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

  Immediately several shots rings out and I slump to the floor, unable to keep from letting out a cry of pain. Rolling onto my back, I feel something burning all over my chest, and I stare up in horror as more glitter-eyed demons come rushing and shrieking into the room. I put my hands over my face, trying to protect myself, but they're shouting at me and a moment later I feel their talons ripping at my chest. Some of them are crawling across the ceiling, while some have fallen upon me so they can tear me apart. And every last one of them is screaming in their own vile, hellish language.

  I came so close to defeating them, but I failed. You have to forgive me, Mikey. I tried my best, but now the demons have won and the world is going to go down in flames. The forest will burn tonight. I can see it now, even as the demons continue to scream so loud that I can barely think straight. The forest is going to burn. The devil and the demons have won.

  “Thank you, Doctor Ericsson,” I remember saying on that last day at Gordonville. “I really appreciate all your help.”

  Fifty-Five

  Ramsey Kopperud

  “Cancer,” I whisper, as I stand in Dad's bathroom and stare at the bottle of pills in my hands. “He's...”

  My voice trails off. I can't finish that sentence, even though I know there's only one word that fits. I found a whole set of different pills in Dad's cabinet, and it didn't take much research to find that they're all associated with the management of pain and the treatment of terminal cancer. I also went through some letters in his desk drawer, and I found test results, appointment schedules, and all sorts of leaflets relating to various types of cancer.

  I was sure he looked sick as soon as he opened the door tonight, and now I know why.

  “He's dying,” I force myself to say out loud, before suddenly I feel tears in my eyes.

  He's dying.

  Setting the bottle of pills down, I take a step back and put my hands over my mouth. I want to believe that I'm wrong, that maybe he has the pills and the letters for some other reason, but deep in my heart I know that all the pieces of this puzzle only fit together in one way. Dad's dying, and he's clearly in a lot of pain, and I don't have a clue how to begin helping him.

  I guess the first thing is that I have to talk to him before it's too late. I can't lose him, not when I've only just found him again.

  Fifty-Six

  Sheriff James Kopperud

  “How are you feeling now?” Lewis asks as he comes over to check on me. “You took quite a pounding in there.”

  Sitting on the back step of the ambulance, I force a smile even though my chest feels as if it's about to collapse in on itself. The bulletproof vest took a dozen shots, and while the bullets might not have gone all the way through, I've still been left with a hell of a lot of bruises. In fact, even sitting up straight is painful, and finally I settle for nodding at Lewis. I guess the fact that I'm alive at all is something of a miracle. After all, Hinch unloaded two handguns into my chest at close range. If even one of those shots had been a few inches higher, I'd be dead right now.

  “I just spoke to someone at the hospital,” Lewis continues. “Katie's critical but stable. They think there's a good chance she'll pull through, although...”

  His voice trails off.

  “We found her eyes on the floor,” he adds finally, clearly shocked. “I put them in an evidence bag. Was that the right thing to do?”

  “I guess so,” I mutter, feeling another twist of pain in my gut. Is that from the shooting, or from the cancer? Frankly, I'm starting to lose track.

  “I don't get it,” Lewis continues. “We all knew Hinch, we treated him like he was one of us. How could we have been so wrong?”

  “He hid it well,” I gasp, even though it hurts to get the words out.

  “But that still doesn't make sense. I know people can hide certain things, but from the stuff Hinch has been saying since we got him down, it's like he's completely insane. I was just up in the room while the medics were prepping him for transport, and he's ranting and raving like a total lunatic.”

  “I guess he learned to cover it all up while he was at Gordonville,” I reply. “They wouldn't have let him out if they didn't think he was fit to rejoin society. He must have been very good at hiding what was going on in his head. He was able to say and do enough normal things to put us all at ease. If the professionals at a psychiatric hospital were fooled, what chance did the rest of us have?”

  I watch as the medics start bringing a trolley out of the farmhouse, and a moment later I realize Hinch is still babbling away and yelling despite the three gunshot wounds he took to the torso.

  “I'm the one who worked with him the most,” I continue, getting to my feet despite the pain in my chest. “I should have realized he was more than just shy and a little weird. If anyone's to blame, it's me.”

  “Maybe you shouldn't try to walk,” Lewis says, holding my arm to support me as if I'm some kind of old man. “Didn't they tell you to -”

  “I have to hear what he's saying!”

  Limping through the mud, I make my way toward the ambulance, where the medics have stopped to make final preparations for loading Hinch's trolley into the back so they can take him to hospital. Even as I get closer, I can hear Hinch rambling on and on about demons, and about how he has to get back into the house so he can save Katie. He keeps talking about cutting a demon out of her soul, and he seems to think that he's the only person who can help her. On top of that, he also keeps going on about someone who lives in the forest, and something about the tunnels beneath the town. I want to dismiss all this rambling as just the nonsense spewed out by a damaged mind, but I can't help noting that everything he's saying sounds remarkably similar to the things his brother Mikey ranted about ten years ago.

  And similar to Ramsey, too.

  Ramsey was talking about a man in the forest earlier tonight, and about something living in the tunnels, and about a devil and a witch and a whore. If this stuff had just come from Liam and his crazy dead brother, I could dismiss it as nothing important, as the product of two fevered but connected lunatics. But my daughter isn't crazy, so there has to be some kind of truth at the root of it all.

  “I didn't finish!” Hinch sobs as he tries to break free from his restraints. “He'll have to get someone else to take over now! He needs to find the whore!”

  “Where do I find this man?” I ask, stepping closer.

  He turns to me.

  “You keep talking about this man who lives in the forest,” I continue. “Fine. Let's pretend for a moment that this devil guy is really out there somewhere. How do I track him down? I think it's time I spoke to him.”

  “You can't find him,” he replies, his voice trembling with fear. “He'll find you, if that's what he wants, but I don't see why he'd bother. You're nothing to him!”

  “What about the tunnels?” I ask. “You said something about the bend of the river, out by Moultin Point. Is that where the witch is being kept? In the tunnels near there, under Devil's Lookout?”

  “We're ready to take him now,” one of the medics tells me.

  “Just hold on a moment.” Staring down at Hinch, I swear I can see the madness swimming in his eyes. How did I ever miss that before? “If I want to make this man in the forest notice me,” I continue, “this devil, how do I go about it? Would it work if I go to the tunnels and try to rescue this witch?”

  “He won't let you do that,” he replies. “He'll never let you interfere!”

  “Then maybe that's the only way to make him show his hand,” I point out. “To see if he's real or not.”

  “He's real,” he spits back at me. “He's real and he knows what he wants and he won't rest until he's got it! And he'll destroy the whore, too!”

  “We really need to get moving,” the medic continues. “He's lost a lot of blood.”

  “We'll talk again soon,” I tell Hinch, and he immediately starts rambling as he's loaded into the ambulance.

  “He'll find her!” he yells. “
The whore can't run! If she doesn't go to him freely, he'll drag her through the forest! She doesn't have a choice!”

  Stepping back, I watch as the doors are swung shut, and finally the ambulance starts driving away. I swear, though, I can hear Hinch still screaming inside. The lights are flashing, but there's too much mud for any vehicle to move fast around here, and it takes several minutes before the ambulance reaches the gravel road and heads out past the treeline. Finally it's gone, and all I hear is the sound of several deputies discussing the case as they wander out of the farmhouse.

  “He's nuts,” Lewis says after a moment, stopping next to me. “Hinch is completely out of his mind, isn't he? Did you hear some of the stuff he was shouting earlier? He accused us all of being demons. He went on about how our eyes were glittering. Do you think that's really how he sees the world?”

  “Maybe,” I reply, as I feel my phone buzzing in my pocket. Slipping it out, I'm surprised to see that I appear to be calling myself from my own laptop, which can only mean one thing.

  After excusing myself for a moment, I step away from the others and answer the call.

  “Hey,” I say, trying to sound cheerful and pain-free, despite the agonizing bruising all over my chest. “How did you guess my password? Was it really that obvious?”

  I wait, but she doesn't say anything.

  “Or are you some kind of genius hacker these days?” I continue, “Do I even want to know?”

  Again I wait, but again all I hear is silence.

  “Ramsey? Are you there?”

  “I'm here,” she replies, although her voice sounds a little weak, almost as if she's been crying.

  “You won't believe the night I've been having,” I continue. “I'm still not done yet. I'm really sorry, but I have a few more things to figure out here first. If you like, maybe the best thing would be for you to take my bed and just get some sleep, and I should be able to head home in the morning. Do you still like those breakfast meals from the place on Avenue Road? I can swing by on my way and pick up a feast.”

  Again, I wait for her to speak, but a moment later I hear a faint sniffing sound. If I didn't know better, I'd swear she was crying.

  “Ramsey? Are you okay?”

  “Are you okay?” she asks.

  “I'm a little sore,” I mutter, “but apart from that, I'm fine.”

  I wait for her to say something, and now I'm more sure than ever that she's upset.

  “Ramsey -”

  “We need to talk,” she says suddenly, interrupting me. “When you get home. There are things I haven't told you, and I'm pretty sure there are things you haven't told me, and I really think we should get them all out in the open.”

  I hesitate for a moment. I know I left some medication in the bathroom, and some letters in my desk, but I doubt Ramsey has put everything together and figured out that I'm sick. I mean, she's smart and resourceful, but there's no way she could have discovered the truth so quickly. Then again, if she's in my laptop, she might have accessed my emails. She might know everything.

  “Dad,” she continues, “I know you don't believe what I told you earlier, but -”

  “I never said I don't believe you.”

  “I could see it in your eyes.”

  “Maybe, but...” I turn and look back at the farmhouse for a moment. “Maybe something's changed,” I continue. “Maybe I've heard the same crazy things from too many people now, and maybe I can't dismiss them anymore. Maybe I'm ready to accept that there's something out there. All this talk of devils and witches and whores... There has to be something that's causing it.”

  I look away from the farmhouse, toward the vast, dark forest. I remember how Buddy always told me to steer clear of the forest, to basically ignore it and focus on the town, but deep down I'm starting to think that he was hiding something. He knows more than he's ever let on about what's out there, and I let him talk me out of doing my own digging. Trusting Buddy might have been a huge mistake.

  “I'm going to take some men out there and check it out,” I mutter finally. “It's my only option. I have to know.”

  “Out where?” Ramsey asks, sounding worried. “What are you going to check out, Dad?”

  “I'll be home around dawn and -”

  “Dad, I want you to come back right now!”

  “I'm not quite done here,” I tell her. “One way or another, I have to figure out what parts of this are the ravings of a madman, and what parts have some basis in reality. And after what you told me -”

  “Ignore me!” she stammers, sounding as if she's starting to panic. “I was lying. The whole thing was just something I made up. Dad, please, forget about it and come home!”

  “I just need to check something in the tunnels first.”

  “No!” she shouts. “Dad, you can't! I'm telling you, it's not safe! You have to promise me that you won't go anywhere near those tunnels!”

  “It's my job, Ramsey.”

  “Your job is to get home!” she continues, sounding more and more panicked. “Dad, please -”

  “I'll be home as soon as I can,” I reply, interrupting her. “I need to know what I'm dealing with, which means I have to go out to Devil's Lookout! It's three in the morning, Ramsey, so you should get some sleep and we'll talk when I get back.”

  “But -”

  “Just wait for me there! I'll see you soon!”

  With that, I cut the call before she has a chance to argue. As soon as I've done so, however, I realize I might have just made a huge mistake. After all this time apart, Ramsey and I should be spending time together, and I basically just told her to sit around at my place and twiddle her thumbs. At the same time, Mikey and Liam Cane both talked a lot about a man who lives in the forest, and about devils and witches and whores and all that garbage, and I was able to put it all on the back-burner until the moment tonight when Ramsey started mentioning the same things. Deep down, I'm scared that whatever happened to Mikey and Liam might happen to Ramsey next, and for that reason alone I have to go to the tunnels and see for myself that there's nothing down there.

  “Are we done here?” Lewis asks, coming over to join me. “Boss?”

  I turn to him.

  “It's getting late,” he continues, “and -”

  “I need you to get everyone ready for one more search,” I tell him. “We're going to Moultin Point.”

  “Out by Devil's Lookout?” He furrows his brow. “That's in the middle of nowhere!”

  “We're going to check something in the tunnels and -”

  Before I can reply, I feel my phone buzzing and I look down just in time to see my own laptop trying to call me again. I hesitate for a moment, knowing deep down that if I speak to Ramsey again right now I'll end up going home to her, and finally I switch my phone off. I'll make her understand in the morning, but tonight I need to know for sure that there's no truth to the stories about Devil's Lookout.

  “Everyone's tired,” Lewis tells me. “Are you sure it's urgent? Can't we just -”

  “We're going to Devil's Lookout,” I tell him, “although first I need to stop off somewhere on the way. There's one person in town who I think might know the truth already. And he's been keeping it from me all this time.”

  Fifty-Seven

  Ramsey Kopperud

  “Goddamn asshole!” I mutter, as I take a look at the keys hanging from the hooks next to Dad's front door. I was hoping to find a key to a second car, but there's nothing, which means I'm going to have to find some other way out to Devil's Lookout. There's a key that looks like it might fit the shed door, so I figure I can go see if there's a bike or something else I can use.

  Grabbing the key, I hurry to the door and pull it open, only to find Mom on the other side, poised to knock.

  “Ramsey!” she stammers, clearly relieved to see me. “What the hell are you -”

  “I can't talk right now,” I reply, slipping past her and pulling the door shut. “I have to go find Dad.”

  “No way! Ramsey, it'
s three in the morning!”

  Grabbing my arm, she pulls me back.

  “Ramsey Kopperud,” she continues, “you're going to get into that car with me and come to the airport. We're flying home.”

  “Dad needs me,” I tell her.

  “I don't care what your father needs. He can look after himself. It's late, and you're coming with me!”

  “He's about to make a huge mistake!”

  “He made plenty of huge mistakes back in -”

  “I get it!” I hiss, pulling away from her. “You hate Dad, and that's your choice, but I need to go and help him! He's about to do something really dumb, and I think it's because of me!”

  She sighs. “Ramsey...”

  “He's dying!”

  She opens her mouth to reply, before hesitating.

  I pause for a moment, shocked that I said those words, but then I spot something metallic hanging in the opening of Mom's handbag. I stare at her, and then finally I take a step closer and put my arms around her. I know there's no way she'll ever see things from Dad's point of view, or even from mine, but I think there's still one useful thing she can do for me.

  “Dad's dying,” I whisper. “He hasn't told me yet, and I don't know how long he has left, but it's true and I have to go to him. He's messing with things he doesn't understand, with things that could kill him a lot sooner if he gets in their way. I don't even understand it all myself, not yet, but I have to make sure he doesn't go into the tunnels at Devil's Lookout, because there's a creature down there that'll kill him.”

  Taking a step back, I'm immediately struck by the utter bewilderment in her eyes.

  “Ramsey, you're talking rubbish,” she says finally. “You must be concussed. There's no way any of this is real and -”

  “Fine,” I reply, interrupting her. “Get my bag, then. It's in the hallway.”

  “What?”

  “If you want me to come home with you, get my bag. It's in the hallway.”

  With that, I turn and hurry down the steps, heading toward the rental car she left in the street.