Unidentified (16 page)

Mitchell looked back to Diego. That was it. An answer. Time to finish this! She nodded. He wasted no time.

“By the authority of Jesus Christ, whom I serve,” he said firmly, pressing the crucifix to Stephanie’s forehead. “I command every evil spirit within Stephanie to leave! Depart now and never come back!”

Stephanie’s jaw dropped open again. She opened her mouth so far Mitchell was sure she would hear her jaw popping out of place any moment. A rasping growl came from her throat. It increased in volume steadily.

“Listen to me, you fowl things. In the name of Jesus Christ, the son of God, I command you to release Stephanie!” Diego yelled.

Stephanie’s body convulsed. The growl morphed into a deafening howl of agony. The hair of Mitchell’s arms stood at the sound. It was not one howl, it was three howls. Three voices screamed out as if simultaneously being tortured. The howl became a piercing scream that shook Mitchell’s eardrums to the point that she thought for sure she would be deaf if she ever got out of that room.

Suddenly, Stephanie’s body went completely limp. She lay on the bed and didn’t move. Unsure of what was happening now, Mitchell kept her grip tight around Stephanie’s right arm. Stephanie coughed suddenly, then looked around. When her eyes met Mitchell’s, all that Mitchell saw now was a terrified girl.

“Stephanie?” Diego said softly.

“What’s happening?” Stephanie said in a horse and shaken voice. But it was unmistakably her own voice again.

Diego let go. Taking their cue from him, Mitchell and Evans let go as well. They stood looking down at the very confused and frightened young woman.

“It’s okay,” Diego said. “Everything’s okay now.”

The lights in the room flickered and came on. Suddenly, those outside were able to open the door.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

The clouds had cleared. Mitchell could see the stars outside over the tree tops and above the white mountains. She stood at a window in the waiting area of St. Jerome. Off in a corner, Diego sat with Stephanie, Tim, and Dorothy. She glanced over at the group. They had their hands together, heads bowed. Diego seemed to be leading them in a prayer.

The nurse on-duty finished patching up Evans’s hand, having already cared for his neck. Nothing serious had been hurt, but the bite was strong and would likely leave a scar. Mitchell wondered how he’d explain that one to people. She turned back to the window and stared out. The headache was now a dull throbbing. Hopefully the painkillers she’d taken would be kicking in soon.

“Wanna' tell me what the hell happened here?” she heard Brown say behind her.

She turned and looked at him. When the door to the room had finally opened, he’d been right there with Chief Wilson. She’d known in that moment that it was over.

“I don’t know if you’d believe me,” she said turning back to the window.

“I tried to vouch for you,” Brown said, stepping up to the window and standing next to her to look out. “Look … there’s no easy way to say this …”

“Sure there is,” Mitchell said softly. “I’m fired. I’m a loose canon, a liability. I went against direct orders from the Assistant Director.”

Brown looked over, eyebrows raised. “Shit, that’s almost what he said verbatim.”

She turned to him now. “In five years, I’ve had the Assistant Director scold me enough.”

“What are you gonna' do?”

She shrugged. “The real question is, what are you going to do? I have one last thing I need you to take care of for me.”

Brown shook his head, raising his hands. “I can’t. I was sent up here to get you. Chief Wilson ratted you out, I’m afraid. He called us up and said something happened to you last night. Are you okay? ”

“I’m fine,” she said, then added, “I think.”

“What the hell happened? You were drunk?”

“Is that what Wilson said?”

“Said you and Dr. Evans had been drinking. And then …” Brown searched for what to say next.

“That I was abducted by aliens?” Mitchell offered.

Brown looked at her, not exactly amused. “Is that what you’d call it?”

“I don’t know what I’d call it,” she said, looking out the window. “But something did happen to me, Anthony. Last night. And now, tonight.”

She looked at him again and said softly, “That’s why I need you to do just one more thing for me.”

“I’ll get into some deep shit,” he shook his head.

“Listen to me,” she leaned closer to him and whispered intensely. “I know where Tommy Ferguson’s body is.”

Brown’s jaw went slack. “Are you serious?”

“Linden Pond,” Mitchell nodded. “We’re … you’re going to need a team. If you call them now, they can start searching in the morning.”

Brown looked around the room, thinking this over. Mitchell knew it would be a pretty big gamble on his part to believe her now, but they’d known each other for five years. She felt sure he would do the right thing. He looked at her, clearly bewildered.

“Trust me,” she said. “Call it in.”

And with that, she walked away. She approached Evans, who was inspecting the bandage on his right hand which the nurse had just finished applying.

“You ready to go get a stiff drink?” Mitchell asked him.

“Or twelve,” Evans replied.

“Not sure that’s such a good idea,” the male nurse chimed in.

“You’re right,” Evans nodded. “It’s more like the best goddamn idea I’ve heard in years.” He grinned up at Mitchell. “Come on. You’re buying.”

Standing, Evans headed for the door. Mitchell followed. But as she reached the door, she glanced back at Brown. He still stood by the window, looking in on the room. He watched her head for the door. She stopped there for a moment, wishing she knew what else to say to him. Some day she might be able to tell him about everything that had happened over the last three days, but not tonight. She just hoped he would, in fact, make the call. She tried to plead with him with her eyes.

Brown gave her a single nod. From his inside pocket in his suit jacket, he pulled out his cell phone. Mitchell turned and walked out of St. Jerome, hoping to never see the place again.

***

The yellow tape fluttered in the breeze. Several cars and two black vans were parked along the side of the road, including three Police cruisers from North Woodstock and two more from Lincoln. The sun was up and the day was already quite warm, though thankfully not as humid as the day before. There were people everywhere, many in jackets with FBI printed in a large yellow font on their backs. They’d been pouring over the area around Lindon Pond for nearly two hours. Search dogs barked in the distance.

Mitchell and Evans stood across the road leaning against Mitchell’s car that sat just off the shoulder. They watched the work being done. Mitchell wondered if she should be there at all, but she had to know.

“I thought I’d find you here,” Diego said as he approached them. He seemed in a much better state now. He must have gotten some good sleep, a nice shower, and probably a hearty breakfast. At least Mitchell knew that those were all things she’d needed that morning.

Mitchell and Evans looked over at him. He smiled at them and stopped next to them.

“I wanted to thank you both,” he said.

“For what?” Mitchell asked. “I’m not sure I know what happened last night.”

“It’s a lot to take in,” Diego nodded. “Trust me, I know. Oh!”

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the crucifix necklace that belonged to Evans. He held it out for Evans to take.

“I wanted to give this back to you,” he said.

Evans regarded the crucifix, then slowly put out his hand. Diego dropped it into his open palm. Evans just looked down at it as if unsure of what to make of this strange item.

“It’s not a magic trick, Dr. Evans,” Diego said. “It’s just a thing. But things can help us sometimes if a thing helps us remember a deeper truth we may have forgotten.”

Evans looked up at Diego, uncertainty in his eyes. “Thank you,” was all he managed to say as he closed his hand around the crucifix and placed it in his pocket.

Mitchell seized this opportunity to ask Diego the question that had come to her last night somewhere between her third or fourth drink. “Did you know all along?”

“Know?” Diego said, eyebrows up. “That Stephanie was possessed? Honestly, no.”

“Then how?” Mitchell pressed.

Diego took a deep breath and let it out, a slight smile on his lips. “I hoped that under hypnosis, any such evils might be … exposed. I’ve come face to face with these beings twice now. And both times … I could not shake the sense of … well, it’s like they suck all of the joy and hope right out of you where you stand. All that’s left is fear. A fear so complete, it’s like a vast ocean of darkness created for one purpose: to swallow you whole. I think you know what I mean, Agent Mitchell.”

She looked down at the ground taking in his words. Yeah, she knew what he meant, knew it all too well.

“If you ever need anything, please call me,” Diego added. “I hope you believe me now that I only wish to help.”

“Mitchell!” Brown called out from across the road. He was jogging up to the yellow tape. Ducking under it, he crossed to them.

“Now if you’ll excuse me,” Diego said to Mitchell and Evans. “I need to rest. You are both in my prayers.”

Diego turned and walked back down the road towards his pick-up truck that was pulled off a little ways down close to one of the North Woodstock Police cruisers. There were so many more questions Mitchell could have asked him. Who was this strange man, and why did he not indulge in preaching to them now that they’d experienced … but what had they experienced last night?

“We found something,” Brown said, slightly out of breath as he reached them.

“Tommy?” Mitchell asked.

“We’ll have to run dental records,” Brown said. “But … state of decomposition seems right as well as the size.”

Though Mitchell felt so much lighter on her feet today than she had last night, a invisible weight seemed to flow off of her upon hearing this. It was Tommy. She had no doubt about it. She didn’t need the dental records. They’d found Tommy. They’d found him, and Stephanie had not vanished.

“I thought you should know,” Brown said softly.

“Thanks,” she said to her friend.

“Maybe with this, you can talk to the AD and—“

Mitchell just shook her head, which was enough to cut Brown off.

“Come on, you can’t be serious?” Brown asked. “What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know yet,” Mitchell admitted. “But I think it’s time for something new.”

It surprised even her to hear the words come out of her mouth. But there was relief too in letting them slip out. What would she do now? She could see various options before her. She could end up getting some random job, though it wouldn’t be all that exciting. She’d need to find a cheaper place to live, so she’d move. Growing restless, she’d find another job. She’d likely bounce around different jobs for the next three or four years. Or maybe she could move back closer to her mother. Did she really want to live in up-state New York again? Where else could she go? She had old friends on the west coast. It didn’t matter right then. And somehow figuring out what to do next didn’t concern her at the moment. She just shrugged.

“Shit,” Brown smiled, “You’re one tough nut to crack.” He paused, looking at her sadly. “Going to miss you.”

“Oh, I’ll be around, I’m sure,” she said.

Brown nodded. Reluctantly, he turned back and walked across the road. Back under the yellow tape. Back to work.

“So you’re really moving on?” Evans asked her.

She looked over at him and said softly, “What the hell happened last night?”

“I don’t know,” he answered.

“Was that real?”

“Well, it was real to Diego and Stephanie at least.”

She felt sure he’d say this. But something felt off about this to her. Maybe Evans hadn’t felt the waves of hatred and fear that had emanated from Stephanie last night. He hadn’t experienced what she experienced when she was taken, when she was hypnotized, when she looked into Stephanie’s eyes last night. No, she told herself, those were not Stephanie’s eyes last night.

“Alan, that thing knew you,” she almost whispered. “It knew your mother gave you that crucifix. Stephanie talked to Diego in Portuguese. That’s not just some kind of psychotic episode.”

Evans looked down at the asphalt. He shrugged. He can’t bring himself to believe it. It’s too much. Hell, it’s too much for me to even admit. But what choice is there left? I was wrong. Sort of. There was someone behind all of this. But not someone I could arrest.

“So you buy it?” Evans asked. “Demons?”

“I don’t know,” she said. Hearing it aloud like that brought back other doubts. What if she was wrong about that too?

Evans shook his head. “I left that world behind a long time ago. A world of angels and demons, virgin birth, resurrection from the dead. It’s too convenient to blame all the evil of this world on unseen forces, some devil with a pitch fork going around and causing mischief and mayhem, fighting some cosmic battle. And even if such forces are real, what keeps them from destroying us at any moment?”

She looked out at the fluttering yellow tape that was stretched between trees and posts that had been temporarily driven into the ground. “Maybe there’s two kinds of evil in the world,” she said softly. “Maybe there’s what we do to each other, and there’s these things.”

Everyone seemed to be headed off to the far side of the pond. That must be where the body was found. Why had they done this? He was just a boy. Why had this happened to Tommy and almost happened to Stephanie, but not to others? She fought for clarity amid the swirling questions, trying to express to Evans what was bouncing around in her mind.

“But if that kind of evil is real,” she said. “There has to be good.”

“God?” he asked.

“Maybe Diego calls it God. Maybe it’s bigger than that one word could ever encompass.”

She looked over at Evans. She could see him processing this. But she also knew that it went against his view of the world, a view that ran deep. A view, she suspected, might not leave a whole lot of room for things so far outside of the realms of science and medicine, and she understood. She too had this view. But now there were cracks in her window. And the light coming through those cracks had an unexpected quality to it. Part of her wanted to still believe as she always had that old superstitions were simply born out of ignorance. But another part of her longed to understand more, to find out what else she might have been wrong about.

“I’m not saying I know what to think,” she admitted. “I’m just saying, something happened last night. Something real.”

“Do you think that’s what happened to you?” Evans asked. “You were possessed?”

She considered this. She had no frame of reference for how to answer that question. So she shrugged. “I don’t know for sure.”