Trick
The prickling sensation running over his skin told him he was being watched. Walker looked up from the casefile he was reviewing to the sight of curious three pairs of eyes staring at him. Three children dressed as Triphammer, Retro Girl and UltraBrite sat in row of chairs against the wall. The little Retro Girl grinned up at him shyly through her oversized swimmer's goggles. Walker scowled at her over a stack of reports. The little girl squeaked and shrank back in her chair.
"Awww, is the mean old detective getting his jollies scaring trick-or-treaters?"
Walker turned his scowl up at Deena, who grinned and hopped onto his desk.
She eyed him critically. "Nope, that’s not gonna work,” she said. “Needs more eyebrow. Seriously man, what's your problem?"
"Them. The kids."
"'The kids.' All kids, or just these particular kids?"
Walker closed the file in front of him. "Every Halloween that row of chairs over there is filled with little kids in illegal powers costumes, because their parents were booked for dressing them up in them because they thought it was cute. You think that doesn't fuck those kids up,” he asked irritably, “watching their parents being arrested in front of them like that? For something so damned stupid?"
An officer guided another costume-clad child over to the others. He sat on the chair and wrapped his cape around him. His eyes tracked a middle-aged woman being led past him in handcuffs.
"You go on and sit there, honey." She called back. "You sit there and be a good boy, Momma'll be back in just a few minutes."
The scene was taped off, with the bright yellow ribbon fluttering cheerily in the fading sunlight. A group of cops stood huddled around one of the cars, sipping on coffee and talking in undertones.
Deena waved at them. "Hey. What's going on?"
An officer separated from the pack and jogged over. "Oh, hey! Detective Walker. Detective Pilgrim. This is so fucked up. You have no idea. C'mon, I'll take you over."
Walker nodded. "When are these things not?"
The officer grimaced and kept walking. "I dunno. You'll see. I've never seen anything like this."
"More fucked up then when Horvmann's was overrun with those monkey spider things?" Deena asked, trailing behind them.
"I didn't see that."
"It was a mess. That Zarp guy-"
"Zark."
"Whatever. He tried to 'help' and we ended up with eight-legged monkey guts all over the fucking store. Zark guts, too. That shit doesn't come out of cashmere."
"He got blown up?"
Deena shook her head. "Nah, the monkeys gnawed off his head first. Then he detonated. Some kind of self-immolation."
"Fuck."
"Yeah. Like he couldn't do that before they chewed off his head? That was nasty."
"Well, this is still worse."
They rounded the corner. Two small bodies dressed in brightly colored Halloween costumes lay on the ground, their bags of candy spilled across the grass, a couple of empty candy wrappers fluttering nearby. Walker carefully flipped up the plastic mask on one of the children. The child's face was featureless, wiped clean like an egg, and mottled an ugly, dark color.
"Shiiit." Deena's jaw dropped.
"Like I said, I've never seen anything like this."
"Mrs. Richards. We're terribly sorry for you loss."
"It's Halloween. We thought it'd be okay if I went out with him early, y'know? Get home back in before dark, when all the crazies came out. I mean his bedtime is eight, he's got to be in bed by..."
"Mrs. Richards?"
"I'm okay. I'm okay. I'm fine."
"You're sure? Can I get-"
"Oh, God. Waaaaaaaagh!"
"Walker, we got three more." Deena grabbed her jacket and ran round her desk.
"Where?"
"One on Walston, another on the playground on Levell street and one outside of Peter's Bakery on Keret."
"My Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaabyyyyyyyy!"
"Ma'am-"
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"
"Mrs. Tucker, we know what-"
"I'm not saying anything until my husband is here. And my lawyer."
"Your lawyer?"
"You know you're not on being questioned for a committing a crime, here, right?"
"Unless, of course, you want to tell us something."
"Not one word until my lawyer gets here. I've seen the cop shows. I know how this goes."
"I don't know what happened! He got ahead of me, ran ahead a couple of houses, and when I caught up with him, he was lying on the ground."
"And you didn't see anything?"
"No, nothing. It was kind of crazy out there, with all the kids running around."
"Yeah."
"Um. Have you talked to his parents yet?"
"No, we're still trying to find them."
"Fuck, they're gonna kill me. Oh, man, no, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-"
"It's okay. It's a shitty thing to have happen while you're babysitting."
"Yeah."
"Shit." Deena slammed down her phone and pressed her palm over her face.
"What?" Walker appeared beside her, carrying two cups of coffee. Deena peered at him through her fingers and then took one gratefully.
"You know that theory we were working on?” she asked, sipping carefully from the steaming mug. “About someone flying around and killing them?"
"Yeah?"
"Well, unless he's got X-ray vision, it's totally fucked. We just got a call about a little girl who was killed at home."
"I can't believe she's dead."
"We're terribly sorry, Ms. Calver."
"She was such a happy girl."
"I'm sure she was." Deena leaned forward." Ms. Calver, could you tell us what happened?"
"Well," she looked down at her hands, and began to pull ay her fingers, nervously. "We went trick or treating. If I'd heard about what was going on before we left we wouldn't have, but we went out and 'Yanna and 'Lecia, they were dressed as cats."
"'Yanna and 'Lecia?"
"Yeah, we, we always go out, Me and my Ellyanna, and her best friend Alecia and her mother, Mary."
"Okay."
"So we went out, and we only went a couple blocks, they're still little, and they don't need that much candy. So. So we went back to the house and started to sort the candy out. And Mary was telling 'Lecia to wait for her to look at the candy before she ate it and the next thing I knew Mary was screaming and 'Lecia, she, I, she-"
"It's okay."
"So you were at home sorting candy?"
"Yes."
"Did the girls eat any?"
"What?"
"Did the girls eat any of the candy?"
"I think 'Lecia did. But I don't know if 'Yanna had any."
"And 'Yanna's okay?"
"Yeah, thank goodness."
"Where's the candy now?"
"I think it's still at home. Wh-Oh, God."
Kutter sidled up to Deena and Walker, clutching a bright orange paper bag. "Well, that's that. They've got the notice airing on all the stations, and already we've had a couple parents drop off their kid's candy. They pulled in quite a haul." Kutter looked at the bag he held in his hand longingly. "Too bad it's all gotta be sent to the lab." Her rooted around and pulled out a blue-wrapped Buddy Bar. "They can't all be bad," he reasoned.
"You're right," Deena snarked at him, "Just the ones that will kill ya."
Kutter blanched and dropped the candy back in the bag.
Walker slumped down into his chair and picked at the corner of a folder.
Across the room, a movement caught his eye. The little Retro Girl was alone, sprawled out across the seats, sleeping.
"Hey," he waved over a clerk. "What's she still doing here?"
She shrugged. "Nobody's bailed Mom out yet, I guess."
"Anybody coming to get her?"
"I don't know. Look, my shift's over and I really gotta."
He snorted. "Yeah, sure."
The woman stuck her hip out and put her hand on it. "Look, she's not my responsibility."
Walker glared up at her. "Did I say she was?"
"No, but-"
"Just go. I'll stay with her."
"Fine." The clerk shrugged and stalked off.
Walker watched her go. Grabbing his jacket, he went over to the little girl and draped it over her.
Deena bounced into a chair across from Walker's desk. "Anything?"
"Nothing." Walker didn't look up from the report he was studying.
"Anything from the lab on the candy?"
Walker shook his head. "Other than they've identified a few more pieces that are definitely chemically altered? No."
"Damn." Deena reached up and tugged on one of her earrings.
"Hey!"
A young, slightly pudgy officer came skidding around a partition. "Hey! Walker! We just picked up this guy you're gonna wanna see."
"Yeah?"
The officer huffed for a moment, "Yeah, we found him trying to dump a dead dog behind a restaurant."
Deena shrugged at him. "Why would we want to see him for that?"
"'Cause the dog is like your kids. No face."
"Shit." Deena leapt to her feet.
"He's in the interrogation room. I hope you nail the bastard!" the officer called after them. "I got a little sister, y'know?"
"Jack Hansen, 38, used to be a research chemist for RSG, got fired last year. He's actually registered with the name 'Chemical Man'. Apparently he just knows how to mix up things, and not in just a 'I'm Smart' kind of way. Looks like he's been working at Dempsey's for the last few months." Deena tapped the window to the interrogation room where a thin, stooped man sat in a chair, wringing his hands.
"Dempsey's? The department store?"
"In the women's department, apparently."
The guy jumped out of his seat and began to pace around the small table in the center of the room. "Huh." Walker watched him for a moment. "Well, let's go." He pushed the connecting door open. "Jack Hansen?"
"Yes?" Hansen stopped pacing and turned towards them.
"I'm Detective Walker and this is Detective Pilgrim. Why don't you have a seat?"
"L-look, I'm really sorry about the dog. I shouldn't have tried to throw him in the trash, but I didn't have the money to have the vet take care of him. And I don't have a yard to bury him in." Hansen spread his hands out. "Is, is there a fine or something I can pay? Or-"
"Y'know, you really shouldn't have animals if you can't take care of them." Deena pulled a chair away from the table and sat down.
"I know. I'm sorry."
"Yeah, well, why don't you sit down?"
"No I-"
"Sit."
Hansen slid over to his chair and sat down.
"You watch the news much?"
"No, I don't, I've been too busy, I just got a new job an-"
"But you don't have enough to take the dog to the vet's?"
Hansen twitched. "Well, it's new. I haven't been paid yet."
"That sucks."
"Yeah."
"Did you notice anything weird about your dog?"
"Weird?"
"Yeah."
"Oh. Um. Yeah. He um. His face was. Um. Gone."
"Gone?" Walker leaned forward, flattening his palms on the table's surface.
"Yeah. Gone."
"Babygirl." Deena mumbled. "And you didn't think to maybe mention that to someone?" she asked.
"No, I." Hansen shook his head nervously, "I was just really weirded out by it. I just wanted to get rid of it.
"Any idea what happened?"
"No?"
"No?" Deena stood. "'Cause, you know, if you'd been paying attention, you'd know that a bunch of kids were murdered on Halloween."
"Yeah? I hadn't heard."
"You must be really busy then. But you know what's really strange?"
"N-no, what?"
"They died because they suffocated. Because they didn't have a face, kind of like your dog."
Hansen cursed under his breath and buried his face in his hands.
"Elaine?"
"What?"
"Who's Elaine?"
"No one. No one. I don't know why I said that."
"But you did. You just said 'Fucking Elaine.' Who's Elaine?"
"Fuck. I just needed some money."
"Jesus, what a hole."
Deena and Walker stood outside a decrepit townhouse on the city's east side.
"Yeah. They find anything when they searched it?"
"A really nifty chemistry set and what looks like a bag of tainted Snickers."
"Looks like he'll be good for this then?" Walker unlocked the front door and stepped into the front hall. A small dog raced up to them and started barking.
"For making the stuff? Probably. But his boss says he was working on Halloween. He didn't hand it out." Deena toed the dog in its ribs as it began to attack her shoes and walked down the hall. "Figures he'd own a kicker. I'm gonna check out the kitchen."
Walker went into the living room. A small desk was set up on the far side of the room with a computer on it and he started to sift through a stack of papers that sat next to it. Mostly old bills and paycheck stubs. He glanced at a crude sketch of a man dressed in a green costume with a radioactive symbol emblazoned across his chest, shaking his head. Setting it down, he went over to the coffee table where a cordless phone lay on its side next to a yellow pad of paper.
Deena wandered into the room. "Nothing in there but cans of pork and beans."
"I think I have it." Walker held up a yellow post-it with 'Elaine 555-2831' scrawled across it.
Deena clapped her hands together. "Great, let's run a trace and pick her up."
"Kids are a fucking liability, y'know?" Elaine Walters pulled out a pack of cigarettes. "Can I smoke in here? Yes? No? Yes?"
Walker shrugged.
"I'm going to take that as a yes." Elaine lit up and took a long drag.
Deena pushed off of the wall. "So you don't like kids?"
"Not really."
"Why not?"
"What's to like? Short, noisy, messy. Always breaking things, wanting stuff. You end up spending your life slaving away just so you can get them to shut up."
"Sounds like you've had some experience."
"Mm."
"Ever have any?"
"One. How about you, Detective Pilgrim. Any kids?"
"Nope."
"Good. Don't. They just die on you. You spend all that time and money on them, you fucking -- fucking start to care for them, and they just walk out into the street. Don't pay attention. Don't look to see what's coming. And they die."
Walker and Deena exchanged a look over Elaine's head.
"Did your child die, Elaine?" Walker asked.
She ignored him. "And I thought, it's not fair. It's not fair to all these people to go around with these little monsters strapped to their backs, sucking their life out." She waved her hand. "Why should they have to suffer through that? It'd be better for them if someone helped them out, got it over with for them. So I did."
"Elaine?" he asked softly.
"Yeah?"
"Are you confessing?"
"To what?"
Deena stepped forward. "To the murders of eight children on October 31 of this year."
Elaine paused with a somewhat surprised expression on her face before blowing out a column of smoke.
"Oh, that. Sure. Why not?"
Deena shut the door to the interrogation room. "Jesus."
"Yeah."
The Captain stepped into the room. "She confessed?"
Deena nodded. "Yeah."
"Any idea why she did it?"
"She had a kid that died. Looks like it sent her over the edge." Walker explained.
He nodded. "Her daughter. We just got the information on her faxed over. Four years old, got out of the house and ran out in front of a truck last year."
"Jesus." Deena looked through the glass to see Elaine stub her cigarette out and drop her head on the table, her shoulders shaking. "Grief makes people do funny things."
"Yeah, well, explain that to the parents of all the kids she murdered. Let's book her and get things rolling."
"Right." Walker twisted the door handle and stepped back inside.
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