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assessment. Not an octopus, a squid. It explained the
beak. Something else in the room. Two. Double. The
monster pushed away by another. Black and dark but --
human shaped. A thick, smoky shadow of a person.
"You hurt what is mine!" The dark shouted.
It giggled. "Yours? You shouldn t leave your toys
lying around."
"No one touches what is mine!"
The dark thing ate the other. The monster was gone
but the dark thing remained. It looked at me. It was me.
My eyes. It looked at me with my eyes. It was like
looking into a mirror. A mirror that lost me fifty pounds,
ten years of sun and added a whole mess of horror.
Those eyes had seen a hell I hadn't.
It cried. Michael?
The Hanged Man's Ghost - 132
***
"Please, Fynn, baby. Come back to me." Cold hands
on my face. "Fynn." Robert looked scared. Who was
touching me? Rob was talking. Then he wasn't.
It hurt. Everything hurt. Rock, back and forth. Back
and forth.
"What happened to him?" Jack, Jack. Rock. Rock.
Paper. Scissors. I giggled. The teddy bear was soft. It
stared at me. I jerked out its eyes. Staring wasn t nice.
Jack took away the bear. "No hurting the bear, Fynn."
"Staring."
"It s okay." He petted my hair.
Rocking.
"We aren t sure just yet. Another inmate was killed in
that cell just a few weeks before Mr. Adder arrived. The
police are looking into the attack and the murder now.
Apparently there are some inconsistencies in the report
about the first man s death."
"Detective Winchester?"
Jack turned. Another man. Who was he? I tugged on
Jack s sleeve.
"It s okay, Fynn, I ll be right back."
He walked away. No. No. I whimpered. Jack smiled,
kind. He talked to the man. Cop man. Partner. Came
back. Doctor. Doctor watched me. "What s going on?"
Jack stroked my arm. "Judge threw out the case. Mr.
Adder is going to be released into the care of his
family." He smiled. "You re going home, Fynn."
Home. Robert smiled. Robert liked Jack. Reggie
liked Jack too.
I was going home.
The Hanged Man's Ghost - 133
***
"Fynn?" The door to my bedroom opened. Jack.
"Hullo, Jack."
He walked over to the bed I was lounging on (pretty
much able bodied) and pressed a package into my hands.
"Got you something."
I opened the package, careful not to tear the paper. It
was shiny. I liked shiny. The box was boring. Inside
were a first aid kit and a bottle of aspirin.
"Just in case you get injured again." He smiled.
"Gee. Thanks." I set the package aside and carefully
folded the very shiny paper. My head was still fuzzy
from the drugs I d been given. Honestly, I was a bit
more than fuzzy. "So my blood work exonerated me?"
"Yeah. Well, that and the drugged pizza, creepy
delivery boy, and the bloody knife we found in his
possession." Jack smiled. "You get yourself feeling
better so I can have my partner back."
"Sure. I ll do my best." Mister March winked at me
from his poster. That could not be normal.
"Fynn& I remembered what happened on the roof."
"What?" I felt a chill run along my shoulders.
"With everything that s happened& You almost died
in that cell, Fynn. I saw the footage. No one went in, no
one came out. You didn t do it to yourself. That thing on
the roof, it wasn t drugs that made that kid wig-out."
"Jack& "
"You aren t the kind of guy to go crazy, and I ve seen
too many things on the job to dismiss the possibility that
there s something out there in the dark." He leaned over
me, placing a hand on my arm. "Fynn, what s going
on?"
"Jack& I don t know what this is. Events have
The Hanged Man's Ghost - 134
conspired against my information gathering. This thing
is targeting people around me. It tried to kill you." I
looked him in the eye. "Jack, this thing isn t human. I
don t know what it is but I m going to find out, and I m
going to kill it."
"You re talking about possession. You think
something possessed the guy in the convenience store,
and that kid on the roof."
"Working theory& yes."
"Okay. So this& spirit, is possessing people and
tossing them off rooftops -- I noticed you pulled the
Eddie Bailey file, don t interrupt -- and having others
shoot its intended victims."
"Yeah."
"That s a bizarre MO. Why suicide and homicide?"
"Could be trying to throw me off its trail." I sighed. "I
don t know, Jack. I haven t had much luck figuring out
what this is. To make matters worse -- Jack, I have a
twin brother who may or may not be alive, and I have no
idea where he is."
"What?"
"His name is Michael. Somehow, he s involved in all
of this. I just don t know how."
"Fynn& "
"All of this has something to do with my family. I
just don t know how. I m sorry. I shouldn t be dumping
all of this on you, Jack."
"I m your partner and your friend."
There was something off about Jack. Even in a drug-
induced haze I noticed it. Here I was spilling all of my
problems on him, and there was something wrong with
him. He looked tired -- which I suppose could be
attributed to my current state but& I don t think so.
"You aren t yourself, Jack. What s wrong?"
The Hanged Man's Ghost - 135
"You re on drugs, Fynn; there s nothing wrong with
me."
"I d have to be on more drugs than this not to notice,
Jack. I told you what s been going on," most of it
anyway, "so spill."
He took a very deep breath. "Cassie s gone."
"What?" In a larger portion of my psyche than I care
to admit, a tiny voice said, Yes! "Why?"
"She s seeing someone else. Has been for awhile
now. She got a job at a firm in Boston and -- she left.
Packed up her stuff while you were in the hospital after
the attack and was gone before I got home," he growled.
"She left Tara in the apartment alone. She was crying."
His hands shook and he clenched the tightly. "She just
left our little girl."
"Jack& " I grabbed his hand. "I m so sorry." That sort
of explained the tension between them over the last
couple weeks.
"No. It s fine. If Cassie wants to be with
this& musician, instead of me, then that s fine, but Tara
is staying with me." He looked me in the eyes. "That
bitch isn t going to see Tara again if I have my way."
This was a side of Jack most people didn t see. He
had a temper, but he rarely lost it. He was on the verge
of losing it just then. I shook off what I could of my
haze and grabbed Jack by the shoulders.
"She never deserved you," I said. "She doesn t
deserve Tara."
He sighed. "Here I am spilling everything to you and
you re barely coherent." He gave me a quick hug --
which surprised me to no small extent. "I ll be okay.
You rest."
"Sure."
"I ll see you soon." He stood. "We ll be back at the
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