Blend

34:00 | possession

"SHH! KEEP your voice down!" I shoot a look behind us. No one is paying us any mind. I calmly drag a chair to the detective, who is now Peewee, and take a seat.

"How is this happening?" Detective Peewee asks more quietly. "Does this mean I'm alive again?"

"No," I reply firmly, and then nervously chew my lip. "It means you've taken possession of him. Temporarily."

"Possession!"

"Shh!" I slap his arm. "Yes. I've seen spirits abuse this power. It never ends well."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I'm not sure why some ghosts get trapped here on earth while others immediately beam straight up into the Light, but I do know there are good ghosts and bad ghosts. And one way ghosts become bad is by hijacking bodies. Eventually it catches up to them. The Darkness carries them away."

Peewee gulps, processing this. "So...in other words, don't possess a human again? Got it." She looks back at Crawley's laptop and squints at the screen, rummaging through his open tabs. "In the meantime, since I'm already in possession of him, I might as well make him useful."

"Are you crazy? You need to de-possess him, like now."

"No way! This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. I need to learn more about my case if I ever want the Light to find me, right? It's called unfinished business, duh, and we have to save Ace."

"No, you need to evacuate that body before the Darkness comes, Peewee. Trust me, I've seen it take demonic spirits away. It's scary."

"But that's only after they've possessed lots of people, right?"

Most of my knowledge on this has come from the homeless. The same dark spirits love to take possession of them because no one questions a crazy drifter on the street. They'll blame the strange behavior on drugs.

I grunt and reluctantly add, "I think so, yeah."

"See? Chill, bruh. I won't be doing this again." She continues to read through certain documents on Ace's case. "Dev, they're looking to transfer him to a high security prison. Gosh, he'll be cellmates with real rapists and murderers. Can you imagine? They'll eat him alive."

A twinge knifes my gut. "For real?"

"Oh, fuck!" She pivots the laptop so I can see. "This is from my dad."

We scan Hugh Adams' email together.

Peewee shakes her head. "He's basically threatening to sue the Maricopa Police Department if they don't prosecute Ace Jones to the full extent of the law."

"The death penalty." My heart thrums. We both make steady eye contact, knowing that someone as high up as her dad will place pressure on Crawley and his partner to close this case quickly.

Detective Peewee swallows, her Adam's apple bobbing. "God, what are we going to do? Ace stands no chance, yet we both know he didn't do it."

I sigh, cautiously looking over my shoulder. "I wish—" I stop myself, fidgeting with my shirt. "I wish we could just take Ace somewhere safe—until you and I sorted this out and pinned the real murderer."

"Dev! You're brilliant!"

I bend an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Do you trust me?"

"Uhm..." That's a funny question coming from a dead white girl currently in possession of a thirsty detective—who I only met last night.

"Devy." Peewee rolls closer to me. "Do you trust me?"

I'm not sure where she is going with this so I shrug. "Not exactly but something tells me that doesn't matter."

The smile on the detective's face actually makes him look kind. Peewee snaps her fingers at the deputy across the room—even whistles with white man privilege. The deputy rolls his eyes and begins heading this way.

"Okay, listen carefully," Peewee whispers. "Take your car and park on 5th and Grove."

"What? Why?"

"Don't leave until I reappear in my spirit form."

A feeling of apprehension gnaws at my belly. "What're you going to do?"

Detective Peewee makes a sneaky grin as the deputy comes up behind me. "You ready now, Miss?"

I barely nod.

The entire time Deputy Davis escorts me to the exit, there is a growing bubble of terror in my stomach. And it isn't until I get to my car, put it in drive, and head for 5th and Grove that I realize why.

I think I might have just convinced a possessed detective to bust Ace Jones out of jail. Which means I'm about to become an accomplice.