Too late. She fell to her knees, sobbing. I may have told her not to look, but I didn’t take my own advice. I couldn’t help myself. Her body was bloated and the skin a greyish colour with a mottled appearance. They tried to cover her up, but I’d already seen far too much. I squeezed my eyes shut and turned away, bile rising in my throat. The smell hit my nostrils and I gagged. I forced myself to look at the trees. The grass. The police cars. The truck. The black crow sitting on a tree stump watching the humans. At Sophie’s spirit.
Then my roiling stomach lost the battle and I threw up on the grass.
Once I’d finished and wiped my mouth and rinsed it with what was left in my water bottle, I looked over at Sophie. I wanted to hug her, but I couldn’t with everyone here. I whispered that I was sorry. She kept crying softly.
A dark-coloured sedan pulled up to the scene and a tall guy with a collared shirt and a gun on his belt stepped out and spoke with the other police and the truck driver. He was obviously a police officer — maybe a detective or something.
After a long time where they talked and he looked at the scene and the body, Constable Parkinson approached and I sat up straighter. “Hi, Maddie, is it?”
“Yes.”
He pulled out a notebook and a pen. “I know this must be hard for you. Do you mind if I ask you some more questions?”
“No, it’s fine.”
“Did you know the woman in the car?”
“No.”
“We found her ID in her handbag that was in the car with her. Her name was Sophie Vella. She was reported missing on the thirteenth of October.”
“They mentioned her in our church meeting on the Sunday after.”
“So, you’re sure you didn’t know her?”
“Yes. I’m positive. Why?”
“I heard you tell someone named Sophie to turn away and don’t look when we opened the car door. Why did you say that?”
My stomach dropped. How was I supposed to answer that question?
Sophie lifted her head. “Just tell him the truth.”
I resisted the urge to look at her. Should I tell him? Tracy said he was a Descendant. I wasn’t supposed to talk about this in front of a Normal, but who was Sophie going to tell now?
“Okay, um, Sophie’s spirit is here. I can see her. She led me here to the river bank. She wants her family to know what happened to her so they can have closure.”
His eyes grew wider the more I talked, but he kept his cool. “That’s an interesting story.”
“I’m told you know about us.” How did I explain?
“The Descendants? Yes. I’m a Descendant and I was told about you when you moved to town. We keep track of all of the Descendants in the town to protect them and all the Normals.” He fidgeted with his pen. “So, you have an extra ability then?”
“Yes. I’m told it’s not that common to be able to see spirits.”
“No. It’s not. I don’t know anyone personally who can. But for the official report, we’ll have to stick to your story of finding the tracks in the mud while taking a stroll.”
He did know someone. He just didn’t know it. Poor Jade. No one believed her.
“Okay. Thank you.”
“For what?”
“Believing me.”
He chuckled. “In this line of work, I’ve seen a lot of weird stuff. This is just another day on the job.”
I almost laughed at that, but I didn’t feel much like laughing.
He looked me in the eye. “How are you doing? It’s not a pleasant thing to see a body.”
“I’m okay now.” I nodded at my vomit over behind where I sat.
“It’s to be expected. You should have seen me first time. They said I was green.” He cleared his throat. “Is… is Sophie’s spirit still here?”
“Yes. She’s very upset.”
“I guess seeing your own corpse would be quite upsetting.” He rubbed his chin. “How does this work. Can she speak to you? Can you ask her what happened?”
“Yes. And she can see and hear you too. She told me that she was driving home and something went wrong with the steering on the car and it went straight ahead instead of turning onto the bridge.”
“That fits with the angle of the tracks. Thank you.”
He wrote some notes in his notepad and I couldn’t help it, I looked over toward the car. Her body was still in there while they investigated and took photos, but it was completely covered now. Thankfully. I wished they could cover up the smell too.
The sun would be setting soon and I realized that I hadn’t told anyone where I was. I pulled out my phone. It was past four o’clock. There was another text telling me to stay away from Blake and a chill went down my spine.
I didn’t have time for this shit. I quickly sent a text to Ruby and told her I was safe. She would start worrying if I didn’t show up to my lesson, especially after the last time I went missing. I shuddered just thinking about it.
I turned to Constable Parkinson. “It’s getting late and I have a class in town tonight that starts at five. Is there any chance I could go? I mean if you’re finished questioning me.”
He looked at his watch. “I think we’re done with the questions for now, but we will need to get a full statement from you tomorrow.” He gave me a business card. “Here’s my card. In the meantime, if you think of anything else, just give me a call. Is there anyone who could come and pick you up?”
“I can probably call someone to give me a lift into town.”
“Wait here.”
He walked over and spoke to the others, then came back and said he’d drive me. It would only take a couple of minutes by car.
Asking Tracy to drive all the way from Waratah to the river, then back into the main street would make me late for class. I smiled. “Thank you.”
As he headed to his squad car, I whispered goodbye to Sophie, who was now completely dry. That was weird. I knew that when they first became a spirit they looked like they did when they died — and sometimes it was completely gross, like Stan — but there didn’t seem to be a set time when that faded away and they looked normal.
Once we’d reached the main part of town where all the shops and businesses were, there was a crowd of people all dressed in black cloaks with hoods gathered outside the town hall. It looked like they were doing some kind of Halloween thing. Parkinson cursed under his breath, which made me think it wasn’t a Halloween thing.
As we got closer I could see that they were holding signs that said something about Satan. All of them wore white face masks. They were protesters.
As we passed them, they started shouting and waving their signs.
“They’re training Satan worshippers out at Waratah Estate! We need to shut it down!” Then they started chanting. “Shut it down! Shut it down!”
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Author's Note: I try to imagine what it would be like for Sophie’s parents getting that phone call. How devastating.
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