The Devil, the Witch and the Whore (The Deal Book 1) Read online

  “Sure you can,” she adds, “but the other problem is, the guys here, they'll recognize you. They'll realize you're from the sheriff's station, and they won't like you being here very much. I'm trying to be sensitive about this, Hinch, but... Cops aren't popular at the Stud. It doesn't matter how sweet you are, they'll still just see you as a cop and that won't go down too well.

  “Oh.”

  I stare at her, watching the way her demonic eyes glitter as she smiles at me, but I think maybe Katie's not like all the others. Sure, she's a demon, but I actually think that maybe she can be saved. I've been watching her for a while now, ever since I came back to Deal, and I feel more and more that she could be the reward I was promised so long ago. She might not be part of the task I was assigned, and I don't think she has a tracker in her guts, but I honestly believe that if I can just break through the demonic side of her mind, I can save her. The devil said I'd find something to keep.

  It's Katie.

  “So you have a good night, okay?” she says, leaning closer and planting a brief, unexpected kiss on my cheek. She smells good. “Seeya at work in the morning.”

  She turns to go, but I reach out and grab her wrist.

  “Hinch?”

  She turns back to me.

  “You don't want to go in there,” I tell her. “Why don't you come with me instead?”

  “Hinch, I really don't think you understand. This is just the kind of place I like to come in the evenings after a long day taking lunch orders at work. I get that maybe you want to hang out outside of work hours, and I'm sure we could organize a night out for everyone from the office, but I've kinda got plans for right now, and some friends are waiting for me inside. I like to keep work and play separate, if you get what I mean.”

  “More demons?” I ask.

  She stares at me. “Huh?”

  “Demons. Waiting for you in that place. They're gonna touch you and paw at you.”

  “They're gonna lose at pool, is what they're gonna do.”

  “I can save you,” I continue, squeezing her wrist just a little tighter. “When I was at Gordonville, I learned so much about how to calm the voices in my head. I can teach you. I remember how awful it was, back when I was first taken away from Deal as a little boy, and I thought there was no chance I could ever get my head straight, but I managed! And when I was released at the start of the year, I knew I was ready to start a new chapter in my life!”

  “Released?” She hesitates for a moment, pulling lightly in an attempt to get her wrist free from my grip. “Gordonville? Isn't that... I thought Gordonville was, like, a psych hospital or something? James was talking about it earlier, I think it was something to do with the Liam Cane case.”

  “Because that's where I was sent,” I reply. “I feel so good telling you this. I've kept everything inside, I've been too afraid to admit the truth to people, but now I've finally found someone I can confide in. Someone who I can help, the way I was helped back at Gordonville. The first step is for you to admit that you're a demon, and for you to accept that you need help. Then I can drive the demon from your soul and free the real Katie.”

  She tries again to pull away, and this time she seems a little panicked.

  “Have you been drinking?” she asks. “Hinch, seriously -”

  “How can you even see with all that glitter?”

  “Hinch -”

  “I'm going to take you home,” I tell her. “I don't mean my apartment. I mean my proper home. And then I'm going to make you better, and I'll get the glitter out of your eyes. All of it.”

  “Hinch, you're hurting me!”

  She turns and tries again to get away, but this time I'm more than ready for her. I take the rag from the roof of the car and place it over her face as I pull her closer, and in her panicked state she quickly breathes the fumes deep into her lungs. I feel the moment her body falls limp, but I make sure to support her real good as I drag her between the cars and throw her into the trunk. I know this isn't exactly a gentlemanly way to treat a woman, but I don't have time to be genteel right now and I figure the most important thing is to get her back to the farm before anyone spots me.

  “Don't worry,” I say with a smile as I stare down at her in the trunk. “When this is all over, Katie, you're gonna thank me for freeing your soul.”

  Her eyes are closed, but they're still sparkling and glittering all the same. I slam the trunk shut.

  “What would you say, Liam,” Doctor Ericsson asked one day, less than a year ago, “if I told you that we've decided you're ready to leave the hospital?”

  Forty-Nine

  Ramsey Kopperud

  “Can I come in?” I ask cautiously, as he continues to stare at me. “Dad? Are you -”

  Before I can get another word out, he steps forward and puts his arms around me, hugging me pretty much tighter than I've ever been hugged before. I guess I had no idea how he was going to react, and at least he's not angry or yelling, and he doesn't even seem drunk. I put my arms around him, and for a moment I'm overcome by the smell of his cologne. Ten years after the last time I saw him, he still uses the same cologne.

  And no whiskey.

  I only smell cologne. No whiskey.

  Thank God.

  “It's kinda cold out here,” I point out finally. “Can we get inside and shut the door?”

  “Of course,” he stammers, stepping back to let me inside, before swinging the door shut. Then he turns and looks at me again, but he seems to barely believe that I'm really here.

  He's older.

  Like, he's not old old, but he's definitely much older than I remember. He's a little fuller in the face, a little heavier, and there are bags under his eyes. I'm not saying he looks lonely, because he doesn't, but he looks like he's been alone. And like he hasn't shaved for a few days.

  “So I checked myself out of the hospital,” I tell him, figuring that I should start explaining. “They'll probably call you some time soon, to see if I'm here. I'm fine, though. I'm a little sore and stiff, but I didn't need to be there. Plus, Mom was all over me, and she kept talking about taking me straight back to New York and that's the last thing I need. I don't know how much you know, but Mom has basically spent the past decade transitioning into this real control freak. I swear, it's like she thinks she owns me.”

  “You checked yourself out? Ramsey -”

  “I didn't need to be there,” I say firmly. “I didn't like feeling like a patient.”

  “What are you doing here?” he asks. “Ramsey, I thought...”

  His voice trails off for a moment.

  “You thought I'd never want to see you again?” I reply, feeling a rush of sorrow as I spot the fear in his eyes. “Well, sure, I felt like that for a while. For a long time, actually. And Mom never misses a chance to remind me how much you used to drink, but lately I've been feeling like maybe things might've changed.”

  I wait for him to reply, but he still seems shocked to see me. I swear, I was terrified I'd get here and find he was drunk, but I'm starting to think that maybe – just maybe – he's cleaned himself up.

  “Plus,” I continue finally, “after everything that's happened since I got back to Deal, I figure you're the only person who can help me. So let's save the big reunion chat for another time, okay? Let's focus on what's happening right now, because I feel like the world's after me. Did Leanne fill you in on what happened to us out at the farm?”

  “Leanne?” He stares at me, and I swear I can instantly tell that something's wrong.

  “Leanne made it back, didn't she?” I continue. “That was days ago now, she was supposed to come back to town and raise the alarm.”

  “Leanne didn't make it back,” he replies. “She... Leanne is...”

  I wait for him to explain, but something about the look in his eyes suggests that something really bad must have happened to her.

  “Is she in the hospital?” I ask, struggling to hold back tears. “Dad? You have to tell me. Is Leanne in the hospita
l?”

  “No, Ramsey,” he replies, his voice trembling slightly, “Leanne isn't in the hospital. We found her in...”

  Again, I wait for him to continue, before finally realizing that I can guess the rest.

  “Did he...”

  I can't quite get the words from my lips, but in my mind's eye I see Leanne racing toward the forest before suddenly she's brought down by a knife in her back. I know the reality is probably even more brutal than that, although I'm not even sure that I want to know the details. Trembling, I take a step back and sit on the arm of the sofa, feeling as if I might be about to collapse at any moment. While I was down in those tunnels, desperately trying to find my way out, Leanne wasn't running home and fetching help. She wasn't saving the day. She was being murdered by that psychopath.

  “We know who killed her,” Dad says after a moment.

  I look up at him. “Who?”

  “A...” He hesitates for a moment, before checking his phone. “I only just found out, to be honest. It's a man who used to live up at Dodderidge Farm and -”

  “That's where we were,” I stammer, feeling utterly helpless. “We were at the farm, trying to find a shortcut home, when he started chasing us. He came right out of the farmhouse!”

  “You were with Leanne?”

  “I fell down a hole and ended up in the tunnels,” I continue, “and then I met this...”

  Again, my voice trails off for a moment.

  “There are people down there,” I add finally. “It's insane, but there are these people and there's a woman trapped in wooden spears, and there's someone named Esther who seems to know about it all, and there's this creature that gives off pure fear, and the witch is -”

  “Hold up there,” Dad replies, stepping toward me. “None of that stuff is real, Ramsey. You're hurt, you were unconscious. It's okay, but I think we need to get you back to the hospital and -”

  “No!” I say firmly. “No way.”

  He sighs. “Ramsey, I can't -”

  “Do you still drink?” I ask.

  He hesitates, and in that fraction of a second I see the answer in his eyes.

  “How much?” I continue, feeling a thud of disappointment in my chest as I realize that maybe some things don't change after all. “Is it like it was before? I need to know, so I know how much I can trust you.”

  He shakes his head. “It's not like it was before.”

  “Do you still drink so much that you pass out every night?”

  “No. Absolutely not.” He pauses. “I mean, that's happened once or twice, but it's not like it was. But I won't drink now, not now you're back. Not ever again.”

  “That's good,” I reply. “Assuming you're telling the truth.”

  “I won't touch another drop.”

  I can't shake the feeling that he's hiding something, and I'm also starting to think that he looks sick. He's thin, but not in a healthy way, and he seems a little pasty, almost white. I want to think that I'm just imagining things, but the more I look at him, the more I can tell that something's seriously wrong. There's something about the look in his eyes that reminds me of Mrs. Applewhite, our neighbor back when we first moved to New York. And she dropped dead of cancer about six months after we met her.

  “Can I use your bathroom?” I ask suddenly, getting to my feet and heading toward the hallway. “I need to tell you about what I saw in the forest after I got back, but first I want to freshen up. And then we should go somewhere else to talk, 'cause Mom's gonna find out where you live eventually and then she'll show up here, and she will not be in a good mood. Deal?”

  I don't give him a chance to argue.

  Once I'm in the bathroom and the door is locked, I lean back against the wall and feel tears welling in my eyes. I swear, the whole time I was running from the farm, I felt certain that Leanne was going to be okay. Like, I had this gut feeling, deep down, that I'd see her again. I guess my gut feelings aren't as reliable as I always thought, and for a moment my bottom lip starts trembling as I squeeze my eyes tight shut and tears rolls down my cheeks.

  “I'm sorry,” I whimper, sitting on the floor as I think back to Leanne's terrified face at the farm. “I should have done something.”

  For the next couple of minutes, all I can do is cry. I keep trying to think of something I could have done differently, some way I could have saved Leanne, but everything that happened at the farm was a blur. Once I was done in the tunnels, she was on her own, and clearly that monster hunted her down and killed her. Sitting here now, sobbing on the floor of Dad's bathroom, all I feel is a kind of impotent rage, and finally I realize that that is the last thing Leanne would want. She'd kick me and tell me to get the hell up, so that's what I do.

  Wiping tears from my cheeks, I tell myself that no amount of crying can change what happened. I have to help Dad catch this bastard, but first I have to check to make sure that my earlier suspicions were unfounded.

  Heading over to the far side of the bathroom, I take a look inside the cabinet. I know I shouldn't be sneaking around, but Dad looks properly sick, the kind of sick that's more than just a passing bug, and I want to reassure myself that he's okay. I can hear him on the phone in the next room, so I make sure to keep the noise down as I examine the various bottles of prescription pills that I find. It's clear that he's on a real cocktail of drugs, although the packaging doesn't really help much in terms of figuring out what they're for. I take a moment to memorize some of the names, and then I figure I've been in here for long enough now. He's going to start getting suspicious.

  After flushing the toilet to give myself a little cover, I splash some water on my face and then I head back out to the front room, just as Dad finishes on the phone. It's still so weird to see his face.

  “I have to go and deal with something,” he tells me. “There's been a development.”

  “So take me with you.”

  “It's police business.”

  “So?”

  “Ramsey -”

  “It's been a decade, Dad!” I say firmly, determined to keep from being left behind. Stepping over to him, I can already see the fear in his eyes. “You can't tell me to go away.”

  “If you just stay here for a -”

  “And you can't tell me to do that, either. Besides, you still don't know what happened to me between the moment when Leanne and I had to run from the farm, and the moment I turned up in the hospital. Trust me, whatever's going on in this crumby little town right now, I've been right in the thick of it and you need to hear me out. So the way I see it, you have no choice. You have to take me with you, and I can fill you in on what happened while we're driving.”

  He opens his mouth to argue with me, but I can already tell I've won him over with my logic.

  “Please, Dad,” I continue, hoping to seal the deal. “I came and knocked on your door tonight. Don't send me away again.”

  Fifty

  Liam Cane

  “Don't hurt me!” she screams as I push her into the room. “Please -”

  She turns and tries to shove me out through the doorway, but I grab her by the shoulders and force her back. She lets out a cry and tries again to slip past me, so this time I have to be more forceful. As her glitter-filled eyes stare at me in panic, I throw her to the ground before slamming the door shut and stepping toward her. She's whimpering on the floor now, but I know that's all a show.

  These demons don't know the meaning of the word fear. What they do know, however, is how to deceive a man.

  “It's okay,” I tell her, holding the hunting knife up so she can see the blade. “Don't even bother with your usual tricks. I know exactly what I have to do, and I won't be distracted.”

  “You've made such wonderful progress, Liam. Especially recently. I used to see such trouble and fear in your eyes. Now all of that seems to have gone away. Is that how it feels to you?”

  “Yes,” I remember telling him, while forcing myself to hide my smile. “That's exactly how it feels.”

  Ka
tie lets out a sobbing cry and starts crawling back toward the window, past the closet where I hid as a child. She looks utterly pathetic, and I can't help thinking that the demon in her body knows that its days are numbered. It recognizes me as a true crusader who can rip its heart from Katie's flesh and save her. Even now, as Katie sobs on the floor, I'm sure the demon is trying to figure out how to escape, but I won't let that happen.

  Katie's a good person. If I save her, that makes me a good person too. And she deserves to be saved.

  “Believe it or not,” I continue, hoping to get through to the demon that infests her soul, “I've studied your kind. It's not like there haven't been plenty of them in the streets of Deal. I understand how completely you attach yourselves to your victims, and how you push their true minds deep down so that you can control their bodies. I also know that you and your kind have taken almost complete control of this town. Well, I'm fighting back. One demon at a time, I'm going to -””

  Before I can finish, she starts screaming. Stumbling to her feet, she limps over to the window and tries to pull it open, although the nails mean the frames won't budge. She looks out at the pitch-black yard for a moment, and then she lets out a scream so loud and so shrill that I almost feel sorry for her. I flinch slightly, but at the same time I'm fascinated by this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to witness a demon in captivity. I've only ever really seen them properly when they're free, or at the very moment when their body is extinguished and their rotten soul is forced to flee. This demon, meanwhile, seems scared, almost petrified, and I can't help thinking that perhaps a small part of her fear is genuine.

  “I know the real Katie is deep down somewhere inside of you,” I tell her. “I know she can hear me.”

  She's rattling the window's frame now, desperately trying to get it loose.

  “I know she'll be left behind if the demon is forced away. The devil in the forest opened my eyes. That's the gift he gave me in return for the work I've done for him.”