“Yeah, that’s pretty sick. Hidden in plain sight.”
“Once we’re inside, I’ll activate it and you should get a steady feed. I configured the bugs to work with my app, too. When we get back, I’ll show you how to switch channels.”
“Great.” I nod and place the phone safely by my side.
“Abby, are you ready?” Blaze asks. “I think that’s her car out front. We should get going.” Without saying another word, the duo unbuckles their seatbelts and abandon me in Blaze’s blue sedan. Together, the two of them walk side by side up to the front door. Blaze takes the lead and presses his finger to the doorbell while Abby waits by his side, her hand lightly gripping the side her neck. I watch them loiter out front for a while.
Blaze turns back in my direction and gives me a speculative look. I grit my teeth and lightly shrug even though I know he can’t see me through the tinted windows of his car.
A few moments later, the door swings open and an older lady—I’m assuming Sarah Evans—greets them from the doorframe. Abby shifts her weight to the right as she slowly nods her head and rubs her neck, discretely activating her camera. Her phone rumbles and another window opens on her screen; a live feed of Sarah Evans.
Chapter 7: A Mother’s Love
“So Abby and Blaze…you’re friends of Benjamin’s?” Sarah asks before primping the corners of her light blue cardigan in an effort to make herself look decent on such short notice. Sarah Evans looks to be in her early fifties and dons a slim, frail frame. In her younger years, she was most likely athletic.
“Yes ma’am,” Blaze answers softly. “My girlfriend and I,” he says with an emphasis on girlfriend and pivots his head towards Abby, “used to frequent Hex and he became our favorite bartender.”
“And also a really good friend,” Abby adds, a touch of sadness lingering in her voice.
“We heard about what happened at Hex…and then there was the…incident at Vickie’s, the coffee house a few blocks away,” Blaze mentions, trying his best to be sensitive with his choice of words. “We tried to call him as soon as we found out about the shooting at Hex, but he didn’t respond. We even tried to reach him at his house, but he didn’t answer when we knocked,” Blaze lies. “It’s been a couple of days and we’re starting to get worried. Have you heard from him? Has he been around?” Sarah Evan’s blue eyes begin to water and she brushes her hand across them, holding back her tears. Without saying a word, she shakes her head solemnly from left to right.
“It’s not like him to ignore his phone,” Sarah peeps from her quivering lips. “Not after something like this.” Abby brushes her hand down the length of Sarah’s arm in a comforting manner. “I’m trying to stay positive, but it’s hard you know?” The camera on her choker shifts forward as Abby’s caress evolves into a full-blown hug.
“Ms. Evans,” Abby says softly after pulling away from the worried mother’s chest, her hands resting on both of the distraught mother’s biceps. “May we come in?” Sarah nods compliantly and eases back into her home, wiping her eyes with one hand while gesturing Blaze and Abby to take a seat with the other. Together, they find a spot on the sandstone colored couch in the center of the living room.
“Is there anything I can get for the two of you? Water, perhaps?” she asks while removing the trail of smeared mascara from her eyes.
“Water’s fine. Thanks,” Blaze answers succinctly. Sarah turns her attention to Abby, her eyebrow, raised in expectancy.
“And for you?”
“Water for me too, ma’am.”
“Okay, two waters coming right up.” Sarah forces a smile that fails to part her lips before walking down the hall and into her kitchen. Once she’s out of sight, I watch Abby as she readies the bug and places it underneath the brown coffee table in a small hollow pocket where one of the legs meets with the frame of the centerpiece.
After she’s done, she stands up and walks towards the kitchen, stopping against the doorframe. “Do you need help with anything in there?” Abby asks, covering for any movement Sarah might have heard. In response, Ms. Evans turns from her tray of glasses, flicks her wrist downward, and puckers her face in the way that all old ladies do.
“Oh, you’re an angel. Thanks sweetie, but I’ve got it. Make yourself at home.”
“Okay, just makin’ sure,” Abby says before turning on her heel and returning to her seat next to Blaze. Blaze glances at her and I see the top of her thumb flick up towards the bottom of the camera lens.
“One for you, and one for you.” Sarah returns a few moments later and Abby and Blaze take their glasses from her tray before she sits down and lays it on the other side of the centerpiece. During the slight lull, Abby readjusts her body in order to give me a better view. “I’m sorry about earlier,” Ms. Evan says while reaching for her glass. “I’m just not sure what I should do.” She sips and then cuffs the glass between her frail fingers.
“Don’t apologize,” Abby says in a supportive tone. “He’s your son.”
“You’re right, darling.” Sarah nods and sips again before placing her drink on the table. “It’s just that I get—” Sarah sighs and rakes her hands over the top of her skirt.
“It’s okay, take your time.”
“I just get worried, you know? Ben is a good boy and a fine son, it’s just that after his father passed, it was hard on him and he made some bad decisions while he was grieving…I don’t know if he told you this, but I think it’s important.” Sarah exhales before continuing. “Benjamin…used to have a problem with drugs when he was younger.”
“No, Ms. Evans, we didn’t know,” Blaze answers. “But that doesn’t change the way we feel about him.”
“I called him a several times, but he hasn’t responded. I know he wasn’t involved with the shooting because the last I time I heard from him, he was being interviewed for a statement. Filing a missing person’s report seems…wrong. I know he didn’t do it and I’m sure that he was seen at the bar for the majority of the night, so there shouldn’t be any kind of suspicion.” Sarah pauses again, trying her best to bottle her brimming sadness. “But it still looks bad. You don’t think that he’s—”
“Using again?” Blaze cuts in, finishing her sentence. Sarah nods and the three of them sit in a unified silence while she gathers her thoughts.
“People…deal with stress in different ways,” Sarah proclaims with a soft, reflective tone. “He’s a good boy…” Her words drift aimlessly, almost as if she’s speaking to the universe itself. “I just want to know that he’s okay. He can have his space, but he should at least contact his mother.”
Blaze sneaks a glance at Abby and curls his lips inward, signaling her to redirect the conversation.
“Ms. Evans—has anyone been in contact with you?” Abby asks. “Any of Ben’s friends or coworkers from Hex? Officers connected with the shootings?”
“No.” Sarah shakes her head. “So far it’s been just you two…wait…no. I talked to someone else, last night. His name is Gareth. He said he was a coworker of Ben’s and that he found me through an emergency contact card. He wanted to check up on me. He seemed nice. We talked for a while...apparently, he’s a good friend of his. Do you know him?” Sarah asks innocently. “He was the one who convinced me not to file the report…that sometimes Ben just needs his alone time, which he does...we all do. I don’t know why he slipped my mind…I’ve just been so exhausted lately. I feel like I barely made it out of bed today, and now look at me—I’m home moping around and it’s already past one. I’m a mess.” Sarah raises her hand to her face and grips her temple.
“Don’t say that. You’re doing fine given the circumstances. You’re just a worried, mother—a caring mother—one that’s doing all that she can to make sure that her child is safe.”
“Thank you, dear. It’s good to know that Benjamin has such great friends, the kind to check up on his mother when he’s not around to make sure she’s okay.” Her face lightens. “How did you manage to find my address, anyway?�
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“A couple of weeks ago Ben invited us to dinner to meet you. He said you make an amazing roast. He even posted pictures online of a dish you did in the past,” Abby lies. “Blaze had to back out due to an emergency with his sister, so we had to cancel. Ben texted me the address and when I couldn’t reach him, I scrolled through my messages and found your address.”
“Oh,” Sarah says flatly. “Well I do appreciate the visit, and for taking the time to get to know my son. You two seem like good people, and Ben is somewhat of a loner these days. Whenever he pops up, be sure to keep checkin’ up on him and keep him out of trouble,” Sarah adds with a counterfeit smile.
“Of course. In the meantime,” Abby segues, “can you hand me your phone so I can put my contact information? You do have a Smartphone, right?”
“Oh, why sure. If I can just find it…ah…here.”
From one of her skirt pockets, Ms. Evans grabs a black Smartphone and passes it to Abby, free of any suspicion.
“Great.”
“Ms. Evans, can you direct me to the restroom, please?” Blaze interrupts; right on cue, providing a window for Abby to work her magic.
“Sure thing, honey.” Sarah and Blaze walk from the couch and I lose sight of them. “You go down this hall and it’s the third door on the left.”
“Thank you.” With Blaze as a distraction, I watch Abby as she slyly slips the bug between the back of Sarah’s phone and its case, just as planned. After that, she quickly enters her contact information into the device.
“Ok, all set,” Abby beams, elated that the bug is now in place. Sarah sits down opposite of Abby and she places the phone back into the rightful owner’s hands. “I’m listed under ‘Abs.’ I left my phone in Blaze’s car so I went ahead and just sent a text from your phone so I can have your number, too. Yeah…I wanted to add my email address but I couldn’t navigate the OS that well, so if I text you a link or anything, it’ll be something relevant as to what’s going on with the club or the crimes.”
“Thank you.” For a moment, a genuine burst of happiness erupts on Sarah’s face but her light quickly dims.
“If we hear anything new about Ben, you’ll be the first to know. Can you do the same? Also, if you ever get the need to talk to someone, my line is always open. Just know that, okay? I’m sure Ben is going to turn up and everything’s going to be fine. Whatever he’s going through, he’s strong.”
“Yeah.”
“Another thing…if Gareth comes around, can you shoot me a text? I’d like to get the chance to talk to him or at least meet him. He may hear something about Ben through the grapevine. We really don’t know much about any of his other friends.”
“I wish I could give you his number, but whatever he called me from was listed as private and I didn’t think to ask for it when I saw him in person. If he makes arrangements to stop by, I’ll be sure to let you know.”
“Perfect.” Just then, I hear Blaze stepping out from the hallway. He must have searched the house while Abby was keeping Sarah occupied. “Well,” Abby says before patting her hand against the top of her thighs, “thanks for having us, but I think it’s about time for us to get going. Ben’s sister has something coming up that we need to get ready for.”
“Oh, I completely understand. You young people hardly stay in one place for too long.” Sarah bats her wrist in a lighthearted manner. “I won’t hold you two any longer.” Sarah rises from her seat and walks Blaze and Abby to the door. As they exit the home, Blaze begins to walk towards the car, but Abby grabs his hand and comes to a complete stop. I shift my eyes from Abby’s phone and see Blaze glancing at their interlocked hands and then Abby in quiet speculation.
“But seriously, if any you need to talk about anything, no matter how small, give me a call. I mean it,” Abby states.
Not long after that, Sarah sends them off, waving at the hunters like a mother saying goodbye to her firstborn on his first day of school. “Take care now!”
“Don’t worry, we will.”
Chapter 8: Afterthought
The sedan’s automatic locks release and Abby sits down in the seat in front of me. Blaze isn’t far behind. Neither says a word until we pull off.
“Did you see how she looked?” Abby begins after we leave the cul-de-sac. “It was like she’s starting to waste away…like something was slowly eating at her. It’s more than loss she’s going through.”
“Yeah, I saw. She looked pretty bad,” Blaze responds. “It’s depressing.”
I saw it too.
“It’s Gareth. He did that to her,” I say, trying my best to suppress my anger. “He’s not just some kooky bartender. Gareth’s a demon and he’s messing with her mind.”
Demons—stronger demons, have the ability to influence an individual’s emotions without possession, and there are certain circumstances that elicit almost absolute control. It can start as a simple idea or action, but if nurtured, it can grow. There are a lot of factors and some are more resilient than others. The unaware, the emotionally vulnerable, and the isolated are just a few of the types of people targeted for an easy hit. A good bit of the world’s horrible yet lesser deeds are pushed onto to people this way—random shootings, coaxed suicides, abuse cases…things of that nature. But, of course, some people are just plain wicked to begin with.
“Yeah, I figured that from piecing together what you told us and what I saw today. Gareth’s definitely a demon and he’s working on Ben’s mom,” Blaze says.
“She’s an easy target,” I reply from the backseat. “She probably doesn’t have that many friends…and with her son gone and everything, she’s emotionally vulnerable.”
“Yeah, she is, but anybody would be given her situation. Her son is missing,” Abby states.
“Hey, before I forget, here’s your phone,” I say as I pass back her phone. “I saw that you planted the bugs, so we should be able to listen in later, right?”
“Yup. With both of the bugs, we’ll be able to keep tabs on her. We can’t listen in at all hours of the day, but I’ll tune in every now and then. She said she can barely find the motivation to function, so if her location does a dramatic shift the audio from the bug will let us know if she needed some air or if something’s up.”
“Just seeing her like that makes me want to do a stakeout,” Blaze comments as he shakes his head. “But as much as I hate to say it, she’s not the real victim here…no, not yet. Ben is. His mother is just a prop they’re using as leverage to break him down.”
“Which is why we need to get to the bottom of this as soon as possible. Those demons are practically dangling her life on a string in front of him while God knows what is happening wherever they’ve got him.” I feel my body tighten but relax at the slightest onset of pain from my recovering wounds.
“Hex isn’t too far from here, right Sailor?” Blaze asks.
“Right,” I answer and exhale, forcing the air from my lungs as I coast in the backseat. “No more than about ten or so minutes without traffic.”
“Okay, good. We’ll only be a couple minutes away from Ben’s mom while we get your car situation situated.”
“Yeah, it’s good that we can give her some form of protection, but, there’s another angle we can use instead of waiting for Gareth to show up again. It’s not that solid of a plan, I admit, but it’s better than nothing.”
“What do you mean? You’ve been holding out on us?” Blaze asks after he makes a hard right, putting us back onto the main road.
“No, not exactly. I wanted to say something earlier, but seeing if Ben’s mom was okay took top priority in my mind. We wouldn’t even have that great of a result unless it’s night, anyway.”
“What are you suggesting, exactly?”
“I didn’t just magically fall into a Sphinx operation by sheer luck. I had to put in work to get as far as I got. There are a couple of drug dens not too far from Hex. I used to catch a few stragglers on their way in and out in order to get some details. More often than not, th
e people I managed to snatch up were too far gone to give me anything, but over time, the information began to pile up…especially on the off-chance that I got my hands on someone who worked underneath the surface and wasn’t just some underpaid pusher.”
“They had to be on to you after a while, right? I mean, routinely preying on their prospects is just like kicking a hornet’s nest.”
“It is…and they responded just as bad as you’d think. It took a while, but once they were starting to see a pattern, they added tighter security; demons armed with more than your standard handgun. Yeah, that whole thing didn’t turn out so well, as you know.”
“So, you want to make some rounds at a drug den?” Blaze asks.
“Only if you and Abby are down for a fun filled night of interrogation…”
“Abby?”
“Yeah, of course,” she answers. “It’s for a good cause and I know this means a lot to you.”
“Cool.”
The truth is, demons, while they’ve been somewhat my specialty these past four months, aren’t all that common in normal affairs. Information on how to deal with them exists, and a couple of hunters have had encounters, but mostly, as a community, other creatures are more prevalent on the list. Blaze got sucked into hunting because of vampires and I don’t know what made Abby decide to join the cause. I, of course, have my own reasons.
Out of everything I’ve encountered so far, demons have been the worst just because of their insidious nature. Cases like possessions and what not are few and far between because honestly, some people are just crazy. You can’t try to perform an exorcism on everyone who acts irrational or has a propensity to do hurtful things. It doesn’t work that way, even if darker forces are indeed in play. Demons stick to themselves and work behind the scenes in an upfront manner. For example, they ran Hex through the possessed and influenced leadership, but Hex still functioned like a normal club—minus the subliminal tracks and pushing supernatural drugs. I guess to some, fighting demons has a certain appeal, just like any other creature or entity that we put up with in our line of work. However, the dangers are more pronounced when dealing with werewolves or vampires. You know not to get bit or to take on a pack or stronghold without help—things like that.
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