Sacrifice

'It is as it was,' she said. 'You will return it to the sacred place.'

He bowed.

'Come closer,' the woman said.

Clarence and I started toward her. 'Just you,' she said. 'Let your friend stay— I have not asked his name.'

She was younger than I first thought— hard to tell exactly. Even in the flame from the candles, I could see she was exquisite. One eye darker than the other, a black dot high on one cheekbone. Seated before me, knees together under the red silk, one hand on each arm of the dark wood chair, she looked into my eyes as if she were looking down. A long distance.

'Why did you take our offering?'

'I was looking for a missing baby. I came across your offering, but I didn't know what it was. I thought it might be evidence. Something that would help me find the baby.'

'What did you think it was?'

'Witchcraft.'

'You do not fear witches?'

'Yes, I fear them.'

'You have known them, then?'

'One of them.' Strega. Flame-haired and fire-hearted. At peace now. And so gone from me.

Her chin tilted, studying me. 'Yes, you have. But not one of us.'

'No.'

'The juju is an offering. When one of us dies, his spirit will be doomed unless we make a loa so it can return to earth. That is what you took.'

'I am sorry. Had I known…'

'Yes. Are you afraid now?'

'Yes, I am afraid now.'

'What kind of man admits he is afraid standing before a woman?'

'A man who has seen things.'

'Tell me about the baby, the missing baby.'

'A grandmother was told her grandchild had disappeared. The baby was too young to run away. Her daughter had been with a man. A bad man, the baby's father. She believed something had happened to her grandson. Her people asked me to look for the child.'

'What have you found?'

'The baby is dead.'

'How do you know this?'

'The mother told me. The father killed him. Beat him to death. I was looking for the body.'

'So she who loved the baby could help his spirit rise?'

'Yes. Not the mother.'

'I know. You are a hunter. The young one too. It is the father you seek now?'

'The authorities are looking for him.'

'Yes. Have you found the body?'

'Not yet. The father, his name is Emerson, he lived at the Welfare hotel by the airport. When he left, the night of the death, he had the baby's body with him. When he came back, he did not. I think the baby's in the water, right by the airport.'

'He killed the child the same night you took our offering?'

'No. A week or so before.'

'So when you saw the offering, you thought…'

'Yes. I thought the baby was in there. Parts of the baby.'

The woman closed her eyes, brought hands to her temples. It was so quiet in the basement I could hear the candles flicker.

I could feel Clarence behind me, waves pulsing in the room.

Her eyes opened.

'Describe the man,' she said.

I reached in my pocket, handed her the razor-cropped picture we'd taken from the hotel room.

She took one quick look. I heard a snake's hiss— didn't look around to see where it came from.

'Please go upstairs. Outside. Smoke some of your cigarettes. I must talk with my people. Then we will talk