A box of garbage bags that vanished from the kitchen.
Bruises on his forearms she hadn’t wanted to ask about.
And then the next day... news of Kayla, murdered.
“You know he did it, but you just didn’t want to believe it.”
“I mean, Jamie admitted to it! I told myself… maybe my son snapped. Maybe they argued and things got out of hand.” Her face twists. “Maybe they were even romantic and it turned ugly.”
“You need to tell the truth,” I say. “To Sherbet. And to Jamie. He’s sitting in a holding cell right now, protectingyou.”
I give her the nudge she needs to do the right thing. She covers her face. “Oh God, what have I done?”
“You can still fix this and take a monster off the streets,” I say gently. “Start by talking to the police. Then pack your things. Trent’s going to be arrested tonight, and trust me, you don’t want to be here when that happens.”
She nods, slowly. “Okay, okay.”
I rise to leave but pause at the threshold. “He has a hold on you, doesn’t he?”
“I can’t explain it, Ms. Moon. I do whatever he says. I go along with it, even when I don’t want to.”
I nod. The dude is definitely a practitioner in... something. What, exactly, I don’t know. But he knows enough to manipulate minds and energy.
“Are the bags still here, you think?” I ask.
She goes still. Then nods. “I think I saw them in the trash can after he cleaned them, though. He told me not to touch anything, and I haven’t.” She buries her face in her hands. As she does, I root around in her mind, and see the energetic hooks he has in her. There are hundreds of them. It will take me a good deal oftime to remove them. I command her to come see the next day, and she nods. I hand her my card. I’ll work on her in the privacy of my office and clear his hold on her. But first, I make sure there isn’t one crazy overriding suggestion he’s planted, like a kill switch. Anything that might force her to end things for herself, and I don’t see anything that glaring, just minor suggestions controlling her basic behavior and thought patterns.
“Everything’s going to be okay,” I say. “I promise.”
I squeeze her shoulder and step outside. I’ve planted enough commands in her that she should be singing like a canary soon. And yes, my commands override his.
The sun’s setting. I take a breath of clean air, summon the single flame, and see the police station’s visitor bathroom again...
Chapter Nine
When I step into the hallway. I find Sherbet leaning over a desk, aggressively thumbing through paperwork.
He glances up as I approach. “Where’d you run off to?”
“Teleportoff to,” I correct him. “Marlene, Jamie’s mom, really thought he did it since he confessed. She didn’t know the real killer was Trent, her boyfriend. He came home later that night acting sketchy, and suddenly interested in doing loads of laundry with lots of bleach. In Jamie’s memory is Trent’s confession: he raped and murdered Kayla, then threatened to kill Jamie’s mother next. So Jamie took the fall to protect her.”
Sherbet exhales slowly, a mix of anger and sorrow crossing his face. “So the kid took the fall.”
“He did.”
Sherbet nods grimly, reaches for his phone. “Time to bring this asshole in before he gets to her. Then get her in for a statement.”
I nod. “One other thing, boss.”
“What’s that, Sammy?”
“He’s a practitioner of the dark arts.”
“Like Voldemort?”
“Um, yeah. Just like He Who Shall Not Be Named.”
“Oops, I named him.”
