by Ross Homer
Elsa sat beside Nissa on the couch and I put the ring box in the middle of my desk. Opening it, I said, “Lena Bordlund and her sister Paula Smithson received identical wedding rings from their grandmother. When I accidentally touched Lena’s today, I received a strong sense of location on Paula. I knew she was dead earlier, because of an article of clothing her sister gave me. I didn’t get where she was though, or who killed her. Give me a moment to concentrate.”
They nodded. Elsa had seen me do this many times but it was a first for Nissa. There’s actually not much to see. If I have clothes, I hold whatever it is to my face. In this case it was rings. I picked them up and held them to my forehead…
And screamed as I jerked the rings away and dropped them on my desk as if they were red hot! Goddess!
I knew instantly where she was or rather, where her left hand was. I saw a shoe crash down on my head! I felt the instant pain and then it was gone as blackness fell on me. I was dead.
Elsa jumped up and ran over to me. “Jo! What? Are you okay?”
I grabbed her like she was a life jacket and buried my face against her chest and breathed in her clean scent. I cannot begin to tell how much that helped return me to the present.
I sobbed, “That’s never happened to me before! Oh Goddess!” I pulled back and pushed her towards the couch. “Please, Baby, let me…leave me a second. Don’t help me. Please!”
Elsa nodded and returned to the couch and sat back beside Nissa. She was not at all angry with me for pushing her away. Her anger on top of what just happened might have been too much for me to handle. I was so lucky just then to have her in my life.
It took several minutes of me sitting and breathing, trying to sort out my feelings and what had just happened to me. This was wrong on so many levels. Just wrong!
Now that I had recovered a little, I tried to continue sorting it out. I cried. I couldn’t help it. I cried.
Elsa came back over and handed me some tissues. This time I held her hand, took the tissues, and kissed her palm. Now she was working on my emotions. I could feel it and man, did I need the help.
I didn’t care what Nissa thought as I pulled Elsa back into my lap and clung to her for dear life. I focused on her not my surroundings. The smell of her soft hair, the feel of her smooth skin. Her weight on my lap. All of it. If we had been naked, I’d have wrapped myself around her like a four-armed octopus.
She whispered, “Jo? Can you tell us what happened yet? Please talk to us.” She stroked my face. Then I felt Nissa’s presence as she put her hand on my shoulder. She took away the rest of my fear and panic.
I leaned Elsa back a little and kissed her lightly. “I think I’ve got it now, Baby.”
She got up and sat on the corner of my desk. For some reason, post panic I reckoned, I found it funny. That’s where she sat when she wore her short skirts because she loved teasing me with the view.
“Goddess, guys,” I said, “I’m so sorry. And, I can’t thank both of you enough. Elsa, you helped calm me down. Nissa, you did the rest.” I leaned back and wiped my eyes. “Wow! That was something! Let me wind down a little more. In fact…beer anyone?” I had conjured an ice-cold Molson and I swallowed down about half of it. The cold beer felt delicious sliding down my throat.
The other two declined.
Now I felt I could talk. “Okay. Elsa, take notes. Seriously. I may confuse shit and I don’t want to do that.”
She got up and went into her office and got her LittleBook. Then she sat beside Nissa again.
“Let’s have it,” she said. “I’m ready.”
I closed my eyes and tried to put my thoughts into some kind of coherent order. It was tough.
After a moment, I said, “When I touched Lena’s wedding rings, I connected to Paula instantly. That was at Lena’s house. She then gave me her rings and they’re right here.” I nudged them with my index finger and sure enough, that zing went through me again. There was more here than I’d ever encountered before and to be truthful, it scared the shit right straight out of me.
“I can’t touch them! Gaia! I just felt a contact again just now when I touched them. That’s some kind of power. Arcane? I don’t know. Lena’s not a witch or I don’t think she is. Nissa? Is she Fae?”
“I don’t know. I’d have to see her but with what has already happened to you, she may be. Go on.”
She came over and picked up the rings, though. “I don’t feel a thing but a pretty set of wedding rings.” After she set them back down, she returned to the couch.
“That they are,” I said. “Let me see if I can get through this. Okay. Elsa and I came here.” I left out the fight we’d had on the way. “And had our little, mmm, session. Then you came in. All was good to that point. And then I…I picked them up and much like I do articles of clothing, I held them to my forehead. That’s when it all went kablooey! I was overloaded with information! Paula is on some land outside of Seattle in the mountains. I know exactly where. Or…her left hand is. But that’s not the worst part.” I finished the beer. This was going to be damned difficult.
“Okay. Let me say this. I died. Dead! No, she did, and I was inside her head when it happened. I felt the blackness! She’d been punched in the gut and fell down. Then her assailant…he…he…kicked her in the stomach and ribs before he stomped the side of her head. That killed her. But Nissa, Elsa, I was there when it happened. Inside her head. What the hell does it mean?”
Neither woman had an answer for me. Elsa knew me best. Knew all the things I’d done over the last six years. As I said before, she held me while I cried more than once.
“Jo,” she said, “I’m going to take a wild shot at this and say…is it possible you know the guy who killed her?”
My eyes went wide when she asked that question. That’s when the beer came back up. I barely reached my trashcan in time. Elsa was beside me in a flash, holding me while I dry heaved. When I felt like I was done, I went to the restroom and cleaned my face and rinsed my mouth. Then I stared at the woman in the mirror. My usually pretty brown eyes were bloodshot, and I swear I had a couple of new wrinkles. What the hell was happening to me? Goddess, I was frightened beyond words! I needed Elsa now, holding me, more than anything in my life.
I returned to my desk and dropped on the seat. Nothing ladylike about it. Actually, I went as far as my legs could carry me before they gave up.
Nissa asked, “Are you alright?”
“No. I am terrified, Nissa!” I replied sharply. “Wait! I’m sorry. This is uncharted territory for me. I…goddamnit, I am terrified. Okay. Me? Big ol’ tough-ass Jocelyn Palmer is terrified of something. Yeah. I’m not embarrassed to say it, either.”
I stared at the rings and wondered about them. If I did it again, could I see the person who killed Paula? Or…would I lose my mind? What happened a few minutes ago made me wonder. Paula definitely knew her assailant.
“This is what I want to do, Elsa,” I said. “I want you and Nissa here on both sides of me while I touch these rings again. If I suddenly get weird or…fuck! I don’t know! Go crazy, take them away from me. Okay? I think I may be able to see who killed her.”
Elsa said one word and that stopped me cold. “No.”
I saw Nissa nod in agreement.
“I love you, Jo,” Elsa continued. “What happened on the way from Lena’s made me realize just how much I love you. If you do what you were thinking, it could honestly fracture you mind.” She leaned down and fastened her eyes on mine. “I saw what happened to you. Please, don’t do it again.”
That was all I needed to hear. “Then put them in your pocket,” I asked.
She did.
With a sigh, I suggested, “Let’s call it a day, okay? It’s been all over the place emotionally, and I want a bacon cheeseburger from The Waterin’ Hole and then home. I’m sorry Nissa if this is embarrassing, but Elsa, I want to follow that a long cuddle with you.”
Nissa laughed, “Like me being there’s slowed you down any yet. Let
’s run by my place so I can pick up several more things to wear. If you two are going to raise the roof, then I may as well toss in my tuppence too, and get a couple of things I need.”
That made us all laugh hard and I felt a ton better.
I got what I wanted and later, when Elsa and I went to sleep, she was the one getting all octopus on me. I didn’t care. I loved her wrapped around me like that and tonight I really needed it. And Nissa really did enjoy herself at the other end of the house.
When I got up the next morning, I was still stiff and sore so there was going to be no bike racing for me. Both Nissa and Elsa were out for their run. I called a few people and begged off, reminding them of the so-called accident of Wednesday.
The rings were lying on our dresser. Should I, or shouldn’t I? I slept deeply and dreamlessly so whatever had happened didn’t feel like a lasting effect. But without Nissa and Elsa with me? I passed on doing it alone as I got ready for the day. I dressed in soft, well-worn tan jeans and a lightweight blue sweater. No bra unless we were going out. I pushed the sleeves up as I headed down for the coffee pot.
My roomies had left me a cup and I filled my mug with it. After slicing and dropping a bagel in the toaster, I sipped and looked out the window on a cloudy day.
I decided that I needed more information before I tackled those damn rings again. I grinned. If Gran could call me, I could just as easily call her. She would, I hoped, know more about what happened than I.
I took out my cellphone and hit her number.
Some guy answered and sounded half asleep. It was an hour later there so what had they done? Stayed up half the night having sex? I shrugged and asked for my grandmother. She too, sounded half asleep and told me she’d call back in an hour or so.
That was that. Now I had to wait. No, dammit. I had an office full of books on witchcraft and magic. That helped me decide to get ahead of the game a little and see what I could find before she called back.
My bagel was done so I slathered cream cheese with green olives on it and took it and my coffee up to my office.
An hour later, I had munched it down and still had no definitive answer to what happened to me. I heard the girls come in and smiled. Yeah, losing Elsa would have ripped my heart right out of my chest. I don’t care how tough I appeared.
I limped downstairs and greeted my two sweaty roommates.
Gran called ten minutes after the runners came back. They were in the showers when I answered.
I could hear the smile in her voice. “Hey, baby girl. What can I do for you?”
“Gran,” I replied, sitting at my desk, “something really odd happened to me yesterday and I hope you can shed some light on it.”
“I’ll try and, we won’t be interrupted while we talk. He’s on his way to work.”
“Okay.” Then I told her everything up to but not including the relaxing love making of last night.
There was a long silence, but I could hear her breathing. Finally, she said, “Baby girl, you stepped in it up to your very tall ass. That sounds silly but it’s what happened, and I’ll be totally frank; it could have easily driven you completely mad. I’m so glad you have a strong mind and heart. You got that from me and your mom. Now…what to do about it? Simplest answer is don’t do it again. No, I’m not being insensitive. I’m serious. What you described to me is threefold. You found the person you were looking for; you were there when she was murdered, and you picked up all that energy. And here’s the hard part. You are correct or rather Elsa is. You know who murdered her and you may be or have been close to that person. I think that was what really hit you the hardest. You know this asshole.”
“Then there’s nothing I can do to try and find him? Use the rings again?” Goddess this was starting to sound like a fantasy movie.
“I wouldn’t. You have two excellent friends who could help but baby, if they should miss the tiniest clue that you were losing it, it would probably be too late for you.”
That was unsettling to say the least. I had a woman I loved dearly and to think I could lose my mind and never see her again made me want to take a long hard think about things. I’d do that when I hung up. I said, “Thanks, Gran. I’ll do some research with my books and see if I can come up with some safe way to do this. Otherwise, I’ll let the cops handle it. Elsa and Nissa are back from their run and I want to go find this woman’s body.”
We hung up and I went down to join my runners. Breakfast was fun and noisy, but things settled down after the dishes were put in the dishwasher.
“Girls,” I said as I dried my hands on a dishtowel, “we need to go find Paula’s body.” I glanced out my kitchen window. “At least the day is halfway decent. Dress for a hiking in the woods.”
After the three of us dressed for the woods and mountains, we took Nissa’s Honda SUV in case we should need an all-wheel drive vehicle.
I didn’t need a map. Nope. I had her location seared into my mind. I could probably go to within a few feet of her. We’d find out.
Turns out I came within inches of her left hand.
An hour later, the state troopers were taking pictures of Paula’s left hand, what was left of it, lying in a clump of brush. Insects and small rodents had already gotten to it, but it was there along with her rings still on her finger. All I did was squat and touch them and I fell on my ass from the shock.
The shock I got from Lena’s rings was enough to send me into a mental meltdown. Barely touching Paula’s actual rings was much, much stronger.
It took several more hours, but the rest of her body was eventually found. It was terrible. If there was any kind of upside, most of her had fed any number of creatures.
Worse was finding the remains of a number of other people, most likely women. The State’s medical examiner said he had at least twelve bodies and from the looks of the bones, sizes and shapes, they were all women. He’d have more after some intense lab work. It was obvious that we had a serial killer on our hands. Considering the ages of some of the bones, he’d been with us for years.
We were questioned and released. Having Nissa with us helped because she was a Seattle Serious Crimes cop.
Back home, things returned to some version of normality. Nissa called her husband and disappeared upstairs into her room. We heard this sound from upstairs and guessed what they were up to.
While they were being all nasty ’n shit on the phone, Elsa actually called her parents too. They had a long, quiet conversation. She told me later it was the first time they’d talked for more than a minute or two since she’d left home. There were lots of tears. Seeing the remains of all those women up in the mountains made her aware of what she had lost.
Me? I went back upstairs to my office, put on my headphones and listened to some soft, jazzy, coffee lounge music. I started reading and Googling. I found a lot of information, mostly crap, about overwhelming mental energy but there was nothing I could use.
That’s how the rest of Saturday went. Eat, read, eat some more, drink coffee and…read. It was boring as hell, but I learned a lot more about being a witch than I ever thought possible.
I didn’t make the race, either.
This continued into Sunday.
I woke up in a tangle of Elsa, kissed her sleeping lips and got up. As I looked at her sleeping innocently with a smile on her face and a little drool on the left side of her mouth, I realized that my love for her was becoming obsessive. That ain’t good, I told myself. For the moment, though, I basked in the emotion.
I felt good. I wasn’t as sore and achy, and I felt like I could actually go biking. The rain killed that idea this time. Ahh…spring in Seattle. I was surprised it wasn’t snowing. Had we gone up into the mountains today, we’d have found Paula’s hand under about six inches of it.
Standing at the kitchen window getting water for the coffee maker, I had the strangest feeling of being watched. All I could see was rain and the yard. There was an alley out back, but the board fence was eight feet high. There could b
e someone back there. I cast a small spell and all I saw was the neighbor’s dog loose again.
I shivered and started the coffee.
Hindsight seems to always be 20-20, doesn’t it? The feeling of being watched was one of those Shakespearian signs and portents I should have paid attention to. I realized later that I should have cast a wider spell. Well, other than shed a ton more tears, there was nothing I could do about it when it happened.
<<<<<>>>>>
Hatred burned in his eyes as he prepared. If it were possible, they would have glowed red. She wasn’t available to him anymore and every time he saw her, he became angrier because of it. She’d been a fine wife for him, but she was immoral in ways that drove him wild with anger. On the other hand, she was completely subservient to his marital demands. She didn’t like it but too bad. It was her job as a woman to bow to him.
Then she left him! Her? Leaving him? His personal property? The nerve of that God-forsaken dirty whore!
He took care of his other problem last night although he needed to live in a long-term motel because of the mess in his house. That pig and her rotten little piglets weren’t going to bother him anymore.
On top of all that it really burned him that they’d found that other woman’s body so soon. There were women who’d been undisturbed on the property for at least ten years and yet they found this one in a couple of weeks. It had to be that witch. She took his property away from him; he was going to take something away from her.
He had the location sussed out. When she ran with her equally wicked friend, they took the same route almost every time and all he had to do was hunker down and wait. Taking a thermos of coffee and a couple of doughnuts, he did exactly that. If not today, then tomorrow or the next day. He had all the time in the world.
<<<<<>>>>>
I dragged Sleeping Beauty bitching and complaining out of bed. “C’mon, you lazy hussy. The three of us are running today.”
Elsa grumbled, “You? You hate to run. Lemme go back to sleep.”
