by J G Jerome
She takes a sip of wine, “Yacob was nearly catatonic. I asked him where you and Marta were. He told me that you were out of town visiting relatives for a couple days. I knew you had no relatives within a day’s journey. I asked him what he knew about the Leuvenfeld’s fire, and he said, ‘I set it.’ He told me that he was upset about you leaving, so he went to the Leuvenfeld’s ostensibly to ask Sara why she sent you away. I am certain he didn’t notice the dichotomy between this story and the ‘visiting relatives’ version. He said he knocked on the door, and it swung open. He went inside and found it in disarray. The inside door to the cellar was open so he grabbed a candle and lit it. He went down into the cellar and found six corpses on the floor. He went back upstairs, lit the curtains, and fled.”
She sips the wine again as she looks into the past. “I could smell death in the air. I asked Yacob why he was keeping dead bodies in the house. He said, ‘You must be mistaken. Becca and Marta are visiting relatives. The Liebowicz family in Flagstaff.’ I knew Marta had no connection to the Liebowicz family. She was a Kueshner, and they never got along with the Liebowicz family. I beckoned Marta’s and Rebecca’s souls, but there was no response.”
She reaches for Rebecca’s hand. “I left and went to the Sheriff's office and reported that I could smell a dead body on the property. The sheriff and a deputy accompanied me to your parent’s house. It was on fire when we arrived, so the deputy ran for the fire brigade. I led the Sheriff to the cellar door. When we opened it, the stench of a putrid body rolled out the door and we heard gagging sounds. I led the way down and found Yacob hanging from a cross beam, slowly choking to death.”
Rebecca gets up to stand behind her chair and hug her. Judith looks up at her and says, “Your body was lying at his feet, and there was a stool lying on its side next to you. You were still alive, but there was barely a spark left in your body. I couldn’t save you in that state, so I pulled Yacob's soul out of his struggling body and walked back up the stairs to get some fresh air. I slowly pulled pieces out of Yacob's soul until it disintegrated. When I was done destroying his soul, I prayed to God that he would take you quickly and take both you and your mother home to escape the endless cycle of rebirth.”
Rebecca kisses Judith’s forehead. “Maybe it worked for Mama.”
Judith turns toward Rebecca. “Can you ever forgive me, Liebchen?”
Rebecca tells her, “There is nothing to forgive, my beloved aunt. You dispensed justice upon my father, and you did the best you could for Mama and I. You would have had to make me a zombie and then push my soul back into it. Not very practical with the sheriff there. I loved you then, and I love you still, Tante Judith.”
Judith says, “I’m hoping knowing what happened will give you some peace. What we call ‘closure’ in this day and age.”
Rebecca pats her hand and returns to her seat. “I left it all behind me. The last thing I remember from being alive was hearing Gwen roar my name - the guardian angel Shimon summoned for me. As a ghost, I only remember the fear and rejection from the people I met until I met William. He accepted me and treated me like a person - like being dead was just an unfortunate condition. Then he fixed my condition.” She flashes me a brilliant smile.
I add, “We actually met Gwen when I started renovating my house. It was built upon the Leuvenfeld’s cellar. We heard Gwen roar Rebecca’s name, so we went to investigate. We freed Gwen and the four ghosts Lafayette used to bind it to this plane. Josie is one of them. We gave one to Gwen, and I still have two in containers that Josie made before being murdered herself.”
I get up to refill wine glasses while I talk. “Lafayette came around with some goons demanding ‘his property.’ I didn’t find any that might belong to him, but I offered to sell him the property in its existing state. Once he agreed, I ran the price up. I sold him the house shortly before Labor Day.”
Judith says, “Julius Lafayette was my master and my lover. I had been training with another master, Remy St. Jacques, but Remy disappeared. Julius had always flirted with me, so he took me on. Julius and I would go whoring in New Orleans. I would frequently present myself as a whore and get men to come play with me. Other times Julius and I would rent a girl or boy to play with. My training was basically completed by Remy, so I only needed work with Julius to create my masterworks. I created a couple of golems and raised a ghoul for my three masterworks. I made one of each type of golem, and I bound the soul of one of Julius' enemies into the ghoul. When I finished my masterworks, I made love to Julius and left for San Francisco. I heard later that he took one of his favorite whores on as an apprentice. Her name was … Babette.”
I chuckle, “We all know her. I suspect she’s different than when you knew her. We’ll introduce you at some point. Lafayette pulled her soul out, turned her to a zombie, and sold her to a whorehouse in Denver. A sorcerer in the whorehouse brought over a succubus, and he put her in Babette. She’s done well for herself since.”
Judith warns, “You need to be careful with succubae. They will keep your lust up and drive you to keep going until you’re dead.” She frowns. “I don’t know how that would work with us. We are damned difficult to kill. With planning, it’s impossible.” She smiles at me. “If you see Julius Lafayette again, let him know where to find me. It would be nice to see him again.”
I tell her, “I’m willing as long as you promise not to tell him about Babette. She is a good friend.”
Judith nods. “Agreed.”
After we clean the table, I show Judith how to hide her powers. She practices until she thinks she has a grasp on the technique.
Afterwards, Judith asks Rebecca to play piano, do she does until it’s time to take Judith back. I call a Lyft, and we ride together to the Pioneer Home. I tell the driver to hang out, and I’ll give them a return fare. I escort Judith inside. She hugs me tightly and tells me, “Thank you for finding me and bringing Rebecca back into my life.”
I kiss her forehead and wish her goodnight.
18
The return of Julius Lafayette
Friday morning Delores Aguilar calls to tell me the owner of the Prescott Hotel countered with full price. I tell Delores to counter with $1.32 million. She calls a couple of hours later to tell me they counter at $1.35 million. I accept it.
The following Wednesday my phone pings with a text message from Delores, ‘Please call.’
I do.
Delores says, “Mr. Lafayette would like to meet with you.”
“When?” I ask.
Delores says, “He requested ‘at your earliest convenience.’ He appeared to be more polite than normal.”
“Okay,” I respond. “Would you be willing to host?”
“Sure, Will.”
“Could you set up a meeting in your conference room? Tomorrow?” I ask.
“For a good client like you, Will? Of course,” she chuckles in response. We sign off.
The next day, Thursday, I walk into the conference room ten minutes before the agreed time to meet. Delores gets me set up with water bottles and a pad of paper.
Shortly thereafter, Julius Lafayette enters the conference room followed by Lonnie. I stand and offer to shake hands.
Lafayette backs up and holds his hands back.
I try not to chuckle. “Truce, Mr. Lafayette. You asked politely through an intermediary to meet on neutral ground. I am here in good faith. I trust you are too. I will not attempt to harm you or Lonnie so long as you don’t try to hurt me or anyone else.”
Lafayette is wary, but he slowly offers his right hand to shake.
“Welcome to you both. Please have a seat,” I indicate the empty chairs around the table.
They sit. I offer water bottles, which they accept. Lonnie opens Lafayette’s for him.
“How may I help you, Mr. Lafayette?”
Lafayette grimaces. “I need to sell you the property back. I have run into unexpected cash flow issues.”
I think about that for a moment. The property does have
value. It’s location is prime. “I’m willing to pay one million dollars for it,” I reply.
He grimaces again. “I need four million.”
I shrug. “I can't help you with that. I’ve invested the bulk of your purchase into another couple of properties. I can give you one million dollars, plus…” I pull Charlene’s bolt out of my pocket and set it on the table. “I will throw Charlene Tully into the pot. Sidney is staying. He’s afraid you would just kill him again. Unfortunately, Mason went crazy - the angel took him.”
Lafayette chews on my offer. I suspect it's the bolts that he wants rather than the occupants. I throw one more offer into the pot. “I’ll also fix your hand.”
He seems surprised, but doesn’t say anything. I continue, “It doesn’t seem that you’ve made any headway on it. I’ll just remove my effect and heal it. After that you can make up the rest of the cash by using your craft.”
Lafayette grimaces again. It seems to be his favorite reaction today. “How do you propose I do that, young man?”
I shrug, “The easiest method is probably to find wealthy old people and reinvigorate them. I recommend you don’t make them look younger by more than about five years - just repair their organs and remove diseased tissue. You can charge them one million for each treatment. From a marketing perspective, you should swear them to secrecy. Most won’t keep their mouths shut, or they will contact you to help a friend. You can double your investment in my property in no time.”
He is surprised. He looks at Lonnie, and then back to me. “Are you doing this?”
I shake my head. “Not currently. It’s something I was thinking about to generate cash flow. I’m focusing more on cancer treatments at the moment. Marissa has breast cancer. The treatment I tried seems to do the job, but I’m still monitoring. I may make that my niche.”
I let him chew on that. Then I have another thought, “Oh, if you want to keep the Church away from your home, only work out on the east coast. Also, you are probably aware of this, but don't discuss details on the phone, either.”
Lafayette strokes his beard as he ponders it. “I think I can make that work for me. I even know a few people on the east coast that would likely want to do it.” He leans forward and offers his hand. “Mr. James, you have a deal.”
I set my defenses, and we shake on it.
“Lonnie, would you ask Ms. Aquilar to join us?” I ask.
I hold out my hand for Lafayette’s left hand. He extends it to me across the table. I remove the entropic glyph I tied into his arm before I pull all the entropic energy out of the limb. Then I tell him to energize his hand.
His hand becomes visibly healthier as we sit there. Lonnie appears with Delores in tow.
Lafayette looks at me shrewdly. He holds up his hand, and Lonnie blocks the door for a moment. He murmurs, “You are more powerful than you appear, Mr. James.”
I shrug. “I don’t like to brag or advertise.”
He looks at me with a penetrating stare. “You remind me of an old nemesis, Remy St. Jacques.”
I respond, “I heard he’s in Italy. I heard of him recently from a retired Church sorcerer.”
Lafayette fires back, “The Church doesn’t allow retirement.”
I nod. “I think that is generally the case. I’ve only heard of two retirees from the Hunters. One a hunter, one a sorcerer. I’ve not heard of anyone retiring that practices our craft. I suspect that they would just as soon lock us both up or kill us.” I pause for a moment. “Why don’t we ensure we both avoid that, hmm?”
Lafayette smiles grimly, “I like that plan. It seems we have another deal, Mr. James. I will list the property with Delores. She seems both nice and competent. She got things turned around quickly last time.”
“Why thank you, Mr. Lafayette.” Delores slides past Lonnie. “I would be happy to list for you.”
I add, “Delores, I will be purchasing Mr. Lafayette’s property for one million dollars.”
“Great news, Will. I know you loved that property,” she says.
I tell Lafayette, “I dropped a fairly large incentive on the title company to speed things along. You may want to do that too. Delores can guide you.”
Lafayette goes back to grimacing. “Okay. I hope it doesn’t require much. I’m really hurting for cash.”
“Really?” I ask. “I find that hard to believe.”
Lafayette sighs. “I am digging into my reserves. I have a two hundred fifty thousand dollar bill coming due next week, and several larger ones coming due in the next six months. The person I need to pay isn’t known for being patient. He has resources at his disposal to make my life… uncomfortable.”
William nods. “I think I understand.” I am struck by a promise I need to keep. “One last thing, Mr. Lafayette. I promised Judy Neumann that I would send her regards the next time I saw you. You knew her as Judith Silberschmid.”
Lafayette’s eyes bug. “Judith’s alive. Where?”
“She’s in the Pioneer Home. She’s pretty frail, but she’d love to see you.” Lafayette looks stunned. I ask, “Do you know where to go?”
Lafayette nods.
I tell him, “Best of luck.” We shake hands. I kiss Delores’ cheek as I pass and shake Lonnie’s hand before I head home.
Just as I get back to the apartment, Josie texts me. ‘Took the truck to buy some lumber. At Maria’s house.’
I text back. ‘You drove yourself?’ I get out of my CRV and unlock the apartment.
My phone pings as I close the door. ‘Maria had to come find me.’
I laugh as another ping sounds. ‘I managed to avoid all 5 accidents.’
I literally face palm before I hear another ping. ‘JK...was only 2.’
I sit on the loveseat and respond. ‘OK. Is Dan OK with you using his shop.’
Ping. ‘Oops!