The Druid Witch

by J. D. Cavan

  He waddled into the SOJ and demanded coffee and other food products before disclosing anything. Dean gathered up a bunch of leftovers. Rumble sat at the meeting table, shoving food in his mouth as he rattled off a bunch of places Nessa had been.

  Nothing he mentioned caught my attention except one place. A plaza building in midtown that sounded familiar to me. I had Dean quickly research the plaza and I found my answer.

  The building Nessa had entered had an escort service company inside of it. It wasn’t a service connected with the murders, but I recognized the plaza and the name. When Dean and I had been researching escort services in the city, we had come across quite a few.

  Rumble had delivered a major clue and possible solid evidence that Nessa was the escort killer. I left immediately. I had to interview the second escort.

  Chapter 21

  I WENT TO SEE Kelly Montane, the escort from the second murder scene.

  Perhaps I should have gone sooner. Maybe I’d been putting it off—afraid of what I’d find. But now with the evidence from Rumble, I was all but sure it was Nessa that had taken Kelly’s memory, and it was Nessa who was the killer.

  I walked into the luxury offices of the escort service and spoke with someone at the front desk. He was a friendly young guy who assumed that I was interested in becoming an escort.

  “I’m here to see Kelly Montane.” I flashed my SOJ badge and his friendly demeanor vanished.

  “We are a legal escort service,” he started to say before I interrupted him.

  “I need to interview Ms. Montane now for crimes that are currently under investigation.”

  He motioned to a small room with some chairs and magazines. “She’ll be coming in any moment, you’ll have to wait.”

  As I sat in the room, I wondered how I would get anything out of Kelly. If in fact it was a vampire mind-trick causing the memory loss, Kelly would remain unable to give me a positive ID on Nessa.

  After I waited longer than I wanted to wait, a young woman walked into the room. She was dressed in workout clothes and carrying a gym bag. She was clearly not ready for her escort dates for the evening.

  “I already told you guys everything I know about the murder,” she said.

  “Yes, I’m aware of that, Ms. Montane, but I still need to ask you a few more questions.”

  She huffed. “Fine, but please make it fast. I have to get ready.” She was chewing a piece of gum.

  “Thank you. Is there a place where we can talk privately?”

  She walked me to a back office and we sat down at a small circular table. “I want you to go back to that night and give me a description of what happened,” I told her.

  She proceeded to give me the rundown of her evening, right up to when she headed to John Sanders’ penthouse apartment.

  “I’d been there a bunch of times before,” she said.

  “How many?” I asked. I wanted to test the veracity of her reporting. I knew exactly how many times she’d been to John Sanders’ place. I had the records from the escort service.

  “About eight times. He always asked for me specifically.” She was telling the truth; it had been exactly eight. I noted that for someone who had known John Sanders, she didn’t seem a bit upset about his death. But I supposed it was all business for her.

  “On the eighth visit, however, something different happened. Isn’t that right?” “Yup. When I got there, another girl was at his door. She was from some other service.”

  “How did you know she was an escort?” I asked.

  Kelly looked at me like I was either stupid or naive or both. “A working girl knows another working girl. Plus, she told me she was first.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “Sometimes a guy will call two services, and it’s an unsaid rule that whoever shows first gets the date.”

  “So you just left?”

  “Yup, it’s all in my reports. Are we finished?”

  “Not quite. About your report, there’s a little problem. Everything you say makes sense except for the fact that you couldn’t give us a description of this supposed other escort.”

  She frowned angrily. “I told your people already that it was dark in the hallway and she had a hood up over her head. It had been raining that night—”

  Instead of pushing her, I asked her to slow down. “Okay, relax. I want you to walk me through the hallway step-by-step, giving me as much detail as you can. Maybe you’ve left something out and didn’t realize it.”

  This was a common interview tactic. Sometimes if you had the person return to the scene in their mind, they could remember more details than they expected. It assumed that the person was mostly telling the truth.

  She sighed. “I got off the elevator and walked down the hall. I saw her standing by the door. She had a long cloak on and her hood was up. She was on the short side, even in heels. I recall that much.” Then I noticed Kelly’s eyes glaze over, a distracted look as if she was staring off in the distance.

  “What just happened, Ms. Montane?” I asked. She snapped out of it.

  “Nothing,” she said.

  I picked up something. It was from my Akantha personality. Someone had put a memory spell on her. I couldn’t tell if it was a vampire mind control trick or a witch’s spell, but I seemed to know how to release it. I took her down the hallway again slowly. She fell into a hypnotic state.

  I needed a positive ID on Nessa before I could bring her in for questioning. I was sure the hooded figure was her. I got ready. I would call Nick and get his help in bringing in Nessa.

  Kelly was gazing off into space. “Tell me what she looked like?” I asked.

  Her face went further blank. “She had a cloak on and a hood. She took the hood off,” Kelly muttered. She paused and her eyes seemed to be searching something out. “Then I saw her face. I can see her face.”

  Kelly snapped out of the hypnotic trance. She fixed her eyes on me and they widened. She appeared frightened and confused.

  “Give me a description of the escort,” I told her.

  Kelly hesitated. Her eyes flickered. She shook her head slightly back and forth. “She looked like you,” she muttered fearfully.

  My chest exploded! It couldn’t be true.

  “Don’t hurt me,” Kelly said in terror. She started to stand up. Then I did something I had absolutely no idea how to do. It must have been completely from my Akantha personality. I simply cast the spell and took Kelly’s memory away again.

  She stared blankly at me, her mouth still agape. “I’m sorry, what were you saying?” she asked in confusion.

  “Thank you for your help. We’ll be in touch,” I said quickly, leaving the office.

  * * *

  AS I LEFT THE plaza, I ran smack-dab into Agent Tasso.

  I tried to hide my despaired state of mind. “Hey, what are you doing here?” I asked innocently.

  Tasso gave me a suspicious look. “I could ask you the same thing.”

  I nodded. Obviously we were both there to interview Kelly Montane. “She’s sticking to her story,” I replied casually. I lied and hated myself for it.

  Tasso just stared at me like she didn’t believe me. Then she walked into the escort service, presumably to interview Kelly Montane again.

  I simply couldn’t accept it. I was in a state of denial. Kelly Montane had ID’d me as the killer. I was the escort killer—my Akantha personality as a Mr. Hyde character doing this dirty work without me knowing. Worst of all, I had taken her memory away again to save myself.

  The words of Dr. Edwards returned to me. She had warned me to keep vigilant to ensure that my Akantha personality didn’t take complete control. There could be serious repercussions if so, she had said. I had been working hard to try and prevent that, but all the while it had been too late. The serious consequences had already occurred.

  What do you do when you get the worst possible news ever? Go talk to a therapist. I walked aimlessly up the street toward Dr. Edwards’ office.

>   * * *

  I WALKED INTO Dr. Edwards’ waiting room and caught her leaving for the day. She didn’t even ask me a question; she could see it all over me. She led me back to her office.

  “I’m not sure I can share this with you,” I muttered. The hopelessness was sinking in.

  “You can share anything with me, Lila.”

  “Legally, you know, I can’t.” If I was a danger to myself or others, by law Dr. Edwards would have to report me in order to stop me from harming anyone, including myself. If she had reason to believe that I was the killer and would kill again, Dr. Edwards would be required to report it to the NYPD.

  “That’s correct, patient confidentiality does have its limits,” Edwards said.

  I realized that it didn’t matter anyway. It was my integrity on the line. As long as I was fully Lila Stone, I knew exactly what I was going to do. I had enough evidence to prove that I was the killer.

  It killed me to admit it, but Agent Tasso had been right all along. My life was going to come to a crashing end. I began to cry, and Dr. Edwards got up from her chair and kneeled next to me. She put a caring arm around me.

  “How can I help you?” she asked.

  I took a deep breath and pulled myself together, wiping my eyes.

  “You have helped. I mean it. No matter what happens.” She looked at me with deep concern. “I know what I have to do now.” I got up and left her office.

  Chapter 22

  AS SOON AS I reached the street, I called Dr. James Blake.

  I left him a message. I didn’t tell him that I was the escort killer, but I told him that I was heading down to the supernatural containment unit and needed to see him immediately. My plan was simple. Before I could do any more damage as Akantha, I would turn myself in. I’d have Dr. Blake lock me up in the unit.

  I walked down the street in a state of utter defeat, my head held low. My life was over. I’d be locked up next to Blackeye and his goblins for all eternity.

  I glanced up momentarily to see what street I was on and spotted the blind old man again. It was Malcolm in disguise, likely showing up to tell me what I already knew. I was the escort killer. I followed him into a nearby abandoned building. He walked through a door and stopped in an empty room.

  “Can’t you just show up at the Society of Justice when you want to give me bad news?” I asked. He turned around.

  “I’m about to introduce you to someone, and I don’t think you’d ever want them popping up at your infamous Society of Justice,” Malcolm replied. He removed his dark glasses.

  “What do you want, Malcolm?” All bets were off with him now. I didn’t care. My life was finished anyway.

  “I have someone you absolutely have to meet. It’s going to clear up so much for you.”

  I heard movement coming from behind one of the damaged walls in the rundown building. It was dark inside the room, but I could make out a shadowy figure walking toward me. As my eyes adjusted, a dose of vertigo struck. I blinked my eyes and lost my breath. It was as if I’d just wandered into a haunted house of mirrors.

  “This is your long-lost twin. She was named after your great aunt,” Malcolm announced. “Lila, I’d like you to meet Akantha, your sister.”

  I took a step backward, my head spinning. I tried to ask questions but I was without words. I wondered if Malcolm was using some kind of sorcery on me. The girl standing in front of me…was me. She smiled, and it was my smile. I felt ill.

  “When you were both born, it was a very happy and sad day. Your beautiful mother passed, but she left two little witches with us. One was quiet and shy, and the other had powers that even as an infant were remarkable.” I stared at my twin sister, and she gazed back at me. Malcolm continued. “It was decided that while Lila would live out her life with her father, Akantha would be raised in captivity with the witches of the north, where her exceptional powers could be managed.”

  “My sister, how I’ve been waiting for this moment,” Akantha said. Her voice even sounded like mine.

  I studied her features. Although she didn’t wear glasses, we were identical in every other respect.

  “You’re the escort killer,” I said, more to myself. It was the first thing that came to my mind. It was the only answer that made sense. Kelly Montane had seen her, not me. My twin sister tried to hide her grin, like she’d been caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

  I shook my head in disbelief. “How did you do it?”

  “I just asked them to give me everything they had, and they gave it to me! I love New York. Isn’t that the saying? I love New York!” She sang the words. Malcolm broke out in laughter.

  “You used magic on them,” I replied. I sensed her evil. It comingled with Malcolm’s deviance in a ball of twisted misery.

  “Not just any kind of magic,” she said. “Those men were so desperate. All that money and calling on escorts, so weak I didn’t even need a strong spell. But I don’t want to talk about them. We have so much to catch up on. I’m sure it was hard for you not having mommy.” She turned to Malcolm and her face darkened. “But you have no idea what it was like living with the witches of the north. Such cruelty.”

  “You set me up this whole time. William Turner?” I glared at her. “I’m going to put you away for what you’ve done.”

  “If anyone’s going away, it’s going to be you, my sister—”

  Malcolm interrupted. “You two must play nice or this city will become a war zone.”

  “I don’t mind going to war. I quite like war, actually.” Her voice struck chords of malevolence.

  It was as if I was facing my shadow side alive and for real. My evil twin stood in front of me.

  “What did you do with their money, Akantha?” I demanded.

  “Do you know about the witches of the north?” she asked, ignoring my question. “Their ancestors were persecuted at the Salem Witch Trials. Many of their relatives were burned to death at the stake. I’m sure you learned about that in school.”

  “What does that have to do with the money you took from the men you killed?”

  “I know what people can do to people like us, my sister. No one will hurt us again. I have enough cash to build the strongest witches’ coven ever created. Forget about the Society of Justice.”

  “I’m arresting you for the murders of Thomas Miller, John Sanders, and William Turner.”

  Akantha chuckled wickedly. “You have no evidence against me! The escort, Ms. Montane, her memory would only be of you. No one knows that I exist. It’s so obvious that I’m embarrassed I have to point it out to you. I thought you were smarter than that.”

  She was right. If Akantha decided to release the memory spell on Kelly, I was doomed. “I want you out of this city,” I said in anger.

  “Nonsense, we’re going to build a wonderful relationship together, one I’ve always wanted. The sisterhood we should have had if it weren’t for him.” I thought she was talking about Malcolm, but it seemed she wasn’t.

  “Who are you talking about?” I asked.

  “The druid warlock. The one that played god with my life— with our lives.”

  “Dr. Bernard Devlin made the final decision to send Akantha away,” Malcolm interjected. Apparently he had no problem blaming Devlin.

  “I’ll find him eventually, in due time,” she threatened. “And when I do, it will be the end of Dr. Devlin.”

  “I don’t care what you do with your time. But you are not to kill again, is that understood?” I said sharply.

  She glanced at Malcolm. “She’s not getting it, is she? I’ll do what I wish, Lila. No one tells me what to do.”

  “There is an order that needs to be maintained,” Malcolm said firmly.

  Akantha seemed to have no fear of him, however. I’d never seen Malcolm even mildly nervous, but I sensed it. He was afraid of her.

  “I don’t care about your order, Malcolm,” she replied, as if he was a bothersome gnat.

  Malcolm seemed backed into a corner before he
spoke again. “She has the amulet.”

  She squinted her eyes. “You gave it to her?” Akantha’s voice was shaking in anger. She was unpleasantly surprised, I could tell.

  “To keep a balance,” Malcolm replied, staring her down.

  “It doesn’t make a difference. What I’ve learned will make that little charm meaningless.” She faced me. “Go on your way. We will visit again soon without this magician boring us to death.” She waved her hand dismissively toward Malcolm.

  I sensed it now. It had been my sister. She had been messing with me, casting spells and confusing me. It wasn’t just my bloodline that I had been contending with. But I wanted to know for sure.

  “Before I go, I’d ask you to let me have my own process with our great aunt’s bloodline,” I said.

  She tried to hide her evil smirk. “I couldn’t use that spell anymore anyway—you know of that magic now.”

  “Stop what you’re doing to me. I needed to face my own shadow personality without your interference,” I asserted, reminding her without saying it that I had the amulet.

  “Fine. Work your little bloodline personality issues out on your own.” Her face dimmed. “Just know I could have ruined you.” She stepped closer to me. “You have the amulet, that’s a fact. But please don’t forget there’s magic I have that you have no idea about, spells I can choose to use against you—or not.”

  I felt no sisterly love, only malevolence and dominance. I took the opportunity to leave in that moment. I never thought I’d be concerned about Malcolm’s welfare, but I did wonder about it as I walked out of the room.

  Malcolm had promised that I would be on his side and that we’d be working together. I never believed it could be true. I wouldn’t say that I was a loyal ally to Malcolm now, but I would say that I felt like I needed him in a potential battle against Akantha. That would perhaps put us on a side together in opposition to her.

  As I left the abandoned building, I felt a wave of relief. I wasn’t the escort killer. Shortly following that, however, I was consumed with total misery at the thought of my evil twin sister living in New York City. I was still in a state of denial that she existed at all, let alone what I was ever going to do about it.