Eye of the Witch (28 page)

I smiled back, humbled. “Thank you, Leona. And I believe that you’re a remarkable young woman.”

She blushed and turned away. Burke emerged from the bedroom, shaking his head and giving the all’s clear thumbs up sign. I gave him a wink, and nodded for him to join Carlos by the front door. I turned to Leona again. Her cheeks had regained some of their mocha color, but her eyes still cut away shyly. I waited for her to look back at me before continuing. When she did, only her eyes moved my way and my heart damn near melted. I touched the bottom of her chin with just my fingertips and gently steered her face toward mine. “Are you okay?”

She smiled thinly and giggled, “Si.”

“
Good. As I was saying, we have come to a crossroad of possibilities regarding the deaths of Karen and the others. At this moment, we’re following the most promising lead, which brings me to your birthday. I hear you celebrated one yesterday?”

“
It is true,” she nodded, “though I did not celebrate so much. I stayed in mi apartamento and dreamed of home.”

“
Back in Honduras?”

“
Si.”

“
You miss it, don’t you?”

Her eyes trailed off to the corner of the room where they found a place to anchor. From there, I imagined she could see her homeland in vivid color, the spectacle of blue sky and green mountains flowing from the capital of Tegucigalpa to the beaches of Puerto Cortes y La Ceiba. “I miss my old home,” she said, coming back to me on a whisper. “But I love my new home more. I can go to Honduras in my dreams any time. That is enough for me.”

“
Someday,” I said, “if you like, I’ll go back with you for real, maybe spend a week there. You can show me the sights.”

“
Ooh, si, I would very much like that.”

“
Then you got it.” I tapped her on the knee. “Before I forget. Until I can take this back from you.” I reached into my pocket and pulled out the charm that Lilith gave me at the coffee shop. “I want you to wear this for a while.”

She took it from me and held it up by the chain, allowing the ring to dangle freely. “This is my ring,” she said, looking puzzled. “I wanted you to have it.”

“
Yes, and I do want it. I’ll keep it and cherish it always. For now though, I want you to have it back. That chain it’s on, Lilith made it. It’s a sort of witch’s ladder. She made it to protect you.”

“
I do not understand.”

“
I know you don’t, but you see, Carlos and I fear you may be in danger. We don’t know if it has to do with your associations with Karen and Bridget, or whether your previous involvement in Doctor Lowell’s workshop has anything to do with it. But that you had a birthday yesterday may contribute to the problem. This charm is intended to protect you. Here, let me help you with it.”

I took the charm and slipped it over her head. She seemed frightened of it at first, and I doubt she would have let me help her put it on if not for her absolute trust in me. She reached up, pressing her palm to the base of her neck, and she ran her fingers along the length of the braided chain down to the ring. Then she clasped the ring in her hand and squeezed it tightly, as if embracing its powers. “This will protect me?”

“
That’s what Lilith tells me, and I believe her. The way it works is simple. If you feel like someone or something is trying to make you act against your will, then you must pull the ring from the chain.”

“
Like this?” She slipped her finger into the ring and motioned a tug, as to pull the ring free.

“
Yes,” I said, touching her hand to assure she would not yet do it. “When you’re sure, just snap it off.”

“
Then what do I do?”

I looked up at Carlos, who shrugged. “Then don’t do whatever it is that someone is trying to make you do.” It sounded simple enough. I only hoped it was. “After that, I want you to call me right away. Understand?”

“
Si, I understand. You do not want me to kill myself. Do not worry. I will do my best.”

“
I know you will. So, I won’t worry. Now, if you will forgive us for this intrusion, we’ll get on our way.”

I stood and offered Leona my hand to help her out of her seat. She accepted, and when our hands joined, I felt warmth in her touch beyond mere tepidness. I realized at once that the ring had radiated its energy through her. I couldn’t know if that meant it was working to protect her, or if something more ominous had begun to manifest paranormally. A flash of paranoia ran through my mind when the thought hit me. Had Lilith played me? For a moment, I imagined that she tricked me into giving Leona the charm so that she might control her actions through witchcraft. I looked to Carlos, remembering when he held the obsidian stone for himself and said that the only thing he saw was Lilith. ‘Doing what?’ I asked him. He didn’t know. I asked Leona, “Are you feeling okay?”

“
I am fine,” she answered. “Why do you ask?”

“
You’re not dizzy or disoriented?”

“
No. I am hungry a little bit.”

“
Hungry? Oh, right.” I felt suddenly flush with guilt. “Hey, about that. Listen, I’m sorry for spoiling your dinner date with Benjamin earlier. We didn’t—”

“
No. Detective, do not apologize. For to tell the truth, he made my feelings uncomfortable.”

“
What? Did he touch you inappropriately?”

She shook her head emphatically. “He did not. But he said something bad to make me think I did not know him as I believed I did.”

“
What did he say?”

She turned away in a blush. “A woman does not repeat such things, Detective. I will say only that you did me a favor when you came to the restaurant as you did.”

“
Okay, fair enough.” I had no need of knowing what Benjamin or Leo might have said to her. That he said anything offensive at all seemed enough to peel away the facade that masked his true intentions. I thought that if Benjamin co-possessed his victims for the purpose of killing them, then at least he wouldn’t gain Leona’s confidence by first appearing before her as a benign apparition. After everything that happened, I hoped she would act quickly and pull the ring the moment he or anyone else materialized in a specter state. I let go of Leona’s hand and said, “Aside from a little hunger, are you sure you’re well?”

She tugged at my sleeve to turn me around. “Si, Detective, I am very well.” I felt her petite fingers drilling into the small of my back as she pushed me toward the door. “Now go and let me fix supper so I can go to bed and sleep and wake up and go to my job with the op-tom-e-trist.”

A mouthful, yes, but she said it laughing, and even pronounced optometrist like a pro—but she’d been practicing. I opened the door and waited for Carlos and Burke to step out before turning to Leona again. “You remember what I said, now? The moment you feel something, pull the ring from that chain and give me a call. You have my number?”

“
Si, I have your number still in mi speedy dial. It is the same, yes?”

“
Yes. It’s the same number. I haven’t changed it.”

“
Then you see, I will call if trouble becomes to me. So, do not worry. Adios?”

I leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. “Adios, senorita. Stay well.”

“
Y tu, senor. Bye-bye.”

We left her apartment and gathered in the parking lot out front. I asked Burke if he could go back to Rivera’s and watch for either Benjamin or Piakowski to show up.

“
Sure. You want me to approach either if I see him?”

“
Piakowski, yes. I think we have probable cause to question him downtown again. However, Benjamin is another story. After the exhibition down at the coffee shop, I’m expecting his brother will likely file a wrongful arrest suite against the department. So, no, if you see Benjamin, just watch him awhile.”

“
You got it.” He hopped into his patrol car and headed out.

Carlos asked, “So, what do we do now?”

“
I hate to say this,” I told him, “but I think maybe we should go back to Lilith’s.”

“
Why there?”

“
It’s a gut feeling I got while up in Leona’s apartment. I’m probably wrong, and I hope I am, but the charm that Lilith gave me to give to her, I’m questioning its purpose now.”

“
You don’t think it’s to protect Leona?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know what to think anymore. That’s been my problem all along. My gut feelings are polarized. I used to go with my hunch and rely on instincts, but now I can’t decide which is which.”

“
What did your gut tell you up in the apartment?”

“
Up there, it told me that Leona’s new charm is an instrument of conduction that might possibly allow Lilith to manipulate Leona’s actions through witchcraft.”

“
But there’s a problem with that.”

“
You see it, too?”

“
Sure. If Lilith needs an instrument of conduction to manifest her will through witchcraft, then how—”

“
How the hell did she manifest her will on Karen and the others?”

“
Right. They didn’t all have a spirited charm around their necks.”

“
No, but what is a charm? She could have cast a spell on anything and then made sure her victims received it, anonymously or otherwise.”

On that point, Carlos agreed, but by then I had all but talked myself out of blaming Lilith again. I was about to suggest we head back to the box, when I noticed something strange about Leona’s apartment. Carlos saw me looking and trained his eyes that way.

“
What’s wrong?”

I pointed. “That’s Leona’s kitchen window, isn’t it?”

“
Yeah.”

“
The light’s off.”

He hemmed a little. “So?”

“
Didn’t she say she planned on making something to eat before turning in for the night?”

“
Yes.”

“
So, why isn’t she in there cooking?”

Carlos checked his watch. “It’s getting late. Maybe she changed her mind.”

I shook my head. “No. Do you change your mind about eating when you’re hungry?”

That hit home. He shut the car door and started toward the stairs. “We better check on her,” he said. “You with me?”

“
With you?” I pushed him aside as he came around the fender. “I’m all over you, pal.”

We trampled up the steps and began beating on the door. When she didn’t answer within the first ten seconds, I gave Carlos permission to break it down.

“
Me?” he said, his eyes batting.

“
Yes. You.”

“
Why don’t you do it?”

“
You’re younger.”

“
We’ll do it together.”

“
Fine.”

On the count of three we broke it in, but not without Carlos and me tumbling to the floor like a couple of wet sacks. I got up onto my elbows and saw Leona standing over me with a twelve-inch butcher knife. My first thought was that she wanted to stab me with it, but when I looked into her eyes I saw a wild, disconnect spirit. I knew then that she planned to plunge the blade into her own belly. Carlos rolled over on his back and realized right away what was happening. He grabbed Leona’s ankles and yanked her feet out from under her, spilling her to the floor on her butt.

“
The knife!” I hollered. “Get the knife!” He reached for the blade, and as he did, she slashed at his hand and cut it open above the wrist. Carlos pulled his hand back. Leona’s knife came around a second time, missing his forearm by only inches. She dug at him again, and he rolled off to his left, just out of reach.

“
Leona!” I cried, diverting her attention for a critical moment. I lunged forward, landing on top of her and knocking her flat on her back. Her hand came up over her head, exposing the blade to the gleam of the living room lights. I grabbed her wrist and forced it against the carpet, squeezing as hard as I could to get her to drop it. She screamed, and for a second, I wanted to let her go for fear of hurting her. Carlos, perhaps reading my mind, shouted for me to hold on. He came up from behind us on his knees and successfully wrestled the knife from her hand. At that moment, I grabbed the ring from the chain at her neck and I pulled it free with a quick, clean jerk.

“
No!” I heard someone cry, but it came from neither Carlos nor Leona. At once, a mantle of grayish fog engulfed us around the floor. It hissed and swirled like a swarm of bees and then rose in a vertical column. I looked at Leona. Her eyes grew wide below arched brows. That untamed spirit I’d seen in her just moments before had gone. I rolled off her and sat up, and then Carlos helped us both to our feet.

“
What is that, Tony?” he asked, pointing at the cloud, which had since taken on a nearly human form. It swirled and meandered lazily around the room, confused, if that was possible, and bumping into things, though not affecting their physical dispositions at all. “Is that Benjamin?”

“
No,” said Leona, and she seemed sure about it. “Benjamin has not so much hate in him.”

“
Then who?”

“
It’s Crazy Eddy,” I said, as certain as Leona.

With that, the vaporous apparition condensed to an almost solidified state, manifesting in portions undisputedly recognizable as Mallory Edwards. It looked around the room and seemed to grow cognizant of its surroundings, even as it grew more defined in physiological properties. There came a moment when the form, which we had come to accept as the life force of Mallory Edwards, seemed to recognize Leona again. It swelled in size like a sinister cloud, morphing into shapes as grotesque as the mind could envision. I looked to Carlos and Leona, whose eyes scudded and pierced the shadowed specter as differently as any two people could. I believed then that we were all interrupting the experience in our own way and undoubtedly witnessing the phenomena from unique perspectives. It appeared as though its control on our psyche, though diluted, remained intact and continued to strengthen, influencing our perception and our ability to react decisively. In the back of my mind, I could see Karen Webber and the others, their cognitive process hijacked and compromised, unable to override the dominance that Mallory held over them. I imagined that they likely knew and understood what their psychical bodies were doing, killing themselves, as their mental control lay hostage to the fiendish resolve of its captor.