I nodded. We’d see about that.
Burgess searched the corners of the room and then under the bed, but didn’t find what he was looking for. Instead, he reported a Santeria egg and several colored candles. He checked behind the bureau as well, but no joy. The lady of the house was a conscientious cleaner and we were hard-pressed to find what we needed.
I gestured toward the headboard. Little known fact was that most spiders in bedrooms lived behind headboards, and sure enough, a meaty house spider sat hunched against the wood.
Burgess pulled a glass Gerber baby food jar out of his pocket, removed the top, and scooped the spider from the web, then handed it across the bed to me.
I moved over to the Box Man. “Okay, Boxie. Let’s get this done.”
“Done and done,” came the high-pitched raspy voice from inside the metal box.
I twisted the screw open that kept the door shut on the top of the box and opened it, revealing the scarred top of the Box Man’s head. Wisps of oily brownish gray hair shot up in lonely clumps around massive scarring. “Spider’s coming, Boxie.”
“Mamma says yum yum.” He made obscene smacking sounds with its mouth.
I couldn’t help wrinkling my nose as I dumped the spider onto the Box Man’s head then closed the door, making sure to tighten the screw.
I nodded for Burgess to release the leash and stand back.
“Spidle tickles.” The Box Man laughed, then jerked. “It bites. Bad spidle. Bad, bad spidle.” It began to gyrate, jerking its head left, then right. “Ah, I get it. Spidle wants to play. Spidle didle fo middle.”
It twisted fully around, smashing into the bureau. Burgess was barely able to step aside. The Box Man crashed to the floor where it slammed the metal box several times against the ground.
Enrique’s son-in-law called out from the kitchen. “What’s going on in there? It sounds like you’re breaking furniture.”
I nodded for Gomer to talk to them. After he left, Burgess closed the door behind him.
I glanced at the Licking Boy, whose head was turned at an odd angle as he listened to the Box Man’s childish laughter and slurping sounds.
I bent over and put my hands on my knees. “Can you hear me?”
The Box Man twitched on the floor, with minute jerks of its legs and arms.
“We need to speak with you.”
The Box Man stilled.
This was the tough part. It was only a fragment, but the fragment didn’t know it. It thought it was its entire existence. It felt whole because it didn’t know any better.
I knelt lower and whispered. “Enrique, this is Madsen. Do you remember me?”
“Maddie Maddie Madsen.”
“Yes. Madsen. Tell us what happened.”
“Light bright fight kite sight night...”
“Rhyming loop,” I said to Burgess, who was recording everything on a notepad.
I banged the side of the metal box with my knuckles and the rhyming stopped. “Enrique? Tell us what happened.”
He began to hum a recognizable tune.
“It’s the theme to the television show Perry Mason,” I said to Burgess. He had to record everything. Trying to understand a fragment was like trying to decipher a riddle. You had to have all the clues or you might never figure it out.
I knocked on the side of the box once more and the humming stopped.
Then he began to growl. Low at first, it grew louder and louder, until it sounded like a mountain lion was in the room with us.
I glanced at Burgess and the Licking Boy, who both had looks of worry on their faces. This was absolutely something new. I hadn’t encountered anything like this at all.
“Enrique, what’s happening?”
The roaring stopped, replaced by a tiny voice. “Pain. It can’t get out. I won’t let it out. I won’t...” Box Man sighed heavily. The timbre of the voice changed to someone completely different. In a sophisticated whisper it said, “It’s gone and so am I.” Then the Box Man stopped breathing.
I dragged a key ring out of my pocket and flipped madly through the chain. I found the key I wanted and hurriedly unlocked the box. It fell open, revealing the sickly skin of the Box Man. I turned his body so I could get to his ruined, spotchy face. His eyes were wide. Spittle dotted his mouth.
I looked around and found a lamp on the nightstand. I ripped free the wire, stripped the ends, then jammed them into his mouth. The effect was instantaneous. The home’s power went brown, then returned to full as the zap snapped inside the Box Man’s mouth.
His eyes snapped shut, then open.
He began to weep.
I closed the box and locked it shut.
The door opened and Gomer burst in. The son-in-law was behind him.
The young man glanced at the Box Man and at me. “What’s going on?”
“How long was your dad possessed?”
He glanced towards the bed then back to me. “What are you talking about?”
“The egg beneath the bed is a cleansing spell. The candles are for protection. He didn’t have Alzheimer’s. He had a demon inside of him didn’t he?”
The young man licked his lips, then hung his head. “We were trying to get it out.”
“But your father didn’t want it to leave. He was keeping it inside to protect something.”
“We don’t need protection.”
“I beg to fucking differ.” I reached down and grabbed the egg. I hurled it against one of the white walls. It exploded in blood. “Also realize that it might not have been you he was trying to protect.” I got to my feet, then gestured to Burgess. “Get these two back to the warehouse then meet me back at HQ.” I shoved my way through the door. It was all so unfuckingly unnecessary. “Let’s go, Gomer.”
“What about the family?”
“They say they don’t need protection.”
“But—”
“Let them reap what they sowed.”
“Do we know what kind of demon it was?” Gomer asked.
I shook my head. “We have a call into NSA asking them for his case file, but they’re never going to give that up. I did find out from a backchannel source that Enrique was replaced by USAF Major Everett Duncan. I have his contact information in Monte Rio.”
“So this Everett is the new Cerberus for The Bohemian Grove?”
“It appears so. And know what else? We now have a reason to go there.”
Gomer smiled.
Instead of smiling with him, I got up and went to Doris’s desk. I needed to confront her about this. I just stood there staring at her, saying nothing. Everything I needed to communicate was in my frown. It took about half a minute until she lowered her head and sighed.
“They just wanted to know what you were doing,” she said. “They’re very sensitive about The Bohemian Grove.”
“And Harold?”
She gave me a long stare, then answered, “He’s part of the security detail for Air Force One. He’s also a reserve pilot.”
I stared for half a minute longer then sighed. “I can’t exactly get mad at you for trying to protect the president.”
She smiled slightly. “I was hoping you’d see it that way.”
“So he’s going to be traveling there for the yearly gathering?”
She nodded. “From what I understand.”
“I’m taking a crew up there. We’re going to investigate the possession of Enrique Cruz and check on the status of his replacement. This mission falls squarely within our mission statement. Do you feel you should contact Harold?”
“I think he’ll be mad if I don’t.”
I let coldness bleed into my stare. I didn’t like the idea of any of my employees having another master, but I also understood the reality of it. That her husband depended on the Air Force for his pension put them in a difficult situation. Doris was great at her job. Knowing who she reported to and why made me feel as if I could manage it. And I would, right up until the point I decided I couldn’t.