The Witch's Key (25 page)

“Hey!” he cried, twisting in spastic jerking fits.
“Get me out of this!”

I turned to Lilith. She was smiling now, her eyes as
beguiling as ever. I tried not smiling back, knowing it would only
encourage her. But the justice of it all enchanted me so.

“Lilith,” I said. “I’m sorry about all this. It
wasn’t my idea you know.”

Her smile faded. “That doesn’t let you off the
hook.”

Spinelli rounded the corner just then and began
freeing Carlos from the jacket. He might have wondered what
happened, but likely guessed as much without needing to ask. As the
two fell back into the hall, I went to Lilith and offered her my
hand. “We still need to talk, you know.”

She waved me off and stood on her own. “Get me some
tea,” she hissed, brushing me aside as she headed for the door.
“And not that instant crap from the break room either.” I watched
her push past Carlos and Spinelli before turning right and heading
down the hall. It was not the direction of the interrogation room,
but it was not the way out, either. So I let her go, figuring it
best to meet her on her own terms. Besides, it was not like I had
much choice.

I waited for Spinelli to finish freeing Carlos before
the three of us caught up with Lilith again. We found her in the
cafeteria sitting by the window. I sent Spinelli to the counter for
some tea for her and coffee for us. Once we all settled in, the
real fun began.

“You know why Carlos and Dominic brought you in
today,” I said, “don’t you?”

She picked her teacup up and sipped it casually. “To
trash my civil liberties?”

“No, to ask you some questions.”

“Is that why these dogs hog-tied me?”

Carlos interrupted. “We restrained you for your
safety. You went ballistic on us.”

“You think that was ballistic? Listen, Fidel, you
don’t know ballistic. The next time you lay a finger on me,
I’ll—”

I slammed my hand down on the table. “Stop it!” The
three of them looked at me with more surprise than I intended to
elicit, but at least I made my point. “Lilith, trust me. Carlos
knows very well what you are capable of doing once you get angry.
Now, maybe bringing you in without consulting me was a mistake, he
should have thought about that. But face it. You have some serious
explaining to do.”

“Excuse me?”

“No, excuse
me
, for not making this happen
sooner. There’s a few things connecting you to the recent deaths of
transients in this town, and I’ve been too blind to see them for
what they really are.”

She set her teacup down and pulled back to assess me.
“And what might they be.”

“Let’s just say they incriminate you somewhat.”

“You think I killed those men?”

I leaned in over the table. “I didn’t say that.”

She leaned in likewise. “That’s what I’m
hearing.”

“All right then, did you?”

“Bite me.”

I pulled back. “Lilith, explain to me what you were
doing in the places along the tracks where those men were
killed.”

“Who said I was?”

“We found this,” said Spinelli. He held up the
witch’s key that he and Carlos found at that morning’s
investigation.

Lilith answered to me. “That’s not mine”

“No?”

Her expression remained unchanged.

“How come I found seven others just like it in your
closet?”

That got a reaction. Her face grew suddenly
flustered. Her eyes lit up in angry clouds of black on white, but
then narrowed to dime slot specs. “You,” she growled through
gritted teeth. “You went through my stuff.”

“I had to. I wanted to prove Carlos and Dominic
wrong.”

She snapped her head in their direction and both
scooted back a foot or more in their chairs. Carlos threw his hands
up in defense, but smiled to deflect his fear. “Hey, I didn’t tell
him to do that. I respect a woman’s privacy.”

Her glare fell to Spinelli next. He coiled back,
swallowing down the lump in his throat. “Neither did I. Swear to
God!” Honestly though, it came out in such a wimpy little squeak
that I doubt if Lilith could have hit him if she wanted to.

When her frosty glare came back to me, I thought I
might need some serious back up. But by then she looked more
frustrated than furious. I told her that the two of them were right
about not putting me up to the search.

“But the evidence suggested your complicity in the
case,” I said. “They had a right to suspect you. I went through
your stuff because I wanted to prove them wrong.”

“You went through all my drawers, too. Didn’t
you?”

At once, my mind flashed back to the myriad of
unmentionables that Lilith kept in her dresser drawers: the
panties, thongs and racy lingerie with spaghetti straps and
paper-thin lace. It made me fluster just to think of it, but I held
my cool like a professional and told her what I knew I must to
maintain the integrity of the office and the department. “No!” I
said, indignant, of course. “Why? Do you have something else to
hide?”

“I wasn’t
hiding
anything. You can find a
witch’s key anywhere. Just check Ebay or Witchit dot com.”

“Is that where you got them?”

She pursed her lips some. “Am I under oath?”

Spinelli blurted out, “No. This isn’t a
deposition.”

“Then, yes, that’s where I got them.”

“Do you have a tattoo?” I asked.

“What?”

“You know, on your….” I pointed to her behind.

“Excuse me?”

“On your butt,” said Spinelli.

Clearly, he was still new at this. Carlos and I shot
him a look that could have killed. He seemed confused at first, but
eventually he got it. After that, I sent him upstairs to retrieve
the items of evidence we left in the office. Carlos questioned the
call, suggesting instead that we move to the interrogation room.
“So that we can record the interview for proper documentation,” he
reasoned.

“You think?” I said, and the involuntary laugh that
followed triggered a similar response from Lilith. Carlos looked
both hurt and offended until I explained to him that previous
attempts to capture Lilith’s voice on electronic media had
inexplicably failed. Coincidence, maybe, but I like to call it the
Lilith factor.

“So what do we do?” he asked.

“What do you think?” I mimicked writing on a pad in
the palm of my hand. “What did cops do before tape recorders?”

“Oh, right.” He pulled out the small notebook and pen
and began taking notes.

I turned to Lilith, whose thin smile still dimpled
the corners of her mouth like tiny pushpins. “You know what’s
coming,” I said.

“
No.” Her smiled withered.

“Where’s your ring?”

She looked down at her fingers and then again at me.
“What ring?”

“Don’t play coy. I’m talking about your devil
ring.”

“Oh, that.”

“Yes, that.”

“For your information, it’s not a devil. It’s
Incubus.”

“Ink who?”

“Incubus,” said Carlos. “He’s a demon who enjoys
sexual intercourse with women while they sleep.”

“You mean, like Spinelli?”

“Tony!”

“What?”

“Seriously. Lilith, tell him.”

She waved him off. “You’re doing fine, Carlos. You
tell him.”

“
I get it,” he said. “She’s being sensitive,
because in some respects, Incubus is like the male equivalent to
the female demon known as Lilith. See, in rabbinical teachings, the
notorious she-demon copulates with men while
they
sleep to
propagate demon babies of her own.”

“Oh?” I leaned in over the table on my elbows,
crowding Lilith and grinning smugly. She leaned in likewise and we
exchanged glares of mutual pose that must have confused Carlos
considerably. Had I acknowledged his contributing narrative, then
maybe he would have left it at that. Instead, he took my silence as
an invite to impress me further.

“See, in Hebrew Scripture,” he continued, “Lilith and
Adam were the first man and woman on Earth. It’s said that God
created Lilith as Adam’s twin, but that Adam did not consider her
his equal? Naturally, she resented this and so refused to lie
submissively beneath him, as later the more obedient Eve would
oblige. In time, Lilith left Adam, angered over her denied
equality. She found comfort in Satan, who demonized her for the
promise of eternal life and the propagation of demon babies.”

When he finished, Lilith and I could only look to
Carlos in modest wonder. Though I might have expected Spinelli to
know such things, Carlos’ remarks proved curiously interesting. I
let it go at that, if for no other reason than because I really did
not quite know what to say. I cleared my throat to get Lilith’s
attention, but merely blinked at her to convey my loss for words.
She perked up in her chair and finished digesting it all with a
shudder.

“Wow! What can one say about that? I’m impressed,
Carlos. You’ve done your homework.”

He smiled back shyly. “Actually, Dominic told me
that. He really boned up on the particulars of the Surgeon Stalker
case last year. My interests were more narrowed, so I asked him
just to fill me in on all the juicy stuff about you.”

“Still, impressive.”

I clapped my hands once. “Yes, Carlos, very nice.
Now, if you’re done stroking her ego, I’d like to continue.” I sat
back and crossed my arms to my chest. “I have all day, Lilith, if
that’s what it takes.”

She waved her hand in splayed fashion as if
presenting me the floor. “Please, don’t let me stop you.”

“Your Incubus ring. Do you know where it is now?”

She smirked carelessly. “I’m guessing you have
it.”

“I do. Do you want to know where we found it?”

“No.” She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. As far
as I’m concerned you stole it out of my room when you searched it
illegally.”

“I didn’t search it illegally.”

“Oh, I suppose you’re going to tell me you found it
by one of the suicide victims.”

“You know we did.”

She started into a righteous defense about search
warrants and Miranda rights, just as Spinelli returned to the
cafeteria with the bundle of evidence stuffed into a large manila
envelope.

“I brought everything,” he said. “Where do you want
it?”

“Here,” I pointed. “Spread it all out.”

Spinelli dumped the contents of the envelope onto the
table. I watched Lilith’s eyes light up immediately. She seemed to
pay particular notice to the silver locket, dismissing the witch’s
keys and surveillance photos entirely. As she stretched her hand
out to take the locket, I quickly snatched it from her reach.

“Uh-uh. That’s not yours anymore. It’s ours.”

She fell back into her seat. “Where did you get
that?”

“Where did you lose it?”

“I didn’t. It’s not mine.”

“But you recognize it.”

“You think so?”

“Yes.”

“I’ve never seen it before.”

“Then how come it’s got clippings of my hair inside
it?”

That brought her dimpled smile back. “Your hair?”

“Are you surprised?”

“No.” she shook her head. “I’m not, actually.”

“Of course not. Why should you? Funny, isn’t it?”

Her brows rose slightly. “What?”

“That you asked me to find these snippets of hair the
other night. Bet you didn’t think I would.”

“Those aren’t the snippets I asked you to find.”

I admit, at that point my patience was wearing thin.
I tossed the locket back onto the table and did nothing when the
lid sprang open and all the hair clippings spilled out. Lilith
seemed unfazed by the change in my demeanor and even laughed at the
unintended consequences. I stood abruptly, crowding over the
pictures with my palms flat against the table.

“Cut the crap! I want some straight answers from you.
Now!” She reeled back, but slightly. “Lilith, I want to believe
that you had nothing to do with the rash of suicides going down
lately, but you are making it very difficult.”

She sat up in her chair and leaned in on her elbows
to narrow the distance between us. “It’s only hard, Tony,” her
voice fell into a sexy sort of hush, “because you have nothing, and
you’re trying desperately to pin your meager trail of tidbits on
me. So, what do you say we just kiss and make up?”

“What?” I backed away a half step. “You call this
meager?” I waved my hand over the spread of evidence. “You’re all
over this, Lilith. Look. These are pictures of you sneaking into
Minor’s Point dressed like a stalker. These are your witch’s keys.
This Incubus devil ring, it’s yours.”

“You can’t prove any of that.”

“What about this locket? It has my hair clippings in
it. Who else but you could have gotten that from me?”

“Oh, I don’t know, your barber maybe?”

“That’s funny, seeing you’re the one who cuts my hair
now.”

She pushed off her elbows and slapped her hand down
on the table. “Screw it!” She picked up one of the photos and tore
it in half. “You know what? You caught me sneaking onto private
property. Big deal, charge me with trespassing. The witch’s key you
found by the tracks? It could be anyone’s. Anything you seized from
my apartment, you did so illegally, so they are inadmissible. The
ring is irrelevant. You have no proof it is mine, and as far as the
locket goes, it is your hair inside it. Who’s to say that
you
didn’t drop it after killing that bum?”

“You know I didn’t.”

“Yeah? Well, seems to me that your mountain of
evidence is nothing more than a molehill of circumstantial
bullshit. I have a good mind to sue this city for false arrest and
imprisonment including the unlawful use of a restraining device
resulting in serious injury to my person.”

“You’re not injured.”

“I have circumstantial evidence to the contrary.”

“Such as?”

“My back and neck. It hurts when I do this.” She
demonstrated her alleged pain by turning her head fifteen degrees
in either direction, accompanied by exaggerated groans and
torturous expressions. “See?”