A decision

Christopher was investigating Lucas’s death.

That fact alone made Adam feel a surge of fear.

Christopher was not a common investigator. He clearly was aware of the supernatural, and had his own ways of using it. This death was clearly his field, as was the event at the hospital. He was following an obvious trail, and who knew where it would end.

Nevertheless, it was their third encounter in the same day. There was no way Adam was not a suspect.

He asked a few simple questions of Adam, nothing the cops hadn’t asked before. Then he turned back toward Sarah. “So your son hasn’t returned yet?”

She shook her head. “Joseph isn’t back.”

“You realize him not being here makes him look more suspect, right?”

She seemed offended. “How could he have murdered little Lucas, if he isn’t here?”

“I don’t think his presence was strictly necessary for the boy to die.”

“If it was murder,” said Sarah’s daughter. “You don’t know that.”

Cristopher sighed, somehow self-depreciatively. “No one has respect for law enforcement these days. I’m just trying to investigate a very, very unnatural death, in unnatural conditions of a boy who many people had reason to want dead, because of money. It’s important that I speak to your brother. The sooner the better.”

He turned toward Adam. “I believe you were speaking with him earlier today.”

“I parted from him at the hospital.”

Christopher gave him long look, but eventually turned away. “I’d like to speak with John for a moment.”

“He didn’t do anything!” Delilah shouted.

Christopher gestured for her to calm down. “I didn’t say he did.” He turned toward Sarah. “In which room is he?”

Sarah explained the directions to him. He left promptly, but his partner stood by the doorway.

Adam felt the hulking fellow observing him, though he pretended not to. Adam sat at the table, thinking.

Christopher knew something supernatural was happening. He knew it involved the Good family, after all both Evelynn and Mary were in the hospital. Did he suspect John? Probably, though Adam was much more suspect.

Joseph smelled of dreams.

Adam narrowed his eyes at the realization. Of course, Christopher had probably noticed that as well. If so, then Joseph’s disappearance made him more suspect than he. He also recalled the first conversation he had with Christopher. He was asked if his father was Oliver Good, as if there was something important about that. But why had he been asked something so easily verifiable? Anyway, Christopher must be aware of Oliver’s rites, and was investigating anyone related to him.

Adam came to a decision. He stood up. Philip’s silent eyes observed him.

“I’ll go up to my room, if there’s nothing else.”

No one reacted to his question. As he passed Philip, the hulking man sniffed without making it obvious what he was doing.

Adam ignored it, of course. He didn’t smell of dreams.

§

He hadn’t smelled of dreams last time he tried it. Still, making a small spider made him quiver. What if the investigators realized what he was doing some other way?

The spider appeared just like last time, skittering up his palm. He walked outside and toward John’s room. He guided the spider to crawl its way under the door and hide, then went back to his room, listening through it.

“I have nothing else to say!” It was John’s voice.

Adam wondered if he could see them too. Just as the thought appeared, he saw from the eyes of the spider. It was a strange sight, like looking at giants from a vantage near the ceiling. He could see the two standing, confronting each other.

“So you have no idea how Lucas died?” Christopher’s voice was calm like a still lake.

“No.” John sounded petulant.

A moment of silence; it was broken by a vaporous sigh. “You are lying, John Good,” Christopher continued.

“How dare you!” Anger colored John’s voice.

“Did you kill your little brother, John Good? Is your greed that big?”

“You don’t have the right to question me!”

“Oh, believe me, John. I have full right to ask you anything I want. I suggest you start speaking, or I might have to take you in. It will not be a pleasant experience.”

Adam wondered why he was being so forward. The investigator had not spoken like this to him, or anyone before. Was John so guilty in his eyes?

“I would never kill him,” John said, forcing calmness in his words. “He was my brother, and I would like to be left alone.” He paused. “Officer.”

Another long silence. The spider was crawled to a place where it could better watch them both. Christopher had a complex expression, as if presented with a difficult problem to solve.

“Was it an accident then?”

John jerked slightly, his face losing certainty.

Yes, from his point of view that was what it would look like.

“He died in his room,” John said. “Alone. How could I have anything to do with it?”

“There are plenty of ways it could happen.”

“Let the hospital discover the cause. I have no drugs or poisons in my possession. If he died it was not my fault.”

A breath filled with tiredness escaped Christopher’s lips. “You have no drugs or poisons in your possessions?”

“Haven’t I just said that I don’t?”

“You did. It’s in no way your fault he died, yes?”

“Yes,” John hissed, angry.

Christopher nodded, as if coming to an understanding of the problem before him. “Any other esoteric items you might have lying around?”

John scoffed. “If you’re looking for some unusual drug, you won’t find it. Lucas didn’t die from something like that.”

“I don’t think he did.” Christopher shrugged. “I know what he died of. My only question is your relation to it.”

John jumped slightly, but settled down.

“I see you don’t believe me,” Christopher concluded. “It doesn’t matter if you do or don’t.” His head swerved around, looking directly at the spider. He frowned.

Adam sweated cold. The spider almost ran, but he stopped it. That would only look more suspicious.

Eventually, Christopher turned back toward John. “If what happened to your brother was an accident, or orchestrated by another, then the common police will investigate you. If not, then someone else will. And, believe me, we will find what we are looking for. We always do.”

“Orchestrated by someone else?” John asked, confused.

Christopher smiled. “You are new to this.” He turned and walked away. “We’ll speak again later.”

John slumped as the investigator left. He sat on the bed, head dropping forward. He lifted his eyes and looked forward. Something like enlightenment was present in his eyes.

Adam guided the spider toward John. The spider skittered his way and hid in his trousers. Hopefully it would not be squashed.

His vision and audition returned back to normal.

Mary’s phone rang. It was an unknown number.

“Hello?”

“Adam.” It was Joseph, exactly who he wanted to speak to. “I heard Lucas died.” A silence. “Was it…”

“It seems to have been the winter sun.”

On the other side of the phone, Joseph took a deep breath. “He died? But…I don’t understand. Why didn’t he only collapse like Evelynn?”

“If you don’t know, what makes you think I would?”

“Heh, true.”

“Where did you go? Have you forgotten our deal?”

“I haven’t,” he rasped. “I needed to find some things I stored in another place. I’ll go to the mansion now.”

“Don’t come.”

Joseph paused. “I’m sorry?”

“If you come, you’ll go to jail, and, unfortunately, I can’t have that before Mary is conscious.”

“What do you mean I am going to jail? No one knows it was me.”

“The investigator you met in the hospital knows it was done by supernatural means. He also knows you can use the rites.”

Joseph drew a deep, fearful breath. “How could he possibly know that?! No, it doesn’t matter; there’s no proof.”

“He knows about the rites Joseph, even more than you and I. He’s dangerous.”

“But how did he know I can do the rites?”

“Because of your smell.”

“What?”

“Whenever you use a rite, a smell spreads out. I can smell it in you. He probably can too.”

Adam could hear his dread-filled gasp. “There were notes among my father’s books about that. I…I didn’t smell anything, so I thought…damn!” He laughed ruefully. “There were even notes about investigators there. But it was all so old! I thought it was bull.”

“It was not. Don’t come to the mansion.”

“I…please, I need more time,” Joseph begged, fearfully.

“No.”

“You don’t understand!” Joseph continued. “I can’t talk to the Withering Sun outside the mansion. I need the rite in there to do it.”

“Of course you can. Just do a small rite wherever you are.”

“That’s impossible!”

Adam frowned, then thought for a while. “When you want to speak with him what rite do you use?”

“I use the rite in the manor. That’s why I need more time. When the investigator leaves I’ll go back.”

“No, before that, how did you communicate?”

“He just entered my dreams whenever he wanted. I have no control of it.”

Adam sighed. “Tell me where you are. I’ll go there.”

Joseph told him, and Adam ended the call. He sighed.

He stood before the window and looked out. The trees swished in the distance like a wave passed by them. He heard a melody in the wind.