Juniper Wiles, page 17
Jilly and I sit on the sofa. Sophie leaves her easel and joins us.
“Wendy finished the book last night,” Jilly says, “and didn’t find anything new. But the thumb drive did have all sorts of notes, character sketches and plot points that go past the end of the manuscript.”
“Anything about where Nora could be?” Joe asks.
Sophie and I both twitch at his sudden appearance, but Jilly just waves a casual hello and says, “Hey, Joe,” like it’s an everyday occurrence to have somebody just appear out of thin air. For her, it probably is.
He drops into a chair and stretches his legs out, looking instantly at home.
“So about Nora,” Jilly says. “According to the notes, Emma and her daughter were playing with the idea that she’d been captured by Charlie Midnight and locked up in a cage in the library tower at the college. The reason he hadn’t killed her yet was so that he could feed on her invigorating life essence. That’s what’s giving him his power to create monsters.”
Gabi and Wendy have turned around to listen. There’s a pained look in Gabi’s eyes. I feel everything go still inside myself as I remember that series of dreams I had before Joe and Cassie gave me the no-dream pills. I was in a cage in one of them.
“Could that be where she is now?” Gabi asks.
Joe sits quietly rubbing his chin.
“Hard to say without actually having a look,” he finally says. “Obviously, Rohlin and her daughter had a lot of mojo when they were writing the actual story. I just don’t know that notes about ideas they had along the way would be as potent.” He nods to Jilly. “What else have you got?”
“Is there anything about Ethan?” I add.
Jilly nods. “But just to finish up with Nora, it looks like they were considering having Carmen Hale be the one that finds and frees her.”
“That cow Carmen,” Gabi says. “She hates us.”
“She’s not that bad,” I say.
Gabi scowls. “If we were dying, she’d pull up a chair and watch the show.”
I shake my head. “I admit Carmen makes bad choices, especially when it comes to pushing your buttons, but I think there’s a good person inside her. She’s just too scared to let her out.”
And then I realize I’m talking about someone I only know as a character from the TV show, where Carmen is Nora’s frenemy, screwing things up for her as much as she helps. Gabi’s going to have a whole different take from knowing her in the other Crescent Beach.
God, this is confusing.
“You know what?” I say. “I don’t actually know her at all. We’ll have to go with Gabi’s take on Carmen.” I look at Gabi. “Would she help Nora?”
“Only if she got something out of it.”
“Well,” Jilly says, “the notes only show that they were considering having Carmen help rescue Nora. There were no details.”
“But we found something else,” Wendy says, “possibly related to Ethan. There’s a section in the file where Emma was clearly making notes about things she could use in another, regular, Nora Constantine story. And one of them is about a neuromuscular paralytic drug called…” She hits a few keys on her computer. “It’s called Succinylcholine, or SUX for short, and it’s used in anesthesiology, as part of surgery. It paralyzes all the muscles of the body, including the ones for breathing, so you need to be under the watch of an anesthetist or it will kill you.”
She looks back at her screen. “It’s given by injection and works very fast—within seconds to a minute. It’s also very short acting because enzymes in the body begin to break it down almost immediately.” She turns to us. “Which makes it tough for the crime lab since there’s no drug left to test and if you do test for it the toxicology report comes back negative.”
“That’s a real thing?” Sophie asks.
Wendy nods. “I looked it up after we found the mention of it in the notes.”
“So,” Joe says. “A traceless poison, so to speak.”
“Pretty much,” Wendy says. “I’ve read that you can test for the breakdown products, which are called metabolites. That’s often proved successful, but you have to know to look for them. It’s not something that a crime lab would normally check for in a tox screen.”
“Is it hard to get your hands on this stuff?” I ask.
“Not if you know an anesthetist who’s willing to steal some from a hospital.”
“We should pass this info on to the cops,” Jilly says.
I nod. “But it still doesn’t tell us who killed him or why. Ethan seemed to blame Charlie Midnight, but how’s that even possible and why would he even bother? Midnight’s in a whole other world.”
I look at Joe. “And you would know if he made it over here, right?”
Joe nods.
I turn to Wendy and Gabi. “Any luck on finding the seller of the manuscript?”
“Working on it,” Gabi says, turning back to her computer.
“I need to go back to the Crescent Beach world,” Joe says. “Check out this library tower.”
I give him a puzzled look. “I thought you said we shouldn’t pay attention to the notes because they wouldn’t have enough mojo to make things happen there.”
“It still needs to be checked—if only to eliminate it.”
“Then I’m coming with you,” I say.
He shakes his head. “That’s not the best—”
“I’m coming too,” Gabi says.
“What about finding this manuscript seller?” Joe asks.
Gabi shrugs, “It’s proving a little thorny, but it can wait till we get back. I need to see what’s happening over there.”
“We should just get Saskia to find the seller,” Jilly says. “I don’t know why I didn’t think of that before.”
Gabi turns to her. “You guys have two hackers living here?”
“I’m not really a hacker,” Wendy says. “I’m just good at fiddling with computers.”
“Whereas Saskia is the internet,” I say, which makes Jilly smile to hear me quoting her.
“Say what?” Gabi says.
“You’ll see.”
“Get her to have a look at it,” Joe says, standing up. “But if you’re coming along, we’re leaving now.”
Gabi shuts her notebook and sticks it in her backpack—I get the sense she never goes anywhere without it, just like on the show—and we walk over to where Joe’s waiting. He has that look in his eye that sends a flicker of fear through me.
“Is this a trick you can teach,” Gabi asks, “or is it something you’re born with?”
“A little of both,” he says. “But today’s not the day to get into it.”
He puts a hand on either of our shoulders. We take the step with him and we’re somewhere else again.
This somewhere else reminds me of the hills of desert scrub behind L.A. except there’s no sign of civilization here. Just the dirt underfoot, dried grass and weeds, cacti. Some big old oaks. When I turn to the west I can see the blue of the ocean a couple of miles away, clearly visible through a sky unsullied by smog.
“It’s gone?” Gabi says, looking around herself. “The whole town?”
“We’re not quite there yet,” Joe says. “At the moment we’re standing one thin layer away from the Crescent Beach world. If we crossed over from here, we’d be outside the perimeter that Midnight’s followers have set up around the town. They weren’t paying a lot of attention the last time I was here, but I’m good at keeping a low profile.”
“So why the stop here?” I ask.
“I just want to make something clear. I can travel safely there because I’ll be wearing a different shape. You two don’t have that luxury. As soon as I cross you over, you’re going to have targets on your backs.”
“What do you mean you’ll be wearing a different shape?” Gabi asks.
But I get it. I’m recalling the conversation we had in Emma’s condo.
“When you told us your parents were a dog and a crow,” I say, “you meant that literally? So you can take their shapes?”
He nods.
“Seriously?” Gabi says. “Because that is so cool.”
“It has its advantages—advantages that neither of you have.”
“So what are you saying?” I ask. “You have to sneak us through the perimeter Midnight’s men have set up?”
“No, I can step you out right in the middle of town. I just want you to understand the risk you’re taking. These creatures that Midnight’s been making are fast and strong. I’m fast and strong too, but frankly, I’m pretty sure I’d have trouble handling more than a couple of them. Three or more come at us and I’ll have a real problem.”
“In the story,” I say, “they’re mostly nocturnal.”
“And we can handle ourselves,” Gabi says.
Joe frowns at her. “I don’t care if you’re cage fighters and can beat the crap out of a guy twice your size. These are supernatural creatures and against them a human doesn’t have a chance.”
“So you’d rather we wait here for you,” Gabi says.
“That’d be the smart thing to do.”
She exchanges a look with me then turns back to Joe. “We can play this on the down low,” she tells him. “You go do your scouting. We just need a quick look around to see how bad it’s gotten. We’re not stupid. We won’t take unnecessary risks.”
Joe sighs. “Crossing over is an unnecessary risk all by itself,” he says. But he grabs our shoulders and steps us away again. We come back out on the same landscape untouched by civilization, but this time we’re right near the ocean.
“Wait here,” he says.
He lets go of us and disappears. Around five minutes later he’s back. He hands us both baseball caps and sunglasses.
“You,” he tells me, “get all that red hair up under the ball cap. It’s not much of a disguise, but somebody’d have to get a pretty close look to recognize you.”
That makes sense. I do as he says. Gabi tucks her black hair under the other cap, then puts on the glasses.
She smiles at me. “This is like those dumb disguises you always had us wear when we were tailing somebody.”
“They worked, didn’t they?”
Gabi just raises her eyebrows.
After I put on my own shades, Joe gives us a critical look.
“Okay,” he says. “I’m going to check out this college library. I’ll be gone maybe half an hour. Keep a low profile and stay out of trouble.”
He crosses us over and we find ourselves in Crescent Beach, half hidden between the adobe wall of a building and a jade hedge. Just the two of us. I felt his hand leave my shoulder as we crossed, and now I hear a crow cawing from the roofline above us. I look up to watch Joe circle a couple of times before he flies off in the direction of the community college.
Gabi peers out of the hedge then squeezes through the dense growth, motioning for me to follow her.
“Come on,” she says. “Time to dive in.”
I’m honestly thrown for a loop. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but I don’t think it was quite this. We’re really in Crescent Beach—not on one of the sets, and not in Santa Feliz or Long Beach, both of which stood in for various outdoor scenes and establishing shots. It’s like we’re in the middle of the damn show, the way it appeared on a TV screen.
When we step out onto the sidewalk, we’re on Main Street where it runs down to the parking lot at the beach. The pier stretches out above the water, with Salty’s Fish Fry at the far end. I can’t tell you how many meals I’ve pretended to eat in there while we were filming. I look back up the sloping street, recognizing shops and restaurants that only existed in the show. The tang of ocean is sharp in the air and I realize I’ve missed that.
There are no people around like you’d expect on a beautiful day like this. Blue sky, sun almost overhead, the surf rolling in and crashing on the sand on the other side of the parking lot.
It takes me a moment to realize that there’s more wrong than a lack of people. There are cars parked along Main Street and in the lot, but they’re trashed. Windows broken, tires slashed, fenders, hoods and doors banged in, the finishes scratched and gouged. The buildings aren’t in much better shape.
Kelly’s Fashions and Souvenirs, right between Eddy’s Surf Shop and the Dog’n’Burger, has its windows boarded up. It’s not alone. As I look up the street I see three or four other storefronts all boarded up. Other shops have their windows smashed. A few have been burned and only charred walls lift out of the rubble.
“Jesus,” Gabi says. “It’s even worse than when I left.”
I glance around us, feeling exposed. “Maybe we should have taken Joe’s advice and stayed at the greenhouse.”
“We’ll be okay,” Gabi says, though she doesn’t sound convinced.
I take a deep breath and look up at the blue sky. “I guess. If Emma’s manuscript holds, it means they’re dormant right now, so we should be safe—or at least safer—as long as the sun is shining.”
“Charlie Midnight’s brood are like vampires.”
I nod. “Except she called them ‘bloods.’ ”
“Ignoring the fact that there’s already a gang with that name.”
“Stupid book,” I say. We look at each other and both let out a nervous chuckle.
We can’t see anybody but I feel a pinprick of—not exactly fear. It’s more like a constant, low-level anxiety, as if we’re mice out in an open field with the hawk circling above. Deer at a watering hole, knowing there are hungry wolves nearby in the woods.
“What did you want to do here, anyway?” I ask.
Gabi takes a moment to answer. “Um, it was to check for signs of Nora. But honestly? Now I regret coming. It’s even more banal—and creepier than I remember.”
“It’s sure creepy,” I agree.
“But we’re here now,” she says, “and Joe won’t be back for a little while. Let’s at least take a walk down to the pier. I think I see someone sitting there.”
I shrug and let her lead the way but we make slow progress since I keep stopping, distracted by how everything looks like the Nora Constantine set—except it’s real, if trashed. But we’re only going two blocks so I’m not holding us up much.
We cross the parking lot and make our way to the closest end of the pier. At any other time there’d be people fishing from it. Kids hanging around. Tourists leaning on the rails, taking pictures of the surfers. But today there’s only an old man sitting on one of the wooden benches bolted to the cement at the end of the pier. He’s wearing a baseball cap, like us, a Grateful Dead T-shirt that looks like an original from the sixties, cargo shorts and flip-flops. Grizzled grey hair spills out from under the ball cap. His skin is brown from the sun and he’s got a couple of days’ worth of stubble.
“Got a death wish?” he shouts.
We stop and look at him.
“Yeah, you,” he goes on. “I mean, yeah, you’ve at least got some cojones coming out here instead of hiding away in your house, but why waste your time walking around here? If I was your age, I’d be looking for a way out of this hellhole.”
“Things are that bad?” I say as we approach and stop in front of him.
“Hello? Reality check. The world’s gone to hell and we’ve been left here for the bloods to pick off one by one. Can’t even count on the cops because Midnight’s turned the whole police department into his monsters. But here you are, strolling around like everything’s hunky dory.”
I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone use that term in actual conversation.
“So, how would you get out?” Gabi asks.
“Nobody’s getting out. We’re all going to die here. You, me, anybody that’s still left alive.”
“But you’re sitting here,” I say.
“Yeah, why’s that?” Gabi asks.
“I just don’t give a good goddamn anymore.”
This guy’s almost more depressing than the wreck of this town.
I look down the boardwalk where it follows the beach. It’s so strange to see it empty like this. Then I catch a glimpse of something dark in the sky. Moments later, I see that it’s Joe in his crow shape, black feathers glistening in the sun. He does a slow swoop above our heads before he lands on the railing behind the old man.
“Get out of here, you dirty bird!” the old man yells.
He turns and takes a swipe at the bird.
Gabi grabs his arm. “Hey, leave him alone!”
“Fuck you,” he tells her and jerks his arm out of her grip. “Those things eat carrion—you know what that is? The bits and pieces of us that the bloods throw out. Gristle and guts and whatever other shit’s too gross even for them.”
He leans over and spits on the pier.
“We should go,” I say as the crow lifts off and heads back to where we entered this world.
Gabi nods. “I’d say it was nice talking to you,” she tells the old man, “but I’d only be lying.”
She walks away. I give the old man a what-can-you-do shrug.
“Fuck you, too,” he says, giving me the middle finger salute.
Shaking my head, I hurry to catch up with Gabi.
Joe’s waiting for us in human form when we squeeze back through the jade hedge.
“Find what you were looking for?” he asks.
“Well,” Gabi says. “If you mean the complete lack of desire to ever come back, then yes. How about you?”
“There are cages in the library tower—like crates you might keep your dog in, only they’re made of reinforced steel. I could only see into one from where I was. There was nothing in it except for a blanket in one corner. I could smell people though.”
“And Charlie Midnight?” I ask. “Or the bloods?”
He shakes his head. “I didn’t see any monsters, but their scent is all over the place. It’s foul, even from the outside. I got the sense that there was a basement level, but you don’t build underground in California, do you?”
“Not normally,” I say.
“What do you mean, you got a sense?” Gabi asks.
He shrugs. “I’ve got a kind of sixth sense and I can usually tell if a place is inhabited or not. The library’s pretty much open concept on all three floors, and I didn’t see anybody through the windows, but I could feel their presence in there. If there’s no basement, they’re holed up somewhere.”
