The Black Merchant

by Shannon Reber

  I turned my attention to my laptop, doing all I could to shut out the feeling of discomfort that passed over me. My instincts could not be trusted. I had to verify everything.

  “Jackpot,” I stated when Hadley’s face showed up on a video someone took while riding the T two days before.

  The video was simply a girl talking about the poor service she’d gotten at a food truck. Behind her, Hadley sat with a hopeful look on her face. She wore sunglasses and had headphones in her ears, something that gave me an idea.

  “Mr. Novak, Hadley was riding the bus and the T without any problems at all despite the fact she’s legally blind.” I waited, hoping he would tell me what I had begun to suspect.

  He leaned his elbows on the table. “She’s always been good at adapting. She uses a GPS transit map on her phone which gives her directions to the destination she enters into it.”

  I smacked the table top and did a mental happy dance. “Mr. Novak, that’s it! Wherever she went, it’ll be recorded on her phone!” I said, beginning to type as fast as possible.

  “I’ve tried calling her phone and even calling the cell phone provider to have them track her location. There’s nothing. It’s like even the SIM card was removed or something.”

  I smiled at him. “This is where I shine,” I told him and entered Hadley’s phone number into the program I’d written years ago.

  Erkens let out a gusty sigh and drummed his fingers on the table. “I’m too old to understand any of that crap. Give me a book and some pavement to pound and I’m fine.”

  Mr. Novak kept his eyes fixed on my laptop. “I honestly believed when my wife gave me the business card Madison left for her yesterday, that I would find some crazy hippy who was so hopped up on drugs that there would be no sense in anything that was said. I see that I was wrong.”

  Huh. I had wondered if the man knew that we were paranormal investigators. It was kind of nice to see that he was willing to keep an open mind. It made me like the man even more.

  Kevin took no notice of that particular conversation, his eyes fixed on me. “I knew a girl like you once. She was a pretty girl who thought she was beautiful, smart though thought she was a genius. She had the men around her wrapped around her little finger, like you do.”

  I didn’t even look up. I was close to finding Hadley. Some stupid man’s opinion about me was nothing I would concern myself over.

  Erkens leaned forward in his seat and let out a noise very close to a growl. “You listen to me, you brainless blowhard. I’ve been on this earth for sixty-five years. I was a soldier for four years, a cop for thirty-five-years, and an investigator for eight years. I know people. You think you’re distracting me from you by putting down Madison, you’re wrong. I’ve got my eye on you.” He jabbed a finger at Kevin, his bulldog’s expression there in full force.

  Kevin didn’t speak. All he did was look at Mr. Novak like Erkens had proved the point he’d been making.

  Erkens kept his glower fixed on Kevin, something that made me want to hug the man. I loved the grumpy old man he liked to show the world. I knew there was so much more to him, though.

  I sat back after a couple of minutes and smiled. “Her GPS guided her to Cleveland,” I said, taking a drink of my now tepid coffee.

  Mr. Novak let out a relieved sigh and smiled at me. “Thank you, Madison. If you can tell me precisely where I’ll head out.”

  I took another drink, thinking things over carefully. “Maybe I should go,” I told him, shaking my head as he started to argue. “If she went looking for Esther and wound up in Cleveland, she might have found something I missed. If she ran away, you are the last person she’s going to want to see. Will you please let me try? It’s only two hours to get to Cleveland. I promise to let you know the second I find anything out.”

  He looked like he wanted to argue. After a few long seconds, he bowed his head in resignation. “Alright. Please, do keep me informed.”

  “I will, Mr. Novak. I promise you that.”

  ELEVEN

  “I don’t want you going alone,” Erkens stated, his eyes fixed on my laptop.

  I knew Ian had two classes that day along with a shift at the mechanic shop which was his second job. Serena had classes as well. Imogen didn’t, though.

  I sent her a quick text to ask if she’d be interested in taking a road trip with me, delighted when she answered right away. “Okay, I’m set. Imogen and Spencer are going to come with me,” I told him, wishing for a moment that I hadn’t come up with the idea for us to split up.

  It had seemed like a far better idea than both of us heading off to Cleveland. Hadley wasn’t the only one missing. Erkens could keep looking for Esther, as well as trying to find out which demon it was that I’d seen.

  Mr. Novak, Kevin, Erkens, and I still sat at the same table, all four of us quiet. Mr. Novak started to speak a few times, though no words escaped him. He was obviously nervous.

  I let out a relieved sigh when Imogen stepped into the diner, Spencer right behind her. Her fluorescent hair was covered by a beanie and her usual graphic t-shirt was mostly obscured by a jacket that was very obviously Spencer’s by how big it was on her. The two looked adorable together. It made me want to sing to see it.

  Spencer nodded in greeting to Erkens then flicked his eyes to Mr. Novak. “Dobrý den, Pane Novak,” he said like he’d spoken that language all his life.

  He gave a small smile and held out his hand. “How an American can sound like he was born in the Czech Republic, I will never understand,” he said and shook Spencer’s hand hardily. “I’m glad you’ll be going with them. If anyone can convince Hadley to come home, it would be you.”

  I gaped at the two, surprised that they knew each other. “Uh, I guess we should get going,” I said and stood up, my laptop in the bag along with my phone and the can of demon-mace Erkens had given me. I was about as prepared as I could be.

  Imogen smiled at me. “You do realize that I’m going to make us listen to country music the whole way, right?” she teased, lifting her hand in farewell to everybody else as I got to her.

  I drew up my hands in a fake baffled pose. “Sorry, Imogen. All the country stations are broken in my car,” I said and looked at Mr. Novak. “I’ll let you know as soon as I find something.”

  “Thank you, Madison,” he said, his tone earnest as he rose and offered his hand to me as well. “Be safe and please, tell Hadley we all want her to come home.”

  “I will, Mr. Novak,” I said and turned to leave.

  Erkens got to his feet with a groan and followed along after us as we exited the diner. He kept a distance between him and Spencer yet he didn’t glower, so that was something. He seemed wary of Spencer.

  I didn’t know why it was that some people were unreasonably uncomfortable around him. Or maybe the real question was, why wasn’t I nervous around him? What made me comfortable when Ian and Erkens both looked like they’d rather gouge out their eyes than to look at him?

  We stopped next to my car and Erkens pulled something out of his pocket. He handed it to me in a stealthy way, like he didn’t want anyone else to see. “I’d prefer that you call me when you get there but if you have to do that texting thing, please be sure to tell me your location. I have an old army buddy who lives out that way. If you need backup, I want you to call him.”

  I stuck the thing in my pocket without looking at it, not wanting for Imogen to know the truth about the real world yet.

  Imogen smiled wide and wicked. “I have awesome ninja moves I can use to back Madison up. Don’t you worry,” she said as she made ‘wax-on, wax-off’ moves with her hands.

  “I feel much better,” he said drily and looked at me. “Abduction is a possibility. If you see anything that even slightly resembles that, you leave. You do not engage. Is that understood?”

  “We’ll be careful,” I promised, lifting my hand in a slight wave as I got into the car.

  Imogen got in on the passenger side and reached out to change the rad
io station. She stopped when she heard the music coming from the speakers. “YOU are listening to 60’s music?” she asked, her eyes so wide it was like she had been told I was actually an android.

  I shrugged, feeling a little defensive about it. “Erkens was listening to it yesterday and I found that I actually liked it.”

  She leaned over and planted a loud kiss on my cheek. “Madison, I am so proud of you!” she said and began to sing along with the radio.

  I glanced at Spencer and rolled my eyes. He had a dopey grin on his face like he was too besotted by Imogen to think of anything else. I flipped the radio off and fixed my eyes on the road. “Spencer, I need to know how you know the Novak’s,” I said, hoping to have some distraction from the feeling of impending doom that had begun to overshadow my mind.

  His grin stayed in place. “We were neighbors when I was a kid. Last I’d heard, they’d moved into a new house.”

  “So what can you tell me about Hadley?”

  His eyes met mine in the rearview mirror. “Hadley is a good kid. She really is. She just made some bad choices.”

  “Like what?” I pried, determined to know everything he would tell me.

  He let out a weary sigh and turned his head to look out the window. “You know they sent her to Hope House?” he asked, his voice a little cold.

  “Yeah.”

  “That was because she started cutting herself. She’d come home bleeding, tell her parents that somebody had attacked her, and everybody freaked out. I guess she liked how people treated her when they thought she was being hurt, so she kept going and every story she told them got more and more elaborate. Her parents talked to the transit security people and were able to look at the footage on one of the days she said she’d been attacked. Nothing had happened. No one was even near her. That was when they decided to get Infinity to follow her. She apparently watched Hadley use a sewing needle to cut herself.” He rubbed at his brows. “That kid’s been alone all her life. People walked around her rather than walking next to her. What she did was wrong and seriously messed up though I understand her far more than I do the rest of her family.”

  My heart sank. I had guessed Hadley’s life had been rough. I had never guessed it had been so lonely.

  Hadley was not that different from me. I’d had Emma, though. I probably would have made similar choices if I’d been in her shoes.

  Imogen turned in her seat to look at Spencer, her eyes narrowed angrily. “Infinity is a snobby little princess. If she said her sister did something, I wouldn’t believe a word she said.”

  He bowed his head in a resigned way. “I know, Imogen. The thing is, she got video of it. It was true.”

  “How do you know all this anyway?” she asked, her voice rather sharp.

  He turned his head to watch the traffic out his window. “My sister was friends with her when we were kids. They stayed in touch.”

  And the dark cloud that had loomed over us descended. It was so hard to escape the horror we’d endured. Images floated through my mind, ones I wanted to forget more than anything.

  My hand moved unconsciously up to cover the bruises on my neck. It was like being doused with icy water. I was not okay. I was very, very far from okay and there was so much left to face.

  I pulled onto the highway and picked up speed. I wanted to get to Cleveland. I was eager for Hadley to see it wasn’t only me who was willing to stand up for her. I was truly thankful that Spencer had come with us. The fact they had been neighbors was a stroke of luck I couldn’t have even imagined.

  Imogen let out a loud breath and flexed her fingers. “Talking to you two is like walking through a minefield,” she snapped and jabbed a finger at each of us. “Don’t let her ruin your lives. You two are good, loving, wonderful people and I think you’re both amazing. You’ve both come out of crap homes and made something of yourselves. Don’t let the reminder of those things bring you down.”

  I sat quietly for ten full seconds before looking at Spencer in the mirror again. “I know it’s only been two weeks that you two have been dating but if you don’t marry Imogen pretty fast, I might. I mean, she DID kiss me if you remember.”

  His lips quirked up in a reluctant grin. “I already asked her to marry me. She said I need to learn to play the guitar before she’ll even consider it.”

  I laughed, thrilled to have the subject turned to something so fun. “Please tell me you’re learning.”

  He let out a snide chuckle. “Trying to learn. So far, I suck,” he said with a self-deprecating shrug.

  Imogen tipped her head in a speculative pose. “He really does suck. The fact he’s trying kind of makes me feel all squishy inside.” She clasped her hands together in a girly pose before she made a face at him.

  I raised my hand like a kid in school. “I have one last weird, uncomfortable question to ask. I swear that the rest of our trip can be spent talking about what a nice couple you two make.”

  “What?” Spencer asked warily.

  “I was wondering how it feels to have a brother who’s twenty-one-years younger than you.”

  “It’s not awful. How’s it feel to be able to do simple math?”

  I made a face at him in the mirror. “It’s not awful,” I made a hurry up motion with my hand. “What’s the story with him, though?”

  His face relaxed immediately. “The story is, Preston is doing all he can to give my grandma heart failure. The kid climbs everything. She found him the other day climbing a bookshelf. He was four shelves up.”

  A laugh bubbled out. It was such a funny image despite how dangerous it had probably been for the little one. The mental image of a baby climbing a bookshelf was hilarious.

  “I was actually wondering how it is that you don’t know who his mom is.”

  Spencer raised his hands in a dumbfounded way. “All I know is that some lady knocked on the door and handed him Preston. I had only dropped by to pick up a box of junk that was mine and I saw this baby in a car seat. Freaked me out. I mean, my dad had never been loving but after mom died he got mean. The idea of leaving a baby there made me more than uncomfortable. Thing was, he took Preston right to Grandma and Grandpa’s house. He never even tried to be a parent. So at least the kid won’t have that therapy to have to go through when he’s older.”

  “That’s weird,” I said, my mouth working silently for a bit. “Why would any mom leave her infant son with a man like him?”

  Spencer snorted. “Madison, I’ve been trying to figure that out for months. Then again, I’ve also been trying to figure out why my biological mom left me with them too. Haven’t worked anything out yet.”

  Imogen glowered at the road before she threw her hands up. “Seriously. You two need a hug more than any two people I know. You make me feel guilty for having such a normal, nice childhood.”

  I shook my head. “My crappy childhood is nothing in comparison to Spencer’s. He can have my hug.”

  “Hold it,” Imogen said, her hands raised like a traffic cop. “Madison specifically said that after she asked her question, we were going to spend the rest of the trip talking about what a cute couple you and I are, Spencer.”

  He chuckled and sprawled back with his hands clasped behind his head. “Okay, how adorable are we?” he asked, striking what he obviously believed to be an adorable pose.

  It made me laugh, a rich, deep sound that shook loose some of the cobwebs in my brain. It was like that silliness and the conversation it began between Spencer and Imogen had been the catalyst.

  Imogen tugged on a strand of her bold hair. “You are so adorable, you’re the only thing I’ve dreamed about in weeks,” she said with a coy grin.

  He chuckled and waved his hand a little. “Oh come on, Imogen. Everybody knows how adorable I am. You dreaming about me is natural,” he joked, giving her a wink.

  Holy blue screen. Dreams. I had read something on my first day as Erkens’ associate about a demon who preyed on women in their sleep. That demon was an incubus, a sex-demon
. It would violate a woman in her dreams all to make her pregnant. Julie. What they’d said the night before, was that Julie and her husband had been trying for years to have a baby.

  It was a stretch or it was until you added in the winged demon I had seen. The true form of an incubus was like a gargoyle. I hadn’t read anything about the color of their wings. It all proceeded to make sense.

  And if that was the case, that same incubus was probably taking the other girls as well. The horror of that idea made my hands clench into tight fists around the wheel. If I was right and that kind of fiend had taken Hadley and Esther, there was no telling what kind of state they’d be in. No way. I would figure out where that creature had taken the girls and it would die. An abomination like that did not deserve to live.

  I swerved off the highway into a rest-stop so fast, Imogen let out a little shriek and grabbed at the dashboard. I pulled into a parking place and got out of the car. I needed air. I needed to call Erkens.

  It had marked me as well. If we didn’t find that thing, Hadley, Esther, and I might all be on its list of victims.

  TWELVE

  By the time we got to Cleveland, my mood had gone from foul to hateful. Imogen had taken over the driving while I sat in the back seat, searching for missing persons reports in Pittsburgh. The number of girls who had gone missing in the last year alone made me want to vomit.

  If a creature like an incubus was responsible for that, my brain might explode. The idea of it screwing them without their consent made my system want to regurgitate everything it had ever eaten. Rape. That was what it was.

  So if that demon had the ability to feed on a girl in her sleep, what was the point of kidnapping them? Then again, from what I’d read, it was possible those girls were all dead. The legend I’d read stated that if an incubus used a woman too many times, it was fatal.

  Throwing up was a definite possibility. There wasn’t even a word for how angry I was. Livid didn’t cover it.

  Erkens had been as upset as me. He had made me promise that the moment we had checked out the lead in Cleveland, we would head back to debrief. And yes, he had actually used the term, debrief.