Witch House (24 page)

“You think you can do better?”

He cast an unconcerned gaze into the darkness
beyond the first few steps. “No,” he answered. “I think you got
it.”

“Yeah, I thought so.”

“Hey,” he pointed to the sack. “Whatchaya got
there?”

I rolled it off my back so that he could read
the stenciled writing on the side. “I’m guessing it’s money.”

“Money! No way!” Dominic returned from his
sweep of the second floor. “Dom, check out what Tony found.”

“What is it?”

“A bag of money.”

“No,” I said, “I’m only guessing it’s
money.”

“Where’d you it?”

“Down in the cellar.”

“Is there any more?”

“No, just this one.”

“What’s that?” This from Lilith, who had now
joined us at the top of the steps.

“Tony found a bag of money.”

“You found money?”

“No, we don’t know that.”

Carlos pointed at the stenciling. “It’s from
the casino. What else can it be?”

“Open it. We might all be rich!”

“No, Lilith. We are not all rich.” I dropped
the sack to the floor and jerked it tight against my leg. “If there
is money in here, we are entering it into evidence, and that’s
that.”

Lilith grabbed the top strap and unbuckled it
hastily. “Fine, rain on our parade, but let’s have a look already,
shall we?”

The five of us gather around, stooped over
the bag in a tight huddle, our breaths bated in anticipation of
what we expected would be the most money any of us had ever seen in
one place at one time.

“Damn!” said Spinelli, after Lilith finished
opening the bag. “I don’t believe it.”

Carlos cried, “Look, there’s a small fortune
here!”

I laughed. “No, Carlos, there’s a large
fortune here.”

Lilith shook her head, unconvinced. “I don’t
think so,” and she began reaching into the sack.

I slapped her hand. “Yes, it is, Lilith. Now
leave it.”

“No,” she insisted. “It is not.” She reached
in again and I let her go. We watched in dismay as she plunged her
hand deep into the sack and pulled out a fistful of blank paper.
“This is what you call a decoy.”

Carlos fell to his knees and began digging
into the sack, pulling out handful after handful of worthless
bricks of bundled paper. “This doesn’t make sense. Why is there
real money on top and paper below?”

I palmed his shoulder and eased him away from
the bag. “I don’t know,” I said. “Clearly, something is amiss
here.” I said to Lilith. “Do you know whose house this was?”

She crowded her brows and thought. “I don’t
think the realtor told us.”

“Aye, `tis Allis,” said Ursula. “Of that I am
certain.”

“How can you know for sure?” I asked.

She pointed out the window. “`Tis the name on
the box out front.”

“The mailbox?” I looked at Carlos. “You think
it’s him?”

“Johnny Buck? Could be. He did live around
here.”

Lilith asked, “Who is Johnny Buck?”

“The trigger man in the armored truck robbery
that sent René Landau to prison.”

“Is that his real name?”

“No, his real name is John Allis. They called
him Johnny Buck because of his teeth.”

“His teeth?”

“Yeah,” said Carlos. “They were all bucky.”
He curled his upper lip back and began making gnawing gestures like
a rat. “Like this.”

I slapped him. “Carlos!” I must admit, the
visual was funny.

“Sorry, Tony.”

“Forget it. So you think this house is
his?”

“Of course,” said Dominic. “Who else named
Allis would have a bank sack in his cellar with
Wampanoag Indian
Casino
stenciled on the side?”

“No one else,” Carlos replied. “That’s who.
This money has to be from the robbery.”

“But there is only a few thousand dollars
here, at best. Where is the rest, and why is this sack made up to
look like a sack full of cash?”

“I told you,” said Lilith, “it’s a classic
decoy. This sack was meant to fool someone into thinking it was
full of casino money.”

“Fool who?” This from Carlos.

“Good question.” I knelt down and began
scooping up the money and the paper and stuffing it back into the
bag. “But that is something we can discuss later.”

“He’s right,” said Lilith. “We are not going
to solve this mystery tonight. Why don’t we get this séance started
and you boys can worry about your money afterwards.”

“It’s not our money,” I said. “First thing
tomorrow it goes downtown where we book it into evidence.”

“Fine, whatever. Come on into the dining
room. Ursula and I have everything ready.”

We all filed into the dining room where, as
Lilith mentioned, she and Ursula had completed their pre-séance
preparations. The candles were set just so, the chairs aligned and
incense burning, making the room smell like jasmine. According to
Lilith, jasmine makes a ghost feel welcome and invited. Personally,
I think she used it to disguise the musty odor permeating from the
wallpaper and spongy floors. If she thought we would not notice the
living mold, she was mistaken, as we had our own canary in a
coalmine in Dominic Spinelli, whose hypersensitive allergies can
detect a plethora of environmental contaminates, ranging from
atomized dust particulates to the more obnoxious molds, mildew and
decomposing organics. Fortunately, Dominic had something for it.
Throughout the evening, I spotted him tipping a prescription bottle
and popping some pills that appeared to make him feel better.
Funny, I thought, how his allergies seemed to worsen after his
recent hospital stay. It made me wonder if he did not catch
something while there. Carlos says I am always over thinking
things. I suppose in that way I am.

Lilith set the mood by lighting the candles
first. Of course, the candle colors were well represented, brown,
yellow, white and so on; each positioned according to astrological
assignments and compass points. Being a witch myself, I should know
these things, but I do not. My apathy feeds my complacency in such
matters. Sometimes, I think that Lilith would have made a better
choice in ushering Spinelli through the witch’s rite of passage
instead of me. He is so anal retentive at times, especially when
dealing in the minutia of procedural formalities. Then again,
neither she nor I knew Spinelli back then, which is all the better
for me, because I am the one who gets to sleep with her now—not
that he could handle her if he tried.

“Okay,” said Lilith. “The same rules apply as
before. Remember, a séance is serious business. Reconstituting
spirit energy can be a violent internal process for a spirit, so
don’t freak out if we experience multiple S.M.D`s. The thing to
remember is—”

“Wait,” I said. “What are S.M.D`s?”

Spinelli answered, “Spontaneous metaphysical
disturbances.”

I cracked a half smile. “What?”

“He’s correct.” Lilith looked up and waved
her hand in a broad sweep over the room. “All of this, all of what
we see, it’s only a small portion of the world around us. The
physical world encompasses all that we see and touch.” She drew our
attention to the candles burning atop the table. “Light, a
metaphysical property in itself, provides electromagnetic radiation
that allows us the visual sensation to see these things. However,
the metaphysical world is so much more than that. It is the
integration of extreme forces void of material form or substance:
forces invisible to us, yet no less real or powerful than all the
tangible forces of nature. Trust me; I am not just talking about
gravity, electricity or magnetism, but also more mysterious forces
like quantum reciprocates, those dark matter particles of energy
with bi-physical properties. These little fuckers can shift in and
out of perceived existence as easily as you and I can blink.
Coaxing a spirit through the paraphysical divide provokes
disruptions in the delicate balance between competing forces of
matter, causing spontaneous disturbances on both sides. To the
layman, these apparent anomalies are attributed to manifestations
of a paranormal nature, when in fact they are completely
natural.”

“So what is your point?” said Carlos.

Lilith took her seat, spreading her hands out
on the table, palms up and cupped slightly. “The point, Fidel, is
that tonight we may experience greater levels of spontaneous
metaphysical disturbances than before. I want you to be ready.”

“Oh,” he said, seemingly happy with that.

“All right, now. Everyone take your
seats.”

We did, and after that she said, “Ursula, you
seem to have the best luck with this. Do you want to give it
another go?”

Ursula smiled timidly, her gaze shying down
and away briefly. I remember thinking how odd the sight. Here she
looked just like Lilith; the same eyes, brows, nose and lips, yet I
had never seen Lilith smile like that. She projected a child-like
innocence, the glow of the candles warming her cheeks softly. Such
angelic features I had never noticed in Lilith, though most other
people would undoubtedly have trouble telling the two women
apart.

I found myself suddenly envying Spinelli. He
and Ursula were not yet a couple, but I could see in her eyes that
would change soon. It is the difference most stark between her and
Lilith. Lilith’s eyes give nothing away. I tell myself it is that
mystery that keeps us together; when likely, it is the very thing
that may one day break us up. She does not express to me what she
feels, and without her eyes telling me, I am forever guessing. It
is only my knowledge that Lilith does what she wants, when she
wants with whomever she wants that keeps me believing she loves me.
Otherwise, I would not be with her. Ursula, I feel, would not keep
a man guessing.

In time, Ursula did look up, and her smile
morphed into something else: thin pink lines dimpled at the ends by
hollowed pushpins. She looked at Lilith, and then to Dominic and
back again. Lilith reassured her with just a nod. She straightened
her back and shoulders and said to her, “`Tis with humble measure I
shall try, my sister, though I know not by what powers I am made so
able over thee. Dost thou wish to yield mediatory ascendance?”

“Yes,” said Lilith. “I do. You handled
yourself well the last time. That is if you don’t mind.”

“Nay, thou art mad to think it. If I mind I
am blind.”

“Great, then whenever you are ready.”

Ursula closed her eyes and rocked her head
back. I watched her chest rise and fall in rhythmic pace, her
blouse stretching thin across her breasts and relaxing again as her
exhale teased the candle flame closest to her. Dominic was
watching, too, his voyeuristic gaze fondling the nape of her neck,
gliding gently down the slender slant around her shoulder, spilling
into her cleavage and riding the swell of her breath like an ocean
wave. Lilith must have observed him as well. She cleared her throat
from across the table and Dominic straightened up promptly. He had
not noticed the way Ursula’s hair flowed past her brows in bangs
that begged brushing aside with caressing fingertips, or her
earlobes, untouched by piercings, how they glistened like honey in
the candle’s warm glow. He took in neither the faint impression of
her pulse beating softly against her neck, nor the supple sculpting
of her nipples pressing tightly against her blouse upon inhale. I
found my thoughts tangled in the curious paradox that Lilith and
Ursula represent; how two souls could be so different, yet so
alike, and how an amalgamation of the two might make for one
perfect woman. It was Lilith’s tattoo, or more precisely its
location, that had me thinking of Ursula in ways I should not have
been, when Lilith cleared her throat once more, this time for my
benefit. I looked up and found her drilling me with her stare.
Carlos caught the entire embarrassing episode. I could tell from
the
gotcha
smile on his face. If there were any redeeming
facets to the moment, it was that Dominic remained ignorant to my
idle indiscretions.

Ursula took a final deep breath before
rocking her head forward and presenting her palms so that we might
all join hands. Lilith placed a fresh twig across two of the
candles. With her eyes still closed; Ursula began reciting the
verses that have unlocked the doors to another dimension for
hundreds of years.

“
Hear ye, spirit, announce thine name,
come show thy self upon this flame; come hither thou where light
burns yonder; embrace what fires now make thee stronger.”

No sooner had the words left her lips, than
the room came alive, that familiar shudder rattling the walls as if
a convoy of tanks were rolling by our window. Lilith joined Ursula
on the second verse; and then Carlos, Dominic and I jumped in on
the third.

“
Hear ye, spirit, announce thine name,
come show thy self upon this flame; come hither thou where light
burns yonder; embrace what fires now make thee stronger.”

By the fifth or sixth verse, the rumbling
beneath our feet sent the table, the hutch and even the chairs we
were sitting on skirting along the floor in a nervous shimmy. In
the living room, chunks of plaster fell from the ceiling in panels
the size of manhole covers. Upstairs, the old claw-footed bathtub
came crashing down onto the stove in the kitchen. It soon became
clear that everything we thought we could expect from a séance went
right out the window. My gut told me to get up and get everyone out
of the house as fast as I could, and I almost did, but in that
instant, the tremors ceased. Ursula stopped reciting her mantra and
the rest of us trailed off in quick secession. The house fell
silent, but for the creaking of old timber contracting in the
rapidly chilling air.

We thought it had gotten cold during the
previous séance, but already the chill nipping at our flesh proved
colder than anything we had experienced before. Steam stirred from
our breaths, fluxing in short bursts and evaporating quickly.
Carlos gestured toward the windows where frost had moved in,
devouring the glass and obscuring all but a wink of the streetlight
outside.