Crowley's Window (Novella) (4 page)

By the time they finally arrived, panic was hitting the small town of Westchester outside the tent, but Abby had managed to reign in her emotions and was sitting calmly at her table, slowly rubbing her crystal ball when Beck and Tanner walked into the room. She’d taken the time to replace her purple tie covering her eye sockets and waved them to two chairs in front of her.

“I’m Officer Tanner and this is my partner, Officer Beck. Sorry it took us so long, ma’am. We wanted to make sure we’d searched everywhere.” It was an older man’s voice, gruff and obviously someone who’d been smoking for many years.

“You’ve given up, already?”

“Course not. Our back-up is still out there, along with half the town, but we’re starting to believe you that she’s been taken against her will. We found an uneaten lollipop at the far end of the parking lot and a red hair ribbon near it that the Martin’s say looks like one their daughter had in her hair.”

Abby held up both her hands, palm facing out toward her guests. She knew from experience they’d be wondering what she was up to and be a little unsettled seeing the blue and green eye tats but she didn’t care. She hated being in the dark and wanted a glimpse of the men she was talking too—even if it was just a quick succession of shadow-shrouded mental images that came from her enhanced psychic powers more than from the tattoos inked into her hands. The eyes were just symbolic; a way for Abby to focus her cerebral camera long enough to get a peek at the world around her. The pictures she received were nothing like the vivid images in her full-sensory visions but they were much better than being trapped within the jet black walls of her blindness.

Abby saw two similar sized policemen in front of her, although seated it was impossible to tell how tall the men were. Both were of average to muscular builds but the older man had a bit of a beer belly hanging over his belt and his short cropped hair was going gray/white at the sides. The younger man, Beck, was handsome in a rugged farm boy kind of way, with short black hair and big strong hands resting on the table in front of him. Tanner nudged his partner as if to say,
What the hell’s she doing?
Beck only shrugged, just as confused as his partner.

“Don’t worry, guys. I’m just having a little look around.” This comment made the men even more baffled but Officer Beck tried to get the conversation back on track.

“Ahh…no offense ma’am, but—”

“My real name’s Abby. Abigail Hawkins if you need it for your report. Around here they call me Aurora. I’d prefer either of those to ma’am if you don’t mind. Makes me feel old, you know?”

“Fair enough,” Beck said, a smile touching the corners of his mouth. “No offense then, Abby, but we need to know if you’re really blind or not? I mean, the posters say you are, and you’re here wearing a blindfold but everything you tell us points to you being able to see. What’s the deal?”

“Yeah,” Tanner said. “If you’re running a scam on the public, that’s all fine and dandy, but we need—”

“I’ve been blind for six years. My eyes had to be removed after the doctors found cancerous growths on them and my optic nerves. The pressure of the growths were pressing on my brain and giving me massive headaches and wild hallucinations. I had a high fever that nearly killed me and I don’t really remember much about that week but when I finally woke up, my headaches were gone but so were my eyes. It sucks, sure, but I get by without them.”

“Why you wasting our time then?” Tanner asked. “You told us you
saw
that little girl being taken away.”

“I did. I was sitting right here with some customers and all of a sudden I had a vision of the little girl being led out the main entrance by a tall man with a knife on his belt. He was walking her toward the parking lot and I just knew—”

“A vision?” Tanner interrupted. “The hell you talking about? In your head? In your crystal fucking ball? Who do you think you are, the Amazin’ Kreskin?”

Abby could feel the tension building in the room, the policeman’s anger starting to simmer closer to the surface. “I don’t know who that is, but if they’re psychic than yes, that’s exactly what I’m talking about.”

“Psychic! Oh shit.” Officer Tanner stood up to leave. “Listen lady, we don’t have time for bullshit tonight. Come on, Beck…let’s go.”

“Think I’ll stay and hear her out, if that’s okay? We gotta put something in the report and so far she’s the only lead we have, right?”

Tanner replied as if Abby wasn’t even there, as if she was deaf as well as blind and couldn’t hear his insults. Either that or the older cop just didn’t give a damn whether she heard him or not.

“Wrong. She’s a nutcase, maybe, or a publicity hound but definitely not a bloody lead. You do what you want, but I’m out of here. I have some
real
police work to do. Psychic visions…my ass!”

Officer Tanner stormed out of the tent without another word and most of the tension in the room went with him. Both Abby and Officer Beck sighed with relief that he was gone, and that made Abby laugh out loud.

“Nice partner. Very open-minded, isn’t he?”

“Obviously not. Sorry about that. He’s just worried about the little girl. We all are. This kind of thing doesn’t happen here. In the big cities, sure, but not here in Westchester. Everyone’s in a sour mood.”

“I know. It doesn’t bother me. I’m more than used to people not believing in my abilities, officer.”

“Call me David. And whether it matters or not, I believe you.”

His response honestly surprised Abby, and she held up her hands to see if he was smirking at her, playing her for the fool. Beck wasn’t, sitting forward in his chair, all business. “Seriously? This isn’t a good cop, bad cop thing, is it?”

“Nope. My grandmother was psychic. No one believed her either, but I lived with her after my mother died and I saw firsthand all the things she could do. The first week I was there, my dog Cody ran away and all she had to do was touch his leash hanging by the door and she somehow knew he was hurt over by the railway tracks near Miller’s pond, the place I use to take him when I went fishing. She drove me over there and sure enough, Cody was lying in the gravel beside the tracks with a broken front leg where he’d stepped in a hole and snapped it heading for where we used to sit. I think he’d gotten lost and gone there looking for me, but without Grandma I’d have never found him in time to get him to the vet. From that day on, I never questioned my Grandmother’s talents. I didn’t understand them, like I don’t understand yours, but I believe in them. Hope that makes some sense.”

“Perfect sense,” Abby said, smiling, thrilled to have met someone that actually understood a little bit about the things she had to normally hide from the world to keep from being publicly ridiculed. She couldn’t help but notice again how handsome the young police officer was but that wasn’t a line of thought she wanted to follow, so instead she just said, “Thanks for sharing that with me. After what just happened, I needed to hear it.”

“You’re welcome. Now tell me what you saw in your vision.”

Abby told him everything she could remember, from the time the Jensen Brothers had walked into her tent to the time she’d gone running outside to flag down David and his partner, trying her best to describe things as exact as possible, not wanting to leave anything important out.

“But what about the man, Abby? I need to know who he was. Surely you got a good look at him as well?”

“Unfortunately, no. I don’t know why. I think I was concentrating so hard on Trisha I didn’t even look at him until they were basically past me. My visions tend to focus in on one main life force, meaning the girl in this case. I zone out a bit sometimes on other details, sorry.”

“That’s okay. It’s amazing you were able to see what you did. Miraculous even!”

“Thanks. The guy was tall, I remember that much. Dark hair for sure, but I don’t know if it was long or cropped short. When I glanced at him, what caught my attention was his knife. It was a big hunting knife, huge really, and he wore it strapped on his belt in one of those leather sheaths. Know what I mean? By the time I went to look closer at him, they were by me and heading into the parking lot. Probably not much help.”

“Sure it is. You kidding? It’s a huge help. I just hope we can find her soon, before it’s too late. Abductions like these rarely have a happy ending but I hope I’m wrong. Time will tell, I guess. I’d better go find my partner.”

“Teach him some manners for me, okay?”

“I’ll try,” David said. “No promises he’ll listen, though.”

An awkward, silence filled the tent, Abby expecting David to get up and leave but part of her wishing he wouldn’t. His presence made her feel safe, and to be honest, he made her feel other things too, feelings she was trying hard not to think about because there was no way a big handsome man like this was interested in a weirdo disabled girl like her. It was crazy to even entertain the thought. Wasn’t it? Maybe, but Officer Beck was still sitting across from her, seemingly reluctant to leave as well.

“Are you married?” Abby asked before she could stop the words from exiting her mouth. She was horrified she’d actually been so bold, but now that the question was out there, a dormant part of her heart was definitely interested in hearing the answer.

After a long pause, David said, “Ahh…no. Why?”

Heat ignited Abby’s face as she blushed like a schoolgirl. “Oh, no reason. Just curious I guess.”

“Oh…okay. Well, I’d better go find Tanner. He’ll shoot me for taking so long. Listen, if I have ahh…anymore questions, is it okay if I come back and see you?”

“Absolutely,” Abby said, still blushing. Feeling bold, she added, “I’d like that a lot.” She reached across the table, presumably to shake his hand goodbye but secretly so she could touch David and find out a little more about him using her powers. She fully expected to get nothing but a warm fuzzy glow from his touch to add to the little fantasy she was building, but once their hands touched she was completely unprepared for the sensations and images that rushed into her mind like a frigid winter wind. Abby gasped and pulled her hand away.

“You’re a liar.” It was a statement, not a question. “You’re married to a woman named Beth and not only that, but you’re cheating on her with a girl named Sally. Why would you lie to me?”

Abby knew she had no right to ask that question; Officer Beck certainly didn’t owe her anything, but she was shocked to learn the truth.

And more than a little bit disappointed.

“Oh my God! No Abby…it’s not like that. Well, it is, but that’s not what I mean. My…my wife and I don’t get along. We haven’t had a real marriage right from the start. And Sally…she and I aren’t seeing each other. We’re just…just—”

“Just fucking each other!” Abby said, her voice cold and full of hurt. “I know. I saw it all. You better get back to work, officer. I hope you find that poor little girl.”

Abby could tell David wanted to say something, wanted to explain himself but she was finished listening to him. He was no different than all the other men who’d come into her life. They were all liars and cheats, but none of them could fool her for long. It was better to be lonely than to have someone walk all over her. Not that this one had even expressed interest in being a part of her life, but for a few minutes it had certainly seemed that way. Abby folded her arms and waited for him to leave. Eventually he did, but not before pausing at the door for a long moment and saying, “I’m sorry, Abby.”

* * *

It was 11:00 p.m. and everyone—police, media, and the ghouls from the public who’d hung around for hours hoping to see or hear something juicy—had finally gone home. Normally there would still be activity on the grounds, with clean-up crews busy picking up garbage, vendors restocking their prizes or food booths, and the bean counters going over the receipts and adding up the day’s take. Not tonight though. Tonight, everything was quiet. The only people left on the carnival grounds were the carnies themselves; all gathered in small groups talking quietly about the strange events of the night and wondering what it might mean for business and their livelihood in the days and weeks to come.

Abby wasn’t in the mood for a group hug and at the moment didn’t give a damn what happened to the carnival’s profit line. Something important was on her mind and even though it was late and she was totally exhausted, there was something she had to do before going to bed. Someone she had to talk to before she could rest in peace.

“Mister Chollo?” Abby asked, raising her voice outside his trailer but not loud enough for it to be considered a shout. Her own home, virtually identical to this one, was only two trailers away. She waited a few seconds for a response but when none came, Abby started banging on the trailer’s outer screen door. “I know you’re in there, little man. Get out here and talk to me. It’s important.”

A single light came on inside that Abby’s sixth sense just barely picked up on and ten seconds later the door pushed open. Standing at the threshold was the self-proclaimed World’s Shortest Man. It might or might not be true, but even if it wasn’t no one ever seemed to question the tiny man’s claim. In the end it really didn’t matter—the crowds loved to stare at him and have their pictures taken with him regardless. According to Guinness, the shortest man who’d ever lived had been Gul Mohammed from New Delhi, India. At only 22.5 inches tall and only 37 pounds, he’d reigned supreme until his death in 1997. Chollo Markov was practically a giant by those standards, measuring just shy of 30 inches tall, and tipping the scales at a whopping 52 pounds. During his shows, the little Russian man was impeccably groomed with his hair slicked back and always wearing a custom made suit and tie, but at the moment, having just crawled out of bed he wore only a faded blue t-shirt hanging past his knees and his hair was a spiky mess.

“Jesus, Abby. Can’t vait ‘til morning? It’s been ‘ell of a day.”

“No, it can’t. Where were you tonight when that little girl went missing?”

“Vat? I don’ know. I vas probably doing my—”

“Proper English, Chollo. You have to practice more. Especially those W’s. And no you weren’t doing your show. I saw you there.”