BURY THE WITCH: Book 10 (Detective Marcella Witch's Series)

by Dana E. Donovan

  “What?” I said, though I knew what.

  “Are you all right?”

  “Yes.” I looked again at the spider web in the corner of the window and almost expected to see Jerome’s face staring back from the center of the spiral.

  Carlos suggested I sit, and helped me to my chair. “Damn, Tony, your skin is as cold as ice. You want some coffee?”

  Before I could answer, Dominic volunteered, and quickly ran off to get some.

  Carlos took a seat next to me. “Do you want to talk about it?”

  “No.”

  “You can—”

  “I’ll be okay. I just need some time.”

  Later, when we were all ready to pretend that nothing happened, I put the coffee down and stood. “Well, you ready, Carlos?”

  “Ready for what?” asked Dominic.

  “To go visit the pawnshop. After that, we’re going to drop in on Mister Stephens, and when we’re done there, we’ll stop in to see Allen Brinkman. Is that all right with you?”

  “Sure, but you know Carlos and I could do all that. You don’t need to run around town all crazy like.”

  “Crazy?”

  “No! God, no! Of course not. I don’t think you’re crazy. I was just saying.”

  “Stop saying. We got this covered. Besides, I need you to conduct background checks on the jewelry store’s owners. Find out everything you can about their finances. I want to know if any of them are over their heads in debt, if they’re being sued or whatever. While you’re at it, do a background on Brinkman, too. See if there’s anything about him that we should know, something he didn’t post on LinkedIn.”

  “Sure, okay. Call me if you need anything else.”

  “Probably won’t,” said Carlos. “Not unless we need you to shoot Brinkman for us.”

  “Tony.”

  “Carlos. Behave.”

  On our way to the pawnshop, Lilith called me. She didn’t seem anxious, though she should have been. If not for the hesitation in her voice, I’d have never known something was wrong. But Lilith never hesitates, so I knew it was big.

  “Lilith, what’s the problem?”

  “Who said I had a problem?”

  “Did the séance go okay?”

  More hesitation. “Umm…technically, the séance went well, insomuch as we were able to summon the guardians again.”

  “That’s great,” I said, and decided to force her hand. “So I guess I’ll see you tonight. Thanks for calling.”

  “Tony! Don’t hang up.”

  “What now?”

  “Well, there is this one small thing.”

  “I see.” I put the phone on speaker so that Carlos could hear as he drove. “All right, what’s the small thing?”

  “It’s Jerome.”

  “Of course. I might have guessed. Don’t tell me, he knocked a candle over and burned the house down.”

  “Nooo,” she said, and laughed nervously. “That’s silly.”

  “I know,” I said. “I was only kidding.”

  “Actually, it’s much worse than that.”

  “What?” I thought she was kidding now. “Lilith, what’s worse than that?”

  “Jerome ran away.”

  I could feel my tensed muscles slowly relaxing. “Oh, that’s it?”

  Carlos took his eyes off the road long enough to exchanged high brows with me, acknowledging my position that it wasn’t that bad.

  “Lilith, Jerome has run off before. It’s no big deal. I don’t know why you’re so worried about it. Ursula was able to unload the quintessential, wasn’t she?”

  “Oh, sure. That went fine.”

  “Okay, and Jerome forwarded the prime to the four guardians, right?”

  Lilith remained silent.

  “Lilith?”

  “See, Tony, that’s the thing.”

  “Lilith, please don’t tell me Jerome ran off with the four prime and the quintessential.”

  “Okay, I won’t tell you.”

  “Lilith, what the hell! How could you let that happen?”

  “It wasn’t my fault. After Jerome blew up the four guardians, he—”

  “Wait. What?”

  “He blew up the guardians; you know the clay faces in the bowl? After Ursula delivered the quintessential, he sort of freaked out. I’m sure he didn’t mean it, but Tony, I think he killed them.”

  “Lilith, the guardians are spirits. How can he kill something that’s already dead?”

  “It’s easy when you vaporize their plasma base. I mean it. It was a mess. I’m going to be scraping baked plasma off the walls for weeks.”

  “Lilith. Focus. Get back to Jerome. Where did he go?”

  “That’s just it. I don’t know. After he ran out through the hole in the wall, he—”

  “Hole in the wall?”

  “Yeah, from the giant boulder that rolled through the living room.”

  “Oh, dear God, I don’t want to know. Lilith, forget the boulder. Did you go out looking for him.”

  “Of course, we went out looking for him. What, do you think I’m stupid?”

  “Don’t turn this back on me. You’re going to have to do something.”

  “I’m open to suggestions.”

  “I don’t have any. I told you from the beginning that I thought giving the quintessential to Jerome was a bad idea and that you shouldn’t do it.”

  “See, and it turned out to be good advice. I should have listened. So what else have you got?”

  “I got a shitload of problems of my own, Lilith. That’s what I got. Now, I want you to go out and find him. He’s obviously scared, probably ran off to find some quiet place to hide. Look out in the shed. Look up in the trees. Just…just find him, and figure out how you’re going to fix this mess when you do.”

  I terminated the call without saying goodbye, something I’ve never done to Lilith before. Even Carlos realized the magnitude of that gesture, if not entirely appreciating the consequence of Jerome being the new Pentacle Prodigy.

  “I don’t believe it,” I said, raking my fingers through my hair in frustration. “Jerome is now the most powerful entity in the known universe, and for good or bad, he hasn’t even a clue of his potential.”

  Carlos clamped his lips tight and then broke them with a tsk. “Do you think we should go look for him? There’s no telling how much trouble he might cause out on the loose like that?”

  I settled into my seat, gazed out the window and thought about it. I concluded that Jerome was a simple soul, inquisitive, yet timid, friendly, though certainly not one to initiate first contact. His idea of adventure was scampering about the woods looking for small furry creatures to feed upon. I didn’t suppose he could cause too much of an uproar under those circumstances.

  I said to Carlos, “You know, I think Jerome will be all right. Once he calms down, he’ll go back to the house. He has to. He’s got nowhere else to go.” I pointed out the window. “In the meantime, we have work to do. Let’s get to the pawnshop. We can worry about Jerome later.”

  Big Al’s Pawn & Gold operated out of a two-story building on the corner of Martin Van Buren and Chestnut. Al, who we later learned was deceased, had painted the outside walls canary yellow for the high visibility factor, but kept the inside colors muted to soft hues of tan, olive and creams, colors designed to placate the anxious and encourage casual browsing. The new owner, Vinnie Albertelli, chose to leave things as Big Al intended.

  Carlos and I entered the pawnshop to the chime of an electronic tripwire, the same kind used by Marx Jewelers. Up in the corners were CCTV cameras and a motion sensor, also similar to those used by the jewelry store, only these were newer, the lens cover on the sensor, whiter. The red lights on the devices indicating they were all working properly.

  “Can I help you gentlemen?”

  I nodded and then started toward the man behind the counter who had called out to us. He stood all of five- foot four inches tall, seemed slightly overweight, but looked fit. I pegged him at aro
und fifty.

  Several rings adorned his fingers, gold of course, and a couple of gold chains, each with medallions the size of Olympic medals, dangled around his neck. His manner of dress leaned heavy toward formal, including a tie and a monogrammed hanky in his coat pocket. He appeared better suited for an upscale jewelry store, rather than some downtown hock shop where people, often desperate, pawn everything from the utterly mundane to the most precious and sentimental artifacts they own.

  “Yes, you can help us,” I said. “We have a few questions, if you don’t mind.”

  “Cops?”

  I produced my ID and badge and showed it to him. “Detective Marcella. This is Detective Rodriquez.”

  “Let me guess.” He folded his hands on the glass display case in front of him. “You want to know if I’m selling handguns. Well the answer is no, Detective. Even if someone shows me a permit, I tell him the same thing. At Big Al’s, we don’t—”

  “Sir, please.” I waved my hand in a level slice to stop him. “What’s your name?”

  “Albertelli. Vinnie Albertelli. I bought this place two years ago before Big Al passed away. Now, I know some people think Al sold handguns under the table, and maybe he did. I mean, ha, keeping books for a pawnshop is like reporting tips at the Roadhouse Bar-N-Grill. It’s a high cash business. You can claim anything you want. The I.R.S. isn’t—”

  “We’re not here about handguns,” said Carlos, elbowing me aside in apparent loss of patience. “We’re here to ask you about precious gems, diamonds to be specific.”

  “Diamonds? Oh, I get it. This is about that big heist yesterday at the Jews’ place.”

  “Jews’ place?”

  “Marx, Feldon, Cohen & Shaul?”

  “Nice.”

  “What? You guys ain’t Jews, are you? I mean, come on, with names like Marcella and Rodriquez? We’re good here, ain’t we?”

  Carlos pressed past the bigotry. “Mister Albertelli, tell us what you know about the heist?”

  “I don’t know nothing. What should I know?”

  “You should know that someone told us you sometimes fence stolen diamonds.”

  “That’s bullshit. Look around, Detective. Does this place look like I can afford to fence twenty mill in ideal cut stones?”

  “How do you know it’s twenty mill?”

  “Or that they’re ideal cut, for that matter,” I said.

  He shrugged uneasily. “I hear things.”

  Carlos laid his elbows on the glass and leaned in closer to Albertelli. “Yeah, and like I said, Vinnie, we hear things, too.”

  I watched Albertelli’s adam’s apple bob beneath his beard as he swallowed. Behind us, the tripwire chimed, announcing a couple of walk-ins. Vinnie cleared his throat, but neither looked nor greeted the new arrivals. Carlos pulled back and tugged at the bottom of his jacket.

  “So you’re telling us you know nothing. No one’s approached you about selling you diamonds.”

  “That’s right.”

  “And if we came back tonight with a search warrant, we wouldn’t find diamonds in your safe.”

  “Oh, hey, I didn’t say that.”

  “So you do have diamonds?”

  “I have diamonds, yeah, shit diamonds that weren’t worth the gold settings they came in. See, you have t` figure, Detective, fifty percent of all marriages end in divorce. Last year there were over two and a half million marriages, followed by one and a quarter million divorces. That’s a shitload of diamond engagement rings that a million plus women no longer want. So what do you suppose they do when they no longer want `em?

  “They hock them?”

  “That’s right. They hock `em. But diamond engagement rings are a dime a dozen, you see, and women aren’t looking for someone else’s jinxed ring. It’s bad karma. Women want shiny new ones of their own. So, what do I do? I pop the diamonds out, melt down the gold, recast the stones and double my money overnight. You want to know if I have diamonds in my safe, Detective. The answer is yes. I’m loaded with`em. More than I know what to do with. Make me an offer. I’ll cut you a deal.”

  Carlos slammed his hand down on the glass and pointed his finger in Albertelli’s face. “I don’t want your crappy diamonds, but I’m telling you this. We’re watching you, and we’re tapping your phones, too.” He reached into his wallet, removed one of his business cards and tossed it on the counter. “Call us if you hear something we don’t know. Understand?”

  Vinnie glanced down at the card, but didn’t pick it up. “Sure, Detective. Whatever you say.”

  Carlos nudged me and gestured a nod toward the door. “Come on. Let’s go put that tracker on this scumbag’s car before we forget.”

  Once outside, I had to laugh. I hit Carlos on the arm and asked him what all that was about.

  “What?” he said. “I thought we were playing good cop, bad cop.”

  “Really? Did I sound like a good cop?”

  “Yeah, why? Didn’t I sound like a bad cop?”

  “No. You sounded like a bullshit cop to me. What was that about tapping his phone? We can’t do that.”

  “No, but if he thinks we’re tapping it, maybe he won’t try to fence the diamonds.”

  “And a tracker on his car?”

  “Same thing. He won’t try to move the diamonds if he thinks we’re on to him.”

  “Yeah, and you don’t think he’ll report you to the captain for harassment?”

  “Not unless he’s guilty of something.”

  “How do you figure?”

  “Easy. If he’s not planning to fence the diamonds, then he’ll simply blow us off as a couple of asshole cops. But if he is thinking of moving them, he’ll want to make sure we’re not on his case. He knows that if he reports us, then the captain will ask us to provide evidence that Vinnie Albertelli is a suspect, or insist we leave him alone.

  I nodded, thinking it made sense in some strange way. I looked at Carlos and smiled my approval. “You know, Rodriquez, it’s a little scary to think that either you’re finally getting good at this, or five years in the Eighth Sphere has really screwed my head up something bad.”

  “You mean it?”

  “I do, though I think the latter rather than the former might be the case.”

  He shook his head at that. “I don’t care.”

  “I know you don’t.” I checked my phone. Spinelli had texted me the address to the gem appraiser’s office. “Here we go.” I showed Carlos the message. “I have Lloyd Stephens’ address. You know where that is?”

  “I do.”

  “Okay then. What do you say we go and see what the old gem expert has to say?”

  “You got it.”

  Chapter 16

  We were almost to the office of Lloyd Bishop Stephens, Independent Certified Gem Appraiser, when Dominic called. I didn’t expect him to have the results of the background checks yet, so I may have sounded surprised to hear from him.

  “Dominic, what’s up? Got background checks done already?”

  “No, I don’t, but listen. Is Carlos there with you?”

  “He is. Wait a sec. I’ll put you on speaker.” I turned to Carlos. “Never a dull moment.”

  He smiled without looking over.

  “All right, Dominic. You’re on speaker. What’s up?”

  “I wanted to let you know in case you hadn’t heard yet, but there are some strange reports coming out of local news WNCTV, New Castle.”

  “What sort of strange reports?”

  “Well, supposedly they have camera crews on the way, but they’re heading out to Hobo Junction to investigate reports of…” An audible sigh preceded the next few seconds of hesitation.

  “Of what, Dominic?”

  “Man, this is going to sound crazy, reports of rain, only it’s not raining H2O, if you catch my drift.”

  I gave Carlos the old high brow. He gave it back, only his was much better. “All right, Dominic. I’ll bite. If it’s not raining water, then what’s it raining, cats and dogs?”r />
  Carlos laughed.

  Dominic replied, “Close.”

  “Huh?”

  “Squirrels.”

  Carlos and I both uttered, “Jerome,” under our breaths.

  “What’s that, Tony?”

  “Dominic, listen to me. I want you to call Lilith. Tell her that she and Ursula had better get their butts out to Hobo Junction right now and find Jerome before the goddamn National Guard finds him first and dissects his little green ass. You got that?”

  “Jerome? What’s he got to do with this?”

  “Just do it, Dominic!”

  He was still talking when I put the phone away. “Can you believe it? The little shit is making it rain squirrels.”

  “Dominic?”

  “No! Not Dominic. Jerome!”

  “Oh, well it could be worse. He could be making it rain malodytes.”

  “Damn it, Carlos. Don’t give him any ideas.”

  “All right, so what do you want to do now? Want to go look for Jerome?”

  I buried my face in my hands and rubbed in circular motions until my cheeks felt raw. “No,” I said, looking up and blinking for the bright sunlight streaming in through the windshield. “I can’t deal with it right now. I can’t go chasing Jerome all over kingdom come. We have a job to do. Let’s just…” I grabbed a fistful of air and shook it hard. “Let’s just get on with what we’re doing. Drive, Carlos. Drive and don’t say another word until we get there.”

  He obeyed by not verbally acknowledging my instructions. I closed my eyes and dropped my head against the backrest. I thought of all the things that Jerome did for me, to me and with me, the good the bad and the indifferent. For as many times as he nearly got me killed, he saved my ass twice as often. Except that back in the Eighth Sphere, it was just him and me. The consequences of his actions seldom affected anyone else. He couldn’t get in trouble there. There were no laws, no rules, nothing, save for the rule of survival.

  I shook my head and groaned so loudly, it surprised me that Carlos didn’t say something. But then again, I could always trust Carlos to do as I asked. Though he sometimes acted like a child in a man’s body, he knew the difference. Jerome is a child in an alien’s body. He can’t do anything wrong. He can only do things we don’t want him to do.