Free Demon Song by Cat Adams Page B

nod. “Still listening. Not liking, but listening.”
    “First, let’s put the device on the desk, where we can both see that I’m not about to make an ‘open-mic gaffe.’ ”
    The slim silver and black recorder was on the desk in moments. It was a tape unit, rather than digital. Not a big surprise. A lot of cops were back to using tapes after a recent case in Michigan where a digital recording had been altered by a simple spell. It had been good for the local economy. The tape-manufacturing plant at the edge of town that had closed in the nineties was back open and working three shifts to supply the sudden demand.
    The tape wasn’t moving, but just to be safe Alex took out the microcassette and set it on the desk next to the unit. I took a deep breath and let it out slow as she reached for the red and silver can in front of her and took a long drink.
    “There’s a demonic presence possessing guards and prisoners out at the zoo. I want the police to get some priests out there to cleanse the place before it spreads.”
    Apparently, this bore no relation to whatever she’d thought I was going to say. Her eyes went wide and she spewed a mouthful of cola across my desk. I managed to scoot back fast to keep the spray off of my shirt. I grabbed tissues and started to clean spit and soda off the polished wood—and the tape and tape recorder. Her coughing fit would have made me laugh in other circumstances. Not today. Finally Alex got control of herself and said, “Excuse me? Why do you think that?”
    I leaned back in my chair, my head swimming. So many things I couldn’t say. “That’s the part I can’t tell you about. What I can say is that it showed on a detector and I confirmed it visually.” I held up my hands helplessly and stared into her wide green eyes. I knew I was asking for a lot. For a local police detective to question a state facility was bucking ten levels of protocol. Yes, I could call one of the warrior-priest organizations, but I’d be put on a list to check it out . A request from Alex would go to the top of the pile. “I’m afraid you’ll have to trust me on this. You know I wouldn’t ask unless I felt it was important.”
    She began to tap her fingers on the desk. I didn’t realize she chewed her nails. I’d never noticed before. But they were down to bleeding on some fingers. She looked troubled. I needed to convince her, but how?
    “Wait! Vicki was there, too. Would you do it if she confirmed it?”
    Alex’s whole face brightened. It was well established in law that ghosts couldn’t lie.
    Alex looked up. Her voice dropped to a reverent whisper. “Vick? You there, hon?”
    There was no response. No chilling of the room, no breeze moving my hair. I was sorry but not surprised. “She was pretty tired. Did she visit you at all yesterday?”
    Alex nodded. “She showed up right at dusk and listened while I ranted about my day. It’s not … not like it used to be, but it’s something. She left suddenly. I presume because you called?” There was a pain in her voice that I was powerless to remove. I didn’t know why Vicki would choose being with me in a crisis over being with her hurt and lonely lover. The siren queens claim Vicki’s my spirit guardian. I don’t know about that. I do know our friendship was strong enough to survive the grave. That’s enough in my book.
    “She’ll probably be back later today. You can ask her then, when I can’t give her any hints. If it checks out, will you go?”
    “That’s your only condition? You’ll give the samples if I do it?”
    Now it was my turn to tap fingers. “I’d still like to check out what the charm needs to do … and not do. And I want guarantees there’ll be precautions against the samples being misused. But by tomorrow we should both know. Deal?”
    She nodded. “What I can do until I hear from Vicki is check the board and the incoming bulletins, see if there have been reports of anything strange out there. I can do