New York Night

by Stephen Leather

  Eddie shook his head. ‘She wasn’t pushing. She was talking to Ryan. He was making us move the thing. Even when she put the blindfold on me it kept moving.’ Eddie stared at Nightingale, his face fearful. ‘It works, doesn’t it? The Ouija board. You can use it to talk to the dead?’

  ‘Don’t even think about it, Eddie.’ He pointed a warning finger at the boy’s face. ‘Kate’s dead. She’s gone. Don’t even think about using the board to contact her.’

  ‘I wasn’t,’ he said.

  ‘Well don’t.’

  Perez returned with a can of Mountain Dew. Eddie mumbled his thanks as he took it from her. He popped the tab and drank as she sat down next to him. ‘So where are we?’ she asked Nightingale.

  ‘Whoever they contacted, they asked Kate to blindfold Eddie,’ said Nightingale. ‘Once Kate had done that, Eddie wasn’t able to see the messages.’

  ‘How long did this go on for?’ Perez asked the boy.

  ‘A while,’ he said. ‘I lost track of time.’

  ‘And you had your fingers on the planchette all the time?’

  ‘Kate said I had to. She said it wouldn’t work if only one person was touching it.’

  ‘She didn’t spell the words out loud?’

  Eddie shook his head. ‘All I heard was when she asked him questions.’

  ‘What sort of questions was she asking?’ said Perez.

  ‘I heard her say when. And what she’d need. She stopped at one point to get a pen, I think.’

  ‘A pen?’

  ‘She told him to wait and then she got up and went away. She came back after a bit and she started taking notes. A lot of notes.’

  ‘What did it sound to you like they were talking about?’ asked Nightingale.

  Eddie sipped his soda then rubbed his mouth with his sleeve. ‘I don’t know. She didn’t say much. And she put whatever she was writing on away before she took the blindfold off.’

  ‘What happened then?’ asked Nightingale.

  ‘She put the board away and made me promise never to tell anyone what had happened. She said if I did she’d tell my parents about the weed.’

  ‘And you never said anything to your parents?’ asked Nightingale. ‘Not even after Kate was found?’

  Eddie shook his head. He sipped his soda.

  ‘And she never mentioned it again? She never told you what she’d written?’

  The boy shook his head again.

  Perez patted him on the shoulder. ‘Are you okay?’

  He nodded. ‘You won’t tell my parents?’

  ‘Of course not,’ she said. ‘We won’t even tell them we’ve spoken to you, if you’d prefer it that way. Like we were never here.’

  ‘That would be good,’ he said. ‘Thank you.’

  Perez stood up and nodded at Nightingale. ‘I think we’re done, aren’t we?’

  ‘Sure.’

  ‘The Ouija board, you think it has something to do with what happened to Kate?’ asked Eddie.

  ‘It shows that she wanted to contact Ryan,’ said Nightingale. ‘She might have tried other ways. We’ll ask around.’

  ‘You have to catch him,’ said Eddie. ‘You have to get whoever it is.’

  ‘We will,’ said Nightingale.

  CHAPTER 14

  Nightingale and Perez walked out of the school and over to Perez’s car. Nightingale lit a cigarette as they walked. ‘See now I’m confused,’ said Perez.

  ‘About what?’

  ‘Does this Ouija board work or not? Because you’re sending me mixed signals.’

  ‘It depends.’

  ‘On what?’

  ‘On who’s using it. It’s sold as a toy and it works just fine that way. You get a group of kids playing it and someone will push. Maybe more than one. And once someone starts pushing everyone joins in. Not always deliberately, sometimes it happens subconsciously, but it’s a game.’

  ‘You’re very good at evading questions, Jack.’ They reached the car and she took out her keys. ‘But what Kate did, it wasn’t a game. And she blindfolded her brother so he couldn’t be pushing it. The way I see it that leaves two choices. She was talking to herself or she was talking to the spirit.’

  ‘A spirit,’ said Nightingale. ‘Maybe not the spirit she thought she was talking to. There’s no way of knowing who had contacted her.’

  She stared at him over the top of the car. ‘So now you’re saying it’s real. That she was talking to the dead?’

  ‘I don’t know who or what she was talking to.’

  ‘But it’s more than a game, that’s what you’re saying.’

  Nightingale sighed. He took a long drag on his cigarette and blew smoke before replying. ‘It’s a game. But it can be more than that. It’s like a pen. You can write a poem with it, or a blackmail letter. It’s the same pen, what matters is the use you put it to.’

  ‘But you’re telling me that a Ouija board can be used to talk to the dead.’

  ‘To the spirits of the dead, yes. But you have to know what you’re doing. I’d say ninety-nine per cent of the time people are either playing around or subconsciously pushing.’

  ‘And Kate Walker?’

  Nightingale blew smoke again. ‘That blindfold thing worries me. I’ve never heard of that before. It doesn’t mean that she wasn’t pushing, consciously or subconsciously, but...’ He shrugged.

  ‘But what?’

  ‘If she was communicating with someone or something, what would they have to say that they didn’t want the brother knowing about?’ He shrugged. ‘I don’t know, Cheryl. This is a new one on me.’

  Perez climbed into the car. Nightingale threw away what was left of his cigarette and joined her.

  She sat with her hands on the wheel but made no attempt to start the car. ‘I don’t understand what’s going on here,’ she said.

  Nightingale said nothing and she turned to look at him, eyes narrowed. ‘Did Wainwright know about this occult stuff when he brought you in? Because it’s starting to look to me as if you’re some sort of expert on all this.’

  ‘He didn’t know. He wanted me to check it out. That’s what I’m doing.’

  ‘Let me ask you a direct question, Jack. You believe you can talk to the dead?’

  He returned her stare for several seconds. ‘Yes.’

  ‘And that’s personal experience talking?’

  Nightingale nodded. ‘Yes.’

  She closed her eyes, sighed, and then cursed under her breath. ‘What the hell have you got me into?’

  Nightingale wasn’t sure if the question was rhetorical or not so he didn’t answer. Eventually she started the car but she drove him back to where he was staying without saying a word and didn’t say goodbye when she left him on the sidewalk.

  CHAPTER 15

  Dee-anne was wearing a black leather jacket and tight-fitting jeans and a white t-shirt that said in very small letters – IF YOU CAN READ THIS 1) YOU ARE STARING AT MY BREASTS AND 2) YOU ARE WAY TOO CLOSE. Her hair was tied back in a ponytail and several heads turned as she walked the length of the bar, her heels clicking on the wooden floor, and slid onto a stool at the far end. She was carrying a small black Michael Kors bag and she put it on the bar next to her.

  There was a single barman working, a guy in his thirties with bulging arms that strained at a black t-shirt. He had slicked-back hair and a goatee beard and was chewing on a toothpick as he walked up to her.

  ‘Jack, rocks,’ she said.

  ‘Jack as in orange juice?’

  She frowned. ‘Jack as in JD. Jack Daniels. Rocks as in ice.’

  Four bikers wearing denim vests with SATAN’S SOLDIERS on the back were playing pool and one of them, bald with a bushy ginger beard, turned to see what was going on.

  ‘I’ll need to see some ID,’ said the barman.

  She held out her hand and he reached out but then he frowned when he realised she wasn’t holding anything. She grabbed his wrist and smiled. ‘You don’t need to see any ID, Billy. Just get me the fucking dr
ink.’

  He sneered at her and tried to pull his hand away, but realised he couldn’t move his arm. He pulled harder but her nails dug into his flesh making him wince. He stared at her hand. It was small, not much bigger than a child’s. He frowned, trying to work out how she could hold him so tightly.

  ‘See, Billy, you don’t want your wife knowing that you like to suck bikers’ dicks in your spare time. Or that now and again you pay them to fuck you up the arse. You’re not gay, obviously, you being married and all, it’s just you like the feel of flesh against flesh. I mean who doesn’t, right? Live and let live, that’s what I always say. So you run off and get me a drink or I’ll phone your wife and let her know what you do in your spare time.’

  The barman tried to pull his arm away but she refused to release him. A vein began to throb in his temple as he strained against her grip, but she held him fast.

  ‘Or maybe I’ll call the cops and tell them about the meth you sell. The little bags you’ve got behind the bar there and the half kilo upstairs behind the TV. That’s prison time, Billy. Mind you, plenty of dicks to suck behind bars, right? An ill wind and all that.’ She let go of his arm and he struggled to maintain his balance. ‘Get me my Jack rocks, Billy. And be quick about it.’

  Dee-anne stared at him until he nodded and went over to a line of spirit bottles. He returned with a Jack Daniels and ice, put it down in front of her and retreated to the other end of the bar. The biker with the ginger beard said something to his pool companions and they all looked over at the girl but she didn’t seem to notice.

  She took out her phone and spent a few minutes flicking through Tinder, selecting likely candidates and rejecting the chaff. She felt him outside several seconds before the door opened. She didn’t recognise the body he was in, of course, but she knew it was Xaphan.

  He recognised her for who she was, grinned and waved and headed towards her. ‘Isn’t this fucking amazing?’ he said.

  She grinned back. ‘I’m loving it.’

  ‘You feel so much more alive, don’t you? Even though every cell is dying. You know you’re dying but that just makes everything so intense.’ He slid onto the stool next to her and nodded at her drink. ‘What is that?’

  ‘Jack Daniels.’

  ‘I tried that. What else is good?’

  ‘Scotch.’

  ‘I’ll have a Scotch, then.’

  Dee-anne waved over at the barman. ‘Hey, Billy, a Scotch rocks for my friend here. A malt. A good one.’

  The barman poured the drink and brought it over.

  ‘This is my friend, Matt,’ she said. ‘Matt this is Billy.’

  Matt held out his hand. The barman stared at it.

  ‘Don’t be a prick, Billy,’ said the girl. ‘Shake hands with your customer.’

  The barman shook hands and Matt grinned. ‘Nice to meet you Billy.’ He let go of the barman’s hand and Billy hurried away. Matt looked over at the girl. ‘He likes to suck dick, huh?’

  She laughed. ‘Who knew?’ She picked up her glass and clinked it against Matt’s. Or Xaphan’s. It was confusing. The face she was looking at belonged to a good-looking teenage boy. But behind the eyes was Xaphan, a second-order demon who was supposed to spend all eternity stoking the fires of Hell.

  And she knew that Xaphan saw her as a pretty teenage girl, even though she was Lilith, a princess of Hell who could take many forms, most of which would send the occupants of the bar out into the streets screaming with terror. ‘What do you want to do?’ asked Dee-anne.

  Matt grinned. ‘Let’s have some fun,’ he said. ‘Nasty fun.’

  ‘Anything in particular?’

  ‘Let’s play it by ear.’

  The girl nodded. ‘We can trawl a few clubs, see what’s out there.’

  Matt downed his glass in one, and shuddered with pleasure. ‘It’s like drinking fire,’ he said. ‘You can feel it spreading through your body.’

  ‘Have you tried vodka?’

  He shook his head.

  ‘Vodka does the same but quicker. You don’t get the same flavour in your mouth but you get more of a burn.’ She waved at the barman. ‘Billy, give my friend a vodka. Snow Queen.’

  ‘Snow Queen?’ repeated Matt.

  ‘From Kazakhstan. They use artesian spring water from the Himalayas and then distil it five times. It’s as pure as the driven snow.’

  The barman poured a measure of vodka and put the glass down in front of him.

  ‘Leave the bottle. Billy, there’s a good man,’ said Dee-anne. The barman did as he was told then beat a hasty retreat to the far end of the bar.

  Matt drank it in one and then gasped and patted his chest with the flat of his hand. ‘Oh yes, now that I like,’ he said. He refilled his glass. ‘So you’ve been here a few days now. How much fun have you been having?’

  She grinned. ‘A lot,’ she said. She held up her smartphone. ‘There’s this app they use to arrange sex. You put up your picture and your details and then if someone likes your profile you can talk to them. Mainly it’s just sad men looking for sex.’

  He took the phone from her and looked at the screen. ‘So I could use it?’

  ‘You might have to use a different picture, you look too young.’

  ‘What about you?’

  She grinned. ‘Old men like young girls. It works like a charm.’ She took the phone back from him. ‘It’s perfect, you can check hundreds of possibilities in an hour or so and you know where they live and you can find out if they’re alone or whatever.’

  ‘I love it,’ said Matt, and drained his glass. ‘Fuck me that’s good.’

  One of the bikers walked over from the pool table, swinging his cue. He was tall, well over six feet four, his head shaved and with four steel studs in his right ear. He had a small tuft of black hair sprouting from under his lower lip. The sleeves had been hacked off his jacket to show off the intricate tattoos of skulls, naked women and snakes that covered both arms. He leered at Dee-anne. ‘Hey sexy, if ever you fancy a real man, give me a call.’

  Dee-anne smiled, showing perfect teeth, and swivelled around on her stool to face him. ‘You’re a real man?’

  ‘Damn right.’ He dropped his hands between his legs and squeezed his own groin. ‘This’ll satisfy you more than his tiny pecker will.’

  Matt slid off his stool. He was a head shorter than the biker and had to lift his chin to look him in the eye. ‘Are you saying I’ve got a small penis?’ He looked over at the girl. ‘Is he saying I’ve got a small penis?’

  The biker laughed, though it was more like the growl of an attack dog. ‘If you’ve got one at all, which I doubt. You look like a virgin to me. Have you ever even kissed a girl?’

  ‘Are you really a soldier of Satan?’ said Dee-anne. ‘That’s what it says on your back, right?’

  ‘You can read, that’s good.’

  ‘Nah, the reason I ask is that I know most of Satan’s troops and you I don’t recognise.’

  ‘What the fuck are you talking about, bitch?’

  ‘I’m just saying, I don’t see that a pussy like you would ever be one of the master’s soldiers.’

  ‘You’re calling me a pussy? Me? A pussy?’

  ‘I think she is,’ said Matt. ‘And I think she’s right.’

  ‘Fuck you,’ said the biker, raising the pool cue. He brought it down hard towards Matt’s face and it was just inches away from landing when Matt’s hand flew up. There was a loud ‘thwack’ and the pool cue was locked in Matt’s hand. The biker’s jaw dropped in astonishment. Matt grinned at his surprise. Then his left arm flew up and his forearm pushed under the biker’s chin and forced him back against the wall. The biker struggled but couldn’t move. The pool cue fell from his hand and clattered on the floor.

  Two of the bikers stepped away from the pool table, their cues raised high. The girl turned and pointed at them. ‘Stay where you are, boys, or I’ll rip your fucking heads off.’ They froze and looked at her, clearly confused. She slid off her stool an
d took a step towards them. ‘I mean it. Get back to your fucking game or I will rip you apart.’ Her voice had become suddenly deeper and rougher and her eyes had turned a vivid scarlet. She bent down, picked up the dropped cue, and broke it in half as if it was nothing more than a twig. The two men backed away. As they reached the pool table her eyes returned to their usual blue colour and she smiled sweetly. ‘Thank you so much,’ she said, and tossed the broken cue away.

  ‘So I’ve got a tiny dick, have I?’ Matt asked the biker that he had pinned up against the wall.

  The biker glared down at him. Even if he’d wanted to speak the arm across his throat prevented him from saying anything. Matt thrust his left hand between the biker’s legs. Matt looked over his shoulder at Dee-anne. ‘He does have a very large penis,’ he said. ‘It’s big. So are his balls. They’re huge.’

  ‘Good to know,’ said Dee-anne.

  ‘Hey Billy, have you sucked this guy’s dick?’ shouted Matt. ‘Tell me, have you had Reggie’s dick in your mouth?’ The biker’s eyes widened at the mention of his name. ‘Yeah, I know you Reggie. I know everything about you. I know what you did to that young girl in Phoenix and I know what your dad did to you when you were nine. I know about that hooker you kicked to death when you were high on crack and how you burnt down your father’s house with him in it when you were sixteen.’

  The biker gritted his teeth together and grunted. He struggled but Matt’s left arm under his chin kept him locked against the wall.

  The boy grinned up at the biker. ‘Yeah, they’re one set of balls you’ve got there.’ He squeezed harder and the biker’s face went crimson. Spittle was spurting from between his closed lips. ‘I wonder what sound they’ll make when they burst?’ Matt squeezed harder and the biker screamed. ‘They’re going,’ said the boy, increasing the pressure. ‘I can feel it.’ The biker was roaring in pain now and banging the back of his head against the wall. The boy started to roar along with him as he clenched his fist tighter, then he laughed as he felt the balls collapse. The biker slumped and the boy stepped back and let him fall to the floor. The boy stood looking down at the unconscious man, grinning in triumph. ‘Not so big now, are they?’ he said. He put his hand to his nose and sniffed, then pulled a face. He smiled at the girl. ‘That was fun,’ he said.