League of Lilith, The: A thriller with soul

by Sugrue, Rosalie

“I don’t care about him. There’s a baby in that car. He stole a baby.”

  “What do you mean? How do you know?”

  “It’s the baby of … a friend of mine.” Ben already has a leg over the safety barrier. “Will you help?”

  “A baby couldn’t survive that. The helicopter will alert the authorities. There’s nothing we can do.”

  “I have to try … for the baby’s mother. I love her.”

  “You love the mother and the baby isn’t yours? Who is this fucking wonder-woman?”

  “Her name is Amber, no Kat, and yes I love her.”

  Fish grabs Ben with both hands, digging his long fingers into the nerd’s skinny shoulders. “What do you mean, Amber, no Kat?”

  “She goes by two names,” yelps Ben.

  “Does she have amber hair?” demands his captor.

  “Yes. Let me go, you maniac.”

  The man’s grip tightens. “When was the baby born?”

  “Ye-yesterday.”

  “Nooo!” The man releases him with a moan that rises to a primordial cry. Before Ben can grab the rope the man has slithered halfway down.

  ~ ~ ~ | ~ ~ ~

  Fish is tugging at a door handle when Ben arrives beside him. Hawthorne’s face is slashed, his window shattered. The two men move cautiously around the vehicle, bending to peer in the windows. A briefcase, laptop, and sports bag litter the ceiling that has become a floor.

  “There’s no sign of a baby, no baby carrier, no blankets, nothing. What makes you think he stole a baby?”

  “He threatened Kat, I heard him. If he took the baby it’s in that sports bag.”

  Ben pulls on each handle while Fish attempts to shift the body to access the latch. Nothing budges. Fish selects a large stone and bashes an unyielding window. Ben takes out his mobile. There is no signal. “I’m going up to find a signal. We don’t know if that helicopter alerted anyone.”

  He hauls himself up with surprising speed. No signal! He scales a roadside boulder and waves his phone around. Still nothing! This would never have happened if he hadn’t alerted the police. He caused Hawthorne to speed. He could be responsible for the death of Kat’s child.

  Fish, too, is a broken man. This wouldn’t have happened if he had been supporting Kat as a father should. As a father he is crap. As a man he is crap. He thought nothing of swindling Pauline. She was just a dame with lots of dough. His new-found conscience stabs deeper. Pauline offered sex and gave love, expecting nothing other than mutual trust. He betrayed that trust. He has done nothing decent in his whole life. He is shit. He attacks the window with renewed frenzy.

  Sirens stir both men from their soul-searching. Unexpectedly, the sound comes from below them. Two police cars are winding up the narrow gorge road, their lights sending multi-colours between the columns and cantilevered beams that roof the road at Candy’s Bend.

  The sirens and flashing lights ignite a panic response in Ben. He bolts for his car. This disaster is his fault, he can’t face questions. He knows he hasn’t a hope of out-driving the police but Temple Basin ski field is just up the road. If he can get his car out of sight he can hide.

  Ben rockets uphill to Temple Basin, swoops off the highway and parks his car out of sight of the road. He jumps out and conceals himself with a view of the road. A curious kea shuffles toward him, ever hopeful of food. Disappointed it flutters to a large rock and does a short dance of disgust, displaying its red under-feathers. A police car zooms past.

  Then all is still and very quiet, for too long. Have the police stopped the traffic? A faint beating disrupts the pure mountain air. The helicopter is returning. Ben slithers down to his car. The kea squawks, Look here, look here! But Ben is safely hidden under the dusty white roof of the Toyota as the helicopter passes. He watches it sink and wonders about the narrowness of the road. He speculates a likely landing pad to be the look-out above the viaduct. Thirty minutes later the helicopter rises and follows the highway back toward Arthur’s Pass township, disappearing within minutes.

  Ben hopes it is safe to move. He has to see Kat. He has to let her know that he tried to help, he really tried, but it all went so terribly wrong.

  ~ ~ ~ | ~ ~ ~

  34 — Lilith

  Jen and Sarai arrive at Kat’s bedside and find her very pale. Dark-ringed eyes look questioningly at each of them in turn.

  “I was wrong,” says Jen.

  Sarai takes Kat’s hand. “I’m sorry I scared you, Kat. I wasn’t feeling well but I’m OK now. I have renewed my strength. I feel your child is safe at the moment.”

  “How can you know anything?”

  “I didn’t say I knew, I said I feel, and it is a power-filled feeling. What I do know is that this drama is not yet played out. We need to call on our inner resources for strength. There is nothing practical any of us can do. It is almost six o’clock. Do you think you can face watching the news?”

  “I never thought of this being on the news,” says Jen.

  “It is, Jen. The radio news suggested the kidnapper may be a rugby player.”

  “A rugby player?” echo Jen and Kat.

  “That’s the media, anything to make a story. It’s despicable. Do you really want to watch?” Kat and Jen’s eyes connect. Each reads fear in the other’s and both say yes.

  Sarai snaps on the TV as a young newsreader informs: “A newborn baby has been taken from Canterbury Hospital. Police have been following a suspect who is travelling Highway 73 toward the West Coast. In a TV One exclusive we bring you footage of the suspect’s car.” The TV cuts to a helicopter view of a speeding car in the region of Arthur’s Pass. Jen gasps. “Wilkin’s car,” she moans, and covers her eyes.

  “The driver is travelling erratically and too fast for road conditions,” informs the voice-over. The scene cuts and the anchor moves to another story, and another. The words Breaking News jump across the bottom of the screen. “We interrupt this bulletin with a message from the police. It is confirmed that the car seen on Highway 73 belongs to Wilkin Arthur Hawthorne. He is wanted for questioning. It is not confirmed that he has the missing child."

  ~ ~ ~ | ~ ~ ~

  The news reader moves to a minor accident on the West Coast road, augmented by an aerial view. Highway 73 was blocked for about an hour today, luckily there was a low volume of traffic on the road. The suspect’s car was one of several backed up at a bridge near Lake Lyndon….

  Jen’s eyes confirm what her mind doesn’t want to process. She buries her head in her hands until the jingle of an advertisement signals it is safe to look. After the commercial the words Breaking News reappear. The anchor is animated. We now have possession of circumstantial evidence pointing to the alleged kidnapper being the prominent Christchurch citizen, Wilkin Hawthorne. The quality of the footage deteriorates but the content clearly shows a man stalking a hospital corridor carrying a sports-bag.

  “That’s my video, shrieks Jen. “How did they get it?” The others keep their eyes glued to the screen as Jen rummages through her handbag. “My phone has gone!”

  Police confirm that they were tipped off as to Hawthorne’s whereabouts by a driver travelling the same road. They would like to speak with him, continues the news-reader. He stops and the sound goes dead while he fiddles with the wire in his ear.

  We bring you further dramatic footage.

  The three women watch spellbound as Wilkin’s grey car cuts corners, zooming up the mountain road beyond Arthur’s Pass village. The car crests the summit, hurtles on to the Otira Viaduct and fails to take the corner beyond the structure. Jen screams. There are shots of the upside-down car in the gorge and a witness waving to the helicopter. The newsreader is beside himself with elation.

  Jen is sobbing. Kat is pinned to her bed, rigid. Sarai holds Jen’s shaking shoulders but speaks to Kat. “The police wanted him for questioning. There is no evidence he has your baby.”

  Jen’s shoulders stop heaving , she goes limp. Sarai pushes Jen’s head toward her knees and moves to turn off th
e TV. The newsreader is making an announcement, The police are anxious to contact Benjamin Smith believed to be driving on highway 73. We will revisit this story at eight pm when we hope to bring an interview with the witness.

  “Benjamin Smith…Ben! Sarai, I know Ben, he is…a friend. His father is a partner in Smith, Upson and Stopforth. Why is Ben there? Could he have my baby?”

  “Smith, Upson and Stopforth, that is where Wilkin works,” Jen is back with them. Her mind has mercifully censored what it last saw on TV.

  “Too many co-incidences,” mutters Sarai. “Someone is manipulating this.” She turns the TV off. “There is a little kitchen nearby. I’m going to make a cup of tea.” She delves into her bag. “I carry my own supplies.”

  ~ ~ ~ | ~ ~ ~

  After drinking the young women feel drowsy. “You girls need a rest,” declares Sari and they obediently shut their eyes. Just before eight Sarai switches the set on but keeps the volume on mute. She watches a re-run of the dramatic accident footage. Her eyes flick to Jen, she is still dozing in the deep chair but Kat has her eyes wide open. Her mouth wants to speak but can’t. Sarai follows her gaze, the witness is speaking. There is something familiar about him. She gives the visuals voice.

  “He was going too fast,” the witness is saying. “I went down but there was nothing we could do. He was dead.” He turns and faces the camera, “There was no baby.” His statement is delivered as if he is intent on passing on a message. “That, that, man is my father. How does he know about my baby? Do you think he has it right?”

  “I do Kat. I truly do.”

  A replay leading to the crash flashes on screen. Sarai mutes it.

  “That was my father,” Kat restates to Sarai.

  “I know. I’ve met him.”

  Kat is too hyped up to check irrelevant details. “Why did he say, I went down we couldn’t do anything - that is what he said isn’t it?”

  “Yes, yes, I think he did. The thing to hold onto is his last statement - there was no baby.”

  A suited gent fills the screen Ralph Stopforth the lettering obliges. Sari reads it out loud. Jen’s eyes flick open. “Turn it up,” she demands, “Ralph is one of the partners of Smith, Upson and Stopforth.”

  “Are you sure you want to hear?” asks Sarai.

  “Yes,” says Jen, “I have to know.”

  Ralph speaks of Wilkin in glowing terms. He praises his work as top manager and mentions his community work for the University and the Cathedral.

  The camera pulls back to reveal a younger man, Fergus Stopforth, CEO spell the magic letters. My family and I want to assure Wilkin’s family that our hearts and prayers are with them at this terrible time, says Stopforth senior. The younger man nods respectfully.

  Jen isn’t listening. “That’s the man!” she shrieks. “He stole my phone. He bought me a coffee. He said his name was Andrew!”

  The police are still wanting to make contact with Benjamin Smith, informs the announcer as the news special concludes.

  Jen seizes on the idea that kidnapping was orchestrated by the partners to discredit Wilkin so Stopforth junior could become CEO. “Benjamin Smith is a pawn in the Stopforth’s plan. He stole your baby,” she says excitedly.

  Sarai wonders if Jen is verging on hysteria. Kat feels vaguely reassured by the thought that Ben may have her baby.

  ~ ~ ~ | ~ ~ ~

  Pauline, for the second time that day pulls up in the staff carpark. The dusk is deepening and not a soul is in sight. Pauline leaves her present for Shirley under a tree and makes a quick exit. She stops at a nearby coffee shop and sends a text before ordering a herbal tea and a muffin. After lingering over her little treat Pauline feels ready to face visiting Kat.

  ~ ~ ~ | ~ ~ ~

  Shirley, as senior nurse on duty, has spent most of her shift calming patients and staff. Keeping busy is the best way to soothe nerves she tells her two juniors as she finds them all manner of little tasks. When Pauline’s text arrives Shirley sends the younger girl outside to dispose of a bag of rubbish.

  ~ ~ ~ | ~ ~ ~

  Ben stretches his aching fingers; clearly they have been wrapped too tightly around the steering wheel. What will he tell her, what can he possibly say? This is clearly the greatest test of his life. He grasps for a strategy, something to help him choose his words, to offer real comfort, something that is meaningful. It’s in times like this that religious people have it easy, with their black and white world, endless variations on ‘God’s will’ or the ‘work of the devil’. He has nothing, there is no advice his father ever gave that prepared him for this situation; nothing from his studies, his reading; his passion for photography has no insight to assist him. It is not that he is afraid to speak his truth, he simply doesn’t know what his truth is. He must put himself in Kat’s shoes, this is not about him, he must exist totally for her. She has been to hell. He steps through the series of tragedies that have unfolded for her over the last months, and the terrible, unbearable climax of today’s events. Sometimes people simply don’t recover from this kind of crisis.

  ~ ~ ~ | ~ ~ ~

  8.30 pm

  Kat’s face is buried in a tiny package of pink skin and cream blanket. The scent of baby and breast milk is a perfect tonic. She is calm, exhausted, but lost in relief and joy. Pauline’s hand rests on the young woman’s shoulder. “Dear Kat, I’m truly sorry you were put through this terrible trauma. It had to be, because your child was in real danger.”

  “But how did you know?”

  “I had a vision, dear. Just humour this witchy old woman. I know it sounds crazy but Lilith, the protector of human infants, gave me the task of protecting your child. Lilith is unable to directly intervene in the world of humans. She simply works with us at a Soul level. And it was amazingly possible. It just so happened I had in my house a baby car-seat.” She chuckles. “I had two actually. My young friend Becky has twins and asked me to look out for nice ones at the op-shop. I’d brought them home for her to look at.”

  “Becky my hairdresser was having twins.”

  “One and the same, a lovely young woman, and the babies are delightful. Well, as I was saying, my good friend Shirley is a part-time nurse. The second part of my vision related to her so I phoned Shirley and she told me she would be working here this afternoon. That confirmed for me that I should share the vision with her. I told her Lilith had showed me something terrible.” Pauline shudders as she recalls the chilling picture of the killer stalking the hospital corridor and rushes on. “The vision deepened and focussed on a newborn baby. The baby was in danger but as I watched it was spirited away out a door and past a tree to safety. Time passed but as the sky grew pink the baby reappeared under the tree in a baby-capsule. I knew my role was to see this happened. Shirley saw how she could help. Shirley has a feel for things mystical. She understood perfectly.”

  “Wonderful,” breathes Sarai.

  “It was you who took my baby!”

  “It is not for you to know,” reproves Sarai. “All you need do is rejoice because that which was lost is found.”

  Kat holds her baby close. The two older women hold each other. They look into each other’s eyes and both recognise something new. Sarai steps back and unloops the gold chain from her neck. On it dangles a gold image, larger but similar to the silver ones she gave to Jen and Kat. She slips the chain over Pauline’s head and Pauline tucks it inside her dress. Nothing is said but all present understand Sarai’s successor has been found. All remain silent, occupied with their own thoughts. Pauline relives the silent conversation she had with the winged woman who rose from the rippled water …

  Yes Pauline, I am Lilith, the immortal who can move among mortals.

  But Lilith only appears at night.

  Merely a male myth, Dear One, you are at this moment surrounded by my lilim — my children — because you too are among my chosen.

  How can this be? I thought … I have read that the ‘lilim’ are demons?

  You know written records are corru
pted by those who would pervert truth. I do not give birth. My role is to protect human infants. Mating is for pleasure as well as birth. All my children are mine by adoption. I select worthy women, hundreds of them. Some are remembered in history but most are not. All are mortals who possess special insight, and all have tasks to perform, some large, some small, but regardless of size each task is great because it is worthy. Lilim who find the way to connect with One-Soul become members of the ‘League of Lilith’. Your first task is …

  ~ ~ ~ | ~ ~ ~

  Jen cradles her enlarged abdomen, her hands move without thought, searching for a little foot or elbow. The ache in her back is a welcome distraction. She has heard little of Pauline’s revelation, and has nothing to say. She has nothing even to feel. The mangled Chrysler fills her mind. All she can see is the car; she’s unable and unwilling to imagine Wilkin inside. The air drains from her lungs. She listens to the silence and recognises she isn’t breathing in. Apparently her body has no energy left even for that. Her baby gives a faint kick. Her lungs respond filling with life-giving air. A hint of smile tempts her mouth, it is a mother’s instinct. Through chaos and pain, her baby will restore her. Her husband, the love of her life, is dead. Her grief will be terrible. The future is a vast void. But baby knows nothing of this, her hands clasp and arms push into firm belly. Baby will be everything, and that might be enough. The famine is over, it could not be broken by Wilkin, but this little life will nourish her life. Their love will be enough.

  ~ ~ ~ | ~ ~ ~

  Ben’s heart is heavy, but the driving was surprisingly easy, he reflects. No road blocks or hold-ups and very little traffic. Guessing the hospital’s main entrance will be locked, he skirts around to the staff entrance he’d used earlier in the day, praying it hasn’t been fixed. The door opens to his touch. He walks the few steps past the cleaner’s room to Kat’s room. Animated voices make him pause and peer through the corridor window.

  The room is full of women. Kat is holding a baby. A baby! Could it be her baby? She is looking radiant. It must be her baby.