Page 3 of That Mafioso Magic
I had to stop myself before I went too far. I could feel my temper rising and my finger was still on the trigger of my gun. All it would take was a little pressure to end his miserable life. I’d never killed a human being in my life. Hell, I’d never killed anything except bugs. I’d been lucky enough to be able to incapacitate my enemy and they’d all been human. I had taken on a few ghosts. Only one had possessed a human, but I had been lucky enough to exorcise it and save the guy’s life at the same time. Truth was, most of my cases involved spying on cheating lovers and a fraud case here and there. The safe shit. Money was tight and it was damned near impossible for me to turn a blind eye to a person in need, so that was how I had found myself on this hairy case.
I heard footsteps approach from the other room and the bright beam of Xavier’s flashlight broke through the darkness, creating more shadows. Soon, he emerged with only one child in his arms. The look on his face let me know all I needed to know about the other kids.
“How many?” I asked.
“Two others,” Xavier said with a grim frown as he shook his head. “There is some sort of sigil on the floor in there.”
I had to see for myself. I left the man lying there and started heading toward the room, but Xavier stepped in front of me, shaking his head. “It’s bad in there, Adrian. You don’t want to see it.”
“Trust me, I don’t want to see what’s in there, but I need to see the sigil. It’s the only way I’ll know what he tried to do to these children.”
“Brace yourself, mi amigo.”
I nodded, then proceeded into the room. The smell of decay was so thick it made me gag, and I had to hold my breath. The first thing I saw was the sigil on the floor and I took a photo of it with my cell phone. When I turned to leave, that was when I saw the two girls in the corner. Their tiny corpses were leaning against each other, rotting away as maggots crawled all over their slimy skin. It was too much and I half ran, half stumbled out of the room and puked as soon as I was past the doorway.
The killer laughed in spite of having two bullets in him. “Like my… handy work?” he asked.
I wiped my mouth as I stormed over toward him, aiming my gun. “You son of a bitch,” I growled, and it took everything I had not to pull the trigger.
Xavier was at my side instantly, his hand on my shoulder. “Don’t. This bastard isn’t worth what killing him will do to you. We have everything we need to make sure this motherfucker never gets out of prison. He’ll get the death penalty,” Xavier said. He put his hand on my gun, forcing me to lower it.
My body felt hot with my fury, but I knew Xavier was right. I exhaled and nodded. “A part of me thinks that’s too good for him.”
“We’re not executioners, Adrian. Don’t kill him,” Xavier said. “This would be in cold blood. Besides, I think Lacey has seen enough horror.”
When he mentioned Lacey’s name, I snapped back from the edge. I looked at the child and her big blue eyes were watching me, scared and uncertain. Xavier was right, she didn’t need to see anymore violence.
“Maybe you should stay with him and I’ll take the kid out of here and call the cops,” I said.
“Yeah, let’s switch.” Xavier handed me the terrified child, who was filthy. The only clean parts of her face were where her tears had traveled down her cheeks. She was trembling as I held her in my arms.
“It’s okay, sweetie. It’s all over,” I told her, then nodded at Xavier. He had his gun pointed at whoever the fuck that asshole was.
I took careful steps back through the maze, then up the ladder and out of the basement through the same window we’d used to enter. It was nice to breathe in fresh air after inhaling all that horrible shit down there. The smell of decomposing flesh still clung to me, making me want to gag. I was going to take a twenty-four hour long shower when I finally got home. Lacey was still clasping my hand as I made the call to the police using a contact of mine, Detective Brad Torelli. We weren’t friends per se, but I had helped him out on a case or two and vice versa. When he answered, I told him where we were and what had happened, leaving out all of the magical details.
“Jesus, why didn’t you call me, Elias?” Brad asked, using my last name as always.
“Because I wasn’t sure if I’d get lucky. This was just a hunch,” I said.
“You’re going to have to tell me why. In any case, the FBI is all over this. I’ll have to inform them. Don’t leave.”
“I won’t. Xavier is still down there with the suspect and the bodies of the other two missing girls,” I said.
“Jesus Christ, what the fuck is wrong with people? Okay, I’m on my way.”
We ended the call and I held Lacey closer to me, trying to give her what little comfort I could. Her family would also need to be notified. I called her mom, but only got the voicemail, so I left a message letting her know I’d found her daughter. I had forgotten the time. It was nearly three a.m. She may be asleep or perhaps, I had just missed her. I’d call again in about ten minutes. Lacey wrapped her tiny arms around my neck, almost tight enough to cut off my airway. It was okay, air could come later. Besides, I didn’t blame her. I wouldn’t want to let go of whoever had rescued me from that nightmare either if I were in her shoes. No child should ever have to be put through that kind of mental, physical, and emotion torture.
“Don’t worry, Lacey. We are going to take you to your parents, okay?”
“Please,” she begged in her tiny, terrified, child’s voice.
I was starting to think prison was too good for that motherfucker. Again, I had to fight the urge to go back into that basement and put a bullet in that asshole’s head. I loathed anyone who would hurt a child. Innocence deserved to remain innocent.
“I promise. It’s all over,” I said.
It didn’t take long for the police squad cars and media to start pulling up. Xavier had the foresight to hide our more questionable weapons five minutes before everyone began arriving. Which was good. Hate to have to explain the flame thrower. Lacey Marshall’s disappearance, like the other girls’, was a pretty high-profile case. The FBI was involved like Brad had said and like clockwork, I saw them climbing out of their car with their jackets on. The cops didn’t particularly care for me since I’d interfered with a case or two of theirs. I was sure the FBI would like me even less because I’d solved a case before them. I didn’t give a shit. I had been able to save one child tonight. That was enough for me.
I told them where to find the perp and my partner. I was sure they were going to be confused by the magical items down there and the sigil on the ground. I didn’t know what it meant. Not yet, at least. In any case, I handed Lacey over to them and prepared myself to answer a bunch of questions for what was sure to be hours. Sleep could come later.
