***
I didn’t even need to knock on the door. Rachael must have heard me coming. She cracked the door open and I stood stunned. If I hadn’t just recently seen the bodies of the men strewn through my own home, I might have vomited right there. There were only two of them, but the copious amounts of blood made it looked like it could have been several more. Rachael had already lain the two corpses out next to each other, tucking their arms by their sides. I tentatively walked in as she eyed me with a worried expression.
“What happened Rachael?” I asked open mouthed.
“I don’t know exactly. They came for me, grabbed me by the throat. They were going to kill me Sab.” Her voice trembled slightly.
I broke my horror struck gaze at the room to look at her. “Kill you? Who are they?”
“Your guess is as good as mine. They seemed to know me, they were looking for Jonah.” She moved closer to me and earnestly looked into my eyes. “They brought that box and the pick, or blade or whatever it is. They were holding me down to stab me in the neck with it.” She pointed at a wooden box and silver blade on the coffee table. “I just, I just fought back.”
I now stared at the box. “What’s in the box?”
She moved her view to the box and stepped closer to me still. “I don’t know. I didn’t want to look. At least not alone.”
A thought occurred to me and brought my attention back to her. “So you remember doing this…this….to them?” I didn’t know what to call it. It wasn’t murder if it wasn’t self defense, killing them made her sound like she was a serial killer or something.
“I remember most, but not all.” Her chin trembled. “I just reacted. I didn’t even think. I felt this surge, and Sabian…..” She sucked in a breath. “I did things I couldn’t have.”
“What things?” I asked her gingerly.
“Impossible things…” She responded but trailed off. Her confidence came back and she didn’t look so scared. “I threw one of them in the air. He hit the ceiling.” I looked up automatically and saw some missing paint chips and a smear of blood above where we stood.
When I looked down at her I was still in a daze. “Was there any identification on the bodies?” I moved to where the bodies lay and knelt beside them. I tried not to breath in the metallic stench. “You shouldn’t have moved them.” The police wouldn’t be happy about that.
“I wanted to check them….for marks, or ID, but there was nothing. Then I cleaned them…..so my fingerprints couldn’t be found.” I looked sharply back at her.
“But the police!” I protested as I stood up. “We have to call them.”
“I can’t. That’s why I called you. I trust you. You are the only one I can trust. The police already think there’s something wrong with me. They will never believe me. Sabian..” Rachael looked at me expectantly.
“Well this won’t help. What did you think I could do?” I was astounded.
“I don’t know. I didn’t think. I just needed you here.”
I realised I was caught in the middle of something so much more than just a girl with a missing past. Something supernatural, something from myth. I needed to know what it was. What the secret was. I gulped back my natural instinct to protest, to call the police anyway, but I didn’t think justice was going to see through the obvious to find Rachael innocent, to see her as I did….special. I tried to avoid giving any answers until I could give myself a moment to think. The blade on the table glinted and caught my attention.
“It’s a stiletto” I said absently.
“No it was a regular heel.” I looked back at Rachael with confusion on my face. “I just kicked him in the face with it hard enough to do some damage.” She explained.
“What?” I queried before I realised what she was talking about. “No, the blade. It’s called a Stiletto.” I pointed to the item on the table. “It’s known as an assassin’s weapon from medieval times. A client of mine had a collection of medieval and Renaissance weapons he used to like to show off. I remember he had one like this.” She closed her eyes as though embarrassed by her comments. I couldn’t help it but I had to clarify what she was saying. “You kicked one of them in the face with your shoe? Really?” She shrugged though still looked concerned. We both looked at the bodies.
“Did anyone hear anything?” I asked.
“The lady from upstairs came down, but I gave her a story and she went away. Sabian…what am I going to do with their bodies?”
“We can dump them off the pier. My car is downstairs. There’s builders scaffolding at the back of the building near the window. There is also a chute they use for dumping industrial rubbish. Send them down the chute, put them in the car and drive them to the shore. Rachael nodded at my instructions. “We better get started but first…” I looked back at the box. “Let’s see what’s inside the box.”
We approached the box with trepidation and both sat on different couches around the corner of the coffee table that held the box. With a sigh, Rachael lifted it to her lap. It was around 30 CM long, around 20 CM wide and was fairly innocuous. It was made of dark wood, with gun metal coloured plain clasps and a latch of the same style at the front. Rachael opened the clasp and I held my breath. It could be a trophy case from people they killed. It could have information about her identity, an address, a manuscript, it could have ….. anything inside it.
As the lid opened, something inside caught the light and it reflected back on to Rachael. Finally she threw back the lid entirely and we saw there was nothing in it. Just mirrors. The whole box was lined with mirrors.
“Huh” Rachael huffed in surprise as she looked blankly at the empty box.
I took the box from her, turning it upside down, feeling along the edges. Nothing. I put the box down and placed the Stilleto inside before closing the lid. “Well that didn’t answer any questions.” I noted, disappointed.
“Sabian.” Rachael started, and I noted her body was quite stiff.
“Rachael.” I answered her.
“I have this terrible feeling about Jonah. Do you think….could you check on him?” She gave me a pleading look.
“I don’t even know where he is. And we have dead bodies to think about.”
“I know what town. I saw an article in the paper…it’s just 35 KMs from here.
I have this terrible feeling this isn’t over, please check on him. They don’t know you – you can ring the doorbell and see if everything is alright.”
“He knows me Rachael. I met him at the party.” I reminded her.
“He won’t say anything.” She assured.
“How do you know?”
“I know. Just, please go look for me.”
“After we take care of this….situation. I’ll go. Maybe tomorrow. That will give us time to find an address, otherwise I’m just going to be driving around.”
“No, help me with the bodies, then go. There is no time to wait around. I can clean up in here. Besides. I dreamed he was climbing an elm tree last night. Maybe he told me where he lived, maybe it’s something else I forgot, ….”
“You think he’ll be living near an elm tree? Or a place called Elmtree….” I paused considering my choices carefully before answering. “Alright.”
“Thank you.” Rachael took my hand and squeezed it.
I nodded quietly before standing. “Let’s get started.” She rose to her feet, grabbed sheets from the cupboard and we wrapped up the bodies tightly. Carrying an end each, we stalked down the dark corridor and took the elevator to the top floor. There we heaved the first body out the window, and it slid ungracefully to the bottom, landing in the heaped dumpster.
We repeated the process for the second body, then took ourselves outside where I backed the car up. We loaded the bodies in, then some of the broken concrete and bricks, before we drove 20 minutes to the coast. Checking no one was around, we stashed the heavy material in the sheets with the bodies, and rolled them over the dock. We did this in silence, recognisi
ng what we were doing for what it was.
On the way back, Rachael fidgeted as I drove. “We can never talk about this. Ever.” I said to her.
“There’s no one to tell.” She replied, turning to look at me. “I am so sorry I got you into this. I really am.”
I nodded, relieved we were on the same page. “Just let’s try not to kill anyone else OK. We need to find out what the hell is going on so we can stop this from happening.” I was trying to breathe normally, and I was struggling. My fingers gripped the wheel as I drove so tightly, I didn’t know if I was going to leave permanent marks behind. I couldn’t believe what I had just done. “Rachael. I just need you to know… I think you are….something else. You saved me and the others, and I know I told you I feel grateful, but it’s not just that. I am in this for the long haul. I am going to help you find out who you are. OK? I’m going to do that with you. All the way.” I might have been reassuring myself more than her at this stage.
“I know Sabian.” She leaned over as I drove and kissed my cheek before resting back in position. I glanced over at her, wondering what was going through her mind. “One of the men said something. Something I don’t understand. He said ‘Uther really managed to lock you up in there’.”
“That’s interesting. Another piece of the puzzle.”
“Did you find out about the guy you mentioned? The one who might be able to help?”
“Yes. He said he could see us tonight, around six. I said we would be there.” I snuck another glance her way trying to read her. The conversation was staunch, and felt unnatural, but she seemed peaceable enough.
“Good” she mumbled, almost as if to herself. “After you get back, we can both sleep, then see if this guy can help find more answers for us.”
“Armada. His name is Armada.”
“Like the ships?” She asked me and I chuckled.
“Like the moth apparently. So I’m told.” She nodded thoughtfully, then resumed looking out the window until we arrived back at the base of the apartment.
I dropped Rachael back at the apartment to clean the blood and mess up, and took off towards the town Jonah lived in. I drove, looking for an Elm Street, a noticeable tree, but couldn’t find anything. Without an exact address it was difficult. It was now just after five in the morning, and I didn’t have a clue.
My fuel gauge indicated the car was running low, so I decided if nothing else, now was the time to take a break and fill up. I was re-fueling at the service station when I saw a photograph on the wall behind the middle aged man serving me. Jonah was in it with a group of other children at what looked like a Sunday school.
The man caught me studying the image. “Something wrong?” He asked me pleasantly enough.
“Isn’t that Jonah something or another?”
“Yeah. The boy who went missing. Sure is. He goes to Sunday School with my Emma.” The man sighed and stuffed my money into the till before continuing. “Its an amazing thing that he came back, after all that time. Still won’t talk though. The boy changed after he suffered a fall.”
“A fall? What kind of fall?”
“He fell off a cliff. Family was out walking on this adventure trail out by the cliffs, he and his brother slipped…. The brother didn’t make it, but Jonah did. Barely. He only made it out of the coma a month before he was abducted like that…..Mother’s never been the same, barely leaves the house, except once a week to take the boy to the market. It’s a wonder Bobby kept going the way he has.” The man pointed out another picture tagged to the wall, one of himself and another man about the same age, but taller. “That’s Jonah’s dad – Bobbie. Used to drive trucks for a living, now he supervises down at the shed. Since his boy passed, so he could be closer to home you know….”
“That’s tough for the family, but at least they got their boy back.” I offered as conversation.
The man half laughed “Sorry, small towns – we all know each others business and I like to talk – what brings you here friend?”
“Just passing through. Needed to fill up.” The man accepted my answer and came around the counter to fix a few items on the rack by the door.
I was walking out the door when a ute pulled up at the lights. The man looked up as though surprised. “We’ll speak of the devil.” He muttered. I looked back at him inquisitively. “There he is – Bobby. Mans been through hell and back. Good thing he’s got his faith, or it’s easy for a man to waver…”
I’ll be damned I thought to myself. Luck be my lady….
“Well, I had better get going.” I said quickly, and was in revving my engine by the time the light changed.
I followed at a distant pace until he pulled over. I passed him as he got out of the utility, and saw a sign below the postbox. Elm House. A single light was on by the window of the single story, bush ravaged brick home where Jonah lived. I parked discretely up the road. I saw the time on the dash read 5:45 AM. The sun wasn’t even up yet. Another night I had lost the chance to sleep.
I hopped out of the car, intending to ring the doorbell, say I was sent to the wrong house to pick up a delivery or something, check and walk away. My clothes didn’t really seem to work that story, and as I reached for the bell, I hesitated. I decided to try my luck looking through the window first. Maybe I wouldn’t even have to say anything, just see them through the window and walk away. I was in luck, there they were.
The mother was carrying Jonah, sleeping from the bedroom, the father following in her wake. He had something tucked under his arm. A book? I furrowed my brow and walked behind the front of the building, following their path inside. It led me to the bathroom. As I was peering in the bathroom window, I managed to see a bath was drawn. Both parents faces were grim, and Jonah was just waking. The mother was lowering the boy into the bath when Jonah became aware of what was happening, and started thrashing out. The father grabbed Jonah’s hands as the water and the child met.
They were drowning him.
I had to do something, fast, right now. I didn’t even have time to call the police.