Not everything in life is an omen. Weird things happen. Funny coincidences occur that mean nothing. Little synchronicities pop up, but they signify nothing. One of the dangers inherent in being a Messenger is to read too much into what’s going on. A black cat crossing your path might mean that the cat wanted to go lie in the sun on the other side of the street. Not everything means some nefarious goings-on are about to come to a head. Sometimes birds fly into windows and break their necks.
Occasionally two birds fly into a window and break their necks. Rarely, rarely, do three birds fly into windows after only missing your head because you have damn fine reflexes and know how to duck after hours of your sensei swinging kendo sticks at you and then break their necks.
I had a feeling that I hadn’t made it in and out undetected. So much for my super-secret Messenger moves. I wondered if I’d be able to get out of this without telling Ted. Then another bird flew at my head and I stopped wondering about anything except the fastest way to get to the Buick without getting my eyes pecked out.
I stopped worrying about being inconspicuous, too, and ran. On my way past the garden, I grabbed a stake and began swinging it around my head to ward off the cloud of crows that had descended into Rosalinda’s yard.
I jumped over the gate and onto the street and took off, still waving the garden stake. I hit the corner and turned. The birds were flying after me. I took a moment, choked up my hands on the stake, made sure my right elbow was level and started swinging.
I hadn’t played Little League but Patrick had, and Dad used to take us to the batting cages now and then. Patrick needed to work on his swing, and I thought it was fun. This was totally the same deal but without the warm summer night vibe and I doubted anyone would buy me a sno-cone afterward. I took out at least fifteen birds in quick succession and then when there was a break in the flow, I turned and ran again.
There were fewer crows, but I still had at least two miles to go to get back to the Buick. I went to my next turn and then whipped around to face the birds. I brandished my garden stake and I could swear the flock slowed a little. Then another one charged. I took it out. The next two came together, though, requiring me to go with a forward swing followed by a backhand. Why, oh why, had Patrick not taken up tennis?
Three charged me at once now. I took them all out, but one of them managed to slice at my face, drawing blood. I wasn’t going to wait around for them to get even smarter. I turned and ran faster, my backpack bouncing against me, my stake still waving in the air.
I turned again at the next turn. After this, I’d only have one more turn before I got back to the Walmart parking lot. The flock was gone. There was nothing behind me. It was just me, in batting stance with my garden stake, blood dripping from my cheek and feathers in my hair.
That’s when I heard the sirens.
I WAS BACK IN THE INTERROGATION ROOM AT THE STANISLAUS County Jail. I wasn’t thrilled with the place, but I really appreciated the lack of windows in the room. The last thing I needed was to be questioned while crows flung themselves against the windows, trying to rip my flesh off my bones while I still breathed.
“I thought I told you to stay out of my town.” Chief Murdock had a funny smile on her face. If I hadn’t known better, I would have sworn she had something to do with that crowd of crows.
“I don’t think you’re allowed to do that,” I said, trying to sound reasonable in what was clearly not a reasonable situation. “I think you have to have actual legal grounds to ban a person or to create a restraining order.”
“You’re right. I don’t have the evidence I need to do that. However, I seriously don’t like you and really don’t want you in my town.” She said it with just a bit of a smile. If you watched our conversation on mute, you might think she had actually said that she liked my haircut. Which was unlikely, considering what battle with a flock of crows can do with a girl’s do, even if it’s a relatively simple braid. I’d had a nice neat braid running down my back when I’d started. I now looked like one of those pictures of models in those books that they have at the hairdressers, the ones that make you wonder why on earth anyone would allow someone else to do that to their hair.
In addition to having bad hair, the remark stung. What was there not to like about me? I bathe on a regular basis, brush my teeth, say please and thank you. I’m a doll. “Well, I like you, Chief Murdock, and I think if we tried, we could be friends.”
“What were you doing at the intersection of Baker and Third?” She glanced at her notes to get the street names. “And why were you being attacked by a flock of crows?”
“I was walking back to Walmart . . .” I began.
“From where?” She interrupted.
I sighed. It was a good question. I would have asked the same thing. “Around,” I said, which I thought was a stellar answer, given the circumstances.
“What were you doing walking around Elmville? I told you to stay out of my town.” She didn’t look very friendly now. She had her lips pressed together tighter than a lid on a leprechaun’s pot of gold.
“And I thought I explained that you are on pretty shaky legal ground,” I answered.
“Are you always this much of a smart-ass?”
I thought for a second. “Pretty much. Yes.”
Murdock dropped her head in her hands. “What was the business with the crows? We had at least three phone calls about a woman being chased down the street by a flock of crows.”
“That I can’t tell you. Apparently I’m irresistible to certain kinds of wildlife in your town.”
That’s when things got weird. Chief Murdock started to giggle. “Did you really bat them out of the air with that garden stake you were carrying?”
I was glad she was finding it amusing. Confused, but glad. I nodded.
“Percy Bainbridge thought we ought to get some scouts for the Giants out here. He said you were taking them out two or three at a time.” She gasped out between brays of laughter. “He thought you could take Frank Lewis’s place in the lineup.”
“I did what I could.”
Now she was banging the table with the flat of her hand. “Kept your eye on the birdie, did you?”
There was something so infectious about Chief Murdock’s laughter that I found myself starting to snicker, too. “It’s not funny,” I protested, still giggling. “They were going for my eyes.”
That sent her over the edge. She rocked back and forth, laughing while tears ran down her face. “Why?” she finally asked. “Why me? Why my town? What the hell are you and how can I get you to go away?”
The question seemed rhetorical, so I opted not to answer.
IN THE END, CHIEF MURDOCK LET ME GO WITH NOTHING MORE than a warning, gasped between wild gales of laughter that I felt had a touch of a hysterical squeal to the tail of them. She would not dispatch a car to take me back to the Buick, which I thought was the tiniest bit spiteful, especially since she had clearly told everyone to keep an eye on me. I couldn’t even run back to the car because a squad car was lurking behind every other corner.
Well, lurking would imply a certain amount of subterfuge. They were sitting there, watching me walk back to my car.
It did, however, give me a little time to think.
Once Emilia made the doll, it was going to be tough to deliver. Obviously Rosalinda was prepared for any kind of attack. It was definitely going to be a tricky one.
To save me from having to drive all the way back to Sacramento with my spoils, Meredith and Emilia were waiting for me at a hotel in Modesto. I knocked on the door and they let me in.
“You got it?” Meredith asked. “All of it?”
I nodded.
“What happened to your hair?”
“You don’t want to know,” I said. I’d tried to brush it out once I got to the Buick, but it was going to take a good, thorough shampooing to make it right again. “I promised Ted I’d call in.”
I dialed his cell. He picked up on the first ring.
“How did it go?” he asked.
“It wasn’t the smoothest operation I’ve ever pulled off, but it’s done.”
There was a hesitation on the other end. “What went wrong?”
I gave him a quick summing up of my morning’s adventures. When I got to the part about the crows chasing me down the street, Meredith was slapping her hands on the hotel desk and snorting. It was not one of her more ladylike moves.
“You’re not delivering the doll,” he said flatly, when I was done.
That wasn’t happening. “Of course I’m delivering the doll. This whole exercise will be pointless if I don’t.”
“I didn’t mean it wasn’t going to get delivered. I meant that you weren’t going to be the one who delivered it. I’ll do it.”
“We’ve been over this before, Ted. It’s not your job. It’s mine.”
“Not this time. It’s not like I’ll be breaking into her house, anyway. It won’t be a big deal. I’ll drop it on her doorstep and it will be done.”
“What about Drew and his thugs? What about Chief Murdock?” I countered.
“Melina, you’re not seeing this clearly. They’re all focused on you. I’m collateral damage. If you’re not there, nothing’s going to bother me.”
I was too tired to argue with him anymore. Plus, I had bird poo and feathers stuck in my hair. That tends to make me cranky. I hung up the phone, took a shower and then crawled into one of the beds to take a nap while Meredith and Emilia worked on the doll. Their murmurs were actually comforting. As I dozed off, the room seemed to fill with warmth. Not that horrible hotel room heat, either. More like the heat of a warm bath.
I woke up with Meredith shaking me. “It’s done,” she said, beaming. She gave my forehead a little kiss.
I was about to protest, but when I looked up at her, my heart was filled with such gratitude for having such a wonderful friend, I decided to let it go. “It’s ready, then?”
She nodded.
“Okay. I’ll get dressed and deliver it. The sooner, the better.”
“Hang on there, Tiger,” Ted said.
I blinked a few times. Ted was here. “How long have I been asleep?” I was getting a very Rip Van Winkle-ish vibe.
“A couple hours,” Emilia said. “You looked very sweet as you slept, almost angelic.”
I started to roll my eyes and then didn’t. It was nice of Emilia to say that. She was such a sweet person. Really, I was lucky to have met her even though the circumstances weren’t ideal.
Then it hit me. “Wait a gosh-darned minute,” I said. “Is that love doll in here?”
All three of them smiled at me and nodded. “It came out really well,” Meredith said. “Emilia’s very talented.”
“Get it out of here.” I got up out of the bed and started getting dressed. “Put it out in my car. Wrap it in something first.”
Meredith blinked several times. “Why?”
“Don’t you see? It’s getting to us. The doll is messing with our feelings. I’m filled with all these thoughts of warmth and love and respect for all of you. Get it out.” I went to the sink to splash water on my face.
I turned around and they were all still standing there smiling at me. “You’re so cute when you’re riled up,” Ted said.
I rolled my eyes and got my car keys. “Give me the doll. I’m going.”
“I don’t think so.” He held up his hand like he was stopping traffic. “We’ve decided. I’m going. I’ll be back in an hour, maybe less.”
He was already holding the doll. I weighed my options. I could take him. I knew I could. I could get the doll from him and be out the door before any one of the three of them could do anything about it.
It would hurt Ted’s feelings terribly, though. What damage would it do to our relationship? I couldn’t risk it. I held up my hands in surrender.
“Okay. You take it. We’ll wait here.”
I DIDN’T START GETTING NERVOUS UNTIL TED HAD BEEN GONE for two hours. “He should be back by now. It’s only thirty minutes there.” Even allowing for a difficult delivery, he should have been back a half hour earlier.
“Stop pacing, Melina. It’s not going to help anything.” Meredith patted the bed next to her. “Sit down.”
“He could be in trouble. We should go.” I started pulling on my boots. I looked out the hotel room window. It had started to get dark. I missed summer, when it would stay light until late in the evening.
Meredith put her hand on my arm. “What kind of trouble?”
“I don’t know! Chief Murdock. Flocks of crows. Teenaged thugs. There are a lot of choices here.” Who knew what kinds of things Rosalinda could cook up? “I should never have let him go. It was that stupid doll. It was filling me with all kinds of feelings of respect and love.”
Emilia looked at Meredith. “She’s right. It’s been too long. Maybe we should go.”
I stared at her. She’d been quiet for a long time. “What’s wrong?”
She shook her head. “I’m not sure.”
“But something is.”
“I’m afraid so. Something has gone wrong.”
“How do you know?”
Emilia sighed. “When you make a doll like that, it’s not just part of the other person that gets put into the doll. Part of yourself is in there, too. When something happens with the doll, you . . . feel it.”
“You felt some of what happened to Bossard, Rawley and Littlefield?” I asked.
She nodded. “And I feel something now.”
“That’s it. We’re out of here.”
Meredith didn’t try to stop me this time.
17
WE DROVE BY ROSALINDA’S HOUSE. IT WAS EMPTY. NO CARS in the driveway. No lights in the window. No sense of anyone or anything in it.
It was fully dark now and the wind had picked up. I felt chilled and not just physically.
“The cemetery, I think.” Emilia looked at me. “I’m so sorry.”
“If she’s there, we can’t just barge in.” The cemetery would be a place of power for Rosalinda. She drew some of her magic from there and being there would make her even stronger. “We need a plan.”