Pretty Witches All in a Row (19 page)

“God does work in mysterious ways.” 

“What do you hope to accomplish here, Reverend?  I don’t see this ending in anything but ugliness.”

“If there’s a chance we can save just one of their souls, then it’ll be worth any… ugliness.”

“You don’t seriously thing you’re gonna convert any of them with this crap, do you?”  Nick smacked his hand against the sign Cahill was carrying. 

“Maybe not, but it’s my duty to denounce evil wherever I see it.”

“There’s nothing evil about a group of people gathering together to mourn their loved ones.”  Did he seriously not get that? 

“The devil may mourn his lost concubines; it doesn’t make him less of a devil,” Cahill maintained stubbornly and Nick could see that he wasn’t getting anywhere with him.  He withdrew his badge then, flashing it to him and the crowd around him.

“Alright, the show’s over.  Like I said, I’m gonna need you to disperse, you have no right to disturb a private function.”

“Were on public property, we’re not trespassing,” Cahill replied calmly. 

It was true, they were standing on the public street and sidewalks, not actually on Skye’s property, but how long would that last once the mourners noticed their presence?  “Alright then, you’re obstructing the flow of traffic.  I can cite you for that if you don’t move your people out of here.”

“What traffic?  I don’t see any cars trying to get through.”

“Well in my report there will be a line of cars that were inconvenienced, and I’m betting I can get a whole slew of witnesses who’d be willing to say their way was blocked.”  Nick tilted his head towards the crowd at the back of the house. 

“I can see that evil has gotten its claws into you, Detective.”  The Reverend’s eyes narrowed at him.  “I can produce just as many witnesses to the contrary.  You go ahead and write up your citations if you must, we won’t leave until we’ve served our purpose.”

Park and Brady made their way to Nick’s side, grim looks on their faces.  “How are we gonna play this, boss?” Brady asked.

Nick was glad to have his team there to back him up, but he wasn’t quite sure what the three of them could do against the thirty or so protesters and the eighty pagans in the back, should things come to a head.  “Be ready to call for back up to break this up if things turn ugly,” he turned to instruct them.  “Other than that… let’s hope cooler heads prevail.”

Brady nodded and Nick looked around as something occurred to him.  “Where’s Troyer and his men, are they here?”

“They’re here, parked a little further down the street,” Park replied, her head nodding in the right direction.  “At least they were before this group showed up, I can’t see them now.”

“Great, well unless he makes himself known I’ll be the senior officer on the scene, so what I say goes.  For now let’s play somewhere in the middle, see if we can keep the two sides from mixing.”

The three man team moved up the long driveway that extended to the back of the house, but by the time they were halfway up the pavement it became clear that the presence of the protestors had been noticed.  “Aw crap…” Nick muttered as Seraphine strode towards them, flanked by some of her friends.  “Sera… don’t do it Seraphine; you’re giving them what they want,” he cautioned her, blocking the way.

“Get out of my way, Sergeant,” she commanded him, her voice ringing with authority.

“Not if you’re going to go do something stupid, I won’t,” Nick shook his head, remaining fixed.

“Let me pass!” Seraphine demanded.  “They want to see witches; I’ll give them witches…” her eyes blazed. 

“Sera, they’re self righteous, ignorant assholes… and letting them get to you is letting them win.” 

“I have no intention of letting them win anything, least of all of ruining this night for my people.”  Unfortunately, more and more people were straggling out from the rear of the house in curiosity as the chants from the front of the house grew in volume.  Even with Park and Brady, there was no way they were going to be able to keep them all away from each other. 

“Sera…”  Nick tried desperately to get her full attention and draw her gaze away from the Reverend.  “You need to be a strong leader for your people; you know this will end badly if you all go charging in there.  You don’t want anyone to get hurt do you?  There are kids back there,” he reminded gently.

Her resolve faltered for a moment and he knew he’d scored a point for rationality.  Sadly, the crowds registered each other’s presence and the catcalls got louder while the pagans seemed largely stunned for the moment.  Seraphine came to a decision and she stepped around Nick, moving with steady purpose to the front of the picket line.  “What are you doing?” Nick called after her.

“I’m being a strong leader,” she called back to him.  The pagans started to come out of their shocked stupor and edged slowly up the property. 

“Everyone stay calm; don’t give them what they want.”  Nick addressed as many as he could and he could see Park and Brady doing the same, circulating through the mourners as more and more of them filed out from the back yard.

Seraphine came to stand right in front of Reverend Cahill, a self assured smile on her face, head held high.  “This is low, even for you,” she faced him calmly.

“His word is clear.”  Cahill held his sign aloft.  “Your place in hell is assured unless you repent and accept Jesus Christ as your savior.”

“Yeah, that’ll work,” Nick muttered in disgust, both a little relieved and dismayed as Annaliese appeared at his side.  “I thought I told you to stay in the back of the house where it’s safe?”

“I said I’d try, but clearly that didn’t work so well,” she replied, her eyes on where Seraphine stood before the Reverend.  “Come on…”  Before he could stop her, she threaded her way closer to the line of fire.  Nick followed along afterward, if he couldn’t keep her from sticking her nose in the middle of it, maybe he could at least yank her out of the way if things got bad. 

“When are you going to accept that there is more than one path to God?”  Seraphine’s voice rang out clear and strong. 

“There is only one true God, and he does not welcome witches and harlots to his bosom,” Cahill retorted. 

“Oh right, so Buddhist and Hindus, religions all over the world they’re all going to burn in hell too, because you’re the only one with a pipeline to God, is that right?”  A man to Seraphine’s right challenged.

“All will perish in the unholy fires of hell who do not follow the true path,” one of the protestors retorted. 

“It’s not even witch, you moron.  The correct translation is ‘thou shalt not suffer a poisoner to live’!” came another reply.

“Uh oh…”  Now that others besides the leaders were getting into it, it was only a matter of time before it disintegrated into a free for all.  “Look, you people need to agree to disagree and move on.”  Nick spoke in the most authoritative voice he could muster.  Only he was largely ignored by both factions as more and more barbs were traded, some of the pagans tossing bible quotes back at Cahill’s group in support of tolerance.  He didn’t see who the first one was to cross the line, but all of a sudden all hell broke loose; the groups converged on one another in a cacophony of noise.  Pagans tried to tear down the protest signs, and protestors tried to wrest them back, striking back in response. 

Somehow or other Annaliese slipped away from his side and Nick saw to his horror that she was involved in a shouting match with a guy three times her size.  The protestor towered over her by a good eight inches, his bulk barely contained by the straining belt under his corpulent belly.  As he struggled to get closer to her, he saw the man’s face grow redder and redder, the veins in his forehead standing out as he grew closer and closer to his breaking point.  Nick could imagine what she might be saying to him; Annaliese was a very smart lady, he had no doubt that she could take whatever vitriol he was spouting and turn it around on him without breaking a mental sweat. 

Unfortunately the argument escalated with inevitable predictability and when Nick saw the picket sign swing back for an intended blow, he rushed forward, desperate to keep her out of harm’s way.  With a last surge he insinuated himself between the pair, getting right into the man’s face but being careful not to touch him in any way.  “Don’t even think about it.”  Nick opened his coat enough for his gun to be visible, gratified to see the man’s eyes widen and he took a step backwards, lowering the sign with a guilty look. 

Nick pushed Annaliese behind him, his head whipping back to find Brady who was already on his phone, hopefully calling for backup like a good boy.  “Come on, let’s get out of here!” he yelled over the din.  Not waiting for her reply, he pushed her away as best he could, even as bodies around them pressed in all directions.  Luckily, she realized things had gotten out of hand and put up no resistance as he dragged them towards the edge of the crowd. 

Sirens could be heard almost immediately and Nick had to wonder if they’d been put on standby.  Did he have Brady to thank for that or Troyer?  Either way, as soon as the sound of sirens were recognized, the worst of the melee was over, with people backing off.  Many of the pagans retreated to the back yard again but several darted off down the street.  Cahill’s people stood their ground as a unit, clearly not afraid of facing the authorities. 

Soon the street was blocked with four black and whites, lights flashing as uniformed cops came to break up the rest of the ruckus.  Troyer and his men appeared then, lounging against one of the cop cars. 

“Are you alright?  He didn’t hurt you did he?”  Nick checked Annaliese over anxiously as soon as they were free of the crowd.

“No, I’m fine,” she replied, her voice a little shaky, but he couldn’t spot any sign of injury on her.

“I’ll be right back,” Nick promised, leaving her side to lope over to the other detectives.  “There you are, I wondered if you guys had packed up and headed for home,” he called out as he joined the other men.

“No way, we wouldn’t want to miss the floor show,” Nelson grinned.

Adrenaline still running hot, Nick had to suppress the urge to smack the guy.  “Why didn’t you call for back up before it got out of hand then?”

“Didn’t see any need for it.  Besides, they got here fast enough when you called it in,” Troyer responded with a half shrug.

That only confirmed Nick’s suspicion that they’d had no part in handling the situation.  “You knew this was going to happen and you didn’t do anything to stop it.” 

“How was I supposed to know it would turn into this?”

“You saw them arriving, you could have asked them to disperse before anyone at the vigil even noticed they were here.”

“They have every right to gather here just like the witches do.  The street is a public place.”

“They’re the ones that left the private property to confront them,” Willis pointed towards the house and Nick looked at him squarely. 

“Yeah well, just because someone has the right to act like a dick doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do.” 

“Are you calling me a dick, dick?”  Willis pushed away from the car he was leaning on; advancing on Nick, but Troyer laid a restraining arm across his chest. 

“Cool it, ladies.  We wanted to see our players interact and we did.  Now let’s get back to it.  Gibson, I want to hear more in your report about tonight than you standing around singing campfire songs.  Get back to work.”

Nick bristled, his eyes on Willis as he replied.  “And I want to see more in your report than you sat around with your thumb up your ass while everything went down.”  He backed away from the men, knowing he had to put some distance between them until he calmed down.  Once his back was turned and he was walking back towards the house he allowed himself the luxury of swearing in every language he knew under his breath.

“That guy is a total asshat,” he muttered as he rejoined Park and Brady.

“Who, Cahill?” Park asked.

“No, Willis.  Or maybe Nelson.  Or all of them,” he sighed, letting out a long steadying breath.  “So, was there any real blood shed?”

“No, thank God.  The worst of it seems to be a couple of scratches and some pulled hair, but no actual punches were thrown,” Brady reported.

“Good job on getting the uniforms here quick.  I think it could have gotten a hell of a lot worse if they hadn’t arrived when they did,” Gibson praised him and Brady nodded in acknowledgement. 

“So… where are we now?  Back on surveillance, wait and see if anything else happens tonight?” 

“Yep, here’s to a nice, quiet night after this fiasco.  I’ll check in with you guys first thing in the morning if you don’t hear from me tonight.”

“You got it boss,” Brady replied and Park nodded in her usual taciturn way.  They departed to go back to the car and wait for Rose to leave the gathering. 

Nick made his way to the rear of the property in search of Annaliese.  “Hey, are you sure you’re alright?” he asked as he reached her side. 

“Me?  I’m fine, not a scratch on me.”  She gave him a broken smile, still clearly upset by the confrontation.  “I just… ugh… it makes me want to scream, you know?  All we wanted to do was get together and say goodbye, and he couldn’t even let us have that.  It’s not bad enough we’re being picked off one by one, we’re not even safe here in a group without being attacked.”

He was seized by the urge to bring her into his arms for a hug, but he didn’t dare with so many police still on the scene and him still on duty.  Instead he settled for laying a light hand on her shoulder.  “I know.  People suck,” he said shortly, offering her a faint smile.  “This is pretty much over now I take it?” 

“I think Seraphine is planning on trying to bring it back together again, try and salvage some of what we did here tonight.”  True to her words, Sera rose up on the small stage again, this time having to wait a good deal longer for the crowd to hush as everyone was still so agitated. 

Seraphine raised both hands, her voice carrying out over the yard once more.  “I’m so sorry we had to endure that ignorance.  But we can’t let it undermine what we came here to do tonight.  Let’s come together again and let go of the negativity.  Please, join hands.”  She waited while the crowd did as she bade them, settling down and holding hands.  Nick felt the back of Annaliese’s hand nudge his lightly and he took her slender hand in his.