Bones of a Witch (25 page)

Dominic was just bringing the car down off the
jack when my cell phone rang, snapping me out of an exiled state of
mind. Only then did I realize that I had indeed slipped off to
someplace much further than my conscious surroundings. Carlos, who
I thought was still sitting beside me, ran back from the car to
find out who was calling. I flipped the phone open and said hello,
hoping and praying it was Lilith. I think Putnam even heard it in
my voice, for he seemed smug about it.

“Hello yourself, Detective.” His voice sounded
gruff and out of breath. “I’m telling you now you should consider
yourself lucky your boy is still alive.”

“Spinelli?”

“Of course, Spinelli. I had him in my sights.
But that’s not what we’re about.”

“Oh? So what
are
you about, killing defenseless
women?”

“Defenseless? Detective, you know better.
Witches are disciples of Pagan ignorance. They spread the word of
Eternitism and dilute the faithful in hopes of hijacking their
souls in the avocation of religious eradication. There is a
struggle of eternal redemption at stake here, you
understand.”

“Redemption? What would you know about
redemption? Haven’t you already committed your soul to the devil,
having killed those women in New Castle?”

“Casualties of war are martyrs, Detective.
There is no sin in victimless expirations resulting from the
pursuit of Divine justice. A noble cause is a worthy cause
indeed.”

“Bullshit. Murder is murder. Now tell me what
you have done with Lilith and her friend.”

“Her friend? Don’t you mean her aunt? I know
about Ursula.”

“What have you done with them?”

“Nothing yet, and maybe we can keep it that
way.”

“What do you mean?”

“You have something I want, something you stole
from Reverend Hilton back at the church.”

“The gate key.”

“Exactly. I want it.”

“Why?”

“You know why. Give it to me and I will release
the women.”

“I don’t believe you. I think you’ll kill them
the second you get your hands on it.”

“You have no choice but to trust me. I am
holding all the cards, Detective.”

“Yes, I suppose you are,” I said, and seeing no
alternative, I gave in. “I want your word as a Puritan that you’ll
keep your part of the deal?”

“
Of course, you have my word as a
Puritan.”

“Fine, but you have
my
word that if you harm
one hair on either of those girl’s I’ll kill you
myself.”

“Enough chivalry, Detective. Bring the gate key
to me tonight.”

“Where?”

“Ingersoll’s Tavern. You know it?”

“I do.”

“Good. Be there at midnight with the key or
you’ll never see the women alive again.”

“But what if I—”

CLICK.

Even after he hung up, an ominous sense of
foreboding lingered in the air like a static charge. I turned to
Carlos, who had been leaning in to the phone close enough to hear
most of what was said. “What do you think?” I asked him.

He shrugged. “I don’t know. What’s he mean by
the gate key?”

“You don’t know?”

“Uh-uh. Does it open a gate?”

“Yeah, sort of. Call Spinelli over; I’ll tell
you.”

Carlos ushered Spinelli to the shade of the
tree where they huddled in close to hear me explain as best I could
about the gate key and how I had retrieved it from the baptismal
pool in the church.

“Ah, that’s how you got so wet last night,”
said Carlos. “You told us you fell in a puddle.”

“It would’ve been a big puddle,” Spinelli
remarked. “I for one didn’t buy it for a second.”

“Well, me neither. I mean, there weren’t even
any puddles between the church and the hill. It’s just that when I
asked….”

“Forget it,” I said. “That’s not important. The
thing we need to figure out now is what we’re going to do about
Putnam. He wants to meet me tonight at Ingersoll’s Tavern and make
a trade: Lilith and Ursula for the gate key.”

“So do it,” said Spinelli. “Agree to meet him
tonight and when he shows up we’ll nab him.”

“No, it won’t be that simple. He’ll not have
Lilith or Ursula with him. I’m sure of it. He’s too clever for
that.”

“Then how can you trust him to deliver the
girls once he gets what he wants?”

Carlos answered, “You can’t.” He looked me in
the eye and shook his head. “He’ll kill them, Tony, even after he
gets the key. He’ll give you false directions somewhere and he’ll
kill the girls.”

“You think?”

“Yes. You have to make the trade, but instead
of going off on a wild goose chase, you’ll need to figure out a way
to follow him back to his hideout without him knowing he’s being
followed.”

“That won’t be easy,” Spinelli remarked. “He’ll
expect you to try that.”

“Yes, I suppose he will.
Un-lessss….”

“Oh, I don’t like the sound of that,” said
Carlos. “What are you thinking, Tony?”

“I’m thinking what if instead of following him,
I go with him?”

“With him?”

“Yes.”

“In his van?”

“Sure.”

“How do you propose to do that?”

“Easy, I make it so that he doesn’t see
me.”

“Ha!” This from Spinelli. “You’d have to be
small as a mouse to keep from getting noticed.”

I shook my head. “No, not at all. I just have
to make myself invisible to him. I think if I can—”

Carlos stopped me. “Tony, forget
it.”

I smiled slyly. “Why not?”

Spinelli asked Carlos, “What’s he talking
about?”

Carlos ignored him. “That’s a level three spell
you’re talking about. You don’t know how to do that.”

“Please. How hard can it be? I have the
grimoire at home. Besides, I have been practicing it.”

“But have you ever pulled it off?”

Spinelli again, “Pulled what off?”

“No, but I’ve never had the gate key
before.”

“Guys, come on,” Spinelli complained. “Tell me
what you’re talking about.”

Carlos answered, “He’s talking about mind
control, aren’t you, Tony.”

“I suppose it is, seeing I
can’t
really
make
myself invisible.”

“You can’t be serious.” Carlos gathered a
fistful of my jacket sleeve and shook it. “Tony, this can’t end
well. Even if you manage to make yourself invisible to him for a
while, you can’t keep it up long enough for him to take you to the
girls.”

I laughed and pulled my sleeve free of his
grasp, though I must admit I secretly shared his concern. “Carlos,
Lilith does it all the time. You don’t know how often I see the
bathroom door open while I’m in the shower, and then close again
just as I’m getting out. I know it’s her.”

“Yes, but you’re not Lilith. While you’re still
discovering your powers, she’s been practicing hers for over a
hundred years.”

“Yes, and like I’ve said, I’ve been practicing,
too. You saw me scry last night. I did that
successfully.”

“You did. Yes.”

“That’s right, and now with the grimoire and
the key I think I can do this.”

“Yeah, but Tony—invisible?”

“Yes, invisible. It may be a level three spell,
but I think I’m ready.” I turned them both around and pointed them
towards the car. “Now let’s get back to New Castle so I can get to
work on it. I’m sure it can’t be any more difficult than making a
whisper box.”

“Oh, yes I’m sure there’s hardly any
difference,” said Carlos, though the sarcasm in his voice negated
any call for a response.

Back in New Castle I showed Carlos and Spinelli
the grimoire and the gate key. I had noticed before how the first
page of the grimoire contained a legend of sorts, but I had never
been able to figure out its meaning. Honestly, I thought the
markings and inscriptions were hieroglyphs of a long lost pagan
era, one that only Lilith understood, or maybe didn’t. With the
gate key, however, Spinelli and I were able to determine that the
writings were actually a secret formula expressing the fundamental
principles of constituent elements throughout the book. On any
given page there were references to a formula adjusted in enigmatic
sequences that often seemed redundant or counterintuitive. But with
the key I was able to unlock the secrets of the grimoire and make
sense of its mystery.

We started by setting out candles in a circular
pattern around the room, just as I had before; only now I knew to
situate the yellow ones along the compass points: north, east,
south and west; aligning the brown one with the current position of
the moon, sort of like the hour hand on a clock. Next, I recited an
incantation invoking the powers of the coven to aid in my endeavor,
something I had previously thought as merely an informal throwback
to tradition. But from what I gleaned through the grimoire, it is
not only rudiment to the process, but positively essential. I think
if I had known that earlier, I would have mastered the spell long
before Lilith began riding my ass for not learning the craft.
Sometimes I think she doesn’t really want me to succeed in the
whole witchcraft business. I mean, she truly is a walking
contradiction sometimes. I think if I ever figure her out it might
scare me to death to know her.

With most level three spells there is usually
some smoke or a little twirl of wind or something to let you know
it’s working. But not the cloaking spell. It’s stealthy by design
from beginning to end, which makes it hard to know exactly when it
has kicked in. And worse, according to the grimoire, the spell
works best on those who are incognizant of its nature; in other
words, those that don’t already know you’re working it. So with
Carlos and Spinelli, the fact they could still see me after I
finished it didn’t necessarily mean the spell didn’t
work.

“We have to find an unwitting participant,” I
told the guys. “You two know I’m here so you’re not easily tricked.
Your minds are overriding the suggestive powers of the
spell.”

“Yeah, that or maybe it’s just not working,”
said Spinelli. His cocky attitude was really starting to bite into
my patience.

Carlos shook his head at that. “No, I think
it’s working.”

“Really?” I said.

He drew a sharp bead on me, as though peering
through my body. “Yeah, when I do this you kind of get real skinny,
like maybe you’re beginning to fade away.” He looked at Spinelli.
“Dominic, do this. Squint really hard and shade your eyes. Doesn’t
it look like Tony’s getting skinny and may be ready to
disappear?”

“Yeah.” Spinelli’s eyes drew down tight. “And
look, when you close your eyes altogether he does actually
disappear.”

I swear I could have choked him. I reached out
and kicked one of the yellow candles in his direction, spraying him
with hot wax and not caring about it for a second. “You think this
is a joke?” I said, starting toward him. “You think anything about
this situation is funny?”

Carlos stepped forward to drive some distance
between us. “Tony, Dominic doesn’t mean anything by it.” He set his
hand on my shoulder. “I told you, Tony. You’re not Lilith. You
don’t suppose she could pull off a spell like this in her first
year as a witch, do you?”

“Carlos, Lilith was born a witch. I doubt she
practiced any witchcraft before age one.”

“My point exactly.” He slapped me on the back
and walked off towards the kitchen. “This is too much for you to
bite off so early in your apprenticeship.” He opened the fridge and
grabbed a beer. “You want one?”

“Sure, why not?”

He smiled teasingly, “Not you,” and he tossed
the beer to Spinelli before reaching in for a second. “You’re not
here. I can’t notice you, remember?”

I crossed the room, and by the time I got to
him, he seemed to notice me just fine. “Give me one, you ass.” I
snatched the beer from his hand and popped the top. “Come on. We
need to go next door and see if anyone there can see
me.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes, I’m serious. Both of you go knock on the
neighbor’s door and ask if anyone there has seen me.”

Spinelli asked, “Where will you be?”

“Right behind you,” I said. “They’ll either see
me or they won’t. It’s a simple as that.”

He looked at Carlos. “Simple as that,
eh?”

Carlos shrugged. “You heard the man. Let’s
go.”

The third door down the hall from my apartment
is where Froggy Smith lives. Froggy’s a nice guy, lives with a male
roommate who may or may not be his lover. Personally, I always
thought he was straight, but Lilith says he’s a cheeky monkey who
swings from a different tree. Not that it matters to me either way.
I picked Froggy’s apartment to call on because he’s always home and
will always open the door to strangers. And let’s face it; Spinelli
and Carlos look about as strange a couple as you can get. I told
them both to have their badges and IDs ready just in case he
thought they were there to sell him something. Turns out, though,
Froggy probably wouldn’t have minded that at all. I think maybe
Lilith was right. He does swing from a different tree. He even
seemed sweet enough on Spinelli to invite him in for drinks, though
later I learned what he actually offered Dom was something called a
salty licker, which has nothing to do with liquor at
all.