Evil in Hockley (8 page)

Karma was at Harry’s side. She removed
her ring and held it toward Tony. She chanted in a tongue foreign
to Harry. She yelled the last syllables. Tony stopped then folded
like a puppet with no strings.

Karma cried and ran to him, kneeling on
the floor by his side. She rolled his head into her lap and stroked
his hair. Harry ran through the front door scanning the laneway and
road. Whoever had dropped Tony off was nowhere to be seen. When
Harry returned inside Karma said,

“We have to get the body out of here.
It would be hard to explain to the police. Maybe one of Joe’s goons
will call in an anonymous tip.”

Harry was puzzled.

“How did he die?”

“He would be difficult to kill with
bullets.”

“Tell me about it,” said
Harry.

“I used a spell to eradicate another.
One that kept him alive.”

She cried then added,

“I killed him. What was left
anyway.”

Harry helped Karma to her feet then
carried Tony’s body to Sandy’s sedan. It was the only one with a
trunk big enough to hold him. Sandy got into the driver’s seat,
Harry the passenger’s and Karma got into the back.

“Where to?”

“The bridge at the seventh
line.”

Airport Road didn’t always run straight
through highway nine. When it was called the sixth line before
airplanes were invented it bypassed a ravine. When they paved the
road and turned it into a highway they traversed the ravine with a
land bridge leaving a section of road about two kilometres long
that would never be used. They renamed it the seventh
line.

Someone built a house where the old
mill used to sit on the east side of the old road. On the west was
forest and that’s where they would stash Tony’s body. If found the
investigation wouldn’t lead anywhere. Unless someone saw them.
There was always that, wasn’t there thought Harry? A neighbour who
couldn’t sleep.

Sandy stopped at a bridge at the lowest
part of the seventh line. It spanned the Humber River, just a
stream at this time of the year. There was a trail that fishermen
used. Harry grabbed Tony’s torso and Karma his legs. They carried
him along the stream then deep into the forest. They laid him to
rest covering his body with branches. They couldn’t take the time
to bury him. Karma said a few words over him then they left and
drove home.

Karma cried all the way to the spare
bedroom. Harry sat her on the bed then offered his condolences.
Sandy watched every move. Downstairs again alone with Sandy Harry
said,

“You’re jealous.”

“Of a woman who can whisper words in
your ear and make you have sex, with or without her. I’m protecting
you from your male macho self.”

“Thanks, I think.”

As a temporary fix for the night Harry
nailed the broken front door shut. There was always an entrance
through the garage.

He walked to Sandy and held her in his
arms.

“I think after tonight we can trust
Karma.”

Sandy kissed him.

“It would have to be a terribly
complicated scheme to grab us. I saw it in her eyes. She lost her
lover tonight.”

“Would you cry for me, Sandy? I mean if
you had to kill me.”

“If I had to kill you it would be for
womanizing and I wouldn’t shed a tear. First Karen and ‘The Twins,’
at the donut shop and now Karma. Anybody else I don’t know
about?”

“Thanks for your trust.”

Chapter 15

Harry drove along Hockley road
searching for an empty house he could share with the owners. He had
to find a place to stash Bobby Mercer. One kilometre down a side
road he found a cabin with a for sale sign pinned to a tree. It was
nestled amongst cedar and birch trees. He drove in and found there
were no cars in the cramped lane. He knocked on the door and there
was no answer. It was perfect but he’d have to return a couple of
times especially in the evening and at night to confirm it was
deserted.

There were no neighbours across the
road, only a cedar forest. The folks next door on either side were
almost a kilometre apart so if he had to shoot Mercer the sound
would probably not be heard. The close proximity of trees would
muffle the blast. The idea of shooting Mercer was first and
foremost on his mind but he would let Karma attempt to retrieve
information from him that might prove useful in discovering the
person who killed Jarrod. Harry had killed terrorists for merely
planning an attack. Shooting a man, like Bobby, who had ruined the
lives of others did not register a single digit on his self
contempt scale.

When Harry arrived at his house Karma
was sitting at the dining room table, her eyes shut, and the
feather she wore in her hair held in her hand. Her lips were moving
but he heard nothing but whispers. He opened his mouth to say hello
but stayed silent when he saw Sandy with a forefinger held over her
mouth. The picture was, to say the least, intriguing. There was
some kind of magic at work: he felt as though he were being drawn
into a vortex of some kind.

Something was drawing him closer and
closer to the feather then his mind went blank. He opened his eyes
and he was soaring over forests. He glanced left then right and saw
the wings of a hawk. He was part of a dream fighting not to panic
and lose control.

Then he saw Joe Sharky’s lot from the
height of about a thousand feet. Without thinking he dove low
skimming the tree tops behind the buildings. He made another pass
over a huge tent. He could fly but didn’t have any idea how he had
accomplished the feat. He saw John Dean and Lenea as they came from
under the tent, shading their eyes, to stare at him. A plain hawk
would not have attracted their attention so they knew it was
something out of the ordinary.

Lenea dropped to one knee, held her
necklace, and bent her head low. She was probably chanting. Harry
was being drawn closer to her but he fought, trying to gain height.
He beat his wings furiously but was unable to gain altitude. Closer
and closer to Lenea he came. He felt a dark evil pulling him in as
though she was the eye of a tornado.

He felt a thump as though he’d fallen
off a chair then stared at the ceiling of his dining room. He heard
Karma gasp. She was sweating and breathing like a locomotive. He
rose to his shaky feet and stared at her.

“You okay, Karma?”

“Give me a minute.”

Harry sat across from her.

Sandy asked,

“What happened?”

“Ask Karma. I have no idea.”

“Karma?”

“Give me a minute, Sandy.”

Sandy sat and they both waited for
Karma to explain.

She finally spoke,

“I used a spell and concentrated my
thoughts on a hawk flying over fields near Joe Sharky’s place. I
saw through the hawk’s eyes. Then you took over, Harry, and I was
merely a spectator. I had to keep you flying which was not an easy
chore. You tried to control the hawk which one must never do. Lenea
felt someone in the bird and tried to bring it to her. I was able
to break free but you were still in her clutches. I used another
spell to break her concentration and she let you go.”

Harry heard the explanation yet had
problems believing it was anything but a dream. He was curious
however; The pull toward Lenea was so strong he couldn’t imagine
the force it would take break it.

“How did you break her
spell?”

“I used the woman’s vanity. I cut her
cheek.”

“How?”

“With the satanic emblem on her
necklace. I directed it to for a couple of seconds before she
caught on.”

Harry still couldn’t make his mind
accept what he had seen.

“How did I get caught up in all of
that?”

Karma looked unsettled then shook her
head.

“I have no idea. It’s never happened
before.”

Sandy used the F-Bomb.

“Fuck.”

It suited the situation. She had a way
with words.

Karma looked worried.

“They’ll know I’m here. It won’t take
long to realise it was me. After they talk to Joe they’ll know my
family name. Lenea will know who and what I am. We’ve lost an
edge.”

Harry asked,

“So who are you? What’s your full
name?”

“Karma Bastille. My mother is Marie
Bastille.”

“Meaning?”

“Lenea’s last name is
Bastille.”

“Fuck,” said Sandy.

“Your sister?”

“No my cousin. And my sister I guess.
After my father died my mother married his brother Ramone and they
had Lenea. I was already grown by then and left the house a couple
of years after she was born. I was sixteen when I hit the streets
of New Orleans.”

Sandy nodded.

“And whispered sweet nothings in men’s
ears.”

Karma laughed.

“Yah, I started young.”

Harry said,

“Hell of a coincidence, isn’t it? I
mean you and Lenea being sisters and all. Winding up in the same
place.”

“Not really. Like I said Joe Sharky’s
stomping grounds are here and in New Orleans. There are few with a
real gift in the city. In all they belong to one of four families.
My mother’s side and my father’s are two. That makes it a fifty
percent chance of running into Lenea.”

Harry asked,

“How does John Dean fit in? Her
lover?”

“I have no idea. He was always there
with my uncle Ramone. He’s about my age I guess. Maybe the fruits
of one of Ramone’s conquests? My uncle was quite a lady’s
man.”

Harry checked out the cabin in Hockley
again and found it was still empty. He went home and found Karma
and Sandy in an engrossing conversation. It was the first time
Sandy had let down her guard near Karma. It was getting late and he
was hungry.

“Let’s go to Orangeville and we’ll grab
a meal. I’m buying.”

“Of course you are. You’re the only one
with money,” said Sandy.

They took Sandy’s Chrysler 300. It was
the most comfortable with air to cool a hot summer
night.

They went to Kelsey’s and Harry
couldn’t help but order their salmon steak, his favourite. The
women both ordered a pasta dish of some kind. Definitely not food
for a man. Harry considered it pre-menstrual food for
women.

While they waited the women had a rum
mix and Harry had a whiskey.

The guy sitting alone at the next table
kept eyeing Karma. He finally came to their table and
said,

“Looks like you got one too many women.
Mind if I join you to equal the odds.”

He was looking at Karma when he said it
so she replied,

“We’re just friends out for a meal
after a really hard day.”

The man was drunk. He must have had his
fill before he came here. They didn’t serve anyone the amount of
alcohol needed to get anyone inebriated in this particular
establishment.

“All the more reason for company. I’m
entertaining, fun, and friendly.”

Harry had enough.

“Take a hike pal.”

“No need to get riled buddy. I’m trying
to be friendly.”

Harry saw a wet spot form on the guy’s
trousers. It grew and urine dripped on the floor. The stranger eyed
the stain then ran to the washroom.

Sandy laughed.

“Your doing, Karma?”

She had a naughty set to her eyes then
laughed. Harry couldn’t hold back a chuckle or two even though he
knew how embarrassed the man must have felt. He would rather have
punched the guy in the face rather than have him piss himself. It
was a guy thing: one man against another. There were
rules.

They ate then returned home and chatted
the rest of the evening.

That night Harry waited for Sandy to
come to his bed. She didn’t so he got up and looked for her: In the
washroom, downstairs, and outside. He finally went to Karma’s room
where he knocked on her door.

“Come in.”

Harry asked,

“Have you seen…”

There were two beds in the spare
bedroom, one on either side of the space. Karma was in one and
Sandy in the other. Sandy had the look of orgasmic torture all over
her face while her body heaved to a rhythm only she could hear.
Karma winced then smiled. Harry knew she’d put one of her sex
spells on Sandy probably at her request. Why else would she be
lying in Karma’s room? Harry backed out and shut the
door.

“What the hell,” he whispered to
himself.

Had Karma just stolen his
girl?

He stood a moment wondering if possibly
she could hex him as well.

“Nah.”

He went to bed but it was some time
before he fell asleep.

Chapter 16

The following morning Harry rose early.
Sandy came to the dining room, a smile pasted all over her
face.