Chapter 16
When they arrived at the station, they were greeted by Captain Claybourne.
Zach saw that the man was grave and serious.
Claybourne was also glad to see them. Any hesitance he might have about his lieutenant inviting them in was gone.
Well, he was missing three of the people he counted on: Bruns, Cason, and Berkley.
“I’ve had the fellow in the interrogation room since he was brought in. First of all, we want to thank you both for finding Detective Berkley—and for saving her life.”
“It’s what we all do,” Zach said. “All of us, right? But thanks. We’re hoping they’ll manage to bring her down into a sense of reality soon enough. When we saw her last—when we first got out of the woods—she was having flashes.”
“Yes, Gavin phoned me; told me she was going in and out, most of the time just moaning that she doesn’t know, she doesn’t know,” the captain stated.
“It will take time to clean out her system,” Zach said. “Now, of course, we’re hoping the restaurant staff survives.”
“We heard about the situation in the back and it’s horrible.
More and more innocents just going about their lives.
Of course, we’re all hoping they’ll pull through.
Please, though, the witch in the interrogation room is all yours.
He’s been fingerprinted. But it doesn’t show in the system.
And he refuses to give us a name. To be honest, he’s been cooling his heels for only a few minutes—he’s been given one of our local jumpsuits after being sent into one of the station showers.
At least, we can now see what the fellow looks like.
We had the doc check out his face; but while he’s swollen up, you didn’t break his jaw.
Which means he can talk just fine. Doc says he’s about forty; he diagnosed he’s been homeless, or living on the street, for a long time, since his skin and other factors point to a lack of nutrition. ”
“Sounds just like the target victim for our main witches,” Skye answered.
“You can take a look at him from the observation room before you go in,” Claybourne said. “He also doesn’t want an attorney; he doesn’t want to talk. Maybe one of you can do something with him.”
“Cleaned up and ready,” Zach said.
“Hey, we did put him in there and did just leave him. That often starts to make people nervous, good and bad. Oh, he was very offended; we tried to make sure that every bit of work with him was proper procedure, so we made a point about offering him an attorney again. He told the officer who was speaking with him that the attorneys were the worst devils of them all. And, of course, cops like us, we come right after attorneys,” Claybourne said.
“You know, of course, that Bruns went to the hospital with Berkley.”
“Yes, sir, we know,” Zach assured him.
“Bruns is a good cop, but more. He’s a good man.
He feels a great responsibility for those under his command.
Anyway, it’s late and you must be worn as ragged as the rest of us.
See what you can do with this witch, and then get out of here—go home and get some sleep.
No one in the hospital will be able to speak until then, not with anything that resembles truth or sense. ”
“Yes, Captain, thank you. I just feel that—”
“Something horrible is going on; people are in danger. Yes, Special Agent Erickson, I am well aware. And we do have people working around the clock.”
“Of course,” Skye said pleasantly. “You know how it is—”
“Yes, to be in the field, and feel that sense that you must keep going because you’re so afraid you’re failing people. We all work as teams, you know. All of us, here, members of this department—and with others when we work together.”
“Let’s see if we can get somewhere,” Skye said.
“Together?” Zach asked her.
“That might be the right play—the two of us were the ones who stopped him in the forest,” Skye said.
“I want to get a good look at this guy first,” Zach told her.
“Come on, then. We’ll head to the observation room. I’ll want to watch when you go in, of course,” Claybourne told them.
“Absolutely,” Zach said. He wished Gavin were there, but he understood why the man was at the hospital.
But they could use Gavin’s mind “expertise” with the man they were about to question.
Through the one-way glass in the observation room, Zach looked closely at the man.
He knew he’d never seen him before; and what the doctor had told Claybourne appeared to be right—the man was fortyish in appearance; hair clean, but a wreck, with some graying and unevenly cut around his face; his actual complexion was pale and slightly splotchy, as if he’d spent a long time receiving little nutrition.
They’d uncuffed him. His hands were on the table. He just stared ahead, bleakly; his face was long and his expression rather like a depressed bloodhound’s.
“Ready?” Skye asked him.
“Sure. Take the lead,” Zach told her. “After all, you met him first. Seriously, I think he might respond better to you.”
“All right.”
But before they could go in, an officer opened the door, looking at the captain. “Sir, there’s someone to see you—a couple and a teenage girl. They’re agitated, but want to speak with you or Lieutenant Bruns. I thought …”
“You thought right,” the captain said. “You two go ahead. Get started. It may prove to be a long session.”
Captain Claybourne headed out to meet the waiting people.
Zach looked at Skye again.
“Let’s do this,” she said. “All we do is get nothing,” she added dryly.
They entered the room and took the seats across from the man. His expression didn’t change; he didn’t look at either of them.
They sat in silence for a few minutes.
“We don’t want to hurt you; you do know, though, you’re going to be arraigned on serious charges. If you talk to us, we may be able to help you,” Skye said quietly.
Nothing.
They sat in silence again until Skye said softly, “Believe it or not, we do want to help you. It would be nice if we could start out with your name, Mister …” Skye’s tone was low and even, almost pleasant.
“Beelzebub,” he said flatly.
“What? No, no, no—you think we’re the ones in league with the devil. You’re the one who claims to be fighting for good things, fighting against the devil,” she said.
He shook his head dismally. “I failed the master. Now …”
“Your so-called master is an evil man! You were threatening to kill a woman,” Skye reminded him.
“No! She was a witch!” the man said in distress, dismayed they didn’t seem to understand the situation at all.
“No, I remember the situation exactly,” Skye told him. “When I came into the woods, you were green and wearing a witch’s hat and cape—holding a knife up to a very terrified woman.”
The man groaned.
“You don’t understand anything at all, do you?” he asked.
“No, we don’t, so anything you can explain to us will be very helpful,” Skye said encouragingly.
“All right, the world as we live in it is a mess. Surely, you see that. The rich can buy almost anything, including people. And then men and women get into power; and when they have power, they become drunk with it. They abuse it and they hurt everything and everyone around them. The problem is, years and years and years ago, someone stopped the people from ridding the world of those who did dance with the devil. That’s why the world is still so corrupt.
If you don’t see that’s what’s happening … ”
Skye leaned in close. “The world can be very hard. But how does hurting children and innocent people help that?” she asked.
“The master teaches; he never hurts anyone. And he is constantly thinking and looking for ways to stop all the devil dancers—ways that won’t just stop evil here, but around the world!”
“Money—” Skye began.
“The master cares nothing for money!” the man said.
There was a tap at the door. Zach glanced at Skye, letting her know he’d slip out.
When he did, he discovered Gavin had returned to the station; he and the captain were in the hallway waiting to speak to him.
Gavin looked at Zach first, giving him a slight nod. Zach knew that Gavin had been watching for perhaps just a minute or two, and he was going to tell him what he had observed.
In front of Claybourne, Gavin would have a good physical or logical reason why he had his opinion.
“He’s telling the truth about what he believes,” Gavin said. “The man is completely brainwashed.”
“Yes, it seems so,” Captain Claybourne said.
“The people who arrived are the Dunn family. They’d heard about the commotion at the café, and they wanted to know if we had any news on Bella.
Gavin got the idea to let them come into the observation room and look at this man, and Gavin’s instinct was right on.
They recognized him as someone who had been at Bella’s rehab.
Sheryl had met him when she visited her sister one day and knew his name was David. ”
“A quick call and we found out he was David Harrison, spent his growing-up years going from group home to group home, child of two drug addicts killed in a car crash. Aged out at eighteen, held a few menial jobs over the years, fell into drugs himself, and has lived on the streets for the last ten years or so. I figured that might help you—”
“It will, thanks!” Zach told the captain. He looked at Gavin and nodded. In their careers, most law enforcement officials came across excellent liars, criminals so good at spinning tales they should have gone into acting careers.
He headed back into the room and took his seat.
David Harrison was still sitting with his head just hanging down.
“David—Mr. Harrison—” he said, letting Skye know they had gotten the man’s name and background. “I believe—”