The Soul Thief

by Leah Cutter

  He ran over to Julie, helping her pull her second arm away, then he wrapped himself around her, holding her close to his chest.

  She smelled good, womanly and woodsy. Franklin knew it weren’t appropriate, how much he wanted her, right then and there.

  Julie seemed to realize, though, what he was feeling. Maybe she was feeling the same. She pulled him in for a long, deep kiss, before pushing him away.

  “We need to get back into town,” she whispered against his lips.

  Franklin immediately loosened his grip around her. “Okay,” he said. Disappointment filled him, but he understood.

  The doctor had done something, something that weren’t natural. And something he hadn’t meant to do, with that burp of power. It was still affecting Franklin, in ways he didn’t know or trust.

  “Do you know who he is?” Franklin asked as Julie took his hand and they started hurrying out of the battlefield, back toward the car.

  “Maybe,” Julie said, nodding. “I want to look something up, first.”

  “Okay,” Franklin said. He trusted her. They’d figure this out.

  Then maybe take some time with each other.

  Ξ

  Franklin stood still, holding his shirt up around his chest while Julie examined him under the bright lights of his kitchen. It was late, and the ghosts that had been haunting Franklin had gone. Or at least, he didn’t hear them howling outside anymore.

  He didn’t want to think about what the doctor had done to them, how he’d taken first their will, then possibly, their souls.

  But at least the farm was quiet, just the cicadas and the crickets outside, the AC pumping cool air in the living room.

  Franklin stretched, his muscles still loose. He should be tired, given the hour and what they’d been up to all day, but he wasn’t. Not at all.

  In fact, he still wanted Julie. So much. It was getting uncomfortable.

  “That’s what I thought,” Julie said after a moment. She turned his face to the side. “You’d started getting a few gray hairs along your temples, just here,” she added, lightly brushing her finger along his tightly kinky hair.

  Franklin shivered at her gentle touch, closing his eyes.

  “But it’s all gone now. And you said you’re mostly healed?” she asked.

  “Yes, ma’am,” Franklin said. He was afraid to take off his shirt all the way off though, afraid that might just make it harder not to touch her.

  “That’s what I thought,” Julie said, carelessly running her finger down from his temple to his neck.

  “What?” Franklin asked. He couldn’t help himself. He caught her hand and kissed the back of it.

  Now it was time for Julie to shiver.

  “Come on,” Julie said, taking Franklin’s hand and squeezing it, leading him through the rest of the house, toward the bedroom.

  “What?” Franklin asked. “I thought you wanted to look something up.” He’d assumed she meant on the internet. Which meant going someplace else, since he didn’t have no internet out at the farm. Hell, he barely got cell phone reception.

  “That can wait until the morning,” Julie said with a lovely, inviting smile. “Right now, I think you need a more thorough examine.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Franklin said, returning her smile and not worrying again about the doctor or ghosts or anything else until the sun had long risen.

  Ξ

  Karl had already given Franklin the day off since he’d been stabbed, so Franklin wasn’t concerned about getting to the fruit and vegetable stand early the next morning.

  He just wouldn’t tell Karl that he’d been miraculously healed, that the stitches had all dissolved, that all his bruises and aches and sores were already gone.

  After breakfast, Julie insisted on stopping by the public library. She still needed to do some research on the internet.

  The library was a newer building, built like Franklin’s 1950s rambler, all one story, made of brick. The inside was all white, freshly painted, with the AC cranked high. Skylights lit the front desk area, with white metal stacks to one side holding newspapers and trade magazines, while at the end of the room sat three computers.

  Franklin sat in one of the uncomfortable chairs next to the desk (it was too soft) and read about crop rotation while Julie pecked at the computer.

  She looked lovely in a white T-shirt that showed off her curves and jeans that hung down low on her hips. Despite being up most of the night, she didn’t look tired at all. Her soft brown hair had a nice curl in it, as though she’d spent hours futzing with it, though all she’d done was wash it and brush it out.

  They both felt younger, healthy, well.

  Was that the doctor’s plan?

  Finally, Julie called Franklin over to the terminal. A white teenager sat sullenly paging through some comic on one side, while the other side was open. Franklin borrowed that chair and pulled it up close to Julie.

  The teenager glanced over, rolled his eyes, then determinedly looked at his screen again.

  Julie mutely pointed to the page she’d pulled up.

  The date on the article was three years old.

  Franklin recognized the picture of the doctor right away, though it was a grainy photo, and the doctor had been ducking his head, as if trying to hide.

  Underneath the picture listed his name.

  Doctor Lamont Traeger. On his way to trial.

  Where had Franklin heard that name before? He could swear it was familiar.

  Franklin read through the article.

  The doctor had been raised in Wesley county. Local boy done good. Gone off to medical school, promising surgeon.

  Then tragedy had struck. First his wife had died, killed by a fast cancer that they’d discovered too late. Then his son had been killed in a pileup on the interstate, flattened between two semi’s.

  Franklin shook his head. Pure shame. He suspected that the doctor was the kind who wouldn’t have had cousins and brothers and sisters to help him pull through. When he’d lost his wife and son, he’d really lost his whole family.

  Dr. Traeger had kept working, though. Trying to heal others, despite how broken he was himself.

  The newspaper story Julie had pulled up was all about a trial. The hospital where Dr. Traeger had been working accused him of “helping” a patient along. Labeled him an “Angel of Mercy.”

  Dr. Traeger maintained his innocence.

  “So what happened?” Franklin asked Julie when he got to the end of the article. It had been written during the trial, not after the case had been settled.

  The teenager glared at them and Franklin lowered his voice. “Was he found guilty?”

  Julie shook her head, frowning. “I can’t find anything about it. It’s like the articles got all taken down. But I don’t think he was found guilty. If I’m remembering right, he was just forced to retire. Claimed it was politics that got to him. But there was talk at the nurse’s station, one night. They all thought he was guilty as sin. Not just helping patients who needed help, but ones that weren’t ready yet.”

  Franklin nodded, not surprised. Most doctors seemed to think they knew better than everyone.

  “I know that name from someplace,” Franklin said as he followed Julie out of the library. “Dr. Lamont Traeger.”

  “From the trial?” Julie asked.

  Franklin shook his head. “No. Recent like. I just can’t remember when.”

  “It’ll come to you,” Julie told him, taking his hand.

  Franklin opened his mouth to say something to her, something about her, about them, but then closed it again. It wasn’t the right time or place.

  He knew he was stalling.

  But maybe later that night…

  “So what’s the plan?” Franklin asked as he got into Julie’s car.

  “I’m gonna drop you back off at the farm, then go in to work,” Julie said. “I’ll try and talk with some of the older nurses, see if I can find out anything.”

  “You coming by later
tonight?” Franklin asked, trying to hide his disappointment. He’d hoped they’d be able to spend the day together.

  “I should probably get some sleep tonight,” Julie said.

  “Oh,” Franklin said. He thought a moment, then still decided to ask his question. “Are you feeling tired?”

  “Not really,” Julie admitted. “But after work there are still a few things I want to check.”

  “All right,” Franklin said. They rode in silence back to the farm, comfortable with each other. “What’s your schedule like the rest of the week?”

  “Working mainly afternoons,” Julie told him. “So maybe I can come over tomorrow night.”

  “It’s a date,” Franklin told her, drawing her over for a sweet goodbye kiss that quickly got out of hand.

  When they finally pulled back, Franklin was aching for Julie like he’d never felt before.

  “Do you think that’s part of what Dr. Traeger did? To make us so horny?” Julie asked.

  “No,” Franklin said immediately. “Okay, maybe a little,” he said after another moment. “But I’ve always wanted you like this. I just hid it.”

  Silence filled the car. Had he said too much?

  But then Julie gave him another of those toe-curling kisses. “Me too,” she whispered against his lips.

  Then she pulled back. “Now, shoo. I’ll see you tomorrow night.”

  Franklin opened the car door, then turned back. “You know there’s only you, right? In my world?” he asked earnestly.

  “I know, darling,” she replied, caressing his cheek. “And we can talk about that more tomorrow night.”

  Franklin knew he was pushing it, but he still gave her one last light kiss on her nose before getting out of the car.

  It was gonna feel like tomorrow night would never come, he knew.

  It were also gonna come way too fast, for what he had in mind.

  Ξ

  Franklin spent the day working around the farm, taking away the stalks that the ghosts had trampled (and had it been the ghosts? Or had Dr. Traeger come and done it?) and putting them on the compost pile, applying WD-40 to that door hinge that kept squeaking, encouraging the yellow jackets who liked the southern eves of the house to go nest somewhere else.

  He also did laundry and put fresh sheets on the bed. Just in case Julie changed her mind and came by that night anyway.

  But he spent the night alone and slept much better than he had in a week or so, waking up refreshed and ready to tackle the world.

  He came out to the kitchen to make sure everything was in order for dinner that night—he was making Mama’s spaghetti with his secret ingredient: grape jelly. He had candles out on the table in Mama’s fancy silver holders, wine glasses with a tasty box of white wine already chilling in the fridge, and he was gonna get out the good china.

  He wasn’t about to propose to Julie—that was way too soon. But he did plan on telling her just how much he loved her.

  No regular ghosts waited for him outside, but he still checked his bicycle before he got on it. The trip to the fruit and vegetable stand were easy that morning, as if Franklin had been doing his regular exercises.

  Was he younger, now, after the doctor’s spell? How long would it last?

  Karl gave Franklin a long look and just shook his head when he came pedaling up. For the first time, Franklin noticed that Karl had some white in his goatee, not just brown.

  Karl was a young man, like Franklin, in his late twenties. How long would he feel young? How long before he started looking and acting old?

  When they’d finished serving the morning rush, Karl came over to Franklin. “So you got stabbed,” he said dourly.

  “Yeah,” Franklin said. “Damn doctor—Dr. Traeger—wanted a knife that I had.”

  Franklin weren’t sure how much he should tell Karl about what he’d been up to.

  “Well, you look better than you did all week last week,” Karl said.

  Franklin nodded. “The loud, howling ghosts is finally gone.” If Franklin were some kind of Catholic or religious like what he’d seen on TV, he might have made the sign of the cross or something. God rest their souls.

  Though he didn’t know if those poor dead people had any souls left, or if the doctor had eaten them all up.

  “There something else I should know about?” Karl asked after another moment.

  “I’m not sure,” Franklin said honestly. His business with the doctor wasn’t finished yet, but he had no idea what they was gonna do next.

  “Okay,” Karl said. “But you need more time off, you let me know.”

  “Same for you,” Franklin said, since they was partners in this venture.

  Karl gave him a big grin. “I might at that. There’s this new checker at the pharmacy…”

  “You gonna actually ask her out?” Franklin asked. That had been Karl’s problem for a while now, admiring girls but not following through.

  “I aim to,” Karl said. “Might need to leave early Friday.”

  “Plan on it, then,” Franklin said. “I’ll hold down the fort here.”

  “Thanks,” Karl said. “How you and Miss Julie doing?”

  Franklin felt his cheeks flush. “We’re doing just fine.” He was gonna tell her he loved her and everything.

  “That’s good to hear,” Karl said. “All right. I’m outta here. I’ll be back later this afternoon.”

  Karl turned to go, then paused, and turned back. “Wait a minute. Did you say Dr. Traeger? Lamont Traeger?”

  “Yeah,” Franklin said slowly. How did Karl know the doctor’s first name? Franklin hadn’t mentioned it, he was sure.

  When Karl beckoned, Franklin walked to his side, then stared at the police charity ball poster Karl was pointing at.

  Franklin was about to ask what Karl was going on about when he saw it.

  There, at the bottom of the poster, in the fine print.

  Dr. Traeger was listed as one of the sponsors of the ball.

  Then Franklin read further.

  Hell, the ball was gonna be out at Dr. Traeger’s estate. That Saturday night. Three nights from then.

  No wonder that name had sounded so familiar.

  Was that why the doctor had all those ghosts trapped in that blade? So he could make all those rich people young and healthy again?

  Franklin was just gonna have to stop him. It weren’t right, him killing all those ghosts, stealing their peace.

  But how?

  Eight

  JULIE ARRIVED RIGHT at seven. Pretty orange and pink clouds spread all the way across the horizon, and the edges were a deep red. Franklin had never considered leaving Kentucky, and sunsets like this one were part of the reason why.

  He had everything prepared for Julie—the pasta, the sauce, the garlic bread—he’d even put flowers, wild red roses and white peonies on the kitchen table.

  Julie took one look at it all and turned and walked right back out of the kitchen, out the front door.

  Franklin hurried out after her.

  She was wearing a tight purple T-shirt made of a silky material that Franklin liked to touch, with her good jeans, the ones that showed off her curves. So Franklin knew she’d been looking forward to the date.

  “What’s wrong?” Franklin asked, coming up quietly behind Julie.

  She stood on the edge of the front porch, looking out over the driveway and her old beater Ford.

  “Just that,” Julie said. She waved one arm back toward the house, then wrapped them both tightly across her chest.

  Were those tears in her eyes?

  “I didn’t mean to upset you,” Franklin said. He slowly slid his own arms around her from the back, watching carefully for any sign that he should stop.

  “I just wanted to make you a nice dinner,” he added when she’d been quiet for a long moment.

  “Now, Franklin Kanly, don’t be lying to me,” Julie scolded. “You had something else planned.”

  Franklin wanted to make a joke about spending anoth
er long night together, but even he knew now wasn’t the time. “I’d been wanted to tell you how much you mean to me,” he admitted.

  It somehow seemed easier, telling her like this, without having to look at her face, so Franklin continued.

  “How much I love you, and want to be with you,” Franklin continued, his voice a hoarse whisper.

  Just ’cause it were easier, didn’t make it easy.

  Julie turned in Franklin’s arms and wrapped herself around him. She held on fiercely tight, and Franklin did the same.

  She was crying.

  He didn’t know what to do, except pet her hair and kiss her temple now and again, waiting out the storm.

  “I went to see the doctor today. My gynecologist,” Julie said.

  “That’s a woman’s doctor, right?” Franklin asked, wanting to make sure he understood.

  He felt her nod against his wet shirt.

  “Regular checkup. Except that it weren’t regular. They did an ultrasound. Said there’s something wrong with my cervix. Something blocking it.” Julie took a deep breath then let it out in a loud sigh. “Said if they can’t fix it, I might not ever be able to have kids.”

  “You know I’ll love you anyway, right?” Franklin said.

  Though he thought he’d said the right thing, Julie started crying again.

  Franklin couldn’t help but get more tense. Had he said it wrong? Was he not supposed to say it?

  “Oh you idiot,” Julie said, wrapping her arms more tightly around Franklin and holding on as he started to pull away. “I suspected you might say something like that. Or I hoped you would.”

  “Course I would,” Franklin said. He weren’t the kind of man to leave a woman if she couldn’t have children. He didn’t know what they’d do. Would they adopt? Get some special surgery? He knew a woman in the next county who had other people’s kids for them. She used to come in to have Mama do her nails regularly.

  But the pair of them would cross that bridge when they got there.

  Julie sniffed and wiped at her nose with the back of her hand. “You know I love you too, right?” she asked quietly.

  “I was hoping you’d say something like that,” Franklin said.

  That finally got him a smile.