, stood in the door. He looked like he'd caught me buggering a donkey right here in the bedroom.

  "Just killing time," I said. "Sorry I didn't hear you at first – daydreaming, I guess."

  He stepped into the room and glanced at the computer screen, then looked at me hard for a few seconds. But when I didn't turn into a weeping puddle and confess to the Lindbergh kidnapping, he jerked his head back in the direction he'd come from. "Come on – you're up."

  "You bet," I said, and followed him out of the room. The photo on Longworth's monitor wasn't either significant or sinister. Just a little pastoral art, unlikely as that might be. But I was irritated that it had some kind of association for me that I couldn't put a finger on.

  I didn't get to dwell on it for long. I soon had other irritations to replace it, all of them wearing expensive suits and power ties.

  I didn't have a lot to talk about, since my role in both the raid and the shooting was one of observer. I told two of D'Agostino's detectives what I'd seen, and agreed to provide sworn testimony at any proceedings, departmental or legal, that might stem from today's tragic events. Then I got to say the same thing to two more of them. Then two more. Karl, I found out later, went through the same fucking round-robin. Then, when they finally ran out of idiotic questions, and big words to ask them with, they cut us loose.

"I wonder who's gonna get the job," I said to Karl, as we walked back to the Rite-Aid lot.

  "Who, Dooley's? He won't get fired, Stan. I don't care who the fucking kid's family is. It was a righteous shoot, with lots of witnesses."

  "No, I mean the job of bringing the bad news to Mrs. Longworth. Glad it won't be us."

  We'd walked another three or four paces before Karl said, "Maybe they can tell her it was done by werewolves."

Karl had made a light on yellow that I hadn't, so he was just getting out of his car as I pulled into the police department lot. He walked over and waited while I locked the Toyota. "You heard what Longworth said back there," I said.

  "About your loved ones? Yeah, I heard the fucker. You think he meant Christine?"

  "I don't see who else he could've been talking about. I mean, I kinda like you, Karl, but you don't really qualify as a 'loved one,' you know?"

  "I guess that means no flowers on Valentine's Day," he said. "How about Lacey?"

  "No, she doesn't quite make the list, either."

  "Okay, so it's Christine," Karl said. "You got a plan?"

  "Not much of one. But I'm for damn sure gonna be right here, come sunset."

  We started walking slowly toward the station house.

  "Think I'll tag along, if that's okay," Karl said.

  "Sure, the more the merrier," I said, then, "Thanks, man."

  "No prob. Anyway, if you don't mind me saying so, I think Christine's kinda cute."

  "For a vamp, you mean."

  "For anybody. So, okay, assume she shows, what then?"

  I shrugged. "I'll find out if she knows anything about Sligo. Then I'll tell her what I find out, which doesn't amount to a hell of a lot. Suggest she move her daytime resting place, just as a precaution. Remind her to watch her back. Stuff like that. Just... fatherly advice." My voice might have gotten a little funny as I said those last two words.

  
Fatherly advice? I haven't talked about Christine that way since she was changed. Since I
had
her changed.

  "Think she'll believe you?"

  "I've got no reason to lie," I said. "She'll understand that."

  "Okay, sure. But what if she doesn't show at sundown?"

  "I'm still working on that part of the plan."

We'd kept McGuire informed by radio of where we were and what we were up to, but I wanted to fill him in on some of the details before Karl and I hit the streets again.

  As we walked into the squad's tiny reception area, I asked Louise the Tease if there'd been any word from Vollman.

  She shook her head, the blonde curls bouncing a little. "Not a peep since last week."

  To look at the hair and that body of hers, you'd never guess that she's a member of Mensa, but I knew she had been for years. She's also deadly at Scrabble, I hear – plays in tournaments, and stuff.

  "If he calls when I'm away from the squad," I said, "give him my cell phone number, patch him through on the radio, or do whatever else it takes. I have
got
to talk to that creepy old bastard, and the sooner the better."

  "Will do," she said. Then she glanced toward the squad room door and said, "Those two witch sniffers are in with the lieutenant."

  An icy finger traced its slow way down my spine. "They haven't found Rachel, have they?"

  Louise shook her head. "I'm pretty sure not. I think that's what they're in there bitching about."

  "Okay, good."

  I turned to Karl. "Let's go in, sit down, and catch up on paperwork or something." We still call it paperwork, although most of that crap is digital now. "Once those two bozos leave, we can talk to McGuire."

  "Works for me."

  I went into the squad room and could see, through the glass panels in McGuire's office, the two witchfinders in there with him. They were standing, and the older one, Ferris, was gesturing the way people do when they are seriously pissed off. The other guy, Crane, didn't look real cheerful, either, and that was fine with me. The unhappier those assholes were, the better I liked it. Or so I thought.

  Aquilina and Sefchik were at their desks, the ongoing argument apparently suspended for the time being while they each worked at their computers. They looked up as Karl and I came in, nodded "Hi," and went back to work.

  Any hope I had of doing the same was crushed when McGuire appeared in his office door, pointed at me, and made a summoning motion. Guess I wouldn't have to wait to see the boss, after all.

  As I walked through the door, McGuire said, "The reverends here have filed a complaint about the lack of cooperation they say they've received from the department as a whole, and our unit in particular. Therefore, Sergeant Markowski, I'm appointing you liaison, so that – what's the matter?"

  Ferris and Crane were looking at me as if I'd come in covered in shit. A kind of horrified fascination was in their stares; they recoiled as if I might get it all over them, and even the way they were sniffing gave some credence to the metaphor.

  "Anathema," breathed Crane, the younger one, who then said it again, louder: "Anathema!"

  "Cursed of God," Ferris said slowly, nodding, then he pointed an index finger at me like it was a loaded gun and he was getting ready to open fire. "Abomination!"

  I looked at McGuire if he knew what the fuck was going on, but he seemed as baffled as I was. I opened my mouth to demand some answers, but before I could speak, Ferris turned to McGuire and said, "This man" – still pointing at me – "reeks of accursed black magic. He has been consorting with the minions of the Evil One, and I demand to know why you have allowed such a person to remain not just in this city, but on the
police force
, for the love of Almighty God!"

  I noticed that Crane was nervously touching something through his suit coat. It appeared to be underneath the material, near his right hip.

  
He's packing? There's metal detectors at every door to the building, the best ones they make – no way could he get in here with a gun.

  
Or could he?

"All right," McGuire said, "let's everybody just calm down." I assume he meant the reverends, since I hadn't had the chance to get a word in yet.

  Once Ferris and Crane had stopped acting like nuns at a strip club, McGuire said to me, "Stan, you got any idea what these...
gentlemen
are talking about?"

  "That's what I came back here to tell you about, boss," I said. "I was approached by Rachel Proctor today – or, rather, Rachel's body with that bastard Kulick in chage."

  Crane made one of those snorts that means "Likely story," but at least he didn't start yelling again.

  "I'd like to hear about it now," McGuire said. Looking toward the witchfinders, he went on, "
without
interruption."

  They didn't like that, but at least the two of them kept their mouths shut while I ran down my encounter with Rachel/Kulick. As far as I was concerned, I was reporting to McGuire; the witchfinding assholes could listen if they wanted to.

  When I'd finished, McGuire asked, "Got that amulet on you?"

  "It's half an amulet," I said, "but yeah."

  "Let me take a look."

  I dug it out and handed it over. McGuire rubbed the metal gently between his fingers, as if he was expecting a genie to appear. "So Kulick gave you his true name, along with this little trinket."

  "Had to," I said. "The spell wouldn't work, otherwise."

  "You're supposed to hold this, say the name five times, and
poof
he appears?"

  "I don't know if there's a
poof
involved, but that's about the size of it. Except he'll still be in Rachel's body when he shows up."

  "Ridiculous!" Ferris said, as if he couldn't hold himself in any longer. "Lieutenant, your man has obviously fabricated this fairy story to conceal his own involvement with the witch, Proctor. He is probably in league with her – even after she murdered one of his brother officers, and drove the other insane."

  He actually said "in league with her." I didn't think anybody talked like that any more.

  "Oh, I don't know," McGuire said slowly, and I could tell he was working to keep his temper under wraps. "The sergeant's story is consistent with the other facts we have, such as they are. And he's had an exemplary record of service in this unit. I'm inclined to believe him."

  That was the first time he'd ever called me "exemplary" – in a good way, that is.

  Ferris glared at McGuire. "All right, Lieutenant. Your faith in your subordinate is touching – so, let us test it."

  He looked at me. "Take hold of the amulet, then recite the so-called true name of this wizard-in-awitch's-body. Make him appear here, in this office. Right now."

  "Can't do that," I told him.

  "
Can't
, or
won't
?"

  "Both," I said. "If I bring Kulick here, where Sligo obviously isn't, he's gonna be pretty pissed off. He's a powerful wizard, and there's no way to know what spells he's got prepared and ready to go. He could wreck this whole place – and us along with it. I think we can maybe use this thing to trap him, but it's gonna take careful preparation to control him once he shows up."

  "What a steaming pile of self-serving–" Crane began, but I kept talking, right on over him.

  "Besides, if we tried to take Kulick into custody now, Rachel could be hurt, even killed. I'm not willing to risk that – not even for two people I like and respect the way I do you guys."

  I wondered if these clowns even understood sarcasm.

  "An interesting story," Ferris said. "It neatly covers all your transgressions – or it would, if Reverend Crane and I were just a little more gullible."

  Ferris turned to McGuire. Speaking formally, as if making a public proclamation, he said, "Lieutenant, we believe this man to be willfully withholding information vital to our investigation, which we are undertaking as lawfully constituted witchfinders. We shall therefore take him into our custody and question him at lengntil we are satisfied that he has spoken the truth of this matter."

  I felt my testicles try to pull up into my body. I'd heard stories about the "questioning" techniques of witchfinders. Word was, they were modeled on the Spanish Inquisition – which was one of the reasons I didn't want Rachel falling into their bloodstained hands.

  Crane reached under his suit coat, and produced a pair of police-grade handcuffs. So that's what he'd been fondling under there. Then he gave me the nastiest smile I'm seen in quite some time. Maybe he did recognize sarcasm, after all.

  "Question him?" McGuire said. "Is that a polite term for 'torture'?"

  "Torture?" Ferris pretended indignation. "Heaven forefend, Lieutenant. We simply apply proven methods of... vigorous interrogation."

  "Taken from the
Malleus Maleficarum
?"

  
The Hammer of Witches
is a fifteenth century book describing how to torture confessions out of witches. The two guys who wrote it, Kramer and Sprenger, knew nothing about real witchcraft. They were just a couple of sick fucks who liked listening to women scream.

  "The source of our methods is irrelevant," Ferris said loftily. "They are all quite legal."

  "So's waterboarding, in some circles," McGuire said. "Doesn't make it right." Without taking his eyes from Ferris, McGuire said to me, "Detective Sergeant Markowski, do you willingly agree to accompany these men, and undergo interrogation at their hands?"

  I tried to speak, but failed. So I cleared my throat and tried again. "No, Lieutenant, I'd really rather not."

  "It seems the sergeant doesn't want to go with you, gentlemen," McGuire said. "And I'm afraid I couldn't spare him, anyway. His caseload is far too heavy."