The Harbinger PI Box Set

by Adam J. Wright

  He shrugged. “Yeah, maybe.” He drank some of his iced tea and then added, “But I’m pretty sure it was them. I think I heard James laugh when they opened the door to their cabin.”

  “Did you hear anything else?”

  He paused and took another drink. “I did hear something else. When they came out of the woods and walked across the beach, I’m sure they were dragging something on the ground.”

  “Something heavy?” I asked.

  “I have no idea, man. At the time, I thought they were dragging a tree branch or something, maybe something to play a prank on us because we’d gone to bed while they were still out there. But the next day. I realized that wasn’t it.” He leaned forward and lowered his voice. “They found something in the woods and brought it back with them, but it wasn’t any tree branch.”

  I leaned toward him and lowered my own voice to match his. “What was it?”

  “I don’t know. But whatever it was, they didn’t want the rest of us to see it. The next day, they were both acting really weird and when Ed said he was going to go into their cabin to look for more beer, both James and Sarah totally flipped out. Ed was at their cabin door and James tackled him to the ground and started beating on him. We had to drag him off Ed, otherwise I think he would have killed him.”

  “And you have no idea what they were hiding in the cabin?”

  Leon shook his head. “No, they wouldn’t let us anywhere near the cabin after that. Both of them sat by the door, like they were guarding whatever was inside.”

  “Were they acting weird before that?” Felicity asked.

  “Yeah, they were,” Leon said. “It was like they didn’t want to speak to us at all. At first we thought that maybe they were pissed because we went to bed while they were still in the woods. But it was more than that. I’ve known James since we were kids, so I can usually tell what sort of mood he’s in. That day, he wasn’t just pissed. The way he looked at us, the way he looked at me, it was like there was a malevolence in his gaze. If looks could kill, the police would have found our bodies on that beach, you know?”

  I said, “Was there anything strange about his eyes?”

  He frowned. “In what way?”

  “Did they glow or change color? Anything like that?”

  “Err … no.” He looked at me suspiciously, then at Felicity. “You guys are just normal detectives, right?”

  Felicity decided to use that moment to pick up her glass and take a big drink of iced tea, avoiding the question.

  I sighed and looked at the remaining iced tea in my own glass, wondering if I’d have time to drink it before we got kicked out of here. I’ve been kicked out of a lot of places after revealing the true nature of my job.

  “What do you mean by normal detectives?” I asked Leon.

  “The kind of private eyes that trace missing people and trail dudes having affairs.”

  “No,” I said, “we’re not that kind of detective.”

  His eyes widened slightly and he looked from Felicity to me. “Are you those preternatural guys?”

  “We’re preternatural investigators, yes,” I said. I picked up my glass and drained the contents.

  “Awesome,” Leon said. “I’ve seen those P.I. offices before but I’ve never met an actual investigator. Do you think what happened to James is, like, demon possession or something?”

  “We don’t know,” I said. “That’s why we’re investigating the case.”

  “Yeah, but for you guys to get involved, there has to be some kind of supernatural involvement, right?”

  “Yes, but in this case, we’re not sure if there is any. That’s what we’re trying to ascertain.”

  He nodded in understanding. “What do you think now that you’ve spoken to me?”

  “I’d like to know what James and Sarah found in those woods.”

  “We all would,” he said. “Whatever that thing was, it made them go crazy.”

  “What else did they do that was strange?” I poured more iced tea from the pitcher into my glass and offered some to Felicity and Leon. They both accepted. The ice clinked into their glasses as I poured.

  “Like I said, they stared at us like we were their worst enemies. And they barely spoke except to each other, and even then, it was in whispers. They were creepy, man. When we said we were ready to head home, they said they were staying at the lake for another night. They’d driven up there together in James’s Bronco with Mike in the back so Mike had to come back to Dearmont with me in my Jag. Believe me, he was more than happy about that. He didn’t want to be in a truck with those two.”

  “If you had to describe the James and Sarah that came out of those woods in one word,” I said, “what would it be?”

  “Creepy,” Leon said without hesitation.

  “And you haven’t seen either of them since?”

  “No, and that’s strange in itself. Even when I was busy working, James would come over to the house on weekends and just hang out. But since that weekend at the lake, he hasn’t even called me.” He thought for a moment and then added, “Not that I’d want him to. I spoke to his mother a couple of weeks ago and she said he’s been taking nightly walks in the woods around their house. She knew there was something very wrong and asked me about that weekend.”

  “What did you tell her?”

  “The same thing I just told you. She didn’t seem to believe that I didn’t know about what had happened to James. That’s why I thought she’d hire a private detective. But she hired you guys instead. There must be a reason why she did that.”

  I shrugged. “Her son’s personality and behavior changed over the course of a single weekend. Some parents might attribute that to the supernatural because it’s easier to believe that a demon has possessed your son than face the fact that he may have mental health issues brought on by drugs or alcohol abuse.”

  “You think James has mental issues?” he asked.

  “It’s something I’d be wondering, except for the fact that Sarah was affected in exactly the same way at exactly the same time.”

  “So it could be a demon?” He seemed genuinely excited by that idea.

  “Like I said, we don’t know. But thanks for talking to us, you’ve been a great help.” I drank the last of my iced tea and got up. Felicity did likewise.

  “No problem,” Leon said, also getting to his feet. “You know, if you guys ever need any computer work done, give me a call.”

  “You work in computers?” Felicity asked him.

  “Yeah, I write code, design apps and games, that kind of thing. It pays for all of this.” He indicated the house and grounds. As he led us back through the house, he grabbed a business card from a stack on a marble table and handed it to Felicity.

  I thanked him again for his help and we left the house, walking across the gravel to the Land Rover.

  “What do you think?” Felicity asked me.

  “I think I’m in the wrong line of work.”

  “Money can’t buy everything.” She climbed into the Land Rover.

  “No,” I said as I slid into the driver’s seat and started the engine. “But it bought all these cars.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “I thought you loved this old Land Rover.”

  “I do, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t like a Ferrari, too.”

  “Anyway, when I asked you what you thought, I meant about what Leon told us. Do you still think this is The Case of the Moody Teenager?”

  “No, I don’t,” I said as I backed out from between the Ferrari and the Bentley. I pointed the Land Rover in the direction of the gate. “I think this is The Case of Something Weird Happened at the Lake.”

  6

  We drove in silence for a while. The only sound was the constant rumble of the engine and the woman’s voice from the GPS, directing us to Amelia Robinson’s house. Felicity had programmed in the new destination and then sat back, watching the tall trees roll past the window. I assumed she was lost in her own thoughts in the case. I
tried to focus on the case, myself, but my thoughts kept returning to one burning question.

  Who was trying to kill me?

  I knew there were some members if the Inner Circle who wanted me to be thrown out of the Society of Shadows after the events in Paris, but would any of them go as far as hiring preternatural assassins? It seemed like overkill.

  “Alec,” Felicity said, “what happened in Paris?”

  Maybe she had been thinking about the attempted assassination, too. I guess that made sense; she could have been killed.

  “I’ll tell you later,” I said.

  “Later today?”

  “Yeah, sure. I was planning on having a barbecue later in my yard. Why don’t you join me and I’ll tell you everything? I guess you have a right to know since you got dragged into the attempt on my life.”

  She nodded. “Sounds good. I’ll bring the beer.”

  “Deal. You know my address?”

  “Of course.”

  Yeah, of course she did. My father would make sure she was able to keep an eye on me outside of work hours. The Society had probably set her up in a house close to mine. Maybe even on the same street.

  “So, where do you live?” I asked her, trying to sound casual.

  Felicity grinned. “I’m your next door neighbor, Alec.”

  “Of course you are,” I said. “Well, at least you won’t have far to come for the barbecue.” I wasn’t sure what I thought of having my assistant living next door. I liked to keep some distance between my personal life and my work life. When I went home from work, at whatever time that might be, I wanted to relax, chill out, and try to forget about work. With Felicity living so close, that might not be possible.

  “Don’t worry,” Felicity said, as if reading my mind. “I keep myself to myself and I don’t talk shop outside of office hours.”

  “Cool,” I said noncommittally.

  The GPS guided us off the highway and along a road that led us to another wall and gate. Unlike Leon Smith’s gate, this one was made of wrought iron fashioned into a decorative, curved pattern, and beyond it, I could see the driveway leading up to the Robinson house.

  There was no locking mechanism on the gate, so I opened it and drove up to the house. Where Leon Smith’s house had been modern, the Robinson place looked like it might have been built in the nineteenth century and had sections added at later dates. It was traditional in design and seemed to sprawl across the landscape. The grounds around the house were heavily-wooded apart from a front lawn that reached down to an area where a large pond sat beneath a willow tree.

  I parked the Land Rover near the house and got out. The air held a sharp tang of pine from the woods.

  The front door opened and Amelia Robinson came out to greet us. She was still wearing the elegant clothes she had worn in the office earlier, but now she had added a pair of sunglasses to her ensemble.

  “Thank you for coming,” she said. “James hasn’t emerged from his room. Would you like to go up and knock on his door?”

  “Before we do that,” I said, “can you show me where he goes at night?”

  “Of course.” She pointed to a section of the woods around the side of the house. “That’s where he disappears into the trees. I have no idea where he goes after that.”

  “We’ll go check that out first,” I said. “Does James’s bedroom window overlook that part of the woods?”

  Amelia glanced toward the house and nodded. “Yes, it does.”

  I opened up the back of the Land Rover. “If you could just go about your business as usual, Amelia, that would be great. I’m pretty sure James will be coming out of his room shortly.”

  “All right,” she said, sounding a little confused. “I’ll go back inside.”

  “That would be great,” I repeated.

  She went in through the front door and closed it.

  I reached into the back of the Land Rover and pulled aside the heavy canvas blanket that covered my equipment. The tools of my trade lay neatly in the trunk. Since I never knew what I was going to be up against, I had everything in here from shovels to dig up coffins, to ouija boards to contact lost spirits, to pieces of white chalk for drawing emergency wards and sigils. There was a vampire hunter’s kit from Victorian London, plastic bags of salt, and a number of herbal concoctions in various glass jars. There were also a couple of daggers in leather sheaths, a crowbar, and a shotgun. The shotgun shells had silver shot mixed in with the normal steel.

  I took a dagger and fixed it to my belt, just in case. At least Felicity would be satisfied that I was now armed. I pulled the bottom of my shirt over the sheathed dagger, hiding it.

  Then I grabbed a shovel, covered over the rest of the equipment with the canvas, and closed the trunk.

  “Are we digging for something?” Felicity asked, eyeing the shovel in my hand.

  “That’s what we want James to think,” I said. “Come on, let’s go for a walk.”

  We sauntered across the sunny lawn, taking our time to get to the edge of the dark woods.

  “Do you think he saw us?” Felicity whispered, looking over at the house.

  “Yeah, I’m certain of it. Whatever he and Sarah found at Dark Rock Lake, they probably hid it somewhere in the woods. That’s why James comes in here every night. He’s visiting it for some reason. Whatever it is, it’s important to him, so he’s going to be keeping an eye out in case anyone discovers what he’s hiding.”

  I made a dramatic pointing gesture toward the trees and said loudly, “It’s in there.” Even if James wasn’t watching the window at that particular moment, hearing my voice should get his attention.

  “Let’s go dig it up,” Felicity almost shouted.

  I thought I saw some curtains move at one of the upper level windows but I couldn’t be sure.

  “If it’s in there, we’ll find it,” I said loud enough to be heard a mile away. I stepped out of the sunlight and into the shadows beneath the trees and immediately felt cooler. The air smelled strongly of pine and earth and rotting wood. I could hear squirrels in the trees somewhere close by and birds singing in the high branches above.

  “This place is creepy,” Felicity whispered.

  “If we couldn’t hear the birds and squirrels, then it would be creepy,” I said. “Animals have an innate sense for the supernatural and usually avoid places where there’s a strong evil presence.”

  I looked back across the sunlit lawn to the house. No sign of James. “Let’s go farther in,” I said. “We might discover what it is that James finds so interesting here.”

  After making our way over fallen branches and roots that rose from the earth like thick tentacles, we found a dirt trail leading deeper into the woods. “This looks like it’s been here a long time,” I said, inspecting the hard-packed dirt. “I wonder where it leads.”

  “Only one way to find out,” Felicity said. Following the trail was better than wandering aimlessly in the woods and possibly getting lost, so we followed the well-trodden path. The trail was only wide enough for one person, so I took the lead with Felicity close behind.

  “Keep an eye out for anything strange,” I said.

  “Like what?”

  “I have no idea.”

  The woods were gloomy and mysterious even though it was midday. I wondered what this place would be like during the night time. Probably ten times creepier than it was now.

  “I see something ahead,” I said. There was a building there, through the trees, I was sure of it. I increased my pace and Felicity did the same to keep up with me.

  The trail led to a wide clearing. The clearing was ringed with a low wrought-iron fence that matched the front gate we had driven through earlier. Within the fence, a number of gravestones stood among overgrown grass and brambles. The center piece of the graveyard was a tall stone mausoleum; the structure I had seen back on the trail. It was adorned with weeping stone angels and the name ROBINSON was engraved above the door.

  “I think we found where James
comes at night,” I said.

  Felicity shivered. “Now that’s creepy.”

  7

  A small iron gate in the fence was unlocked. I opened it and stepped through. Felicity went to the nearest gravestone and read the worn words on its surface.

  “This has been here since 1899,” she said. “A man named Luke Robinson is buried here. He was 32 when he died.”

  “So this is the family burial ground.” The stone closest to me belonged to a Flora Robinson who died in 1934.

  “So, what is it that James finds interesting here?” she asked.

  Using the shovel, I began to pull the long grass and brambles aside. “Search the ground. Maybe he buried it here somewhere.”

  She swept her hand through the grass and then yelled, “Ow, that hurt!” Stepping back, she held up her thumb so I could see the trickle of bright blood running from it.

  “Watch out for the thorns,” I said.

  “Now you tell me.” She continued her search, but more carefully this time, pulling at the overgrown grass tentatively.

  I crouched down and took a closer look at the thorny branches near my feet. The branches were flowering, the little flowers white with pink-tipped stamen. I recognized it as hawthorn. Standing up again, I used the shovel to push the branches aside so I could inspect the earth beneath.

  We searched the area for a couple of minutes before we heard a shout from the trail. “Hey, you! What are you doing?”

  I turned to see a young, fair-haired man striding toward us. He was dressed in a black T-shirt, blue jeans, and boots. I wondered how fast he had thrown the clothing on after seeing us from his window.

  I gave him a quick smile. “James Robinson, I presume?”

  “Yeah, I’m James Robinson,” he said, coming through the open gate. “Who the hell are you and why are you in my family’s graveyard?”

  Now that he was closer to me, I inspected his face, especially his eyes. I always went by the old adage that the eyes are the windows to the soul. In the case of demon possession, they were the first place you looked for something out of the ordinary, usually flecks of red in the iris.