by J. L. Murray
Gary’s voice was barely audible. "Yes."
"Then what happened? Do you remember?"
"Pain," he said. He pursed his lips and kept his eyes shut, squeezing them tight, but the tears still came. "I thought it was glass at first, it felt like glass, inside of me, like I swallowed it. Scraping and clawing inside my body." He let out a sob, and lowered his head to his hands to wipe at his face. He opened his eyes and looked at me. I saw the grief on his face, the same as I’d seen it in his wife. "I don’t remember anything after that," he said.
"It wasn’t you," I said. "You didn’t kill them."
He shook his head. "Of course I did," he said.
"Mr. Chenowith, do you believe in Hell?" said Gage. He walked around the table and crouched next to Gary.
Gary stared at him. "I don’t know," he said. "I have never been very religious, not like Sadie." His voice cracked when he said her name but he fought to keep his composure. "The politicians are all telling us it’s real," he said. "It must be, or all these magic folk wouldn’t be trying to break into it all the time."
"Well, we think something got out of Hell and hopped a ride in your body," said Gage.
"What?" said Gary. He looked at Eli, who was gritting his teeth and shooting me death glares.
"It’s true," I said. "Do you remember anything? Anything at all?"
"I don’t know, it’s completely blank," said Gary. "This is crazy," he said, but he looked slightly relieved.
"When you woke up, what happened?" I said.
"It’s not so much I woke up," said Gary, "as I was suddenly just there. I was lying on the ground and there were handcuffs on me. There was a cop there yelling at me, and one was laughing."
"He was laughing?" I said, leaning forward.
"Yes," he said. "I was in shock, I think. Come to think of it, maybe he wasn’t yelling at me. I think he was yelling at the other cop. Telling him to stop laughing and get a hold of himself. Then more cops came and they took me here."
"What happened to the laughing cop?" I said.
"I don’t know," said Gary. "I think he went away when the other cops got there."
"Niki, I would like to speak to you in private," said Eli.
"Gary," I said. "I really did see Sadie. She doesn’t blame you." Gary took a shaky breath. "She knows it wasn’t you. Please just know, she really loves you."
Eli grabbed my arm and pulled me up from my chair. "What are you doing?" I said. He didn’t say a word, just pulled me with him through the door, leaving Gage and Gary gawping behind us.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" I said when we were in the hall. I pulled my arm out of his grasp.
"What’s wrong with you?" he said. "This was a simple case. And now you’re mucking it up with all this magic shit. What the hell is going on?"
"Weren’t you listening?" I said.
"I was listening to a flaming bag of bullshit," he said.
"Eli, it’s not bullshit. This is really happening."
"So some dark force is at work, possessing innocent people and making them kill? Is that it, Niki?"
"Yeah," I said. "It is. And there will be more. Maybe a lot more."
"And how did this evil spirit get out of Hell in the first place?" he said.
"I don’t know," I said honestly. "I think Sasha had something to do with it."
"Dammit, Niki," he said, hitting his leg with his hand.
"What?"
"You’re goddamn telling the truth, aren’t you?"
I shrugged. "Yeah."
He looked toward the ceiling and sighed. He looked back at me. His anger was dissipating, but he was still frowning. "Why do you have to complicate things?"
"This time it’s not my fault," I said.
"Shit."
"Am I interrupting?" said Gage from the doorway.
"No, it’s fine," I said.
"’Cause Chenowith’s crying in there, and I don’t really do that sort of thing," said Gage.
Eli nodded. "I’ll get someone to come take him somewhere to lie down," he said. He took his cell phone out of his pocket, but it rang in his hand. He put it to his ear. "Cooper," he said. He listened for a minute, then said, "I’ll be right there."
"Gage," I said, "we have to find that police officer."
"The laughing guy?"
"Yeah. Sadie said Greg was laughing the same way when he...when she saw him."
Eli was looking at me, a surprised look on his face. "Too late," he said. "We already found him. He’s dead."
"What happened?" I said.
He shook his head and rubbed a hand over his cheek. It was a nervous habit of his, I remembered. "Officer Singh. He was out on the Expressway," he said. "He parked his car and stopped traffic and then started shooting. When he ran out of bullets in his Glock, he started with a rifle. Twenty-two dead, more injured."
"Still think I’m full of shit?" I said. "Wait, did you say Singh?" I said.
"Yeah, why?"
"His partner was looking for him."
"How’d he die?" said Gage.
"Let’s go find out," said Eli. "You two are coming with me."
"While I value your manly display of dominance," I said, "screw you, Eli. You can come with us if you want, but you’re not in charge."
"I can get us there faster," he said. "I’m a cop, remember?"
"He’s right, sis," said Gage. "We should probably take his car."
"Fine," I said. "But I am not riding in the back."
Gage shrugged. "I’ve ridden in worse places."
Chapter Nine
Gage stretched out in the back seat as we headed to the scene.
"I’m sorry," said Eli, pulling out of the lot. "I shouldn’t have blown up like that. Is your arm okay?"
"Fine," I said. "It’s my fault. We surprised you."
He paused, as if choosing his words. "I’m really mad at you, Niki," he said.
"I know," I said. "I’m sorry."
"It’s good to see you, though."
"Yeah. You too."
"How’s Sofi?"
"Dying," I said.
"Jesus," he said. "Sorry."
"She’d like to see you, Eli. You should visit her. She looks pretty bad, but she’s still herself."
"I always liked her," said Eli. I could feel him glancing at me while he drove. I looked out the window. "How’ve you been, though, Nik? I mean, how’ve you really been?"
I thought about telling him everything: How my life had gone to shit after the trial. How Sofi got sick, and how I wasn’t allowed to work, and how we ran out of money. I wanted to tell him about nearly losing the apartment. How the power was shut off and how I had to hock the last of Mom’s jewelry. I wanted to tell him how many nights I’d thought about him, and how my chest hurt for the longest time whenever I thought of how I’d tricked him into leaving.
"It’s been a rough year," I said.
He didn’t say anything for a minute, but when he did his voice was quiet. "I know."
The sun was going down when we pulled in, Eli waving to the troopers who moved the barricade for us to drive through. The sky was painted with pinks and oranges, making the scene seem even more grisly in front of such beauty.
Gage gave a start. "Are we here already?" he said, sitting up.
"How can you fall asleep that quickly?" I said.
"You take it where you can, sister. ‘Sides, it’s gonna be a long night."
Looking around us, I could see he was right. I got out of the car and heard the sobbing. I saw people crying, kids, women, men. Sitting on the hoods of their cars, in the backs of ambulances, talking to the police. At least fifty people and about half of them were crying. I saw the spirits of the recently-dead hovering on the edges, watching the people they had so recently been alive with, some of them reaching out hands only to have them go right through their husbands or wives, the living none the wiser.
The police must have herded the survivors away from the actual site, because further down I saw a secon
d cordoned-off area where a man in rolled-up shirtsleeves was wandering around looking at the ground. Eli weaved through the crowd and the cars, faces turning toward him like he was a beacon of hope. Their faces looked haggard and shell-shocked, their eyes as dull and blank as Gary Chenowith’s had been. We slipped into the taped-off area and I felt myself relax. Funny that I should feel more at ease among the dead.
There were dead here. Only two ghosts were still hanging around; the rest had joined their families to watch them grieve in helpless silence. They hadn’t moved the cars yet, and some of them still smoked, bullet holes dusting them like confetti. The dead were left where they fell as well, thin plastic sheets covering them from hair to toe. It was hard to get a count with the cars blocking our view of the ground. It was like a morbid maze. We made our way around a white van and stepped around a body. We dodged in between an old yellow Sunbird and a Subaru and found another body, this one leaking blood that had seeped into a crack in the road and ran in a miniature rivulet across the expressway. Finally we got to the man in the shirtsleeves. He nodded at Eli.
"Hey, Coop, where you been?" he said. He had a cheerful demeanor, but a hangdog sort of face.
"This is my partner, Mike Shippley. Hey, Shipp, this is Niki Slobodian and her partner Bobby Gage," said Eli. We showed him our badges. His droopy eyes opened wide when he saw them. "
"Are you the Niki?" said Shippley. He reached out to shake my hand.
"Afraid so," I said.
"You broke my boy’s heart," he said. "Not going to do it again, are you?" His tone was so friendly it was hard to take the guy seriously.
"I’m just here on business," I said, avoiding looking at Eli. "I won’t trouble you much, just want to have a look around. Maybe talk to a few people. Then we’ll be out of your way."
"Fair enough," said Shippley.
"Take as long as you want," said Eli.
"Man, I would not want to be Smithy right now," said Shippley, looking at Eli. "He’d better have some sweet-talking handy for the press after this."
"Because it was a cop?" I said.
"Yep," he said. "Want to see him?"
Shipley led us to the opposite side of the crime scene. There was a police cruiser parked across the road and a man-sized heap lay in front of it, covered by yellow plastic. "Oh, hell," I said. There was a ghost in police uniform sitting next to the body.
"What’s wrong?" said Eli, looking hard at me.
"Nothing," I said. "It’s just my nerves from all the bodies." Eli raised an eyebrow.
"You?" he said.
"Can I get you some water or something, ma’am?" said Shipley.
"I think I just need a minute. Could you two leave Gage and me alone for a minute?"
"What are you up to?" said Eli.
"Nothing," I said.
"What’s up, sis?" said Gage, after they walked away, Eli throwing suspicious looks at me over his shoulder. I looked at Gage. He was a little paler than usual, but holding up. Every time he spotted a body, he would look up at the sky. Least he hadn’t thrown up.
"It’s the shooter," I said. "His damn ghost is sitting there."
"That’s good, right?" he said. "Might have some information on where to go next."
"Yeah, I know. I just hate it, you know? It’s exhausting talking to the dead."
"May as well get used to it," he said. "It’s what you do."
"It’s illegal to do what I do," I said.
He shrugged. "What isn’t illegal these days? Just go talk to him, sis. We have to get this Dark before more people get killed."
I looked around and nodded. "Okay. You’re right." I approached the cop’s spirit. "Hey, you’re Officer Singh, right?" I said.
He looked at me and frowned. "What?" he said.
"I’m Niki." I sat down on the road next to him.
"So?"
"So, how you doing?"
"How does it look like I’m doing?" he said. "I’m dead."
"I know. I’m sorry. "
"Why can you see me?"
"I’m weird that way," I said.
"Can you see all of us, or just me?" he said, gesturing to the other two ghosts wandering nearby.
"Every last one," I said, looking out at all the wanderers on the scene. It was strange there were so many. It seemed there were so many dead wandering around lately. But maybe my ability was just growing stronger.
"So what now?" he said. "I’m going to Hell, right?"
"Not necessarily," I said. "Usually when people can finally let go, they get sort of swirly. They just kind of blow away into the wind."
"That’s it?" he said.
"Sure," I said. "Disappointed?"
"Kind of. I thought there’d be a bright light or something."
"There might be," I said. "I’ve never been on the other end of it."
"Why hasn’t that happened to me?" he said.
"You haven’t let go yet."
He shrugged. "How can I? I don’t know what happened. One minute I’m processing the scene where some guy killed his family, and the next I’m standing here with an empty gun and some lady in a blue dress blasts me with a shotgun."
"Blue dress?" I said.
"Yeah. She looked like a librarian or accountant or something. Listen, lady--"
"Niki," I said.
"Yeah, Niki," he repeated. "Did I do this?"
"Technically yes, but it’s not your fault. Where did the lady go after she shot you?"
"I don’t know, I was sort of preoccupied," he said irritably. "What do you mean it wasn’t my fault? I really did this?"
I got up. "I’m really sorry," I said. "But I have to go. Long story short, something called a Dark got out of Hell and popped into your body. It’s the one that killed these people, not you."
"So I am going to Hell."
"I have no idea," I said. "But I’m guessing not for this. Tell them I said you were innocent."
"You? Why would they listen to you?"
"Because they pay my bills," I said. "I’m really sorry, Officer. I have to catch this thing. Just focus on forgiving yourself, and you’ll figure it out. Good luck."
I left him looking baffled, but I had to stick to my rule. Living trump the dead.
"Gage," I said. "Find out where the woman in the blue dress went. She’s the one that shot the cop."
I saw Eli and ran over to him, nearly tripping over a body. "Careful," he said. "This is a crime scene, Slobodian."
"Sorry," I said. "Do you know where the woman in the blue dress went?" I said. "The one with the shotgun?"
He nodded towards the cruiser where I saw the cop’s ghost stand up. "That way," he said. "Hopped into someone else’s car and took off. We’re looking for her, but she’s sort of in the wind right now. Why? Someone say something? I didn’t know you’d talked to anyone yet."
"Yeah, you know how I got arrested for talking to dead people?"
"Oh," he said. "Right." He seemed to think about it for a second. "Weird," he said finally.
"Whatever," I said. "So no one knows where she went?"
"No, but the car is kind of noticeable," he said. "Older VW Beetle, bright yellow. Shouldn’t be too hard to find."
"My guess is she’s not trying very hard to stay hidden," I said. "Official business. I’m going to need your car, Eli."
He paused, staring hard at me, before he tossed me the keys. "Don’t make me regret this," he said.
As we started down the Expressway, the sunset was already fading and I was sure we would lose her.
"How’d you know it was the Dark?" said Gage. "Could just be a victim fighting back."
"Something Sofi said in the hospital," I said. "She had a vision."
"Psychic, huh? Handy gal to have around."
"She said there were two black lions fighting or something. And a woman in a blue dress with a shotgun."
"Seems pretty accurate. But what about the lions?"
"I think it might be a sign," I said. "You know, like a crest or thos
e lawyer signs sometimes have animals on them."
"Or a financial institution," said Gage, as he looked out his window.
"Yeah, I guess so."
"No, sis," he said, pointing to a building on the other side of the exit. "That financial institution." It was one of those tall, hastily-made skyscraper wannabes. It wasn’t quite impressively tall and it was an ugly gray that seemed more of an eyesore than prestigious. But there was a big sign fixed to the side of it. It read H & H Financial, and there was a graphic image of a lion on either side of the letters, each on its haunches, claws in the air.
"Hold on," I said.
Chapter Ten
I put the police light on the dash, flicked on the siren, and wrenched the wheel. As I slammed on the brakes, the tires squealed, and then thunked as I drove over the cement curb that divided the exit from the Expressway. We lurched down the ramp, the other cars pulling over, more to avoid getting hit than out of respect for the law. After a series of shortcuts through parking lots and over medians, keeping the office building in view at all times, I had us at the glass front entrance. I saw the Bug parked haphazardly, halfway between the curb and the middle of the road. I pulled up onto the sidewalk, hearing metal scrape against concrete. "Sorry, Eli," I said.
"Niki," Gage said, as we got out of the car. "The Dark is in there right now. We’re going to have to take it down, and we have no idea what we’re doing."
"I have my best ideas when I’m in a tight spot," I said, pulling out my Makarov. "Besides, you said you couldn’t tell what spell to use until you knew what you were dealing with. Well, I think you’re going to know in a minute." I double-checked the Makarov to make sure it was loaded. The clip made a satisfying click.
"Wait, you can’t shoot her," Gage said, pulling out his book. "She’s innocent. ‘Sides, maybe the Dark would just find another body. Maybe yours."
"If it’s a choice, though," I said, "between her and you or me, I’ll choose one of us. Living trump the dead, Gage."
"What does that mean?" We were easing toward the lobby entrance.
"It means self-preservation," I said. There was a sudden shattering of glass and something hurled out of the windows high above us and away from the building. It thudded into the street with a sickening crack. I looked over and saw a heap of blue under the streetlight. "There’s our innocent," I said. We looked up at a sound between screaming and laughing. It was distinctly male.