Southern Belle (10 page)

Chapter 10

Max put on his coat and grabbed his keys. He avoided Sandra's glare. Hoping to sound reasonable, he said, "I need you working on that code."

She folded her arms and jutted out her chin. "You cannot go into this situation alone, and Drummond's out of the question for now."

"I won't be alone. Leed is there."

She raised an eyebrow which dismissed that entire argument. They went back and forth for five minutes until Max finally said he couldn't waste more time and rushed to the car. Sandra had a tough, stubborn streak in her, but Max knew she wouldn't jump in the car unclean and in her pajamas — not for this. But he also knew he'd pay for his actions later.

He wished he could have told her the truth. He wanted her to know that the FBI had been pressing on him, that Joshua Leed might be connected with a mess larger than they realized, that Drummond's secrecy might cause them more harm than he wanted to think about — but to tell her would be to bring her closer to the trouble he wanted to avoid. A part of him dug into his conscience, reminding him that they had learned to be open and honest with each other, that they had past experiences which proved hiding things never helped. But they had never dealt with the FBI before, never had to worry about charges and going to federal prison.

The drive to Leed's place did little to ease his mind. Often a drive would be a cleansing experience for his problems, but as he neared Thomasville, his focus shifted away from Sandra and on to Leed. He feared when he arrived that he would only find a body.

When his cell phone rang, he swerved onto the shoulder, the rumble strips shivering the car until he got back in his lane. He glanced at the phone — his mother. He considered letting it go to voicemail, but he had been avoiding her calls too often lately. Another thing Drummond had taught him well — a detective can't put all of his life aside for a case. Do that, and he never has time to live.

"Hi, Mom."

"Maxwell. It's so good to hear your voice. You're a hard man to reach."

"Sorry about that. It's been kind of crazy lately."

"Oh? Is business good, then?"

"We're doing fine. Busy but fine."

"Well, you shouldn't be too busy for your family. That's important. When you forget family, you forget what makes you the person you are, and then where would you be? You listen to me. I may be old, but I'm not an idiot."

"I never said —"

"You kids think I'm a fool but I know what I'm talking about. The ones we love are the most important part of our lives, and you shouldn't take that for granted."

Max thought of Sandra. "I agree."

"You should. So, I want you to come visit me. You're always welcome and I haven't seen you in too long."

"I'll see when Sandra and I can work in a vacation."

"Oh, yes, you can bring Sandra along, too."

Max finished the call, a gentle smile finding its way onto his lips. He could already hear Sandra's reaction to both his mother's lack of including her and the idea of a "vacation" visiting his mother. She would laugh hard before spewing a rapid tirade caused by years of such slights. Then she'd laugh some more.

Before Max could put the cell phone down, it went off again. He glanced at its face and read:
Modesto.
"Damn," he said and answered the call.

Modesto sounded more impatient than usual. "I expected a report by now."

For a moment, Max forgot what he had been assigned to do for the Hulls — Drummond, Leed, and a witch coven seemed more pressing. "Right, the handbell."

"You seem to be very relaxed regarding this research. Do I need to remind you of your current situation? Our employer is not fond of sluggards."

"I've done some preliminary research."

"We had hoped for more by now."

"You haven't given me much to go on."

Modesto could not hide the oozing triumph in his voice. "Why, I assumed a man as brilliant as you would have needed far less to start with. I'll inform our employer that you're the wrong man for our research needs."

Clenching the phone, Max said, "You go ahead and do that. Of course, you better be ready to explain why you failed to give me the necessary information to assist me. I mean, after all, that's part of your job, right? To assist me? And don't think for a second I won't contact Mr. Hull directly and let him know what a swell job you're doing. You do remember what happened the last time you screwed up for Mr. Hull, don't you?"

A long silence ensued. Finally, he heard Modesto's throat clear. "Finish your research soon. I'll expect a full report by —"

"Sounds good. Bye now." Max cut the call. Despite everything, he had to smile. "Sometimes it's the little victories that matter." He only hoped he would reach Leed in time for another victory.

* * * *

Though he had seen Leed's house before, driving up to it in the daytime made it scarier. Like Norman Bates's home on the hill. Max kept expecting the silhouette of a strange woman to appear in one of the upper-windows.

As he stepped from the car, Joshua Leed opened the front door and waved Max in as if he were a soldier being urged to sprint across an open field. "Hurry!" Leed attempted to crouch low, but with his bad leg, he simply ducked his head and leaned heavier on his cane as he moved to the edge of the porch. "Come on. I can't leave the door open."

Max jogged up to the porch, crouching a bit despite how silly he felt, and entered the house. Leed slammed the door shut, locked the deadbolt, and poured salt across the entranceway. When he faced Max, his sunken eyes and sweating cheeks shivered.

"Thank you for coming," Leed said. "I knew I could trust you. You didn't tell Drummond, did you? Not a word, right?"

"I didn't tell him anything."

"Thank goodness." With trembling hands, Leed limped to the kitchen. He looked thinner than before, frail and unkempt. "I need your help."

Max followed him. "Are you okay? You seem a bit —"

"You'd look the same if you were being hunted down by the dead."

"You mean the witch coven?"

"After I met you and your wife, I set out to destroy the witches I had cursed. I went to each site and I did what I had to. Something went wrong, though. I was never as good as Dr. Ernest at all this stuff. I don't know what I screwed up but things have only gotten worse. One's after me. She won't stop, either. Not until we're all dead."

"You didn't destroy both of them?"

"I did. That's the problem. I did exactly as Dr. Ernest prescribed, but still they come." He tried to pour a cup of coffee but spilled it on the counter.

"When was the last time you slept?"

Leed shook his head. "I won't sleep again. Not until we finish this."

"We?"

"I can't do this alone. I'm too old now. Besides, you and your wife are the only ones around here that know, that understand, what's going on. You've got to find out where Drummond's witches are buried. You've got to do this, but you can't let on that you know anything. Drummond's a ghost and this is personal to him. That's a highly emotional combination — all the ingredients for an evil conversion. But you get that information from him and we'll put a stop to this coven. Then, maybe I'll sleep."

Max sat at a little breakfast nook and scratched his head. "Look, I understand you're scared, and I believe that you and Dr. Ernest and Drummond all dealt with this witch coven way back when. But something doesn't quite fit. Drummond's behavior lately, for one. Something else, though. If you give me a little time to look into this more, then —"

A loud pounding erupted on the walls as if giants threw each other around the house. Max could see the drywall vibrate with each thud and dust sprinkled from the ceiling. A hundred horror movies flashed through his mind.

Leed cowered at the sound, gripping the edge of the sink to keep from falling over. He locked eyes with Max. With each successive thud against the walls, his face shifted to worse levels of terror.

"They killed Dr. Ernest. They're coming for me next. Oh, it's all our fault, all of it. We didn't know, didn't understand. You think you're doing right, fighting evil forces, saving the world around you, but it's never so simple."

Max put out his hand and noticed the tremor in his fingers. "Come. Let's get out of here."

"My soul is damned. I've used the same magic that they used. I did so against them, to save us, but I used it nonetheless. I'm damned."

Glass shattered upstairs and the pounding on the walls intensified. Max's heart pounded in time. He grabbed Leed's wrist but the frightened man found the strength to yank himself free.

"Whatever's doing this," Max said, "it doesn't have to take you. Come with me. We can solve this. Trust me."

Leed straightened and his face shifted from horror to acceptance. He shook his head slowly. "It's over for me. I'm too old, too tired."

The pounding ceased.

Max stood motionless, his skin still jangling with nerves. Leed opened a drawer and pulled out a photograph. He stared at it, and a tear fell down cheek. "I should've known all along that this was more than just a witch coven. Dr. Ernest always held back from telling me the truth. But I was young and foolish. And I wanted the adventure." He held out the photo to Max. "Here. Take this and —"

A screech like an animal being slaughtered erupted around them. An unseen hand flung Leed up against the wall. Pots clattered to the floor. Max winced at the sharp odor of sulfur.

He stepped forward to help but something jerked him backward. He tried to move again and was slammed against the breakfast nook wall. An enormous weight pressed into him as if a huge man leaned back against his chest.

Across the kitchen, he watched as the attack shoved Leed higher up the wall until his head touched the ceiling. Leed tried to speak, but his throat only made a clamped, gurgling sound. His face darkened and his eyes bulged.

Max strained to raise his arm, move his leg, anything, but he had been made immobile by this force. He found enough breath to scream out. "Leave him alone!"

Leed's face opened in surprise. "You did it," he said, staring at the emptiness in front of him. "You killed my parents."

Moaning laughter twisted around the screeching sounds. Max heard a sharp crack, and Leed's head lolled to one side. The weight holding Max lifted, and as he discovered he could move freely, Leed's body dropped to the floor.

Max rushed across the kitchen and checked Leed's body. No pulse. No breath.

Clenched in the man's hand, Max noticed the photograph he had pulled from the drawer. With his sweat soaking his shirt and his mouth bone dry, Max reached for the photograph. Not one to enjoy touching a dead body, especially a freshly dead body, Max tried to pull the photo free without making contact. It slipped out with ease. Maybe fresh dead had its advantages — no rigor mortis, for one.

The photo turned out to be a page torn from a book. The picture was black and white and depicted a large building ablaze, smoke pouring high into the air. A group of onlookers stood by and watched as if it were a grand show.

Max stuffed the picture in his pocket and hurried out of the house. As he drove away, his heart hammering blood into his head, he thought of that picture. What could have been so important about it? He saw Leed's head crack to the side and remembered the feel of the ghostly weight against his chest.

After a few minutes, Max pulled over. He rushed from his car and took a few steps towards the trees lining the road. He threw up.

* * * *

Max took Exit 103 off Route 85 and parked at Denny's. About thirty minutes later, Sandra arrived, and they shared a booth built for six. Despite the booth's size and the lack of a crowd, Max felt closed in.

When he finished telling Sandra about what had happened, he whipped his head around the room. "She's not here is she?"

Sandra took a quick look. "Not a single ghost here."

"We've been through a lot, but this ... I've never been more scared in my life. I couldn't move. And even though I didn't see anything, I could feel it, smell it — her. Leed said it was one of the witches come to take revenge on him. He said we had to stop it. I think he's right."

"Calm down, honey."

"But she'll come after us. She can't go after Drummond, he's already dead. But if she wants to hurt him, she could come after us. He'd have to watch us die knowing it was his fault."

"This is the reason I should've been there."

Max pulled back. "You're going to give me an 'I told you so'? Really?"

"What I'm saying is that had I been there, I would have seen this ghost. We would know exactly who we're dealing with. I know you want to protect me, but surely we're far beyond that now. You know you need me. So stop holding back and let me be of use."

"Holding back?" Max tried to look surprised but she could always read him.

"I don't know what the big secret is, but you've been as bad as Drummond."

"It's not like that."

"It's exactly like that." She smiled to show him she wasn't angry, that she worried about him and wanted to help. "You know better than this. If we don't trust each other, then the whole thing falls apart."