Hidden Thrones (14 page)

“Wow. Can you believe
that?” Frank said, rubbing his forehead. “How crazy was that!”

Jack looked around the
room and observed their surroundings. “This guy was into some nasty stuff. 
There are stacks of porn magazines, videos and books on how to summon your
person spirit guide, the whole works. There is one over there called
Be Your
Own God
. Really new age - I mean, the full deal. Let’s get out of here. I
haven’t eaten all day. Let’s decompress over some food. I know this great
little place with the cutest waitress.”

Frank put his hand on Jack’s
shoulder. “Now you’re talking my language.”

It was
one thirty in the afternoon when Jack and Frank walked into CJ’s. Emily didn’t
see them come in because she was waiting on a table at the other end of the
café. They found their usual spot vacant, so they sat down and waited for her
to notice them. Emily was back towards the kitchen, pad in hand, when she saw
Jack out of the corner of her eye. Her face lit up. She quickly placed the
order with the kitchen and walked over to their table.

“Well,
Mr. Bennett and Mr. Lederman - what a pleasant surprise. I didn’t expect to see
you gentleman here today,” she said with a broad smile. She bent over and gave
Jack a kiss on the cheek.

Frank
chimed in, “Well, I never thought I’d see the day. Jack Bennett with a girlfriend.”

Jack
smiled, “Times they are a changing.” He turned to Emily and asked, “How’s your
day going? Been busy?”

“It
finally just slowed down. We have been jammed since seven this morning. What
can I get you two? I know you don’t need to see a menu.”

Frank
laughed, “No, I’ll have a turkey club and a cup of coffee.”

Emily
fixed her big blue eyes on Jack and said softly, “How about you, Mr. Bennett?”

“Well,
I have to ask you - do you ever date your customers because I would like to ask
you to dinner and a movie at my place tonight. What do you say I pick you up at
six?”

“I
usually don’t,” she feigned shyness, “but I think I could make an exception in
your case. You seem like a very interesting man.”

Frank
sat there listening in disbelief. He couldn’t take it another minute.

“Okay,
what have you done to my partner? I can’t believe you two. You have only gone
out twice and look what’s happened. Let’s get back to talking about food. I’m
starving.”

Jack
smiled and said, “I’ll have one of those black Russians and a decaf coffee.
I’ve had all the stimulation I can handle for one day.”

Emily
raised her eyebrows, said “Really?” and walked away.

Frank
laughed out loud. “You gotta watch what you say now, buddy. You’ve got a woman
in your life.”

They
both laughed. Frank was eager to get into a serious discussion about what had happened
today and about everything that had been going on since the Oslow House. He
still had plenty of questions for Jack about all the demon and spirit stuff.

“So
what am I going to do with this Hillerbrand guy? He seems like a different
person since,” he paused and looked around wondering if anyone was within
hearing distance, then continued, “that demon thing left him,” he finished
quietly.

Jack
took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, “Well, he’s still the same guy who got
himself into all that. I’m sure he wasn’t the best husband or father before
that unclean spirit entered him.”

Emily
came over to the table with their coffee. She could see they were in a deep
conversation, so she put the coffee on the table and approached her other table,
not wanting to interrupt them.

Frank
poured a cup of coffee and took a sip.

“I
will find out a lot more once I interview the wife. I’m sure she will shed some
light on things. She must have some wild stories to tell.”

“No
doubt. So I guess you’ll have to let him go through the system. I’ll hook him
up with Pastor Eli. He’ll make sure he gets the opportunity to see a good
Christian therapist. I doubt his wife and daughter are going to want to see him
or that house again. They’re the ones who are really going to need therapy. I
know Pastor and the whole church will want to reach out to them and offer to
help them recover. They’re great like that,” Jack said.

As
soon as their food was ready, Emily put it down in front of them and observed,
“Looks like you guys are really getting into it again. You’ll have to tell me
more about what you do someday. It must be pretty interesting.”

Frank
pulled his plate toward himself and eyed Jack from the corner of his eye.
“Yeah, it gets a little crazy sometimes. Jack will explain it all to you, I’m
sure.”

“It’s
just work. It seems more exciting than it really is,” Jack answered, trying to
downplay what they did.

“I’m
sure.” Emily said, giving them a sly smile. She knew these men were up to
something, but she could see the food was ready for her other table so she
reluctantly headed to the kitchen.

Frank
dove right back in. “So what is going to happen to this guy now that this
spirit is out of him? Does he just go back to the way he was before?”

“Jesus
said that when an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through barren places
seeking rest and does not find it. It also says
I will return to the house I
left
which refers to the person it used to inhabit. When it arrives, it
finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. That is the state
Hillerbrand is in right now.

“The
Bible also says that it will go out and take with it seven other spirits more wicked
than itself, and they go in and live there. The final condition of that man is even
worse than the first.”

Frank
rubbed his forehead in amazement and mustered, “You mean to tell me that he
will get worse? He has no hope of a full recovery?”

“I’m
not saying that. He could get worse, but it’s really up to him. Here’s what has
to happen,” Jack sighed and continued. “The person, in this case Hillerbrand,
needs to ask Christ into his life. Getting all cleaned up is great, but it’s
not the answer. That’s why so many addicts get clean but can’t stay that way.
He will have the opportunity over the next couple of days to confess his sins
and ask Jesus to come into his life. If he does that, then the evil spirits
can’t get back in because his heart or the
house
that Jesus talked about
is now occupied by God.”

“Amazing.
I can’t believe all this stuff has been going on right under my nose and I
never saw it. I have to say, it makes a lot of sense. There’s a real war going
on and few people realize it.”

Jack
smiled, “You understand more than a lot Christians who have been going to
church for years do. That’s awesome, bud. You’re growing, my friend.”

Frank
finished the last of his cup of coffee and looked back at Jack with a very
serious expression on his face.
Taking a deep
breath, he asked,
“What do you want to do
about this Dante situation? That whole thing creeps me out.”

“I
don’t know. That’s a new one for me. Keep your ear to the ground and if you
find out anything more, let me know. It is all very troublesome to say the
least, but as the time for the coming of Jesus draws closer, there will be more
and more supernatural intrusions. Let’s keep praying about it and go from
there.”

Frank
eyes widened. “The coming of Jesus? You mean, like the end of the world?”

Jack
smiled, “No, my friend, I mean the beginning. We can talk about that another
time.”

They
finished their lunch and while Frank walked over to the counter to pay the bill,
Jack said goodbye to Emily. He wanted to get home and clean his house a bit
before their big date.

Frank
dropped Jack off at his house and headed over to the local police department to
check on the Hillerbrand case. He wanted to meet with Hillerbrand’s wife and
daughter and hopefully get a statement from them.

As
soon as Jack walked into his house, his cell phone rang.
He checked the screen
and saw Conni’s name. He picked up.
“Hi, Conni. What’s up?”

“I’m
not sure Jack,” her voice sounded troubled.

“What’s
going on?” Jack asked.

“We
just got the okay to resume our prayer meetings, but there’s something that’s
really bothering me,” Conni continued.

Jack
never expected things to go smoothly. He had been a little wary of the quick
turnaround the historical society made concerning the prayer meetings. He knew
God was able to change people’s hearts, but there was something in his spirit
that didn’t feel right.

“What
happened?” he asked.

“Well,
the executive board at my church assigned one of their board members to oversee
the prayer meetings. The whole idea was to keep it non-denominational. To make
things worse, he is very strict and legalistic, if you know what I mean. I need
you to pray with me that it will somehow work out.”

Jack
knew exactly what she meant. He had encountered a number of Christians that had
lost their passion somewhere along the line, but he didn’t want to get her more
upset, so he took a different approach.

“I
understand completely. I will be praying. Let’s see how it goes. Maybe the Lord
has this man there for a reason. Keep me updated. I will try to get there this
Wednesday if I can.”

“Thanks,
Jack. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Okay,
Conni. You take care.”

Jack
hung up and thought,
The battle rages on.
He decided to sit down for a
minute before starting his cleaning duties and a quote from one of his favorite
movies,
Die Hard
, immediately came to mind.
Just a fly in the
ointment, Hans. A monkey in the wrench
.

* * *

The
light rain that fell earlier in the day had cleared out, dropping the
temperature from the mild mid-seventies to a cool fifty-five or so. He picked
Emily up and the two of them talked the entire way back to his house. She was
very interested in hearing more about what Jack and Frank did for a living.

Once
inside, Jack decided it would be nice to make a fire, seeing that it might be
the last one of the season. He had everything ready beforehand so all he had to
do was light it when he came home.  He walked over and got it started, much to
Emily’s delight.

“Oh, I
love a fireplace,” Emily told Jack. “I’m glad it cooled down tonight. This is
so nice!”

Jack
smiled, “I thought you might like it. I might not get a chance to use it again until
October so it’s the perfect night for it.”

She
sat down on the couch and asked, “So, what’s for dinner? I thought you only
cooked breakfast?”

Jack
hoped she didn’t mind, but he had taken it upon himself to order diner and have
it delivered.

“Well,
actually I ordered out. It should be here soon. Is that okay?”

Emily
laughed, “Of course that’s fine. What are we eating?”

“Well,
I heard you say something about Mexican food the other night so I took the
liberty of ordering a bunch of different dishes for us to choose from.”

Emily
was impressed he had been listening. “Wow! Nice job. Mexican is one of my
favorites.”

Jack
got the fire going just the way he liked it and sat down next to her. Once
again, Emily looked beautiful tonight in her white-laced top and jeans. He
leaned over and gave her a brief kiss. Emily turned to him, wrapped her arms
around him and said softly, “This is perfect. A nice quiet evening, a fire,
sitting on this couch with you… I couldn’t be happier.”

Jack
loved the sound of that. She laid her head on his shoulder and they both stared
at the fire for a few moments, not speaking, just sitting and enjoying the
moment. After a few minutes, Emily turned toward Jack and gave him a kiss.

Jack
looked at her closely. He swiped a lock of her hair away from her face and
said, “Would you mind if I just kissed you for a while?”

Emily
smiled and they did just that. The fire wasn’t limited to the fireplace. Time
seemed to melt away for the two of them until the atmosphere was interrupted by
the deliveryman knocking on the door.

Jack
straightened himself up a little bit and answered the door.

He promptly
paid the delivery guy and brought their food into the kitchen.

“I hope
you like what I picked out. I think it looks good.”

Emily
came in, looked at all the food and smiled. “Wow! You sure bought a lot of
food. Do I look like I eat a lot?”

Jack
got nervous and quickly answered, “No, I just wanted to make sure I got what
you liked.”

“I’m
just kidding, Jack. I love this stuff,” she said as Jack breathed a sigh of
relief. “So, this job you and Frank have, it seems very interesting. What kind
of paranormal activity do you guys investigate?”

Jack
really didn’t want to get into this discussion, but he knew it was inevitable.
“All kinds of stuff. Some cases turn out to be nothing and some turn out to be…
let’s just say very unusual.”

Jack
had piqued Emily’s interest even more. “How unusual?” she asked.

Jack
shook his head. He knew it was going to be next-to-impossible to derail Emily
from her mission now.

“Let’s
take our food into the other room and I will tell you about it,” Jack
suggested.

 Jack
wasn’t sure how much he should tell her. After all, not many people could
handle this kind of stuff. He wanted to be honest with her, but he didn’t want
to scare her away either. He had strong feelings for Emily and didn’t want to
ruin the good thing they had started. In an effort to give himself an out, he smiled
and said, “Some of it is classified, you know. I can’t tell you everything.”