It had been just slightly over an hour since Porter had called, and my anger was still fresh. My jaw had now added itself to my list of aches due to the fact that I was unconsciously grinding my teeth. I kept catching myself in the act, but I didn’t seem to be able to stop. I was still fighting a case of the jitters that was born of the creepy tune looping in the back of my head; so, I wasn’t sure if the teeth gnashing was an effect of the anger alone or a combination of rage and anxiety. Whatever the cause, it was beginning to get very old.
“And that means she’s like what? A non-person?” He splayed his hands out in a gesture of helplessness.
I shook my head sharply and allowed the drapes to fall closed as I turned. I was frustrated that I had to explain something that I perceived as trivial common knowledge especially in light of my current emotional state. I took a deep breath and huffed it back out, trying to keep in mind that Felicity and I were the only ones in the room familiar with Coven dynamics and order. “I really didn’t mean for it to sound like that,” I told him. “Basically, a dedicant is someone who has made a conscious choice to study a particular religion, or most often, religious path. What we often refer to as a tradition. They take an oath to study and learn the tradition.”
“So it’s like making a pledge or a promise. Somethin’ like that?”
“Aye, exactly,” Felicity chimed in.
“So this isn’t something unusual then?” he asked.
“Not within the confines of a Coven, no,” she answered again. “Not at all.”
“So what you’re really sayin’ is that she wanted to join your study group?” He simplified my answer as he looked back and forth between us.
“Something like that, I suppose, yes.” I nodded. “At any rate, she had approached Cally about joining our Coven some time back. We met with her on a couple of occasions, and we discussed the possibility of her dedicating. What you have to remember is that taking someone into a Coven is not something you do lightly, so we took some time to mull it over. We were actually planning to bring her in at Yule, but she was out of town.”
“So she wasn’t actually a member of your group yet?”
“No. Not officially.” I shook my head. “She would have been brought in at the next Full Moon meeting.”
“Well, Porter obviously chose her because of her relationship to you,” Mandalay offered. “He didn’t just get lucky. How would he have found out about her if she wasn’t actually a member?”
“I don’t know.” I shook my head and shrugged. “My best guess would be Randy, but I can’t be sure. It could be that Porter asked him for names when he tortured him. We pretty much know that’s how he started compiling his list of victims originally. Or it could be that Randy had her name and some notes in a day planner or a PDA.”
“Notes?” Ben asked.
“Established Covens take bringing someone new into the fold very seriously,” Felicity offered as explanation.
Ben sighed heavily then brought his other hand up to massage his neck, only to repeat the wince and stunned stare.
“Dammit,” he muttered as he shook his wounded mitt and then lowered it back into his lap.
I began to slowly pace. “I blame myself for this,” I announced. “I should have considered it as a possibility.”
“Aye, I think not,” Felicity asserted. “I’m their High Priestess. I am as much at fault as anyone, if not more.”
She had regained her composure quickly. Still, I knew by looking at her that it was a defense mechanism. What she had done was nothing more than a temporary patch job on her exterior demeanor. Inside, there was still a swirling ball of gut twisting terror, but she had no intention of letting any more of it show; not in front of Ben and Constance at least.
“Neither one of you is at fault for anything,” Mandalay returned. “There was no way you could imagine that Porter would go this route.”
“Believe me, Constance.” I gave her a quick nod. “I can imagine a lot out of this whack job. I’ve got scars to prove it.”
“Mandalay’s right,” Ben interjected. “Beating yourselves up about all this isn’t doin’ either one of ya’ any good. Not to mention that it ain’t gonna get us anywhere.”
“Well, what IS being done?” I asked.
“Right now, there’s a CSU team on their way to Sullivan’s apartment. Her car is listed on the hot sheet, and every copper on the street is lookin’ for it.”
“We don’t know that he has her car,” I objected.
“We don’t know that he doesn’t,” Ben returned. “Look, Row, let us do the cop stuff, it’s what we do. Like I’ve told ya’ before, we actually solved a few crimes by ourselves before you came along.”
I closed my eyes and put my palms up to my temples, squeezing my head between my hands and roughly massaging at the same time-as if I could will the pain away. “I’m sorry,” I muttered. “I don’t mean to be arguing with you about this. I’m just kind of at the center of it, and I’d give just about anything to be somewhere else.”
“That’s understandable,” Mandalay said. “You’ve been through a lot today.”
I shook my head. My eyes were still closed, and my fingers were now working at my scalp. “Today is just the beginning,” I said aloud. “There’s an end coming. I don’t know when or where, but I’m not sure I want to.”
The moment the words exited my mouth, I felt a wave of dread hit me. If that wasn’t enough, I could physically feel my wife’s startled gaze instantly burning a hole in my back as I stood there.
“What’s that s’posed to mean?” Ben asked.
“I don’t know,” I answered. “Forget it. I’m just rambling.”
“You sure?” he pressed. “That ain’t some kinda hocus-pocus la-la land thing you’re spoutin’ is it?”
Mandalay offered her observation. “Yeah, Rowan, that sounded a little on the morbidly prophetic side, especially coming from you.”
“Really. Forget it.” I waved a hand at them. “My head is killing me, and I’m just running off at the mouth.”
The truth was that I didn’t actually know what the comment was supposed to mean. I didn’t even know for sure why I had said it. I only knew that there actually was more to it than just idle rambling and that it sounded just as bad to me as it did to them.
“You need to take somethin’, Kemosabe?” Ben asked.
“Wouldn’t do any good,” I sighed. “So anyway, go on. You were telling me what the plan is…”
“CSU, car…” He ticked off what he’d already said. “Keepin’ an eye on public places since he seems to have a penchant for exhibiting his kills.”
“By then it would be too late,” I contended in a flat tone.
“Believe me, Row, we know that,” he returned. “But it’s somethin’ that has to be done.”
“We’re also watching for the possibility that he might use one of the two cell phones again,” Mandalay added to the list. “If he does, we’ll be on top of it, and maybe this time we can get a grid location.”
“What about me?” I queried.
Ben feigned ignorance. “Whaddaya mean? What about you?”
“Don’t play dumb, Ben.” My voice once again took on a note of annoyance. “You know damn well what I mean. Porter killed Randy, and now he has Star, and he’s going to kill her. You’ve already said that he’s choosing his victims to get to me.”
“Yeah, I know where you’re headed but don’t go there.” His tone was adamant.
“What do you mean, ‘don’t go there?’” I couldn’t help but raise my voice a step. “There’s no place for me to go, Ben. He’s bringing it to my doorstep!”
He addressed me with deadpan seriousness in his voice and a hard expression forming across his features. “Listen, Rowan, I’ll be honest with you, Albright already said something about this.”
“Screw Albright,” I spat. “If she wants to ban me from something else, tell her to go ahead.”
“No, you don’t get it,” he snarl
ed. “She’s all about using you for bait.”
“Will wonders never cease,” I said, injecting the words with as much sarcasm as I could muster. “She and I finally agree on something.”
“Rowan! No!” Felicity yelped.
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught the startled expression on her face, and as I turned to look at her, she slowly stood.
“I can’t let him kill Star,” I told her as if the conclusion was obvious.
“Aye, I won’t allow it,” she proclaimed.
Ben glanced her way then back at me as he spoke. “Well don’t worry, Felicity, cause it ain’t gonna happen.”
“Why?” I demanded.
“Because it’s not how we do things, Rowan. This isn’t a cop show. We don’t use civilians as bait for crazed serial killers.”
“Yeah, well maybe it’s time to change your rules.”
“I can’t listen to this,” Felicity blurted with a mixture of both fear and anger in her voice.
I looked over at her, and she was trembling. She stared at me with her eyes glistening, and I knew there were tears behind them begging to be released. I took a step toward her, and as I reached out to touch her, she backed away and sidestepped. I stopped, immediately feeling the torment that now afflicted her. She put her hand to her mouth and then shook her head again. With that, she turned and disappeared down the short hallway and into the bedroom.
The door made a dull sound as it slammed.
“Jeezus, white man.” Ben shook his head.
“You should probably go talk to her,” Mandalay offered softly.
I was torn between running after her and pleading my case. Choosing between the woman I loved more than my own existence and the life of someone I barely knew was the last thing I needed at the moment. I mutely pled for guidance from The Ancients and met only with silence.
I started toward the bedroom door and hesitated. I felt damned no matter which direction I went. I took another step then turned and stared at Ben.
“Listen, apparently the whole idea isn’t out of the question or Albright wouldn’t have brought it up,” I finally countered.
“Why the hell do you think she was all over your ass back at the morgue, Rowan?” He stood there looking at me with his eyes wide and questioning.
“Because she doesn’t like me?” I answered.
“Exactly. And because she doesn’t like you, she was trying to get you worked up so you’d do somethin’ stupid, Row.”
“I thought we’d already established that.”
“I mean as in stupid like going after Porter. She wants to let you throw yourself out there as bait, and if you get killed in the process, oh fuckin’ well, too bad so sad.”
The revelation struck home, knocked me down, then kicked me a few times just for good measure. I stood there mute, wondering how I could have been so totally oblivious to her intentions.
“Am I that stupid?” I finally asked, an uneasy calm in my voice. “Have you known this all along?”
“No.” He shook his head. “Don’t feel like the Lone Ranger, I didn’t catch it either. I just found out on the way over here.”
“How?”
“A call from one of the coppers on the case,” he answered. “He overheard a phone conversation she had, and he thought I should know.”
“Recklessly endangering a civilian on purpose?” Mandalay sounded incredulous when she asked the question. “Have you gone to IAD about this?”
“That’ll be my next move.” Ben nodded. “But I want to make sure I can count on my source and get something a little more concrete before I make an accusation like that. Right now it’s just hearsay, plus there’s someone else involved, and I don’t know who.”
“Let’s give her what she wants,” I muttered.
“HELL No!” Ben stood and thrust his hand at me as he made the exclamation. “You just forget that shit right now! Hear me?”
“Look, Ben.” I focused on him with as much intensity as I could muster. “This sonofabitch is playing this out like some kind of contrived, low-budget movie. He’s going to torture and probably kill an innocent woman just to get me out in the open. I can’t let him do that.”
“We don’t plan to,” he shot back.
“You can’t stop him.” I shook my head. “He is going to keep killing until he gets to me.”
“You don’t know that we won’t get him, Row,” Ben said.
“Oh yes I do,” I nodded and spoke with absolute certainty.
“You wanna tell me how?”
I just stared at him. The silence in the room grew thick and charged with a frightening energy that made my skin prickle.
“Dammit, Rowan, stop this crap. Just get in there and talk to your wife.”
“I can’t yet,” I said with a disconcerting calm.
“Why the hell not?”
“Because that’s him now.”
Ben shook his head and gazed back at me with confusion creasing his forehead. “Him now what?”
The startling ring of the telephone answered the question for me.
CHAPTER 24:
Ben followed me all the way into the kitchenette, spouting instructions as he made himself my shadow. “If it is him, then don’t explode on ‘im, Row. You’ve gotta keep the bastard talkin’ until we pin him down.”
“I know, Ben,” I returned.
“I’m serious, white man,” he said as he continued to reinforce the mandate. “After this afternoon, I can easily see you losin’ it here. You gotta keep your temper under control.”
I rounded the corner of the doorway and turned, placing my hand on the telephone as I stared wordlessly back at my friend. On the fourth ring, I lifted the receiver and placed it against my ear, then spat, “What the hell do you want this time, Eldon?”
Ben moved his head through a frustrated gyration as he grimaced, closing his eyes and then opening them again as he came back to face me. He settled his stare on me with a thin-lipped frown cutting a deep gash beneath his angular nose.
I continued to watch him as he held the obvious question in his eyes.
“So you ARE going to answer the phone, Gant.” Porter’s voice poured out of the speaker, blended throughout with self-righteous arrogance. “I was beginning to wonder if you had run back to Hell where you belong.”
I gave my friend a quick nod in the affirmative to his visual query.
“Without you?” I asked into the handset, my tone a fountain of dark sarcasm. “Never crossed my mind. I want to make sure you don’t miss it.”
He actually chuckled, something I hadn’t expected. The very sound of his voice was already sickening to me, but the theatrical measure of forced laughter made me want to turn and vomit in the sink.
“Well, Gant,” he replied. “When I am finally called by the Lord, unlike you, I will have the pleasure of living in his divine presence.”
“Yeah, well, we will have to see about that,” I snarled. “So while I’ve got you on the phone, why don’t you answer something for me.”
“She’s still alive,” he returned. “For now.”
“Slow down, Eldon. That wasn’t even the question.”
“Really?” He seemed almost surprised. “Okay. I’ll play along. What did you want?”
I watched Ben carefully as I spoke. “You see, what I want to know is this: If I’m such a big, bad minion of Satan like you say I am, then what exactly makes you think that I am going to give a damn about some insignificant woman’s life?”
My friend’s eyes widened, and he glared at me as he made a grab for the phone. I had anticipated the reaction and easily ducked his hand as I stepped backwards.
“You see, I should expect you to say something like that. It’s exactly what Satan would say. But, it’s not her life that I think you are worried about,” he replied with undaunted surety in his words.
“Sounded that way to me,” I prodded. “Maybe you should explain it to me so I understand.”
The fact that I still ha
d Porter on the line appeased Ben for the moment, and he started to calm even though he still kept a suspicious eye cast in my direction.
Porter chuckled again. “Be serious, Gant. We both know that it’s her soul you want.”
“You think that’s what it is?” I asked.
“Of course. Tempting the weak is what you do-corrupting their souls and recruiting them into Satan’s army. This is what keeps you in his good graces. If you can’t succeed then you will fall from favor with Satan.”
“What? You actually think that I am recruiting a satanic army?” I returned. “You’re crazier than I thought you were, Eldon.”
“So you are admitting your allegiance to Satan, then.”
“No. I don’t even believe Satan exists, Eldon. Not that you are going to believe me, no matter what I say.”
The speaker on the telephone issued a forlorn plink then shifted into the hollow thrum of a disconnected line. I stepped forward and dropped it carefully into the wall cradle.
“He says that Millicent Sullivan is still alive,” I said as I leveled my gaze on my stoic friend.
“He hang up?” Ben asked.
“Yeah,” I returned.
“Row, I asked you not to go ape-shit on the SOB,” he began to admonish.
“He didn’t hang up because of anything I said, Ben,” I told him. “And he’s going to call back any minute.”
“That’s not exactly what I mean,” he said. “Hold on a sec.” He frowned hard then turned away from me and called back into the living room. “You get anything, Mandalay?”
“He was using the Sullivan woman’s phone,” her voice echoed back to us. “They’re tracking the… What?… Hold on for a second Storm… Okay, go ahead…”
She shifted attention back to the conversation on her cell phone once again.
Ben twisted his head back to me, “Listen, Row, you’ve got to calm down. If you antagonize the sonofabitch, he just might kill the woman.”
I shook my head. “No. Not yet.”
“How can you be sure of that?” He cocked his head to the side as he looked back at me. “This ‘effin wingnut is just about as off kilter as you can get. You don’t know what he’s gonna do.”
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