His face relaxed and he gave me a shrug. “Okay, so she’s doin’ the Twilight Zone thing. It’s not like that’s somethin’ new for either of ya’. Jeezus, Row, you had me scared there for a sec.”
“I’m afraid it goes way beyond that, and you should be scared. I am.”
“Whaddaya mean? How’s it get any farther out there than Twilight Zone?”
“I mean I don’t think she’s just channeling. Like I said, I believe that, in some way, shape, or form, she’s possessed.”
“She don’t really look like Linda Blair to me, Row.”
“This isn’t a joke, Ben!” I snapped.
“Okay, okay, calm down. Cop humor. Sorry. So, what makes you think she’s quote-quote possessed?” He said the word twice as was his habit while making imaginary symbols in the air with his fingers to punctuate the query.
“For one thing, she pretty much admitted to it.”
“She told you she was possessed?”
“Not in so many words…”
“What words then?”
“She wouldn’t tell me her name.”
“She wouldn’t tell you her name,” he repeated, more as a comment than a question.
“I know it…”
He held up a hand to cut me off, and I fell silent. He continued staring at me for a long moment then shook his head. “Did one of the coppers crack you in the head with a baton?”
Exasperation filled my voice as I started to object, “Ben, listen to…”
He didn’t let me finish. “Hey, I just dunno, Rowan. I’ve learned not to be skeptical about a lotta shit where you two are concerned, but possessed? I mean, come on.”
“Look, whether you subscribe to the religion or not, in Voodoo there are such things as spirit possessions. The Lwa… The Gede… It’s actually considered normal.”
“Okay. Whoa. Time out. Felicity’s into Voodoo now?” he asked.
“No, I’m trying to explain…”
“Slow down,” he cut me off again. “Let me ask you something. You didn’t talk about this to the other cops when they arrested you, did ya’?”
I gave him a confused look. “No, why?”
“Because right now even I’m not sure that I believe you, and I’ve seen the shit you do. I can pretty much guarantee ya’ that they’d think you’re a friggin’ fruit loop.”
“Yeah, well I’ve kind of gotten used to that.”
“Yeah… Uh-huh… So, anyway, you’re tellin’ me Firehair is possessed by some kinda Voodoo God spirit thingawhatsits.”
“Not exactly.”
He sighed heavily. “You ain’t makin’ sense, Row.”
“Look, I’ve already admitted that I’m a bit rusty on the whole Voodoo thing. But, I do recall a little bit about it from some things I’ve read. The problem is that from what I can remember there are some issues. First, Lwa possess their followers, not random individuals off the street. Second, they take possession during rituals. Third, it is usually sudden and always complete. And, fourth, as I understand it the Lwa don’t commit crimes or purposely cause physical harm to others during a possession.”
“Okay, so you wanna boil that down into English?”
“Okay. Look at me.”
“Look at you what?”
I waved my hand about to indicate the scratches on my cheek.
“Your face? So she scratched you,” he said with a shrug. “According to the report, the two of you were struggling with each other when the officers arrived. Not a big surprise.”
I turned slightly and pulled up my shirt to reveal a red welt on my ribcage that was already shifting into darker shades.
“Yeah,” he nodded. “Report also says she kicked ya’ when you were on the ground cuffed. All that does is prove she’s got a temper and we already knew that, possessed or not.”
“You need more?” I started to roll up my pant leg.
“Row, listen, it sounds to me like you just told me all the reasons why she ain’t possessed. I gotta tell ya’, you wouldn’t make a very good lawyer.”
“No…” I grumbled as I stopped fumbling with the leg of my trousers. “Listen to me. What I’m saying is that she might not actually be possessed by Lwa. ”
He gestured back and forth in front of himself with pointed index fingers. “You know, I think that’s what I’m saying I just said you said.”
I closed my eyes and dropped my forehead into my hand for a moment. Then, as I looked up, I thumped the heel of my fist against the metal bars in front of him. “Dammit, Ben, will you just listen to me!”
“Calm down, Row,” he instructed as he nodded toward the corner of the room. “You’re on freakin’ candid camera and actin’ like this ain’t gonna help your case.”
I took a deep breath then let it out slowly. “Just listen to me while I try to explain what I’m talking about.”
“Okay. Cut to the chase.”
“We know the person who killed the cop, ummm…”
“Hobbes.”
“Hobbes. Anyway, Hobbes’ killer performed a Voodoo ritual, the purpose of which I won’t know until I either look up those other two veve or we find someone more knowledgeable about the religion than me. However, what I’m thinking is that during that ritual she may have become possessed.”
“Assuming the killer is a she, yeah, okay.” He nodded. “That’s still speculation on your part.”
“She is,” I told him flatly. “Trust me. Now, Felicity, for some reason I can’t fathom, has some type of connection to this killer. Whether it’s some kind of subconscious conduit because of the fact that she’s not grounding very well, I don’t know, but there’s no denying that the connection is there.
“I can tell you that she’s already had a couple of instances where she channeled the killer. You heard about that yesterday when she got into the whole S amp;M fetish…”
“Yeah, yeah,” he held up his hands. “We can skip that part. Go on.”
“Anyway, she showed up at the crime scene today, and in a very short period of time, her personality started doing a one-eighty.”
“She was arguin’ with a copper. You know, we are talkin’ about Felicity here.”
“Yes, but she was going overboard.”
“True.”
“And, when we got into the Jeep, she told me she was getting off on it.”
“You mean like, ‘getting off’ getting off? As in…” He allowed the question to dangle unfinished.
“Exactly. It was almost like it was foreplay to her or something. Anyway, by the time we got as far as that convenience store, she had become an entirely different person. She had taken on the persona of a dominatrix with a very violent streak.”
“Yeah, well, from what she said it sounded like that was somethin’ she was into anyway,” Ben offered.
“Apparently she is, but just for play. Not to actually maim or kill.”
“How do you know?”
“I just do.”
“Yeah, okay, so maybe she was just tryin’ to get you to play.”
“Believe me, she wasn’t playing. She was serious.”
“So, you really think she wanted to kill you?”
“Maybe. I don’t know,” I replied. “But, I know she wanted to hurt me. Badly. And, apparently just the thought of causing me physical harm was getting her seriously aroused all over again.”
“Again, I’d appreciate it if you’d skip that part.”
“I wish.”
