The Mourning Missed Read online

  Hustling downstairs, she slipped her heels back on and marveled neither of them had broken. Stepping to the bar, she yelled over the noise level to the bartender. “Is there a phone in here?”

  “Staff only,” he yelled back. “Outside, corner of the building.”

  Moving quickly to the door, she dashed down the sidewalk to the payphone. Dialing the operator, she identified herself and ordered the call to Phillip. “Samuels,” he said.

  “Boss, 44th and MLK, Pyramid Club, upstairs. I’ve got both of them. Bring backup and hurry.” Lilly hung up before he could ask any questions. She was more concerned that DeLeon would come to and escape.

  THE BOUNCER GAVE HER an odd look when she reappeared so soon after she had left but allowed her to re-enter. Inside, she went up the stairs and found DeLeon where she had left him but there was now another image in the gloom. The dark twinkle of a knife blade said all there was to say. Crouching, she pulled her heels off again and stood ready. The blade continued to scintillate in the reflected dazzle from the dance floor.

  The waiting was driving her insane. She knew the longer she held out, the better chance there was of help arriving and maybe her not dying. Sirens outside could be heard over the music. Moments later the front door burst open and there was much shouting.

  When the music stopped the silence was deafening. Her ears rang from the constant bombardment and she felt disoriented. Footsteps pounded up the stairs behind her but she kept her focus on that darkling blade.

  “I’m up here,” she called out, overly loud. “Somebody hit the lights.” She prepared herself for the attack she knew would come once the assailant was revealed. Whoever it was would try to escape and she would try to stop them.

  “Lilly, is that you?” Phillip called into the gloom as a flashlight backlit her to her opponent.

  She had a moment to think I’m toast, just as the house lights came up. Hanging from the edge of a tall table by a short length of cord was the knife. A slight current in the room caused it to shift slightly back-and-forth. Before she realized it, she had sat straight down onto the floor. Trembling as if she were hypothermic, teeth chattering, she hugged herself.

  “Lilly, are you hurt?” Phillip called with concern as he rushed to her side. “Medic; I need a medic up here,” he exclaimed, seeing the blood on her face and neck.

  Lilly wanted to tell him she wasn’t hurt, but the words wouldn’t come. All she could see was the blood-soaked knife dangling from the table edge, red venom dripping from the tip of its fang. In the house lights, she could also now plainly see the raw, gaping wounds across the throats of Harlan Johnson and DeLeon Anderson. They had been cut so deep and so viciously that the heads actually fell backward off the torsos. The bodies were both propped up against the balcony railing. Harlan was still handcuffed to the rail.

  Fifteen

  “LILLY JACKSON IS BECOMING quite the pain in my backside,” the Dark Man said.

  “Have you eliminated all of the loose ends?” The Boss asked quietly.

  “Yes, of course,” the Dark Man replied.

  “And do we have Parsons?” The Boss clarified.

  “As you well know,” the Dark Man said, becoming frustrated.

  “Then there is no problem. Let Lilly Jackson and all the other fools in Montrose City chase their tails. We have what we need,” the Boss assured him.

  “What about Carmen?” The Dark Man asked.

  “She poses no threat and will serve to muddy the waters to our benefit. Leave her be.”

  “I KNEW I WAS GOING to die,” Lilly said. “I could even feel my life force ebbing from my body. My vision went red and all I could see was a dwindling spot of light.”

  “Didn’t you describe a similar feeling the day Clint was shot?” Sarge asked.

  “Yeah, come to think of it, I did,” she replied.

  “Didn’t you also tell me you and he share some sort of connection?”

  “Yeah. Do you think there’s a link?” she asked.

  “Do you?”

  “I don’t know,” Lilly replied. “On certain days, I can almost tell you where he’s at, the feeling is so strong. On other days; bupkis.”

  “Well, it’s Sunday. What say we take a leisurely drive around the city?” he suggested.

  “Huh? Clint is missing and all our leads keep getting murdered,” Lilly said emphatically. “How can you think about a leisurely drive at a time like this?”

  “Because if you have a connection, we might be able to use it,” Sarge explained. “Look, I’m grasping at straws here. If you have a better suggestion, I’m all ears.”

  “I’m calling my Aunt Maybree,” Lilly said with a flash of inspiration.

  “Well, sure you are, because that’s the obvious answer,” Bacchus said questioningly. “Why didn’t I think of that?”

  His antics caused Lilly to smile despite the pall of gloom which overhung her very existence. “Aunt Maybree is a Voodoo Woman. She may know a way for us to focus on Clint.”

  “Sure,” Sarge said. “Of course.” When she looked at him, he was imitating holding a hangman’s noose up with his left hand while allowing his head to droop to the side and his tongue to loll. With his right hand, he was making stabbing motions with his thumb and finger at his eyes. Lilly burst out laughing. “She’s not that kind of Voodoo Woman,” while clapping her hands with glee.

  “Use my phone,” he said, pointing to the cordless unit in the cradle on the kitchen counter. Sitting on a barstool, she dialed the number from long memory.

  “Aunt Maybree, please don’t hang up,” she began. “I found my split-apart.”

  “Well, good for you, chile, now whatchoo wan wid me? You still wit de po-lease?”

  No, ma’am, I’m not the police anymore. I really did find my soul mate, only he got hurt, and while he was in the hospital someone kidnapped him,” Lilly explained. “Now he’s hurt and scared and alone, and I keep getting these red films over my vision.”

  “Does ya feel like yo insides is gonna bust out?” Maybree asked.

  “Yes ma’am; first time I thought I was having a heart attack.”

  “Dat was de uda side tryin’ ta draw ya troo de veil,” her Aunt explained. “You gots ta fight dat ev’ry time. Also means yo man is sufferin’. It is a man, ain’t it?” she clarified.

  “Yes, Auntie, he’s such a man. Here’s my question. Can I use our link to find him?”

  “Can be dun fo sho, easy ‘nuff,” Maybree cackled. “Jus needs a few tings.”

  “Like what?” Lilly asked, now concerned with her Aunt’s uncharacteristically cooperative nature.

  “A chicken, some a his seed, and a lock of yo hair,” she said.

  “You mean a live chicken, don’t you?” Lilly asked.

  “Well coss I mean a live chicken, chile. Dead chicken no good for nuttin’ sep eatin’. Where you gon get his seed?” Maybree cackled.

  “Does it have to be fresh?” Lilly was shocked at how ready, and desperate, she was to try anything if it meant finding Clint.

  “Naw, ‘twas fresh, he don need findin’. Seed prob’ly in a rubber. Stuff yo hair in wid it. Tie it closed, pop da chicken’s head off and stuff it down da neck hole. Wait til it quits pumpin’, den write his name on yo bosom wid de blood. Yo heart do de res’.”

  “Is that the only way to...hello?” The line had gone dead.

  When she explained the requirements to Bacchus, he just gaped at her.

  “I DON’T KNOW WHERE to find a live chicken on a Sunday, or any other day for that matter,” Phillip replied when Lilly called to explain what she needed. “What do you need it for again?”

  “It’s better if you don’t know, Boss,” she assured him. “I may be able to use it to find Clint.”

  “I’ll see what I can come up with,” he said.

  “I’M PRETTY SURE THERE’S a used condom in the bedroom trashcan,” Lilly volunteered. “I’ll just run in and get it, clip a lock of my hair, and put it all in a lunch bag.”

&n
bsp; “I appreciate your efforts at discretion,” Sarge said as they headed for Clint’s apartment in his personal car. When they arrived, Sarge got out and began to follow her.

  “I don’t need an escort, Sarge,” Lilly said.

  “After the Pyramid Club, I’m not letting you out of my sight until this is over,” he informed her. Hearing another car pull into the apartment complex lot, they both looked up. An unmarked police car drew up next to Sarge’s Range Rover. Phillip sat behind the wheel.

  “Really?” Lilly fumed. “Am I some helpless female that all the big, strong, father figures in my life have to follow me around to protect me?”

  “Easy, Jackson, I’m just bringing you the chicken you asked for,” Samuels said. Opening his trunk, he pulled out a small wire dog kennel. Inside was a white hen with a red comb. “My friend who dabbles in the occult says these are the best kind for sacrifices.”

  “What?” Sarge blurted.

  “I didn’t tell you...”Lilly began.

  “I wasn’t born yesterday, you know,” he smiled. “I’ve heard the rumors about you and Clint being soul-mates. He is missing and we are in Louisiana, after all. I just added two plus two and came up with 3.7984. I knew I was close.”

  “Thanks, Boss. Can we put it in the back of the Rover?” She asked Sarge, but suddenly changed her mind. “You know what? Better yet, let’s just go inside and do this now.”

  Walking to the apartment door, she inserted her key but it didn’t turn. Stepping back, she verified the number and then tried the key again. “I don’t understand,” she said.

  “May I try?” Phillip asked.

  Taking the key, he hunched his back around the lock for a moment and they heard the latch release. “What was wrong with it?” Sarge asked.

  “You just have to use the right touch,” Phillip said, showing them the lock pick set as he slid it back into his jacket breast pocket.

  “Are you saying someone changed the locks?” Lilly spluttered.

  “So it would appear,” Phillip said. Looking at Sarge he asked, “Clear the apartment?”

  Sarge nodded as both men drew their service weapons and entered the room high and low in a rush. Lilly was hot on their heels with her own weapon held beside her head, pointed at the ceiling. She quickly checked all the windows in the front and back of the small apartment’s living area and kitchenette to ensure none had been opened or broken. Calls of Clear echoed through the hallway from the bedroom and bath before the two men returned. Standing together in the entryway, they both looked at her. She was puzzled at the ambiguous looks on their faces until her mentor spoke.

  “Let’s just get this done, shall we?” Sarge suggested.

  “You were just in the bathroom,” Lilly said, looking at them both.

  “I’m not fishing around in a trash can for another man’s used condom,” Phillip said emphatically.

  Lilly huffed and walked down the hall. Looking in the bedroom trash can, she found what she sought laying right on top. It reminded her momentarily of the joy and love she and Clint had shared so recently in that bed. Lifting the condom up to the light from the single window, she could see some fluid was still present in the tip. She had been afraid it would have been dried out by now.

  Stepping to the bathroom sink, she opened the vanity cabinet and picked up a pair of cuticle scissors. Grasping a lock of her hair behind her ear, she snipped it off and jammed it into the condom. Holding the end closed, she flipped it several times to get the hair into the bottom where it visibly mingled with the fluid. Tying it closed, she palmed it and went back out into the kitchen.

  Sarge had the chicken in the sink, cooing to it and keeping it calm. “Say when,” he said.

  “Now, I guess,” Lilly replied.

  Sarge held the chicken firmly in the sink with one hand. He grasped the chicken’s head in his other fist and gave a quick, sharp tug. The head came off, and blood began to spurt out of the neck opening.

  Stepping next to him, Lilly jammed the tied condom into the hole of the neck cavity. It wasn’t easy, as the blood made the latex very slippery and she kept losing her grip on it. Finally it was in, and she watched as the blood flow slowed and finally stopped. Peeling her polo shirt off over her head, she dipped her finger in the neck hole repeatedly and wrote CLINT across her chest.

  “She didn’t say whether I had to leave it uncovered, or wait for it to dry, or what,” Lilly complained.

  “I’d say just let it dry,” Phillip offered.

  So they all three stood and waited for chicken blood to dry across Lilly’s décolletage. Sarge and Phillip made a point of looking anywhere except at her. None of them remarked as to how truly bizarre it was, but it was a sure thing they all thought it.

  Sixteen

  “LET’S ALL JUST GO IN the cruiser, shall we?” Phillip suggested. “Marty, why don’t you set up front with me?”

  “Good idea,” Lilly said chuckling. “I don’t know if I’ll go into DTs or turn into a giant chicken, so you might want to keep your distance.”

  “Don’t joke,” Phillip said. “My contact says these locator spells can go really bad sometimes and allow evil spirits into you while you’re weakened by the pull across the veil.”

  “Huh?” Sarge said. “That sounded way to much like Rod Sterling.”

  “Hmm,” Lilly added. “Aunt Maybree also said something about fighting the pull of the veil. Yep, it’s definitely about to get weird.”

  “You have dried chicken blood mixed with...yeah, across your chest,” Sarge said heatedly. “How much weirder is it going to get?” Turning to Samuels, he stuttered. “If her eyes roll back in her head and she starts vomiting split pea soup, I’m outta here.”

  “There may be some eye rolling, but no soup, I promise,” Lilly said. “Aunt Maybree said my heart would do the rest.”

  “Time to start driving,” Phillip said.

  THEY CROSSED THE CITY east to west and then north to south. Lilly felt nothing other than mild discomfort and nausea from the crusty feel and ripe smell of the dried blood. On the fifth pass, moving away from the city center, she suddenly gasped from the back seat.

  “What?” Sarge asked, turning in his seat to look back. Phillip was slowing to pull to the curb.

  “Don’t stop,” Lilly commanded. “Circle the block. It’s like my heart is trying to beat out of my chest.”

  As they passed the same intersection again, Lilly gasped once more. “Same feeling. Stop here, I think we need to walk now.”

  “Are you certain you can walk?” Phillip asked.

  “Oh, it doesn’t hurt, it just feels like how your heart does after you’ve run a mile or done thirty minutes of hard exercise,” she explained. “It’s the coming out of nowhere that shocked me.”

  The trio left the vehicle and walked back the way they had just traveled. As they neared the last intersection, Lilly felt her heart began to speed up. “It’s almost like an old-fashioned Geiger Counter,” she said. “The closer I get, the faster it beats.”

  Turning onto the cross street, they started north but stopped almost immediately. “It’s slowing down, so it must be the other direction.”

  They turned south and walked back through the intersection again. Lilly’s pulse got faster as they neared the cross street, but immediately began to fade as they progressed around the corner.

  “I don’t get it,” she frowned in frustration. “It’s like he’s right here at the corner of the intersection.”

  “Try walking away from this building toward the other corner,” Sarge suggested.

  As she did so, her eyes widened and her pace quickened. “You’re right, Sarge, it’s this way,” She said excitedly. Continuing toward the building, she moved along its exterior wall, back and forth. “It’s strongest right here, so the only real option is up,” she said, looking up the side of the five-story building.

  They moved to the entrance but found it locked. Peering inside, it appeared the business was no longer and had not been for
a while. Phillip scrutinized the area around the door frame at length, until Sarge finally said, “Even if there is a security system, I don’t think it’s activated.”

  Phillip produced his pick set and they were soon inside. The gloom made it difficult to see obstacles on the floor and all three of them pulled flashlights of varying sizes out of pockets. Lilly headed for a door near the elevator bank which had stairs written on it. “I’m pretty sure the elevators don’t work,” Sarge offered.

  Climbing the stairs, Lilly felt the steady hammering of her heart jump a little as she passed the second floor landing. “I think it’s higher,” she said.

  They continued up until they passed the fourth floor. “It’s getting slightly weaker now, so he must be on the fourth floor,” Lilly said excitedly. When Phillip pulled on the door handle, it refused to move. Shining his light into the crack between the door and frame, he spied the deadbolt. “It’s locked from the inside,” he said dispiritedly.

  “There has to be another way in then,” Sarge concluded. “Unless all the doors were locked and they took the elevator down before killing the power.”

  “Then how did they get a gurney in there?” Lilly asked.

  “Good point, let’s keep looking,” Phillip added.

  They went back down and walked throughout the ground floor of the building separately. They were becoming frustrated and ready to stop, at least to talk through what they had done thus far, when Lilly found a freight elevator in the rear of the building. The door was open and the light inside was on.

  “I think I found it,” she called to the other two. When they all stood in front of the open elevator, they had another discussion.

  “If we all three go in there, and the power is shut off, we’re all trapped and no one knows we’re here,” Sarge observed.