Bones of a Witch (12 page)

“Wow, that’s good work, Dominic. I commend
you.”

“Really?” His face lit up so bright I almost
felt guilty for wishing I had thought of it first.

“Sure, absolutely. Carlos?”

“Yes, Dominic, Tony’s right. You keep that up
and soon you’ll be running the entire show here.”

That comment made me grit my teeth. “Okay, so
tell me.” I shuffled the photos around to assemble them in some
sort of order, mostly from youngest to oldest, though for no
discernable reason. “What do you think?”

He reached down and tapped on a photo of one
tough-looking character in particular. “This one here; he’s Lemas
Winterhutch. I recognized him from the boardwalk last night. To be
sure, I took his photo down to Budget Car Rentals and showed it to
the clerk there. He also positively ID the guy.”

“He’d swear to it?”

“Sure, only the guy’s real name isn’t
Winterhutch. It’s James T. Putnam, distant grandson of John Putnam
of Salem, Mass.”

“Is that significant?”

“Maybe not, but at the very least it’s
interesting.”

“Why so?”

“Well, you see John Putnam’s eleven-year-old
daughter, Ann, was among the first to accuse some of Salem’s
townswomen of witchery. She, along with three other girls and a
Barbados slave woman round out the cast of accusers that fanned the
hysteria leading to the witch hunts.”

“That’s spooky,” said Carlos, “and
weird.”

Dominic nodded. “You know what’s even weirder?”
He looked down and pointed at another photo; only this one was not
a mug shot. It looked like a surveillance photo from a night stake
out: grainy, shadowy and far too blurry to make out any
distinguishable features of its subject. “This guy,” he said, “this
guy is the ringleader. He’s known only as Wolf, and this is the
only known photo ever taken of him. The cop who took it was
murdered right after shooting it. They found it in his camera the
next day.”

I picked up the photo and studied it closer.
“I’ve seen better pictures of Bigfoot.” Carlos laughed at that. “We
know anything else about our mysterious Mister Wolf?”

“It’s not Mister; it’s just Wolf.”

“Sorry, Wolf.”

“The only thing we know about him is that he
may be a descendant of another prominent figure from 1692 Salem.
The problem is we don’t know who. He must have been important,
though, for this guy to carry so much clout.”

“Maybe he’s a distant relative of Ingersoll
himself,” said Carlos.

Dominic only shrugged. I tossed the photo back
onto the table. “All right, where does this leave us?”

“No closer to anything, I’m afraid, unless
Carlos has any ideas.”

Carlos shook his head. “I don’t, but I am
curious, Tony, what did Lilith say after you told her about last
night.”

“Lilith?” I gave him a guilty-looking
sneer.

“You didn’t tell her about the
murder?”

“I didn’t think she needed to know.”

“She knows now,” said Dominic, and he nodded
toward the glass divider separating the conference room from the
open work areas.

“Damn!” I found myself unconsciously ducking
out of sight behind Carlos. “How the hell did she get through
security?”

Carlos waved to her. “Hey, Lilith.” I doubt she
heard him, but she definitely saw him. She turned and made a
beeline straight for us.

“Quick, lock the door.”

Dominic reached out and opened it.

“Spinelli, I said lock…. Shit.” Lilith entered
on a flaming jet stream. “Lilith, what a surprise.”

“Don’t give me that. Why didn’t you wake me
last night?”

“What do you mean?”

“You know damn well what I mean. Why did you
sneak in last night like an alley cat and then slip out again this
morning without waking me? Did you think I wouldn’t find out what
happened?”

Carlos and Spinelli started for door. “We’ll
give you two some time alone,” Carlos began, and Spinelli nodded in
agreement. “In case you need us, we’ll be right out—”

Lilith pointed at the two with a loaded finger.
“FREEZE, Fidel. You too, squirt.”

“Squirt?”

I shot Spinelli a look. “Let it ride,
Dom.”

“Yes, let it ride,” said Lilith, “and take a
seat. I’ll have your new assholes ripped in a minute.”

“How did you get up here?” I asked.

“Don’t change the subject. Tell me
what the
fuck
happened last night.”

I pointed to the door. “Dom, shut that before
someone calls the SWAT team in here.” He did, and I waited for him
and Carlos to take a seat before pulling a chair out for Lilith.
“Please,” I said, with a nod toward the chair. She looked at me
with serpent’s eyes, but I knew if I could get her to sit, then I
might actually have a chance of getting out of there with my balls
unbroken.

After she reluctantly obliged, I pulled the
fourth chair out and joined them at the table. I started by giving
Lilith that stern eye I used to give her when I still looked older
and more authoritative. It never intimidated her, though I used to
think it did, but at least it held her attention long enough for me
to get my point across. Now it only serves to cast me in a
pseudo-serious light that makes me appear more boyish than manly.
Still, I’ll take cute over scared if it helps keeps the genie in
the bottle.

“Look, Lilith, what happened last night was
regrettable, but unavoidable. We’re dealing with a psychopath here,
so nothing is predictable or certain. Now, we don’t know exactly
what went wrong. Perhaps he made Dominic and decided to teach us a
lesson; perhaps something else tipped him off. We just don’t know.
But the reason I didn’t tell you is because of this. I knew you
would fly off the handle and say or do something
irrational.”

“Irrational? You think I’m being irrational?
Look around, Tony. Do you see sparks flying, winged creatures
dive-bombing? Have the windows blown out from percussion rolls?
Believe me, this is rational.”

“Okay, fine. I agree. You’re being rational. My
apologies. But you have to admit that last night would not have
been a good time to tell you.”

“Oh, so you thought it would be better if I
found out on the morning news that a woman died because of me, is
that it?”

“No, not necessarily. I just thought it would
be better if I didn’t have to tell you. Frankly, I wanted Dominic
to do it.”

“Me?” said Dominic, half afraid I meant
it.

“Relax. She knows now. You’re off the
hook.”

Lilith looked down at the photos scattered
along the tabletop. “What’s all this?”

“The men of Ingersoll’s Witness,” I
said.

“Is one of them Lemas Winterhutch?”

“
That one.” Dominic pointed. “Only
his real name is James Putnam.”

She picked up the photo and studied it,
absorbing ever detail and burning its image in her mind so that she
might never forget. Carlos pointed at the surveillance photo next.
“This guy’s the ringleader. We believe he’s calling all the shots
and that Lemas is just an enforcer.”

Lilith examined the second photo similarly. “Is
that the best picture you got of him?”

“It’s the only one,” Dominic replied. “And it
cost the Salem PD one of its finest.”

She looked up at me and then at the others.
“I’m sorry,” she said. I know she meant it. She tossed the photo
back down on the table. “So, where does this leave us?”

“I was just asking that question before you
walked in. I’m thinking we should hit the streets next.” I nodded
at the photos. “We have all these faces and known aliases now. We
can show them around to all the motels; see if anyone recognizes
someone.”

“Good thinking,” said Carlos. “We can ask the
local new stations to post Putnam’s picture, maybe have them
mention how he’s a person of special interest.”

Dominic suggested we scour the immediate
vicinity around the boardwalk for additional security cameras that
may have picked up something useful. “I’m talking ATMs, convenient
stores, open webcams; stuff like that,” he said. “Anymore, the
public is always under Big Brother’s watchful eye.”

“All right, then. It’s not a lot, but it’s a
plan.” To Carlos I said, “We can have some uniforms do the
footwork, but I’d feel better if you talked to the TV people. I
don’t want word to get out that Dominic was our decoy, just in case
Lemas didn’t already figure that out.”

We were nearly ready to break it up, when
Lilith’s phone rang. I knew from the look on her face and that
peculiar ringtone that our plans were all suddenly shot to hell.
“Is that him?” I asked.

Her eyes came back from glancing down at the
readout. “Yeah.”

“Put him on speaker.”

We huddled around Lilith, realizing at once
that the dynamics of the case were about to change in a radical
way. As we settled in, I gave her the nod. She flipped open her
phone, hit the speaker and held it up so that we all could
hear.

“Mister Putnam,” said Lilith. “I don’t usually
accept calls from cowards. They simply aren’t worth the
dime.”

“Coward, Miss Adams? Me?”

“What else would I call a man who only preys on
young defenseless women?”

“What does that say about you? Are you so
frightened of me that you need your boyfriend and his homosexual
cronies to dress in women’s clothing to try to trick
me?”

I saw Dominic start to rise in protest over
that, but I waved him down with just a stare.

“I’m afraid of no one,” said Lilith,
“especially a pantywaist like you.”

“Then prove it. If you’re such an independent
woman, why don’t you come out and fight your own
battles?”

“Fine. Name the time and place,
scumbag.”

“No,” I mouthed under my breath. “Don’t agree
to anything.”

“This afternoon,” Putnam replied. “Go to
Jefferson station and wait on the platform for the 5:15
southbound.”

“You’re on,” said Lilith. “I’ll be
there.”

“Good. Come alone. If you fail to show, or if I
see any cops this time, I will kill not just one innocent bystander
this time, but I’ll find a woman and child and kill them both. That
should raise some brows on your evening news channels, don’t you
think?”

“Oh, don’t you worry. I won’t need anyone’s
help to kick your sorry ass, Putnam. And let me tell you; you have
picked a fight with the wrong chick this time, buster.”

“Is that so?”

“It is. So, let this serve as fair warning; I
am going to the station where I will find you and kill you with my
own bare hands. Have you got that?”

“Indeed, Ms. Adams. “I do have
that.”

CLICK.

As soon as she hung up, I put my foot down and
told her that I would not allow the meeting at a train station to
take place. “It’s too open and dangerous,” I said, “too many
innocent bystanders in the way to effect adequate protection for
everyone; too many escape routes, too few vantage points for
observations, too little time to draft a back-up plan and too many
other variables to even discuss in the short time
remaining.”

Of course, that was all academic
in Lilith’s eyes. She sat there politely, though, listening,
pretending to weigh the validity of my argument. Even Carlos and
Dominic nodded at all the right places, signaling agreement to the
logic in my judgment. In the end, however, Lilith prevailed without
firing a single shot. Somewhere between the
definitely not
and the
well maybe
, it was
decided that she would go to Jefferson station and wait on the
platform for the 5:15 southbound.

“But you won’t be alone,” I insisted. “We’ll
put a man on the platform with you. We’ll dress him up as a
homeless guy with a bottle and have him camping out in a corner.” I
looked to Spinelli. “The late afternoon trains usually pull four
passenger cars. I want a man on each. Get some of the younger guys
from traffic to dress up like hipsters or be-boppers or whatever
you kids call them, but none older-looking than twenty. Also, I
want some undercover females on board looking like average
commuters heading home from work.” To Carlos I said, “The next
station south is Lexington. Get a couple of plainclothes on the
platform there and keep another couple of uniforms out of sight on
the sidelines. And if you can, set a couple of marksmen up on the
roofs of both stations.”

Carlos nodded. “Got it, and where will you
be?”

“I’ll be riding up front with the engineer. I
don’t want to take any chances with this thing.” I looked to
Lilith. “Are you going to be comfortable enough with
that?”

“Pah-leez.” She flipped her hair off her
shoulder with a dismissive hand. “Why all the fuss? A boy scout and
a feisty Chihuahua could take this maggot down.”

Immediately, Carlos and I turned to Dominic and
cracked a contagious grin. His face grew flush as he sank
sheepishly in his chair. “What?” He said, crossing his arms at his
chest.