Nostalgic memories ran through Jessica’s head of her, Karla and her grandfather. Ellen stared remorsefully at Jessica.
“Would someone like to start sharing memories with me? Like what had happened here tonight,” Lance insisted before gesturing towards the altar. “And please tell me that, that pile of dust wasn’t once a person.”
“It was someone,” Ellen said remorsefully.
When Ellen didn’t continue Lance demanded to know, “Who?!”
“Leon Stone,” Harris said.
“That’s Grandfather?” Karla questioned in a fear-struck tone as she gestured towards the ashes.
“Yes,” Jessica said sullenly as the random memories of her, Karla and her grandfather continued.
“What happened here?” Lance urged them to continue.
“You were told of our suspicions towards Leon…” Harris was only able to get out.
“So you came here and killed him?” Lance quickly asked.
“We came here to rescue Karla,” Jessica quickly corrected. “And then Grandfather—while spiritually possessing Karla’s body—had trapped us in the taxidermic room.”
“While in that room, we found a hidden storage closet with their family’s Legacy volumes inside,” Ellen added. Karla shot Ellen a confused look. “And among the volumes was the incantation to the Dark Ritual.”
“Grandfather was planning on casting the incantation to steal mental health from us… from me, his own granddaughter as he had done with those college students,” Jessica continued incredulously. “We knew at that point that it was either Grandfather or us… so we performed the Dark Ritual on him.”
“I… somewhat… remember what I had planned to do,” Karla said while concentrating on her memory.
“It was Grandfather, not you,” Jessica reminded her.
“It felt like it was me… as a dream,” Karla said.
“Do you know the incantation that Grandfather was planning?” Jessica asked in a tone as if to make a point.
Karla thought for a second, and when she shook her head, Lance requested, “Remind me again what the Dark Ritual does.”
“It’s the ritual that a wizard would use to steal powers from another wizard,” Harris informed before gesturing towards Leon’s remains. “The wizard who loses his powers gets turned into ashes as the wizard or sorceress performing the ritual becomes magically stronger.”
“Mr. Delaney. Jessica and Karla’s grandfather was hurting people and he needed to be stopped,” Ellen began. “And I know you told me to let the police and the courts handle the guilty, but the police and the courts wouldn’t have been able to stop him… especially when there was no physical evidence to prove his guilt.”
Lance thought about it for a second before agreeing halfheartedly, “No.” He then turned towards the remains. “What chemical was used on the body?”
“There was no chemical used,” Ellen said sullenly barely above a whisper.
When Lance shot Ellen a skeptical look, Harris said, “Witchcraft was the only thing that was used.”
“Nothing… nothing at all was used to help turn their grandfather into… into this?” Lance questioned incredulously as he gestured towards the ashes.
“Nothing was used,” Ellen insisted. “The police forensic can verify it after you call them in.”
Lance sighed before saying, “I’m not a crooked cop, but turning this incident—wizards and witches fighting to the death—into an official police report would actually cause more problems for all of us than it’s worth. And I do believe that you four were acting in the public’s best interest…”
“We were,” Ellen again said sullenly barely above a whisper while looking downward.
“Ellen?” Lance let out to grab her attention.
“We were,” Ellen repeated more loudly as she looked at Lance.
“I heard you the first time,” Lance said.
“You didn’t want me to repeat myself,” Ellen said in a confused tone.
“Are you okay?” Lance asked.
Tears rolled down Ellen’s cheeks as she turned towards the altar and said, “I helped do what I thought...” Ellen stopped talking and closed her eyes. She kept her eyes closed as she continued with, “Leon Stone was hurting people, and so I helped do what I knew was right…” She opened her eyes to look at and gesture towards Jessica. “Hell, I had even told Jessica that it was either him or us and I chose us, and now it’s bothering me that I helped do it. And being mentally linked with Jessica and seeing the good times that she had with her grandpa isn’t helping either.”
“I can’t help it,” Jessica mentally said.
“I know, Jess,” Ellen said. “It still doesn’t help.”
When Harris saw a confused expression on Lance’s face, Harris supplied, “From an incantation that we had done prior to coming here, Ellen, Jessica and I are mentally linked temporarily. We knew that Leon needed to be stopped and now that he had been stopped, Ellen, Jessica and even I feel bad that we couldn’t had found another way of doing it without resorting to the Dark Ritual.”
Lance slightly nodded in an understanding manner before saying, “What you three are feeling is normal. In fact, it would bother me if any of you didn’t feel a sense of remorse over this incident.” Lance went to pull out his wallet. “And from personal experience, wondering if there was something that you could have or should have done differently doesn’t go away.” Lance pulled out a card from his wallet. “Therefore, I’m going to give you four a name of a counselor…”
“I don’t need a counselor,” Ellen insisted.
“Ellen, your mom had died a few months ago, your last surviving brother had died a couple of weeks ago and now this,” Lance pointed out.
“Kyle might be my brother,” Ellen’s voice rang in Harris’s and Jessica’s heads.
Jessica gave Ellen a curious look as Lance continued in an unyielding tone, “So you’re going to see Dr. Pendell if I have to handcuff you and escort you there myself.”
While shooting Lance an annoyed look, Ellen crossed her arms across her chest. She slightly flinched in pain when her movement disturbed the mark of Merlin.
Lance saw Ellen’s reaction and asked, “Are you okay?”
“I am,” Ellen emphasized. “There’s no need to be overly concern.”
Lance slightly rolled his eyes before informing, “Ellen, in my precinct, it is mandatory for officers to see a counselor after shooting and killing someone in the line of duty. And I don’t see this incident as being any different. I… myself had to go see Dr. Pendell on more than one occasion.”
“You killed someone?” Ellen asked. “In the line of duty?”
“Once as an officer and two more times after becoming a detective,” Lance admitted as Ellen was remembering what Everett had told her. “And there’s no shame at talking to a counselor about it. Now will I have to arrest you to get you to Dr. Pendell’s office?”
Ellen moaned before grumbling, “Fine. I’ll see him… or her.”
“A him,” Lance supplied. “Harris, I’ll give you his number, and I’ll let him know to expect your call. And make sure that Ellen goes.”
Ellen shot Lance a smirk as Harris said, “I will.”
“You know, I’d be more comfortable at going and even talking to this guy… this doctor, if you would go with me,” Ellen told Lance.
“I can do that,” Lance assured Ellen. “So I’ll make your appointment.” Ellen thought about it for a second before nodding in agreement. “Now getting back to this incident. I’m going to bring a good friend of mine in on this. He’s an FBI agent. His name is Special Agent Neil Sanders and he can help me to declare him dead without making this incident into an unpleasant investigation… and luck has it, he believes in the paranormal and the occults. Of course I’ll be hearing a childish, ‘I told you so’ from him.” Lance then gestured towards Jessica and Karla. “Anyway, where’s your dad?”
“Alaska,” Karla said simply.
“He t
ook a job there six months ago,” Jessica added.
“You two were living here without a guardian for six months?” Lance quickly demanded to know.
“Our grandfather…” Jessica was only able to get out.
“Was bedridden and doesn’t count as a guardian,” Lance retorted.
“Then yeah,” Jessica confessed timidly.
Lance took his cell phone off his belt and held it out for either Jessica or Karla to take while saying, “Okay, well, one of you had better get your dad on the phone, ASAP.”
“Yes, Sir,” Jessica and Karla said as they both moved for the phone.
Jessica was closer though so Karla had stopped and allowed Jessica to get it.
Before Jessica placed her call, she looked towards Lance and said, “My mom is innocent, Mr. Delaney. My grandfather was the one who had killed Peter Berkeley.”
“I know,” Lance said sympathetically. “I’ll discuss this with Neil, but there’s a good chance that proving your mom is innocent will be beyond our means.”
“If a person was hypnotized to kill, would that person be held responsible for murder?” Ellen asked.
Lance shot Ellen a slight grin as Karla added, “My grandfather does have books on hypnosis and self-hypnosis.”
Lance glanced towards Karla before saying, “Holding someone responsible for murder when he or she was under a hypnotic influence at the time of the murder would be for the courts to decide. However, I think that would create a reasonable case for an appeal.” Lance then gestured towards the cell phone. “Now call your dad.”
Jessica nodded before dialing the phone.
Chapter Twenty-Six
There was a short wait between when Jessica had dialed the number and when she had said, “Dad, it’s Jess.”
“I can’t talk now, Jess,” Herb—Jessica and Karla’s father —said.
“Give me the phone,” Lance said while overlapping Herb.
“Mr. Delaney is here with me and wants to talk to you,” Jessica quickly said.
“Who?” Jessica heard her dad asking as she was handing Lance the phone.
“Mr. Harman, I’m Detective Delaney,” he corrected. “I do not want to go over the details on the phone; however, your father-in-law has passed away…”
“Are you serious?!” Herb questioned incredulously.
“Yes, Mr. Harman,” Lance confirmed.
“How?” Herb demanded.
“I do not want to go over the details of his passing on the phone,” Lance repeated. “Anyway, your daughters are unsupervised minors, and given your father-in-law’s medical condition before his passing, your daughters have been unsupervised minors since you had left for Alaska. Now I’m not interested in busting you over this, but if you don’t correct this situation within the next twenty-four hours I will be filing charges against you for child neglect and child endangerment. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Detective Delaney,” Herb began. “And… and I’ll be on the first available plane out of Alaska.”
“I would like for you to contact me as soon as you’re back in Savannah, Georgia,” Lance prompted. “Otherwise I will think that Jessica and Karla are still unsupervised.”
“Yes, Detective Delaney,” Herb said. “I will let you go so I can call the airlines and book the flight.”
“I’ll be waiting to hear from you; bye,” Lance said before ending the call.
“Jessica. Karla. You two will stay at my house tonight,” Harris informed.
‘Sure’ and ‘Okay’ with shrugs were the responses that Harris received from Jessica and Karla.
Lance dialed Neil Sanders, and when Neil answered, Lance requested for him to come to the mansion without supplying details as to why. Neil reluctantly agreed, and as Lance was ending his call he stared at Ellen as if he was debating on telling her something.
Ellen shot Lance a curious look before asking, “What?”
“I have discussed your driver’s license status with my captain,” Lance began. A confused expression came across Ellen’s face. “Now don’t get your hopes up, but I might be able to get your driving privileges reinstated here in Georgia.”
A pleasant grin came across Ellen’s face before saying, “Thanks for doing this for me.”
Lance nodded with a grin before saying, “You’re welcome.”
“While we are waiting on Special Agent Sanders to show up, I recommend that we end that curse that was put on the taxidermic room,” Harris suggested.
“The person who had cast the curse is now dead,” Ellen pointed out.
“That’s actually not a true statement,” Harris countered. A confused expression came across everyone’s face. “As far as the curse is concern, Karla was the one who had cast it.”
“Are you sure?” Ellen asked.
“I’ll call Sadie to verify it, but I’m quite certain of it,” Harris said. “In fact, I’ll need to call Sadie anyway for the instructions on how to end it.” Harris checked his pants at the belt for his cell phone before having the random thought, “My cell phone’s in the car.”
“You can use our phone,” Jessica offered.
“The call will be to London,” Harris informed.
“How late is it in London right now?” Karla asked.
“Late enough that I’ll be waking her up,” Harris said. “Anyway, I’ll pay you for the call though.”
Before anyone could respond, a vision of Sadie, wearing an evening dress and partying at a London mansion, had flashed through Ellen’s mind. Well-known British actors and actresses—even to the American fans—were also at the party and their presence had flashed in the vision.
Harris and Jessica saw it as it came across Ellen’s mind, and before the two could respond, Ellen uttered, “Whoa!”
“I saw it,” Harris said.
“What was that?” Jessica quickly asked.
“What’s going on?” Lance asked in a confused tone.
“I think Ellen just had a psychic vision,” Harris said.
“You’re a psychic?” Karla asked as everyone looked towards Ellen.
Ellen vigorously shook her head before insisting, “I’m not.”
“Over two hundred years ago some of your ancestors were psychics though,” Harris reminded Ellen. “This is just a thought, but you’re a sorceress now, and perhaps your psychic ability requires a given amount of sorcery within you for it to even work… and if that’s the case, I wonder if it’s true with telekinetic ability as well.”
Ellen shot Harris a confused look before asking, “Why are you wondering that?”
“Some of my ancestors had that ability,” Harris informed. “And like your ancestors’ psychic ability, Ellen, my ancestors’ telekinetic ability had ended around two hundred years ago as well.”
“Hey, do you think that Karla and I can astral project like our grandfather?” Jessica questioned.
“It’s possible,” Harris said.
“Just don’t be taking over people’s bodies while astral projecting,” Ellen added in a jaded tone. “Please?”
Jessica amusingly grinned before saying, “I won’t.”
“Neither will I,” Karla said.
“Of course we haven’t determined that we have that ability,” Jessica added. Ellen just nodded with a polite grin.
Harris looked towards Jessica and Karla while asking, “Anyway… is it okay for me to use your phone?”
“Sure,” Karla said before gesturing towards the hallway. “Follow me.”
Harris gestured for her to go, and as Karla left the room, he, Ellen, Jessica and Lance followed.
Karla led Harris and the others to the spacious kitchen, and as Harris used the kitchen phone, Ellen admired what the room had to offer that most kitchens don’t.
Ellen was then drawn to Harris when she mentally heard Sadie answering her cell phone with, “Hello.”
“Sadie, it’s me—Harris,” he said.
“Oh my God, Harry!” Sadie said excitingly. “You will never guess where I
am right now.”
“Um, I’ll say that you are attending a party at some mansion where most of the party guests are actors and actresses,” Harris said while making it sound like a guess.
“Okay, that was freakishly accurate to be a guess, so how did you know?” Sadie demanded to know.
“Go somewhere where you can speak freely,” Harris instructed.
“That’s a challenge, but I’ll find a spot,” Sadie said. “And while I’m looking, start talking.”
Harris took the time to explain everything to Sadie.
Once Harris had ended his story, Sadie—while referring to Harris and Ellen being a wizard and a sorceress—uttered in a playfully high pitch tone, “Jealous!” She then continued normally, “but happy for you and Ellen. I’m also fascinated that Ellen had regained an ability of her ancestors…”
“Ask Sadie how long and how often does she party with British movie stars,” Ellen mentally requested.
As Ellen was mentally speaking to Harris, Sadie was continuing with, “Anyway, I’m far enough away from the others to speak freely so put… the person who will be casting the incantation on the phone.”
“Karla is her name,” Harris supplied while grabbing her attention, “but before I put her on the phone, Ellen would like to know how often do you party with actors and actresses.”
“This is my first time actually,” Sadie admitted. “After three years of acting lessons and auditions, Angela’s baby sister Cassie had gotten cast in a new movie that will be coming out next year. So Cassie had invited Angela and me to this party. I would love to get photos and autographs, but I fear that would make me look too much like a wanker. Anyway, put Karla on the phone.”
“Hold on,” Harris said before holding out the phone for Karla to take.
Karla while carrying a notebook and a pencil took the phone. The incantation to end the curse was short and simple, and after she had it written down, she asked incredulously, “That’s it?”
“Isn’t that enough?” Sadie questioned.
“Yes…” Karla said before hesitating. “I just… well, I wrote what you had said down, and how short and simple it is, I didn’t really need to.”
“Well, tell Harry I love him, but I’m hanging up now and rejoining the party,” Sadie informed. “So bye.”
Legacy Page 44
