All my lamenting about not having a guitar, and there’d been half a dozen of them in the house the whole time. For a second, I worried that the studio was an illusion or a dream.
But when I lowered my goggles, it was still there.
It wasn’t as nice as my setup at home, but there was a complete drum set in the corner, some bass guitars and amps, a PA system, two mics on stands, and a recording booth.
And at the center of it all sat his collection of guitars.
I walked over to the Oriental rug and the comfy leather chair he’d set up as his playing area. My fingers trailed across the heads of the Les Paul, the Tele, the Strat, the PRS, the Rickenbacker, and the Schecter Hellraiser. On the other side of the basement, I saw two hard-shell guitar cases that likely held his acoustics. One had the Martin logo stenciled on it, and the other was a Taylor. Seeing all the guitars together in one place took my breath away more than any of the supernatural horror and wonder I’d encountered thus far.
I was in a place as close to heaven as I was likely to find in Ashburn. They were all amazing instruments, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the Schecter.
I know other guitar players would have told me I was crazy, but there was something about the way the Hellraiser played and the noises I could squeeze out of it that I loved.
I picked up the heavy guitar, plugged it into the amp, and cranked up the dials.
Making myself comfortable in the throne-like chair, I hit a chord, and my ears were rewarded with a full, earthy blend of perfectly tuned strings that shook the room and made Shadow jump.
As my fingers moved across the mother-of-pearl inlaid neck, I went through some major pentatonic scales, then transitioned to one of my favorite tunes—one I’d written just after Yeah, Yeah had gone to the top of the charts. It was called Stellar Invasion, and back then I’d been convinced that anything I wrote would go gold. It turned out the world hadn’t been ready for a five-minute opus about a celestial being who eats planets and bends the fabric of space-time to his will. I admit, I might have taken a couple of questionable edibles while composing that one, but even decades later and completely sober, I still loved it.
I sang the first verse while my guitar gently wept. Then I moved into the chorus, letting my voice rise and crescendo.
A grin spread over my face as I thought about writing an entire album about Ashburn—a series of songs that would follow the adventures of a hero who walked into a small suburban town filled with forgotten gods, angels with broken wings, and rock-and-roll demons, all imprisoned by a powerful being for some unknown, diabolical purpose.
I stopped playing Stellar Invasion and noodled around with some new ideas, searching for the right riff around which I could build the first song. After half an hour of playing, mostly with my eyes closed, a melodic spine emerged.
Then Shadow’s ears perked up, and he gave a piercing alert bark, and my fingers stopped. Two seconds later, I heard the doorbell ring over the hum of the amp.
I turned the volume knob on the Schecter to zero and put the guitar back in its rack before trudging upstairs to find out who was there. I didn’t like being interrupted when I was in creative mode, and with each step I fantasized about the person at the door being a magazine salesman or someone else Shadow might find tasty.
Instead, when I made it the door and looked out, Oizys was standing there with her white silk blouse buttoned to her neck and her arms crossed in front of her.
I opened the door, but before she could say anything, I held up the palm of my hand.
“I know what you’re going to say—that I messed up by letting Marie escape, but surprise—I ran into her last night. She’s safe and sound in her house, in Ashburn, Virginia. I’m not even sure she ever left.”
Oizys uncrossed her arms while Shadow growled menacingly behind my legs.
“You spoke with Marie?” she asked.
“We had a good talk last night, and trust me, she’s not going anywhere.”
She crinkled her eyebrows and pushed her way past me. As soon as she was in the house, my vicious hellhound was nowhere to be seen.
Maybe I left out a couple of key points regarding Marie, like the fact that she was a zombie. But essentially, I had told Oizys the truth. Marie hadn’t seemed like she wanted to go anywhere or do anything other than sleep. She was officially off my most-wanted list, whereas Oizys had moved to the top.
“I’m glad you are convinced the Voodoo priestess won’t be leaving us anytime soon. For once, I agree with you. But I’ve come here to tell you about something else—another dead human.”
Even though Oizys was a demon, I could read her face. She was keeping something from me and enjoying it way too much.
“Who died?” I asked sharply, doing my best to stare her down.
“If you’re going to be ungrateful about this,” she said in a tone of contempt, “I won’t waste my energy being delicate. Early this morning, just before sunrise, a runner found Marie’s dead body on the walking trail behind her house. I thought you would like to know, since the two of you had such a good conversation last night.”
Chapter 35
I HEARD WHAT Oizys told me, but I didn’t believe her. Sure, the last time I’d seen Marie, she’d been a zombie, with only half of her soul and no discernible pulse. But she hadn’t been completely dead. And she’d needed my help. For all I knew, she still needed me, and I was going to find out.
“Who did it?” I asked, keeping my face devoid of emotion as I rubbed the back of my neck to ease the mounting tension. “Do you know how she died?”
Oizys shrugged her shoulders.
“I wasn’t fortunate enough to view the body,” she said with a grin.
I stepped up to Oizys, certain my demonic rage was showing and not caring one bit.
“Where is she now?”
Oizys’s eyebrows went up again, showing mild surprise.
“I do not keep track of such mundane things. She might still be in Ashburn, at the Police Station, but I imagine your Sheriff friend would know for sure. But really, John, I am quite shocked that you care so much for one of them. I hope you’re not going soft on me.”
“I need to know what happened to her,” I said as I walked past Oizys and opened the door. “And who did it.”
She frowned but moved to leave.
“I had something else I wanted to share with you,” she said as she stepped through the doorway.
“Tell me later,” I said.
“But this one is fun,” she said. “I thought you’d like to know Blaire has been properly punished for his oversight regarding my package yesterday. I assure you, it won’t happen again. Although, in a way, I hope it does. You should have heard him scream. It was delicious.”
“I’m sure he enjoyed whatever you gave him,” I muttered, as I put my hand on the door, ready to close it in her face.
“He usually does,” she said with a sigh. “Usually.”
I studied Oizys’s face, watching her movements as if each were a series of frames frozen in time. Her mouth betrayed micro expressions of anger and her eyes told me she felt betrayed.
“Thanks for that bonus piece of news,” I said as I closed the door on her.
“You can come out now, you big baby,” I yelled into the air.
I waited, but didn’t see Shadow anywhere.
“Fine, but I’m going to run an errand and then head over to the store, if you—”
Before I could finish, Shadow bounded past me, almost tripping me.
He sat at the door, wagging his tail, with his leash in his mouth.
“We’re working now. We’ll go for a walk later.”
He kept the leash in his jaws as he followed me into the garage and hopped into the passenger seat.
I started up the engine, wondering why I was bringing him along at all.
“Why’d you hide from her?” I asked as I backed out of the driveway. “You’re a friggin’ hellhound. She’s supposed to be afraid of you.”
>
Shadow whimpered and lowered his head.
“Ah, you’re killing me,” as I gunned the engine and headed for the main road.
On the way, I decided to turn into Marie’s community. Maybe I was hoping to see her outside, checking on her eternal gardeners, but as I neared her house, I saw two police cars outside and an officer sealing her door with crime scene tape. I thought about asking one of the cops where the local police station was, even though that would have seemed an odd thing for John to ask. But I kept driving when I saw Oizys talking to one of the officers and flirting with him.
As I drove past, Shadow growled, and Oizys turned to look at me with a gleam in her eye, like she had somehow heard him.
I hit the gas and left the scene shrinking behind me in my rear-view mirror.
“Time to visit the morgue,” I said as I used the car’s nav system to locate the nearest police station.
Five minutes later, I parked between two Sheriff’s cruisers. Being around cops always made me nervous, even when I wasn’t doing anything wrong. But walking into a crowded police station felt twice as bad.
The lobby was guarded by two cops who peered at me through narrowed eyes as I walked in with Shadow trotting behind me. I waited for them to tell me that dogs weren’t allowed, but they ignored him and kept their eyes on me. At least I’d left Gus and my dagger in the trunk.
The one police officer was an older man with a white mustache and a sharpness to his eyes that told me he’d seen a lot and was bored sitting behind a desk. The other guy was younger and skinny. The way he was trying to mask his expression of contempt told me he was looking for trouble and probably pulling receptionist duty as punishment for his latest screw up.
What can I say? I’m quick to judge people, but I’m also hardly ever wrong.
I looked the old guy in his eyes and pretended to be polite.
“Good evening, officer. A friend of my mine passed away last night. A Marie Lacroix? I was told she was found on one of the walking paths near her house. And I was wondering if there was any way I could see her one last time. It would really mean a lot if I could tell her goodbye.”
The old guy nodded then looked away and typed something into his laptop, one finger at a time.
“Are you a family member?” the younger cop said. “You don’t look like one to me. And we don’t allow dogs in here.”
Shadow’s ears flattened, and he fixed his gaze on the skinny police officer.
“Marie and I were very close,” I said. “And I really need to see her.”
“What you need to do is put that dog on a leash and get it out of here,” the skinny officer said.
“Shut it, Allen,” the older cop said, looking at me but clearly speaking to his partner. “Looks like your friend’s here until the morning, John. I can take you back if you want.”
The older cop knew me, which explained why he was cooperating. Before I could thank him, Allen put his hand on the older cop’s shoulder.
“You know the rules, Charlie. He can’t go back there. Either him and his dog leave, or I’m sounding the alarm.”
“I appreciate your help,” I said to Charlie as I ignored his red-faced partner.
Charlie nodded, but his eyes were glazed over and he’d turned pale.
“Are you feeling all right?” I said.
“You, shut up,” Allen said to me. “And Charlie, what the hell? You must be sick if you think you’re taking this asshole and his mutt back there to see one of the peepsicles.”
I wanted to ignore Allen the asshole so badly, but something inside me snapped, and I turned on him, letting the smallest amount of my demon rage show in my eyes.
“What is your problem?” I said. “Charlie is going to take me and my dog to see my friend. Do you really have a problem with that?”
I was ready for him to pull his gun or to sound the alarm. But instead, he broke into a genuine smile and sat back in his chair.
“That sounds perfect to me, sir,” he said, turning to his computer and humming a tune. “I’m very sorry for your loss, and I hope you have a good rest of your day.”
I raised an eyebrow and cocked my head as Charlie stood up and motioned for me to follow him.
He led me through two security doors, swiping his access card and punching in his PIN. We stopped outside a room with glass double doors and a wall placard that read, Medical Examiner.
“She’s in drawer 12B,” Charlie said with a smile that felt out of place among the dead. “I’ll wait outside, but you take all the time you need.”
I nodded slowly as Charlie swiped his badge and opened the glass doors. Cold air from the room rushed out to greet me, and Charlie motioned for me to enter.
I studied his eyes before going anywhere. They were still glazed over, and he seemed to be somewhere else mentally.
“Let me ask you a question, Charlie.”
“Sure thing,” he said.
“What would you do, hypothetically speaking, if I told you that you were sleepy and that you should take a nap in one of the cadaver drawers?”
“I’d get some sleep, I suppose,” he said without a pause. “Do you want me to go to sleep right now? Am I tired?”
“No, you’re perfectly fine. In fact, you feel great and well rested.”
Charlie took a deep breath and smiled, looking invigorated, just like I’d told him he was.
“I have one last question,” I said. “If I asked you to kill yourself right now, what would you do?”
“Off the top of my head, I can think of a couple different ways to do it. But my gun or my knife would be the easiest. Whichever you require.”
“There’s no need,” I said. “I was only wondering. You can wait out here for me. That will be fine.”
He nodded and stepped back.
I entered the morgue and added what had just happened between me and Officer Charlie to the list of things I had to ask Sybil about one day.
After locating drawer 12B, I grabbed the handle and pulled until the stainless-steel platform rolled toward me and was fully extended.
Unfortunately, Marie’s body wasn’t on it.
I heard Shadow growl, followed by a familiar voice behind me.
“Guess your friend wasn’t as dead as we thought she was,” Sheriff Boreman said. “Seems we’ve been getting a lot of that lately.”
Chapter 36
THE SHERIFF STOOD a few feet away from me with his hands on his hips. Even though I was on his turf, his face showed a tint of fear that spoiled his attempt at looking confident and in charge of the situation.
Shadow lay down on the floor and licked one of his paws, ignoring the Sheriff completely.
“I was getting ready to come find you,” the Sheriff said. “An hour ago, the medical examiner showed up to start his preliminary review of your friend’s body. But the drawer was empty, as you can see. I was hoping one of the newbies had screwed something up, but everything was in order on our end. I downloaded the video from the security cam to my phone so you could see what happened for yourself.”
The video showed the back of Marie in a paper gown as she walked toward the exit. She moved a little stiffer than usual, but otherwise she looked unharmed and well—just as I’d left her. On the bottom of the screen, the time stamp indicated she’d escaped only an hour ago.
“I really thought she was one of us,” the Sheriff said. “A human, I mean.”
“She was,” I said. “But she dabbled in—certain things.”
“You mean, Voodoo. I had to talk to her twice last year about slaughtering chickens in her kitchen. Ended up citing her for a few health code violations. It made for a good headline in the local newspapers, but it wasn’t much of a big deal. Freaked out the neighbors more than anything else.”
“I’m sure the HOA didn’t like it either,” I said.
“Let me ask you something,” the Sheriff said, ignoring my dig at Oizys. “Do I need to be worried about your friend walking around loose in my county?”
>
I didn’t know how to answer his question. My experience with zombies was limited to watching them do fake yard work outside Marie’s house, so I told the Sheriff what he wanted to hear.
“She’s no harm to anyone,” I said, probably lying.
John would have been proud of me.
My assurance satisfied the Sheriff, as his shoulders relaxed and his posture slackened.
“You look like you could use some sleep,” I said.
“Don’t,” he said, sharply, before turning his head to avoid my eyes. “Don’t pretend to give a shit about me—or any of us. I know the deal here, and I don’t like it. But it is what it is. Just take care of your mess and try to keep things in better order moving forward. I’d hate for word to get out that there’s something weird going on around here. Rumors like that might draw a lot of unwanted attention, if you know what I mean.”
“If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear you just threatened me,” I said.
“All I did was make a statement.”
“Has anyone else seen this video?”
“I erased it on the server,” he said. “Nothing ever gets really deleted nowadays, but somebody’d have to be looking pretty hard to find it.”
“Make sure no one does,” I said with a snarl.
The Sheriff tensed up—exactly the effect I was going for.
“I’ll show myself out,” I said, before I remembered what else I’d wanted to ask him. “Any progress regarding Laura Henders?”
“Not much. Her permanent address was in Sterling. I don’t know why she was walking around Ashburn by herself. I figure she was visiting someone, but no one has come forward.”
“Do you still have her body, or did your men lose hers, too?”
His look confirmed what I already knew—that Laura had gone missing just like Marie. But his face convinced me that he didn’t know any more than he was telling. Someone or something was working behind the scenes, manipulating the situation, and getting two people killed in the process—and neither one of us knew who that was.
I walked out of the station, nodding to Charlie on the way out and glaring at Allen.
Five minutes later, I pulled into the parking lot outside Ancient Pages. Despite a grumble of protest from Shadow, I locked him in the bookstore with a fresh bowl of water and hoped I wasn’t going to return to find a monster-sized poop in one of my reading chairs.
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