The max porter box set, p.55
The Max Porter Box Set, page 55
Sandra went on, “Did he also show you how to find the bricks? Or did he have a list or something?”
“That’s all Grant’s job. He’s the one that finds the bricks, and he’s the one that tells the rest of the hunters what to do. I never asked how he did it, but I’m pretty sure Leon Moore showed him.”
Max looked at Sandra and Drummond as they all let Bill’s words sink in.
Bill watched them, his body tensing. “You gotta believe me. I told you what I know, and this curse — that’s why I had to put on that show. Let you beat me up and take me away. They’re always watching me. They said if I ever talked, then the curse would go off. It’s going to happen soon. You said you’d help me get out of this.” He looked straight at Sandra. “You. You said you’re a witch. Get this off of me. De-curse me.”
“One more question,” Max said, “and then we’ll help you. The brick you guys stole but didn’t destroy. Where is it?”
“I don’t have it. I swear. I didn’t want that thing near me. You can feel it’s not right.”
“I didn’t say you had it. I asked where it is. Who has it? Grant Felder?”
“That prick is all big on showing off how tough he is, but he ain’t ever thrown a punch in his life. He wouldn’t go near the bricks other than to point out which one we needed to get. No, the brick is where you’d expect it to be. We gave it to him.”
“To who?”
“You know who. Look, I shouldn’t keep saying his name. It’s like calling the curse upon me.”
“Leon Moore has the brick. That’s what you’re afraid to say.”
“Yeah, yeah. Alright? Leon Moore. Satisfied?”
Before the last syllable had left his mouth, Bill lurched off the chair onto his knees. His lips formed a large O as his throat convulsed. Max grabbed a trash can from the side of the garage and brought it over but by the time he reached Bill, the man’s face had relaxed.
“You okay?” Max asked.
Bill raised his head slowly like a monk who had finally meditated his way into enlightenment — except darkness and shadow accompanied Bill’s newfound knowledge. “I’ve been stupid this whole time. I thought you’d really be able to help me.”
“We will. We’ll try, at least. My wife knows a lot about magic. If there’s a way to break that curse on you, she’ll —”
“I can feel the heat rising. I should’ve known that it wouldn’t matter if they could see me or not. The curse knows. It’s all real, and I knew it from the start but I denied it. I pretended, but you know what? Just because you deny gravity, doesn’t mean you can fly. The curse knows that I betrayed them. And there’s nothing anybody can do now. I have to pay for it.”
He arched back as if stricken by a cattle prod, his mouth wide open, and a strained gurgling clicked in his throat. Sandra moved in, but Max grabbed her arm and pulled her back.
“Look,” Drummond said. “The tattoo.”
The dark outline of the flaming cross glowed like embers. With an audible pop, the tattoo burst into real flames. Bill moaned as the fire spread up his arm. Tears streamed down his face and he cried out a long howl.
The fire spread fast across his skin, burst out from within his bones and muscles. Sparks shot out of his mouth. A putrid smoke rose above him, dark and foul, reeking of death.
Max rushed into the house, bolted to the living room, swiped a blanket from the couch, and hurried back. But as he reached the kitchen, the howling cries ceased. He slammed back into the garage and halted.
A fiery ball of orange and yellow burned in the middle of the concrete floor. Sandra opened the garage door so they didn’t suffocate from smoke inhalation as Max covered Bill with the blanket. But when he pulled back, the blanket fell flat on the ground.
Max picked it up. Only ash remained. No clothing, no hair, no bone — nothing but ash.
Chapter 26
MAX AND SANDRA SAT IN THEIR CAR parked in the driveway. They had closed the garage door, and both simply stared out the windshield. Neither wanted to be in the house at the moment — maybe not for a long time to come.
A queasy sensation rolled up from Max’s stomach. “This is a whole new level of twisted.”
Max forced himself to think of happier times — his wedding, his wedding night, their first date — anything to wash away the terrible sight stuck on repeat in his brain. But the second he let his mind relax, he saw the flames again, he heard the cries, he smelled the charred death.
“We’re going to have to sell this place and find a new house,” Max said.
Sandra did not respond. But after a few minutes of quiet, she said, “This is our fault.”
“How?”
“He showed us the curse. He told us he was afraid. I should’ve immediately started looking into it. We were so eager for information that we never once thought to help him first.”
“There’s no way we could’ve known that would happen. I’ve been cursed for a long time now and nothing’s happened to me.”
“Not yet.”
“We had no way to know that his curse would enact so fast.”
“Sure, we did. We just had to research a little instead of pressuring him to answer our questions.”
Drummond slid through the garage door and settled in the back of the car. “I’ve looked over every inch of your house. I don’t see anything that suggests the Magi put a ward or curse or marker on the property. I think we’re safe to assume that the tattoo itself was the only connection this curse had to Bill Corte. Which means that the Magi know he talked to somebody, but they don’t know who.”
Max knocked his knuckles on his forehead. “Who else would he be talking to?”
“Fair enough. I’ll amend my statement — they can only presume.”
“What the hell are we going to do now? This is so messed up.”
Sandra gave a firm nod. Max perked up. He knew that nod — she had confirmed something in her own mind.
“We have the last brick,” she said. “We deliver it to the Mobley Coven and we walk away.”
“There’s still another brick out there.”
“Not our problem. And if they want to hire us to find that one, we politely tell them that we’ve got other clients to work with.” Not bothering to let Max ask the obvious question, she continued, “Like you said — what we’ve seen just now is a whole new level of twisted. Something about these bricks scares Mother Hope enough to cause this kind of damage — to target these men, recruit them into the Goodman hunters, drug them, curse them, and then let them die in such a horrible way — whatever is going on between the Magi and the Mobley Coven, we don’t want anything more to do with it.”
Drummond clapped his hands once. “There we go. I’ve finally got the missus onboard with common sense when dealing with a coven. So, how about it? Let’s be done with it all.”
Taking Max by the hand, Sandra said, “And yes, hon, we can sell the house. I don’t want to live around the kind of negative residual spirit Bill most likely left behind. No way.”
Max merely stared into space. “You’re right,” he said. Everything Sandra had said entered his head but his thoughts tumbled over each other too fast to speak about. Things clicked together in ways he had not seen before. “This is all about Mother Hope.”
Drummond said, “I know what you’re doing. Just stop it. The case is over. Done. We’re giving the brick to the witch — not the best idea, but with the Goodman hunters holding the other brick, I’m not too worried. We do that and we walk away. Fully intact. Not burned to a crisp like Bill Corte. Okay? Can we all agree on that simple line of action for once?”
Max started the car. “Sorry, but this is more than just a brick.”
“Of course, it is.” Drummond threw his hat out the window, slumped back, and waited for it to reappear on his head.
“You wanted to go return the brick. That’s what we’re going to do.”
“Yeah, but I want to return and leave.”
“Not until we have the full truth. I think I know what’s going on and it’s not something we can walk away from.”
Sandra’s hands slid over her purse with the brick. “You going to let us in on it?”
As Max reversed out of the driveway, he said, “You said it yourself. Mother Hope went out of her way to cause this damage. Why? It’s got to be the same reason she does anything.”
Drummond shot forward, his eyes lighting up. “You think this is some kind of power grab?”
“That’s what we’re going to find out.”
Chapter 27
MAX HOPED THIS WOULD BE THE LAST TIME he ever set foot in the Mobley Coven’s house. They had called ahead from the car, so Lena prepared coffee and waited for them in the same room where this case had begun — same light curtains, same plush couch, same thick carpeting, same cute knick-knacks, and the same warm paintings. All to present the image of an average, suburban home.
Except for the woman over one hundred years old, half dead, and sitting in a wheelchair by the fireplace.
Except for the anxious, jackhammering knees of Lena Mobley.
Except for the nine other women standing at the back, watching every motion, listening to every whisper.
Yeah, other than all of that, Max thought they pulled off average, suburban home perfectly.
As Max and Sandra lowered onto the couch, Drummond stood behind them and eyed all of the coven. “I know this goes without saying, but I’ve got to say it. Max, watch the smart-ass comments. You’re facing an entire coven.”
Max refrained from turning around and making a smart-ass comment. Instead, he smiled at Lena. “Thank you for seeing us on short notice. We’ve got good and bad news.”
Lena gestured to the witches behind her. “You didn’t think I convened them all here because I thought you wanted to chat about the weather. Your wife said you were on your way and that you had a brick for us. The brick.”
Sandra pulled the brick from her purse and all the witches inched forward. She placed the brick on the coffee table. “Unfortunately, the Goodman hunters beat us to the other remaining brick. That’s the bad news. One of you is still in danger.”
Lena placed the tips of her fingers on either side and raised the brick. One witch stepped forward with a silver tray, and Lena set the brick on the tray like a chemist holding a flask of volatile liquids. The witch stepped back with the others, and though Max tried to keep an eye on the brick, he quickly lost sight of it. The witches stood still as if nothing had happened. Whatever they had done, Max figured that brick would never be seen again.
“This brick is the insurance we need to protect Grandma Mobley’s future. The other brick — we hope to recover it, our coven has suffered enough loss, but we are all willing to make the sacrifice for the coven and for Grandma Mobley. Especially myself. There is no other death that could be more meaningful to me or any of us.”
“Maybe we can arrange that,” Drummond said, and Max glanced back at him. “What? I said you shouldn’t make smart-ass comments. She can’t hear me. I can say all I want.”
Without a noticeable signal, a middle-aged, Chinese witch from the back walked up to Lena’s side, made a slight bow, and handed her a thick envelope. As the witch backed away, Lena placed the envelope on the coffee table and pushed it over. “You’ve both done well. Consider that a bonus to the fee we already paid. We like to show appreciation when it is deserved, and without your help, we most likely would have been destroyed as a coven.”
“Happy to oblige,” Max said as he took the envelope and slipped it into his pocket.
“Unless there is anything else you have to report, I think this matter has been put to rest. You may leave, and with any luck, we will never be in a position to call upon your services again.”
“Gee whiz,” Drummond said. “Thanks for your permission. Should we curtsy before we go?”
Sandra shook hands with Lena. “Thank you for the opportunity. I only wish we could have been more successful. I’m sure Candace and Laverne were lovely women.”
“That’s kind of you. Thank you.”
“Yeah,” Max said, patting his pursed lips as he stood. “About all of this. I still have a few questions.”
“Oh?” Lena glanced at the withering face of Grandma Mobley.
Max paced around the couch, rarely looking beyond his own thoughts. “This case has been weird from the start. I mean the fact that you contacted us in the first place seems a bit weird.”
“We didn’t want the police involved and your agency is the only one with the necessary experience.”
“Put it like that and it makes plenty of sense. But only if you ignore the obvious question — why hire anybody at all?”
Lena reared back as if looking at an alien species. “Our beloved sister Laverne was missing. Why wouldn’t we hire somebody to help find her?”
“For one thing, you had an entire coven at your disposal. Surely, more than a few of these women could have cast a spell to locate Laverne. Isn’t that right, ladies? Raise your hand if you’d have been willing to put your life on the line for Laverne?”
None raised their hands. They were too busy shooting confused glares at Lena.
“Mr. Porter, what are you trying to imply?”
“I’m merely asking a few questions so that we can close this case with the full truth.”
“You weren’t hired to find the full truth. Just to recover the bricks.”
Drummond snickered. “I love seeing when your brain does this. Savor the moment, pal, and get this witch to confess whatever she did.”
Ignoring the echoes of a witch hunt, Max said, “I thought we were hired to save Laverne, then Candace, and only then did it become about getting the bricks. Unless, of course, it was always about getting the bricks. Your fellow witches never really figured into it, did they? I mean, you said it yourself, all of you are ready to sacrifice your lives for this coven. Right, ladies?”
Lena stood. “I’m afraid I must ask you to leave.”
“But I have some more questions.”
“It’s clear your intent is to foment discord within our group. That will not be tolerated.”
Shaking his finger at the side of his head, Max said, “I’m only trying to get honest answers. Get the truth. Because here’s the thing — nothing you’ve said or done makes any sense with the idea of hiring us. That’s the part that keeps bothering me. See, we learned that the Goodman Witch Hunters have only recently reformed and all of that was due to them being hired by a third party. Now, it’s obvious to us that this third party did this hiring because — well, truthfully, they bribed, coerced, and cursed the hunters — but they did it all to put some distance between their group and the actions they wanted the hunters to take. That got me thinking. Why did you hire us? Why not take care of things yourself? Unless you were doing the same thing.”
Lena wrinkled her nose with a cross look. “Each sister in the coven has duties and responsibilities. One of my main functions is to protect ourselves from unwanted discovery. No coven worth anything, no coven with any real power, manages to last long by being out in the open.”
“Especially back in the Hull days.”
“Exactly. When events require us to maneuver in a more public way, we’ve learned through the decades that it is best to hired qualified assistance.”
“That would be us?”
“Naturally.”
Max rubbed his chin as he winked at Sandra. “Are you buying any of this?”
She thought it over. “It makes a little sense. Witches don’t have a good track record of getting along with the rest of the world.”
Lena’s shoulders eased slightly. “Thank you.”
“Only problem I see is that there wasn’t any need for you to deal with the public at all. You knew about the bricks, you knew everything that was going on. As my husband pointed out, you have numerous witches at your disposal, and if the rumors are true, you are the most powerful coven around. That means your witches are the most powerful. Surely, they could have handled all of this with a few choice spells cast in the night away from prying eyes.”
Max pecked Sandra’s cheek. Sitting back on the couch, he said, “She’s right except for one thing. My wife said that your witches are the most powerful. But there’s one powerful witch that, I’m guessing, is a notch above all of you — Mother Hope.”
The entire coven hushed a gasp at the name.
Like an old schoolmarm, Lena pointed a sharp finger at the door. “You will leave now or you’ll see just how powerful we are.”
But Grandma Mobley lifted her hand. Slow, shaking, and causing her face to grimace, she gestured Lena over. Lena glowered at Max as she crossed the room. Grandma Mobley whispered to Lena and finished with a harsh cough that had all of the coven sisters watching with worry.
Lena returned to her chair. Her mouth had tightened into a sharp dot, and her nostrils flared like a dragon holding back the fire in its belly. “It seems we are going to tell you the full truth.”
Though Max knew he had won this battle of words, his nerves sent tremors across his skin. He feared he wouldn’t like the reward.
Chapter 28
ALTHOUGH THE AIR CONDITIONING blasted through the vents, Max still felt sweat dampening his body. He figured part of that came from having eleven witches, Sandra, himself, and a ghost all packed into a cozy living room. But part of it came from the way Grandma Mobley turned a milky eye upon him. And part of it came from Lena taking the time to walk into the kitchen, return with a bottle of rum, and pouring a strong dose into her coffee.
She set the bottle on the table and sat back with her spiked drink. “Where to begin?”
“That depends.” Max crossed his legs as if he had no care for how long her story dragged into the night. “How long has the Mobley Coven been at war with the Magi?”
“No, no, Mr. Porter. It goes far deeper than that.”
Sandra said, “Perhaps you should begin with whatever started this ... feud?”
“An excellent word. Fairly accurate.”
