09 - Return Of The Witch Read online

  “In thy dreams?”

  “Yeah, I know this neighborhood. I walked it in the rain. See that car?” I pointed to a Toyota parked across the street. “It’s got a busted taillight.”

  Ursula seemed conspicuously unimpressed. “Thou need not dream to see a broken light.”

  “I know that. What I’m saying is I remember seeing it last night.”

  “Did thou break it?”

  “No! I didn’t break it. Look.” I pointed again. “Over there. What about that?” She followed my direction to a trailered boat sitting in a driveway three houses down. “The name of that boat is Plum Fun. Now how do I know that?”

  “Mayhap it says so on the back.”

  “It does. That’s my point. You can’t see the back of the boat from here, can you?”

  “I cannot.”

  “I rest my case.”

  “What case be that?”

  “I….don’t know, exactly. I’m just saying.”

  She smiled and nodded. “Well said then.”

  I bumped the car door open with my shoulder. “Come on. Let go check it out.”

  Like others in the neighborhood, April Raines’ house sat back from the road a bit. It had no paved driveway or walk. The lawn out front was patchy at best, and downright muddy in areas more heavily traveled.

  The first thing I noticed as we approached the house was that April, like Paige Turner, Terri Cotta and Wendy Skye, employed a tacky little garden gnome, either as mascot or sentry, outside her front door. Another thing I noticed were the woman’s shoeprints in the mud, two sets, one coming, one going. I pointed them out to Ursula, who did not appreciate the implications at initial glance.

  “They are the shoe prints of a woman,” she observed. “Did we not expect a woman lives here?”

  “Yes, but look closer,” I gestured a sweep of my hand. “See here, the stride approaching the house is casual, the footprints close together.” I motioned a sweep in the other direction. “The ones leaving are further apart, the stride much greater.”

  “Aye, what feet made these whilst coming did so in a walk. Upon leaving, they did run.”

  “Exactly.” I pulled my pant leg up and stepped into one of the footprints. “Ooh, that’s not good.”

  Ursula observed, “It doth fit.”

  “I see that. Whoever made these prints wore the same size shoe I wear.”

  We continued up the steps to the door and rang the bell. When it seemed apparent no one was home, I slid my hand along the top of the door casing and retrieved a key. Ursula seemed a bit confounded over that. As I slipped the key into the lock, she cupped my hand and stopped me.

  “Sister, how knew it thee thy key wert there?”

  I just looked at her and shook my head. “At this point, Urs, I’d rather not say.”

  I turned the key and pushed. The door opened, allowing the mid-day sun to spill in from behind us, flooding an otherwise darkened room with light.

  Just as we saw at Paige Turner’s and Amber Burns’ place, the window shades in April’s home were also pulled down tight to the sills. Even the kitchen, which I could see beyond a doorway off the living room, offered no outside light through its curtained windows and back door shades.

  I stepped past the threshold and immediately felt the cold presence of evil abound. I turned to Ursula. She felt it, too, crossing her arms to her chest and locking them with a shudder. I raised my brow in silent query. She returned a nod and we continued.

  “Hey.” I stopped at a side table along the wall by the door. I lifted a letter from a stack of mail, the same letter I had seen in my dream the night before. Only this time I could read the return address in the corner.

  “Look. Paige Turner sent this to April three days ago. It’s not been opened.”

  Ursula asked, “Should we open it?”

  I tore it open. “No, that would be wrong.”

  I read the note inside. It contained only three words: It has begun.

  I showed the note to Ursula. She read it and asked, “What doth thou make of it?”

  “Isn’t it obvious? She’s referring to the prophecy.” I tucked the note in the envelope and dropped it back on the table. “Too bad April didn’t read her mail yesterday.”

  We continued down the hall, following the sound of running water all the way to the master bedroom. There, as in the rest of the house, the shades were down, verticals over the sliders drawn tight.

  A yellow bulb burned dimly in a table lamp by the bed, another in a walk-in closet flickered cool white.

  Ursula tapped my shoulder and directed my attention to the corner where a five-foot-tall fountain drizzled a lazy waterfall over stair-stepped slate tiles. I barely took notice, when she nudged my arm and made me look again. I smiled inquisitively.

  “Is that water flowing uphill?”

  She nodded.

  “That’s curious, isn’t it?”

  “`Tis indeed.”

  “I can’t do that. Can you?”

  “I have not tried.”

  “Huh. Probably done with mirrors.”

  We entered the master bathroom where clues to what happened there the night before remained unmistakably evident.

  Blood and bathwater had dried to a brownish crust in a semi-circular pattern on the floor by the vanity. A towel, also blood stained, lay on the floor.

  Shards of broken mirror like cracked ice glistened under compact fluorescents in the sink, on the toilet lid and in scattered fantail fashion on the floor.

  I pointed to the tiles leading out into the bedroom. “Look there. Wouldn’t you think anyone barefoot in here after that mirror broke would have cut her feet and left a trail of blood out the door?”

  “Aye, if one did leave through yon door.”

  I cleared some of the glass away from the vanity area with my foot and dropped to my knees. “And what have we here?”

  Ursula crouched in behind me and looked over my shoulder. “`Tis a powder methinks.”

  “I see that.”

  “A blue powder.”

  “I see that, too. I’m just wondering where it came from.” I scooped up some of the chalky dust and worked it between my fingers and thumb. “It’s not gritty, but it’s not exactly smooth either.”

  “Be it smitty?”

  “Huh?”

  “`Twixt smooth and gritty.”

  “Ah, funny.”

  She smiled at that, apparently pleased with her spontaneous wit.

  I collected a sample of the blue dust in another little evidence baggie. As I stood and turned around, I noticed a tiny splatter of blood on the wall by the door. It was easy to miss before, thanks to the colorful fish and coral patterned wallpaper. Upon closer inspection, I discovered more tiny droplets peppered throughout the brown and red sea corals.

  My mind immediately returned images of the dream I had the night before. I remembered April standing at the vanity when she spotted something in the mirror. She spun about to confront it and took a hard blow to the forehead, knocking her back against the vanity.

  I pushed past Ursula and hurried to the bedroom. There on the dresser, conspicuously out of place among perfume bottles and a jewelry box, sat an eighteen-inch glass bowling trophy. I picked it up and examined the base.

  “Urs.” I showed her the bottom. “That’s blood there, isn’t it?”

  “Aye, methinks so.”

  “Someone hit April in the head with this. It wasn’t just a dream. I saw it.”

  “Thou wert here?”

  I took a deep breath and let it out with a sigh. “Yeah, I guess I was.” I set the trophy back down on the dresser, but not before wiping it clean. “I wish I hadn’t picked that up.”

  “Why?”

  “Because now I’ll never know whether or not my prints were already on it before we got here.”

  “Or who else’s.”

  “Yes. Hey, you know Carlos mentioned that some of the neighbors last night reported hearing a scream, and then the sound of breakin
g glass. Maybe someone saw something.”

  “Should we ask about?”

  “What could it hurt?”

  We stepped out April’s front door just as a man came walking by the house with his dog. He barely took notice, but his dog, a staunch looking Akita with black eyes and pointed ears changed direction at the sight of us.

  I heard him growl as he pulled against his leash, his muscular body leaning into his stance, forcing his master to re-loop the leather strap around his wrist.

  Ursula grabbed my arm and pulled me back. The man jerked on the leash and smiled through gritted teeth. “It’s okay,” he called out. “He won’t bite.”

  As if contradicting his master, the dog lurched forward and began barking. He recognized me, or my scent, and I recognized his bark. I heard it before, carried in the echoes of a rain-soaked night. He seemed less sinister then, more phantom than menace. Now that our eyes met, I could see his old soul knew something I did not. Something evil had crossed his path before. He seemed certain that evil was me.

  Ursula and I waited in frozen step for the man to pull his dog along. After they turned the corner, we continued across the yard to the house next door.

  We climbed the three steps onto the porch and took up positions at the door. All the windows facing the street were opened, their screens latched with simple hooks. A breeze from Ipswich Bay whispered through them, teasing the curtains like the sails on a schooner eager to launch.

  I touched Ursula’s arm to get her attention. “Listen, I’ll do the talking. I know these folks. They don’t like strangers calling at their door.”

  “Thou doth know those what live here?”

  “No, I don’t know who lives here. I mean I know the people around these parts in general. They’re tight-knit. They don’t take kindly to strangers.”

  She looked at me quizzically. “And who pray tell does?”

  “Exactly.”

  I knocked on the door and ushered us a step back. Moments later, an older woman greeted us. I knew instantly that something was not right. I could see it in her eyes.

  “Yes?” She reeled back and gathered the folds of her collar around her neck. “Can I help you?”

  “Ma'am, we’re with the government.” I flashed Tony’s shield and ID so quickly, it might as well have been an honorary Green Hornet membership card in a Batman billfold. “We’d like to ask you some questions about last night, if we may.”

  “Who are you again?”

  “Agent 86, Ma`am. This here is Agent 99. Now, you mentioned to the Ipswich PD last night that you heard a scream coming from the house next door?”

  “You!” she cried, backing away. “It was you. I saw you!”

  “Me?”

  “Or her.” She pointed at Ursula. “You came out of the night like an apparition. I was right here on my porch. I saw you. You can’t fool me. I know what you are.”

  “What am I, if I may ask?”

  “You’re a shape-shifter,” she answered, as if merely saying it would cause me to shape-shift into some demon creature that might shred her to bits.

  “Ma`am, I think you’ve made a mistake. You see, I never—”

  “I’m calling the police. Right now! I mean it. You better leave this minute and don’t come back!”

  She slammed the door in our faces. As her footsteps faded down the hall, I felt my knees begin to buckle. My head grew light, my vision blurred and my entire body shuddered. The last thing I remembered was the world spinning and Ursula trying to hold me up as I passed out.

  Chapter 12

  I awoke in New Castle, back in my own house, lying in my own bed. Ursula was there, holding my hand and patting my forehead with a cool damp cloth. She smiled softly after seeing my eyes open.

  “Welcome thee thy sleepy head. Did ye rest well?”

  “Ursula?” I smiled back. “You got me home.”

  “Aye.”

  A voice across the room said, “It’s a good thing, too.”

  I raised my head off the pillow and saw Carlos and Dominic sitting in a couple of chairs that they brought in from the kitchen.

  “Carlos?”

  He and Dominic got up and came around the other side of the bed. “Hey kid. You had us worried for a while there.”

  Dominic added, “We were about to call for the medics.”

  “I’m glad you didn’t,” I said. “If they checked my blood pressure they would have—”

  “Thought you were in a coma, I know. Ursula reminded us of that. So, what happened to you?”

  I propped myself up by the elbows and leaned back against the headboard. “I don’t know. I guess I passed out from lack of nutrition.”

  “When’s the last time you ate?”

  I looked at Carlos. “When did we go to the Crab Trap in Gloucester?”

  “Two nights ago,” he answered, “but we didn’t eat.”

  “Oh. Then I don’t remember.”

  Dominic coaxed Ursula in a hushed voice, “Would you mind, hon?”

  She shook her head. “Not the least.” She turned and headed to the kitchen.

  Carlos gestured a nod toward the living room. “So Lilith, we couldn’t help but notice you did a little redecorating out there.”

  I shook my head at that. “Excuse me?”

  “Did someone trash the place while you were away?” Dominic asked.

  “Oh that. No, I did that. I got a little pissed about something.”

  “You got pissed and so you busted up your own place?”

  “Hey, don’t judge me.”

  “No one’s judging. It’s your house. Ain’t no crime if no one gets hurt.”

  “Thank you.”

  “So what did you find out?”

  “I found out that cheap furniture burns way too quickly in a bonfire.”

  “I mean what did you find out at Paige Turners’? You did see her, didn’t you?”

  “Oh yeah. We saw her.”

  “Does she think other witches are in danger?”

  “Yes.”

  “Really? Who?”

  “All of us. Every witch in the world.”

  “Come on.”

  “I mean it, Dominic. She’s convinced that the Pendle Prophecy has been set into motion. Oh, and get this. She also thinks I’m the Pentacle Prodigy, brought forth to save the world.”

  “The whole world? Damn, that’s a big job,” said Carlos.

  “Well, at least the witches in the world. But hey, without us the world would pretty much go to pot anyway.”

  Dominic asked, “What are you going to do?”

  “Nothing. I’m not the Pentacle Prodigy because I don’t possess the quintessential; therefore, whatever is or is not happening to the witches of Essex County is none of my concern.”

  Carlos said, “Yeah, but you’re not off the hook yet.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “They know about you now.”

  “Who?”

  “Ipswich P.D.”

  “What do they know, that I went out to April’s house to snoop around?”

  “Yes and that you were there last night, too.”

  “But I wasn’t.”

  “They have a witness.”

  “Don’t tell me, that nosy neighbor next door?”

  “That’s right. Her name’s Emma Bernstein and she claims she saw you stalking the grounds last night.”

  “The woman’s a fruitcake. Why should they believe her?”

  Dominic said, “Because she also has you on video. You probably didn’t notice the security camera on the front of her house, but it noticed you. She showed Ipswich P.D. the tape of you and Ursula walking up onto her porch this afternoon. Then she showed them another from last night. It’s dark and grainy, but it shows someone that looks like you coming out of the fog and moving toward April’s house.”

  “That still doesn’t explain how they would know who I am. I didn’t give her my real name.”

  “Come on, Lilith. It wasn’t hard to figure
out. The cops knew about April’s website and about her claims of being a witch. It didn’t take much investigative prowess to look at her blog and find a link to the Witch’s Cauldron where there’s a prominent story and images of you and Ursula.”

  “Sure Brittany didn’t have anything to do with them identifying me?”

  “Of course, she didn’t,” said Carlos, striking a defensive posture. “Brittany tried downplaying the connection, telling her fellow detectives that the women in the night video looked like a local jogger.”

  “I thought you told me Ipswich P.D. wasn’t looking into April’s disappearance. You said they weren’t even interested.”

  Dominic answered, “That was before you and Ursula went and stuck your noses into their business.”

  “You asked me to check it out.”

  “I asked you to check out Paige Turner and her absurd claims of a Pendle Prophecy.”

  “Oh, now they’re absurd. You didn’t think they were so absurd this morning.”

  “Still,” said Carlos, “nobody asked you to go out and dig up dirt on April Raines. If you didn’t go and talk to her neighbor, then the Ipswich P.D. wouldn’t be out looking for you right now.”

  “They’re looking for me?”

  Carlos got quiet then. He dragged one of the chairs over to the bed and took a seat. “Brittany gave me a heads-up about an hour ago. They want to talk to you, and if you don’t go and see them, they’ll come and see you.”

  “Fine. Let`em come. I got nothing to hide.”

  “What will you tell them?”

  “About what?”

  “About last night. Were you there? Is that you in the video?”

  Ursula returned, carrying a serving tray with a cold cut sandwich, chips and a glass of iced tea. I took a bite of the sandwich and washed it down with a gulp.

  “Look. I’m not going to tell them that’s me in the video, because I don’t know that it is. But I’ll tell you what I told Ursula. I think I was there last night. Whether in body or soul, I can’t say, but I was there.”

  Dominic said, “I don’t understand.”

  I shook my head undecidedly. “Neither do I. See the thing is, I saw what happened to April. That much I know. Someone attacked her. Maybe I attacked her. Maybe not. If I did, I was in a trance or something. I mean I initially thought I dreamt it.”