Ash Return of the Beast

CHAPTER 25



One Hour Later…

Kane’s Office

“So,” Kane said, “are you going to tell me why you hesitated at the foot of the stairs with an odd look on your face?”

Ravenwood had been waiting for the question. “What––you mean at Cowl’s place?”

“Yeah. What was that all about?”

“If I told you I sensed a presence, would you believe me?”

“I’m about ready to believe almost anything anymore. I’m assuming you don’t mean another person. So what do you mean by a presence? Are we talking ghosts now? Because I’ll tell you what. If there was ever a place where ghosts would be hanging out it would be that place.”

“No, not a ghost. Or, at least, not exactly. I’ve been in haunted buildings before. I know what that kind of presence feels like. This was different, somehow, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.”

Kane filled two cups with coffee and handed one to her. “So, is this another one of those things you have a nose for?”

“Sort of. It’s a gift I guess I inherited from my mother. If you can call that a gift. Don’t ask. Long story. But it is one of the reasons I was assigned to the A.P.U.”

“You mean you’re like that kid in the movie. You see dead people.”

The grin on her face was more from embarrassment than amusement. “No. I don’t see dead people. But I can sense what you might call other-worldly entities.”

“Other-worldly. So, like, ghosts.”

“Darker things. Demonic. I sensed something like that at Cowl’s place, like it was waiting at the top of the stairs.”

Kane leaned back in his chair and stared at her for several moments. Just a couple of weeks ago he thought she was a nut case who, by some cosmic fluke in the natural order, somehow managed to become an F.B.I. agent. Now he was beginning to change his mind. Worse yet, he was even beginning to like her and that bothered him more than the idea that she could sense the presence of demons. “So,” he said, “you think––”

“––that’s what opened the door?”

“Oh, so now you’re a mind reader, too?”

“No, I just knew what you were thinking.” She grinned. “You know what I mean.”

“So you’re not a mind reader.”

“Don’t worry. It’s not one of my talents.”

“Good thing. I’d be getting real uncomfortable here if I thought you could read my mind.”

“Not sure I’d want to.” That wasn’t quite true. Over the past couple weeks she’d sensed there was something going on in his head that he wasn’t telling her. “But, yes, I think that presence, whatever it is, opened the door. Something is going on in that house. I don’t know what it is but I think Cowl knows a lot more than he let on.”

Kane was just about to voice his agreement when Wheeler peeked his head in the door. “Come on in,” Kane said. “Grab a chair. What have you got?”

Wheeler dragged a chair over next to Ravenwood. “Me and Moreno had a little sit-down with the boys in the band.”

“And––?”

“And I think we can scratch them off the list. They’re just kids having a good time making tons of money. That music they play? They don’t take any of that stuff seriously. All that devil crap and stuff, I mean. They’re just really good at what they do. It’s all show.”

Ravenwood took a sip of coffee. “Ever see that movie, ‘The Usual Suspects’?”

Wheeler nodded.

“Remember the line that went something like ‘the greatest trick the Devil ever came up with was convincing people he doesn’t exist’?”