Free Crowley's Window (Novella) by Gord Rollo

wasn’t sure what to do, wasn’t even sure there was anything she could do, but since her ruse was apparently over and the man in black somehow already knew who she was, there was no sense hiding any longer. She ignored her fear and came straight to the point. “Who are you? And why did you kill that little girl.”
    The dark man laughed. “You know me, child, but you’re not thinking straight. Go away and think things though. Search your heart. The answers are inside you, if you’re brave enough to face them. You and I can talk later…face to face.”
    He clapped his hands together and every candle in the room extinguished simultaneously, plunging Abby into a world she was all too familiar with. Abby reached out trying to get her bearings and…
     
    …and fell into the strong embrace of David in the morgue’s viewing room back in Gainsville. Not being able to see, she fought against him for a moment, convinced she was in the grasp of the dark man still inside his decrepit lair.
    “Relax. It’s only me,” David said. “Calm down. You’re okay.”
    Abby fell into his arms for a second time that afternoon, only this time didn’t feel like a fool for being there. This time it was exactly where she wanted to be. “Just hold me for a minute, okay? I’m so scared.”
    “Of course. What happened? Did you find him?”
    “Yes. He’s holed up in an abandoned country church. It’s white and badly in need of a new paint job but I don’t know where it is. Not close, but it can’t be too far either. A few hours away, I think.”
    “Any idea who he is?”
    “No. Not a clue.” Abby was exhausted, physically as well and mentally and felt the onset of a killer migraine coming on. All she wanted to do was lie down, go to sleep, and try forgetting all this madness for a while. “I’m tired. Can you take me home now?”
    “Absolutely. You’ve done great, Abby. Be proud of yourself. I’ll have men start making some calls, see if we can work up a list of all the abandoned churches in this part of the state. Maybe we’ll get lucky.”
    The drive home was a quiet one, with Abby dozing in the passenger seat and David trying to make heads or tails of the things she’d seen in her visions. He believed every word she said, but didn’t have a clue how he was going to convince his partner and the other policemen. Abby half slept, half daydreamed about the man in black, who he might be, and how she was connected to him somewhere in her mysterious past. If only she could remember what his name was, David and the rest of the police might actually be able to catch him before any more innocent people were harmed. First the girl, then the teenage ruffian; how many more lives would be lost if Abby couldn’t remember. The memory just wasn’t there, though, and the harder she tried to pull it free from her subconscious the deeper it seemed to hide. All she was doing was making her throbbing headache worse so she stopped thinking about it and tried to relax.
    Back at the carnival, David pulled the squad car up to the main entrance and seemed ready but reluctant to say goodbye. Abby wasn’t looking at him, though. She was staring up at the large plastic banner with the name TOWNSEND written in block letters spanning the entryway. She stared at it for a long time.
    “You okay?” David asked.
    “Crowley. The son of a bitch’s name is Crowley.”
     
    * * *
     
    Officer Beck had set off to see if he could dig up a hit using the police databases on any men named Crowley and although he was physically gone, the lingering shadow of David’s aura remained with Abby for a long time, providing her with at least a small measure of comfort in the troubling hours ahead. She’d never felt so confused and so alone since leaving home three years ago to join the Townsend Traveling Show. Everything she thought she’d known about her illness and the way she’d been blinded was obviously a lie but for the life of her Abby couldn’t figure