The Demon Within

by Robert L. Bryan

  Finn dropped his head close to the bar and shook it. "Just tell me where the camera is now."

  "What?" Kevin squinted.

  "This has to be some hidden camera prank, right? You can't be serious."

  Kevin placed his hand on Finn's shoulder. "I'm as serious as cancer, my friend. This guy in the robe and mask looked like he came right off the set of B-horror movie. So, the pig mask guy is holding this long staff and he bangs it on the floor three times; BOOM - BOOM - BOOM. Everyone in the room gathered around the illuminated area, and now I'm able to see there is a platform that looks like some kind of altar. So, pig-man gets behind the podium and starts chanting in this really deep creepy voice."

  "What was he saying?"

  "How the hell do I know. It was in some foreign language."

  "What language," Finn asked, "Latin?"

  Kevin shook his head. "No, it wasn't Latin. It sounded more like Klingon."

  "Klingon?" Finn didn't know what else to say.

  "That's right. You've seen Star Trek, haven't you? The Klingons have this language with a lot of slurring and clicking words. That's what this sounded like."

  "Whatever." Finn rolled his eyes again. "Keep going."

  So, pig-man is chanting, and the audience, including Carmen is singing response chants in the same language. This goes on for about ten minutes until pig-man bangs his staff two more times."

  "What happened?"

  "Some guy, at least I think it was a guy, wearing a horse mask stepped up on the altar and stood next to pig-man. Pig-man began chanting again for about a minute. Then he stopped and banged his staff one time." Kevin stared at Finn but didn't say anything.

  Finn was anxious for the climax. "And?" he said in a very long, drawn out pronunciation of the word.

  Kevin gulped and took a deep breath. "And the guy in the horse mask began to levitate."

  Finn squinted and tilted his head slightly, but remained silent.

  "You heard me right," Kevin continued. "The guy began floating around the room."

  Finn didn't know whether to laugh, cry, or show empathy. "What did you do?"

  "I ran!"

  "Where to?"

  "I turned right on the sidewalk and didn't stop running until I came to a subway entrance. I was so shaken I didn't even realize until I got on the subway platform that I was still wearing the stupid mask."

  "Where is the mask?"

  "It went directly into the subway litter basket."

  Finn leaned back and took a deep breath. "Did you ever speak to Carmen again?"

  Kevin shook his head. "Absolutely not! I blocked her phone number and on Facebook. I don't want to think about it." Kevin poured himself another shot of Sambuca. "I get shaken just talking about it."

  When Kevin’s third shot was history, Finn leaned forward and patted Kevin on his back. "You do realize that the levitation was all a gimmick, don't you? The guy was attached to some kind of wires."

  Kevin coldly stared at Finn. "You weren't there. I know what I saw."

  "Okay, Okay," Finn stated as he leaned to his right and grabbed the New York Post that Kevin had been reading earlier. Kevin went back behind the bar and continued with his morning maintenance duties while Finn paged through the newspaper. Finn stopped on page five. He read an article and slightly smiled. It was not a humorous article. In fact, it was the furthest thing from funny, but after the show his buddy had just put on, he was considering piling on a little. At first, Kevin's shaken demeanor was making Finn reluctant to continue, but his dose of sympathy was short lived. This was Kevin Malone, ball breaker extraordinaire. There was no way Finn was going to pass up an opportunity to turn the screws on him.

  "Hey Kev, you know what this is the two-year anniversary of?

  "No, what?"

  "The mass murder in Alley Pond Park. It was two years ago today that the guy slashed the throats of three guys out in the woods."

  Kevin stopped what he was doing. "So?"

  "So, they said it was part of some demonic ritual. I wonder if the killer wore a pig mask?"

  "That's not funny," Kevin shot back. "Besides, didn't they pin that on some insane dimwit - some guy who was half a retard."

  Finn tried to maintain a serious expression. "That's right, but if I were you I'd be very careful."

  "What's that supposed to mean?"

  "Think about it. The insane and dimwitted might to especially prone to demonic possession. You may have a serious problem, my friend."

  "Screw you, Finbar!"

  Finn gingerly eased off the stool.

  “Where are you going?” Kevin’s voice had a forlorn tone to it.

  “Back to work. I have a couple of cases I have to start working on. What’s wrong with you?”

  Kevin shrugged and seemed uncomfortable with what he was about to say. “Well, you know, there’s no one here right now and Meg won’t be in for another thirty minutes.”

  Finn stood in front of the large wooden door and scratched his head. “What are you babbling about?”

  Kevin looked down to the floor. “It’s just a little creepy in here right now. All this talk we just had of Satan and demons.”

  Finn squinted and brought his hand up to his mouth. Suddenly, he understood what was going on and he glowed in a huge smile. “You’re afraid to be alone, aren’t you?”

  Kevin was well aware that by momentarily letting his guard down he had opened himself up for an inevitable barrage of abuse. “Just get lost!” He shooed Finn away with his right hand.

  There was no way Finn was going to let his buddy off easy. “I’ll be just across the street. I’ll call you to make sure you’re alright. Maybe you should hang onto a silver bullet,” Finn teased as he exited.

  “Silver bullets are for werewolves, asshole!”

  “Sorry,” Finn caught the door before it closed. “I’ll have to read up on the latest in anti-demon equipment.”

  The door closed and Kevin sighed.

  Chapter 2: Same Old Cases

  April 14th

  Finn picked up his briefcase and walked across the office. “I’m going out, Gladys.”

  Gladys did not look up from her crossword puzzle. “Another drink, so early?”

  Finn stopped in his tracks and did an about face. “No,” he sneered, “I don’t need a drink. I’m going to meet a client.”

  “Whatever.” Gladys still maintained focus on her puzzle.

  Finn shook his head and continued to the stairs. He stopped in the doorway and turned around. “By the way, the windows are really dirty – clean them while I’m gone.” There was a renewed pep in his step as Finn skipped down the stairs. His feeling of self-satisfaction was short-lived, however, with another jolt of pain stabbing into his knee as he hit the sidewalk on Woodhaven Boulevard.

  Finn wished all his cases were like this one. Perform the initial set up and let technology do the rest of the work. When Peggy Hatley had called a week earlier, his initial instinct was to tell her that he was not a doctor or a nutritionist. After all, how could he possibly help with the problem of her nursing home bound father consistently losing weight. Peggy was insistent, however, in her claim of needing a private investigator. She insisted that her intuition was telling her something strange was going on inside the Bronx nursing home. Her father was 93-years old and suffering from dementia. He was not going to be much help. The staff said he was receiving his proscribed diet, and that he was eating it every day. They were at a loss to explain his weight loss.

  Finn’s recommendation was simple, and required a minimum amount of work on his part. Three days earlier he met Peggy outside the nursing home on Pelham Parkway. By all accounts he was just a friend of the family who had come to pay a visit to Peggy’s father. Finn found the nursing home environment terribly depressing. It was probably his low expectations that caused him to be pleasantly surprised at the sight of Henry Anderson. Sure, he was wrinkled and frail, but he seemed cognizant and upbeat. It took several minutes of conversation, howev
er, to realize that the cognizance was merely a façade – an illusion for someone who’s brain had substantially broken from reality.

  Finn was nice enough to bring a gift for Henry – a very attractive artificial potted plant. Finn picked out a very nice spot for the plant on a table in the corner of the room. This location provided the perfect view for the 2mm wide angle lens in the high definition video camera hidden inside the pot. The battery inside the motion activated covert camera could run for a week without re-charge – much more time than would be required for this investigation. Before entering the nursing home, Finn had showed Peggy how to remove the SD card from the camera. Now, he was pulling up in front of Peggy’s Astoria home to see what activities the hidden camera had captured over the past three days.

  Astoria was one of the more congested neighborhoods in Queens. Finn had to circle the block three times before luckily observing a vehicle pulling out of a parking space. Peggy Hatley lived with her husband Bill in the type of attached, brick, two family home that was predominant in the area.

  In the short time he had been acquainted with Peggy, Finn found her very cordial and pleasant, so it was no surprise for him to be barraged with offers of coffee, food, snacks, and all manner of drinks, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic. Finn very politely refused all the offers until finally, Peggy took a deep breath and held up her right hand.

  “Here it is,” she said, handing over the SD card to Finn.

  Finn took possession of the card and inserted it into the slot in the USB drive that had come with the camera. He took his laptop out of his briefcase, but Peggy interrupted him with a suggestion.

  “If that’s for a regular USB port, you can use my TV,” she stated while pointing at the 75-inch Samsung on the living room wall.

  “Sounds good,” Finn said while returning his laptop to the briefcase.

  Finn let out a sigh of relief when a 1080P view of Henry’s room appeared on the large screen. Finn was still very much a novice in the use of security cameras, and he knew it was risky to be reviewing the video for the first time in front of the client. What if all he saw was blank screen. More concerning, what if someone moved the plant shortly after he placed it there.

  The video was showing the room exactly as he had arranged it. Whether or not there was anything meaningful on the video was irrelevant. He would still be paid.

  It took a little while to get comfortable with the video display. A nurse would enter the room to tend to Henry, and when the nurse departed, it seemed that another nurse instantaneously entered the room. Finn explained to Peggy how the video motion detection worked. The camera remained off until motion was detected in the room, causing it to begin recording. Once there was no more motion in the room, the camera turned off. Finn pointed out that an hour and a half had actually elapsed between the visits of the two nurses.

  Finn and Peggy sat silently watching the activities in Henry’s room. Besides the nursing visits, custodians emptied the trash and mopped the floor, aides saw to Henry’s personal needs, and cafeteria workers brought him his meals. The first meal delivered on the video was lunch, and Henry seemed to fully enjoy the turkey sandwich. After several other segments of activity, Henry’s dinner was delivered. Henry was asleep, so the attendant left his dinner on the table next to the bed.

  “He naps a lot in the afternoon,” Peggy commented. “I’ve been meaning to ask them if he can get his dinner later because he’s always asleep when it arrives, and sometimes it’s cold by the time he wakes up and eats it.”

  “Who’s that?” Finn asked, noting the presence of a new figure on the screen.

  “Oh, that’s just Sanford,” Peggy answered. “He’s the evening security guard, and he’s a really nice guy. He always looks in on dad to make sure he’s OK.”

  “That’s really nice of him,” Finn said while observing the portly, uniformed, middle aged guard waddle around the room. Sanford stopped waddling when he got next to the bed. He leaned over and waved his hand a few feet in front of Henry’s face.

  “See,” Peggy said. “He’s making sure dad is alright before he goes.”

  “Really?” Finn wasn’t so sure.

  The serene smile disappeared from Peggy’s face and her mouth dropped open in disbelief at what she saw next. Friendly Sanford the security guard neatly unwrapped the plastic covering Henry’s meat loaf dinner and made short work of it in three big bites. After washing the meatloaf down with Henry’s favorite apple juice, Sandford polished off the mashed potatoes and finished his feast with a big slice of carrot cake. With a very satisfied look on his face, Sandford returned to his patrol duties, or at least to a similar feast in the next room.

  The video flashed two hours ahead to another visit from the nurse, but Finn and Peggy were no longer concentrating on the video. Finn felt he should wait for Peggy to comment first. He didn’t have to wait long.

  “That son of a bitch,” she snarled. “You would think that fat bastard would realize he didn’t need anything else to eat.”

  Finn was just as shocked by prim and proper Peggy’s sudden burst of street talk as he was at the sight of the security guard helping himself to her father’s dinner.

  “Well, I guess we know the issue that’s causing your dad to lose weight,” Finn said.

  “I want to go up there and confront these people with this video as soon as possible. When can I get a copy of the video.”

  Finn nodded toward the television. “You can have that USB.”

  Peggy was hesitant. “But that USB is specifically made for that SD card. And what about your camera in the plant?”

  Finn held up his hands. “Don’t worry about it,” he said. “Just send me the plant and the USB when you get a chance.”

  Peggy extended her hand. “I don’t know how to thank you, Mr. Delaney.”

  Finn accepted the check, and left his hand outstretched for a parting handshake.

  “Good luck,” he said. “Call me if you need anything else.” Finn slammed the driver’s door of his Toyota closed and started the engine – case closed. They should all be that easy.

  April 16th

  Finn squeezed between two occupied stools and leaned on the bar, soaking in the vibe. The pulsating music, the smiles and laughter, the conversations in loud voices all competed for dominance of the atmosphere. This was a very different pub than the one Finn frequented for his late morning coffee. Kevin was covering for the regular night bartender, and Finn wasn't sure if he had noticed him, but the question became moot when a bottle of Coors Lite plopped down on the bar in front of Finn.

  Kevin ignored a call from down the bar to greet Finn. “What brings the local hero out at night?”

  "I have to do a surveillance tonight, so I figured I'd stop in and say hello before I got started."

  "Say hello to me? I'm touched," Kevin sarcastically placed his hand over his heart.

  Finn smiled. "Well, you and anyone else who may be around."

  "Sure," Kevin said while ignoring further calls from down the bar.

  Finn could sense an imminent ball breaking session, so he quickly switched to the offense. "Nice crowd tonight. I guess you don't have to hide from the boogey man with so many people around."

  "Very funny, Finbar." Kevin departed to answer his calls for service.

  Finn rewarded his offensive burst with a long sip of his beer. Before he could complete his sip, he could feel someone melting their body into his from behind. Meg had arrived.

  “Hey stranger,” Meg smiled

  “Hey Meg,” Finn’s peck on her forehead definitely communicated less feeling than Meg’s approach.

  “I had a really good time the other night,” Meg gushed.

  “Me too,” Finn concurred, but with less enthusiasm.

  “We should do it again,” Meg suggested.

  “Yeah, of course,” Finn replied without offering a specific date.

  “Well, I have to get going. It’s getting busy at the hostess podium.” There was an air of disap
pointment in Meg’s voice that Finn couldn’t miss.

  “Yeah, I’ll see ya, Meg.” Finn was disgusted with his behavior, but he couldn’t help himself. All he could do was shake his head. He was well on the path to blowing it again with Meg. Even when Meg began hostessing at the Shamrock Pub, Finn’s guilt prevented him from having any association with her. It wasn’t until Kevin provided a rare dose of insight that Finn found the fortitude to apologize to Meg. When his big missing person’s case was concluded, Finn actually asked Meg out on a date. He couldn’t believe what he was doing, but he was skipping right over friendship and entering the waters of relationship. But alas, those waters were evidently too rough for Finn. Every time he would set sail, he would quickly return to port. In other words, Finn was now in what could be best described as an endless series of first dates. For some reason that even he couldn’t comprehend, he couldn’t get into the deep water.

  Finn pushed a ten-dollar bill across the bar. “Well, I have to get to work. We’ll do something soon. I’ll call you.” Finn concluded his departure with another peck on Meg’s forehead.

  “Sure, call me.” Meg bit her lip and forced a smile.

  Finn turned the corner of the packed square bar and gave a farewell wave to Kevin as he hit the exit door. Finn remained inside the pub when Kevin held his right hand up in the universal sign for stop. A minute later Kevin was out from behind the bar and ushering Finn through the door and onto the sidewalk.

  “I need a favor,” Kevin began.

  “What else is new?” Finn responded.

  “I’m serious, Finbar.”

  “Go ahead.” Finn braced himself. Kevin’s favors usually involved money.

  Kevin could read Finn’s body language. “Don’t worry, I’m not looking for money.”

  “Well?” Finn was growing impatient.