The Deal (15 page)

I had felt it bizarre enough that
I had entered into what was basically an eternity of servitude to
the dark lord himself, but now this mysterious monk who I had once
rescued from the kitchen of the overlord
Hermetia
, was
basically telling me that
he
and his fellow
brethren
were
out to kill their master and his son.

Of
course,
it got far more bizarre, because
from the gist of the previous conversation I got the very specific
inclination that they wanted me to be the one that dealt with them
both.

‘
Answer me this. Is Lisa the
mother of his child?’ In my
heart,
I really didn’t want to
know, but my mind in all of its logical glory needed to know the
fine details.

‘
No.’ His answer was blunt and I
could feel my heart lift just that little bit from the pit of my
stomach. ‘The unfortunate soul
chose
as his mate never
survives the birth.’

‘
So, who looks after the little
terror?’ I asked trying not to sound funny, but I couldn’t help but
smile at the irony of what I had just said.

‘
Lisa does.’ Again he was blunt
and
this time,
I already anticipated his answer. It was the only
other part of this grand saga that was my life that actually made
some sense after everything that I had I learned in such a short
space of time.

This was the point where all the questions
finally came to a head. It was now after witnessing the blood
splattered classroom my wife used to teach six kindergarten kids
in, that I felt I deserved an answer to the question that had
driven me this far.

‘
Why is my wife in hell
babysitting Satan’s son?’ Pertilius had known everything up to this
point so I saw no reason why he couldn’t answer my question. I knew
that he knew.

‘
I am sorry Samuel…’ He said,
slowly shaking his head from side to side. ‘…But only those
privileged enough to be able to read the contracts our lord creates
will be able to tell you that. All I can suggest is that you look
deeper into Lisa’s past to find out why she made the deal with our
lord.’

I should have felt rage,
frustration or pure hatred for this hell spawn who had been spoon
feeding information to me and teasing me
along
his own little
intricate path, but
instead,
I just felt
dejected.

Tiredness, both physical and
mental, had well and truly set back in. I stared at the group
photograph I had tossed to the other side of the
room
and decided it was the best place for it in the darkness of
the room. I did not want to stare at those innocent, smiling faces
any longer than I had to.

Pertilius was still hovering nearby and the
coldness that always followed him was now starting to get to me. He
must have sensed that I was getting pissed off with his presence as
he said:

‘
I must get back to the Monastery
now. I trust what we have discussed will go no further?’ His voice
had softened again, and
this time,
I could detect fear. He was
worried I was going to mention our little talks to the dark one
himself, but that would be possibly one of the dumbest things I
could ever do except for when I actually made the damn
deal.

‘
Don’t worry. I want him gone as
much as you do. I’m not going to be mentioning these little talks
to him
anytime
soon.’

I didn’t bother to turn in his direction. I
could feel the plume of smoke behind me as he vanished back to the
realm where he belonged.

‘
What a fucking mess.’ I said to
myself as I got to my feet and walked over to where the picture lay
on the floor. Once it was back in my hand I walked back to the bed
and lay down again.

Knowing I wasn’t going to be able
to sleep, I closed my eyes anyway and tried to let my mind process
everything that was happening in my world. There was still more
questions than answer there but certain parts
were
becoming
clearer.

I had guessed Pertilius was looking for more
than just an odd job man, just as I knew he wasn’t offering me
information out of the kindness of his heart. He had a plan and
that was to get rid of his current master and his heir and have
those both replaced by another more competent
individual.

His plan also involved me doing
most of the dirty work, which strangely enough, I felt fine about
as long as I had the right tools to do the job. These
were
things that he seemed to be happy to supply me with, but I
still wasn’t going to fully invest myself in it all until I knew
for certain that my wife was somewhere safe. Heaven
hopefully.

My thoughts drifted to her loving
smile and before I knew it I was slipping off into a deep sleep.
The first in
days
.

The following morning I woke with a smile on my
face. I had a mission in my head and that was simple; I wasn’t
going to learn as much as I possibly could about Lisa’s past and
that basically meant starting from the end and working my way back
to the beginning. By the time I got dressed and made my way outside
the snow was beginning to blanket the city yet again.

Winter was tightening its grip and
for some strange
reason,
I took comfort in that. The
fluffy white flakes had a great way of masking the impurities of
the city and making it seem that little bit friendlier than it
probably ever would be.

Lighting a cigarette I waited for
my cab to arrive. I was heading to the archives at the library
where I hoped to learn more about what happened at the kindergarten
and its teacher. There was must something recorded about the
incident. Even if it was the tiniest column in one of the block
newspapers it could still yield something that I needed to know
about my wife’s current predicament as Satan’s heir in
waiting,
babysitter.

I could feel my guts twist a little with the
anticipation and fear that came from stepping into the unknown, and
yet that felt like a comfort. It reminded me that I was still
human. I was still a living, breathing man with something worth
living for.

It took around ten minutes after I finished my
cigarette before the taxi cab arrived. The journey to the archives
had been relatively quick and the cab pulled up outside the
depressing granite building about twenty minutes later. The driver
assured me it would have been quicker if not for the poor weather
conditions.

I slipped him a hundred dollar bill and
climbed out into the fresh air with a slight smile on my face. I
was certain that I was going to find something that would help me
find answers and that was all I needed to feel right
now.

‘Hi there. How can I help
you,
sir?’ Asked the young, bookish looking woman who sat behind
the reception desk.

‘
I’d like to look at the newspaper
archives from the beginning of 2009.’ I wasn’t sure if it was even
possible for anyone to walk off the street and ask to view such
information, but the girl seemed happy to oblige me.

‘
That’s a lot of microfilm sir. I
can bring you Januarys first, or if you have a specific paper you
want to concentrate on I can bring the entire collection for that
year.’ She smiled and I could see there was a naive innocence in
her eyes that told me she hadn’t truly experienced any of the
horrors this world could throw at her.

‘
I have no idea what papers
carried the story, so I guess I’ll have to start with all of them
for each month.’ I said, trying my best to offer her my kindest
smile which I imagined was like a crocodile smiling at his dinner
before he ate it.

‘
What was the story?’ She asked
suddenly perking up, and I was almost tempted to tell her to mind
her own business, but if there was a possibility she could help me
cut to the chase then it might be
worthwhile
trying
her.

‘
Six children were murdered at a
local kindergarten.’ I said, expecting nothing.

Instead,
the young woman surprised me.
She looked thoughtful for a few seconds before looking up at me
with the saddest eyes I had ever seen.

‘
I remember that story. Their
teacher hacked them all to the death with a knife. It was truly
horrible. I had only just started working here. I think it was the
kindergarten at St Helens.’

One part of me felt horrified that this young
woman knew almost as much as I did but the other part of me felt
elated that I was justified in following my intuition and coming to
the archives in the first place.

‘
That’s the one. I’m doing some
research on the story for a book I’m writing.’ I said, trying not
to make it sound any more personal than it really was.

‘
I had to research it as part of
my phycology course at university. It was a nasty case. I learned
that the kindergarten teacher had a history of violent
mental
breakdowns
. Psychotic breaks I
think
they're
called. She had been committed to Muirmill Asylum
five times before she somehow landed the job at the
kindergarten.’

I watched as she came up for air,
both
eyebrows
raised in surprise, at this neatly packaged
fountain of information.

‘
Well,
it looks like I might need to think of another
case to research if others have already been studying it as you
obviously have done. Although I might do some investigating at the
asylum you just mentioned. Maybe to see if there is anything else
that can be found out.’ I was basically feeding her a line in the
hope that she would turn over more of the details she already
knew.

Anything that
gave me a start
into my wife’s past was
only a good thing as far as I was concerned.

‘
Ah, sadly I don’t think you will
find much there sir. There was a really bad fire around five years
ago which killed most of the patients and the staff. Plus it didn’t
leave much of the building.’

I could see the sadness in her
eyes as she reported the news to me, and I too should have felt
down that there would be no one to talk to there. But as I said
my
goodbyes
and made my way back out into the newly born
blizzard, I suddenly felt like I had something to aim
for.

The
young
and obviously very
diligent receptionist at the
archives
had tried her best to
get to the bottom of Lisa’s past and hit a dead end. But dead
things
were
quickly becoming my speciality and I felt certain
that where she failed I would prevail.

The next chapter in my life and one of the
last in Lisa’s was waiting for me at Muirmill Asylum. I hailed a
cab and tried to mentally prepare myself for what was coming
next.

PART 4:

MUIRMILL ASYLUM

Through the
night,
the snow had given way to rain. When I woke up that morning
and looked out of my bedroom window I could see all the
streets
were
covered in grey slush, which seemed to add an
extra element to the oppressive feel the city already had for
me.

Turning my attention away from the world
outside I padded across the room to the small bathroom where I knew
I would find the small pile of clothes I had been wearing for the
last day or so. My desire to keep myself presentable had slowly
been slipping away as the deep feeling of depression ate away at
me.

That
morning,
though, the
normal black cloud I felt hanging over my head, did not feel quite
as heavy as it usually did. My visit to the city archives had given
me a new lead to follow as I tried to trace how my wife, a
kindergarten teacher, had ended up in league with the
devil.

Slipping on my crumpled jeans, which still had
a couple of blood splatters on them, I gave myself a quick going
over in the mirror. I had never been one for vanity, but under the
bright light in the small bathroom, I could see more lines under my
eyes. The ancient symbols sprawled across my forehead, a permanent
reminder of the favour I had done for the monk Pertilius, scarred
an otherwise unremarkable face.

I knew I was not the most handsome
man on the
planet
, but I wasn’t the ugliest
either. My average looks had been a great asset during my career as
a hitman. They made it easy for me to blend into crowds and I was
equally easy to forget when the cops started asking
questions.

As I pulled on the grey t-shirt I
had left on the floor, my mind began to process what I needed to
get done. Satan, my new
boss,
and master, had not called on me
to carry out another one of his odd jobs,
so, for now,
I had the
day free to try and find out about Lisa’s past.