Call Of The Witch (7 page)

“
Excuse me?”

He shook his head. “I can’t think about that,
Tony. I have to believe she’s okay.”

“
I have to believe she’s
okay, too. But let’s face it. We need to cover all the
bases.”

“
Tony, she’s just a
child.” I could hear his voice cracking again. “I don’t want to
work this case assuming it’s a recovery mission.”

“
I don’t either, Dominic.
I’m only saying––”

“
Tony!” I turned to
Carlos. He drew a bead on me a sharp as glass. “We can do that
later.”

“
Later?”

He hooked his brow ever so slightly. “Yes.
Later.”

I gestured a weak shrug. “Sure. All right.
We’ll do it later.”

Carlos nodded at Spinelli. “What else,
Dominic?”

I could tell that Dominic had lost focus
temporarily. His eyes drifted off again, down toward the floor and
along an imaginary line. I looked at Carlos, my expression
undoubtedly conveying my confusion. He shook his head faintly. I
took that to mean I should let it go.

“
Dominic?” he said
again.

At last, he responded. “Yes?”

“
What else you
got?”

“
Oh.” I could see him
reeling his thoughts in and stowing them away somewhere deep in the
back of his mind. He flipped to the next page on his chart. It was
a crude outline of the tri-county area showing a red X at two
locations roughly ten miles apart. In the center on the map was a
blue square with an A-frame top. He pointed to the blue box
first.

“
This is the Brewbaker
home,” he said. “And these,” he pointed to the two red X`s, “are
the cell towers that relayed the kidnappers first two phone
calls.”

“
He’s bouncing the signals
off different cell towers,” I said, “to keep us from knowing his
fixed location.”

“
That’s right. He knows
we’re able to trace the relay towers without difficulty. The phone
records tell us that. In fact, the phone doesn’t even have to be in
use for us to know which tower it’s closest to.”

“
So long as the battery is
in the phone.”

“
Exactly. Unfortunately,
the kidnapper is smart enough to know that, too. We have traces set
up on all the phones in the Brewbaker’s house, landlines and cells.
The problem is, we need time to trace a call if we’re going to
triangulate and pinpoint the exact location of its
origin.”

“
I don’t think that’s
going to happen. The caller seems smart enough to know we’ll
attempt to do that. He’s not going to stay on the line long enough,
and if he does, it looks like he’s going to keep jumping around so
that we can’t track him to any one place.”

Carlos said, “We can only hope he slips up
and forgets to remove the battery from the phone after placing his
next call.”

“
In the meantime,” I said,
“we can look at video from cameras around those two cell towers.
Maybe we’ll get lucky and spot that van the neighbor kid
mentioned.”

“
Already on it,” said
Spinelli. “I got video coming in from three convenient stores, two
banks and a gas station.”

I smiled, pleased and just a little amazed at
the kid’s efficiency. “Okay then, let’s assume for a moment it’s
not the mother and that we’re looking at acquaintances. From
talking to Lionel Brewbaker, it sounds like Kelly has a limited
circle of contacts. Why don’t we see what information we can find
on Kelly’s dance coach and her riding instructor?”

“
I’m working on that,
too,” said Dominic.

“
Good. Are you also doing
a full background check on Mr. and Mrs. Brewbaker?”

“
No. Should I?”

“
Sure, and run one on the
house keeper, too. What’s her name?”

“
Karina Martinez” said
Carlos.

“
Right, Karina Martinez.
Her access to the kid is unquestionable. Let’s see if she has any
skeletons in her closet. Is she here legally? Is she hurting for
money? If nothing else, she may be the last one to have seen Kelly
before she disappeared. Perhaps she can tell us what Kelly was
wearing, what she had on her or with her. In fact….” I turned to
Carlos. “We ought to go see her first.”

Carlos nodded. “Ready when you are.”

I checked my watch. “Six-fifteen. For all we
know we’re ten hours into this already. I don’t like it that we
still don’t have a specified ransom amount. That can’t be
good.”

“
It’s not,” said Spinelli.
The tone of his voice sounded certain.

“
All right then. Guess
that’s it.” I picked myself up and started for the door.
“Carlos?”

“
Wait,” Spinelli called
back.

Carlos and I both turned around. “What?”

“
I was
thinking.”

“
Yes?”

“
Why don’t you try
witchcraft?”

“
On what?”

“
This case. Use witchcraft
to locate Kelly.”

“
I don’t know how to do
that.”

“
Sure you do. You can scry
for her. Like you did in Salem that time to find
Lilith.”

“
Dominic, I’m not so sure
that even worked.”

“
What do you mean? It
worked. We went straight to her after that. You found her and
Ursula.”

“
Yeah, Tony.” This from
Carlos. “You were on your game that night. The witch was in you,
man.”

“
Yes, and it was all
around me, too. The town was swimming with residue energy from a
thousand dead witches.”

“
That’s right, and now
that you are one with the Coven, you’re swimming with the energy of
a thousand dead witches. They’re inside you. They’re all around
you.”

I shook my head. “I don’t know guys. After
our last case, I don’t think I’m comfortable using witchcraft at
work.”

“
Tony,” again, Carlos.
“What do you mean? Our last case you made a zip ball and blew the
lockbox clean off that hotel room door to get to Howard Snow. That
was beautiful!”

“
Yeah, and I also used
witchcraft on J.P. Ferguson at the Biocrynetix Laboratories
building and nearly killed the man.”

“
Pah-lease. Come on, Tony.
He was a dead man walking anyway. Besides, we’re not suggesting you
do magic on anyone. Just do a little scrying. You got nothing to
lose.”

“
Yeah,” said Spinelli.
“What do you have to lose?”

I thought about it. They were right. What did
I have to lose? Scrying is a victimless art of magic. Not like the
zipball. I initially decided to stop using witchcraft at work
partly because of what happened to J.P. Ferguson, but mostly
because of what happened to me the last time I did. In blowing up a
lockbox with a zipball at the motel, I took a chunk of shrapnel to
the cheek and nearly lost an eye. I realized then how dangerous
witchcraft was and decided never to use it around other people
again. Of course, that was a promise I had yet to share with
Lilith, as it is generally under her insistence that I participate
in magic in front of others often.

I threw my arms up. “Fine. I’ll try scrying.
I’m going to need some sand or some rice or beans. Something like
that.”

Dominic said, “I’ll get you something.” Then
he left the room in a sprint.

I said to Carlos, “I’m not promising
anything, you know that.”

“
I know, but it’s worth a
try.”

“
Yes, it is,” I admitted.
I opened the door of the media room and looked down the hall.
Dominic was gone. I imagined he ran downstairs to the cafeteria for
whatever it was he planned to get me. I let the door shut again and
said, “Hey, what’s with him these days?”

“
Dominic?”

“
Did you notice how
peculiar he was acting?”

“
About Kelly?”

“
Yeah. I mean I thought he
was going to cry when I mentioned we should get her dental
records.”

Carlos dismissed my concerns with a shrug.
“It’s nothing, Tony. He’s all right. It’s just with Ursula being
pregnant and all, he’s a little freaked out. He’s trying to get
used to the idea of becoming a dad.”

“
That’s all?”

“
Sure. I’m used to it now.
You should have seen him last week when he was logging onto those
Internet sites, you know the live puppy cam and kitty cam sites. A
couple of days ago while watching chick cam, he got all gushed up
and cried like a baby after seeing three hatchlings break out of
their shells.”

“
Dominic did
that?”

“
Yeah, so cut the kid some
slack with this kidnapping case. It’s hitting a little close to
home for him.”

“
Is he going to be all
right? I mean we don’t need him getting distracted.”

“
He’ll be fine. In fact, I
think this case is exactly the distraction he needs to do his work
with some sense of focus.”

“
I hope so
because––”

“
Wait. Here he
is.”

“
Got it,” said Dominic,
charging through the door, holding up a shaker of salt. “Fresh from
the cafeteria, Mother Nature’s most abundant spice. Think this’ll
work?”

I took the saltshaker and weighed it in my
hand as if judging its suitability for the task. “I suppose so.
Let’s give this baby a go.”

I heard Carlos make a sucking sound in
through his teeth at the word baby. I shot him a look that said
bite me. I wasn’t going to tiptoe around the proverbial nursery
over reckless syntax and linguistic nuances.

The two followed me back to the table. I
grabbed a black marker off the easel’s ledge and drew a circle on
the table roughly eighteen inches in diameter. I could tell that
Dominic wanted to scold me for defacing government property, but it
was his idea that I try scrying in the first place. For that
reason, he bit his lip and let me proceed.

“
You remember how to do
it?” Carlos asked.

“
There’s nothing to it,” I
said. “You spill some salt on the table and read the
signs.”

“
Yeah, but do you remember
how to read the signs?”

I stopped unscrewing the top off the shaker
long enough to look him in the eye. “Carlos, there is no knowing
how to do it. You spill the salt and look at it. You either see
something or you don’t.”

“
You think you’ll see
something?”

“
Damn it! I don’t know.
Why don’t you just shut up a minute and we’ll see what
happens?”

He backed off some. “You don’t have to
yell.”

“
I didn’t
yell.”

“
You didn’t not
yell.”

“
If I didn’t not yell,
then that means I yelled.”

“
See. I told you. You
yelled.”

“
Carlos. I
didn’t––”

“
Guys! Please. Can we do
this?”

Now Carlos and I both worked up the bite me
look for Dominic. It was getting contagious. He turned it around
and served it back to us on a full-sized bite me platter. I found
myself suddenly feeling much less sympathetic toward his baby
anxiety syndrome. “Fine,” I said. “Let’s see what this baby can
do.”

I heard no teeth sucking sounds from Carlos
that time.

We all turned our attention to the circle. I
finished unscrewing the top of the saltshaker and poured a generous
amount of salt into the palm of my hand, about half the shaker’s
contents. I don’t know how I knew the correct amount. I simply
poured the salt out until it felt right, as if a bell in my head
chimed when my inner scale tipped at the right weight. I even
removed a pinch of salt and tossed it over my shoulder, lightening
the load an infinitesimal amount. Yet I knew it was necessary to
assure an accurate reading.

“
All right,” I said, not
looking at either of them. “Here goes.”

I held my hand over the circle some eighteen
inches above the tabletop, closed my eyes and opened my fist. I
felt the salt sift through my fingers like angel dust, causing a
tingle in every neuron receptor in my hand, as if spun of
electrically charged spider webs. When the last of the salt cleared
my baby finger, I opened my eyes.

“
Hot damn! Look at that.
It worked!”

“
What?” said Carlos. “You
see something?”

“
Something? I see
everything.”

“
Everything? I don’t see
everything. I see nothing. You see anything, Dominic?”

Spinelli shook his head. “I see a pile of
salt.”

“
Are you kidding me?” I
pointed to the obvious map that had presented itself in phenomenal
clarity. “It’s a map. Look! There’s New Castle, Ipswich, Danvers.
That’s Boxford. Up here, Portsmouth. Over here is Manchester. Don’t
you see it?”

They both answered. “No.”

“
Well I do.”

“
Then tell us where Kelly
is.”

I studied the map carefully. I could see the
cell phone towers Spinelli had told us about earlier. I could see
Brewbaker’s house, the Justice center, Kelly Brewbaker’s school.
But I could not see Kelly Brewbaker.

“
Well?” said
Carlos.

I shook my head. “I don’t see her.”

“
You don’t know where she
is?”

“
No.” I put my finger down
on the Brewbaker house and dragged it through the salt. The map
that I had seen so clearly began to distort, broken apart by
ripples like a reflection in water. When I lifted my finger, it was
gone. Only a scattering of salt remained on the table, marked by a
meandering trail leading nowhere. I looked up at Carlos and
Spinelli. I could tell they expected more. But I had
nothing.