Demon Hunters (33 page)

As I wasn’t making any progress with the
people versus Heaven case, I switched gears and set my sights on
Gwen’s background check. I hauled out the papers Bertram had given
me. I searched through them and didn’t find anything too
surprising. Some copies of her divorce papers and some old credit
card applications. I could already tell I was going to gloss over
this because it was already amounting to a real boring job.

My search on Gwen’s background had already
eaten three hours of my time. Ivar had come in and quickly went to
meditating quietly in the corner. I was tempted to join him. The
search was just as boring as I thought it would be. I read the
police report on the hijacking and it couldn’t have been smaller
potatoes. I was surprised anyone had even pressed charges. Outside
of that, it was all predictable crap. Most of which I had already
heard from the source. I quickly compiled most of the information I
had found, leaving out the one legal infraction, and put it all
together for Bertram.

I put everything together in a nice,
handsome folder and placed it neatly on my desk. I looked at the
folder with the papers in some kind of odd fascination. That had
been the first time I had completed a job without blowing some
slimy creature up or having gotten the tar beat out of me. It was a
rather satisfying feeling.

“Done!” I announced.

“Congratulations.”

“Thank you. Listen, could you call Mr.
Bertram and let him know his background check is done?”

“Certainly. Why are you unable to do
this?”

“Because I am going insane! I’ve been stuck
in these walls all day! I need air!”

“Understood.”

I jumped up from my seat and dashed out the
door.

As I walked out to the street, I realized I
hadn’t been behind my desk for so long in a while. Suddenly I
stopped as a familiar face appeared before me.

“Mr. Corba. So nice to see you again.” Aldo
Rex was wearing another finely tailored suit and was shiny from tip
to tip. It was kind of annoying.

“Hi there, Aldo. What brings you by?”

“I heard that Mr. Lesidous paid you another
visit today.”

“That’s correct.”

“I must apologize once again. For some
reason, among the plaintiffs, he was chosen as representative. I
urged them not to interfere with the investigation, but they’ve
been difficult to convince.”

“Unable to convince a bunch of people to
think a certain way? Not a good trait for a lawyer.” I sidestepped
Aldo and continued down the street.

“No, I don’t suppose it is.” He said as he
caught up with me with no effort.

“He’s scared. I get that. I mean, what
happens to a soul if there’s no place for it to go?”

“That’s why I’m here. I can win this case
easily, but without actually finding Heaven, it won’t count for
very much. I was hoping there was some progress.”

“Two demons of interest. Pyre and Vyra.”
Aldo seemed unnerved by the sound of their names.

“Ah, I see. That is quite serious. What are
you doing about this?”

“I don’t know yet. I have to find them
first, and as far as I’ve heard, they’ve been lying low.”

“Not low enough. I guess it would be safe
now to assume Pyre and Vyra are responsible for Heaven’s
abduction.”

“It’s the best I got.”

“I’ll do what I can to track them down.
Someone has to know something.” Aldo said and walked ahead of me.
There was a sudden flash of light and he was gone. I looked around
and no one else on the street seemed to notice anything out of the
usual. I shrugged my shoulders and continued on my way.

When I returned to the office that
afternoon, things were as quiet as ever. I went to my desk and
noticed the folder that I had left was gone.

“Mr. Bertram came by and took your report.”
Ivar said.

“Good. One less thing to worry about. He
didn’t happen to leave a check, did he?” Ivar waved a small slip of
paper in his hand. I leapt up and snatched it from him. “Come to
papa!”

“It’s not for very much.”

“I know, but it’s better than nothing. Any
word on Pyre and Vyra?”

“Nothing. Everyone seems more worried about
Heaven’s absence.”

“No wonder. Well, if that’s all, I’m going
to knock off early today.” Ivar nodded and I crammed the check into
my pocket and headed out.

I arrived home feeling a bit defeated. I
hadn’t had such a boring day in a long time. I got up out of my car
and trudged up to my door. I opened it up, and suddenly I felt two
hands grab my arm and pull me in. Before I could tell what was
happening, I was flat on my back on the sofa. I looked up and
suddenly Gwen’s face came into view as she straddled me.

“Hi, there.” She said with a grin.

“Hi. What is going on?” I noticed she was
wearing a rather revealing piece of lingerie under a light silk
robe. Her hair was a little more done than usual and her makeup was
very alluring. The faint scent of lush meadows and sea air was
drifting from her soft skin.

“Mr. Bertram called me this afternoon,” I
felt a lump form in my stomach. This was either a reward for doing
well, or a set up for messing up. I held my breath in anticipation.
“I got the job!” She said excitedly and then kissed me.

“You did? Congratulations!”

“Thank you, Jake! Thank you so much! I was
sure if he knew I had been in jail he’d never have hired me.”

“This seems to be a big deal.” I tried to
get up but Gwen’s hold was difficult to break. After some
resistance, Gwen finally relented and allowed me to sit up. She
then sat down on the couch across from me with her legs folded
over.

“It is! William Bertram is a god in the real
estate market. The man has never lost so much as a dime in over
forty years. It’s almost like he makes an investment good or
something. Nearly every person who’s worked for him have gone on to
become real estate moguls in their own right.”

“You want to be a mogul?”

“Well, it would be nice to have the option.
I just want to succeed and working for William Bertram is a
surefire way to do it.”

“So I did good and this is a reward
thing?”

“It is. I have steaks cooking right now and
I rented your favorite comedy to watch after.”

“The Omen? Cool.”

“And after that, I was thinking we could do
something else.”

“What exactly were you thinking?”

“Let’s just say there’s a bag sitting on
your bed with things I purchased for tonight. Everything in that
bag will be used.” She said and then blew in my ear. My curiosity
was too great and I bolted up and dashed for my bed. I saw the bag
and rifled through it quickly. I went back out to Gwen who was in
the kitchen putting the steaks she was cooking onto a large serving
plate. She caught me looking at her quickly.

“Yes?” She asked.

“Thank you!”

Heavenly Meadows

The week went on with little progress. Gwen
was busy with her new career and I was still struggling to find two
stupid demons that were apparently so bad they shouldn’t have been
able to be so well hidden. Ivar was plumbing his sources but kept
coming up with nothing. I consulted with Aldo on a daily basis but
he was having as much luck as we were. I was about to give up all
hope until Gwen came racing into the office late Friday afternoon.
She looked overly excited, but not like I was used to seeing.

“Hey, babe. What’s up?” She marched up to my
desk and threw down a flyer of some kind. I looked down and saw it
was an ad for some high tone gated community outside of town.

“This!”

“What about this?”

“Look at it!” I picked up the flyer and
studied it. It was for some planned community called Heavenly
Meadows. There wasn’t too much to read about it though. Some floor
plan specs and measurements. Some pictures of completed homes,
which looked very nice.

“What am I seeing?”

“Check the prices. At the bottom.”

I looked at the bottom of the page and just
above the phone number for William Bertram, who was also the only
selling agent; I saw that each home was going for a modest six
million dollars.

“Pretty pricey.”

“Too pricey. I ran real estate comps in all
the nearby communities and those houses in Heavenly Meadows are
going for almost a hundred times what the average home price is in
that same area.”

“It’s not uncommon. The real estate market
is vicious these days.”

“But it also says there are millions of lots
to choose from. I’ve seen this place and it’s no bigger than one
city block. There’s no way they can cram millions of homes in
there.”

“And why is this any of my business?” Gwen
sat down and I could see her determination was sincere.

“What was that you told me about Heaven a
few days ago? You said it could be big or small or something. That
it’s boundless on the inside.”

“Yeah. That’s what Aldo told me. And you
think the only way this development could promise millions of homes
would be,”

“If it were Heaven! Right!” She said,
completing my thought. A smile came over her face as if she had
cracked the case wide open. I looked back down at the flyer. “This
could be the best real estate scam ever! They can’t oversell or
over develop it.”

“And they can charge through the nose
because who wouldn’t pay top dollar to live in Heaven? It would
explain a lot, but I have to check this out first. Can you get me
in there?”

“That’s the only problem. Mr. Bertram won’t
let anyone else handle these properties and he’d never show to
you.”

“Why not?”

“You really think he’ll believe you can
afford a six million dollar house? He’s seen your office. He
usually only shows to people he knows can afford it. Usually
couples.”

“Then how about you and I take a look
around?”

“He knows me. He knows how much I make. We
need to get you in there and make him believe you’re worth a
lot.”

“I’m open to suggestions.” Suddenly Ivar
walked in and took his seat. He looked over at Gwen briefly and
nodded.

“Gwen.” He said cordially.

“Hi, Ivar.” She said and then looked over at
me. I could hear the wheels turning in her head.

“What?”

“I’ve never really noticed what a cute
couple you and Ivar make.”

The next day, Gwen drove me and Ivar out to
Heavenly Meadows in her car. We were in the back while Gwen was
alone up front.

“Why do we have to ride like this?”

“Because you’re a loving gay couple, that’s
why! You can’t stand spending a moment apart.”

“Why do we have to be gay?”

“Is there another reason two grown men want
to buy a house together?”

“Business partners.”

“Who want to live together?”

“Fine. Let’s just get this over with.”

“Remember to put on a show for Mr. Bertram.
I told him you were a deeply committed couple anxious to start your
lives here in Heavenly Meadows.”

“I’ll do my best.” Ivar said as he squeezed
my hand. I looked at him.

“When we get there, man. When we get there,”
I said as I pulled my hand away. “I had a thought, dear. Bertram
has met Ivar. He knows he’s my partner. Won’t he think we’re both
low income?”

“I told him Ivar was heir to some big
fortune. I think I told him his father invented Starbucks or
something.”

We were driving up north up into Ventura
County. We got off the freeway at a rather rural area. There were
large, grass covered hills on either side of the highway with small
wire fences outlining the borders of each parcel. We drove deep
into a hilly meadow area until I could no longer even hear the
noise of the highway. We came upon a small nest of a community. A
couple strip malls and a sizable section of homes shunted to the
back. We drove by all of that and found a pristine street that led
to a dead end, but as we got closer, I was able to see a large and
ornate gate ahead of us. The car slid to a stop and Gwen got out.
Ivar and I followed.

“Why are we stopping here?”

“This is as far as I’m allowed to go. Mr.
Bertram will take you the rest of the way. Here he comes” I looked
ahead and saw a large shiny car cruising down the street toward us.
It stopped suddenly and Bertram got out. Ivar quickly took my hand
and I stepped closer to him.

“Good morning, Mr. Corba,” As he approached,
I released Ivar’s hand and took Bertram’s in a friendly shake.
“When Ms. Thorne told me about your situation, I must say, I was
surprised.”

“My situation? Oh! Yes. A lot of people are
usually rather shocked, but you know, we’re everywhere.” Ivar took
my hand again and pulled me closer to him yet.

“We’re very excited about this, Mr. Bertram.
I can’t tell you how long I’ve been trying to get this one to just
settle down.” Ivar said with surprising character and energy.

“Well, I’m just glad you chose Heavenly
Meadows. I think you’ll be very happy with what you find inside,”
He looked over to Gwen, holding his friendly expression. “That will
be all, Ms. Thorne. I will call you when we’re done.”

“Yes, sir.” Gwen got back into her car and
drove off. I watched as her car disappeared down the road.

“Now, if we may begin?”

“Yes! Let’s get started!” Ivar said.

“This way then.” Bertram said as he led us
back to his car. Ivar held my hand in his tightly as we followed
behind.

“Your hands are very soft.” Ivar whispered
to me.

“Not helpful.”

As we approached Bertram’s car, he held the
front passenger side door open, but I declined as Ivar pulled open
the back seat door.

“I’m sorry, but we’d prefer to sit
together.” I said. Bertram merely smiled and gently closed his
door.

“Not at all. I understand.” He hurried to
the other side and got in.

We got into the car and Bertram turned us
around and headed back the way he had arrived. The gates ahead were
even more intricate than I had thought at first. The closer we got,
I could see they were shining brilliantly with complex designs
sculpted between the bars. They shined with a hue of gold and
silver and despite everything I knew, I could have sworn I heard a
silvery echo resonate from my ears as we approached. I looked over
to Ivar who seemed transfixed to the gate as we passed. I had never
seen such a dazed expression on his face before.