8 Gone is the Witch (2 page)

“That’s what I started to tell you all.” He pointed to the cowboy. “It’s what you told the sergeant at the desk, isn’t it? You said you heard the man say his name, Lowell?”

“
Yup. That’s the name I heard.”

Tony
took the man by the arm, “Please, sir. Would you come with us?” He looked at me. “Lilith, did you want to stay?”

“Shaa!” I nudged Carlos aside with the back of my hand. “
Just try and get rid of me.”

We followed Tony and Dallas into the
detective’s room, back into the corner by the window where two of the desks sat facing each other, forming a single workstation for Tony and Carlos. Tony directed Dallas to take a seat in one of two chairs beside the desks. Ursula, under Dominic’s direction, sat in the other.

Tony began, “Mister Dallas––”

“Uh-uh. It’s just Dallas.”

“
Sorry. Dallas. Please start at the beginning and tell us what this is all about.”

The o
ld cowboy checked his watch. “Well, long `bout two hours `go, I got a call from dispatch to pick up a fare at an address outside of town. Some college building I thought. I drove there and found this man waiting out on the front steps. He looked bad, but he weren’t hurt or nothin`.”

“How do you mean?”

“I mean he looked like he fell off the bull. His hair all messed up. His clothes dirty and torn. I thought he might-a been mugged, but he said he weren’t. Said he had a rough night and then laughed.”

Tony glanced up at Carlos and gave him a look as though he were
only half believing it. Carlos looked at me. I think he and I were both totally buying it. The skittish vibes down deep in my gut told me I had to.

“What happened next?” Tony asked.

Dallas offered up a shrug. “I let him into my cab. I mean I didn’t know if he had any money, but I figured as I was all the way out there, wasn’t like I was gonna pick up another fare to take back to town.”

“Where did you take him?”

“Took`im to an apartment building just this side of the tracks.”

“
And you left him?”

“I let him out.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean he told me to wait there for him. I watched him go upstairs to one of the
m apartments. He came back a minute later with a woman and the two of `em got into my cab.”

“
Can you describe her?”

“Yeah.
She seemed drunk, stoned maybe, like she done ate too many peyote buttons.”

“
Jean Bradford,” Carlos whispered.

Tony heard him, too.
He said to Dallas, “Was this an older woman?”

Cowboy Joe shook his head. “
Uh-uh, younger. Just a girl really. Pretty thing, too. Dressed in a flimsy little nightgown.”

“
You say you think she was stoned?”

“Thought so, but then I wasn’t so sure.”

“Explain.”

“I
t’s like the girl didn’t wanna go with him so willingly. She protested, tried to put up a struggle, but didn’t have the fight in her to do nothin`.”

“Are you serious?” I said
. I pointed to Cowboy Joe and shook my finger. “The girl didn’t want to go with him and you didn’t say anything?”

Dallas looked up at me
as though I had just accused him of farting out the Star Spangled Banner. “`Course I said somethin’. I asked him what he was doing with the girl.”

“And?”

“He told me she was his daughter, that she was partying with a bunch of college boys and that he was taking her home.”

“And you bought that?”

“I did. For a bit.”

“But?”

“But then he had me drive them both back to that old college building. I knew then something was wrong.”

“How’s that?” Tony asked.

“Well, I realized it weren’t no college building. You see, on the ride up the first time I didn’t see it.”

“See what?”

“The sign
out front, a construction sign… or a destruction sign, I s`pose.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Williams and Sons Demolition: the name on the sign. Seems they done scheduled the building for demolition. It ain’t no college and there ain’t no dormitories there. That’s when I became real suspicious.”

“Williams and Sons
,” said Dominic. “I know those guys. They have a contract to raze the old research center where Dr. Lowell held his paranormal studies.”

“They’re tearing
it down?” I asked. “When?”

“Next week.
Crews have been out there all month mapping out detonation points.”

“Tony.” I reached
for his forearm. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

He palmed
the back of my hand. “Let’s not jump to conclusions. I’m sure there’s an explanation.” He turned to Dallas. “Sir, you said the man’s name was Dr. Lowell. How do you know that? Did he tell you?”

Cowboy Joe shook his head. “Wasn’t him what said it. Was her. When they got
out`a my cab, seemed the girl was feeling a bit feistier. She struggled some, but he was too strong for her. She kept saying, ‘Dr. Lowell, please let me go. Don’t take me.’ That’s when I began to s`pect he weren’t her father. Don’t know no girl what calls her daddy, Doctor.”

I couldn’t stand it any longer. I walked over to the little snake and pulled him up by his lapels. “You sorry ass piece of
cow shit! A man drags a helpless woman out of your cab and you do nothing to stop him?”

“Lilith!” Tony came up behind me
, laced his fingers around my waist and pulled me back. “Let him go.”

I dropped the skinny bag
of dirt into his seat. He put his hands up to prevent another assault, but I was done with him. I wiped my hands on my jeans and eased back into Tony’s arms. He had a decent hold of me, but not so much that I couldn’t break away if I wanted to.

I looked over at Ursula. She seemed frightened, and the look on Carlos and Dominic’s faces
told me they both thought I might unleash something horribly witchy on the little twerp’s ass.

Tony whispered in my ear.
“Are you going to calm down now?” I could feel his grip around my waist loosening. I pried his interlocking fingers off my stomach and slipped off to one side.

“I’m calm,
but that bearded lizard better have a good reason why he didn’t speak up to help the girl.”

“I did speak up
,” Dallas said, sounding righteous in his own defense. “I got out`a my cab and confronted the man, but he cut me down.”

“What do you mean he cut you down?”

Dallas stood and motioned a slicing wave with his hand as if casting water off his fingertips. “He did this as I approached him. Next thing I knew, my knees buckled, my back folded and I went down on the pavement. When I came to, they was gone.”

“Dominic.”
Tony pointed across the room to a metal filing cabinet in the corner. “Do we still have a photo of Dr. Lowell up here?”

“I’m sure we do.” He hurried to the cabinet and
returned with a manila envelope. “Here you go.” He handed it to Tony.

Tony removed
a photo, glanced at it briefly and then showed it to Dallas. “Is this the man you say got into your cab with the young woman this afternoon?”

Dallas observed the photo and nodded.
“Yup, that’s him all right. Looks real nice in that there picture, but that’s him.”

Dominic handed Tony another photo. Tony handed it to Dallas. “Is
this the girl?”

I could see as
it changed hands that it was a picture of Leona Diaz. Dallas ran his blackened fingertips over the glossy surface. “Yup. That’s her.” He handed the photo back. “Sure is a pretty thing, ain’t she?”

Tony took the photo
, coaxed Dallas from his chair and nudged him towards the hallway. “Yes she is. Listen, thanks for your help. If you think of anything else, please don’t hesitate to call us.”

We waited for Tony to return before gathering around the two desks, none of us exactly sure what to say. Dominic broke the
awkward silence.

“
I’m confused. Will someone tell me what’s going on here?”

Tony shot me a look, which I interpreted as
him passing the baton. “Sure. It means Doctor Lowell is back.”

“
How? I thought you banished him to the Eighth Sphere.”

“We did,” said Carlos. “I opened the knot on the witch’s ladder myself.”

“Then how could he come back?”

“Who is Doctor Lowell?”
asked Ursula.

“He’s a bad man,
” I said, “and we have to figure out how he got here and what he wants with Leona.”

“Isn’t it obvious?”
said Tony.

“What, how he got here?”

“No, why he wants Leona. He intends to finish what he started with her four years ago.”

Ursula came back. “
What, pray tell, be that?”

“
It’s complicated,” I answered. “I’ll tell you on the ride out there.”

“Out where?” Dominic
’s expression grew stern.

“Yeah,
” said Tony. “What are you thinking?”

I walked up to him and snatched the photo from his hand. “I’m thinking….” I held Leona’s picture to his face, “
that we need to take a ride out to the research center and find this kid before something bad happens to her.”

Carlos
uttered, “Sounds like something bad already has.”

“Lilith.” Tony
shook his head as if he could dismiss me that easily. “I appreciate your concern, but this is a police matter.”

“No,
it’s a paraphysical nightmare of the third degree. Don’t you see? If Dr. Lowell has somehow managed a trans-dimensional passage, then he’s obviously found a portal between the Seventh and Eighth Sphere. If he’s learned to control that portal, he could facilitate the return of humankind’s most despicable souls back into this world.”

“
You think that’s what happened?”

“Yes
. So you see why this is so important.”

“I
see now. It’s just that for a minute there, I thought you actually cared about Leona.”

“I do,” I said, shrugging
off my apathy. “I mean I have nothing against little Miss Guatemala. She’s a good kid and all.”

“She’s Honduran
.”

“Honduran,
Guatemalan. It’s all guacamole to me.”

“
Ahh, yes. There’s the compassion.”

“
Listen. Compassion is a luxury we can’t afford. We need to get our butts out to the research center immediately to stop Dr. Lowell. If we can rescue Leona in the process, so much the better. If not, then we may have bigger problems to worry about.”

“Bigger than worrying about Leona getting
raped by that sick bastard, or worse?”

I stepped closer, extinguishing the gap in air space between us.
“Tony.” I rocked up on tiptoes and kissed him. “If Dr. Lowell manages to open that portal and keep it open––we’re all fucked.”

Chapter
Two

Ursula and I
took my car out to the old research center. Tony, Carlos and Dominic took a company sedan, followed by three black and whites, all running their lights and sirens.

I knew Tony would want us to wait outside while the
y swept the building, so for that reason I didn’t push it. I drove the speed limit, allowing myself ample time to explain the situation to Ursula as best I could, starting with Dr. Lowell.

“You see,
Urs, back then it was a grand experiment in the field of paranormal research. No one had ever assembled so many gifted people for such a comprehensive study before. In that respect, Dr. Lowell was years ahead of his time. Some even called him a genius.

“
He secured the project grants himself and opened the New England Institute for Research of Paranormal and Unexplained Phenomena in just one year. We called the meetings, workshops, but I called them bullshit sessions. I liked to go there just to screw with their heads. We had some real prudes in our class, but we also….”

I trailed off to reflect upon some of the friends I lost during the worst of those times, the months surrounding some of the most heinous examples o
f barbarism I had ever witnessed in my life. It’s funny how it has never left me. After all this time, it still makes me pause and take stock of what’s important in life. I took a deep breath to shake off the feeling of insecurity seeping under my skin.

“
We also had some real decent people,” I finished.