The Power of Faith: Science Fiction Faith Ferguson Series Book 3

by Andrea M. White

  “No, because I don’t take any shit from anyone. I kicked him in the balls, which gave me enough time to get up and grab the gun from my nightstand. He came at me again, and I was terrified that if he took it from me, he’d kill me. So, I shot.”

  “Twice,” Ed said making a point that it didn’t seem like simple self-defense.

  “That was an accident, he hit my arm after I shot him the first time.”

  “See,” she said showing a small bruise on her arm. “He hit me, and I hit the trigger.”

  “Sounds like self-defense to me, gentlemen,” Muriel said.

  “Why didn’t you tell us that, and why did you move the body?”

  “My career. It’s over now, but, at that point, I still had hope.”

  “Who helped you move him?” Ed asked, at this point more interested in finding her accomplice than challenging her defense.

  “Ron Gould. I was in shock, and I didn’t know who else to call. Ron’s a jerk, but I’ve known him forever. He came over, and we rolled Dev up in the rug, and Ron slid him down the back stairs.

  I backed my car up to the door, and Ron shoved him into the back. I was too shaken to drive, so Ron took my car and dumped him on Harrison Ave.”

  “Well, let’s talk a little more about this self-defense,” Paul said.

  “No,” Muriel said, “let’s not. I told Kate Campbell that she’d shot him and who helped her move the body. No more. If you or Kate have a problem with her claim of self-defense, that’s what courts are for.”

  Walking out of the room feeling decidedly unsatisfied, Paul said, “Let’s go get Gould and see what he has to say about self-defense.”

  They found him at the theatre and he, unlike Tiffany, did not immediately ask for a lawyer. He’d actually been expecting them, thinking that Tiffany would not go down alone.

  “What can you do for me if I make a statement?” Ron asked.

  “We’ll talk to the DA, but right now you’re looking at about three years.”

  “Tiffany said that he attacked her. For what it’s worth, she did look terrified. So, we wrapped him in the rug, got him into her car. I drove over to Harrison Ave. I had an apartment over there when I was a college kid, and I knew that alley was just big enough for a car and that there were no lights or windows. I pushed him out the back, drove back to her place, threw the rug in the dumpster, and went home.”

  ‘So you think it was self-defense?” Paul asked.

  “I do. You think I’ll get bail?”

  “You might. It’s a felony, but we’ll talk to the DA.”

  ******

  Dan Ryan had, as promised, expedited Faith’s visitor request, and she made the drive out to a women’s prison in the western suburb of Framingham, to visit Laura Duchene. Ill at ease, Faith approached the large and ominous building. She wasn’t nervous about seeing Laura, but this was her first experience at a prison. After checking in, Faith was brought to a sterile room filled with various sized tables and chairs. She sat down at a small table by the wall and while she waited for Laura, observed the other inmates and their visitors. While Faith was not naïve enough to think that all of these women deserved to be free, she still felt sorry for them and wished that she had the power to help them.

  As she sat, lost in thought, Faith became aware of a woman standing at her side. Looking up, she recognized Laura. It had only been nine months since their last meeting, and Laura looked very much the same. She was small and fit, with a serious demeanor. The odd thought that ran through Faith’s head was that Laura was probably in her element. She had, after all, broken Faith’s arm for the pure pleasure of it.

  “Laura,” Faith said, as she stood up to greet her.

  “Hi, Faith,” Laura said as the two took their seats.

  “You look well,” Faith said.

  “I’m all right.”

  “This can’t be easy,” Faith said.

  “Well, I’m not comparing it to the military, but having been in the service, has helped me adjust. What brings you here?”

  “I was wondering if you’d heard from Maggie or any of the other members of the coven.”

  Laura bristled, and said, “Lower your voice, you could get me killed.”

  “What do you mean?” Faith asked now in a whisper.

  “Any sign of weakness can be deadly in here, and believing in …” She stopped and took a furtive look around. “witches would make me look nuts. Since I had no trial, all anybody here knows is that I kidnapped somebody. That, they respect, so I’m okay. And, of course, I’ve also established myself as someone not to be trifled with.”

  “I’m sure you have,” Faith said, stone-faced, and feeling somewhat less sympathy for her own assailant.

  “I am sorry for what I did to you.”

  “Have you heard from Maggie or her, what shall I call them, clients?”

  “No.”

  Faith wasn’t going to take her word for it, so she compelled her.

  “Have you heard from any of them?”

  In the past, Faith’d had a small ritual, of sorts, when she wanted to compel or influence someone. She would slow her breathing, maintain eye contact and speak with a deliberate and slow cadence.

  Now, with full understanding of her abilities, she just willed it and believed that her subject would comply.

  “Maggie writes me,” Laura said. “Well, she can’t write to me directly, but she has one of the old gang, and yes, some of them are still bonded to her. I guess a cult is a cult. Anyway, Donna Muise visits me, and she brings me the letters. Maggie’s definitely not as bad off as she’s making it seem.”

  “She has all her faculties?” Faith asked.

  “Sounds like it.”

  “Although she’s still delusional when it comes to you. She says you gave her a stroke and made me pass out. Crazy, huh?”

  “What do you think caused it?” Faith asked with a little grin.

  This was an unusual and somewhat unwise bit of candor on Faith’s part, but Laura had kidnapped and tortured her. And, suddenly Faith was angry about it. So, for a moment, at least, she would show herself. Laura suddenly felt a piercing headache. She put her hand to her head and then looked at Faith with fear. That immediately snapped Faith out of revenge mode. Other than when she’d been fighting for her life, no one had ever feared her before, and she didn’t like it, but before she released Laura, Faith asked, “What’s Maggie planning?”

  “Something, but she didn’t say. All she said was it wasn’t over, and I’d be with her in the end.”

  “Would you help her if she tried to hurt me again?”

  Laura hesitated.

  “Would you?”

  “I’m still bonded to Maggie, and I’d like to see her again, but no, what we did to you was wrong.”

  Looking Laura straight in the eye and slowing her cadence, out of force of habit, Faith said, “We had a good talk, nothing unusual happened, and I forgave you.”

  “Yes,” Laura said, “It was good.”

  Releasing her, Faith stood, and Laura followed suit, the two women shook hands and Faith was about to leave when she stopped and said, “I know it’s a while off, but if you try and make something of yourself in here, I’ll try and help you get paroled.”

  “Do you mean that?”

  “I do. I’ll have to be sure that you’re done with Maggie’s madness, but if you are, and have done the best you can in here, I’ll speak for you.”

  “I don’t deserve that.”

  “Maybe not now, but, if you try, you will.”

  Leaving the facility, Faith was disturbed. Less with what Laura had told her than with her own behavior. For a moment, brief as it had been, she abused her power. This was a first, and it frightened her. So much so that, as she sat in her car, she called her mother and told her what she’d done.

  “I won’t sugar coat it. If you give in to those feelings, you can get into serious trouble. Power is intoxicating. You denied yours for so long, you could get drunk with it.”r />
  Faith was feeling sick to her stomach. Then she heard her mother laugh.

  “What?”

  “I was being kind of mean. You’re fine. This woman tried to kill you, and you gave her a little headache. Still, don’t make a habit of it. You don’t want to become a mean person, in general.”

  “Like you?”

  “Right,” her mother said laughing again. “Are you really all right, dear?”

  “I’m fine, but I don’t think I’ll be calling you for reassurance again any time soon.”

  “Oh, come on, don’t lose your sense of humor.

  “I still love you.”

  “Good. Now you can tell me why you went to see her. What’s going on.”

  Faith gave in and told her mother about the vision she’d had about Maggie.

  “I think she might be up to something and Laura told me as much. But, really, what can she do? She’s locked up, and I’m about ten times more powerful than I was the last time we tangled.”

  “That woman is a menace but, you’re right, you can handle it.”

  “That’s a change.”

  “Listen, we all have our moments. She had nearly killed my child. I admit, I wanted to end her, and maybe we should have, but cooler heads prevailed. Now, we’ll just have to see what happens.”

  ******

  Ed arrived at Faith’s with pizza and roses.

  “We alone?” he asked.

  She nodded, and he kissed her.

  “Hey, don’t mush our dinner,” she said as he tried to hold both the pizza box and roses behind her back.

  Much to Ed’s astonishment, the roses suddenly materialized in a vase on the table, and the pizza on a platter, along with place settings for two.

  Looking at the table, Ed asked, “A Fáidh thing?”

  “No, it’s an elements thing. You know how we can change the weather by harnessing what already exists, and merely reconfiguring it. Well, turns out we were using a very basic aspect of our power to change or move things. As long as the things we’re altering are nearby, we can deconstruct and reconstruct.”

  “So, I can do that, and I don’t need a spell?”

  “Get us some wine, opened and in the glass.”

  On his own, Ed had adjusted rapidly to his powers, so he wasn’t at all hesitant to try. He did, however, close his eyes to concentrate on what he wanted. When he did, two of Faith’s wine glasses appeared on the table, filled with red wine and the open bottle appeared on her counter.

  “No need for the whole eye closing thing, but, good job. Where’s the cork?” Faith asked, laughing.

  Ed looked around, and it was on the floor.

  “It’s cool to be us,” he said and then kissed her passionately.

  “Good to be alone, too,” she said when he eventually loosened his embrace.

  “And to have some food,” Ed said. “It’s been one hell of a day. Speaking of which, I have news. Claire Spencer, you know, the woman from your vision. She’s Maggie Dunham’s niece.

  “Well, finally, that explains my vision.”

  “I’ll say, but Maggie didn’t kill her, she’s a vegetable, isn’t she?” Ed asked.

  “No, she isn’t. She’s been faking it. Don’t get me wrong. She’s still batshit crazy, but I went to see Laura Duchene today, and Laura said that Maggie’s got her faculties, such as they are.”

  “Why’d you go see Laura?” Ed asked.

  “I had a vision about Maggie, too.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” Ed asked.

  “Just didn’t want to talk about it, but I decided to look into it, and thought Laura was as good a place to start, as any.”

  “But Maggie’s locked up in a mental hospital for Christ’s sake,” Ed said. “What could she do?”

  “I don’t know. Evidently, some of her little witchlets go to see her, and I have no doubt that she could manipulate one of them to kill for her.

  “I’m going over to see her. Remember you can’t read people, and, you don’t want to use powers. I don’t have any such compunction. I’m just trying to protect myself. I’ll go over next week.”

  “Paul and I may go before that. Although, I do want to talk to her lawyer, first. And Claire’s parents are coming in tomorrow. We’ll have to see.”

  As they ate, Ed told Faith about the arrests in the Nance case, and she said, “And you did it all the old-fashioned way.”

  “It is a temptation, though. I could have compelled Tiffany to tell me if it was really self-defense, or not.”

  “That’ll all get worked out as it should.”

  “True, now we have to find out if Maggie offed her niece.”

  “I wouldn’t put it past her,” Faith said.

  “Neither would I.”

  “Oh, one other thing we have to deal with. Your cousin, Aaron, walked out of the jail before he was even booked. I just found out about it today. Apparently, my harassment order got misfiled. So, they just notified me.”

  “He’s a very distant cousin, and we’ll deal with him. I kind of expected it. I know his family has elements because his cousin, Hamish Sinclair, told me. So, he could manipulate handcuffs or locks without any trouble. Think we should have bound his powers?”

  “We can’t; he’s cloaked. I’ll call my grandfather in the morning. Binding, and dealing with Buidseach that’ve gone bad is more his thing. He can help us figure out what needs to be done.”

  After enjoying a leisurely meal with conversation that included no talk of murder cases or their Buidseach powers, taking her hand, Ed asked, “Early night?”

  “Mm-hmm.”

  Chapter Eight

  Before his summer excursion to the Shetland Islands, and the revelation of his Buidseach heritage, Paul Malloy had been Ed’s closest friend and confidant. Even though prior to Ed’s relationship with Faith, they lived very different lives, their similarities far outweighed their differences, and they functioned with an easy rapport.

  Since his return, however, Paul felt that there was some sort of wall between them. He had no idea what, it just seemed to him that Ed was holding something back, which, of course, he was. There was no way Ed could share the truth about his being Buidseach. First, Paul would have had him committed, and second, it was safer for Paul if he didn’t know. At least that’s what Ed believed, as the dangers of his Buidseach heritage had been made crystal clear during his pilgrimage.

  Paul thought that maybe it was Ed’s burgeoning career as a game designer. He’d known about Ed’s trip to comic-con in July and that he was now in the process of marketing his first foray into that world.

  As they rode along, the two men, while still ever so content in each other’s company, were unusually silent until Paul decided to broach the subject of the growing chasm between them.

  “Are you thinking of leaving the police?” Paul asked.

  “Why would you ask that?”

  “You’ve just seemed distracted for the past few months,” Paul said.

  “I’m not distracted. Busy maybe, but I’m not leaving.”

  “Good. I’d hate to have to break in a new partner. And at some point, maybe you’ll tell me what’s going on with you.”

  Ed did not like having a secret between them but felt he had no choice.

  “Let’s swing by and see the girls,” Paul said.

  Ed’s mood lightened as he replied, “Good idea.”

  Ed and Faith had met when he and Paul were investigating a string of murders associated with the Bourne Street residents.

  “A couple of very cute men are heading our way,” a newly arrived resident said.

  “I want no part of men,” her companion replied.

  “It’s Karen’s husband and his partner,” Molly Lawson, one of the resident’s with longer tenure informed them, pointing to the photos on the wall.

  Paul was a frequent visitor, and Ed was often along for the ride, so Karen had their pictures posted on the kitchen bulletin board.

  “Ladies,” Paul said as
they opened the door for him, “How’s everyone doing?”

  What are you two doing here?” Karen asked as she came into the kitchen.

  “Just a quick visit,” Paul said.

  “Faith upstairs?” Ed asked.

  “She is. Don’t know if she’s alone, though,” Karen said glancing around to see if anyone was missing.

  “She’s alone,” Molly said. “I’m supposed to meet with her in about fifteen minutes, so, go on up. I don’t mind waiting.”

  “I won’t be long,” Ed said and ran up the two flights of stairs to Faith’s small but cozy office in the attic.

  When Faith looked up to see him, she felt her face blush softly. Being together less than a year, they were definitely still in the honeymoon phase of their relationship.

  “Hi,” he said, with a warm smile.

  “Hello yourself. What’s up? No more dead husbands, I hope.”

  “God, no. We’ve got enough going on with the Spencer and Nance cases.”

  “Don’t forget about tonight. Finn will be livid if we’re not there early.”

  “Unless something unforeseen happens, I’ll pick you up at seven. Have you called Padraig about Aaron?” Ed asked.

  “I was about to.”

  “I’ll get the door, you put him on speaker,” Ed said.

  They explained what had been going on with Aaron Sinclair and Padraig said, “Maybe he’s gone home. Of course, since he’s cloaked, there’s no way to know.”

  “Is there any way to bind his powers if he’s cloaked,” Faith asked.

  “I’m afraid not,” Padraig said.

  “Well, I still have that uneasy feeling,” Faith said.

  “I feel it too,” Padraig said. Nothing like last summer but something’s going on.”

  “Nothing we can’t handle,” Ed said.

  “Indeed,” Padraig said. “I’ll see you both tonight.”

  When Padraig hung up, Ed asked, “You still going over to see Maggie?”

  “Monday, I think. Are you going today?”

  “Doubt it, we’ve got a lot of balls in the air.”

  Ed leaned over the desk and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

  “First of all, stop harassing me at work, and second, that was a very lame kiss.”