Stained

by Jessica McBrayer

  “Sé, baby, come on in,” Kate said, in a breathy voice.

  “I’d rather talk on the porch.”

  “Okay, I was just getting ready to leave for the office.”

  “Good, I’ll make this quick and simple so you understand. I want you to stay away from my case. You have no jurisdiction. I want you to stay away from Thorn. If I hear that you’ve threatened her again I’ll report you. Got it?”

  “You can’t talk to me this way!” Her eyes flared. Sé started to leave. “Don’t you walk away from me!” Kate’s voice climbed. He ignored her and kept on walking. She lost control.

  “That bitch thinks she’s safe,” she screamed, “but she better watch her ass, Sé, because I’m going to nail her for these murders.” Sé turned around and met Kate’s eyes.

  “Did I not make myself clear enough for you, or were the words too big, Kate? Leave my case alone,” Sé said, softly, his control in direct contrast to the loss of her own. He left no doubt about his determination. Kate looked startled, finally Sé left her, hoping his warning would convince her. He didn’t feel hopeful about that.

  As Sé heeled his kick-stand his beeper went off. He grabbed his cell and called in. His face grew grim as he listened to the call. There had been another murder in the night. Scettico wanted him at the crime scene. He wanted to haul Thorn in. The new victim was named Mathilda Heath.

  Sé drove down to the Marina. Mathilda’s body had been found not far from the pier, wrapped in the same thorny twigs that Azayrid’s wrist had been wrapped in. Scettico, of course, got a hard on about the evidence, and assumed that Thorn would be unbalanced enough to leave them a calling card like that.

  When he got to the scene he parked his bike and made his way over to the body. His captain was there, since this case had gotten so fucking huge.

  The body looked the same as the others, death by decapitation. Mathilda had a Celtic stylized cat on her upper arm with a big part of it missing. He forced his gorge back. How many more would this freak kill? Sé knew it would be hours before he could clear this scene and get back to Thorn. Hours, and piles of paperwork.

  “Sé!” his Captain barked.

  “Yes sir,” Sé said, as he jogged over to the Captain and Scettico.

  “Come over here. From what Scettico said the interview with Thorn went well. I think we need to pick her up after this if she doesn’t have an alibi.”

  “She won’t,” Scettico sneered. “She has to be our killer.”

  “Scettico, let me remind you that while she looks good for it, there are very few women serial killers. Just check it out,” the Captain said. “Not many women are strong enough to decapitate four people in one stroke.”

  “I don’t think Thorn looks good for this. Sir, she just doesn’t fit. Besides,” he said, looking pointedly at Scettico, “Her uncle is staying with her.”

  Suddenly his Captain was looking at him closely. He didn’t look happy. Sé let out a deep breath. He wasn’t making a good argument for professional detachment.

  “And this uncle,” Scettico made air quotes, “can vouch for her every minute of the night? The guy looked like he could barely stand yesterday. She could have gone out while he was sleeping.” Sé shrugged, he knew Thorn’s habit of taking Raven out late at night.

  “O’Bradigen we’ll discuss this later in my office. For now you get out of here, you’re pissing me off. The body is already processed. We got lucky and the coroner was here almost as fast as we were. Scettico can handle it from here on out. You go talk to people in the area and get statements.”

  “Yes sir.” Sé wanted to object, but knew it would just make the man dig in his heels. He went about getting statements from people and tried to keep an eye on Scettico at the same time. Things got worse when Kate Simms showed up on the scene. What the hell was she doing here? Her office was in San Francisco, not even on this side of the bay. She just couldn’t keep her ass out of his business and this case. She shimmied up to Scettico.

  Sé finished with the person he was talking to and approached Scettico and Kate to see what they were up to.

  “Hey Kate, don’t you work in the city? Funny how you keep popping up over here,” Sé said, coldly, as he walked up to the pair.

  Scettico smirked at him. Nice. Now two of his least favorite people were getting cozy. Kate gave him a sly smile.

  “I was just telling Detective Scettico how this case resembled the MO of several other unsolved cases we have in other states. The FBI is officially entering the game, Sé. I thought you’d especially be pleased. Ever since we worked that kidnapping case, I’ve been missing the chemistry I felt from the Berkeley P.D.”

  “You’ve got the wrong person,” Sé said, with new conviction. He realized he really believed it.

  “You know what your problem is, O’Bradigen?” Scettico asked.

  “What’s that Scettico?” Sé said, getting in the big burly man’s face.

  “You’ve gone soft on the girl. You need a piece of ass or something? Go get laid somewhere else.”

  Sé pulled his hand back. It was stopped in mid-air when his Captain grabbed his fist. Scettico sneered. Kate was eating it up.

  “O’Bradigen, come over here! Scettico, shut the fuck up!”

  Sé followed his Captain out of range of Scettico and Kate. His Captain pulled him roughly to a stop.

  “What the hell’s wrong with you? You going to punch out a misanthropic asshole like Scettico for saying shit?”

  “I’m sorry, sir,” Sé said, shaking himself off.

  “Don’t let me see you pulling that shit again. Now get out of here and go file some reports or something. You got a file to update.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Sé started walking towards his bike. He knew they were going to arrest Thorn as soon as they left the scene and picked up the warrant. Hell, Kate probably had one with her. Sé got on his bike and drove down the road a ways and then pulled over. He pulled his cell phone out and called Stained.

  “Stained, this is Gwynn.”

  “Hi Gwynn, I need to talk to Mr. Beglan. It’s an emergency. I know that Thorn doesn’t have a phone so could someone please go up and get him for me. It really is an emergency.”

  “Who can I say is calling?”

  “His breakfast guest. He’ll know who that is. Sorry for being so cryptic.”

  “Okay, I’ll go get him.”

  Sé waited on the phone for what seemed forever. He straddled his bike without putting the stand down, the big machine balanced by his posture. He knew what he was doing was the right thing, but he was about to jeopardize his career. It crossed a line he couldn’t ignore. Eventually Thorn’s uncle came on the line.

  “Hello, this is Charles Beglan.”

  “Mr. Beglan, do you remember breakfast? I’m your uninvited guest, but please don’t say my name. I don’t want anyone to know I’m making this call.”

  “Understood.”

  “A police detective and the FBI are on their way to arrest Thorn. There’s been another murder.” Cars were driving by and Sé kept glancing up watching for Scettico or Kate. “I don’t think she’s responsible, or at least I don’t think there’s enough evidence to arrest her. She needs to be in the wind. Is that possible?”

  “We’ll take care of it right away.”

  “I’ll keep in contact with you. Do you have a cell phone?”

  “I do. Thorn doesn’t like them, but I need one to stay in touch with clients.” Charles gave Sé his number and Sé wrote it down on a notebook he kept in his jacket pocket. “My number is on the card I gave you yesterday. I’ll talk to you soon, Mr. Beglan.”

  “Thank you, son,” Charles said, quietly. “I know this wasn’t an easy call.”

  “Let’s hope it’s enough.” Sé ended the call and got back on his bike just as he saw Scettico and Kate start to come around the bend. He roared off and headed towards the office to work on the file. But, his mind was on Thorn.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

&n
bsp; Wrap me in shadows thick as night, silence my footfalls, and hide my flight.

  Uncle Charles raced upstairs as fast as a geriatric man could and yelled for Thorn. She had just gotten out of the shower.

  “Thorn,” Uncle Charles wheezed.

  “Uncle, take a minute. Catch your breath. What’s wrong?” Thorn led him to a seat.

  “Sé called, no time. Scettico and Simms are on their way to arrest you. He wants you to get out of here. Do you have somewhere you can go?”

  Thorn crossed to her dresser and pulled out clothes she would need. She grabbed a duffel bag she always kept handy. It held all the things she needed to make her most commonly used spells.

  “Nowhere to go, but I know someone who can find me a place. I’ve got to ward my place before I leave, so they don’t find anything magickal.”

  She started moving around the apartment, chanting and creating signs with her hands as she came upon her implements and herbs. They would shimmer and turn into ordinary objects. Her books were always warded. When she was done, she heard a knock on the door.

  “FBI, we have a warrant for your arrest, Thorn, open up!” A woman yelled.

  “Time to use a confusion spell,” Thorn whispered. Charles winked at her. Raven cawed, he was ready for action, whichever way it came.

  “Let them in, Uncle. Get ready to distract them, Raven.”

  “Yesth.”

  Uncle went to the door and opened it. Scettico pushed him out of the way. Uncle Charles went stumbling into the door. Thorn’s temper flared and her energy built up. Raven flew at the two law enforcement agents cawing loudly and flapping at their heads.

  Thorn said, under her breath, “Turn around and round. Nothing here will be found. You will not remember your task and you will forget to ask. Be gone!”

  Raven arched around and flew to Thorn, landing on her shoulder. Scettico and Simms had a dazed look, their eyes were glassy. Blankly looking at their surroundings, clearly, not able to identify where they were.

  “Can we help you?” Uncle Charles asked Scettico.

  “Umm, I don’t know. I think I need to go back to the office.” He turned to leave and Kate looked around her a bit more thoroughly. She was sharper and the spell wouldn’t affect her as strongly. But after a moment’s hesitation, she followed Scettico, and they left together.

  Thorn sighed in relief. She grabbed her bag, helped Uncle to a chair and kissed his cheek. “I need to get an address from my files downstairs and then I’m out of here. You have food. This shouldn’t be too much longer. You’ll be okay?” Thorn asked, as she squeezed Uncle’s hand.

  “Yes, dearest. Just go. Call me on my cell phone when you can and let me know you are safe. Now go.” He pushed her gently out the door.

  Thorn tore down the stairs and through the employee break-room. She went to her work-station and into the drawer where she kept customer info. She found the card for Harley, her biker customer. He’d promised help if she was in trouble, and now she was. She hoped he was serious.

  “Gwynn, Reese, can I see you in the back for a moment,” Thorn said.

  The girls looked at each other before telling their clients they would be right back. Thorn never called an artist away during a session. Gwynn pulled on her long braid as they walked to the back room.

  “What’s going on, Thorn?” Reese asked. She was always direct.

  “The police think that I’m responsible for the murders that have been happening because my tattoos have been on the victims.”

  “That’s bullshit!” Reese said. Thorn smiled gratefully for her loyalty.

  “What did those two want just now,” Gwynn asked.

  “They were here to arrest me and I was able to convince them not to, for the time being, but they’ll be back,” Thorn said, as she went to the safe and pulled out a large sum of cash.

  “What can we do?” Reese said, as she sat down at the table.

  “Nothing for me, except to keep the shop running. I’m going to be in hiding a while until they figure out who’s actually doing this. One of the policemen isn’t convinced of my guilt and is still looking for someone else.” Thorn stuffed the money into her duffel bag, missing the exchange of looks between Gwynn and Reese. They had noticed that Sé hadn’t been with the police officers. Gwynn had recognized his voice on the phone moments before all hell had broken loose.

  “We can do that, Thorn. Don’t worry about the store,” Gwynn said.

  “Thanks, ladies.” Thorn went to them and hugged them both. This was very un-Thorn like and Gwynn started crying. “It’ll be fine, Gwynn. I just wanted to thank you and tell you goodbye properly,” Thorn said, as she smiled at them.

  “O-Okay,” Gwynn sniffed. Reese put her arm around Gwynn to comfort her.

  Jason came into the break-room to see what everyone was doing. He saw the expressions on their faces.

  “What’s going on? What happened?” he asked.

  “Nothing. I’ll be gone for a few days and I need everybody to run things like they would if I were here,” Thorn said.

  “Are you in trouble? I could go with you. You might need me.” His eyes darted from side to side, as if looking for a solution, or a weapon. Jason was out of control. She sighed, another loose end to tie up, but not today.

  In the meantime he would misinterpret anything she told him. She had to get him out of there so, she could leave.

  “Jason, everything is fine,” she said, giving him a reassuring smile. “Why don’t you go up front and keep an eye on the store.”

  “If you want me to. I’ll watch everything very closely for you. Make sure everything stays safe.”

  “Thank you. Now I have to give Gwynn and Reese a few more instructions.”

  “Okay, I’ll go. Bye, Thorn.” He kept glancing back over his shoulder as he walked to the front of the store.

  “Please don’t let Jason know what’s going on. I’m not sure why, but I don’t think it’s a good idea,” Thorn said.

  “Yeah, no problem, Thorn. He’s acting really strange,” Reese said.

  “I need to go before the police come back. My Uncle will be staying upstairs though.” She looked at the girls. She had told them Gérard wasn’t coming back. They’d taken it in stride. Now more work had been dumped on them with no complaints on their part. She studied them a moment.

  “I have one more huge favor. Would you check on Charles?”

  “Sure, Thorn, our pleasure,” Reese said. “Go now before it’s too late.”

  “Good. Well, bye, and thank you again,” Thorn said, before she ran out the back door. It was all she could do to leave her bike. She had to, they would track her on it. She couldn’t protect it with a ‘stay-away’ while it was in motion.

  Thorn jogged through the dirty alleys of Telegraph before veering off into the residential neighborhoods. She kept a low profile until she got into a seedy part of Oakland. She found a pay phone that hadn’t been torn apart yet and called Harley on it.

  “Harley.”

  “Hi, Harley. This is Thorn.”

  “Oh hey, Thorn! What are you up to, babe?”

  “Well… I’m in trouble. I was wondering if you could help me out. The police are trying to arrest me for those murders and I need a place to hide for a while.” Thorn said looking over her shoulder, watching for police.

  “Um… yeah… I can. Where are you now, at the shop?”

  “No, they already stopped there, looking for me. I’m at a gas station in Oakland.” Thorn gave him the address. “I’m on foot, Harley, my bike is too high profile.”

  “I’ll meet you there on my bike. Just stay tight, Thorn.”

  “Thanks, Harley.” She hung up and tried to hang out. She went into the store and bought some bottled water and a stale granola bar, took it outside and looked like she was taking a break. Raven acted as sentry. Thorn didn’t know what the next few days would entail. She just knew she owed Sé a lot. He was in over his head, with his job, most of all in the fight he’d deliberately ju
mped into. She was warmed by his sacrifice and terrified of the risks he’d taken on.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Sacred flame, as you dance, call upon my sacred glance. Call upon my second sight. Give me red hair and dark brown eyes. Blessed flame, shinning bright, give me now my second sight. Power of three, don’t let them see. Don’t let them see.

  Harley pulled up on his bike, the distinctive growl of his bike alerting anyone around that he was big and bad. Thorn hopped on before he was fully stopped. He tore out of the driveway without a word. Raven flew guard. Harley took backstreets and soon Thorn was lost. She knew they were somewhere in Oakland but the area was unfamiliar. The neighborhood hadn’t improved. It was part of Oakland with dilapidated houses, their Christmas lights hanging by a nail on paint-cracked old Queen Anne houses. Some places had car parts littered in yards along with broken, children’s toys and plastic lawn decorations. Beer bottles and worse cluttered the gutters. Harley pulled up in front of a yellow house that had seen better days but was tended by someone that cared, like several houses, sprinkled gemstones among broken glass. The yard was clear of debris and the porch had Halloween decorations—enhancements that actually fit the season.

  Harley’s big frame eased a sigh of relief once the motor was shut off. He was obviously nervous about hiding Thorn out. Thorn was going to owe him big time. Thorn got off the back of the bike and Harley followed. His leather jacket creaked as he moved. Thorn’s own leather pants were silent.

  “This here is my girlfriend’s house. She’ll keep you for a while. She just don’t know it yet,” Harley chuckled.

  “I don’t want to cause trouble, Harley,” Thorn started to protest but Harley raised his hand up.

  “I offered my help and I stand by it. Deirdre can be a little rattlesnake at times and she’s wicked jealous but she’s got a good heart. We’ll just have to convince her.”