Chapter 27
GINA had given me some salve to put on my cuts and scrapes, and once I got home, I applied the thick, slightly greenish mixture liberally and then replaced the bandages over the worst cuts. The one on my forehead that had required stitches was red, but the salve took away the sting immediately. Luckily my hair was long enough and hung over most of the bandage so it wasn’t like I had a neon sign on my forehead saying “Hey, I’ve Got a Great Big Gash on Me!” The Boyds hadn’t even mentioned it, but then they had other things on their minds.
Since I had the rest of the night off, I thought about heading straight to bed, but I decided to poke around on the computer a little bit before calling it a day. I’d put off continuing research on the Springfield Showgirl murders and wanted to see if I could learn more. Daisy settled at my feet and soon began snoring loudly. I felt a rush of cold air on my right side, and Robbie appeared, leaning against my chair and looking over my shoulder.
“Internet porn?” he asked.
I shook my head. “I found something the other day about a series of murders that took place in Springfield, Illinois, that were similar to the present murders. I just wanted to see what else I could find.” I typed “Springfield Showgirl Murders 1910” into the search engine. I got 10,900 hits. Most were sites dedicated to famous serial killers and the first few I tried didn’t have very much information about the Springfield murders. On my fifth try, however, I found that someone had scanned an article from a Springfield newspaper from September 19, 1910, concerning the murders. By then five showgirls had been murdered. The fifth murder had been witnessed and an artist’s sketch showed the features of the person one Samuel Perkins had seen bending over the corpse.
It was a pretty accurate drawing of Joshua Satterfield.
“That’s him,” I told Robbie. “That’s the guy out in Westfield with the fridge full of human McNuggets.”
Robbie leaned in to get a good look. “Ugly cuss, isn’t he?”
“And since that was 1910, he’d be at least a hundred and thirty years old now. Gets around pretty good for a man his age.”
“So does Gina.”
“Gina’s a witch. I thought we’d concluded that this guy couldn’t be a witch.”
Robbie pondered this. “He’s a ghoul,” he said after a long pause.
“You also said he couldn’t be a ghoul.”
“Sue me. I was wrong.” Robbie sat down on the arm of my chair. “Ghouls normally don’t act that way. A true ghoul wouldn’t attack a living person. They’re scavengers. They normally just dig up recently buried corpses for their food. They’re jackals. They don’t bring down their own prey. They’re too cowardly for that.”
I touched the bandage on my forehead. “Cowardly isn’t a word I’d use to describe this guy.”
“That’s why I didn’t think he was a ghoul. The modus operandi wasn’t right. This guy is something different, though. Something new. He’s killing and taking bits of his food home to eat. Ghouls also don’t generally live to be that old. They have a lifespan nearly the same as humans.” Robbie grimaced. “Actually, they used to be humans. Eating human flesh can turn someone into a ghoul. It changes some people. Really changes them. They get so that they can only survive by eating human organs.”
“How is it that you know this and I don’t? I thought I knew pretty much every preternatural creature around.”
“Ghouls are all but extinct. I didn’t think there were any around anymore.”
“And you know so much because…?”
“Gina told me.” Robbie smiled at me. “One night while we were watching movies. You’d fallen asleep, and the Bela Lugosi flick we had on couldn’t have kept the most jaded movie critic’s attention, so we started talking about stuff. I was mostly interested in werewolves, ’cause they’re just cool, but Gina had some bee in her bonnet and seemed to think I wanted to know all about ghouls from A to Z. Glad I listened, now.”
I looked back at the artist’s sketch. The poor slob who came across the murder in progress, this Perkins guy, must have either gotten a good look or the brief glance he’d had had seared the image into his brain. In the drawing, Satterfield had a leather strap around his neck, but here his shirt was open, and I could see that he was wearing some sort of amulet. The artist had only given the bauble a general shape and hadn’t filled in many of the details, concentrating more on the killer’s face, but you could get the general idea. “That amulet. He was wearing something around his neck when I saw him. That might mean something.” I started to click more keys but Robbie stopped me.
“You need to get some sleep. You’ve been running around all day. Jumping through windows. Dates with potential boyfriends. Exorcising ghosts. You’re tough, but you don’t have a red S on your chest. Go to bed.”
“In a bit,” I said, checking out another site.
Robbie put a hand over the keys. The touch was light, but I could feel his hand. “Go to bed. I’ll do this. I’ve had all day to rest.”
I looked at him in surprise. “You want to stay up and play on the computer?”
He shrugged. “I get on your computer a lot, actually. I’ve got to do something while you’re away all day. Nice porn you’ve downloaded, by the way. I especially like the one with the skater dude with his arm in the sling. Some real artistic camera work on that one.”
Feeling my cheeks flush a little, I said, “And you won’t have any trouble hitting the keys? I don’t want you to zap yourself doing this.”
Robbie waved a hand in dismissal. “Piece of cake. I can let you know if I find anything of interest in the morning. Go on. I can see you’re stifling a yawn even now.”
He was right. I was beat. “If you’re sure.”
“I’m sure.” He gave me a brief kiss on the lips. “I’ll come in later and lie down with you. Now, off you go.”
I went. Before long I’m sure I was snoring louder than Daisy could ever hope to snore.
I MADE myself a strong cup of Earl Gray in the morning to try to steam the cobwebs out of my brain. I sat at the kitchen table and let the heat from the tea play over my face. It felt good. It felt common. I needed more common things in my life. I loved Gina and Robbie and Daisy, but every now and then I wished I had an escape from all things weird. Maybe that’s what I really wanted from Nick. Normalcy. Okay, normalcy and sex. I wondered what had happened to all my friends. I’d had friends that I used to hang out with, normal people who went to work, shopped, and didn’t eat human body parts. What had happened to them? Why had I let them all slip away?
I sipped the tea. I could see Robbie, faded in the morning sunlight coming in from the windows. He was still sitting at my desk, but the computer was shut off. I suspected that he hadn’t actually been researching all night, despite what he was trying to convey with his body language. I didn’t feel like calling him on it. My mind was still too fuzzy. “Learn anything?” I asked.
He shrugged. “Maybe. It’s hard to say. Kind of hard to really make out that amulet he’s wearing in the drawing, so I didn’t have much to go on. Couldn’t find any other depictions of our friend, either. Best I can come up with is that it’s some sort of magic talisman, keeping him alive. Doesn’t look like 1910 was the first time our killer surfaced, either.”
That woke me up. I set the tea down. “Really?”
“Eighteen ten. Stockholm. Seven girls murdered. All in September of that year. All had bits of them missing. The murderer was never found.”
“Sounds like our guy.” I rubbed a hand over my face. It helped a little. My brain felt clearer. “So your theory is that he murders seven girls every hundred years? Why?”
“Could be the amulet. It might be giving him an extended life. Maybe every hundred years he has to resort to eating human bits again to keep on living. That sustains him but only for a century. Then he has to re-fuel, so to speak.”
“Could be.”
“That first girl. Wasn’t she missing her uterus?” Robbie looked disgusted. “He ate a uterus?”
“But eating someone’s liver is okay?”
“Not as sick as eating a uterus. That’s just gross.”
I got up and went to the telephone. It took a few minutes, but I finally got hold of Lieutenant Carson. He didn’t seem happy to hear from me.
“I suppose,” he growled into the phone, “that you’re going to tell me we’re dealing with some sort of demon or something of the sort, and the only way to kill him is to chop his head off with a scimitar.”
“Scimitars aren’t easy to come by,” I said, “so luckily that’s not it.”
Carson snorted. “Well, his name isn’t Joshua Satterfield. That’s for sure. Satterfield died a little over a year ago. Your friend seems to have borrowed his identity.”
“And no sign of him?”
“Nope.” Carson sighed heavily. “He seems to have vanished.”
I told Carson about the cases in Springfield and Stockholm. Hearing about them didn’t make him feel any happier. I told him that I just felt like he needed to know in case he ran into the guy. I also mentioned that we were going on the assumption that the amulet he wore had some magical properties. “That might account for his strength. The guy I met seemed to have the power of several rather annoyed elephants.”
Carson thanked me, his voice dripping with sarcasm, and rang off.
Robbie frowned at the blank computer screen. He seemed lost in thought. “Something disturbing you?” I asked.
He made a face. “Not so much disturbing me, as….” He bit his lip. “I’ve never possessed someone. Not in all the years I’ve been dead. It just seems kind of rude.”
“A bit intrusive. I’d have to agree.”
“What if, though, you had someone’s permission to possess them? Just for a little bit?”
“I’d think it would take an exceptional person to allow, willingly, a spirit into their body. Why? What brought this on?”
“I’ve been thinking about it since Boyd showed up here with Super Bitch Ex-wife in him. She was inside him, but he still had some control over what he was doing. He came here, after all.”
“Yeah. And?”
Robbie batted his big browns at me. “I was thinking that if I was to possess someone that we could have sex again.”
I was flabbergasted. Intrigued, I have to admit, but flabbergasted. “And just who do you think will go along with this stunt? Were you planning on putting an ad on Craigslist?”
“I thought about Nick. He didn’t totally flip out last night. Okay, granted, he hyperventilated a bit, but once everything calmed down, he didn’t run screaming from the apartment, vowing never to set foot here again.”
“I had to drive him home,” I said. “He barely said a word the whole way. Just mumbled to himself.”
“Well, it’s not like he was eased into it. He came over for a nice, relaxing evening with you and witnessed a ghost being zapped by salt. Could he see me, by the way? I didn’t get a chance to ask him when he was here. After everything died down you bundled him and Tanner out of here rather quickly.
“Seemed like the thing to do. Nick was pretty pale, and I needed to get Gina so we could take care of Cindy Boyd once and for all.”
“Did he say he saw me, though?”
I nodded. “He did. Just for a moment or so. I think when his adrenaline levels hit the roof something sparked in his mind. He saw Cindy coming out of Tanner, and he saw you with your little salt trick. Once everything calmed down, though, he didn’t seem to be able to see you any longer. Sorry.” I could see Robbie was disappointed. He hated that so few people could actually see him.
“Still,” he said optimistically, “he allowed you to drive him home.”
“He was shaking too much to drive himself.”
“But he could have called a cab or something. I mean, he got into the same car with a guy that he’d seen a spirit come out of earlier. I think he has potential.”
I chuckled, not really feeling any humor. “And you think we should now suggest to him that he allow you to possess him for a while so that we can do the hokey-pokey?”
Robbie grinned slyly. “It’s worth a shot. Hey, I’d give anything to have sex with you again. I think it would work.”
“I think you’re crazy.” I actually liked that idea, in a weird sort of way, but I didn’t want Robbie to get his hopes up. “Although it would certainly make for an odd three-way.”
“We should think about it,” Robbie said. “At the very least.”
I shrugged. “I do have to return his car today. I can find out how he feels about suddenly being thrown into a world with ghosts in it. He might have decided he doesn’t want anything to do with me. Yesterday’s shock has worn off by now.”
“Only one way to find out,” Robbie said.
I dialed Nick’s number. He answered on the third ring.
“I thought you might be at work,” I said. “Glad to find you in.”
Nick sounded a little distant, but he replied, “I took a sick day. I didn’t really feel like going in. Plus I didn’t have my car. I seem to remember leaving my keys with you.”
“You did.”
“I seem to remember a lot of things. I don’t suppose I imagined them?”
“Afraid not. How are you feeling?”
There was a pause. “Confused.”
“I thought I could bring your car over. That is, if you want me to.”
Again a pause. “Sure,” he said. “But… just you, okay? I don’t want any ghosts or demons springing out at me.”
“Just me,” I promised.
After hanging up, I quickly finished my tea and then fished out Nick’s car keys. I was a little nervous on the drive over to his place, not knowing how he was going to react. Robbie had given me more to think about as well. I liked Nick and found him sexually attractive. If he went along with Robbie’s little scheme, I could not only have sex with Nick but also with Robbie. I wasn’t sure I could ever suggest such a thing, though, even if Nick was still willing to continue seeing me. Excuse me, but would you mind if my dead boyfriend takes over your body for an hour or two? Thanks awfully!
Nick answered his door wearing just some pajama bottoms. He hadn’t shaved, and he looked tired. “Come in,” he told me.
We sat on his couch. He offered me a beverage. I declined. The conversation kind of waned after that. Finally he said, “Do you need me to drive you back?”
“No,” I said. “I can catch a bus.”
More silence. Outside a bird was chirping noisily. Nick’s cat jumped up between us. I petted it.
“So,” he said, “the ghost I saw, the one with the dark hair….”
“Robbie. Yes.”
“He was your boyfriend.”
“Still is. He can’t help it if he’s dead.”
Nick sighed. “I didn’t get a good look at him, but he looked kind of young.”
“He’s been dead a decade. He was young when he died.”
“And the dog?”
“She was resurrected by a friend of mine after she died.” Another period of not much being said followed. I continued to pet the cat. It purred.
“So when you started going out with me….” Nick trailed off.
“Robbie can only have sex with other ghosts, and I can only have sex with other humans. It doesn’t make for a great sex life in our relationship.”
Nick nodded, a twisted smile crossing his face. “I can see where that would be a problem.”
I told him about Robbie and how Robbie died. He listened attentively. I finished with, “When I started this, I didn’t realize you’d get involved in all this supernatural stuff. I thought I could keep that separate. Actually, when I asked you over the other night I was going to tell you about Robbie. I was trying to let you know why I wanted to take things slowly. I didn’t want to rush into something I’d regret later. I like you. I really do. But it’s not fair to ask you to see me without you knowing about Robbie.”
Nick was sitting a few inches away from me with Jasmine the cat in between us. He kept his face forward the whole time we talked, rarely looking at me. His arms were crossed over his bare chest which was giving me a “Don’t touch” signal. Shame, because he had a nice chest. He coughed and then cleared his throat. “I like you too. I’m not sure how I feel about ghosts being around and all that, though. I’m going to have to give this some thought.”
“I can’t ask for more than that.”