“My name is Cora Veronica Elder,” she stated with pride. “As you will learn, I was famous in the past within the world you recall. I gave readings to queens and kings. I was the toast of spiritual societies throughout the world and even helped to establish one in the United States.”

“What happened?”

“I retired into my world. However, someone betrayed me. Now my presence is like a ghost wrapped up in an enigma. My spirit oversees my domain and I only let those worthy enter or leave.”

Of course, that memory pissed me off, and I pointed it out.

“You had to stay in Stull Junction,” she said without apology. “How else could you finish your work with Antonio? Once you left, there were no guarantees that you’d return. After all, you have little incentive to come back with a rich wife standing next to you.”

“Alright, you might have a point. But what about Adele and Sally? They look exactly like movies stars back in the thirties, but Adele didn’t even recognize herself when I showed her a picture at the movie theater.”

Cora rose from the bed.

“That’s because she’s a familiar. Those living here come from memory and fantasy. Think of it this way: when someone watches a movie, are those characters real or not? Inside your mind, they’re authentic enough for you to fantasize about their actions or sympathize with their emotions.” Cora twirled around like she was dancing.

“I’ve always loved the movies, even from the earliest days when you read the captions. When you come here to my dimension, the unseen images come to life, so to speak. Most people you see are familiars. But they’re not under my control.”

“I was right. They’re nothing more than characters.” My self-satisfied smile caused her to chuckle.

“You’re pretty sure of yourself. However, what does your concept of characters entail? You realize that this world isn’t a video game dredged up by programmers, don’t you?”

“You forget I went to your time and other times in the modern world. I’ve seen the games that people play. Nothing more than a technology without a soul,” she scoffed. “My domain is spiritual and tied to the reality of a time in the past. Those in it follow their hearts, carry an independent will, fall in love, have babies, and die. You only survived because of a familiar who donated blood to replace the amount that you lost.”

Her words made me pause.

“Are you saying that they are alive like me? How is such a thing possible?”

“The philosopher Socrates said that true wisdom comes to each of us when we realize how little we understand about life, ourselves, and the world around us. I agree with his assessment that the soul’s ability to nourish itself lies in the heart.”

Cora gave me a bemused smile that irritated me. I glared at her because she didn’t give me a straight answer.

“Let’s put this philosophy crap aside,” I growled. “Since I’m here, what do you really want if I’ve passed this damn test of yours?”

“Oh, that’s simple. Someone killed me and disposed of my body. I want you to find the body and identify who killed me. Otherwise, this dimension disappears, and you will disappear with it.”

To say I found myself in complete shock at the idea is an understatement. Someone asked me to find their killer, or their world disappeared.

I looked at Cora, trying to decide if I accepted the idea that her dimension depended on me. So, I went for the obvious question.

“What the hell are you talking about? You have a body right here.”

“No, like I said, I’m a spirit with certain powers. Someone murdered me, then they disposed of my corpse. But my power fades faster with each passing of the sun. It’s necessary for me to enter the next dimension soon.”

“Why can’t you figure it out? You own this place from what you told me.”

The woman shook her head.

“No, I own nothing. Stull Junction comes from many sources beyond my capabilities. Each outsider who arrives imprints their own beliefs and fantasies into this realm. Beyond that, I have no memories of the evening. I supposed that’s not unexpected, since that occurred on the day of my first passing. Of course, I have a pretty good idea about the culprits involved, but I can’t control outsiders or familiars. Only those who I’ve brought here can I control with my spiritual power. Even if I remove those that killed me, I can’t retrieve my body.”

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I shook my head.

“You’re forgetting that I’m not a detective. I’m just a college student you forced into this damn place. Why didn’t you get a real detective?”

“But I did, four times, as a matter of fact. Each one of them was working as either a policeman or a private detective. They came from the world of outsiders, the same place I brought you from.” She walked around the bed and placed her finger on my nose to emphasize the fact.

“You caught my attention with your bragging that night in the tavern. And I was correct. You figured out how to take down a notorious villain created for this city. So, you’re the right person for the job.”

Cora’s confidence struck me as childish.

“Wait a minute,” I moved her hand from my face. “First off, those things I discovered about this place come from the notes of at least one of these Lane Dagger’s that you brought here. And you still haven’t explained about this dimension disappearing.”

She patted me on my injured shoulder, nearly bringing me to tears.

“Damn it!”

“Oh, I forget mortals feel pain like that.” She smiled, and I knew she didn’t really forget. “Anyway, that’s enough for now. I need to get back. It’s playtime at my house and the boys need their fun.” She walked over to her demons and turned back to me.

“When you get released from this place, come see me. I’m at the top of the hill.”

“What makes you think I’ll do this?”

The bitch grinned and placed her index finger on her lips playfully.

“Because you like a challenge. Anyway, you don’t have a choice, do you? Now be nice. You have visitors coming.”

Miss Wonderful blew me a kiss and her figure suddenly turned into a flat, two-dimensional image. The large men with horns did the same thing. Those two-dimensional figures slid into the corner of the room, and I watched them disappear into the wall. It appeared that the wall itself sucked them into it.

Immediately, the door to my room opened, and I saw Adele, followed by Sally and Shane O’Conner.

“You look like hell,” Adele said as she stayed by the door. Sally paused behind her, then came around with the ex-cop.

“She’s right about that,” Shane agreed with a smile. “As you can see, they’re back.”

I looked at them and told them I was fuzzy about things.

“What happened? I woke up just a few minutes ago.”

O’Conner threw his hat on the end of the bed and came around to the other side.

“Winton arrived with his guys and arrested Antonio, you dunce. He and his gang are behind bars with charges a mile long. I came along with them to make sure you were still alive.”

He glanced at Adele and frowned.

“Anyway, we got an ambulance for you after seeing several buckets of blood on the floor. Somehow you hung on. The D.A. is on cloud nine. He hit the jackpot with the heroin in there...” he paused. “Well, you are not getting charged, even though some of the dead had bullets from your gun. That was self-defense by the textbook.”

The tension in the room remained high and I could tell something was off. I looked at Adele, and she remained silent.

“Alright, what are you not telling me? Shouldn’t you be happy that Antonio is in jail?”

“Yeah, that’s great,” Sally said. “I’m really thankful for that...” She hesitated. “The thing is, that there might be charges from what happened at my house with Joe.”

“What do you mean?”

Everyone remained silent, and I got pissed off with the hide and seek going on.

“Damn it, somebody talk to me?”

O’Conner spoke up after rubbing his head.

“I heard that the D.A. is coming after you for shooting up the neighborhood when you got Sally out of there. Since Joe got shot, some neighbors are saying you took the law into your hands when you shot Antonio’s man. They have a witness who claims the guy was unarmed.”

“Lane, it’s a lie,” Sally interjected.

I nodded with relief.

“That’s right, you saw it!” However, I paused when I saw her hurt expression.

“You were driving, so you didn’t see it, is that it?”

“I’m sorry, I should have told them I saw you defending yourself,” she looked away.

“Hell, don’t get so worked up. I’ll find a talented lawyer and it’ll be fine.” I looked at Adele, still trying to understand the obvious distance.

“Say, I’m sure that you and your wife need to talk. I’ll take Mrs. Vaugh to a hotel,” O’Conner offered.

Sally agreed and said goodbye as they left. I watched Adele, who unconsciously clinched, then unclenched her hand several times.

“You’re wrapped tighter than a guitar string. What’s going on?” I finally asked.

“I want you to sign those divorce papers,” she replied.

“And the hits keep on coming,” I mused as my head fell back into the pillow.

Silence filled the room. I moved my position since one leg felt numb and sucked in some air at the pain in my shoulder. I looked over to speak, and I saw her upset expression.

“So, now you hate me again just when I think I’ve fixed the problems. I swear, I’ll never understand women.”

“No Lane, it’s quite the opposite.” Her words were nearly a whisper. Adele kept her focus on the floor.

“The truth is that I can’t stand the thought of what’s coming next. I’ll be the one getting the visit from the police to go to the morgue so they can identify your body.” She started playing with her purse. “Every night since I got the news, I can’t stop thinking about the blood and pain I witnessed on the train. Then, I came into this room when we got back, and I saw how near death you looked. It nearly broke me, Lane. Every day I waited, hoping that you’d wake up with that childish grin. Now, I see you with your black and blue face, wearing all those bandages...It’s not fair...”

Adele paused. Then she had a question for me.

“Why do you want to rip out my heart?”

I’ll say this about Adele’s words. They really struck me hard. Sure, I’m still reeling a bit from Cora’s revelations about this place. But I finally realized the full extent of my selfishness.

Handing out pain like candy to someone who doesn’t deserve such things seems like it’s been my forte since I arrived. Certainly, no programed character could find the depth of emotions that I witnessed. It was clear that I wanted these people around me to act like NPC’s, to remain devoid of passions and feelings so I could do the same.

Keeping that attitude makes my decisions easy for me. After all, there’s no reason to worry about the ramifications for someone who’s not real. If you never say you love or care for someone, then it doesn’t matter if you screw them around. It’s the perfect game. Yet, Adele came around because of my attention. She held feelings for a jerk, then came back to the man she fell in love with. She certainly deserved better, but I used her to achieve my desires with no real consideration.

It seems that makes me the perfectly real asshole, Lane Dagger.