Eye of the Witch (24 page)

“
Yeah, that’s right. Hey, how did you—”

“
Forget it. Look, why don’t we move the car over there, out of sight, and watch the house for a while?”

“
Watch for what?”

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Piakowski. I think he’s still here.”

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Because of the cigarettes?”

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You noticed, too?”

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That Rivera is obviously not a smoker? Yes.”

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They’re Piakowski’s brand.”

“
They’re also Benjamin’s brand…or is it Leo’s?”

“
Doesn’t matter. Come on.”

We moved the car around the bend in the driveway, which put it just out of sight from the house. Then we got out and took up positions on the garden side of the house, outside the library’s three large windows. From there, we could see Rivera on the phone, having what looked like a heated discussion involving lots of hand gestures and arm waving. On occasions, both Carlos and I heard Greg’s name used, which we took to mean Piakowski, though whether talking to him or about him, we couldn’t say definitively.

I tapped Carlos on the shoulder and said in a whisper, “What do you make of it?”

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My gut says he’s talking to Piakowski.”

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Yeah, mine, too.”

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So, he lied to us.”

“
Not necessarily,” I said, and then ducked when I thought I saw Rivera look toward the window. “We asked him if he knew where Piakowski went, not if he knew how to get a hold of him.”

Carlos shook his head. “Dirty stinking lawyers.”

“
Uh-ah, Carlos. Not all lawyers are bad.”

“
Yeah, you’re right,” he said. “Some are dead.”

I ignored the comment, though I wanted to remind him that some of our best friends were lawyers. “Carlos, what do you think about the story Rivera told us?”

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About Benjamin and his twin brother?”

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Yes.”

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Freaky, ain’t it?”

“
I heard you say, OBE when you dropped your pen and notepad. Do you think that’s what happened?”

He smiled slyly, as though I had asked him a trick question. “Think what happened?”

“
You know. Do you think—”

We both jumped half out of our boots then when my phone rang. I yanked it from my pocket on the second ring and answered it, thankful and amazed that Rivera had not heard it. Carlos blinked at me with owl’s eyes, too surprised to hit me for the oversight that would have undoubtedly cost him a shot to the arm if it happened to him.

“
Yes!” I said, in a whisper. “What is it?”

“
Detective Marcella? Is that you? It’s Dominic.”

“
I know that, Spinelli. What do you have?”

“
Lots. It’s almost too much to sift through in one night. But I wanted to call you with what I found so far.”

“
Okay. Shoot.”

“
First off, there are lots of pictures. Most of them are of Rivera and Piakowski, but some here are of Benjamin and Courtney, too.”

“
You mean, together?”

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Yes, together, and close.”

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Romantically close?”

“
Yeah, if you call hugging and kissing with hands on each other’s rear ends close.”

I pulled the phone away from my ear and whispered the details to Carlos. His jaw dropped like a trap door and stayed that way until I gave him his next update.

“
Nice work, Spinelli. What else you got?”

“
More pictures,” he said, “and you’ll never guess of who.”

I took a stab at it. “Lilith?”

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No. Leona Diaz.”

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Leona? Why her?”

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I don’t know.”

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Is Benjamin in the photos with her?”

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Some, all innocuous, though, and the rest are of her alone.”

“
Interesting,” I said, and with that Carlos perked up, demanding to know what I heard. I pulled the phone from my ear and covered the mouthpiece again. “Spinelli’s got pictures of Leona and Benjamin making out in the coffee shop,” I told him. It was all I could do not to laugh. He settled back with those owl’s eyes and gated mouth. I put the phone back to my ear and heard Spinelli rambling on about documents and research papers and whatnot. “Whoa, Spinelli. I’m sorry. I didn’t catch that. Carlos distracted me. Start over.”

“
The bulk of the documents,” he said, “are mostly research papers about out-of-body experiences and episodes of spontaneous bilocation. They suggest that autistic savants possess the ability to control the metaphysical disposition of the soul at will.”

I shook my head at that, leaving Carlos to believe I heard more of the juicy dirt on Leona. “Spinelli, in English. What does all that mean in English?”

“
It means that Karen Webber must have given real credence to the possibility that Bridget Dean and Ana Davalos met their deaths through supernatural manifestations.”

“
You saying she believed that a non-psychical entity directly influenced the actions of those women, forcing them to commit suicide?”

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That’s what I’m saying.”

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It certainly supports the idea we’ve been kicking around about OBE.”

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Except that Karen’s surveillance pictures suggest she didn’t just narrow her list of OBE candidates down to Benjamin. Because of Leona’s ability to bilocate, it earned her a spot on that list, too.”

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I know, but I don’t for a minute believe Leona had anything to do with it.”

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Regardless, it’s a theory Karen considered strong enough to follow to the end.”

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Yes, but I wouldn’t rule out the more obvious explanations altogether. Karen had no other way of looking at it. She didn’t know about the attic access to Ana’s room, or the possible video tampering of the Dean tapes. She may have been looking at this case through only a peephole.”

“
It does make you think.”

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Sure does. So, what else you got?”

“
That’s it for now, except that Karen did a ton of research on nearly everyone in the HP&P circle. I’ve already pored over documents that suggest the principals, Hartman, Pierce and Petruzelli had no involvement in this mess whatsoever—if that helps.”

“
It doesn’t hurt,” I said. “We already have so many players in this game, I need a scorecard to keep track.”

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I’ll let you know if I find anything else.”

“
Wait, Spinelli, let me ask you something. You’re an expert in the supernatural, right?”

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I wouldn’t say expert…aficionado maybe.”

“
Close enough. Look, have you ever heard of one person co-possessing the body of another?”

He paused so long I thought I lost the phone connection. “Spinelli? You there?”

“
Yes, I’m here.”

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What do you think?”

“
Excuse me, Detective, but I thought that’s the theory we were working on. Maybe I don’t understand your question.”

“
It’s not that far of a stretch. I mean, we’re working on a theory that someone momentarily influenced Karen and the others through a non-psychical state of being. But I’m talking about permanent cohabitation: two souls actively occupying and directing the actions of a single individual alternately.”

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I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

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Is it possible?”

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I suppose, if one believes in bilocation then, as you say, it’s not such a stretch from there to a permanent metaphysical co-possession.”

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That’s what I think.”

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Is this about Benjamin Rivera?”

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Yes.”

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I thought he was suffering from Multiple Personality Disorder.”

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He may be, but I’m looking at it from another angle. Did you know that Benjamin had a twin brother who died when they were only nine?”

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No.”

“
Neither did we until a few minutes ago. But Ricardo Rivera told us that Benjamin’s twin brother, Leo, died in a fall from a water tower. An eyewitness told police he saw something strange take place between Benjamin and Leo moments before the accident. What he described, in my mind, sounds like Leo’s spirit moving into his brother’s body. Only now that I’ve talked to you, I suspect the opposite is true. I think that Benjamin fell from the tower, but before going over, he hijacked Leo’s body through spontaneous bilocation.”

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So, Benjamin is really Leo?”

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No. Benjamin is Benjamin. He just shares Leo’s body.”

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And what we saw today in the interrogation room, was that Leo trying to regain dominance over his own body?”

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That’s what I’m thinking.”

I heard him sigh. “That poor bastard.”

“
Hold your pity,” I told him. “From what I hear, if it’s Benjamin who’s killing these women, then it’s Leo telling him to do it.”

“
Wow. That’s heavy. Okay, I suppose I should get back on this computer and see what else I can find out for you.”

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Please,” I said. “This case could use a break about now. Call me if you learn anything.”

I hung up and pocketed the phone. Carlos already had me by the coat sleeve, eager for more details. I hated to burst his bubble, but for Leona’s good name, I had to tell him the truth. “Carlos, before you start, let me tell you that Spinelli doesn’t have pictures of Leona and Benjamin making out at the coffee shop.”

He let go of my arm and backed away a half step. I could see by the expression on his face that he wanted me to believe I insulted him, but I know Carlos, and no matter how hard he tries, he can’t hide his disappointment from me.

“
That’s not what I was going to ask you,” he said.

“
But Spinelli did say the photos of Benjamin and Courtney making out were hot.”

“
Really?” His expression lightened considerably. “How hot?”

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Scorching.”

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Did he print them out?”

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Carlos!”

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For evidence, Tony, evidence.”

“
Sure.”

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So, what did he say when you asked him about that two guys in a body thing?”

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He calls it permanent metaphysical co-possession, and he believes it’s possible.”

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Me, too. I think that’s what happened. The good twin took over the bad twin’s body, but now the bad twin is making the good twin do bad things. Right?”

“
You’re asking me?”

“
Well, you always have all the answers. That’s why I called you up here.”

I reeled back in dismay. He did expect me to have all the answers. Only now it seemed like all I had was questions. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the obsidian charm. “Here.” I handed it to Carlos. “Tell me what you think.”

He took it and held it to the dim light spilling out from of the library window. “What is it?”

“
It’s the eye of the witch. Lilith gave it to me. She promised it would provide me with the insight and discretion of a witch much wiser than my years.”

“
Does it work?”

“
I’m not sure. I think I’m getting mixed results. It helped me come up with a password for Spinelli to use on that flash drive, but as for the big question, I don’t know. One minute I feel certain that Rivera and Piakowski are responsible for the deaths of those women, and the next, I’m inclined to believe that Benjamin is the culprit.”

“
Don’t you mean, Benjamin and Leo?”

“
I suppose.”

“
Or Benjalo?”

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Funny.”

“
Benlo.”

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Whatever.”

“
Ben-a-le-o-le-o.”

“
Carlos!”

“
Sorry.”

“
Tell me what you think when you hold the charm and concentrate.”

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On what?”

“
I don’t know, on anything. Open your mind.”

He closed his eyes and clinched the obsidian tightly in his fist. At first nothing much happened, but then he rocked his head back and began to sway from side-to-side. His nostrils flared and a slight hissing sound parted his lips. Nothing like that happened to me in the short time I possessed the charm, but then I hadn’t employed it in the same way Carlos did. I believed that whatever was happening to him could easily get out of hand, given where we were standing at the time. So, I resolved to slap him out of it if he went any further than simple swaying and hissing. About the time I really began to worry, however, Carlos snapped to and opened his eyes fully.

“
What?” I said, holding his arm steady. “What did you see?”

He looked at me uncertain, and for a moment I suspected he didn’t even know who I was. Then a breath of confidence washed over him and he smiled broadly. “Lilith,” he said.

I shook him. “What about Lilith?”

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That’s what I saw.”

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You saw Lilith?”

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Yup.”

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What was she doing?”

His expression fell into one of deep concentration. “You know, I don’t know.”

“
What do you mean, you don’t know? Think! What was she doing?”