Passions of the Dead (A Detective Jackson Mystery/Thriller)

by L. J. Sellers

  Lori started to ask the other closer, but Jason saw her coming and shook his head. She clamped her teeth together, grabbed her tray, and marched out there.

  They guys were half drunk and it took six minutes just to get a drink and appetizer order. During the process, one said he liked the way her uniform fit and another asked if she was the “age of consent.” Lori finally walked away. The pricks. She was just trying to earn a little money. They had no right to make her feel like a pole dancer.

  Lori took their ticket to the hostess. “I’m not feeling well. I have to go home.” Her jaw tensed and she could barely squeeze out the words. She hurried away to avoid a discussion, then finished her sidework. She couldn’t quit or let herself get fired. She had to keep this job until she had enough money to move to Maui. The apartment and roommate were already lined up and she had enough for a ticket, but she still needed money to live on after she got there.

  A few minutes later the manager called her into the office. Oh great, she thought. This would be the frosting on the shit cake of her day.

  Greg closed the door behind her. “I keep hearing you won’t take late tables,” he said, standing between her and the door.

  “Just tonight. I have a migraine, I’ve been here for eight hours, and I need to go home.”

  He slid close and laid one hand on each shoulder. “I can make your job here a lot easier.” His fingers stroked her collarbones.

  “I need to go home,” she repeated, not knowing what else to say. Grabby Greg stood directly in front of the exit. What was she supposed to do? Push him out of the way? Lori could feel an outburst coming. All the control and self-talk would not get her past this.

  “In just a moment, you can.” Greg ran his hands over her breasts, giving each a gentle squeeze.

  Lori exploded. Both hands came up and slammed into his chest, shoving him back. Greg staggered, but caught himself before he bounced into the wall. Too stunned to speak, he stared open-mouthed.

  “Get out of my way,” Lori screamed.

  The manager shuffled to the side, straightening his glasses. “You don’t work here anymore.”

  “No shit.”

  Lori grabbed her backpack and sweatshirt from the cabinet and ran from the restaurant. Her co-workers glanced over as she hurried past, but only Jason said good-bye. Fuck ’em, she thought. It was a crap job anyway.

  Outside, the sun was low on the mountain, the sky was pink, and the air was warm. Another blue-sky day spent inside. Wasted. Lori ran to the Subaru. Thank God it was Sunday and her mother had let her take the car to work. Behind the wheel, she burst into tears. It was so unfair. Why couldn’t she have found a fun job? Like working at a camp? Now she had no job and her parents would be mad as hell.

  Lori couldn’t go home and face them yet. She hated what was happening to her parents. Her sweet, fun loving father never made jokes anymore, and they hadn’t played softball together in weeks. Dad was either at the computer looking on Craigslist for jobs or at the tavern drinking. Her mother had become a stranger, a quiet, worried imitation of herself. Lori just wanted to grab Shane and take off. They both needed to get away from Eugene and start fresh somewhere else.

  Tears still rolling down her cheeks, she started the car, then called Shane. He didn’t pick up and she left him a message. Where was he? He was supposed to meet her after work. With Shane, it was hard to know. Once he lost his job and gave up his apartment, he was all over. Sometimes he was at his parents, but he also stayed with Damon and sometimes at Tyler’s. Shane didn’t stay long enough in one place for people to get tired of him. That way he could always come back.

  When Lori looked up, Shane was there in the twilight, sauntering across the parking lot. Some of the tension left her shoulders. Shane put his face to the windshield and grinned, dimples popping, and her heart lightened. If he would only come with her to Maui. He had to.

  “Hey, babe.” He climbed into the passenger seat, kissed her gently, then pulled away.

  Lori’s anxiety flooded back. “What’s wrong?” She peered into his eyes, but saw no glassiness.

  “How come you’re so perceptive?” Another gentle smile.

  “Tell me what’s going on.” Dread filled her stomach, expecting the worst.

  “Let’s get going. I’ll tell you on the way.”

  Lori started the car. “Where are we going?”

  “I need to stop at Zor’s and pick up some medicine.”

  “I wish you could find another source.” She pulled onto the street. When they were in Maui, they could bike everywhere and she wouldn’t have to feel like a chauffeur any more.

  After a few minutes on the road, Shane said, “I’m not going to Maui with you. I’m sorry, babe.” He stroked her hair.

  She took her eyes off the road to stare at him. “Why not?”

  “I can’t. I’m too vulnerable right now. It’s all I can do every day just to find and pay for methadone.”

  “There’s methadone in Maui.”

  “But can I find it? Or afford it? I’m not going to let myself relapse.” Shane’s jaw muscles contracted.

  Lori glanced up at the heavy traffic, then over at Shane again. “What are you keeping from me?” She was in full panic now.

  “It’s my dad. His head injury isn’t getting any better. Mom wants me to stay here and learn the business.”

  “Are you kidding? After all these years of refusing to give you a job, now he wants you to work for him?”

  “Mom wants me to train with him. As an intern.”

  “For no money?” Lori didn’t understand.

  “I owe them for a year’s worth of methadone. I owe them a year’s worth of rent.” Shane squeezed her leg. If she hadn’t been driving, he would have grabbed her hands. He always made contact when he was trying to be persuasive. “I owe them everything. They saved me.”

  Lori loved his loyalty to his mother. She also hated his loyalty to his mother. “What about our life together?”

  Shane seemed to brace himself. “I can’t be with you.”

  “What are you saying?” Lori’s heart hammered. Her body shook and she considered pulling off the street.

  “My parents are unhappy about us being together. Especially Dad. He’s still pissed at Uncle Jared about the fight and at Nick for taking his Lou Gehrig card. After Dad saw us together he stopped speaking to me.”

  “None of that has anything to do with us.” Lori knew it wasn’t true, even as she said it.

  “Of course it does. I hope our families can work everything out, but Dad may never forgive Jared or Nick.”

  “How many times do I have to tell you? Nick didn’t take the damn baseball card.” Lori thought she knew who did, but this wasn’t the time to say it.

  “Don’t cry, babe. I feel bad enough as it is.”

  “Don’t call me babe. Not if you’re breaking up with me.” She turned on Almaden, grateful to get away from the traffic.

  “Your parents would have found out eventually. Your father, cool as he is, would never accept us.”

  Lori was crying too hard to respond. Shane was dumping her at the worst point in her life. She drove the last five blocks in silence, then pulled up in front of the shabby blue house.

  “I love you, Lori. This breaks my heart too.”

  “Just get out.”

  Shane started to say something else, then decided against it. Lori watched him walk up the path. After he disappeared inside, she rested her head on the steering wheel, while silent tears rolled down her cheeks. How had everything gotten screwed up so fast?

  Her parents had lost their jobs, that’s how. After that everything turned to shit. Now she had to go home and tell them she’d lost hers too. Lori started the car and drove away. She practiced what she would say and how they would respond. She couldn’t even make it go smoothly in her imagination. Her pulse raced, pumping stress into her nerves and muscles, making her feel poisoned. She pulled into a Safeway parking lot and called Jenna, but her best friend
didn’t answer. “I’m totally stressed and I need to talk,” she said to the machine. “Call me.”

  Lori heard Jenna’s voice in her head telling her to score some pot and bring it over. If there was ever a time to get high, this was it, Lori decided. It was unhealthy to feel this stressed. Shane took methadone to keep himself on track. Why couldn’t she? It was a legal prescription, not some street drug. She turned the car around and headed back to Zor’s.

  The dealer opened the door and said, “Shane’s already left.”

  “I’m not looking for him.”

  “What do you want?”

  “Methadone.”

  “Seriously?” Zor rolled his wheelchair back and let her in.

  “Of course I’m serious.” Lori hated when people patronized her for looking young. She was a legal adult.

  “This is for you? Not Shane?”

  “I’m stressed to the max.” Lori held out her hands where he could see them shaking. Why did she need to justify this to him? He was a drug dealer.

  “Let me get you a blanket and a beer to start with.” Lori waited by the door in the dark room. It creeped her out to be here, but she desperately needed to soothe her soul. A constant dull anger had been eating away at her and turning her into someone she didn’t like. She needed to take the edge off before telling her parents she’d lost her job, followed by the information she was planning to take her small savings and move across the ocean.

  Zor came back with a lightweight blanket. Lori wrapped it around her shoulders and took the beer he offered.

  “I don’t have any methadone,” Zor said, “but that’s not what you need anyway. It’s slow acting and addictive.” He rolled toward the hallway. “Come with me.”

  They went into a back bedroom with blankets over the windows. Zor gave her a sly smile. “Have you ever been high before? I mean really high?”

  Lori shook her head. She’d smoked pot a couple of times with Jenna but it mostly made her sleepy.

  “You’ll never understand Shane unless you understand what it’s like to get loaded. You should try it once, just to know what his world is like.”

  “Shane just broke up with me.”

  “Then you should get high just for the fun it. You’ve had a crappy day.”

  Lori felt entitled. If there was ever a day for taking a mental break, this was it. If she looked older, she would have gone into a bar and had a drink. Since that wasn’t an option, she’d try whatever Zor was offering and escape her own ugly head for a while.

  “I have some great ecstasy,” Zor said, unlocking a large black case. Jenna had taken ecstasy once so Lori figured it was safe. Part of her didn’t really care. Dying of an overdose and not having to face her current reality didn’t seem that bad. Or ending up in the hospital with people hovering over her, worried, could be okay too. Would Shane take her back if he thought she’d overdosed because of him?

  Lori swallowed the little pink tab and washed it down with a slug of beer. Zor wanted her to hang out for a while to make sure she was okay. She drank half her beer and tried to make small talk. Her body started to hum with energy and the walls of the little house started closing in. She was suddenly aware of the stink radiating from the carpet, every spilled beer, every cat hair, every molecule of mold growing in it now. Suddenly, she had to get out.

  She paid Zor twenty bucks, a third of her tip money, and bolted from the house. The cool night air felt delicious on her skin and the scent of fresh mowed grass hung in the air. Crickets chirped and the moon shimmered. She loved summer and all its sensory richness.

  Lori drove to her favorite riverside park and lay down in the middle of a wide field of grass. Staring up at the stars, she listened to the river gurgle by and wondered what it would be like to live on the water. Maybe on a houseboat in Maui. She had to find a way to get there. In this precious moment, she felt gloriously alive and amazingly free. Free of her job, free of high school, and free of her worries.

  The stars changed colors, flashing bright blue, red, and gold. At first the fireworks were pretty, but soon they sent daggers of light hurtling across the sky at each other. Worried about being hit by burning debris, Lori hurried to her car. She wanted to be at home, in her room, listening to music with her eyes closed.

  The drive took forever. She kept pulling off the road, thinking other cars were aiming straight for her, trying to crash into her. Finally she pulled into the driveway and stared at the house. This was her home, wasn’t it? Something didn’t seem right. As she stumbled out of the car, Lori realized her bladder was about to burst. She squatted between the garage and front of the car and relieved herself.

  Lori rushed across the short walkway and into the house. Her skin heated up as she moved and her throat dried out. Water! She needed to consume liquid before she burst into flames. Lori rushed to the kitchen and downed half a glass of water from the faucet. She spotted tiny things floating in the glass and slammed it down on the counter. Had the little floaties gotten inside her? Should she vomit them up?

  She strode into her bedroom, dropped off her backpack, and kicked off her shoes. The walls seemed to close in and the orange of her bedspread was putrid and overwhelming. Still feeling incredibly thirsty, she rushed back to the kitchen for more water.

  “Lori, are you okay?” Her mother stared as if she’d grown a third eye.

  “I’m fine.”

  “Was work okay? You look upset.”

  “Work was the usual shithole of degradation.”

  “I wish you wouldn’t swear.” Her mother’s green eyes blazed with anger.

  People told her she looked like her mother, but Lori didn’t see it. This woman was completely different from her. She was artsy and simplistic and complacent. “I wish you would leave me the fuck alone.”

  “I don’t appreciate your tone. Have you been drinking?” A red fire flared in her mother’s eyes and she looked possessed. Her hand snaked toward Lori and her face was a mask of hatred.

  The anger building inside Lori burst like a giant pus-filled pimple. She jerked free. “I don’t answer to you anymore! You failed me! Dad failed me!”

  “What’s going on?” The man she used to think of as her father came into the kitchen. He too had blazing red eyes and a mask of hatred.

  What the hell was happening? Had these people been taken over by demons? Lori felt trapped against the counter. “I quit my job. So what?”

  “Oh shit, Lori. That was pretty selfish.” Jared pulled at his own hair.

  “You’re the one who’s selfish. You’re the one who’s supposed to have a job.”

  His red eyes flashed and his body tensed, ready to lunge.

  The mother-demon touched his arm. “I think she’s been drinking. This is not a good time to talk about it.”

  “Let me smell your breath.” The father-demon lurched at her.

  Lori dodged, putting herself farther into the corner. “Get out of my way. I want to leave.”

  “You’re not driving my car.” The mother-demon spun out of the room. “I’m taking your keys.”

  Lori didn’t care. She would rather run than drive anyway. Energy kept building in her muscles and she thought she would burst.

  The father-demon spoke, his voice bouncing around the kitchen. “Your pupils are dilated. Did you take a drug?”

  “Get out of my way. I want to leave.”

  “You’re not going anywhere.”

  “Are you going to assault me the way you assaulted Uncle Kevin?”

  Its eyes flared in a bright red burst. “That was an accident!” It lurched toward her. Lori made her move and tried to run past him toward the garage door. The father-demon grabbed her, his fingers digging into her burning skin. He barked like a madman, but the words were only sounds and made no sense.

  Lori easily pulled free, surprised by her strength. She spotted the baseball bat leaning against the counter. Why was it there? Did he plan to assault her? Lori grabbed the bat and spun back around. She held it like a w
eapon. “Don’t come near me.” She hated the father-demon for his weakness. His failures. He’d started this family’s descent into hell, then made it worse. It was his fault Shane had broken up with her.

  The father-demon’s eyes burned bright and his face morphed into a gargoyle. It raised its hands and spoke again, but the words were a garbled echo. Suddenly, the thing was coming at her, shouting in an alien language. Heat filled her chest and adrenaline surged though her brain.

  “I’ll kill you,” Lori warned.

  It kept coming. Lori swung the bat with all her might.

  Smack! The red fire went out of his eyes. Smack! The father-demon dropped to its knees. Lori swung the bat again. Smack! It fell against the counter.

  Shrieking filled the air. Lori spun around and saw the mother-demon rush at her, eyes blazing. Lori charged forward and took her down with a single blow. The mother-demon landed on her back, momentarily weakened. Lori hated her too. The mother-demon had stolen the baseball card and let Nick take the blame.

  Lori’s chest burned white hot and she expected her heart to burst into flames. She was going die and she didn’t want to do it here.

  She rushed to the cabinets and leaned the bat against the counter. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched the father-demon struggle to get up. He would come after her again if she gave him the chance. The knife holder was in her line of sight. She grabbed the biggest knife and spun around. In three strides, she stood over him and plunged the knife into his heart. Sounds kept coming from his mouth. She drove the knife in again. And again, shredding his treacherous heart.

  The mother-demon sat up and made a heinous sound. Lori ran to the middle of the floor. She kneeled, raised the knife, and slammed it down on the mother-demon’s wrist. Blood pooled on the floor, but the hand was still attached. Lori slammed the knife one more time and the hand separated. It would not steal again.

  As she rose from the floor, more screaming filled the room, then something rushed at her. It looked like her brother Nick, but its eyes flashed like a demon. Lori was stunned by the betrayal. Not Nick too. Her hesitation worked against her, and the Nick-demon took the knife and threatened her. Lori lunged for him and felt the knife enter her body. She felt no pain, only a slight cooling sensation. She glanced down, fascinated by the blood flowing from her abdomen. The Nick-demon was trying to kill her. Lori encircled his wrist with her right hand and squeezed with all her might. He cried out, and as his grip gave away she grabbed the knife handle. He turned away to prepare for another attack. Lori stopped him with a final plunge into his back. The Nick-demon took two steps and collapsed.