Deadly Curiosities

by Gail Z. Martin

  Not exactly an iron-clad guarantee, I thought. If I take her literally, ‘something’ could break through, but it will have to work for it. Still, it was better than before.

  “Thank you,” I said, meaning it from the bottom of my heart.

  Lucinda reached over to pat my hand, and I felt a slight zing that had nothing to do with static electricity. This was one powerful practitioner. “You’re Sorren’s friend. That’s good enough for me.”

  I yawned, and hurried to cover my mouth, not wanting to look impolite. Baxter, seemingly unfazed by everything that had happened – or at peace with Lucinda’s brand of magic – stretched up on his hind legs and scratched at my knees to be picked up. I settled him onto my lap.

  “Now that your house is taken care of, Lucinda and I will accompany Teag back to his place and make a similar warding,” Sorren said. “Tomorrow night, we’ll do the same at the shop. They’ve all been warded before, but it’s best not to take chances.”

  “Do you think whatever came here will come back?” I asked.

  Lucinda frowned. “If it does, it’ll know that powerful spirits are watching over you. And if it has lesser spirits in league with it, the wardings I cast won’t let them get past the sidewalk.”

  I glanced at Sorren. “Will it stop Corban Moran? Will it stop a demon?”

  Sorren and Lucinda exchanged a glance I couldn’t decipher. “For Moran, the warding should cause him more trouble than I think he’ll want,” Sorren said.

  “Loas are jealous spirits,” Lucinda replied. “Once they’ve been invoked, they feel a mite possessive.

  They won’t take kindly to a demon poking about.”

  In both cases, less than an iron-clad guarantee, but magic didn’t come with a warranty. It would have to do. I had a moment’s mental image of a bunch of frustrated spirits and demon minions milling around outside my piazza gate.

  “Thank you,” I said again. “And thanks for doing Teag’s place as well.” Lucinda inclined her head. “Of course.”

  I rose to walk them to the door. Baxter nested happily in the warm cushion I had left behind. “Good night,” I said, suddenly feeling the full effect of the last few days. I locked the door behind them, turned off lights and scooped Baxter into the crook of my arm, and then headed up the stairs to bed. Maybe it was Lucinda’s wardings, or sheer exhaustion, but I slept like a log.

  Chapter Thirteen

  THE NEXT MORNING was drizzling rain. I muttered at my alarm when it rang. I was supposed to be off today but with Maggie still recuperating from food poisoning, it was just another day. Teag and I are going to have to hire some additional help as soon as this is over, I promised myself.

  I was running late. Baxter waited patiently while I showered and dressed, then playfully pounced from step to step as we went downstairs, certain that kibble would shortly appear in his dish. He was not disappointed.

  I toasted two slices of bread, slathered them with peanut butter and stuck them into a sandwich bag so I could eat at the store. I’d wait for coffee until I got there, too. I liked to have time in the shop before the customers started coming in. Baxter was staying home today. With a quick kiss for Baxter, I slipped out the door, making a mental note to stop for groceries on the way home or I’d be eating dry cereal for supper.

  Teag was already at Trifles and Folly when I arrived, and I smelled fresh coffee brewing. He was the best assistant manager ever.

  “How did it go with Lucinda last night?”

  “She made short work of the apartment,” Teag replied, sipping his cup of tea. “Sorren suggested that she also ward Anthony’s place, to keep the folks who are out for our heads from deciding to go after him to get to us.” He looked as if that possibility had cost him some sleep. “I have a key, so I let her in since he was working late.” He sighed. “I don’t know how I’ll explain the smell.

  “I couldn’t sleep last night,” he confessed. “So I spent some time on the Internet and the Darke Web.

  Anthony sent me a list of names for the murder victims the police have connected along with the three his friend found out about, so I did some digging and plotted where each body was discovered. I left the map in your office. Take a look when you have a chance. Maybe it can narrow down our search.”

  “The real question is – search for what?” I said, tucking my things beneath the counter and heading to the back to make my coffee. He followed.

  “We’re pretty sure Moran is behind things, but what does he want? What’s the demon got to do with it? And what’s up with the dead men – or the missing salvage team?” I munched my peanut butter toast as I thought about all the important stuff we didn’t know.

  “I’ll watch the front,” Teag said. “Why don’t you have a look at the map?”

  His insistence told me that Teag had already formed a theory and that he was waiting for me to validate it or poke holes, so I headed to my office, where Teag had left a map.

  I spread the map out on my desk. The old Navy yard was about a forty-five minute drive from the historic section of the city, over in an area that was mostly used for shipping and warehouses. It wasn’t the prettiest part of town, but it also wasn’t known as particularly crime-ridden. Many of the murders had either happened near the Navy yard, or the bodies had been left there. Either way, it suggested a connection. Or maybe it was just a good place to dump a corpse and not be seen.

  I let out a long breath and picked up a pencil. I drew a line from dot to dot, and it was an amoeba-like, squiggly sort of thing. With the dots connected, I could see what was inside the sort-of-circle. Squinting, I could make out the names of some of the buildings. To my eye, a lot of what was enclosed by the circle was empty space. That might mean that there really were no buildings – possible since the old military yard was being repurposed, and so many of the original buildings had either been torn down or were abandoned. Or it could mean that any buildings that were in use weren’t big enough to bother mentioning.

  I grabbed a piece of paper and made some notes. First, I wrote down the streets that made a rough border around the area where the murders had occurred. Then I wrote down the names of the biggest buildings along that route that showed up on the map. A couple of them appeared to be warehouses.

  One spot had a building without a name. There was an office building and something that appeared to be a lab or a research facility. Not much to go on, but it was a start.

  When I refilled my coffee, I poked my head out to see if we had customers. One stalwart soul had braved the rain and was browsing, but Teag was taking care of him. I went back to my office and plugged in the names of the buildings I had identified on the map.

  None of the places I found screamed supernatural trouble spot. I copied down the names and address of the warehouses, came up completely dry on two of the other buildings, and read the Wikipedia entry about the Navy yard for good measure.

  “Made a sale,” Teag sang out when I heard the door close behind our customer. “How about you?”

  I brandished my notes as well as a printout of the Wikipedia page. “I found out a few things.”

  “Spill!”

  I recapped my results, and then smoothed the print out on the counter. “Here’s a tidbit that might be important. The whole Navy yard area has been in use for a long time. During the Civil War, several of the old warehouses were used as hospitals or holding areas for prisoners of war.”

  “Meaning some bad mojo,” Teag supplied. I nodded.

  “Caskets of soldiers killed in conflict during World War I, World War II, and Vietnam came through the yard, and the unclaimed bodies were stored there until arrangements could be made.” I added. We both knew that could mean restless spirits.

  Teag gave me a sidelong look. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

  I sighed. “Probably. But Sorren won’t be happy.”

  “Road trip!” Teag crowed. He gave me a conspiratorial glance. “And as for Sorren, we could go after we close up shop and be back b
efore it’s dark.”

  The rain never let up, but despite the weather, a dozen or more tourists sought shelter in the shop, and half of them bought something, so the day turned out pretty well. It was raining harder at five o’clock, so I felt no guilt about locking up right on the dot.

  We climbed into my Mini Cooper, and I handed him the map. “Where to first, boss?” He asked with a grin.

  I pointed to one of the larger buildings on the map. “Let’s start with that one.”

  Neither of us spoke on the drive over to the de-commissioned Navy yard. I wasn’t sure this was a smart thing to do for two people who had a guy with a demon after them. Then again, hiding in my house didn’t appeal to me, either. Corban Moran couldn’t be everywhere, and I was gambling that tonight, he wouldn’t be any of the places we were going.

  Before long we sat in front of a sorry looking warehouse. The building had no sign, and a chain link fence separated it from the street. The windows were boarded shut.

  “You getting any vibes?” Teag asked.

  I concentrated, but felt nothing. “Nope,” I said. “Next?”

  Teag gave directions, but we ended up in front of an empty lot. I went around the block and cruised by again slowly, making certain to check street numbers on the decrepit buildings on either side.

  “Guess the building’s gone. You pick up anything from the lot?”

  I shook my head. “Let’s move on.”

  We went down the street as slowly as the speed limit allowed. I didn’t want to miss seeing something, but I also didn’t want to arouse suspicion. Teag looked surprised when I stopped at the curb in front of a large old house. “What’s up?” he asked.

  I stared through the rain at the forlorn old house next to us. It had seen better days. Shingles were missing from the roof, and part of the porch was tilting at an alarming angle. Windows had been broken, and whoever owned the property didn’t care enough to board up what was left. Graffiti covered the front door and some of the wall, blurred by the peeling paint.

  “I don’t know what happened here, but I’m picking up some very strong resonance,” I said. “Can you make out the house number?”

  Between the two of us, we figured out the address, and Teag marked it down. I couldn’t shake the feeling that the house had something to do with our demon problem. “Once we get back, let’s see what we can find on the Internet,” Teag suggested. “I bet we can turn up a last owner.”

  I nodded and pulled away from the curb with a self-conscious glance over my shoulder. It didn’t look as if anyone was around, but I didn’t relish having anyone call the cops. The next several buildings were rubble. Parts of the former Navy yard had been renovated into an office park, but this section looked like it had been bombed.

  Nothing set off my senses. Then we turned a corner, and I felt something so strong I nearly stopped the car in the middle of the road.

  “What’s wrong?” Teag asked, worried. I guess my feelings showed in my face. I felt like I was driving through a curtain of dread. I shivered.

  “Is that one of the ones I marked?” I asked, forcing myself to keep moving until I could get to the curb.

  Teag consulted his list and nodded. “Yep. Simchak Exports and Freight was the last listed owner, according to what you’ve got here.”

  The Simchak building was made of red brick, and from the design, I guessed it was built in the late 1800s. It was a hulking place, with large barn door-sized openings covered with weathered wood. Over the main door, light colored bricks spelled out ‘Covington.’ “What does your spidey sense tell you?” Teag asked. Something about this whole area gave me the creeps. “That it’s got juice,” I said. “We’ll need to do some digging.”

  I peered through the drizzle, trying to determine what was giving me the heebie-jeebies. The shadows seemed thicker near the warehouse. Something had happened here, but what, I wasn’t sure. Despair seemed to roll off the old building like the rain.

  “Cassidy?” Teag looked worried, and I figured I had zoned out longer than I intended.

  I shook off my mood, and took another deep breath. “How close were any of the bodies found to this building?” I asked.

  Teag consulted his map. “Hmm. Three of them were found within two blocks of here.”

  “I wish we knew where the murders happened, not just where the bodies were found,” I said. “Not to mention why Moran and his demon are juicing up objects that should just be minor-league haunted.

  Let’s keep going.”

  The day was so overcast, it was difficult to see the sun, but my dashboard clock said six p.m. and I thought the day seemed darker than it should be for the time. This time, when we pulled away I felt as if something was watching us. I didn’t see anyone around, but I still couldn’t shake the feeling.

  “You’ve got one more address listed.” Teag said as he looked at the map. “Should be close, around the block.”

  We headed for the last site. I got a glimpse of several buildings inside a compound surrounded by a chain link fence as we came up on the address from the back. Even at a distance, the whole place gave me a severe case of the willies. “Definitely bad mojo,” I said. “Let’s go around the block and get a closer look.”

  Several large buildings were between us and the cross-street, blocking our view. I turned a corner, and up ahead I saw the flash of police lights. “Uh oh,” I said. The cops were between us and the last address, blocking the road.

  “Pull over,” Teag said. The rain had stopped, and no one else was around. Cars crowded near the flashing lights. “Let’s see what’s going on.”

  “You mean, just walk up there and poke our noses in?”

  “No,” Teag said, reaching into the back seat and grabbing the spare leash I keep for Baxter in the car.

  “I mean wander up while we’re looking for your lost dog.”

  I parked the car and we got out, calling Baxter’s name and looking from side to side. The cops weren’t expecting bystanders, so when we approached quietly, it took them a minute to realize we were there.

  It was long enough to get an eyeful past the crime scene tape. I glimpsed what was left of a body, big enough to be a man. It looked as if it had gone through a shredder. No skin, face or hair, and what remained of muscle and bone had been ripped apart and broken. I leaned against Teag, trying not to be sick, but even so, one thing stuck out in my mind.

  There wasn’t enough blood.

  If something had done the killing right there, the whole block should have been spattered with gore. I didn’t try to look at the body again, but it hadn’t been lying in a huge puddle of blood, and the ground underneath it was an old asphalt parking lot, so the blood hadn’t just soaked in. He’d been dumped.

  The other reason I was so sure the murder had happened somewhere else was that I hadn’t passed out from a vision of the dead man’s final moments. Even if the victim had been stoned out of his mind, being flayed and ripped to shreds has a tendency to sober someone up. If he had died here, so recently, the images would be impossible to avoid. His terror and pain should have completely overwhelmed me.

  But there was nothing.

  “Hey!” a cop shouted, just noticing us. “You shouldn’t be here!”

  Teag held up Baxter’s leash. “Have you seen Baxter? Little white dog?”

  The cop hustled toward us. “No. I haven’t seen your dog. Shit, you didn’t take pictures, did you?”

  “No pictures,” Teag replied. “Just figured we’d ask if you’d seen him.” He glanced over toward the body and paled. “Wow,” he said.

  “In case you didn’t notice, we’ve got a murder investigation going on,” the cop said, shooing us toward our car. “And if you’re smart, you’ll lock your doors and head straight home. Whoever killed the guy is probably around here somewhere.”

  The same thing had crossed my mind as well, and since I was pretty sure Moran and his demon were behind the killing, we had even more motivation than the cop might have expecte
d to get the hell out of there. So I was surprised when Teag stopped to pick something up.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Later,” he said, pretending to tie his shoe. The cop was still watching us, and he kept staring at us until we turned the car around and drove away. The sun was just setting, and I was anxious to get out of the Navy yard.

  “What did you find?” I asked, steering for home.

  Teag opened his fist. Inside lay a metal button, something you’d find on a pair of men’s jeans. It was scuffed with wear, but didn’t look like it had been sitting out in the weather for long.

  “Think it’s from the dead man?” I asked.

  Teag shrugged. “That’s as good a guess as any,” he replied. “There weren’t any occupied buildings down that way, so there’s no reason for foot traffic. Then again, who knows?”

  I’d know as soon as I touched the button, but that would have to wait until I wasn’t driving. Teag pocketed the button, and I turned a corner. Finding my way out of the Navy yard was proving harder than going in.

  “I’m turned around,” I said. We had managed to find a street of even more decrepit buildings than any we had seen. The rain had started up again, and the sun was nearly gone. The diversion with the cops had kept us out later than we planned and it was getting dark fast. Too fast.

  “Hang on,” I said. I glanced in my rear view mirror. Darkness was falling like a curtain behind us, inky black and opaque, rushing at us like the tide. Every nerve ending in my body screamed for me to run.

  I gunned the engine and floored it, wishing my Mini Cooper was a muscle car. We were out of sight of the cops, and everything around us looked deserted. We roared down the crumbling roadway, and I leaned on the horn, hoping for once in my life we’d attract attention and get pulled over for speeding.

  No such luck. My horn made no noise, though I had beeped at a slow driver just fine earlier in the day.

  “Uh, Cassidy. All your warning lights are blinking,” Teag said.

  No shit. But Teag meant in the car, and when I looked at my dashboard, it was lit up like a Christmas tree. Even my car was panicking. Or more likely, the dangerous magic that was closing in on us was also playing havoc with our electronics. And that meant that the car might go – Dead. Just like that, the car engine cut out and we coasted to a stop.