Heather Graham - The Evil Inside

“Thanks,” Jackson said briefly.

“What?” Sam asked.

“The two boys-Joshua Abbott and David Yates-are there. Seated toward the back in a group that’s getting ready to watch the next show.”

“Then we’ll watch, too,” Sam said.

The boys were in football uniforms. They might have just left a practice, since their white-and-blue uniforms were grass stained.

Sam and Jackson walked over to stand at the back of the crowd while Will turned around and welcomed his audience, challenging them to determine what was magic and what was science, and what lay in the magic of the mind.

Quite a showman, Sam thought.

Will’s act that day was all about light and music. He knew that the beat of the music caused some of the jumping of the light, but he was still amazed at Will’s ability at sleight of hand, because he was definitely maneuvering some of his performance so that he could keep an eye on the crowd’s reaction, but he was doing it with an amazing ability.

He made the image of a brilliant fairy that seemed to be composed of colored light appear before one little girl, and when he closed his hand around it, he thrilled her by turning the image into a plastic toy and giving it to her.

He repeated the performance, creating a small football and handing it to David Yates, and then creating a toy horned god-and presenting it to Joshua Abbott.

Before Abbott could respond, Will hurried on, creating his finale-a large snow globe with a beautiful dancing fairy and presenting it to one of the young women sitting in the first row. He was greeted with thunderous applause, and those who had been sitting rose to move on, though some stayed, eager for the next show.

Sam watched as the two boys in their football uniforms stood and walked toward Will. David Yates was angry. Joshua followed behind him. “Hey, hey you-what the hell was that all about?” David demanded of Will. Both boys moved in on him.

Sam had the feeling that Will knew how to take care of himself, but he and Jackson seemed to decide simultaneously that it was time to step in.

“What’s going on here?” Sam asked.

David Yates swung around. Joshua Abbott backed away about half a foot-a telling gesture. On his own, Abbott would crack.

David stared at Sam, knowing who he was. The boys were big, but Sam and Jackson were bigger by a few inches. He could see in the boy’s eyes the recognition that he wouldn’t intimidate either of these men.

“This freak is playing with our minds. And you-you’re just ripping apart the community. You know who did it all!” David Yates told him. “You know who did it all, and you want to prove that you’re such a hotshot attorney, you can make someone innocent look guilty. He-this freak!” David paused to point at Will, who just grinned. “I’ll bet he’s one of you! He tried to pick on Josh last night just because he was wearing the horned god costume. Tons of people wear that costume and you know it! And now he’s handing him horned god toys, and if you don’t lay off of us, my father is going to come at you!”

“Is he?” Sam asked. “Your father seems like a true law-abiding citizen. I think he’ll be more measured in his response than you’re being.” He looked at Joshua Abbott. “So why did you wear that costume last night? You had to know that we picked up Marty Keller trying to scare my colleague in the horned god costume from the school- and that it had Peter Andres’s blood on it.”

Joshua Abbott looked at David and didn’t speak.

“It’s just a costume that everybody wears around here!” David said.

“You know what I think?” Sam said pleasantly. “Joshua, I think you wore that costume because David goaded you into it.”

Joshua Abbott turned red. “No, uh, no! It was my choice. I wore it because I wanted to. Hey, the freak is in custody.”

“Yes, and, of course, you know Milton Sedge is dead,” Jackson said quietly.

Sam thought that the confusion that briefly touched David Yates’s face was real.

“It was an accident!” he said. “He died in an accident!”

“Maybe,” Sam said.

“Maybe not,” Jackson added.

“Ah, come on, what the hell is the matter with you guys? You’re wicked idiots!” David said. But he swallowed quickly. “You just want to make something out of nothing-’cause that kid is crazy. And he’s cruel.”

“That’s right,” Sam said. “He gave you the ‘evil eye.’ You need him to be crazy-and a homicidal maniac-to make sure you never look like an imaginative young idiot yourself, for beating your own head with a lunch tray.”

David Yates turned red. “He gave me the evil eye-I swear it! Hey, you don’t put yourself in the hospital and having to see a shrink on purpose!”

“I never suggested that you did it on purpose-I do believe you did it to yourself. So does your dad,” Sam told him.

“My dad is a pansy-ass!” David said, apparently before thinking. He winced. “Stop it, please, stop all this!” It was an honest plea.

“I’ll stop-when you two stop lying,” Sam said. “I will get you in court. And if you’re caught perjuring yourselves, you will face the law yourselves. Think about that. And-” he grinned, looking up at Will, who had been watching the exchange with his arms folded over his chest “-next time a magician gives you something, just say thanks!”

He turned to leave the boys to think over the encounter.

Jackson followed him.

“Well?” Sam asked him. “How did I do?”

“They’re scared,” Jackson said.

“They should be. I get the feeling that…all right, well, they are lying. Now, is it just because they want Malachi locked away? Or is it because they’re afraid for someone else?”

Jenna was just leaving the station when her phone rang. Angela was on the line, very excited.

“Hey! I think I might know what was going on when Goodman Wilson approached that little girl. Sorry-remember what Will told us about Cindy Yates yelling at Goodman Wilson when he approached the little girl?”

“Yes. What? What happened at church?” Angela asked her.

“Goodman Wilson gave a sermon today-asking his people to go and talk to the police if they knew anything! Anyway, I watched a woman leave with two kids so I got her plate number. Jake ran it down for me. And the boy-the teen-goes to school with David Yates and Joshua Abbott. I think the little girl that Goodman Wilson approached was the daughter…and, since Cindy Yates went after him like a tiger, I’m assuming that the family has been keeping their churchgoing activities a secret. I’ve got an address. You want it? I’m still hanging around by the church, but I can go if you want.”

“No, no, I’m just leaving the station. I’ll go. Who am I going to see? What’s the family name?”

“Parents, Michael and Alice Newbury. Teenage son- seventeen -year-old son, Michael, Jr. Little girl, Annie, seven. You’ll find them just off Chestnut Street-I’ll text you the exact address.”

“Thanks, Angela!”

“Oh, and I just spoke with Jackson and Sam. They’re going to go and see Mr. Sedge’s son. After, we’ll all meet at the wine bar.”

“All right, see you soon.”

Jenna hung up and a few seconds later, her phone buzzed, the address coming through. Checking it twice, she got in her car.

As she drove, she mulled over just how she was going to approach the family. All thoughts went out of her head when she drove up to park on the curve across the street from the modest home. The Newbury family was in the front yard. The teenage son, still lanky but growing tall, was tossing a football to his little sister while the parents looked on from their porch.

The father, Michael, saw Jenna and said something to his wife.