“Oh, I collect everything. You should see my house.”
I'd like to, Melanie thought. She wondered about getting that address.
“Y'know,” Carla said, smiling as she held the stone nose up to her own, “if I didn't have a job like this, I don't know what I'd do.”
Melanie wondered about that. Maybe you'd kill someone.
Chapter 30 – Old School
Melanie was as uncertain as ever about the case, and she needed certainty fast, before the final window closed and everything became a permanent blur. She decided to stop by the National Library after closing hours, when she could talk to Mr. Constant.
“You're becoming a nuisance, you know,” the magician said as he stepped outside.
“Can I come in?”
“We're supposed to be closed.”
“Supposed to be, yes.”
Mr. Constant grumbled and led her in, down a winding corridor, and into a small, cosy room with a fireplace. He cast some logs in and struck a match.
“Can't you just … click your fingers?” Melanie asked.
Mr. Constant scoffed. “I can, but that would be a waste, and a violation of my oaths. I didn't learn magic to make my life more comfortable.”
“But it helps.”
Mr. Constant stared over his glasses. “What in the blazes are you doing back here, Melanie? I hope you didn't put my name in any reports. I get enough attention from that rabble of yours as is.”
“I'm lost, Ernest.”
“Well, I can see that.”
“This case—”
“Now, don't you start dragging me further into that. You already got me involved quite enough! I don't want to know any more. The more I know, the more I'm compelled to act, and I can't act without skirting the edges of my oaths. I'm not supposed to be getting involved in all this mundane malarkey.”
“But it's not mundane,” Melanie protested. “There's some magic going on, blinding me. I feel like I'm close, but all my senses are getting shut off. Can't you do something? Can't you do some divination or remote viewing, or whatever it is you do?”
“I'd like to, Melanie, but there are rules that you know nothing about, and they can't be broken without dire penalties. Malik is an example of that.”
“But you helped with him.”
“We had unfinished business. If it wasn't him, I wouldn't have been able to help you.”
“What about advice?”
“I can give that,” Mr. Constant said. “The question is: can you heed it?”
“This magic with the charms—”
“Don't tell me the details. Keep it vague.”
Melanie sighed. “Oh, it's pretty vague all right.”
“Go on.”
“It's blocking my senses.”
“So unblock them.”
“How?”
“Everything has its opposite, Melanie.”
“What do you mean?”
“Whatever was done to block your senses, simply do the reverse of it.”
“I'm not sure how.”
“Not all your senses are blocked. I can tell you that right now.”
“I've got my intuition, but I'm unsure.”
“Put aside all the doubts and suspicions, all the biases and opinions. Get to the kernel of pure experiential knowledge. Then you'll know what to do.”
“You weren't wrong about you liking things vague,” Melanie said.
Mr. Constant chortled. “That's as clear as it gets in this world, Melanie. If you want it any clearer, you have to make it yourself.”
Chapter 31 – Five of Her Own
Melanie went back to Bits and Bobs the next day. She was becoming just as much a regular as Carla was. She just hoped that didn't come with another, darker hobby.
“Back again,” the owner said, with his now familiar smile. As dark as that store was, there was a brightness in him. He clearly loved what he did. His enthusiasm was infectious.
“Yeah,” Melanie said.
“I found something a bit like what you were looking for before.”
“Oh?”
He pulled a small ornament from behind the counter. It looked like a miniature Pinocchio with a long nose, and a hook at the top to hang it up.
“Not sure it quite fits the bill, but … it's got a very prominent nose.”
“Thanks. I'm actually looking for something else this time. Or rather a few things.”
“Well, now! Let's see what we can find for ya.”
“I need an open eye and an open mouth for starters.” She took a fifty Euro note out of her pocket and placed it on the counter. “Can you help me look?”
“Put that away!” the shopkeeper cried. “I'll help for the helpin'! An eye and a mouth, you say?”
“Open. They have to be open.”
“Sure thing, sweetie. You try down the far end and I'll start here.”
They scoured the shop, and Bob only paused his search to momentarily help another customer who came in. By the time night fell, they had dozens of potential items that fit the bill, some in stone or metal, others in porcelain or plastic.
“Catch of the day,” Bob said with a chuckle. “Anything of use?”
Melanie rummaged through the pile, plucking out a copper Eye of Horus, an African carving of a man with a giant open mouth, with the tongue sticking out, a Hamsa symbol with no bindings, and a little iron figure of a man holding his hand to his ear. That covered four of the senses.
“These will work wonders,” she said. “And here, throw in that Pinocchio too. The bigger the nose, the more you can smell, right?”
Bob laughed. “Why not?”
He packed the trinkets up carefully in coloured tissue. Melanie paid him, and insisted on a tip, and for the first time since all of this started, she felt much more at ease. She wasn't sure if it was the fact that she now had a plan or if Bob's good nature was just rubbing off on her. With him around, it seemed like anything was possible. In the Hibernian Hollows, anything was.
Chapter 32 – Reversal
The cheer faded a little by the time Melanie got home. She brought the charms to her coffee table, where her grandmother's Tarot cards were still arranged. She'd barely been home lately. She couldn't complain though. Lack of sleep was nothing compared to what the paralysis victims were going through.
She laid out the items from left to right, then stared at them for a moment. It was odd to think that such lifeless, little things could have such effect. Of course, the charm was just a vessel. It was the magic you filled it with that did the trick.
Melanie was no magician, and she only had an inkling of how to reverse the process taken by the culprit of these crimes. She hoped that inkling would be enough.
She started with the last one, symbolic of smell. She thought it best that everything be done in reverse. She almost wondered if she should say the words backwards too, but thought better of it. The words she used she didn't understand, more of that ancient, indecipherable tongue her grandmother had taught her. She never thought she would be using them so much, never thought she would be looking so often to her roots.
For a while, nothing seemed to be happening. A sense of doubt began to well up deep inside her, gnawing away at her prior confidence. Her grandmother had warned her not to give in to doubt, and Mr. Constant had echoed those words. So far, Melanie had been doubting almost everything, even her own sanity.
The words rolled off her tongue like thunder. The room darkened and brightened. There was electricity in the air. The little trinkets buzzed with energy. The little Pinnochio almost seemed like a real boy. The iron man almost seemed to wiggle his ear. The African figure almost seemed to grin and loll his tongue. The Eye of Horus almost seemed to wink at her. The Hamsa hand almost seemed to wave. One by one they came to life with purpose. One by one, she undid the spell on her and everyone around her.
She smiled as the astral walls came down, as she finally found some success, but the smile quickly faded as her intuition guided her to
memories that she didn't even know she had, to words said, to sights seen. Things that seemed normal now seemed odd. She had a sinking feeling in her chest.
She called Don.
“It's the middle of the night, for Christ's sake,” he growled.
“Sorry, but it's important.”
“The case can wait, Melanie.”
“It really can't, Don.”
“Okay, then shoot.”
“That time you went to Stephen's place with Toby—”
“I thought it was about the case?”
“It is. Hear me out. That time you went there … what was it for?”
“Eckhart had a suspicion Stephen was up to something. Christ, maybe he was. Maybe he was behind this the whole time, and couldn't take it in the end and did it to himself.”
“So you didn't give the order to investigate Stephen?”
“No. It was Eckhart's idea. He asked me to keep it on the down low in case you let something slip to Stephen that he was being watched. I had Eckhart stake out his place for days, but he didn't see anyone come or go.”
“That's all I needed to know.”
“Are you serious? You woke me up for that?”
“No, Don. I just needed some confirmation. I know who did all this.”
“I'm listening.”
“It was Toby.”
Chapter 33 – Forgotten
In the OIU headquarters, everything was shut down for the night. Yet someone walked through those halls, largely unnoticed. The shoes clattered off the ground in an ominous way, one by one, like the march of Death.
The figure entered the room where Stephen was kept, still wide awake with terror. He was one of the few not sleeping. He stared helplessly as the figure circled the bed.
“So,” Eckhart said, pulling a slip of paper up that was taped to the bottom of Stephen's bed. “You're destined for downstairs, it seems. I could have told you you were destined for that all along. You were never going to get back together with her, you know. It was never going to happen.”
Eckhart took out an apple, and a knife. He let the faint light in the room glint off the sharp edge. Then he took a slice, using the knife to scoop it into his mouth. He did this again, slice by slice, showing the knife each time. To Stephen, completely helpless on the table, it must have been torture. As far as he knew, Eckhart could do anything to him.
Eckhart finished his apple, then dragged a chair across the floor, letting it screech. He didn't have to be quiet. No one would hear him. He plopped down beside Stephen, bringing their faces close to each other.
“You know, you ruined her,” he said. “You took the chance I should have had, and you blew it. She didn't want me. She didn't even know I existed. But you … you kept on calling, and she kept on coming. You just wouldn't go away.”
Eckhart stood up sharply. “Well, it's only a matter of time now, and the clock is ticking fast. Soon enough, you'll be forgotten, just like she forgot me.”
Chapter 34 – Completing the Circle
Melanie called Eckhart several times, but he didn't answer. Normally he answered in an instant, as if he had been waiting for her call.
She raced towards the station, where Don was also heading, hoping she would find her partner there, hoping she would be able to catch him and end this once and for all. Yet there was still another charm to add to the bracelet, still another body to add to a body bag.
* * *
It was approaching midnight, so Bits and Bobs was closed, but Bob was still there, sorting through his new inventory. He hummed away to himself as he cast various trinkets into different coloured boxes.
The shop was darker now that night came, and Bob was working by candlelight. For whatever reason, he felt at home in the dark, tucked away from sight, just like so many of those little charms were.
He was so absorbed by his work that he didn't hear someone creeping up behind him. By the time the floor creaked, he tried to turn, then froze, and everything went black for a second. When he could see again, he saw a man standing there, his left hand held palm outward, glowing blue, and his right hand dangling a little chain with a spirit wheel charm hanging on the end.
“Sorry, Bob,” Eckhart said. “It's nothing personal.”
Chapter 35 – Minutes to Midnight
Melanie arrived at the station not long after Don. She charged in, finding him turning on the computers in the Operations Room.
“Are you sure about this?” he asked her when she entered.
“Yes,” she said. “I can't believe I didn't see it before.”
“I'm putting a lot of faith in you. You better be right.”
As happy as Melanie was to finally have the culprit in their sights, she really hoped she was wrong.
“He's due back in tomorrow morning,” Don said. “We can spring a trap.”
“Tomorrow might be too late, Don. We need to find him tonight.”
“I'll track his phone.”
“His phone's off.”
“That doesn't matter. All mobiles from the Vowels have been rigged to transmit a signal all the time.”
“Nice to know,” Melanie said sardonically.
“Well, it proved useful this time.”
A blinking dot appeared on the map on the screen. Don zoomed in as far as he could.
“Carter Street,” he said. “What's he doing there at this time of night?”
“Finishing what he started.”
Melanie raced back outside. She needed to finish things first.
Chapter 36 – Midnight
It was lucky it was late, because there was no one on the road. She broke every light, ignored every sign. All that mattered was the destination. She only hoped she wasn't too late.
When she arrived at Carter Street, she barely stopped the car before hopping out, leaving the door open. She charged up to the front door, trying the handle. It was locked. She thumped the door with her fist, then kicked it.
“Toby! Are you in there? Bob! Let me in!”
* * *
Inside the store, just moments before Melanie arrived, Eckhart was finishing up his work with Bob. Eckhart hoisted himself up onto the counter, dangling his legs like a child.
“You might be wondering why,” he said. He shrugged. “Why not? Sometimes you just reach breaking point. Either you snap or you snap others. Kill or be killed. I never felt like I mattered. Well, I matter now, don't I? To you, definitely, and to the others. And maybe, in time, I'll matter to her.”
He paused, as if waiting for Bob's response. Bob couldn't respond. The magic was working faster than ever. It was exhausting, but also exhilarating.
“What's that?” Eckhart asked, hearing the implied response. “Who's she, you ask? The girl of my dreams, or so I thought. She only ever seemed to look at me when I was dreaming. All the other times, I was just the guy driving the car, the guy filing the reports, the guy watching on as she picked the wrong man. I tried to warn her.”
He pulled a photo out of his inside coat pocket. It showed Melanie, smiling. She didn't smile as often as he'd like, and maybe she wasn't going to smile about this, but she'd pay attention. He scoffed at the memory that she didn't even know he was taking the photo, that she was so wrapped up in her own little world, she never noticed him.
“She's beautiful, huh?” he said, holding the photo up to Bob. Bob could do nothing but look. “She doesn't think she is, you know. She thinks she's a mutt, but I think the gods got it right when they mixed the ingredients that made her. I told her that, but she didn't listen. She never listened.”
He hopped down, putting the photo away. He drew up close to poor, old Bob and flicked him on the forehead.
“Do you feel that?” he asked. “No? Well, that's what it feels like to be me. I'm like this little bee buzzing around, but no one hears me, and no one feels me. So I've gotta sting someone. Again, it isn't personal.”
He heard a sudden thumping at the door, followed by Melanie's voice.
“And would ya
look at that?” Eckhart said. “Right on cue.”
He wandered over to the door, listened to the frantic thumping for a moment more, then opened up. Melanie saw him good and proper then. It was like, for the first time, she really looked.
Eckhart smiled a sickly smile. “Now you notice me.”
Chapter 37 – Too Many Questions
Melanie immediately pulled her gun on Eckhart. It took a lot of effort not to also pull the trigger. It wasn't just the heinous crimes. It was the lies. It was the betrayal.
“Back away!” she warned him.
He backed away, charm in hand.
“Try anything with that and I'll blast your hand off.”
“What if it was a charm to protect me from bullets?” Eckhart quipped. Even now, in a situation like this, he was still cracking jokes. No one was laughing.
“Is it?” Melanie asked. She couldn't be sure of anything any more.
“No. Even I can't make a charm for that.”
“Why?” Melanie asked. She had too many questions, but they mostly boiled down to that one word.
“You really don't know, huh? That's a perfect example of it all.”
“Of all what?”
Eckhart's eyes bulged. “Of how you never pay any attention to me. I might as well be a sack of grain sitting next to you. You probably wouldn't even know the difference.”
“That's not true.”
“It is to me. Any time I tried to open up to you, you brushed me aside. Don said you were a bulldozer. Well, I say you're a tidal wave. You washed away everything in your path, including me.”
“That's not fair, Toby.”
“Don't talk to me about what's not fair!”
“I didn't ask to be your partner, Toby.”
“I didn't ask to be yours either, but at least I wanted it. At least I cared.”
Hibernian Charm (An Occult Detective Urban Fantasy) (Hibernian Hollows Book 2) Page 7