PART XV: CATHERINE

Calvin and his mother pick me up as I’m walking home from work. As they drive to my house, I look out the rear window. Max is out there somewhere.

Every night he’s on the streets, nobody is safe. There are pictures of him all over town. It’s only a matter of time before someone recognizes him and he’s reported and captured. But then what? Will he be locked away for eternity, never dying, surviving off the blood of small insects that crawl into his cell? Surely, he’d perish in the sun’s light while being escorted in and out of a courthouse before that could happen.

As we pull into the driveway, I invite Marilyn and Calvin inside. I boil water and bring out a tin of cookies. We sit at the kitchen table, drinking tea, eating cookies, and enjoying each other’s company. Bregaris yawns loudly. Calvin is excited to see him, and the panther is equally exuberant. After our tea and cookies, Marilyn and her son say goodnight.

The next morning, I wake and feed Bregaris, then get ready for work and leave for the store. The rain has stopped. It’s Friday, and I’ve yet to let Officer Greene know if I’ll have a drink with him tonight. Among the things currently running through my mind, the flirtations of a police officer are the least of my concerns.

***

It’s just after six in the evening when Amanda shows up, hastily dropping her bike against the store’s window and practically falling through the door. The sun has gone down completely.

“Amanda,” I say, surprised to see her at so late an hour. “What are you doing here?”

“Catherine,” she says, out of breath. “You must come quick! A man has Calvin. The police are at your house.”

“What? Wait, slow down. What do you mean a man has Calvin?”

“We were in your driveway, riding our bikes. There was a car chase on your street. The car the police were chasing after crashed into a tree at the end of your driveway. A man got out and grabbed Calvin. He had a knife. He threatened to hurt Calvin if the police came anywhere near him. He took Calvin into the pond area behind your house. More police showed up. They’ve been trying to get him to let Calvin go. The man keeps saying he won’t release Calvin until he talks to you.”

The store phone rings, and I answer it right away.

“Howe’s Books.”

“This is Sergeant Jackson. Is this Catherine Howe?”

“Yes, this is Catherine.”

“Catherine, there’s a man holding a boy hostage in your backyard. He says he knows you.”

“Yes,” I say. “I’ve just been made aware of this.”

“How soon can you get here?” Sergeant Jackson asks.

“Well, I don’t drive. I can call a cab…”

“That will take too long. I’ll send an officer to pick you up,” Sergeant Jackson says.

I hang the phone up and begin to close the store, shutting off the lights and putting everything away. “Amanda,” I say. “Bring your bike inside. We’ll come back and get it tomorrow.” Amanda brings the bike into the store, and I flip the open sign to closed. A moment later, a police cruiser shows up at the curb just outside the door. “Let’s go, Amanda,” I say. Officer Greene opens the passenger side door for me and the backdoor for Amanda. Together the three of us drive to my house. Officer Greene activates the lights on top of the car as well as the siren.

“We got a call earlier today from a man staying at The Happy Porter,” Officer Greene says loudly over the sound of the cruiser’s siren. “The caller reportedly saw a man get into a silver sedan and drive off with a hostage. When we arrived at the motel, we found a door kicked in and two bodies. The silver car wasn’t spotted again until later this afternoon when it was seen leaving a parking garage. In the garage, we found the body of the hostage. The suspect must have taken a second hostage in the parking garage. Sergeant Jackson saw the silver sedan downtown just over an hour ago and chased it through residential neighborhoods until it crashed into a tree in front of your house. The driver of the car, the second hostage, was unconscious, but alive. There are EMTs attending to her presently. The suspect then grabbed a young boy and threatened to kill him if we came anywhere near him. He says he won’t let the boy go until he speaks with you.”

As soon as we turn onto my street, I see police cruisers everywhere. An ambulance is parked just in front of Marilyn’s car. The front end of a silver luxury sedan is wrapped around the tree at the end of my driveway. Officer Greene parks the cruiser, and the three of us get out and walk into the backyard. The police have spotlights trained on the door to the fence. A helicopter is hovering above the pond area, illuminating everything inside it.

Amanda and I follow Officer Greene through a crowd of onlookers, under yellow tape stretched across the yard, to where the police are negotiating with Max. Marilyn is crying and being consoled by a female officer.

“Sergeant Jackson, this is Catherine Howe. She’s the owner of this home and the person the suspect has been asking for,” Officer Greene says, introducing me to the policeman who called the store. Sergeant Jackson nods in my direction and turns back to the fence with his bullhorn.

“The person you’ve been asking to speak with is here,” he says through the megaphone to Max on the other side of the fence. There’s no response. “Here,” Sergeant Jackson says, handing me the megaphone.

“Max,” I say through the mouthpiece. “Max, it’s Catherine.”

“Catherine?” Max calls out from the other side of the fence.

“Max, I’m here. You must let the boy go. Please, Max.”

“I want to see you, Catherine!” Max says. “I won’t let him go until I can see you in front of me with my own eyes.”

I hand the megaphone back to Sergeant Jackson and slowly begin to walk toward the fence.

“Wait!” Officer Greene calls as I begin to approach.

“It’s okay,” I say. “I’ll be okay.”

I slowly walk to the fence with my hands in the air. The helicopter’s searchlight, along with the lights from the police officers’ vehicles, have turned the night into day.

“I’m coming, Max,” I say loudly as I walk slowly toward the door to the fence with my hands in the air. “Can you see me?”

“Yes!” Max cries from inside the fence.

“I’m going to come in now, Max,” I say.

I slowly unlatch the door and open it. “Close the door!” Max yells. I close the door behind me. I walk haltingly into the pond area with both of my hands still in the air. From where I’m standing, I can see Max clearly. He looks frightened. He’s near the edge of the pond, holding the back of Calvin’s neck firmly with one hand. In his other hand is an open switchblade knife positioned under the boy’s chin.

“Catherine,” Max says. “I never meant for this to happen.”

“I know, Max.”

“I still love you, Catherine,” Max says sadly as bloody tears run down his cheeks.

“I know, Max,” I say again. “Please let the boy go.”

Max slowly lets Calvin go. He runs to me. I catch him in my arms and hold him.

“I’ve got the boy!” I yell over the fence to the police officers without taking my eyes off my brother. I hear a small eruption of cheers and clapping. As calmly as possible, I walk over to the fence door and open it.

“Please don’t leave me, Catherine.”

“I’m not going to leave you, Max. I’m just going to let the boy go back to his mother.”

Calvin runs through the fence door. I watch as Marilyn hugs him. Police officers run across the yard with guns drawn. I slowly close the door and walk toward Max. He approaches me with his arms extended outward. He’s still holding the knife. I open my arms. Behind me I hear the door to the fence being kicked in. But the police officers aren’t fast enough.

Just as my adopted baby brother and I are about to embrace, a single, long black tentacle whips out of the water and wraps itself around Max’s torso, pinning his extended arms to his sides. I look to my right and see Octavia emerging from the water. The octopus lifts Max into the air. He struggles to break free from the cephalopod’s grasp, but it’s no use, the black octopus is too strong. She shakes Max in the air from side to side, causing him to drop the knife into the pond. A moment later, I hear the flapping of gigantic wings. I look to the sky.

In the helicopter’s spotlight, I see the white swan flying overhead with Bolan on her back. In the wood sprite’s strong hands is the scimitar. The swan flies close enough to the vampire being held aloft by the octopus tentacle for Bolan to swing the sword and decapitate my brother. Max’s head falls into the water. Octavia brings the headless corpse to her waiting beak, and the giant octopus begins to eat the beheaded body of the vampire before slowly returning to the deepest part of the pond. With Bolan still on her back, the white swan flies over the police and disappears. No shots are fired. The police just stare, dumbfounded by the grotesque, otherworldly spectacle.