Moon In The Mirror: A Tess Noncoire Adventure

by P. R. Frost

“Okay. One more thing. Donovan claims he’s not Damiri. That he was adopted by Darren as a teenager. After he fell. Fell from what? What is he? I know he’s not fully human.”

  “He is fully human now. Very long-lived and hard to manage, with many Damiri characteristics, but human.” Scazzy dropped his hand back to his side, meek and cooperative.

  The lack of his hat must be preying on his arrogance and self-righteousness.

  “How long is long?”

  “The one we now know as Donovan Estevez was originally created eight hundred years ago. He fell and became human a mere fifty years ago.”

  “Weird, he looks maybe forty human years . . .” I mused. “What was he before he fell? And what does the darkness in Scrap’s past have to do with Donovan?”

  “I cannot say.”

  “Cannot or will not?”

  “Both. My life is not worth that bit of knowledge.” Faster than I could react, he jumped up, grabbed his hat, and bolted into the otherworld with a pop and a foul wind that smelled of sulfur and burning sewage.

  Chapter 36

  JOSH AND ALLIE ARRIVED on the heels of King Scazzy’s departure.

  “You’re free to go, Tess,” he said, standing taller and more confidently than I’d ever seen him. But I’d never seen him in court. Rumor had it he was a formidable presence before a jury.

  Allie unlocked my cell door, keeping her gaze on the ground. I pushed past her roughly.

  “Tess?” she said quietly.

  I raised my eyebrows but said nothing.

  “Tess, I acted in haste in arresting you. I had my reasons. ” She finally looked me in the eye, defying me to unleash my anger.

  “You interfered.”

  “I saved your life.”

  “You don’t know that.”

  “You aren’t invincible, Tess. And there are others, too many others, who might have been hurt in the fray.”

  She had me there.

  “Tess, I need to get you home,” Josh said anxiously.

  “We’ll talk later, Allie.” How was this going to affect our friendship? Was twenty-three years of relying on each other enough to overcome the breach in our trust?

  It had to. It just had to. I couldn’t lose Allie. Not now. “I’ll call you, Allie. We have to talk.”

  “Tomorrow night at Guiseppe’s as usual? It’s Monday cannoli night.”

  “I don’t know. Depends on a lot of things. But we’ll talk.”

  I followed Josh out of the police station, drinking in the fresh air and warm sunshine.

  A wild wind blew from the south bringing rapid changes in the weather. About time. But I knew my mother hated the wind. It often triggered her migraines. Like the one she had last night.

  The snow melted rapidly, leaving a slushy mess. I spotted a few crocus and snowdrops poking their shy heads into the spring brightness. The grass looked a brighter green than normal. Almost surreal. A sign of new life and hope.

  A camera flash exploded in my face.

  “James Frazier, do I have to break that thing to keep you out of my life?” I clenched my fists and jumped at him, ready to rip the camera to pieces. And maybe him, too.

  “Tess,” Josh’s voice ripped through my pent-up anger like a broadsword through cotton. “Not now. He is within his rights.”

  “See, I told you I have rights. The public has a right to know what’s really going on in our quiet little peninsula. Did you know your house is haunted, Tess?” He whipped out his notebook.

  “Of course. It’s a matter of public record. The ghosts were included in the earnest money agreement when I bought the house. Along with the dining table and twelve chairs, the appliances, and the curtains.” I did my best to swallow my emotions and present a bland face to him.

  “But did you know there’s a ghost standing between the police and the closet full of weapons?”

  Hmm. WindScribe wasn’t around, so Godfrey was back doing his job.

  “I haven’t been home in several hours. How could I know?” I marched over to Josh where he stood by his car. An upscale midsized sedan.

  Now I just had to face my mother. She’d be in a rare temper what with the wind and Darren’s murder.

  “Did Donovan get to do his ritual over Darren’s body?” I asked.

  “Don’t know.” Josh shrugged and held the car door open for me. He wouldn’t meet my gaze.

  “Tess, I can’t continue as your lawyer,” he said the moment we closed the doors and locked them against James trying to jump into the backseat, notebook and camera in hand. “I got you released because Halohan and Allie Engstrom arrested you without enough evidence to back it up. But you can’t leave town, and they will be watching you closely until they find the murderer. ”

  “Thanks. But why can’t you . . . ?”

  “Because I’m too close to you and your family. I can’t examine evidence and testimony objectively. I’ve left messages with Marsha Thompson. She’s the best criminal defense attorney on the Cape. You should hire her. She’s expensive, but she’s the best.”

  “I understand.”

  "MoonFeather took a phone message for you. She told me to tell you about it but not mention it to anyone else.”

  “This sounds ominous.”

  “I hope not. Gayla says she found you some help, but it’s not close. Will come as soon as possible.”

  “That is good news. Even if it is a bit tardy.”

  “There’s something else.” He looked hesitant again. Not good in a lawyer. “I have to go up to Boston for a week. I’ve taken on a big case. An important case. This could really make my career. I’ve got to go. Can MoonFeather stay with you while I’m gone? She’s not as strong or as well as she likes to think. The wound isn’t healing properly. I spotted signs of infection when I changed the bandage just before I came to get you. I’d take her with me, but . . .”

  “Of course she can stay. You go do what you have to. And I’ll call Marsha Thompson first thing in the morning.”

  “Thanks. I’ll see if Marsha will give you a discount as a professional courtesy to me.”

  “Good. Now take me home. The best way I know to keep her fees from bankrupting me is to find out who really did kill Darren Estevez.” I set my jaw and stared straight ahead, letting my mind whirl and spin, trying to find something out of the ordinary to settle on. Something I should know but didn’t yet.

  “Leave the investigating to the police, Tess.”

  I smiled and nodded but didn’t commit.

  From the quiet anxiety of the police station, I stepped into the roaring fury of my mother and aunt in a territorial dispute over my kitchen.

  MoonFeather stood tall, braced on her crutches with her wounded leg tucked behind her. Mom set her much shorter, squarer body directly in front of her.

  A burning branch of sage in MoonFeather’s hand was the obvious source of contention.

  Gollum’s cat, Gandalf, sat in a puddle of sunshine watching the two women as if he waited to pounce on the victor and consume her for his dinner.

  Scrap blew a smoke ring in the cat’s face and dodged into a high corner. Gandalf hissed and batted at the imp with bared claws.

  The cat was loose. Where was Gollum?

  “I will not have you taint this house with your devil worship!” Mom screeched.

  “The devil? Satan! I don’t even acknowledge the existence of such a being. How can I worship him?” MoonFeather retorted with more venom than I’d ever heard in her voice. She waved the aromatic smoke in Mom’s face.

  Mom launched herself at MoonFeather with nails extended and teeth bared.

  Josh yanked his love out of the way. I barely inserted myself between the two women in time to catch Mom’s arm just shy of her target.

  “Quiet!” I screamed in my best schoolteacher voice.

  Quiet hummed against my ears.

  “Last I knew, this was my house,” I snarled at both women. And it would stay my house despite Darren’s attempts to get it away from me.

/>   “We need to call Father Sheridan,” Mom panted, still glaring at her sister-in-law.

  “Maybe I should wait to perform my cleansing ritual until after he leaves!” MoonFeather said, straining against Josh’s strong arms.

  “You need an exorcism. You and that piece of teenage trash Tess dragged home. I’m calling Father Sheridan right now,” Mom’s face had the pinched look of the onset of another migraine.

  Rebound headaches were worse than the original. She was not well.

  She’s still got a bit of demon thrall coloring her aura. Scrap told me blowing another smoke ring—not directly at the cat but close enough to set it hissing. The evil wants to cling to her, so it sets her against the cleansing.

  MoonFeather blanched. She retreated rigidly against Josh. “Don’t bring that foul pervert anywhere near me,” MoonFeather said, her voice deadly calm.

  “Pervert?” I asked. I’d never heard my aunt say anything remotely negative about anyone before. What did she have against gentle old Father Sheridan?

  Mom spun on her heel and reached for the telephone before I could grab her. “About what I’d expect from a whore of Satan.”

  “No.” I yanked the receiver out of her hand. “This has been a strange and upsetting day for all of us. Why don’t you go upstairs and lie down, Mom.” I herded her toward the stairs. “Josh, put MoonFeather to bed.”

  “I’ll not spend another minute under the same roof as that woman,” MoonFeather protested. She resisted Josh’s urging. He simply picked her up and carried her down one side of the butler’s pantry.

  “I want to sleep in the cottage.” Mom dug in her heels at the foot of the new stairs in the dining room. “I won’t sleep in a house with that heretic!”

  “You can’t, Mom. It’s . . . the police haven’t finished cleaning up the cottage yet.” Another shove toward the back of the house.

  “They . . . they wouldn’t let me see Darren. I need to go to him. He can’t rest peacefully until I see him.” She tried to flee out the door. Tears splotched her cheeks.

  I held on tight. “Mom, you aren’t making sense. When you’ve rested and gotten rid of the headache, we’ll call Father Sheridan and make funeral arrangements. He can take you down to the morgue to view the body.”

  “Call your father. He’ll know what to do.” This time Mom went meekly upstairs to my spare bedroom.

  Finally, the house quieted. I took a long hot shower and settled down to some lunch, leftover breakfast actually. No one had cleaned up the kitchen, and the waffle batter looked close to fermentation. But it tasted good, along with the sausage patty and fresh coffee. Lots and lots of fresh coffee with thick cream and three sugars. I might even leave an inch or two in the bottom of the cup to grow mold for Scrap. He deserved a treat as much as I did, even if he was lactose intolerant.

  Gollum returned bearing thick deli sandwiches. I ate one of those, too, just to keep him company. He’d brought in a couple days’ worth of mail as well.

  Such a nice man. I could get used to having him around. Would he be so kind as to take out the garbage? A brief check showed me he already had.

  Definitely worth keeping around.

  “Did Donovan get to do his ritual over Darren’s body?” I asked around a mouthful of rye bread and pastrami.

  “Don’t know. Halohan did take him over to the cottage. Two officers kept me from following or peeking through the window.”

  “Damn. I really wanted to know what that ritual did.”

  “So did I. Totally esoteric and undocumented rituals. I could write an academic paper on it. A secret religion existing right here in the U.S., not in some hidden Third World country. Do you think Donovan would tell me about it?”

  I glared at him. He did get carried away sometimes.

  Finally, he wound down and looked a bit sheepish. He pushed his glasses up onto the bridge of his nose.

  “I’ve got bad news,” he said taking my hand across the kitchen table.

  “I know about WindScribe.” I left my hand in his. It felt good, natural. Undemanding. That was something Donovan would never allow to happen. He always pushed and wanted more than I was willing to give.

  “How?” he asked, allowing his glasses to stay on the end of his nose so I could see the sincerity in his eyes.

  “King Scazzy popped into my jail cell and told me. Something about honoring my status as a Celestial Warrior. ” I recounted our conversation.

  “Did he tell you that the Windago took her from Donovan’s motel room?” His grip on my hand grew tighter, more reassuring. “They were in bed together. Naked.”

  “She didn’t waste much time.” I drew a deep breath, wondering what I truly felt about that bit of news. Not as hurt as I expected. I was the one to reject Donovan, not the other way around. He wasn’t here to work his magic on my emotions.

  “Well, she returned to this world starkers, only fitting she be taken from it again the same way,” I said.

  “Good girl.” Gollum patted my hand and returned to his sandwich.

  “Do we have any chance of getting her back?” I got up to refill our coffee cups. “Is there such a thing as a cosmic lawyer who can defend her?”

  “Not that I’ve heard,” Josh said returning from MoonFeather’s room with their empty plates. Gollum had brought enough sandwiches for everyone. Only Mom’s remained untouched. Last I looked, she was sleeping with enough drugs in her to knock out an elephant.

  “How much do you know about WindScribe?” I asked warily.

  “Enough. Your aunt and I came together through a pagan circle. I believe there is a lot more to the universe than we can observe through the normal five senses.”

  “If we find a precedent, would you argue in her defense? ” Gollum asked. His expression looked brighter than it had since we’d discovered Darren’s body. “Donovan’s case might give us some clues, if he’ll give us some details.”

  “That would be the case of a lifetime.” Josh’s face turned wistful. “As long as it doesn’t interfere with my case in Boston. I’ve got to get on the road. Thanks for looking after MoonFeather. Don’t let her do too much. And I’d recommend you keep the priest away from her. In her current mood, there is no telling what she might do. She’s looking for spells to ward the house against invasion. ”

  “What is that all about?” I asked. “I’ve never heard MoonFeather say anything against anyone before. And she called Father Sheridan a pervert!” I couldn’t imagine the short, slender man with a kindly twinkle in his eyes harming anyone. In his late fifties, he’d only been Mom’s parish priest about ten years.

  “That is not my secret to reveal.” Josh looked at his shoes. “Suffice it to say that her anger is not against Father Sheridan personally. And her anger is for someone else.”

  Gollum waited until we were alone again before speaking. “I’ll do some research, call Gramps, see if there is a precedent for retrieving the girl.”

  "I want to talk to MoonFeather. There’s more to this than just a misguided teenager trying to act out her ideals of freedom.”