KISS THE WITCH (24 page)

“
Tony.”

I opened my eyes. Carlos and Spinelli were
looking at me. “Are you all right?”

“
Yeah. Sure.”

Spinelli said, “I thought you were falling
asleep.”

“
Asleep?” Carlos pointed
at me with his fork. “I thought you were dead.”

The two laughed at that, and then I laughed.
And when I saw that they did not expect a better explanation from
me, I gathered my wits and stowed them away in safe place.

“
Listen,” I said. I took a
quick sip of coffee to wet my dry lips. “Carlos, you remember
Monday morning you said you went to the hospital to investigate a
missing Jane Doe?”

“
Sure,” he said. “Craziest
thing. Isn’t it? What sick bastard would steal a dead body?” He
looked to Spinelli. “If someone kidnaps a corpse, is it still
kidnapping?”

Spinelli shrugged. “Don’t suppose so. I
think you have to take someone against their will for that.”

“
What if he…you know.” He
gestured by poking his finger through a closed fist.

Spinelli grimaced. “Don’t know. It’s just
one stiff doing another then.”

They both laughed at that. I cleared my
throat. “Excuse me. Can we get back to this?” The two straightened
up promptly. “Carlos, what became of it?”

“
The missing cadaver?
Nothing. It’s still an open case. Haven’t really had time to look
into it much after this Biocrynetix Laboratories thing. Why? What
are you thinking?”

I leaned forward, propping my elbows up on
the table. “Okay, hear me out.” Carlos and Spinelli leaned in
likewise. “We know that Mrs. Snow passed away in the early hours of
Monday morning. Correct?”

Spinelli answered, “Yes, and per her
husband’s request, the hospital cremated her immediately.”

“
That’s right. But what if
it wasn’t her?”

“
How do you
mean?”

“
I mean New Castle General
would likely bed two terminally ill patients together on the same
floor, in the same wing. Possibly in the same room.”

“
You think Snow’s wife and
the Jane Doe were roommates?”

“
Maybe.”

“
Wait,” said Spinelli.
“Are you suggesting Howard Snow killed Jane Doe after his own wife
died, switched her body for his wife’s and then slipped out of the
building with her?”

“
That would explain why he
insisted they cremate her right away, before anyone realized it
wasn’t her.”

“
So, Jane Doe wasn’t
really missing. She was cremated.”

“
Exactly.”

“
But why?” asked
Carlos.

Spinelli offered, “So he could use the
compound on his wife. If he believes QE647 really worked, then he
might try it on his wife to bring her back to life. That would
explain his motive for stealing it.”

Carlos said, “I bet Williams caught him
stealing the compound, maybe told Delaney and that’s why Snow
killed them.”

“
What about his old
roommate?” I asked. “Why would Snow kill him?”

“
I don’t think he did,”
Spinelli said. “You saw the wreckage from the car bomb. It took
military-grade high explosives to rip that Hummer apart. Howard
Snow would not have had access to something so
advanced.”

“
No.” I shook my head. “I
don’t think the people looking for Snow would risk destroying the
documents. That’s why they shot up Carlos’ car at close range. They
could just as easily have fired a missile at it from a helicopter
and made a cleaner get-a-way.”

“
Seems they made a clean
enough get-a-way to me,” Carlos complained.

I acknowledged that with a nod. “Still, they
had boots on the ground because they fully expected to retrieve the
documents and possibly the compound.”

Spinelli asked, “So, where does that leave
us?”

“
I think it leaves us with
the assumption that we’re looking for two people. Howard and Mrs.
Snow.”

“
His dead
wife?”

I smiled. “Dead…maybe.”

Carlos said, “Tony, you cannot honestly
believe Snow used the compound to reanimate the wife.”

“
Not saying he did. But if
he does have her, then he almost certainly still has to be in town
somewhere. Traveling with a corpse is not easy these
days.”

Carlos laughed. “Was it ever?”

“
We should check the
motels,” Spinelli said.

“
Good idea.”

“
How?” Carlos
asked.

“
The old fashioned way.” I
motioned as though I were knocking on a door. “We go
house-to-house, or in this case, motel-to-motel. Start with the
hole-in-the-wall joints first. Try along Route-1 and the dives on
the lower end of Edgewater. You’re looking for a single man
checking in Tuesday, sometime after the car bombing at
Dwyer’s.”

“
Don’t you mean two people
checking in?” Spinelli and I looked at him until he got it. “Oh,
right,” he said, embarrassed. “Yeah, one person checking in. That
makes sense.”

“
Okay.” I glanced at my
watch. “It’s almost eight-thirty. I want you both to get on it
right after breakfast.”

“
What about you?” Spinelli
asked.

“
I have to go
home.”

“
Why?”

“
I ahm…. I forgot to do
something. If you come across anyone fitting Snows description, let
me know.”

“
Roger that.”

I took a bite of toast and finished my
coffee before getting out of the booth. As I tossed my napkin on
the table, I said to Carlos, “You can get this one. I got it last
time.”

“
Sure,” he said, and as I
walked away I heard him say, “Wait a minute. I got it last
time.”

I gave a wave over the top of my head. “Call
me if you find anything.”

I arrived back at the house at a quarter to
nine. Lilith was standing at the sink, washing dishes. At first
glance, I thought it was Ursula because she was wearing a dress.
Lilith almost never wears a dress. For her it is usually blue
jeans, cotton shorts or leather. Sometimes leather shorts, but
that’s just for special occasions.

“
What are you doing home?”
she said. “Run out of bad guys to bust?”

“
No, I needed to take care
of something.” I looked down the hall and around the corner into
the dining room. “Where’s Ursula? She home?”

Lilith glanced over her shoulder at me. “Why
do want her?”

I came up behind her and slipped my arms
around her waist. “No reason. I just wanted to ask her something.”
I nestled my nose in the nape of her neck and kissed her softly.
She rocked her head back and moaned approvingly.

“
Hmm, that’s nice,” she
cooed. “Do it again.”

I brushed her hair back and nibbled on her
earlobe. “I see you’re wearing a dress.”

She shut the water off, dried her hands on a
dishtowel and turned around, still encompassed in my embrace. “Yes.
You like?”

I kissed her lips. “I do.”

She put her arms around my neck, clasped her
fingers together, rolled up on tiptoes and kissed me back. I
noticed it seemed different somehow. She seemed different. Her kiss
felt tenuous and unfamiliar like a stranger’s kiss. I assumed she
wanted to role-play, especially when she asked, “You have
time?”

I smiled. “For what?”

She shifted her weight onto one hip,
pressing her pelvis against me. “You know,” she said, and she slid
her tongue across my upper lip and bit it teasingly.

I buried my face in the thick of her hair,
savoring its fragrance in a stuttered breath. I could feel myself
getting hard. I knew she felt it, too, as she kept pressing herself
against me, rocking, surging in rhythmic tides.

“
I don’t know if we
should,” I told her. “I only came home to talk to
Ursula.”

She unclasped her hands and began
unbuttoning my shirt. “What do you want with her?”

“
Well, I suppose I should
tell you.”

“
Yes?”

“
I don’t know this for
sure but I think––auh….”

My mind went blank after she pulled my shirt
open and pinched my nipple between her teeth. I gasped, and I can
tell you it hurt when reflexes caused me to pull away sharply. She
dragged her nails slowly down my chest and over my belly. She
stopped at my belt and began to unbuckle it. Her hair spilled down
her face, tickling my ribs and washing my mind of everything I
wanted to say. I cupped my hands over hers and made her stop.

“
Lilith, wait.”

She looked up at me, her expression unlike
anything I had ever seen on her face before. I saw innocence,
surprise and a hint of confusion. She gathered her lips in a pout
and uttered softly, “Why?”

I held my finger up to indicate we needed
only pause a minute. “I have to tell you this. I think Ursula has
been casting spells on me.”

“
Spells?”

“
Yes, sex spells, I think.
I shouldn’t tell you this, but I have had these dreams about
her.”

“
Oh?”

“
Erotic
dreams.”

I turned my head to avoid eye contact with
her, but she pressed her finger to my chin and steered my gaze
back. “Kiss me.”

I kissed her.

She unbuttoned my pants. I felt her hand
slip down the front of my waistband. I surged forward in
involuntary reflex. She pulled her hand back. I locked my arms
around her, drew her in tightly and kissed her hard. “To hell with
it,” I said. “Let’s do it.”

I ran my hands up the back of her legs and
over her butt, taking the bottom of her dress up passed her hips.
In the mirror across the room, I could see her. Her arms around me.
Her long black hair flowing down her back. Her legs, sculpted firm.
And her ass, her beautiful ass with her thong disappearing between
her….

“
Ursula?” I pushed her
away. “What the hell?”

“
Tony.” She tried giving
me that look, the one Lilith gives me when my accusations are
baseless and absurd.

I was not buying it.

“
Don’t Tony me.” I jabbed
my finger at her. “You’re Ursula.”

She abandoned her pitiful, surprised look,
softened her stance and crossed her arms at her chest.

“
Aye, `tis me,” she said,
giving up the charade. “Pray tell, what hath thou on me to give it
away?”

I gestured across the room. “I could see
your ass in the mirror there.”

“
My ass?”

I conjured up my best smug look. “Yes. You
have no tattoo.”

She reached around her backside and rubbed
her left cheek. “Aye, `tis a small detail. But for that I would
have thee.”

“
Have me? Ursula, pardon
my French. But whathefuck? Why are you trying to seduce
me?”

“
I want only to be ready
is all, for my Dominic.”

“
What?”

She crossed the kitchen and took a seat at
the table. “He is surely a man of the world. I fear he may want me
not but for the pleasure a better girl can promise him.”

I walked to the table, buckling my belt and
buttoning my shirt. “Ursula.” I pulled a chair up next to her and
sat down. “This makes no sense. Have you been casting spells over
me?”

“
Aye,” she said, sounding
disappointed.

“
Spells to make me think
of you?”

She nodded. “`Tis affection spells I cast.”
She crinkled her nose and shrugged some. “To make thee want me is
all.”

“
Want you?”

“
Aye.”

“
To make me want to have
sex with you?”

“
Aye.”

“
Huh. Well, it’s been
working. I can tell you that. You were all I could think about
these past four days. I dreamed about you. I thought I was falling
for you.”

She shook her head. “No. `Twas the
spell.”

“
This morning at the
Percolator, I could sense your presence. You were in my head. It
felt like you were there.”

She smiled. “I felt you here.”

“
But how? Lilith and I
have never had that kind of connection before.”

“
`Tis the coven. It binds
us ever-stronger now.”

“
When did you decide to do
this to me?”

“
Hmm…methinks four nights
past when I saw what pleasure my touch brought thee.”

“
During the
ceremony?”

“
Aye.”

“
When I got,
ahm….”

“
Aroused?”

“
Yes. Aroused.” I regarded
her suspiciously. “That didn’t surprise you. Did it? You knew what
you were doing to me.”

She came back slightly insulted. “Aye. `Tis
another time from which I hail, not another world. Men are but
animals with instincts and desires. Be it now or then. Yee are
naught but the same.”

“
You wanted me to get
aroused.”

“
Aye.”

“
In front of
Lilith?”

“
Only to seed the spell.
To put thee in what frame of mind thee had.”

“
I don’t
understand?”

“
To get thee
thinking.”

“
Of you.”

“
Aye.”

“
That helps the spell
work?”

“
Aye.”

“
Did it?”