Crowley's Window (Novella)

by Gord Rollo

  “Hello Abby,” David Beck said, “Sorry to bother you again.”

  “I’d prefer if you called me, Miss Hawkins, officer. I don’t appreciate being labeled a suspect in a murder case just for trying to help. I think we should keep this professional.” She was just being a pain in the ass for no reason. In truth, she rather liked the way David said her name. Liked it a lot, actually; it made her feel all warm and tingly inside, but she needed to put up a stone wall here to avoid being hurt further than she already was.

  “Certainly ma’am. I understand.”

  Abby could hear the disappointment in his voice, and once again she felt the stirrings of a mutual attraction between them; a dry tinderbox of emotions just in need of one of them striking the first match to start the fire but she pulled back her senses and tried to focus on the moment. She was probably misreading his feelings anyway.

  “And just for the record, you’re not a suspect in this mess,” Officer Beck continued. “Not by me, anyway.”

  “Why are you here, then? I’ve already told everything I know to a few of your colleagues today. I only met that Ray guy for a few minutes with his brother. I have no idea who he is or why someone would want to kill him. Surely you guys compare notes.”

  “Of course we do, Ab…I mean Miss Hawkins. That’s not why I’m here. I don’t really have anything to do with that part of the investigation. I’m working the little girl’s side of the case. Can I trust you with a secret?”

  Abby didn’t know what to say to that. Yes was the answer, but she was hesitant to give it. Justified or not, she was still pretty bitter about him lying to her last night. “Why should I say yes? I can’t trust you so why should you be able to trust me?”

  David sighed, frustrated and more than likely a little annoyed but Abby stuck to her guns. “You lied to me, Officer Beck. I don’t like liars and I don’t trust men who fool around on their wives.”

  “Dammit, Abby,” David said, and didn’t correct himself this time. “It’s not as black and white as that. You may never believe me, and to be honest, I’m not even sure why I care…but I do. I’m a good person. An honest, decent man who’s in way over my head. I wish you’d believe that.”

  “Oh yeah? Then when do you plan on telling your wife about your little affair?” Abby was definitely stepping over the line now, and knew it, but the cork was already out of the bottle and she couldn’t seem to help it.

  “I already have.”

  That stopped Abby in her tracks, taking her completely by surprise. “What?”

  “I said I already have told her. Last night. Not that it’s any of your business, but it’s been eating me alive for weeks now. I don’t love my wife; haven’t in years, but she’s still a good person and my friend. I couldn’t run around behind her back. I just couldn’t. I’m not like that. So I told her everything last night.”

  A small part of Abby’s heart rejoiced at his honesty but another part of her wasn’t so sure he was telling her the truth. He’d lied to her before; why not again? Hating herself for doing it, she reached across her table past the crystal ball and felt for his arm. To his credit, he never pulled away. As soon as she touched his skin she was transported across the forest and across town to a small red bricked bungalow where her mind’s eye sailed through the walls to stop in the galley-style kitchen. In front of her was Officer Beck, dressed in jeans and a black Pink Floyd t-shirt sitting at a small table talking to a beautiful blond haired woman in her early twenties. Abby was coming into the room at the end of the conversation, just as David was telling her about his affair with a woman named Sally. His wife looked hurt and mad enough to chew through nails, but not in the least bit surprised.

  Abby pulled back her hand and broke the psychic connection, feeling dirty and ashamed, like she’d invaded the young man’s privacy more than enough already. She received a snapshot picture of the man sitting opposite her and only now registered how tired and disheveled he looked today. Gone was the confident young man from last night.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “I had no right to do that.”

  “It’s okay. Telling her doesn’t get me a hero’s biscuit or make anything right, but it’s a start and I need you to trust me, Miss Hawkins. Maybe now you will.”

  “Call my Abby, okay? Sorry I’m such a bitch. Let’s start this over. Yes, you can trust me with your secret. What is it?”

  “I need you to come with me on a little trip.”

  “Where? We were told we couldn’t leave the carnival grounds until everything was sorted out?”

  “You can’t, unless you’re accompanied by an officer on official police business. I need help…and you might be the only person who can do it.”

  “Okay, but what’s going on?”

  Officer Beck paused for a moment, either not sure what to say, or maybe not sure he should be saying it. “We found Trisha Martin. About fifty miles from here in a dumpster behind the Walgreen’s store in Gainsville. She’s dead.”

  “Oh my god! That’s horrible!”

  “Worse than horrible, actually. Whoever did it wasn’t content to just kill her…the little girl was mutilated.” Officer Beck hesitated again, but continued on. “They slit her throat and gouged out her eyes, Abby, and the local police say they can’t find them. The bastard must have taken them with him as some sort of token or grisly trophy to remind him of the kill. It’s sickening but happens more than you’d care to know.”

  Abby was feeling a little faint, the news of the girl’s death hitting her harder than expected. All she could think about was how close she’d come to saving Trisha last night. If only the police had believed her sooner. Maybe…

  “I need you to come with me to view the body. If you’re up to it, of course? I can’t force you.”

  “Why would you want me to do that?” Abby asked, but then the truth hit her and she wasn’t sure whether to be happy David believed in her powers, or mad he’d only come here because he wanted to use her gift to help further his case. “You want me to touch her, don’t you? To see if I can get any kind of read off her?”

  “I don’t want you to, no. The last thing I want to do is involve you in this further but we don’t have a clue who did this to her and I’ll be damned if I’ll let them get away with what they’ve done without trying every option available. I know you can do things the rest of us can’t, and I need your help. That little girl’s family needs your help. Will you come with me and at least try?”

  What other answer was there. “Of course. When are we leaving?”

  “Right now.”

  * * *

  They arrived in Gainsville in less than an hour with Abby getting her first ever ride inside a black and white police cruiser. For the trip she’d changed into jeans and a light wool sweater and since she’d be out in public, decide to put in the glass eyes her doctor had ordered her years ago. Abby hated wearing them, couldn’t stand the way the cold hard glass orbs felt shoved into her empty eye sockets but she tolerated them every now and then when she left the carnival grounds. Sometimes it was better to be uncomfortable than to be stared at and ridiculed by strangers on the street. Officer Beck didn’t say a word about her new “eyes,” bless him, but did tell her how pretty she looked as he held open the door of his cruiser for her. Probably an inappropriate comment for an officer of the law to say to a psychic-for-hire but in this case it didn’t seem awkward at all and made Abby secretly blush as she climbed into the car.

  David drove like a madman on a high speed pursuit, but it was just his natural way of driving apparently, his demeanor was never anything but friendly as they chatted throughout the trip. On the way, he admitted his wife had thrown him out of the house after his confession last night, but said he was okay with that. Relieved even. He’d explained to Abby how he’d never really loved his wife but had gotten swept up in the romance; in love with being in love far more than enamored with the actual woman. Before he could stop and take a breath, they’d married and moved into a little ho
use in Westchester. Three weeks later, he’d joined the force and had been trying to find a way out of their mutually loveless marriage ever since. Beth and he were decent enough friends but that’s all they’d ever be. All they should have remained. Even Sally had been a big mistake. She was a nice girl but David had nothing in common with her. It had just felt good to be with someone, anyone, at the time, but loneliness was no excuse for what he’d done. He’d already called Sally too, to apologize to her and to tell her their relationship, such as it was, was over.

  Abby also opened her heart up to him during the drive, confiding in David her memories of growing up psychic and of trying to cope with her blindness at the age of thirteen. She’d never talked to anyone as openly as this and she was surprised to learn how truly little she remembered of her childhood; especially around the time of her Cancer and subsequent removal of her eyes. She’d found a way to cope by just blanking that awful part of her life out. It was awkward telling all her best kept secrets to a relative stranger, but in the end it felt right and somehow Abby knew she could trust David not to tell anyone what they discussed. Perhaps she was being a little naive in her thinking, having only met the man yesterday, but there was a definite connection between the two of them, and with every mile that passed together that bond seemed to strengthen. By the time they arrived at Gainsville General, the town’s only hospital, Abby was happier than she’d been in a long time and had nearly forgotten they had come here on serious police business. She took a deep breath and tried to keep her feet firmly on the ground. It wasn’t easy with David sitting so close to her.

  “Okay, this is it,” David said. “We’re at the hospital. I asked the police to leave the girl at the scene but they wouldn’t do it. Too many gawkers crowding around so they brought her here. The town morgue is in the basement and we’re supposed to meet a guy named Chambers. You ready for this?”

  “Probably not, but I’ll be okay.”

  “I’ll be right beside you. Let’s go.”

  David got out of the car and took her by the hand. A myriad of happy feelings and warm mental pictures bombarded Abby but she tried to push them to the side and focus on clearing her mind as best she could. If there was any way she could help catch Trisha’s killer, she’d need to stop thinking about David and concentrate only on the girl. If there was something brewing between her and Officer Beck, and at the moment it was still a big huge if, it would have to wait until later. Right now, they both had a job to do.

  On the lower level of the hospital, they passed through a set of steel doors and entered a small three room office that made up the town’s morgue. A gray-haired man with a neatly trimmed beard stood to greet them. Dan Chambers, the coroner here in Gainsville, had been expecting them and although it was crystal clear to both David and Abby that he was skeptical her visit would be of any help, he kept his feelings mostly to himself and gave them the thirty second tour of the office and autopsy room.

  “We’re a small outfit here, Officer,” Chambers said. “Hardly ever any trouble. Most of my work comes straight from the old age home, to be honest. Basically I just hold the bodies here and wait to be notified by the families which funeral home is coming to pick their loved one up. Can’t say we’ve ever had anything like this happen. Not while I’ve been in charge, anyhow.”

  “Hopefully this is the last time too,” David said. “Not to be rude, but can we get on with it. Time is of the essence in these kinds of cases.”

  “Certainly, sir. Sorry. She’s through here…follow me.”

  Chambers led them into the only other room in the morgue, a small rectangular room with a large freezer-like door at the far end. The air hissed and a cloud of cold air billowed out into the warm room as he pulled open the door. Inside there was only the one metal gurney and Abby and David waited outside until Chambers has pushed the little table on wheels out to them and slammed shut the cooler door.

  “Think I’ll leave you two alone for a bit,” Chambers said. “Take all the time you need little lady. And good luck with…umm, whatever it is you’re going to do. I’ll be in the office if you need me.”

  “Thanks,” David said, shaking the man’s hand on his way out. When they were alone, he led Abby over to the covered gurney and prepared to remove the white sheet covering Trisha’s body. “You okay?”

  “I hope so. Let’s do it and see if we’re wasting our time.”

  For the first time in ages, Abby was truly glad she was blind and therefore spared having to see the mutilated corpse of the poor girl. When she held her hands out toward the gurney, she received several pictures of Trisha in her mind, but knew they were only mental representations and not nearly as upsetting as the sight surely would have been in cold hard reality. Abby steeled her nerves and moved closer. Her sweaty left palm touched the chilled skin of the dead girl and the walls of the viewing room instantly faded away…

  …leaving Abby standing in a grassy field with Trisha lying in a discarded heap near the feet of a tall man dressed in a black coat with matching fedora. With his pale skin and bleached white hair the man had a textbook villain look to him but he wasn’t the criminal Abby had been expecting to see. The man with the knife on his belt who’d taken the girl from the carnival was there too, but Abby could only see his back as he walked away from the scene into the field, never once looking back, his part in this despicable deed apparently over. Something about Trisha’s abductor—the way he walked, perhaps—was eerily familiar but Abby couldn’t grasp what it was and at the moment she had more important things to worry about.

  He’s got a partner, she thought.

  She watched the man in black approach the dead child and roll Trisha over onto her back. Abby could clearly see the girl’s throat had already been slit and her suffering, however long it had lasted, was at least already past. The man removed a long bladed knife from the folds of his jacket and also a small glass mason jar filled with amber liquid. He bent at the knees and went to work removing the girl’s eyes, quickly harvesting them from her face and depositing them one at a time inside the jar.

  As she watched, Abby felt a sudden wave of horror wash over her like she’d been dropped naked into the Arctic Ocean. The act was terrible for sure, pure evil, but it wasn’t what was causing the fear to freeze her shivering spirit. It was a memory trying desperately to worm its way to the surface of her frozen conscience, a figment of a nightmare long past and buried deep where she wasn’t meant to ever find.

  Not a partner…a boss. This guy’s definitely in charge.

  Trembling uncontrollably, Abby watched as the sinister man hid the knife and Mason jar back inside his coat and stooped to pick the mutilated child up off the grass. He lifted her as if she weighed nothing, hardly even an ounce of strain showing on his gaunt expressionless face as he turned and started walking toward where Abby’s phantom body watched. The man in black walked right through her and it was then that Abby smelled the lavender and honey odor, along with the underlying stench of death and decay.

  Oh my GOD!

  Abby began to scream, in real life as well as in this vision; her internal memory blocks shattering like straw houses in the path of a cyclone. Abby remembered. She remembered everything. It’s him! HIM! There had been no sickness. No cancerous growths causing her to hallucinate and have seizures. It had all been lies. All of it. This…monster carrying the dead girl out of the field onto the tarmac and heading for the blue garbage dumpster behind Walgreens was the same man who’d cut out her eyes as well. The memories were still lost within a network of fever dreams and buried truths but she’d never been more certain of anything in her entire life.

  He stole my eyes! The filthy beast stole my…

  …Abby woke up in a pitch black room hearing a voice calling to her from what seemed like miles away. For a moment she had no idea who was talking to her or where she might be. All she knew was that she was lying on her back on a hard concrete floor, looking up at nothing but feeling the presence of someone as they rushed c
loser and knelt at her side.

  “Talk to me, Abby,” the male voice said, and it was then she fully woke up and realized what was going on and why she couldn’t see. Like a child in peril, Abby flung her hands up and wrapped her arms around his neck, desperate for human contact and the comfort of being held close, her entire body trembling from the recent psychic experience. David pulled her to him, feeling her heart racing against his chest and held her for a full minute before gently easing her away. She was still shaking but the color was coming back into her face. “You okay, kiddo?”

  Abby pulled in a deep breath and took a long moment to gather her senses before answering.

  “I think so. I’m cold but okay. Sorry for nearly tearing your head off, I kind of needed a hug. You probably think I’m a baby.”

  “Not at all. I’m just glad you’re okay. You scared the heck out of me. You were calm as can be but all of a sudden a look of fear spread across your face and you started screaming at the top of your lungs. I tried to shake you awake but just as I grabbed your arm you passed out cold and dropped to the floor like a rock. I thought for a minute you’d died! Jesus!”

  “For a minute there, I wanted to.”

  “What happened?”

  “Help me get up first, okay?”

  “You sure? Maybe you’d best lie—”

  “No, I’m okay now,” Abby said, and David took her into his strong arms and lifted her to her feet, setting her down gently as if she were fragile as decorative glass.

  “What did you see that scared you so badly?”