Anyway, she has been indulging herself long enough. Luna and Bridget had been in Lucy’s home, now Bridget has been suspended, she has no doubt they will show up soon, and that means the peace is over. With a sassy swirl, she throws a bright colored shawl over her shoulders. ‘Time for breakfast.’ Seamus blows her a kiss.
BOSTON
Bridget’s face feels wet, for a moment, she panics and scans around her for a spell, but it’s only Kiki waking her up with wet doggy kisses. Slowly she rolls over, grabs her watch. What?! Ten o’ clock already, she can’t remember ever sleeping this late in the last couple of years. The smell of fresh ground coffee urges her on, time to get her ass moving. Quickly, she put on some sweats and a t-shirt. This must be the only positive of having her mother here, a good breakfast. She freezes in the kitchen door opening when she sees Tom is sitting at the kitchen table chatting with Luna as if they’re old friends. ‘Hey, sleepy head. Glad you could join us.’ Luna gets up, fills a cup of coffee for her. Bridget plops down on a chair next to Tom. ‘They let you out?’
‘Finally.’ Tom wastes no time and comes to business. ‘They’re gone. They’ve changed cars. The Explorer was burned out under an overpass.’
‘What else could they find about her?’
‘Very little. Lucy must use a different identity or something. Really, she’s a ghost.’
‘So what are we going to do?’
Tom gives Bridget a stern look. ‘You? Absolutely nothing. Don’t make it any worse. Let me handle this, and you’ll be back on the job in no time.’
‘I can’t do nothing.’
‘Spend some time with your Mom. I can’t believe we’ve never met before.’
Luna gives him a warm smile. Bridget is seriously creeped out by their obvious attraction.
‘Mom,’ warns Bridget. She manages to put all her frustration in the one word. Tom feels the tension. ‘I’m getting out of here. See what I can’t find out. At least I’m not yet persona non grata.’ Before Luna can say anything Bridget steps between them. ‘I’ll walk you out.’
‘You be careful all right? We’ve just got you back.’ She jabs.
‘Don’t worry about me. You be nice to your mother.’ Bridget rolls her eyes at him.
‘Get out of here.’
Before she heads back to the kitchen, she goes to her bedroom. Somehow she had forgotten last night to look at the little book she took. Her coat is thrown on the floor; she searches in the pockets and fishes out Lucy’s dark spellbook. It emanates an unpleasant feeling. In the dungeon, Bridget hadn’t noticed it, but now she holds it, she feels almost dirty. Like she wants to wash her hands. Carefully she opens it. It’s full of scribbles, drawings and god knows what. That almost looks like a piece of human skin. Hesitant, she smells it. Oh dear, this book is evil, she just knows it. Firmly she closes it and takes it to the kitchen.
Luna is doing the dishes; her kitchen has never been so clean.
‘Mom, you should take a look at this.’ Bridget holds out the little book. ‘I took it from Lucy’s house.’ This makes Luna cautious; she had reached for it but approaches it now way more carefully.
‘It doesn’t feel right. I know it’s evil.’
Luna expands her senses. Bridget is absolutely right; this doesn’t contain anything positive. Her hand hovers above it. Then she takes it and opens it.
‘I swear there is a piece of skin in it. And some other things I don’t care to identify.’
Luna leaves through it. ‘Well done honey. This looks like a spellbook. It’s probably hers. Look.’ Luna points at a spell. ‘It says this is for some sort of rash.’
‘I don’t think we should touch it. You should take it to grandma.’
‘Maybe we can use this against her.’
Bridget looks skeptical. ‘You always say you shouldn’t meddle with things that we don’t understand.’
‘We could learn a lot.’
‘What about the threefold rule?’
‘We don’t have to use it, to know what kind of spells she’s capable of doing could help us prepare.’
Bridget doesn’t like it, ‘She’s evil!’
Luna is impatient. ‘You should stop using the words good and evil. It’s childish. Nothing is black and white. This is a great find. We should use it.’
‘Let’s talk to grandma about it.’
‘Great. Like she tells us everything.’ Luna puts the booklet in her pocket.
‘What are you doing?’ Bridget is wary. She doesn’t know a lot about magic, but doesn’t black magic taint your soul? Better keep an eye on Luna.
‘You should go back to New Orleans. Nothing you can do here.’
Luna sizes her up. ‘Are you coming too?’
‘I think I’ll stay and see what I can find out here.’
‘Fine. I’ll give Wes a kiss from you.’ Luna smiles innocently. Bridget knows she’s being manipulated, but she can’t help imagining Maeve and Wes smile at each other. Damn it. She sighs. ‘I’ll come along.’
Hayes stands in line at Starbucks. It’s busy, and an old lady in front of her takes her sweet time ordering. She has the nagging feeling that she has seen the woman before but she can’t place her. Lucy has clouded herself in a disguising spell, which is a sort of deflection and far from perfect disguise. The tea that Lucy gave Hayes makes this woman susceptible to Lucy’s wishes, that doesn’t mean that if she would really recognize Lucy, she wouldn’t arrest her. So far so good. Lucy gives her a sweet smile and moves over to the side to wait for her drink. Hayes is quick with ordering her skinny latte and stands next to Lucy. The barista is busy; nobody pays any attention to them. Lucy circles her walking stick and whispers in Hayes’ ear. ‘Go find my spell book. A little black pocketbook, it looks very worn down. When you find it, bring it to me.’ Hayes shakes her head; it feels as if a fly buzzes in her ear. She glances to her side, but Lucy has distanced herself. Again Hayes feels that she’s familiar.
‘Skinny Latte,’ calls the barista. This snaps Hayes out of it. She grabs the coffee and heads to the station.
Tom sits behind his desk at the police headquarters, staring at his computer screen. The Captain told him to go home, but that doesn’t appeal to him. There’s nothing for him there, an empty house. He’s been divorced now for so many years, but this is the first time he hates it that he’s alone. If he only could remember what that old lady had thrown at his chest. Unconsciously, he puts his hand on the spot the spell was connected to. ‘There’s nothing wrong with you, sir,’ he hears the doctor tell him. Well, they’re wrong. You don’t end up in a coma for nothing. Quickly, he types Lockwood in the database, and the old picture of Lucy’s arrest pops up. Those eyes, there’s something about those eyes. When he closes his eyes, it’s all he sees. That’s maybe not entirely true, they morph into the eyes of that sassy mom of Bridget. He can’t believe she never talked about her. It’s obvious there is a lot of tension between them. But he feels drawn to her. She’s not only beautiful, but she seems to understand him like no other woman ever has. Bridget told him she’s some sort of gifted herbal healer and that she managed to pull him out of his coma. The doctors were extremely skeptical about that, but he knows deep down there is truth in her words.
‘Walsh?’ Tom startles and almost knocks over a cup of coffee on his desk.
‘Jesus, Tom. Are you okay?’ Connor puts a hand on his shoulder.
He shrugs it off. Time to get a grip on himself, this is ridiculous.
‘What’s up?’
‘Have you seen Hayes?’ Connor scans the room again.
‘She came by maybe a half an hour ago, I think she was on her way to the evidence room.’
‘Okay, thanks. Good to have you back man.’
Tom smiles. ‘Do you mind if I tag along? I’m getting a little stir crazy here.’
‘Ha! No kidding.’ Connor checks for the
Captain. ‘Why not…’
Tom follows Connor down the hall, and they take the elevator to the basement.
Which is full of endless rows of shelves with boxes. The air feels oppressive, fluorescent lights and the dusty smell are no help with that. This is Sergeant Blake’s home. He’s rail thin and reminds you of the Grim Reaper. His pasty complexion comes from spending days in the basement. A grated fence keeps anybody from entering without the Sergeants approval. He sits behind his desk seemingly busy, but his face lights up with a big smile when Tom and Connor arrive.
‘Gentlemen, what can I help you with today?’
Connor steps forward ‘Is Hayes here?’
‘She is! In the back. She’s going through the stuff that came in yesterday from that house. Spooky things in there.’ He whispers. He unlocks the gate.
‘Glad to see you out and about Walsh.’
‘Thanks.’ Tom gives him a small smile and follows Connor. Row after row, so many things, to think that these are all violent crimes. That alone should make you depressed. Connor freezes, and Tom bumps into him. ‘Hey! What—’ Connor holds up his hand stopping Tom in midsentence. He points at Hayes.
Hayes is in a frenzy. The evidence is scattered on the table and on the floor. This is far from ordinary. She’s usually so neat. ‘It’s not here. It’s not here.’ She slings some bags aside.
‘Hayes?’ says Connor ‘What’s going on?’
‘I need to find it. It’s important.’
‘What are you talking about? Stop. You’re messing up the evidence.’
‘It is here somewhere.’
Tom passes Connor who seems frozen and doesn’t know what to do with his partner. He grabs her arms and turns her towards him. ‘Hayes. Hayes!’
Her eyes are glazed over, and it looks like nobody is home. She shakes him off and is back searching through the mess. She’s getting more and more agitated when she can’t find what she’s looking for. Connor is getting very worried. ‘What are you looking for?’
‘A little book. About this big.’ She holds a space of 6 inches between her thumb and index finger.
‘Why are you looking for it? What’s in it?’
‘I don’t know; I need to find it.’ She turns her back on him and searches on. Tom gets an uneasy feeling in his stomach. Too much weird shit going on with this case. Maybe Luna would know what this means. He shakes his head; why does he think of her? Hayes takes it up a notch to hysterical. Fuck it, thinks Tom and he reaches for his cell phone.
Bridget and Luna drive to the airport in total silence. Each immersed in their own thoughts, probably because they don’t feel like talking. Bridget is irritated, and Luna has no patience to deal with that. Hence the no talking, something they can both agree upon. Luna cell phone rings. ‘Tom?’
Bridget’s head snaps around to Luna.
‘I don’t know. What is she doing?’ Bridget tries to listen in, but the noise of the car prevents her from hearing anything. ‘We’re on our way.’
‘Yeah, to the airport,’ adds Bridget but Luna had already ended the conversation.
‘Somebody is acting erratically at the station, Tom wonders if we would be able to help.’
‘We? You. He didn’t call me.’ In spite of her irritation, she swings the car around and speeds to the station.
When she pulls up Tom is pacing up and down the sidewalk. The girls jump out.
‘What’s going on?!’ demands Bridget. Tom hesitates, he feels a bit silly now for calling. ‘It’s Hayes, she’s not herself. And because… you know. Because your Mom helped me, I thought…’ he lets his voice trail and mumbles something under his breath. Luna steps in. ‘Start at the beginning.’
‘Did you say Hayes?’ Bridget feels a lump forming in her stomach. Shit. She had felt something, and she didn’t do anything with it. Luna zones in on Bridget.
‘Tom, can you give Bridget and me a minute?’
He’s confused but motions something. He gets so awkward around Luna. ‘I’ll wait here.’
She gives him a warm smile before she turns an angry look at Bridget.
‘You know.’ If Bridget could get any smaller she would, she wished she could disappear. This is her fault. She’s been so stupid. Again.
‘I felt something. I think Lucy put her under a spell. Hayes mentioned Lucy gave her tea.’
‘Damn it, Bridget. This is not the time to be sloppy or hold grudges. You should have told me.’
‘Of course, Luna is right. She should have told her. To be treated like a ten-year-old however always makes her angry. She will not give her mother the satisfaction of agreeing.
‘Yes, I should have done something about it!’ She hisses. ‘But I didn’t. Happy? Let’s do something about it now.’ Before Luna can answer Bridget pivots and stalks towards Tom. It takes all Luna’s self-restraint not to throttle her daughter.
‘Where is she?’ asks Bridget.
‘She’s gone. That’s why I was outside. After I called, she went crazy and rushed out. We tried to stop her.’
‘Do you know where she went?’
Tom shrugs. ‘Connor tried to follow her, but she punched him right in the face. When he got back up, she was gone.
‘Shit,’ says Bridget, full of passion.
‘Yep. That pretty much sums it up.’
‘What was she doing?’ asks Luna as she wiggles herself between Tom and Bridget.
‘She said she was looking for a little black book. About this big.’ Luna and Bridget exchange glances. Lucy’s spellbook. Luna touches her purse; it’s still there.
‘And when she couldn’t find, it she went crazy. Hell, Connor will have a shiner.’
‘I want to do that all the time,’ Bridget adds. Tom shoots her an exasperated look.
‘We’d better change our flight.’ Bridget fishes her cell phone out to call the airline.
Lucy meets Hayes in an alley just down the road from the station. Cal is in the car around the corner, keeping an eye out.
‘Do you have it?’ Lucy can’t hide her urgency.
Hayes is still distraught. ‘It’s not there.’
‘What?!’ Lucy is furious.
‘I’m sorry. I looked and looked. It’s not there.’ Hayes wrings her hands and is clearly scared.
‘You’re absolutely sure?’
Hayes nods. Lucy’s anger bubbles up, and she lashes out. A bundle of light scorches Hayes’ eyes. She screams and covers her eyes with her hands. ‘What is happening?!!’ Lucy turns and walks out of the alley, into the car. Cal speeds away. Hayes screams and screams and stumbles out of the alley. People come running. Somebody calls 911 while another tries to see what’s wrong with her eyes.
‘Please Ma’am, let me see what’s wrong.’ Slowly, Hayes lowers her hands. Two black holes replace where her eyes used to be. Now, she’s not the only one who screams.
Bridget, Luna, and Tom are running down the street when they hear the screams.
‘Police, make room please,’ says Bridget, and Tom is already on his knees next to Hayes. He slowly pulls down her hands from her face. ‘It’s Tom. You’re safe. Let me take a look, Hayes.’ They all look in horror at the black holes. Bridget’s eyes fill up with tears. Oh no. This is so horrible. It’s all her fault. She should have done something when she felt the spell and now… now Hayes is paying for it. She looks at Luna and sees the accusation written all over her face. The disappointment, and disgust at her inability to act upon her magic. ‘Don’t say a word.’ Bridget turns around and moves around the corner before she bursts into tears. She’s overwhelmed with guilt.
Luna snaps into action. ‘Did somebody call an ambulance?’
A red-headed woman replies, ‘They’re on their way.’
Luna takes over from Tom. ‘Detective Hayes, I’m Luna, Bridget’s Mom. I’m here with you till the ambulance can t
ake you to the hospital. Can you tell me what happened?’
Hayes hiccups and tries to say something through her panic. ‘I… I don’t remember anything. What’s wrong with my eyes. Where am I?’
‘Try to breathe, in and out, in and out. We are outside close to the police station. You need to try to calm down.’
‘I can’t see.’
Luna feels for spells and recognizes a thin web of something clinging around Hayes’ head. Not as complicated as Tom’s, but not something she can get rid of with a snap of the fingers.
The ambulance arrives and they quickly take over from Luna and Hayes is hurried to the hospital.
Bridget is in desperate need of some kind words, she calls Wes.
‘Wes’ phone.’ The melodious voice of Maeve echoes through the phone. Bridget can barely swallow a sob. ‘Bridget? Are you okay?’
Things are getting worse by the minute, why is Maeve picking up his phone?
‘Is Wes there?’ She manages to say.
‘He’s painting and left his phone in the kitchen. I saw it was you. I felt… anyway, how are things there? Is Mom still alive?’ A gentle laugh follows her joke. It actually pulls Bridget back from her self-pity. That never helped anybody. She needs to get a grip. ‘Mom has a new admirer, my partner Tom. It’s a bit weird.’
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