Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

by J. L. Murray

  "The only thing it loves is killing and pain. They lock them deep in the pits because they like to slip into people’s bodies." That’s what Sasha had said about the Dark. He may have lied about how long it took them to get frisky, but I was willing to bet he wasn’t lying about this. The room was practically shouting out that a Dark had been responsible for this. I looked at the wedding picture again. Where had I seen her before?

  I walked outside and joined Gage, who was leaning against his car, looking weary. "Sorry," he said. "Told you I wasn’t used to this stuff."

  I shrugged. "It takes time." Something caught my eye. It was the ghost I’d avoided on the way in. A woman holding two bundles to her chest. "Aw, Christ," I said.

  "What?" said Gage.

  I gritted my teeth. "That’s how I knew her face," I said. "The wife, she’s standing over there."

  Gage looked. "I don’t see nobody."

  "Of course you don’t," I said. "She’s dead."

  "Oh," he said. "Right. You gonna go talk to her?"

  "It would probably be helpful," I said. "I hate this stuff, though."

  I approached her. She had been an attractive woman, and even now her curls hung around her face, and her now-mournful eyes made her look almost alluring in a blonde goth kind of way. She saw me coming and clutched the bundles tighter to her chest.

  "Hey, I’m Niki," I said. "What’s your name?"

  "Can you see me?" she said.

  "Obviously."

  "Can anyone else see me?"

  "No. You could say I’m sort of special."

  "Abnormal?" she said, shrinking back a little.

  "You’re not really in any position to point fingers, lady," I said.

  She sighed and looked down at herself. "I guess you’re right. I’m dead now, aren’t I?"

  "Yes."

  She closed her eyes and shook her head. She adjusted the lumps she was holding, sort of cradling them in her arms. "I’m Sadie," she said. "Sadie Chenowith. These are my children."

  "Children?" I said. She showed me the bundles. Two ephemeral children cooing and smiling lay swaddled in two different blankets. They were paler than Sadie, nearly transparent. "Sadie, aren’t your children much older than this?" I said.

  She frowned and pulled the babies back to her chest. "What are you talking about?" she said. These are my babies."

  "Fine. It’s okay, Sadie, don’t get upset. I’m here to help you. What happened to you? You were attacked."

  "I don’t want to talk about it," she said. She smiled down at the ghost babies in her arms.

  "Sadie," I said. I was trying to be gentle, but I wasn’t exactly a patient person. "Please look at me." She looked up and I could see that she was suffering. There was an emptiness behind her eyes. And I knew. I don’t know how I knew but I did. "Sadie, where’s your husband?" I said.

  She pursed her lips and shook her head. She looked down at the babies. "I don’t think that was my husband," she said. She frowned, drawing her perfectly arched eyebrows together. "And I don’t think these are my children. They look like my children, but how can they be babies?"

  "Sometimes," I said, "people keep things with them that gave them comfort. Maybe this is how you like to remember your kids. But you have to understand that they’re not really there, Sadie. You’re projecting them. I’ve never ever seen the ghost of a child. And I’ve been doing this a long time."

  "I know," she said. "I think I knew that." As she said the words, the bundles swirled into the air and disappeared, the smiling faces of the children hovering in front of her for a moment before fading into nothing. Sadie let her arms hang down limply. She closed her eyes. "It couldn’t have been him," she said. "It was some kind of monster, I just know it. Not Gary. Not my husband."

  "What happened?" I said softly.

  She bit her lip. She had a pretty, oval face. The kind of face that looks young long past its years. "Gary came home from work early," she said. Her voice was hollow and slow, as if she were in shock. If a ghost could be in shock. Come to think of it, maybe that’s why they hang around after they die. "He wasn’t feeling well," she said. She opened her eyes and looked past me as she spoke. "He sat down on the couch to watch the television and I went into the kitchen to make him some tea. The children were playing in their rooms. Gary made a funny noise."

  "What kind of noise?" I said.

  "Like a grunt," she said. "Like when people have heart attacks on television. I ran in to see what happened and Gary was just sitting there with the strangest look on his face. Like something horrible had just happened. I asked him what was wrong, but his eyes went kind of funny and he started laughing. I’d never heard anyone laugh like that. It scared me."

  "You said his eyes went funny," I said. "What do you mean?"

  "It was the scariest thing I’ve ever seen. They were completely black. Like an insect or a...a..."

  "Monster," I said.

  "Yes. A monster." She bit her lip again. "I couldn’t move," she said. "I didn’t know what to do. So I just stood there, staring at him. He just kept on laughing, like he was enjoying it. Then he hit me hard across the mouth. I fell over and must have blacked out, because when I looked up he was gone. Then I heard the children screaming." She put her hand over her mouth and I looked at my boots in silence to give her a minute. She continued in a somewhat husky voice. "I ran upstairs but they were already dead. My babies. He had killed them. The blood was everywhere. He was covered in it. He was laughing again, if he had ever stopped. He had a kitchen knife in his hand. He grabbed me and stabbed it into my neck. I just kept thinking, my blood is making such a mess. I fell down and he stabbed me over and over. I was almost gone when he threw me down the stairs."

  He must have used the blood afterward to redecorate the room. But I would never tell this poor woman. She’d suffered enough. "There’s something you should know," I said. "That wasn’t your husband."

  "It wasn’t?" she said, hopeful. But doubt flickered in her eyes.

  "This sounds crazy, but you have to believe me," I said. "There’s a spirit that’s going around possessing people. That wasn’t your husband, Sadie. I promise it wasn’t."

  "That’s not possible," she said. "That only happens in the movies."

  "Remember how you knew I was an Abnormal when we met?" I said. "You were a little scared of me, right?" She nodded. "Well, there are even stranger things in the world. Bad things. Terrifying things. Things that took over your Gary and killed you and your children. It wasn’t him. It was a Dark. You have to believe me."

  She stared at me for a long moment. "I believe you," she said. "It’s crazy, but it’s true. It wasn’t him." She smiled suddenly, relief spreading across her face. "It wasn’t him," she said, laughing. "Thank you." Her face blurred, then her body. There was a swirl, like a hundred dust devils, and then she was gone, her spirit mixing with the air around her.

  "You’re welcome," I said.

  I filled Gage in on Sadie’s story on the way to the cop shop.

  "So, guy gets possessed, kills his family, gets unpossessed, and gets arrested for killing his family?" he said.

  "That’s about the gist of it," I said.

  "Damn. Think he remembers any of it?"

  "We’re going to find out," I said. "And maybe the guy knows something about what happened to the Dark after it left him."

  "Guy’s probably crazy after all this," said Gage.

  "Possibly."

  "Sometimes," said Gage, "crazy people are perceptive as hell about things."

  Chapter Eight

  If the cop shop was busy before, it’d gone batshit since then. No one was at the counter when we came in. Officer Fick was nowhere to be seen. The noise was deafening. The murmur of dozens of voices talking at once, phones ringing, and above it all I could distinctly hear the musical sound of Hugh Perry shouting. So I’d have to deal with him today. Peachy.

  I rang the bell at the desk and waited, but no one came.

  "Well," said Gage. "I kn
ow how to solve this." He hoisted himself up until he was sitting on the high counter.

  "What are you doing?" I said.

  "Improvising." He swung his long legs around and hopped down on the other side. He walked out of sight and the door that Smithy had come from before opened and Gage’s face appeared. "Ta-da," he said.

  I led Gage through the chaos toward the interview rooms, where I figured they’d have Gary Chenowith. A voice stopped me halfway.

  "Niki?"

  I turned, bracing myself. I knew the voice. "Eli," I said. "Hi."

  "What are you doing here?" He glanced at Gage.

  "I need to talk to Gary Chenowith," I said. "It’s really important."

  "You shouldn’t be here, Nik," he said. His face was blank. I couldn’t read his expression at all. "I’m glad you got off the Registry and all, but this is police business."

  "Well the thing is, Eli," I said, taking out my badge, "I have every right to be here. I guess that sort of makes me your boss." His eyebrows went up, but after a moment he nodded in acceptance.

  "And who’s this?" he said pointing at Gage.

  "Bobby Gage," I said, "meet Detective Eli Cooper."

  "Charmed," said Gage.

  "It’s true, then," Eli said to me. "I heard a rumor about you."

  "Was it a good one?" I said.

  He nodded. "Pretty good. If it’s true, you’ll want to avoid Perry."

  "It might be a little late for that," I said.

  "Why?" said Eli.

  I pointed behind him. "Because here he comes." Sure enough, Perry was heaving his squat body towards me like a boar charging. There were sweat stains under his arms and he had an expression on his face like he had just smelled something disgusting.

  "Jesus," said Gage. "What’s wrong with that guy?"

  "He sort of hates me," I said.

  "Yeah," agreed Eli. "He definitely hates you."

  "Oh," said Gage, as though that explained everything.

  Perry descended on me jabbing a finger in the air in front of my face. "Slobodian, I don’t know what you did, but whatever it was I’m going to undo it. I’m going to have you back on the Registry by morning."

  "Damn, Perry," I said, removing his finger. "Breath mints and personal space go a long way." I heard Eli groan. Perry turned practically purple and his round face seemed to swell a bit.

  "You might have the mayor fooled, but everyone knows what you are. You’re a dirty, filthy Abnormal, just like your father. You’re going to burn in Hell!"

  "Doubtful," said Gage. "It’s all a matter of connections."

  Perry looked at him like his dog had just opened his mouth and sang an aria. "Who the hell are you?"

  Gage stuck out his hand. I heard Eli groan again. "Bobby Gage," he said. Perry looked at his hand and took a step back.

  I shrugged. "And I’ve actually never met the mayor. But I love her hair. How do you think she gets it to stay so perfect all the time?"

  "Cooper," he growled. "I want this trash out of my station. Now!"

  "I would love to follow orders," said Eli, "but you see, sir, they sort of outrank me." I thought there was a note of satisfaction in Eli’s voice.

  In unison, Gage and I pulled out our badges. I thought Perry was going to spontaneously combust. His eyes popped and his mouth hung open with a little string of spittle resting on his chin. But his face turned the strangest color I’d ever seen. It had patches of red, and blue, and purple.

  "You really should check on your blood pressure," I said. "You don’t look well."

  "Sir?" said a mild voice from behind Perry, who whirled around. "Is something wrong?" It was Ron Smithy. He spotted me and a look of resignation came over him. "Oh, I see," he said. "Hi there, Niki."

  "This isn’t over, Slobodian," said Perry. He barreled away, shoving Smithy aside and stomping down the hallway. People scattered to get out of his way. I heard a door slam and some muffled yelling a moment later.

  "That went well," I said.

  "Niki, why’d you come back?" said Ron. "I told you Perry was going to be here. Come to think of it, why are you still here? Perry stood down?"

  "Niki here works for the big guns now," said Eli. "Show him your badge, Niki. You know about this, Ron?" I showed Ron my badge, a little embarrassed.

  "She must have forgotten to mention it," said Smithy. "How’d you swing that?"

  "Must have been my sparkling personality," I said. Gage rolled his eyes. "Look, I’d love to stay and exchange witty banter with you boys," I said, "but I have to talk to Gary Chenowith. Are you interrogating him?"

  "Just finished," said Eli. "He signed a confession. Why do you want him?"

  "He might be innocent," I said.

  Smithy laughed. "He’s guilty as sin. Confessed at the scene, and again when he got here."

  "Why do you think he’s innocent?" said Eli, looking from me to Gage and back again.

  "Why do you think he’s guilty?" said Gage. "Confession don’t mean nothing. Not for someone that just lost everything."

  "There are other things happening here," I said. "Things that might sound sort of unusual."

  "Go with them, Coop," said Ron.

  Eli didn’t move. "Ron, this is crazy," he protested.

  "You’re going to have to get over it, Detective," said Ron. "I have the feeling you’re probably going to be seeing her around." Ron looked at me. "God help us." He turned around and hurried off the same way Perry had gone.

  "So I guess you two know each other," said Gage.

  "That’s an understatement," said Eli, looking at me with disapproval.

  "Can we just go?" I said.

  "Fine," said Eli, and stalked towards the interrogation rooms.

  Gary Chenowith looked like hell.

  His face had a greenish tint, like he could vomit at any given moment. His pale blue eyes were red-rimmed and puffy. He was handcuffed to the table and already wearing orange. He looked up at us dully when we came in, his haggard face expressionless. I sat down across from him, and Eli sat next to me. Gage stood behind us, leaning against the wall.

  "Hi, Gary," I said. He stared at me coldly. Then he looked at Eli.

  "What’s going on, Detective?" he said, his voice soft and hoarse. "Why am I still here?"

  "This is Miss Slobodian and Mr. Gage," he said. "They want to talk to you."

  "I don’t want to talk," said Gary. "I confessed. And now I want a cell with a cot that I can sleep on."

  "All due respect, Mr. Chenowith," said Eli, using his cop-voice. "But you’re not in a place where you can make demands. You’ll answer their questions."

  "You don’t look like police officers," said Gary, looking from me to Gage. "What do you want with me?"

  "We’re not cops," said Gage, sounding offended. "We’re here to help you."

  "I don’t want help," said Gary, and he sounded slightly panicked. "I confessed."

  "You mentioned that a few times already," I said. "Maybe you’re trying to convince yourself?"

  "I did it," said Gary, his quiet voice going even lower. "I killed my wife Sadie and my two children, Adam and Christine." His voice cracked when he said his daughter’s name, but he closed his eyes and composed himself. "I was arrested covered in blood with a knife in my hand," he said. "How much more proof do you need? Detective Cooper seems to think it’s enough."

  "Yes," I said, "but Detective Cooper doesn’t have all the information, does he, Gary?" I said. "Do you remember doing it?"

  "What does that have to do with it?" said Gary. He was staring at his cuffed hands, palms up.

  "What are you doing, Niki?" asked Eli. I ignored him.

  Gary looked at me again. "What was your name again?" he said.

  "Niki Slobodian," I said.

  "I know you," he said, cocking his head. "I saw you in the papers last year. You’re that devil worshiper’s daughter."

  "He wasn’t a devil worshiper," I said. "Just another Abnormal. Like me. Do you remember why I was in the paper?"r />
  "No," he said. "They put you on the Registry, though. I remember that plain enough."

  "It’s because I can see things other people can’t," I said. "People that other people can’t see."

  Gary stared at me. He was quiet for a long moment. Finally he spoke in almost a whisper. "What are you getting at?"

  "I saw her, Gary," I said. "I saw Sadie. Before she moved on."

  His eyes narrowed. "Why are you saying this?" he said. His voice was still low, but harder. He clenched his fists in the handcuffs. He looked at Eli. "What is going on? I confessed. Why are you doing this?"

  "I have nothing to do with this," said Eli.

  "She’s telling the truth," said Gage, moving to stand behind me. "I seen it. She’s the real thing."

  "I suppose you think this is funny," said Gary, his eyes wide and his nostrils flared. "A great big joke. You must think I’m pretty stupid. You can see ghosts. Whoooooo." He waggled his fingers at me. His glare faded and tears filled his eyes. "I want you to go away now," he said.

  "You don’t believe me," I said.

  "Of course I don’t believe you," he said, his voice thick.

  I took a breath and let it out. "Everywhere I go, I see ghosts, Gary. Everywhere. Death is all around us and most people don’t even know it. But I know it. When I was little, my mom died. Her ghost hung around for a couple weeks. Makes it kind of hard for a kid to let go, doesn’t it?" Gary stared. Eli stared down at his folded hands. He hadn’t known what I could do until he’d heard about the rumors around the station. Just a few weeks later, I was arrested. But we were over by then. I continued, keeping my eyes on Gary. "When I go to the park, I see them. When I’m shopping I see them. I see them everywhere. I can’t get away from them. Sometimes I help them, but usually I’m kind of selfish. I walk by, just like everyone else. If I tried to help them all, I wouldn’t have time to eat or sleep or live my life. But I helped Sadie. She was worried about you."

  He closed his eyes again and shook his head. "Stop it," he said.

  "She told me you were sitting on the couch and you made a noise, a loud grunt. Do you remember crying out?" I said.