Curran contacted Kwon shortly after four that afternoon. At about the same time as the sun started tracking west toward the horizon. The forecast called for more rain tonight.
Kwon’s assistant answered on the third ring and told Curran he was doing an autopsy. Curran frowned. “Tell him it’s important.”
The assistant sighed. “There’s a corpse on the gurney, sir. Is this really important?”
“Just get him.”
Kwon came on the line a minute later, breathing heavily. “You’re making my people upset, you know that?”
“Tired of wading through the dead yet?”
“It’s my damned job. Why?”
“No reason. Just wondering if you were busy tonight.”
“Why, your hand turn you down for a date again?”
Always the card, Kwon was. Curran smiled anyway. “I need your help. Again.”
“My help.” There was a pause on the phone. “I thought I made it clear I wasn’t really cut out for that kind of thing.”
“You’re the only one who can help me, pal.”
“Can’t you take this to headquarters?”
Curran laughed. “You’re kidding, right? I can’t waltz into HQ and tell everyone I need help subduing a demon who’s trying to resurrect Satan.”
“Suppose not.”
“I’d be whisked away in a little white ambulance, locked up in a padded cell. It’s up to us now. You know it.”
Kwon sighed. “Yeah.”
“You in, then?”
“I’m in.”
“I’ll swing by in an hour.”
“Meet you downstairs.”
Curran ended the call and looked over at the passenger’s seat. Lauren sat staring out the window. “Kwon says hi.”
“Is he coming?”
“Reluctantly. But yeah.” Curran frowned. “Wish it wasn’t necessary to have him along.”
“You don’t trust him?”
“Trust’s got nothing to do with it. He’s a friend of mine. I don’t want the bastard getting hurt is all.”
“You think he might get hurt?”
Curran considered it. Given what Darius appeared to be, the danger seemed evident. “I don’t think Darius is going to be an easy mark to put down, let’s put it that way.”
“Then having Kwon along will probably help make it easier to tackle Darius, no?”
Curran shook his head. “Tell me something: does every single one of your ideas always make so much damned sense?”
“Not at all. I’m on a lucky streak is all,” said Lauren with a smile.
Curran nodded. “We’ve got an hour. You want something to eat?”
“What are our choices?”
“Fast food and less fast food.”
“You know anywhere we can sit down around here?”
“Not really. Burger King’s up the street. Wendy’s a block further on from there. Got some good cheeseburgers.”
Lauren frowned. “I’ll go there this once on one condition.”
“Yeah? What’s that?”
“You take me out to a real dinner when this is all through.”
Curran smiled at her. “I’d love to take you out to a real dinner. I was afraid I only got one shot at that and I’d already blown it.”
Lauren shook her head. “You didn’t blow it, Steve. Maybe you just wanted things a little too soon.”
Curran smiled and drove the car further down Beacon Street. “Wendy’s or Burger King?”
They met Kwon an hour later down near the entrance to Government Center. His bluish greenish scrubs and white lab coat had vanished. He stood almost blending into the cement pillars holding up the courthouse wearing a gray windbreaker, a dark open-necked shirt and dark jeans with black sneakers.
He strolled down the steps toward them when he recognized the wave from Lauren. Curran watched him with a smile. Kwon knew how to move quickly without attracting attention.
Interesting.
He slid into the backseat and smiled at Lauren. “Good evening, Ms. Fields.”
“Kwon, please call me Lauren, okay.”
“Okay.” He turned to Curran. “What’s shakin’ muchacho?”
“We’re going to strike a blow for good, how does that sound to you?”
“I love a good blow,” said Kwon. He caught himself and slapped his forehead. “Oh, jeez, Lauren I’m sorry. I got a mouth like a sewer rat. Sometimes things just slip out.”
She laughed. “It’s okay, Kwon. I’m used to it. Besides, your joke was pretty funny.”
Kwon leaned back against the seat. “So, what’s the gig?”
“We’re paying Darius a visit.”
“Uh…and do what, exactly?”
“Stop him, of course.”
Kwon nodded. “Right.” He leaned a little closer to Curran’s headrest. “Listen, buddy, I don’t know if you noticed this or not but I’m more of a lover than a fighter. Dig? I don’t do much talking with my hands.”
“You’re more for show, okay?”
“Okay.” Kwon looked out the window. “So, what happens when we get there?”
“There’s something there we need to destroy.”
“You mean aside from the demon himself?”
“Uh huh.”
“What kind of something we looking for?”
“Some strange earthen jar that apparently contains the horrid putrid vomit of everyone he’s killed over the years.”
Kwon stayed quiet for a minute. “You freaking with me, Steve?”
“Not a chance, old buddy.”
“Five-year old vomit?”
“Some of it might be a lot older.” He shrugged. “Some of it might be aged like a fine wine. Say a hundred years?”
Lauren leaned back over the seat. “What we think is the vomit — what looks and smells like vomit — well, we think it may actually be the souls of the people this man has killed.”
“Their souls?”
Lauren nodded. “I know it sounds a bit strange.”
“Just a bit,” said Kwon. “But then again, I’m more of a believer than I suppose I oughta be. I’ll go along with whatever you guys say happened.”
“Thanks, Kwon,” said Curran.
“One question,” said Kwon. “If it’s their souls, how did it get to be vomit?”
Lauren looked back at Kwon again. “This man, this killer, he ingested their evil and then excreted it into the jar.”
“But it’s still vomit,” said Kwon.
“Looks that way,” said Curran.
“Man,” said Kwon. “I shoulda brought some gel for my nostrils.”
“Look at it this way,” said Curran. “At least you know ahead of time what the jar contains. I just opened it up and got the shock of my life.”
Kwon’s eyebrows danced. “You opened it?”
“Yeah.”
Kwon chuckled. “Cripes, did you lose your lunch or what?”
“Outside,” said Curran. “In the gutter.”
“And we’re destroying this jar?”
“Yep.”
“So what happens to the junk inside?”
“It goes down the drain,” said Curran. “Unless you’ve got a better idea.”
“Gonna be smelly no matter what we do with it,” said Kwon. “Guess the local sewer will have to suffice.”
Curran found his way to the new westbound entrance to the Massachusetts Turnpike and headed for the Newton exit. They could double back toward Chestnut Hill from there.
Kwon nursed the bottle of water in the back, occasionally whistling to himself. In the front seat Lauren stared out the window of the car as they drove.
Curran kept both hands on the wheel and sighed. His life had gone from strange to worse in only a matter of days. He’d broken the law today for the first time in his life. He was in love with a woman who was about to become a nun. His closest friend was a bizarre medical examiner who acted more like a gigolo than anything else.
And they were all on their way to confront the servant of Satan.
Curran grinned.
Whoever said his life would be ordinary, didn’t know jack crap.