Jon's Downright Ridiculous Shooting Case

by A J Sherwood

  Doing this, going this deep into someone else’s aura, was always unpleasant. I took mental fingers, clawed my way into her psyche, and pried her aura open so she was more visible on the spectrum. I wasn’t just reading her meridian lines anymore, I was seeing her core self on a more visible wavelength spectrum of light. Not full-blown, of course, that would kill her, but something like reading her through a heat sensitive camera.

  “You can’t answer the question, can you? Because Alice wasn’t there. Who was awake and in control this morning?”

  She stared at me, hard and angry, vibrating with the urge to not get up and throw a chair at me. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “I see three other distinctive personalities,” I said softly. They were clearly visible now: different strengths, different shapes, all crammed inside her head. They’d been buried under Alice’s personality before—I assumed her the dominant one—but I could see the others clearly now. More than see, I could feel them. The emotions were strong, battering up against mine, conflicting in strength and feeling. I had to shove each of them away, keeping my own self separate from them, and struggled with keeping those lines distinct and separate. It took energy to focus, but I had to. The sooner I got this done, the sooner I could curl up in a dark room somewhere. “Won’t you introduce me to the others, Alice?”

  In an abrupt movement, she jerked backwards roughly as she stood, the chair flying against the wall hard enough to dent the plaster. Her hands clenched and unclenched at her sides, and she stared at me wildly, like a cornered lynx. “You—what are you?”

  “A psychic.” I didn’t stand, carefully keeping my body language non-threatening. I couldn’t see Donovan through the glass but I bet he was two seconds away from charging into the room. He wouldn’t like this emotional bombshell any more than I did, but as long as I stayed calm, I hoped he would maintain his control and let me work. I hoped, too, that my calm would keep Alice from attacking me. She was a live wire of emotions, most of them volatile, and the slightest spark could set her off. “I told Alice that. Did she not tell the rest of you?”

  “Shut up!” she hissed at me, visibly flinching. “Don’t talk to me in third person like that. They can’t hear you.”

  “Then how do you communicate with them?” I asked, honestly curious. “Because you clearly are.”

  Swallowing hard, Alice stared at me and didn’t answer.

  Right, I needed to draw her out a little more. Or threaten her until another personality appeared to intervene. “You’ve got three other personalities, as I mentioned, but they’re not as strong as you, Alice. Two female, one male, and the male’s the weakest, interestingly enough. I bet he rarely makes an appearance. But one of the women, the one who’s fighting to get out right now, she’s the protector. She’s the one who takes action when you don’t know what to do.”

  No tears appeared on Alice’s cheeks, but on some other level she was screaming and crying and wishing for me to stop talking. I couldn’t so I continued, my voice level.

  “I’ll bet she was the one in charge this morning. She was the one in charge when Chen was shot. Because she thought there was danger, based on what you or one of the others told her, and she reacted. It’s why you can’t tell me what happened this morning. You don’t know. You weren’t there.”

  She hunkered in on herself, back hitting the wall as she slumped. Her fists rose to cover her eyes, obscuring her face. “I do know!”

  “How? How did she tell you?” I pressed, leaning in and keeping both of my hands firmly in sight and on the table. So close, she was so close to breaking. It was either that or the other personality would come out. I couldn’t predict which; a coin toss would be just as accurate to guess with.

  Her aura changed like a light switch. Her body language changed too, not hunkering in on itself, but straightening, her fear bleeding away as if it were never there.

  “I wrote it in the journal,” a woman who was decidedly not Alice Thompson responded, lowering her hands to glare at me.

  It’s remarkable, really, how much of our personality reflects on our faces, our mannerisms. The way we tilt our heads, phrase our words, the looks we use to convey emotions, all of that’s uniquely ours. Even without my other sight, it would have been immediately obvious to me that Alice was no longer in control. This new personality was confident, powerful. She stood like a soldier, shoulders squared, feet braced, arms at the ready at her sides. It was eerily militaristic, rather like how Donovan stood when he was ‘at ease,’ and completely at odds with the cute and preppy clothes that she wore.

  “Hello,” I greeted her politely, deliberately staying still and not giving her any cues that would indicate a threat. This woman would attack faster than I could blink. I did not want to provoke her. “I’m Jonathan Bane.”

  “Yes, I know who you are,” she replied flatly, dark eyes snapping with anger. “I’m Kay. Alice told me about you.”

  “I’m sure she did. She tells you a lot, I think, but probably not everything she should. Won’t you sit, Kay? I’m not here to hurt Alice.”

  “Really.” She shifted her balance to the balls of her feet, chin tilting up aggressively. “Then why have I been called out?”

  “Because I asked her questions she didn’t know how to answer. It confused and upset her. Easier for her to bring you out, considering you’re the one who actually did everything. I’m not wrong on that, I think.” I didn’t press the issue of her sitting, instead pushing my own chair back so I could gain a little distance from the table. Bad to be hemmed in against it right now, I might need to duck. “Kay, you mentioned a journal. What journal?”

  “It’s how we keep track of things,” Kay answered shortly.

  It made a world of sense. How do you communicate between four people living in one body? You record the events down of the day so that the next personality who took over wouldn’t be completely lost. It explained why Alice knew what had happened, but had no emotional attachment to it; she could only repeat as much as she’d been told in the journal entry. “Okay. Is that how Alice told you she was getting threatening letters?”

  “Yes.”

  “But they weren’t real. Did she tell you that?”

  For the first time, Kay looked confused, her power stance faltering as her fists unclenched. “Of course they were fucking real.”

  “Someone—apparently not you—printed them out on Lisa’s printer. They weren’t real. No one was really trying to blackmail or extort Alice.”

  Kay spluttered, hand cutting through the air in denial. “Of course they were real! It was that damn Chen Li guy. Alice said so. It’s why I had to shoot him. No one would believe her, I had to protect all of us.”

  Oh damn. Hadn’t meant to get a confession on that just yet, but I’d take it. “Yeah, Alice told that to a lot of people. But I have proof Chen was never near the notes, had no idea what Alice was talking about. Just like he wasn’t anywhere near Alice this morning when she was supposedly beaten. Why did you fake that, Kay?”

  “Had to do something,” Kay argued, her face flushing red with anger. “You shitty cops released him from the hospital without even charging him. I figure, put a few bruises in some visible places, call it in, we’d be set.”

  From the folder on the table, I pulled out copies of the receipts Mrs. Li had given us. “Chen was at the doctor and pharmacist this morning. He was nowhere near his apartment.”

  Kay spat in resignation, “Damn. I shoulda checked. I just didn’t have a lot of time to work with. Alice is a weakling when it comes to pain. I got four hits in with the sock and I could feel her switching. I had to stop and scribble something in the journal before she took over. Then one more hit in, and poof, abracadabra. I barely had time to chuck the sock of coins under the bed before she switched over. Next thing I know, she’s letting me deal with you. You serious that Chen Li didn’t do anything to her?”

  “Not a thing. Alice honestly doesn’t know who sent the notes.” I cl
osed the folder, folded my hands over the cold metal surface of the table, and regarded her thoughtfully. She wasn’t as combative now, more resigned and frustrated. I had a feeling I could actually talk to her better than Alice. Pity Kay wasn’t the dominant personality. “Kay, I have a bad feeling that one of the other personalities is behind this.”

  She didn’t say anything for a long moment. Kay came slowly around to take the chair near me, dropping into it heavily. I could tell she was lost in thought, but her aura didn’t indicate that she was about to switch, so I let the silence lie for a moment. I could give her a little space to collect her thoughts. Just pushing made people get defensive, put their backs up. A relaxed person told you far more than someone under pressure.

  The silence was heavy, prickly, and I could feel the battering of emotions from her. She was confused, upset, outraged, and yet oddly resigned. Her eyes came up to look into mine, as direct as a predatory cat would its prey, but I sensed no hostility from her. Had she realized I wasn’t the enemy?

  Blowing out a long breath, she sank back in the chair. “Joey,” Kay said in resignation. “Stupid bitch is a drama queen, worse than Alice. We hardly let him have any face time because he’s always pulling shit and I’m always cleaning it up. I can’t prove it, he didn’t say jack to me, but I’ll bet you anything it was him. You said the notes were printed out on Lisa’s printer?”

  “Yup.”

  “Yeah, Joey.” Kay sighed and let her head flop back on her shoulders. “He’s always had beef with Lisa. I dunno what, something lame, but it goes way back. Way, way back, like when we were kids. He’s always out to get her in trouble. I’ll bet you he set this up as some sort of prank to get Lisa in hot water, and then when it went sideways on him, he just ran with it for the kicks. Damn. I shot an innocent guy, huh?”

  “I’m afraid so.” I really hated to lose her, she was far more reasonable to deal with, but unfortunately, I had to. I had to talk to Alice again at some point, and if I could get Joey out to talk to him too, all the better. “Kay, I’m not really all that knowledgeable about Multiple Personality Disorder, but—”

  “Dissociative Identity Disorder,” Kay corrected wearily. “The other is just a nickname.”

  “Right.” I rubbed at the back of my head, feeling a little embarrassed. “So, clearly I know basically nothing about it. You tell me how it works. Can you guys switch at will?”

  “No. Usually something triggers it. Something based on trauma, the reason why we exist in the first place. Sometimes one personality merges with another, but we haven’t had that happen in years. Although I wish Joey would disappear, the little shit. Alice had to be hospitalized at first, therapy and drugs and the whole circus. Her mom told Lisa and Chase some bullshit story about us having major panic attacks because of anxiety, and how it made us borderline suicidal or something. No one saw us while we were in the psych ward, and Alice didn’t want anyone to know any different. She got so she could manage, though, and it was okay for a while. Until her abusive mother started laying into her again. Then I got pulled out to deal with her. Since then, mother dearest has been real careful about laying hands on Alice.” Kay smirked, tone vicious and low. “Always makes sure our stupid brother gives us our pills. Like that does anything. There’s no pill or cure-all for DID.”

  That much I’d known. “So we can’t just pull Joey out and ask him?”

  “Naw.” This close, I could feel the sadness roll off her instead of just seeing it.

  It took a deep breath on my part to center myself again. What made this so hard was not only pushing through the general shields people wore to see what lay underneath the meridian lines, but maintaining that distance. It didn’t help when people came in close enough that I could touch those emotions. I rather felt like a staticky blanket was being snuggled up to my side. A staticky blanket of sadness and other negative emotions. They pushed at my own emotions, threatened to swamp them, and I had to remind myself over and over that I wasn’t feeling any of this. Those emotions didn’t belong to me. “What about the journal? Can we have that? I think that would prove a lot of things.”

  Kay looked at me, studied my expression for several long seconds. “You’re a queer one, Bane. I shot at you, and you’re still trying to help me?”

  What, now?

  Wait, did she just….? Yeah, she did. “You shot at me?”

  Snorting, Kay rolled her eyes. “Some detective you are if you haven’t figured that out already. Alice said you were hassling her, that you were helping Chen. I went to scare you off.”

  Oh daaaaamn. I felt a flash of indignation that she’d shoot up my very nice place just to put the willies into me, but mostly I felt scared of how Donovan would react. I shot a quick glance at the mirror, begging with my eyes for Donovan to stay put. I flashed him an okay sign near my right side, hiding it from view of Kay, to reinforce it. But even with that wall blocking us, I knew that Donovan had to be steaming mad right now.

  “Uh, probably not the smartest move you’ve made, Kay,” I responded hoarsely.

  “Yeah, apparently.” Kay slumped back in her chair, staring at the table. “I should know better than to just swallow what Alice tells me, anyway. She’s always blowing shit out of proportion, and she just swallows whole whatever Joey tells her. I swear she’s the most gullible person on the planet.”

  “Kay, I don’t know how to tell you this, but…you and Alice and Joey, between the three of you, you’ve created a world of trouble.”

  “If that’s the diplomatic way of saying we landed ourselves in a padded cell,” Kay drawled, more resigned now than anything, “then yeah. I agree with you. Probably better that way, honestly. Alice doesn’t function well in the real world, and we need some place where Mom can’t get at us.”

  “She’s that abusive? Even now?”

  “Alice isn’t her kid,” Kay explained tonelessly. “She’s the product of an affair. But Alice looks so much like her dad, no one ever suspected Alice wasn’t legit. So Mom had to swallow it all, the rage and humiliation, but she couldn’t do it for long. Eventually the ugly comes out. It got a little better when we went to college, but Alice still has to deal with the little watchdog, and it’s wearing her down. Better we go somewhere that Mom can’t reach.”

  “I’ll make sure she’s barred from visiting after this,” I swore. “I’ll write up a recommendation for it.”

  “Dude, don’t bother. She won’t be caught dead visiting Alice. She’ll be happier with us out of sight.” Kay flopped her head forward, looking tired, and I could see her losing her grip, starting to switch. “Sorry I shot at you, man. I didn’t want to hurt you, I figured you were mostly doing your job. But it probably sucked having to clean all that up.”

  “It’s okay,” I assured her, even meant it. “You did me a favor. I got a hot boyfriend out of the deal.”

  That made a smile briefly cross her face, the first I’d seen. “Yeah? Good for you. Tell Chen Li sorry from me as well. I thought I was protecting Alice.”

  “I know. I think he’ll understand.”

  “If Joey comes out, don’t hesitate, just punch him in the mouth,” Kay requested, lip curling. Then she was gone, all expression on her face blank for a moment, a blink, and I could see the personalities switch again.

  Whoever it was took one look around, edging toward panic, face draining of all color. “What the hell did she do now?!”

  “I’m Jonathan Bane,” I introduced myself calmly, cautiously, because I had no idea which way this personality would leap. “Who are you?”

  “I’m, uh, Alice.”

  “No, you’re not,” I corrected gently, giving her an encouraging smile. “I’ve met Alice and Kay. Kay explained things to me.”

  That got a reaction. “Kay explained things? Wow, you must have the charm of the Irish.”

  “In the blood,” I admitted with a wink, and that wrung an almost smile out of her. “Who are you?”

  “I’m,” she took a deep breath, forcing hersel
f to calm down, and answered steadily, “I’m Erin. I’m, um, I guess you could say the mediator? Whenever shit goes down and Kay wants to punch things, and Alice is hiding, and Joey’s screwing around, that’s when I come out. Sorry, I’m so sorry, but I have no idea what’s going on right now. I haven’t been out in months. Can you start from the beginning?”

  The beginning, huh? I didn’t want to, in a way, because maintaining this connection for much longer would cost me, but this was by far the most reasonable personality yet; I had to capitalize on that. “Sure. Let’s start from the beginning.”

  A bag of cold peas wrapped in a cloth gently pressed against the crown of my head. I whimpered in relief. “You’re the best boyfriend ever. I want to have your babies.”

  “Sure,” Donovan agreed in amusement. “Let’s talk about it when your head doesn’t want to split open anymore.”

  “Great plan,” I agreed faintly. Because my best boyfriend ever was also made of sunshine and ice cream and sparkles and everything good in the universe, he then handed me an eye mask that blocked out all light before joining me on the narrow bed and cuddling in behind my back.

  The magnesium and Advil kicked in steadily, cutting my throbbing headache in half. The cold peas ice pack took another half again, leaving me with a quarter of the migraine I’d started out with. I nearly whimpered in relief, because that was just an intense headache, which was so much better than an outright migraine.

  I lay there for a long time and just cuddled, enjoying the heat radiating against my back and along my legs. I could feel him on a psychic level, too. They called it an ‘anchor’ for a reason. My aura and emotions had been mixed with someone else’s, and it was a confusing tangled mess, but Donovan’s were clear and steady. I knew who he was, I knew my connection to him, and that gave me the grounding I needed to sort myself out. It also provided the protection from the outside energies of the world so that I could clear my aura and set it to rights without being buffered by other people’s energies.