KISS THE WITCH (16 page)

Later, when I decided to fix myself a bite
to eat, I asked Ursula to join me. I expected she would say no,
assuming she would rather avoid the uncomfortable banter that comes
with the territory after one walks in on another taking a bath. To
my surprise, she accepted, and oddly, did not seem uneasy. For her,
there were no awkward glances, no pussyfooting around the obvious
elephant in the room. Perhaps because there was no elephant in the
room, as far as she was concerned.

For me, things were different. I could
scarcely look into her eyes without imagining the two of us
entangled in cardinal embrace. It drove me crazy, and I hated
myself for thinking about her that way. Yet I could no sooner
arrest my thoughts than stop breathing. I thought of Spinelli, my
friend, my partner, my brother in arms. Had I no shame? No
loyalty?

I finished my sandwich, downed my drink and
made an excuse for hurrying out the door before saying something
stupid like telling Ursula what was on my mind. I barely made it
across the room, when Lilith walked through the door. I grabbed one
of the two bags she carried and escorted her back into the
kitchen.

“
Lilith,” I said, setting
the bag on the table. “Am I ever glad to see you!” I saw Ursula
cock her head to one side, as if gauging the accuracy of my
statement. “What?” I asked, only then realizing what she was
looking at.

She shook her head. “I do not know, Master
Tony. Methinks I have seen you more glad.”

Lilith donned an
I don’t get it
look.
“What?”

“
Nothing. Listen, I have
to get back to work.” I leaned in to kiss her on the cheek and
whispered, “I can’t wait until she’s married and out of this
house.”

As I headed for the door, Lilith called
back. “You want the car?”

“
What?” I turned around
and saw her holding the keys up, jingling them like a bell. “No. I
have Spinelli’s.”

“
Okay. Are you going to be
home for dinner?”

“
Yes. No. I don’t
know.”

Again, that look crossed her face. “Are you
all right?”

“
Sure. I’m
fine.”

On the way out the door, I heard Ursula say,
“I do not think he is very happy today. I can tell.”

I hoped Lilith would leave it at that.

I had not driven two blocks from the house
when Spinelli called. He sounded panicked and out of breath. “Tony.
You won’t believe it.” I could hear his voice straining above the
sirens wailing in the background. “Oh my God. It is awful. We saw
the whole thing.”

I pulled the car over to the curb and worked
on calming Spinelli down. “Dominic. Slow down. Where are you?”

“
We’re out front of the
residence on Monroe. Tony, it happened so fast.”

“
What happened,
Dominic?”

“
They blew him up, Tony.
Jesus, they blew Howard Snow right the fuck up!”

“
Dominic. Dominic. Calm
down. Stay with me. Are you all right?”

“
Yes, yes. I’m
fine.”

“
Where is Carlos? Is he
all right?”

“
Carlos is fine. We’re
both fine. Jesus, will you stay back? Let the fire truck
in.”

I was sure that last part was not meant for
me. “Dominic. Are you there? Come back. Tell me what’s
happening.”

“
Yeah, I’m here. Auh,
Tony, man. It’s chaos. I’m tellin` ya. The Hummer is gone. They
blew the fucker sky-high with Snow in it. We saw the whole thing.
There’s nothing left.”

“
All right, Dominic,
listen to me. I’m heading your way now. Get with Carlos. See if you
can locate the owner of the house. Hold him there until I reach
you. You got that?”

“
Yeah, yeah. I got it.
Hurry, Tony.”

I dropped the car into drive and laid a
patch of rubber in the street thirty feet long. It was six miles
from where I pulled over to the house on Monroe Street. I made it
there in less than five minutes. That was without lights and
siren.

Dominic described the scene to me over the
phone as chaotic. I suppose it might have been chaotic immediately
after the explosion, but more likely it was his adrenalin talking.
That’s not to say things were not interesting. Nearly a hundred
people from throughout the neighborhood gathered to check things
out. Thick black smoke rising over the rooftops can pose a strong
attraction for the concerned and curious.

Fire trucks, police cruisers and ambulances
lined the curb from one end of Monroe to the other, forcing me to
park on the next block over. By the time I got to the scene, the
fire was out. The only things recognizable were the skeletal frame
of the Hummer and some twisted chunks of sheet metal from the
doors, hood and roof that had blown yards away. As far as a body,
well, there was nothing left.

I caught up with Carlos and Spinelli inside
the residence of Howard Snow’s old roommate, a man named Leonard
Dwyer. Not surprisingly, Dwyer was not there.

“
How did you get in?” I
asked Carlos.

He pointed to the door. “It was open.”

“
Unlocked?”

“
No. Opened. The screen
door was shut, but this one was wide open.”

“
Anyone home?”

“
Doesn’t look like it. We
called out to identify ourselves upon entry. No one answered. I
cleared the downstairs. Dominic took upstairs. He’s checking the
basement now.”

“
Nothing so
far?”

He gestured toward the kitchen. “No, but we
didn’t miss someone by much. There are two iced teas on the table.
Lots of ice. Little condensation. The back door was open, too.”

“
I’m not surprise.” I
looked around the room. “Place doesn’t look disturbed. Whoever
killed Snow must have been satisfied with that.”

“
Do you want to put an APB
out for Dwyer?”

“
Yes. Do that.”

“
Tony.” Spinelli came up
from the basement carrying a flashlight in one hand, his weapon in
the other.”

“
Dominic. You all
right?”

“
Sure. Fine.”

I pointed at his weapon. “You can put that
away.”

He looked at it as if he had forgotten he
had it. “Oh, right.” I noticed he holstered it backwards.

“
Listen. Carlos and I were
talking. I want you to put an APB out for Dwyer.”

“
You got it. You want me
to put one out for his wife, too?”

“
His wife?”

“
Yeah. I suppose he has a
wife. We found a woman’s handbag on the chair there.” He pointed to
an overstuffed wingback in the parlor.

I walked over and picked it up. “Did you
check it out?”

“
Sure,” said Carlos.
“There’s no ID in it.”

I frisked through the bag’s contents briefly
before tossing it back on the chair. “Yes, make sure you indicate
Dwyer may be traveling with a female companion.”

“
Roger that.”

“
So, what do we do now?”
asked Carlos.

I shook my head. “I’m not sure, but I have
to tell you. There is no way in hell someone is blowing up people
and houses all over town because of some stupid corn syrup
substitute. I think we have to get to the bottom of that question
first and foremost.”

“
Back to see
Ferguson?”

“
I think we have
to.”

“
He won’t tell you
anything,” Dominic remarked.

“
He has to,” I
said.

“
He won’t, especially now
with Snow blown to smithereens. He’s going to clam up like a bear
trap.”

“
What do you
suggest?”

“
Witchcraft.”

“
What?”

“
Use witchcraft on
him.”

“
No, I don’t
think––”

“
Tony, you have to.
Besides, isn’t Lilith always getting on your case about not
employing magic to keep your powers strong?”

“
Yes, but….”

“
He’s right,” said Carlos.
“It wouldn’t take anything for you to go there and get into his
head.”

“
You think?”

Dominic said, “What do you have to
lose?”

I shrugged uneasily. “Auh, not much, I
suppose.”

“
That’s right. So what do
you say?”

I thought about it. There seemed nothing
wrong with the proposal. Besides, I knew I could do it. And he was
right. Lilith was always getting on my case about not exercising my
powers––now the powers of the coven. I looked at them both and
smiled. “Okay. Why not? I’ll do it.”

I have to admit, the idea of using
witchcraft on another human being excited me. Except for unleashing
a whisper box or two on Lilith, I had never done that before. But
something about it felt right. Using my powers to solve a case made
perfect sense. It occurred to me then, perhaps that is what Lilith
intended all along. Before including me in the rite of passage
ceremony, I meant nothing to her. I was just another aging cop
working my last case–a washed up has been. But she gave me this
incredible gift and I realized, instead of subordinating it to my
job, I should employ it to help me do my job.

I said to Dominic. “Go ahead and put that
APB out on Dwyer. Oh, and your car is on the next block over. Keys
are in it.” I turned to Carlos and backhanded him on the chest.
“You. Come with me. We’re going to see Ferguson.”

“
What are you
driving?”

“
I’m not. You
are.”

He backhanded me likewise. “Then I guess
you’re coming with me. Aren’t cha?”

He is such a smartass sometimes.

We showed up at the front gate of Biocrynetix
Laboratories at exactly four o’clock. A guard there with the
nametag, Johnson, refused to let us in, citing instructions from
Ferguson himself. I asked him what Ferguson had to hide. He replied
he was only following orders.

“
Well then you’re a good
man,” I said. “We don’t blame you for following orders.”

Carlos shot me a panicked look as though I
was giving up too easily. “Tony, we cannot turn back now. We have
to get in.”

“
We will,” I told him,
holding my hand up to shush him. “Don’t worry.” I leaned across the
center console enough to see out the driver’s side window. “Excuse
me, Johnson. Do you have an empty envelope there?”

“
Envelope,
sir?”

“
Yes, an envelope. I would
like to give you something. I need an envelope to put it
in.”

Johnson ducked into his guard hut, fished
around among the papers on his desk and came back with a
nine-by-twelve manila envelope. He removed a single slip of paper
from it and handed the envelope to me.

“
Thanks,” I said. I leaned
back, out of his line of sight, whispered into the envelope and
returned it to him. “There you go. You can open that now if you
like.”

He took the envelope and shook it. “There’s
nothing in it.”

“
Oh, but there is,” said
Carlos, knowing what I had done. “It’s tiny. Look
closely.”

Johnson folded back the envelope flap,
squeezed the ends to belly it open and peered inside. A gentle
whisk of air brushed passed his brows and tease his bangs. It
startled him at first. A whisper box often does that to its
recipient. Inevitably, they dismiss it, as Johnson did, and succumb
to the will chill that is the spell within.

“
So, Johnson,” I said.
“Are you going to let us in now?”

He looked up at us and blinked as if
noticing us for the first time. “Ahm…yes, of course.
Certainly.”

He stepped back into the hut and pressed a
button on the wall that opened the gate.

I thanked him, adding, “Better let the front
desk know we’re coming. Tell them it’s all right.”

He saluted his acknowledgement. Carlos drove
on. We parked at the curb outside the entrance to the main
building. As expected, we met no resistance from security at either
the door or the front desk. Riding up in the elevator, Carlos asked
how I intended to get Ferguson to give us the real skinny on QE647.
I answered him truthfully.

“
I don’t know.”

“
You don’t know? Tony, if
you don’t know how to make him tell us the truth, then why are we
here?”

“
I didn’t say I couldn’t
make him tell us the truth.”

“
Yes you did. You
said––”

“
Listen. I know how to
make him tell us the truth. I have to do the pulse point spell on
him. I’m just not sure how to go about it exactly.”

“
What is the pulse point
spell?”

“
It’s a touch spell. I
have to touch a plus point somewhere on Ferguson’s body. It’s
silly, I know, but it works. Lilith did it to me. The problem is I
don’t know how to get Ferguson to let me do it.”

“
How does Lilith get you
to let her do it?”

“
Carlos, how does Lilith
do anything? She’s a master at spell casting. All I know is she
touches me and I melt in her hands. She has a repertoire of touch
spells, you know. I never know when I’m under one. I mean, she has
the pulse point spell, the urge purge, the quell spell, the
see-me-not, the freeze breeze––hell, you name it.”

“
No. You name it, and do
it fast. We’re almost there.”

“
I don’t know, Carlos.
Maybe I can call Lilith.”