Here Witchy Witchy Box Set 1

by A. L. Kessler

  “Problems in partner paradise?” Merick asked, leaning against the wall to the left of the doorway. “I’m surprised they still have you with a partner.”

  I shook my head. “He doesn’t trust you.”

  “Yet you do.”

  I shrugged. “Other than the hex, you haven’t really given me a reason not to trust you. You got the Cult off my back, you tried to keep a poltergeist or two from killing me, and now you’re here trying to help.”

  “Let’s go take a look at that room.” He motioned and I led him to the room off of the kitchen. There was no power left to the runes painted on the wall, broken the moment the door shattered against the floor. I hadn’t taken a closer look after the door fell, so I wasn’t sure what we were looking for. I had assumed that the hinges gave out. Something Merick was certain shouldn’t have happened.

  “Take a look.” He motioned to the door jamb. “It wasn’t the hinges.”

  I leaned in and tilted my head. There were no hinges still attached to the doorway. The flat metal flap that connected the hinges was gone. Left in its place were dents and screw holes. I pulled out a pair of gloves. Putting them on, I looked closer at the doorjamb and the holes. I touched one with my finger, digging at it a little bit.

  “Someone unscrewed it. This isn’t stripped.” I looked at the next one. The same thing. I pressed my lips together. “So someone did this, and I don’t think this is the work of a ghost.”

  He shook his head. “Who else had access to the scene?”

  “That’s the million-dollar question. We have that small horde of vampires who have been around it.”

  “No one knew that these runes were meant for you. Only you did after Nick walked in and couldn’t stand them.”

  I nodded. “There’s no reason someone would think destroying the barriers would put me in danger. Unless it’s someone connected to the case and knew what you were trapping in here.”

  “Have Nick process the room. You go to the morgue. I’ll tell Nick what I can about the runes. He may catch on to some of the lies because he knows the language. But better that I lie to him than you.”

  Lying to your partner could be deadly. “I’ll talk to you later, then.”

  “Be safe, Abigail.” He nodded.

  I walked out and looked around for Nick. I was betting more than anything that he was off talking to Mason about trying to get rid of Merick. I sent him a text about the room and went to the Hummer. He could answer me or not, but it was out of my hands for now. I climbed into the Hummer. Leaning back in my seat I turned on the radio, twisting the knob to turn the sound up. This was the kind of day that required loud angry music.

  A woman stood at the front desk of the morgue, her long legs covered halfway in a pencil skirt, and a business jacket creased just slightly as she crossed her arms. Her eyes narrowed at me behind small wired frames. She was much more attentive than the last receptionist that I’d met there, but I wasn’t sure how I felt about the sudden scrutiny.

  “I’m—“

  “Yes, I know, Jason is expecting you.” She pushed off the desk and teetered behind it in her little heels. I walked up and handed her my ID. She wrote some things down and then handed me a plastic visitor badge. “Here you go, Agent Collins.”

  I clipped my badge on my shirt and walked down the hall. Jason walked out of a room a few doors down, wiping his hands on the white apron that was slung crookedly across his body. “Hey, Abby. Ready?”

  I eyed the smear of liquid his hands left. “Shouldn’t you be wearing gloves?”

  “I was, but I ripped a hole in one.” He shrugged. “It happens. Don’t worry, it’s just water.”

  I relaxed a little bit. “Let’s go take a look then. What’s first?”

  “Full corpses. I have a couple things to show you and then we’ll move to one of the skeletons.” He motioned to the door. “Ladies first.”

  I walked in and grabbed my own pair of gloves out of the mounted box on the wall. I wiggled my fingers into the latex and went to the first silver table in room. The body looked more tan in the harsh lighting of the morgue, which helped clear a bit of the dark green color my memory kept trying to pull up. The head lay on a block of some sort; the skin had drawn away from the teeth, adding to the illusion that the body was silently screaming.

  I leaned forward to look at the neck and wished I would have held my breath. “Oh man, he smells.”

  “I know, sorry, between the decay coming and God only knows what fluids he was sitting in, he’s not a bed of roses.”

  I scanned the skin over where the artery would have been and found what I was looking for. Puncture marks stretched to about an inch from the skin being pulled against bone, but they were in the right spot. “Vampire victims.”

  “They all have similar marks in various artery locations.” He nodded. “They weren’t gentle. I’ll be able to get some measurements for you, but I can’t promise that they will be completely accurate because of the decay and mummification.”

  “I’ll take what I can get. We have a database that we can use those measurements with.”

  “That only takes into consideration vampires who have been prosecuted for non-consensual feeding.”

  I nodded. “Yes, but do we really think that whoever did this has only committed one crime?”

  “Point taken.” He motioned to the ankle. “Each victim is pretty much the same, shackled on the left foot, fed from frequently, but it wasn’t the feedings that killed them.”

  “What was it? Please don’t tell me they died slowly in that basement.” I put my wrist to my head. “Their situation was bad enough as it was.”

  He shook his head. “No, there’s traces of blood transfusions.”

  “Wait, what?” I went to the wrist and gently flipped it over, looking for some type of IV insert.

  “Modern, so you have the right idea, looking for the IV marks. I found it in the labs. Whoever did it was sloppy, and I don’t think they were a doctor, because the blood types are not matching.”

  I shook my head. “Is that how you placed the age of the bodies?”

  “No, I placed the ages of them by science and calling in a couple people to look into it as well. Second opinions and all that. The mummification threw me off. But they are closer to a decade old than a century.”

  Which put them there the same time that Jerry owned the house. “Okay, that takes me back a step. I need to bring someone in for questioning. Now, what about the skeletons?”

  He nodded and led me over to another table. “Like the corpses, all the skeletons are male victims.”

  “What am I looking at here?” I looked down at the bones. I knew enough that I was looking at a human skeleton, but not enough to know what Jason wanted me to get out of it.

  “The thumbs, well…” He let it trail off.

  I compared the hands and knew what he was getting at. “The lack of thumbs.” I muttered. “The sick-o took all the thumbs, not just thumbs on one hand.” Which made me wonder if there was another message. “I’m calling in another agent on this case, she joined PIB about ten years ago, when PIB was new. I’m hoping she can provide some insight.”

  “You have an idea of what’s going on, then? That’s more than Nick.”

  I hadn’t really shared with Nick yet. “I’m hoping it’s an old case, and since there weren’t that many agents then, I’m hoping it was her case or one that she’s heard of at the very least.”

  “Send her my way if she has any questions on the skeletons. I don’t know what she’ll be able to find out from them, but you never know.”

  I nodded. “I will, thank you.” I paused at the corpse.

  “Something else bothering you?”

  Most of it was personal, but I nodded. “I’m wondering how ten years ago twenty-five people went missing and no one really noticed.” Levi was also in this territory ten years ago and there was some bizarre feeding prison he claimed he didn’t know about, but there was no need to let Jason in on th
at.

  “People go missing every day. Some get reported, others don’t. It’s just how it works.” He sighed. “The statistics aren’t pretty.”

  I knew they weren’t. I never wanted to work missing persons because I didn’t like facing odds like that. “Thanks for all the hard work.”

  “If you think of something else that’s bothering you, let me know. I’ll pull the bodies out for you.”

  I chuckled. “Thanks. For now, keep them on ice. We can’t release remains until we finish the case.”

  “I’m working on getting them all identified for you. Have a good night, Abby.”

  “You too, Jason.” I stripped the gloves off my hands and threw them in the biohazard trash can before walking out.

  On autopilot, I walked to the desk, handed the receptionist my visitor badge, and went out to the car. I sat in the front seat and struggled with the reality that Levi might know something about the case that he wasn’t telling me. Vampire business had finally crossed over to my case so deep that I was on the edge of bringing him in for questioning. Speaking of questioning…I glanced at the clock and noted I still had time for someone to bring in Jerry for me to question.

  I put the phone on the hands free system and called Mason. He answered on the third ring. “Agent Collins, have something for me?”

  “Be on the lookout for ten more thumbs.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes really, why the hell would I lie to you?” I snapped.

  “Okay, point taken. What else?” He grumbled.

  “I need you to have your men bring in Jerry Borneheart for questioning. I’ll text you his last known address. New evidence shows he lived in that house when the basement was sealed up. Nick and I found some pretty convincing evidence that he knew about the ghost girl.”

  “Do you think he knew about the other bodies?”

  I took a moment to choose my words carefully. “I think it would be hard not to know that there were fifteen living creatures in that room. He said he heard voices, so maybe he didn’t know about it. But he knew about the regular basement.”

  “That’s enough to bring him in. Nick came to me screaming about Merick.”

  Of course he did. “Yeah, I got a pretty healthy lecture too. Don’t worry about him. I think he’s just being paranoid.”

  “Said you were trusting a psychopath.”

  “I don’t think Merick counts as a psychopath, honestly. But it doesn’t matter. Did he get to be a consultant on legit terms?”

  “He did, references and everything.”

  I imagined Mason holding up his hands. “Then we’re past that. Next item on the docket. Bring in my man so I can question him and we can move forward on this case finally.”

  “Tired of running into dead ends?”

  “And dead bodies. Did the containment team get there for our horde of blood-starved vampires?”

  “They did, no one came to stop us, so I don’t know where their maker is.”

  “Me either, but I’ll make sure to let you know if one comes after PIB for them.” I kept my voice light, but my guess was the vampire was powerful enough, like Levi, to be awake during the daylight if needed, which meant he was probably watching from some safe place.

  He grunted and then disconnected. I wasn’t sure what he was trying to say, but I assumed it was bye. I put the Hummer in gear and backed out of my parking spot at the morgue. I didn’t know how long it’d take Mason’s men to bring in Jerry but I’d head to the station anyways. There wasn’t anything else that I could do at this point, but wait. Just like the rest of the case.

  The station had the hum of people working, that white noise that was part chatter and part typing, the rustling of papers, and the tapping of fingers on desks. The PIB office tended to be quieter, but we also didn’t have several desks in one area. I walked by the rows of desks to head to the hall where the interrogation rooms were. A few officers waved and smiled at me when I passed by, but most of them were busy with their own work.

  I stepped into the hall to be greeted by a female officer I’d never met before. “You must be Agent Collins.” She held her hand out.

  I took her hand and her fingers wrapped around in a firm grip. She had a familiar face, but I couldn’t place where I might have seen her before. Maybe she just had one of those faces. “I am, and you are?”

  “Officer Denar, Mason had my team bring in your suspect. He didn’t give me much about the case.”

  “He wouldn’t because it’s a PIB investigation. I appreciate your help bringing Jerry Borneheart in.”

  “I’m to sit in because he’s human.” She walked towards the door.

  I paused, that hadn’t been the case before. “New rule?”

  “It’s always been the rule, Agent Collins, Mason just doesn’t follow it very well when it comes to you.” There wasn’t anything snide in her voice, just a matter of fact tone.

  “I had no idea.” I checked to make sure my badge was visible before I followed her into the interrogation room.

  The little table sat in the middle of the room, Jerry sat there with his hands folded and a strange smile on his lips. He wasn’t exactly what I had pictured. I assumed that he was older because of the information I had on him, but the house file hadn’t contained an age. The only sign that he might have been pushing forty was the small lines starting to form by his eyes. His auburn hair didn’t have a streak of gray in it, his brown eyes were still clear and almost youthful.

  “Jerry Borneheart?” I confirmed and he nodded. “Do you know why you were brought in?”

  “I have a feeling it has something to do with that haunted house, ma’am.” He drew out his words, laying on the southern accent thicker than when we had been on the phone. I knew that people’s accents could come out when they were nervous or stressed, but I had a feeling he was going for more of a good ol’ boy charm. Officer Denar and I sat down across from him.

  “I’m Agent Collins, and yes, you’re right, it has to do with the haunted house that we talked about earlier. This is Officer Denar, she’s here to observe our interview.”

  “Do they not trust a witch with a human?” He met my gaze. “Or is it me they don’t trust?”

  “Neither, simply protocol.” Denar said, keeping her voice even.

  I nodded. “The records for the house show that you sealed up a basement while you owned the property.”

  He didn’t respond or even bat his eyes at me. No denial or confirmation.

  “We were able to locate the entrance to that basement and what we found down there was a shrine of drawings and dresses in a bedroom meant for a young woman. You and I had talked about a ghost in that house. The drawings matched that ghost.”

  “Just like the one that was on file that led you to me. Is being obsessed with a dead person a crime?” His accent dropped a little bit. “The woman had been dead for a hundred years, there was no body to desecrate, I built a shrine to her out of my love.”

  “In love with a ghost? A bit…unrealistic, don’t you think?”

  His fingers tightened. “She had been the nicest person to me in my life. I moved into the house at the time that my employer was horrible, my new wife had just left me for another man, and I felt like I was at rock bottom.”

  “Do you have the sixth sense?” I met his gaze. “It takes energy for a ghost to show themselves, and if you had a conversation or interaction with her, you must have the sixth sense.”

  He snarled at me. “I’m not some freak.”

  “That doesn’t make you a freak. Please Mr. Borneheart. I’m just trying to get to the bottom of this case. I can’t do that unless you help me out.” It was a bit of a different approach than I had originally expected to take, but if I started accusing him of things he was just going to close up, his response to the sixth sense question told me that.

  “Okay, so I can talk to dead people.” His hands loosened a bit and his shoulders slouched. “She was the only one in the house, despite the voices I heard.
The tommy knocker-like ones.”

  “Was there anyone else that had access to that house? At any point?”

  He thought for a moment. “No.” His gaze flickered away and it made me think he was lying. “I was the only living person in that house.”

  “Why seal up the basement when the house was foreclosed on?”

  His gaze flickered again. “Because I wanted to leave my shrine for her, so she had some place to hide that was people free.”

  “Were you aware that there was a hidden wall in that room?” I leaned back, but kept my eyes trained on his face.

  He paled a little bit and it took him a moment to answer. “No, why would I have known? It wasn’t disclosed when I bought the house.” He tried to meet my gaze, but his eyes kept wandering away.

  Without a doubt he was lying. “Those voices you heard, did they sound like people in pain?”

  A small bead of sweat formed on his head. “No…no they just sounded like whispers, and knocks.”

  The people in that other basement would have been screaming or at the very least moaning. Depending on if they were drugged up or not. Jason hadn’t mentioned any type of gag. I tried to shake the image from my head again. He was lying, I could call him on it, and he could get angry and refuse to answer any other questions, or I could use magic.

  I pulled my bag to me and pulled out a piece of chalk. I felt Denar flinch next to me. I didn’t know if she thought I was going for a gun or what, but that wasn’t my problem right now.

  Jerry raised a brow. “A piece of chalk?”

  I didn’t answer him as I draw a small circle and rune on the table. It was a truth spell, kind of a gray area in the real world, but in the interrogation room I could get away with it. I’d used a similar spell to tell me when someone was lying, but this one meant that he could only tell the truth.

  I motioned to the chalk. “Truth spell. Just have to ask you a few questions, and now you’ll only be able to tell me the truth.”

  “I have to touch it first.” He laughed.

  So he did have some knowledge of magic. “For not knowing a lot about witches, you caught on to that quickly.”