The Witches’ Bane
by Edward Ahern
Chapter 6: Sprung
Tassie showed up right after Gordon’s heart-attacky breakfast of galvanized scrambled eggs and deep-fried but undercooked bacon. “Your sleazy lawyer arranged your release.”
“Can I go?”
“Yeah. I’ll take you back to your car.”
“Wow, escorted by a senior officer. You must want to unburden yourself.”
Tassie’s reaction was minute but noticeable. He had something extracurricular on his mind.
“Look, Lieutenant Tassie, I’m sorry that I was a smart ass. I’m upset about Judy’s murder, and when I get frightened I lash out. I’ll help you any way I can.”
Tassie wasn’t buying it, but at least he wasn’t scowling. Once he’d pulled into the parking lot of the general store in Big Eddy he turned around to look at Gordon. “We need to know where to contact you.”
“I’m going to be staying here until Judy is buried. After that back to New Jersey.”
“Shouldn’t she be buried back home?”
“No ‘back home’ for her to go to. The dirt here is as comforting as anywhere else. Look, I know I’m still a suspect, but I’d appreciate knowing how the investigation into her death is proceeding. Could I call you?”
“I won’t be able to tell you anything specific about an ongoing investigation.”
“I know, but could you give me at least a general idea? I won’t bother you with a lot of calls or questions. And I promise to call with anything I find out or remember.”
Tassie shrugged. “All right.”
Gotcha, Gordon thought. If you take my call, I can walk into your mind.
“Thanks.”
Gordon walked back into the cabin and checked his tell-tales. His clothes had been gone through minutely but returned to their original positions. The single strands of blanket fiber he’d carefully laid on top were missing or moved. They’d found nothing. Gordon had ensured that he’d left behind no hair or nail clippings for a witch to use against him, and the .38 was cached in its hidey hole in the Xterra. He sat on the cot and called AJ.
“You sprung?”
“Yeah, AJ, thanks. You send me the lap top?”
“To the Big Eddy post office. Should get there today. Still keyed to your thumbprint and pass codes. Almost all the info you requested is in email attachments sent to you. The rest will get sent later on today. You okay?”
“Yes, Mother. You’ve seen the data: what’s your illicitly educated guess?”
“It reeks like a blooming yeast infection. Big Eddy is abnormally crime free, but if you go out twenty miles in any direction there’s all kinds of mayhem. And somebody’s made industrial-strength goetic purchases... the stuff used in death curses and blood rituals.”
“Thanks. Did you ever get laid?”
“Nah. You distracted me. By the time I got back into action, her girlfriend had showed up.”
“Sorry.”
“You owe me.”
“Yeah. I’ll call you once I have a chance to go through your material.”
Gordon hung up and decided he needed to visit a good bookstore.
Copyright © 2018 by Edward Ahern
