Sleight

by Tom Twitchel

  “Benny, I don’t want to just skip over what happened to your girlfriend, and Breno, but there’s another issue.”

  “What?” I asked hoarsely, ignoring the ‘girlfriend’ reference.

  “Kenwoode. Whether he dies or not he’s a criminal now. There’s no gray area, no justification. He’s a serial killer. I have to figure out a way to keep him off the streets. I have to report him somehow.”

  “I don’t care. That’s all on him,” I said.

  He rubbed his jaw, scratching at his five o’clock shadow. “This is a mess. I can’t go through normal channels with this or I’ll get worse than fired. I could end up in jail. So could you and Goodturn for that matter.”

  My stomach flipped over and I wondered where the spreading damage and misery was going to end.

  “Look, you have a lot to think about and so do I. I’ll figure a way to finesse this,” he said.

  “You came all this way just to ask me if I trusted Mr. Goodturn. I’m sorry about dumping this on you,” I said, trying to change the subject and pull myself together.

  “Are you kidding me? You didn’t dump anything on me. That’s what friends are for. A shoulder. You know? I wanted to ask about Goodturn in person. So I could gauge your answer.” I raised an eyebrow and he made a face. “It’s a cop thing.”

  “Why was that so important?” I asked.

  Brushing his hands off on his slacks he stood up. “Because I’m headed for a life change and I needed a little reassurance. My captain is a hard ass for procedure, and he should be. My off the grid activity is a sure fire dismissal. If I get released without a full IAD investigation I’ll count myself lucky. The reason I joined the force is that I wanted to help make things better. Uphold the law, to serve. But more than that, I wanted to prevent people from being hurt. Lately I’ve felt like I was just treating the symptoms, sort of cleaning up after the fact. This whole supernatural thing feels big to me. It might be part of the disease, a cause. If I help Goodturn, and I can trust him to have my back, maybe I can start making things better before bad shit happens. Like what happened tonight.”

  He reached under his jacket again and I thought I was going to witness another fruitless search for tobacco, but he pulled out a thick white envelope.

  He stood up and handed it to me. “This is for you.” He looked around the apartment again. “Let’s not get into the accuracy of what I’m going to say. Let’s just leave it as a ‘what if’, or a ‘just in case’. I never see your mom. Kind of don’t think there is a ‘mom’. Maybe at some point you’ll clue me in. Your call. But what’s in that envelope might help you if you’re on your own.” I swallowed hard and stared down at the blank envelope, trying to figure out what was inside. He nodded and gave me a half-smile.

  “Because nobody can hide forever.”

  So Danton was a teller of truths and dispenser of sage wisdom. Just like my long gone mother.

  Imagine that.

  SEVENTY-EIGHT: LIGHT IN THE TUNNEL

  AFTER DANTON LEFT I ripped into the envelope, and in spite of what I was going through I smiled. He had gone to a lot of trouble to put some stuff together to help me. What he hadn’t known was that I was several steps further down the same road. Tossing the folded sheets on the kitchen table I headed into the kitchen. I was hungry, but, no surprise here, feeling lazy about actually cooking. I’d turned my stove on maybe twice ever, and the oven hadn’t been turned on since Maddy had cooked cheese bread in it.

  I swallowed a power bar in three bites that would have made my mother cringe and washed them down with coke. Right from the bottle, thank you very much. Scrounging for ready-to-eat food in the fridge turned up a bruised apple. Beggars can’t be choosers. Another valuable quote from mom.

  The physical and emotional tolls were weighing heavily on me. My mind was running through so much that I didn’t think I could sleep. I grabbed a copy of an old Philip K. Dick novel, ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?’, and flopped onto the couch. The worn but thick cushions quickly formed to my body as I opened the book to page one.

  I don’t even remember falling asleep.

  Loud knocking on my door woke me up and after a second or two of confusion I scrambled off the couch. I was still wearing my jacket and patted it, the comforting shape of my stun gun meeting my nervous fingers. Pulling my phone out, I woke up the screen and looked at the time: six in the morning. The loud rapping picked up again, sounding more aggressive.

  There could be nothing good on the other side of the door at six o’clock. My thoughts irrationally traveled back to just a few weeks ago when I’d been freaked about someone knocking on my door.

  I quietly snuck up to the door and put my eye to the peep hole.

  No way.

  I knacked the lock and opened it while I stood back several feet to face it. The door swung inward, and a pair of sparkling green eyes in a heart-shaped face stared suspiciously at the threshold.

  “You know I hate that,” she laughed.

  I ran to her and threw my arms around her. The smell of her hair and her skin brought dozens of happy memories to mind as her arms came up around me.

  “I missed you so much Maddy,” I whispered into her hair. Tears streamed down my face.

  She stretched up and nuzzled my neck. “Not as much as I missed you.”

  And for just a few moments, there was nothing else to think about, worry about or fear.

  For a few precious seconds I just let myself be happy.

  SEVENTY-NINE: CATCHING UP

  I’M NOT SURE how long we hugged each other. It felt so good to just hold her and feel her arms around me. I could feel myself starting to choke up so I used moving to the couch as an excuse to turn away and wipe at my eyes.

  Her hair was a little longer since I’d last seen her. She was wearing a winter version of her typical choices, black jacket, white sweater, black jeans and white boots. She peeled off her jacket and I noticed that while she didn’t have a true tan she wasn’t Seattle pale and pasty either.

  Her green eyes sparkled and flashed while she told me stories about the drama at her high school and the small circle of friends that she’d made, about her parents’ new job, and the fact that she hated L.A.

  When Justine had become my main source for conversations with a friend of a similar age, I’d gotten acclimated to the pain of losing Maddy. I’d sort of pushed memories of her further away, because that made it hurt less. Having her next to me made my heart ache, and feel full all at once. I’d known that I missed her but I hadn’t realized how much. Over the last few weeks I’d made a decision to tell her how I felt about her, but now that we were in the same room I couldn’t find the courage to do it.

  “How did you manage to get your parents to let you come see me this early?” I interrupted.

  She smiled her patented giant toothy smile. “I have my ways!”

  “Seriously. Your parents were worried about us spending time together before you moved, and you manage to get them to agree to you being here this early in the morning?”

  She stuck out her tongue and rolled her eyes, a double move that was classic Maddy. “Spoil sport. Uncle Ty drove me. I couldn’t wait. I have something I wanted to tell you. I’ve been dying to tell you but I didn’t want to tell you over the phone or, like, text you,” she said.

  Apparently Danton wasn’t the only one who preferred doing stuff face-to-face.

  Her whole vibe was upbeat and incredibly happy, and if it wasn’t for the fact that I was still reeling from the things that had happened earlier, my joy would have matched hers. Almost. As it was, I was having a little trouble focusing.

  She tucked her legs up underneath her on the couch and gave me the ‘hairy-eyeball’, another signature look. “So, I don’t want to be a beezy, but what’s been going on with Justine?”

  My ragged nerves started thrumming. The Maddy and Justine show was never a good thing. My tangled feelings didn’t help either. “What?”

  Maddy leaned back and ma
de a sour face. “I don’t want to spoil our first time together but I have to know. She’s been posting a lot of weird stuff online. A lot of it about you and her. What’s going on?” She folded her arms under her chest making me uncomfortably aware of her curves.

  Getting surprised by what was going on in social media was getting old. I was beginning to realize that I was going to have to rethink my low profile approach. Maddy’s green eyes were narrowed, not angry, but expectant.

  “Look, if I’m going to tell you, really tell you, I need a promise from you,” I said.

  She narrowed her eyes. “Like what?”

  “As in I’ll keep my promise to tell you everything if you promise me that you won’t get in the middle of the stuff that’s going on. It’s a mess Maddy. So much has happened since you’ve been gone and I’ve only been able to confide in Mr. Goodturn and detective Danton. But if I tell you I can’t be okay with you getting involved.”

  “Sounds serious. And this is all about Justine?”

  “It is srious, and although Justine is part of the problem she’s only a small part of it, and she’s pretty much out of the picture now.”

  “So tell me of this big scary thing,” she said, waving her arms theatrically in the air. Then she paused. “Is it something like what happened at your school, has Baffle—”

  “No, nothing like that. But I have issues with him too,” I said.

  “Well what is it?” she asked.

  “Where’s the promise I was looking for?”

  She raised two fingers, kissed them and crossed her chest. “Girl Scouts honor.”

  “Don’t screw around Maddy. I’m not kidding.”

  Her face got serious. “Okay, okay. I promise. But if it’s dangerous, and you’re in danger, you can’t expect me to just roll with it.”

  It didn’t sound like the airtight promise I’d been looking for but knowing her it would have to do.

  I hung my head, sighed and broke it all down for her: Breno’s mess at the pier. Mr. Goodturn getting better, and his centuries old background. Kenwoode’s quest for the master Shade, and his betrayal. Sawyer, and his flying sisters, his betrayal, and his sort-of-redemption. Constance, and her connection to me. My developing friendship with Danton, and his getting canned. The Shade event that we’d infiltrated. My fight with Kenwoode, and the horrible events afterward. As I was taking her through it I experienced relief to be sharing all of it without any reservations. Saying all of it out loud made me realize exactly how much I’d been into, and it hit me like the proverbial ton of bricks.

  Her eyes got big and wide and her jaw dropped a couple of times. By the time I got to Justine’s knack, its dangerous unpredictability, and the accident, Maddy had leaned back into the couch and tucked her hands under her thighs. She looked almost as overwhelmed as I felt.

  “Jesus, Benny. I mean, is that all? I’ve been gone for a little over a month and you just laid out enough whackadoo crap to fill anyone else’s year.” She shook her head, as though that would help the pieces to fall into place.

  “Yeah, that’s pretty much it.”

  “So, you told Justine you didn’t want her magic fix-all. She got pissed, and then went out and hurt Breno? And now she’s in the hospital?” she asked.

  “Yeah, she’s dangerous. She’s done stuff that’s hurt people. Most of the garbage that she and Kenwood have been into is over. For now. But there’s still this person, this Shade, who’s out there, trying to create an organization that will hunt down Naturals. I heard one of them, this woman named Weller, speaking to a bunch of wannabes. It’s cult crap. Scarier still when you add in the fact that the recruits all have supernatural knacks.”

  “And you don’t know who it is, the person organizing them? How is that your problem?” she asked.

  “It’s not my issue. It’s bigger than that. Mr. Goodturn is worried about what this Shade could accomplish. He said that it’s happened before. If this group gets organized, they’ll eventually come after all of us. Including me.”

  “Well, yeah. There is that,” she said quietly.

  “I’m sorry Maddy, but you asked,” I said.

  “No, I wanted you to tell me the truth. It’s just a lot.”

  “My big thing is how I feel about moving forward with any of it, not what I do, but what I should do. I mean, where’s the line? I threw Kenwoode out a window. I crossed a line there, right? It didn’t kill him, but it could have. What happens when I start making decisions like that just because I think it’s right? It’s like when I decked Munger at school and then did it again. I decided then that I couldn’t just use my knacks to get over on people. Then I’d be just as bad as them.” I shook my head.

  Her eyes had dimmed somewhat, the glow of our reunion dampened by my knack-world drama. I wanted to steer it back in a positive direction.

  “You said that you had to come here because there was something you wanted to tell me. What was it?” I asked, feeling guilty for having dominated the conversation.

  “I...,” she paused. “It...the timing isn’t right now. I’ll tell you later.”

  “What? You got your uncle to drive you all the way here and got permission to go traipsing around Seattle in the morning and it can wait?”

  She grimaced. “Yeah, I want it to be positive. It’s kind of big.”

  “That doesn’t sound mysterious at all,” I said.

  “Yeah,” she laughed, but it was hollow. “I can wait until dinner. Can you still come? You know, after all you’ve been through.”

  “Yeah, I wouldn’t miss it. Your folks would totally ban me for life if I did.”

  “No, they wouldn’t. I wouldn’t let them.” She gave me a smile. “Are you still going to school today? Seems like with all this shizz that you should just blow it off,” she said.

  “I have to go. I’ve been working on something, and it has to happen today.”

  “Now who’s being mysterious?” she asked.

  So I told her about my plan. Explained why and how I’d put it together, and what I expected it to accomplish.

  Leaning forward, her pink cheeks picking up the light coming in from the windows behind me, she pursed her lips. “Are you sure you want to do that. You can’t go backwards and undo it later.”

  I nodded. “Yeah, I’ve been thinking about it since you left. It’s the only way to keep people like Baffle and Munger away from my friends and out of my business.”

  “I support you,” she said, but there was a doubtful tone in her voice. “You haven’t really told me how you feel about the personal stuff. I mean, your mom had a twin? Mr. Goodturn doing his thing and basically predetermining your coming to Seattle? Your aunt has a family in Kentucky? That’s major. Awesome actually, but how do you feel about all of it?”

  That was the big question. How did I feel? There were so many conflicting and crowded issues that it made my head hurt when I tried to sort them out. But when I got to school I was going to knock down one big obstacle. Then other things would get resolved, one way or another, and my life would start to be less complicated. Kenwoode was out of commission. Justine’s predatory rampage was over for now. At some point there would be only a few things to worry about and my feelings would be easier to figure out. That was my plan.

  So instead of continuing to babble I came up with a totally genius response. I shrugged.

  “Really? That’s it? You can do better than that,” Maddy said.

  I shrugged again, and dodged a playful punch aimed at my shoulder. “Kidding. At least the second shrug. I don’t know. It’s too soon to deal with all of those things.” I looked at the time on my phone and rolled my eyes. “I’ve got to get ready for school.”

  “I’ll wait until you’re ready to leave, then I’ll call uncle Ty. He’s at a coffee bar waiting to take me back,” she said.

  Her uncle Ty had to be campaigning for uncle of the year. He had always doted on Maddy. He’d been a supporter of mine too, in more ways than one. That he was willing to drive Maddy t
o see me before the sun was up was not at all surprising.

  “Cool. I’m going to grab a shower. There isn’t much food but you can have anything you can scrounge up.”

  Wrinkling her nose, a sly grin tilted her mouth. “Scrounge up? That sounds sooo appetizing!” She burst into a deep-throated giggle and shook her head.

  I turned my back on her with mock wounded pride and smiled to myself. Just hearing her laugh made me feel good. Despite everything, I was starting to feel lighter than I had in weeks.

  Maybe things were looking up. That’s what I thought to myself.

  Because I had always been so good at predicting the future.

  EIGHTY: THE FRYING PAN

  WHEN I WALKED Maddy downstairs to say goodbye, Ty offered me a lift to school.

  “I didn’t want to ask, but this is great,” I said as I slid into the backseat. Maddy climbed in beside me and closed the door.

  “Once around the park Jeeves!” laughed Maddy.

  Ty looked at her in the rearview mirror. “Don’t press your luck princess,” he said as he put the car into gear and pulled into traffic. “Good to see you Benny.”

  “Good to see you too Ty,” I said.

  Maddy didn’t scoot close to me. Instead she leaned into the door at a slight angle so she could face me. She squinted an eye. “I’m glad you clued me in to what’s been going on. You kept your promise.”

  I smiled. There were a few things I’d left out. I’d kept the spooky mystery of the three monkeys to myself.

  “Will you make me one more promise?”

  “What’s that?”

  She reached across the car seat and laid her hand on my arm. “That you’ll consider just laying low. Stop taking risks.”

  I nodded, more out of acknowledgement that what she was saying was reasonable than actually agreeing with her. She squeezed my arm and withdrew her hand. I looked up at the rearview mirror and caught Ty watching me.

  When we pulled into the drop off area in the student parking lot I got out and tapped on Ty’s window.