Bones of a Witch

by Dana Donovan

  “Hello yourself, Detective.” His voice sounded gruff and out of breath. “I’m telling you now you should consider yourself lucky your boy is still alive.”

  “Spinelli?”

  “Of course, Spinelli. I had him in my sights. But that’s not what we’re about.”

  “Oh? So what are you about, killing defenseless women?”

  “Defenseless? Detective, you know better. Witches are disciples of Pagan ignorance. They spread the word of Eternitism and dilute the faithful in hopes of hijacking their souls in the avocation of religious eradication. There is a struggle of eternal redemption at stake here, you understand.”

  “Redemption? What would you know about redemption? Haven’t you already committed your soul to the devil, having killed those women in New Castle?”

  “Casualties of war are martyrs, Detective. There is no sin in victimless expirations resulting from the pursuit of Divine justice. A noble cause is a worthy cause indeed.”

  “Bullshit. Murder is murder. Now tell me what you have done with Lilith and her friend.”

  “Her friend? Don’t you mean her aunt? I know about Ursula.”

  “What have you done with them?”

  “Nothing yet, and maybe we can keep it that way.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You have something I want, something you stole from Reverend Hilton back at the church.”

  “The gate key.”

  “Exactly. I want it.”

  “Why?”

  “You know why. Give it to me and I will release the women.”

  “I don’t believe you. I think you’ll kill them the second you get your hands on it.”

  “You have no choice but to trust me. I am holding all the cards, Detective.”

  “Yes, I suppose you are,” I said, and seeing no alternative, I gave in. “I want your word as a Puritan that you’ll keep your part of the deal?”

  “Of course, you have my word as a Puritan.”

  “Fine, but you have my word that if you harm one hair on either of those girl’s I’ll kill you myself.”

  “Enough chivalry, Detective. Bring the gate key to me tonight.”

  “Where?”

  “Ingersoll’s Tavern. You know it?”

  “I do.”

  “Good. Be there at midnight with the key or you’ll never see the women alive again.”

  “But what if I—”

  CLICK.

  Even after he hung up, an ominous sense of foreboding lingered in the air like a static charge. I turned to Carlos, who had been leaning in to the phone close enough to hear most of what was said. “What do you think?” I asked him.

  He shrugged. “I don’t know. What’s he mean by the gate key?”

  “You don’t know?”

  “Uh-uh. Does it open a gate?”

  “Yeah, sort of. Call Spinelli over; I’ll tell you.”

  Carlos ushered Spinelli to the shade of the tree where they huddled in close to hear me explain as best I could about the gate key and how I had retrieved it from the baptismal pool in the church.

  “Ah, that’s how you got so wet last night,” said Carlos. “You told us you fell in a puddle.”

  “It would’ve been a big puddle,” Spinelli remarked. “I for one didn’t buy it for a second.”

  “Well, me neither. I mean, there weren’t even any puddles between the church and the hill. It’s just that when I asked….”

  “Forget it,” I said. “That’s not important. The thing we need to figure out now is what we’re going to do about Putnam. He wants to meet me tonight at Ingersoll’s Tavern and make a trade: Lilith and Ursula for the gate key.”

  “So do it,” said Spinelli. “Agree to meet him tonight and when he shows up we’ll nab him.”

  “No, it won’t be that simple. He’ll not have Lilith or Ursula with him. I’m sure of it. He’s too clever for that.”

  “Then how can you trust him to deliver the girls once he gets what he wants?”

  Carlos answered, “You can’t.” He looked me in the eye and shook his head. “He’ll kill them, Tony, even after he gets the key. He’ll give you false directions somewhere and he’ll kill the girls.”

  “You think?”

  “Yes. You have to make the trade, but instead of going off on a wild goose chase, you’ll need to figure out a way to follow him back to his hideout without him knowing he’s being followed.”

  “That won’t be easy,” Spinelli remarked. “He’ll expect you to try that.”

  “Yes, I suppose he will. Un-lessss….”

  “Oh, I don’t like the sound of that,” said Carlos. “What are you thinking, Tony?”

  “I’m thinking what if instead of following him, I go with him?”

  “With him?”

  “Yes.”

  “In his van?”

  “Sure.”

  “How do you propose to do that?”

  “Easy, I make it so that he doesn’t see me.”

  “Ha!” This from Spinelli. “You’d have to be small as a mouse to keep from getting noticed.”

  I shook my head. “No, not at all. I just have to make myself invisible to him. I think if I can—”

  Carlos stopped me. “Tony, forget it.”

  I smiled slyly. “Why not?”

  Spinelli asked Carlos, “What’s he talking about?”

  Carlos ignored him. “That’s a level three spell you’re talking about. You don’t know how to do that.”

  “Please. How hard can it be? I have the grimoire at home. Besides, I have been practicing it.”

  “But have you ever pulled it off?”

  Spinelli again, “Pulled what off?”

  “No, but I’ve never had the gate key before.”

  “Guys, come on,” Spinelli complained. “Tell me what you’re talking about.”

  Carlos answered, “He’s talking about mind control, aren’t you, Tony.”

  “I suppose it is, seeing I can’t really make myself invisible.”

  “You can’t be serious.” Carlos gathered a fistful of my jacket sleeve and shook it. “Tony, this can’t end well. Even if you manage to make yourself invisible to him for a while, you can’t keep it up long enough for him to take you to the girls.”

  I laughed and pulled my sleeve free of his grasp, though I must admit I secretly shared his concern. “Carlos, Lilith does it all the time. You don’t know how often I see the bathroom door open while I’m in the shower, and then close again just as I’m getting out. I know it’s her.”

  “Yes, but you’re not Lilith. While you’re still discovering your powers, she’s been practicing hers for over a hundred years.”

  “Yes, and like I’ve said, I’ve been practicing, too. You saw me scry last night. I did that successfully.”

  “You did. Yes.”

  “That’s right, and now with the grimoire and the key I think I can do this.”

  “Yeah, but Tony—invisible?”

  “Yes, invisible. It may be a level three spell, but I think I’m ready.” I turned them both around and pointed them towards the car. “Now let’s get back to New Castle so I can get to work on it. I’m sure it can’t be any more difficult than making a whisper box.”

  “Oh, yes I’m sure there’s hardly any difference,” said Carlos, though the sarcasm in his voice negated any call for a response.

  Back in New Castle I showed Carlos and Spinelli the grimoire and the gate key. I had noticed before how the first page of the grimoire contained a legend of sorts, but I had never been able to figure out its meaning. Honestly, I thought the markings and inscriptions were hieroglyphs of a long lost pagan era, one that only Lilith understood, or maybe didn’t. With the gate key, however, Spinelli and I were able to determine that the writings were actually a secret formula expressing the fundamental principles of constituent elements throughout the book. On any given page there were references to a formula adjusted in enigmatic sequences that often seemed redundant or counterintuitive. But w
ith the key I was able to unlock the secrets of the grimoire and make sense of its mystery.

  We started by setting out candles in a circular pattern around the room, just as I had before; only now I knew to situate the yellow ones along the compass points: north, east, south and west; aligning the brown one with the current position of the moon, sort of like the hour hand on a clock. Next, I recited an incantation invoking the powers of the coven to aid in my endeavor, something I had previously thought as merely an informal throwback to tradition. But from what I gleaned through the grimoire, it is not only rudiment to the process, but positively essential. I think if I had known that earlier, I would have mastered the spell long before Lilith began riding my ass for not learning the craft. Sometimes I think she doesn’t really want me to succeed in the whole witchcraft business. I mean, she truly is a walking contradiction sometimes. I think if I ever figure her out it might scare me to death to know her.

  With most level three spells there is usually some smoke or a little twirl of wind or something to let you know it’s working. But not the cloaking spell. It’s stealthy by design from beginning to end, which makes it hard to know exactly when it has kicked in. And worse, according to the grimoire, the spell works best on those who are incognizant of its nature; in other words, those that don’t already know you’re working it. So with Carlos and Spinelli, the fact they could still see me after I finished it didn’t necessarily mean the spell didn’t work.

  “We have to find an unwitting participant,” I told the guys. “You two know I’m here so you’re not easily tricked. Your minds are overriding the suggestive powers of the spell.”

  “Yeah, that or maybe it’s just not working,” said Spinelli. His cocky attitude was really starting to bite into my patience.

  Carlos shook his head at that. “No, I think it’s working.”

  “Really?” I said.

  He drew a sharp bead on me, as though peering through my body. “Yeah, when I do this you kind of get real skinny, like maybe you’re beginning to fade away.” He looked at Spinelli. “Dominic, do this. Squint really hard and shade your eyes. Doesn’t it look like Tony’s getting skinny and may be ready to disappear?”

  “Yeah.” Spinelli’s eyes drew down tight. “And look, when you close your eyes altogether he does actually disappear.”

  I swear I could have choked him. I reached out and kicked one of the yellow candles in his direction, spraying him with hot wax and not caring about it for a second. “You think this is a joke?” I said, starting toward him. “You think anything about this situation is funny?”

  Carlos stepped forward to drive some distance between us. “Tony, Dominic doesn’t mean anything by it.” He set his hand on my shoulder. “I told you, Tony. You’re not Lilith. You don’t suppose she could pull off a spell like this in her first year as a witch, do you?”

  “Carlos, Lilith was born a witch. I doubt she practiced any witchcraft before age one.”

  “My point exactly.” He slapped me on the back and walked off towards the kitchen. “This is too much for you to bite off so early in your apprenticeship.” He opened the fridge and grabbed a beer. “You want one?”

  “Sure, why not?”

  He smiled teasingly, “Not you,” and he tossed the beer to Spinelli before reaching in for a second. “You’re not here. I can’t notice you, remember?”

  I crossed the room, and by the time I got to him, he seemed to notice me just fine. “Give me one, you ass.” I snatched the beer from his hand and popped the top. “Come on. We need to go next door and see if anyone there can see me.”

  “Are you serious?”

  “Yes, I’m serious. Both of you go knock on the neighbor’s door and ask if anyone there has seen me.”

  Spinelli asked, “Where will you be?”

  “Right behind you,” I said. “They’ll either see me or they won’t. It’s a simple as that.”

  He looked at Carlos. “Simple as that, eh?”

  Carlos shrugged. “You heard the man. Let’s go.”

  The third door down the hall from my apartment is where Froggy Smith lives. Froggy’s a nice guy, lives with a male roommate who may or may not be his lover. Personally, I always thought he was straight, but Lilith says he’s a cheeky monkey who swings from a different tree. Not that it matters to me either way. I picked Froggy’s apartment to call on because he’s always home and will always open the door to strangers. And let’s face it; Spinelli and Carlos look about as strange a couple as you can get. I told them both to have their badges and IDs ready just in case he thought they were there to sell him something. Turns out, though, Froggy probably wouldn’t have minded that at all. I think maybe Lilith was right. He does swing from a different tree. He even seemed sweet enough on Spinelli to invite him in for drinks, though later I learned what he actually offered Dom was something called a salty licker, which has nothing to do with liquor at all.

  “Have I seen Tony Marcella?” said Froggy, after peeling his attention away from Spinelli long enough to hear the question. “Are you kidding?” He seemed to look my way without looking at me, yet the entire time we were at his door, Carlos and Spinelli standing shoulder-to-shoulder with me behind them, I couldn’t shake the feeling that he could see me clear as day.

  “That’s right,” Carlos answered. “Marcella is your neighbor, isn’t he?”

  Again Froggy looked up, his eyes seeing right through me. “Sure, he’s my neighbor. Why, what’s wrong? Is he in some kind of trouble or something?”

  “No.” Carlos shook his head. “We just wanted to know if you had….” he looked at Spinelli and smiled, “seen him recently.”

  “You want to know if I’ve seen Tony?”

  “Yes.”

  “Recently?”

  “That’s right.”

  A thin smile crossed his lips and I could swear he actually winked at me. “No, sorry gentlemen, I haven’t seen him.”

  I could not see Carlos or Dominic’s face, but I could imagine their smiles ebbing like a tide. “Really? You haven’t seen him?”

  “That’s what I said, isn’t it?”

  “You realize we’re not here to arrest him,” said Spinelli.

  Froggy stiffened his shoulders and threw them back, drawing a deep breath, as if preparing to shut the door on the conversation. “Just so you know,” he said, his voice punctuated with a sense of finality, “Tony Marcella is an honorable man. If he wants you to see him, he’ll let you see him.” And then he did in fact slam the door on the conversation.

  Carlos and Spinelli stared at the door for the longest time, neither wanting to be the first to turn and face me. But I’m an equal opportunity gloater. I tapped them both on the shoulder and said, “Well? What do you say to that?”

  The two turned around slowly. “He saw you,” said Dominic. “He looked right at you.”

  “No, he looked through me, as if I wasn’t there.”

  Carlos said, “I’ve got to go with Dom on this one, Tony. He clearly saw you, and lied thinking he was protecting you. Face it; the spell didn’t work.”

  “No, it worked. He doesn’t know me that well, not enough to lie to the cops for me, anyway.”

  “Let’s try another neighbor,” said Dominic.

  “No.” I took a quick glance down at my watch. “We don’t have time. We have to get going. I can work on the spell on the way to Salem. Besides, the energy is stronger there, remember? Just like with the scrying, I can perfect the spell once we get there. You guys on board?”

  “Do we have a choice?” asked Carlos.

  I nudged them toward the stairs. “Yes. Go peacefully or under protest. If you choose the latter I’ll give your home phone numbers to Froggy.”

  “Then by all means. Let’s roll.

  Dominic Spinelli:

  Don’t ask me what kind of hair Tony has got up his butt, or maybe it’s a witch’s broomstick; I don’t know. He’s been on my case a lot, though, ever since the botched stake out at the boardwalk. It’s n
ot my fault we didn’t catch Putnam then. Sure I could have thought about holding up the train by radio sooner than I did. And yes, maybe keeping the gas tank at least half full at all times is recommended for all unmarked units in the department, but it’s not actually SOP that’s written down anywhere. That said, I have to draw the line at the shootout in the church parking lot. I’m the one who was getting shot at, not him. I mean, I ranked highest in my class at the academy for marksmanship. If I couldn’t hit the guy it’s because he couldn’t be hit…so easily that is.

  Anyway, I guess old Putnam called Tony’s cell while I was fixing the flat tire. He told Tony to meet him at Ingersoll’s Tavern with something called a gate key, which turns out to be the thing that Tony went swimming for in the church baptismal pool the night before. Guess he knew it was special. It seems this key is really a kind of encryption decoder for Lilith’s Book of Shadows, also known as the grimoire. Why Putnam wanted it is beyond me. The important thing is that Tony had it, and that gave him the crazy idea that he could use it to his advantage to catch Putnam. The plan was simple. Make himself invisible and stow away in Putnam’s van. That way Putnam would unknowingly deliver Tony right to the girls. Once there, Tony would get the drop on Putnam, put him under arrest and free the girls.

  It could have been a great plan, except for one thing: Tony couldn’t make himself invisible to a blind man. It was the funniest thing, though, watching him and Froggy exchange glances like we couldn’t see what was really happening. I mean, clearly Froggy could see Tony. He looked right at him several times. The funny thing is that I think Tony really believed he was invisible. Carlos thought it was hilarious, too, only he’s better at hiding his amusement than I am. Naturally then, as Tony got more and more pissed, he directed his anger more and more towards me. Needless to say, it made for an extremely long night.

  We headed out for Salem around ten-twenty. Tony thought he might perfect the cloaking spell along the way, or maybe even in Salem, as he felt sure the residue energy he experienced there from centuries of witchcraft activities would deliver the success he sought. Personally, I didn’t think it would work for a second. I don’t think Carlos did, either, but he’s a good yes man for Tony and wouldn’t say anything disparaging about his plan unless he truly thought it would put him in unreasonable jeopardy. I guess that’s why the two of them got along so well for all those years.