Body Swappers 7
Maya meets Robert.
“I’m Robert Sullivan,” he said, then gestured to the other man. “This is my client, Coby Wagner. And I’d like for him to tell you his account of the time during which he’s accused of having murdered his neighbor.”
Maya focused on Coby for the first time. He struck her as a late forties businessman who’d probably excelled at some sport or another when he was younger, before he’d developed his beer gut.
“Thanks Robert.” He was steepling his hands, and he pointed them across the table as he began speaking. “I was in my condo that evening, watching TV. I must have dozed off, because I remember closing my eyes for a while, and when I opened them my show was over. But a while later I realized I had a bandage on that I didn’t remember putting on, and when I took it off I had a scratch that I don’t remember getting. They say they scraped the dead guy’s nails and found my skin there. They did a DNA match.”
“And,” Robert said, drawing Coby’s attention, “did you kill him?”
“No,” Coby said, a little orange shooting through his aura.
“Did you see that?” Robert asked, looking at Ruth and Maya.
Maya shrugged. Ruth said, “He’s telling the truth.”
“What?” Maya asked. “Auras show emotions. They aren’t lie-detector tests.”
Robert raised an eyebrow. “But people have different emotions about lying than about telling the truth. Cautious, ashamed, insecure, overwhelmed. Not annoyed.”
“I suppose.”
Ruth leaned toward Coby. “Would you mind giving us a sample of your blood for a minute? You can have it back before you leave here.”
“Why’s that?”
“It’s so we can perform a transference, so we can better understand what happened.”
Coby rolled his eyes and looked at Robert.
“I recommend you do it,” Robert said, spreading his hands. “I know you’re skeptical about magic, but we’ve already come all the way here, and I believe they can help us. You’ve seen my success rates.”
Coby sighed. “Fine.”
Ruth pulled open a drawer and took out gloves, an alcohol wipe, a cotton swab, an empty tube, a bandage, and a lancet. She wiped off the tip of his finger and lanced it with practiced certainty, squeezing a few drops onto the cotton swab then pushing it into the tube before bandaging the finger.
Ruth said, “What I have in mind here is a first-level transference, where my consciousness will be pulled into your body with you, and you will remain in control. Once I’m there, you have the ability to open up to me, and let me see your thoughts. At that point, if you remember that evening again, I can see your memory along with you. See if I notice anything you missed, that might help us out.”
“Sure.”
Ruth picked up the tube and rolled it in her palm. “Normally we’d set up a key phrase for you to think when you want this to start, but since we’re doing it right now, I’ll initiate as soon as I have your consent. Coby Wagner, do I have your permission to start a first-level transference with you?”
Coby’s mouth quirked. “Yeah. Let’s do it.”
Maya felt like a breeze had passed nearby, and she watched the aura which typically burned around Ruth move, flowing over the table and resting just outside of Coby’s aura. The smirk fell off his face. Maya looked at Robert, ready to share a silent chuckle with him, and found him staring at her. Her breath caught from the intensity of his focus, but as soon as he saw her looking, he looked away. She frowned and watched Ruth’s aura glowing while Coby closed his eyes. While she waited for Ruth to experience the memory, she rolled her tight shoulder.
Why was he looking at me like that?
Her thoughts spun for the few minutes it took before Ruth returned to her body.
“Maya, I think you should give it a try.”
Maya took the tube from Ruth, and held it loosely between her two hands. Shoving the thoughts she’d been having out of the way, she met Coby’s eyes and asked, “Coby Wagner, do I have your permission to start a first-level transference with you?”
Coby nodded, a bit spacey as though he were dazed.
“Are you sure?”
His voice a little husky, he said, “Yes, you have permission.”
Maya imagined the drops of blood in between her hands as a gateway, and imagined herself passing through it. She rushed forward, suddenly in Coby’s body, seeing herself across the table.
Okay, I’m here. Can you open up to me like Ruth had you do for her?
Hi. This is so weird.
Coby closed his eyes, sealing them in darkness, but almost instantly Maya saw a television in front of her, felt a beer in one hand. A newscaster started commenting on a football game. They took a swig from the beer, which tasted much better on his tongue than it ever did on Maya’s, and watched some football star throw up their hands in frustration. Names and football phrases leaked over from Coby’s consciousness.
There was a moment of blinking his eyes, and blackness, and then the jabbering of the TV refocused him. Maya felt confusion and frustration from Coby as he realized his game was over, and he held up his beer. It was still half full, but it was completely room temperature.
I must be really tired, he started to think to himself, but then he noticed the bandaids on the arm holding up the beer. What?
He ripped them off, revealing a distinctive scratch pattern. Human nails had raked skin.
Hold on, Maya thought at him. Can you go back to when you were falling asleep? Try to remember it as clearly as you can. Particularly how your body felt.
The football game was playing, and Coby closed their eyes. Maya felt something familiar about the vague whoosh she felt. Then everything was quiet and dark, with no blue light filtering through their eyelids and no sound of commentary made senseless through lack of attention. Coby’s body relaxed. Maya wasn’t sure how much time passed before he opened their eyes and they were looking at the television screen again.
Here, Maya thought. Let me imagine something for you, and tell me if this is what you felt.
Okay, Coby thought, and the sound and sight of the television dissipated.
Maya imagined herself sitting with her eyes closed, meditating. Then she imagined the feeling of a transference. The unmistakable flowing outward and across space, which had become so commonplace given her job. While trying her hardest to be open to Coby and to let him feel what she was feeling, she spent all the rest of her focus concentrating on that sensation, of leaving oneself to go elsewhere.
Yes, that’s exactly how it felt, he said.
Thank you, Maya thought. I’ll head back now. And to herself, she thought, Guess I’m heading home now.
She flowed back to her own body and opened her eyes. Maya and Robert were watching her expectantly.
“There was definitely a transference,” she said. “I’m not sure how long he was out of his body, but it was a lot like sleeping. He couldn’t see or hear anything. I can see why he thought he’d just dozed off, given that he doesn’t believe in magic.”
“Well, didn’t,” Coby said. “It’s a little different when people start talking in your head, isn’t it?”
Ruth said, “I thought it felt like a transference, but I wasn’t sure.” She turned to Robert. “But I suppose I should be calling it a possession, since it was not performed with Coby’s knowledge or consent.”
“Are you saying my body did kill that guy?” Coby asked. He was pale.
Robert held his gaze. “It appears so.”
Maya asked, “Did you lose blood before then? Nosebleed, cut, anything you can remember.”
Coby shook his head. “No, I don’t think so.”
Robert said, “Coby, I’m going to do everything I can for you. Right now magic isn’t recognized in court, and I can’t use this as a defense. There’s a bill up this election which might change that. I can certainly delay the court that long, in the hopes that it’ll go through. In the meantime, the best thing for your case would be to gather evidence to strengthen this argument.”
Robert shifted his gaze back to Ruth and Maya. “I typically handle lesser charges than murder. Since accepting Coby’s case, I’ve been preparing by doing some research into recent murder cases in Spokane. And I’ve noticed something strange. In the past year or so, there have been three times the usual number of murders, and most of them, like Coby’s, don’t have sensical motives. Also like Coby’s, in most of them the accused tends to live within walking distance of the victim. I think it’s possible these murders are connected, and I don’t think the police are as equipped to investigate them as we are.”
“We?” Maya asked.
“I’m asking for your help looking into this. You two are more familiar with transference than I am. I’m a sensitive, but I never advertised myself as one. I watch people’s auras while they talk to try to figure out if they’re being truthful, and I watch people’s auras while I talk to figure out if my arguments are persuasive. I don’t tend to do anything so active with my talents as you Crisis Management Agents do.”
“Other than the occasional exorcism,” Maya muttered. Robert flashed her a real, genuine smile then, and she caught herself before she grinned back.
Ruth was silent for a moment, then said, “We don’t currently offer investigation as one of our services, and our shifts are pretty full. Let me take this to our boss. I can get back to you by Friday.”
Robert stood, and the rest of them did, too. “Thank you so much for your help,” he said, offering Ruth his hand. They shook while Maya handed Coby the vial with his bloody cotton swab and shook hands with him. Then Coby stepped around the table and shook hands with Ruth.
Standing face-to-face with Robert, Maya was almost shy to shake his hand. A breath later and the contact was over. Robert cocked his head to one side and offered her his business card. “In case you want to talk more about that exorcism,” he said. Maya took it silently, wondering if that’s all it meant. Then Robert offered Ruth a card as well, and she felt embarrassed about her thought. “Let me know the ruling.”
Then they were saying goodbye and walking out the door, and then they were gone.
“Well,” Ruth said. “Hopefully the rest of your shift isn’t so interesting.”
“Yeah,” Maya said, pocketing Robert’s business card. She wondered how it possibly could be.