Page 67 of Bewicched

“But Abigail’s a magical tutor. She worked with most of Arwyn’s cousins, helping them strengthen their skills. I don’t understand how…”

Mom and I were lost in thought when Detective Osso asked, “What does any of that have to do with the dead nurse?”

“Oh, sorry,” I replied. “While Dave was on another plane of existence, roughing up the other demon, trying to get a name, the demon apparently possessed this nurse. He walked the nurse in, had her kill Aunt Sylvia with the drugs in that vial, and then had her walk around the bed and punch Dave.”

“I was wondering why my face hurt,” Dave murmured.

“Mom and I spelled her to stop her, but then she hit the floor dead. Our spells would have frozen her, not killed her. We don’t do black magic.”

“When the demon left the nurse, he took her life,” Dave said. “That’s usually how possession ends for the host.”

Hernández looked at Osso. “Are you buying any of this?”

He slapped his small notebook against his palm and rumbled, “Yeah, I am.”

“Damn it,” she said. “So am I.” She rubbed her forehead. “How the hell do we investigate demon possession? How do we write that up?”

“You don’t,” Dave said. “The doctors don’t know why she fell into a coma. Why would you, if they don’t? As for the nurse, let the doctors figure it out. Demon possession often kills brain cells, mimicking stroke. She could have been in the early stages of a stroke, grabbed the wrong medication, accidentally killing the patient before she herself died.”

We all stared at him a moment.

“Damn, you’re good at this,” I said, more than a little concerned at how easily he came up with a completely believable story that would fit all the evidence.

He flashed a smile that made my insides turn liquid.

The door opened again and Sam and Clive slipped in.

“Stop,” Detective Osso commanded. “You’re not authorized to be here.”

“Where’s the guard?” Hernández asked, her arm out, trying to usher the late arrivals back out the door.

“I sent the guard on his way,” Clive said. “If you can relax a moment, my wife has some information for you.”

“What? You have no right to send the guard anywhere. This is a crime scene.” Hernández looked like she was starting to lose it. Her hand rested on her gun as she waited for Sam and Clive to leave.

I opened my mouth to try to smooth this over, but Sam moved to the detective’s side.

“I know this is all crazy and I’m so sorry that you’re being forced to not only learn about the supernatural world, but are having to do it on the job, with little preparation. I know you don’t know us and therefore have no reason to trust us, but Arwyn sort of knows us and Dave knows us well.”

“Aligning yourself with the demon in the room probably isn’t your smartest move,” Dave grumbled.

She tipped her head from side to side, weighing his words. “Good point. My name is Sam. This is my husband Clive. We have some information we wanted to share, but if this is a bad time, we can go.” She turned to me. “Does he need to wipe their memories?”

“What?” Hernández squeaked.

“Sorry, sorry! That came out wrong,” Sam said. “That wasn’t a threat. No one wants you to have to deal with more crazy stuff than you can handle.”

“She’s fine,” Osso grumbled.

“Good. That’s fine, then.” She tilted her head, her brow furrowed as she studied him. She breathed deeply and then broke into a huge grin.

Osso rested his hands on his hips, glaring down at Sam, looking stern as hell.

Clive moved forward, put his hands around her waist, picked her up, and moved back to the door. “Let the nice man be, darling.”

“But,” she pleaded.

“No,” Clive said, keeping an arm around her.

---