The Demon in the Doll

Chapter 29

Hello. It's Tommy Kingsley once again, and in this chapter, I'm going to tell you how I lost my partner. An FBI agent also got killed, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's go back to the discovery of Missus Pattison's and Pastor Trumpet's bodies. We called it in, and it wasn't long until law enforcement came descending upon the house with all its might.

Lenny and I were standing outside when Captain Porrier approached us. Walking next to her was a tall string bean of a man with dark hair and olive-colored skin. He was sporting sunglasses and wearing a black raincoat even though it was a sunny day.

The captain introduced us. "This is Agent Dan Olividatti. He's FBI."

He nodded and warmly shook our hands. "I'm from the New Orleans field office."

I said, "Why did the feds send you? We're used to handling our own business down here."

The captain said, "Tommy, he serves the public just like you and me. No need to give him an attitude."

Olividatti threw his hands up in the air and chuckled good naturedly. "That's OK, Jessica. I perfectly understand the detective's misgivings." He looked me in the eye. "Elizabeth Ratcliffe was sawed in half last night, and her dad is a player in Washington D.C."

Lenny said, "I thought he was from Houston."

The agent said, "He is from Houston. But he's got a lot of friends all over the world. Important friends. In fact, rumor has it that he called the president after receiving the news of his daughter's death. Then POTUS supposedly got the FBI involved that very night. So in a nutshell, here I stand."

I said, "But murder isn't a federal crime."

He said, "Oh, but I beg to differ. It is a federal crime if the leader of the free world says it's a federal crime. I simply go where I'm told. Same as you."

For some reason, I kind of liked the guy. I felt comfortable around him. I guess it was a chemistry sort of thing. I even offered him a cigarette.

He shook his head. "I never touch them."

I shrugged my shoulders. "More for me then."

I lit a cigarette and sighed as I exhaled the smoke.

Olividatti said, "Why don't you show me and your captain the crime scene? We could use your expertise."

Lenny said, "We can't go back in there."

Olividatti said, "Excuse me?"

"We're too afraid. We're next on the killer's hit list."

"How do you know?"

"He told us."

The agent's eyes grew wide with a surprise. "So you've actually met the unsub?"

I took a drag from my cigarette. "I guess you could say that."

"Well, have you or haven't you?"

I said, "He appears to us in dreams, and he speaks through the mouths of the dead. He also shows up on the television from time to time."

"You're pulling my leg, right? You've been watching reruns of The X-Files and decided to screw with me."

Captain Porrier spoke up. "They're dead serious. This is a strange case. The murderer appears in human form, but he's not an actual person. He's a demon."

Olividatti grinned. He possessed pearly white teeth. "That's downright ridiculous. True. This might have some occult trappings, but we all know that demons don't actually exist. This is the 21st century after all."