The Witch's Bottle

Chapter 4 - Himiko

18:30 Hours

It had already been a long, tedious shift. The only excitement so far was with Maxine's paranoia. Keegs’ drunkenness was more comical. Since they were both settled, at least for now, we were back to boredom.

The deep November chill had set in. The window defogger had become our only source of heat. Because the RMP vents didn’t work.

Though we hadn't reached Thanksgiving, the Christmas season was showing. So much of the town already bore the lights and cheer that it brought. Though Christmas was my favorite time of year, it was coming way too soon.

Maxine was quiet. She mostly stared out of the window and bit her nails, a habit she had since before I knew her.  

"Central to any unit near Potter Church" 

The radio broke Maxine from her trance. "Not tonight, Kelly. Please?" She begged with praying hands. 

When I took the mic from its cradle, she sighed and threw her head back against the headrest. 

"For real? After what Keegan said, we're taking that call. Did you forget what's attached to the church?" 

Max threw her hands up in the air and yelled out of frustration.

I wasn't fond of times like this. When her anger flared, it could last for hours and sometimes days. 

So, I answered her question about what lay next to the church. 

"The graveyard."  

Max turned in her seat. She faced me. With a bladed hand, she exaggerated each word with a chop. 

"Witches—Died—There!" And that doesn't bother you?"

"Of course, it bothers me, sweetheart. That's why we have to do it.

I tried reasoning with Maxine. She knew we needed to confront this thing head on. I didn't want to be ruled by fear. Max's abandonment terrified me, but I would not be afraid of this.

I looked at her while holding the mic against my cheek and debated answering Central Dispatch. I knew Maxine was afraid and angry. 

"You're an asshole, Kelly. You really are, and I don't like you. I don't know if I can do this with you anymore." She pulled the mic from my hand and turned away from me.

"You know I get scared when you say that.” I pleaded that she put the handset down and forget the call. Instead, Max ignored me, put the mic to her mouth, and pressed the PTT.  

"Six-three David, show us responding." She looked out of the window for our location. "600 Boulevard."  

"Central to Six-Three David, copy. Handle code one."

Neither of us spoke, and the tension in the car was heavy. Code one meant to take your time with no lights or sirens. It wasn't what I wanted to hear. She hurt and terrified me. I had to leave the car as quickly as possible.

I kept telling myself that she didn't mean what she said. Her anger had gotten the better of her, and I knew it. I excused her words and thought about something better. 

I gently put my hand on her knee to see what she would do. It relieved me when she didn't swat it away or tell me to leave her alone. Instead, she turned to me with an apologetic smile.

"I'm sorry, baby. You're the love of my life, and I want to spend the rest of it with you." 

Max ran her fingers through my hair. She leaned her head on my shoulder, then took my hand in hers.

"I'm unsettled, Kelly, but I know what we have to do."

As we turned the corner onto Mill Pond Road, she squeezed my hand. I heard her take deep breaths, hold them, and then exhale. 

"Are you ready?" She nodded yes. 

I turned the headlights off before we reached the church. I pulled into the dirt driveway between the building and the graveyard. Maxine turned on the spotlight. I rolled down the front driver's side and passenger windows. Doing so increased our awareness and ability to hear. It also prepared us for the cold. 

The spotlight showed the heat coming from the engine. It cast an eerie shadow from the centuries-old gravestones that covered the yard. 

I slowed, and Max adjusted the beam. We saw the dust and dander kicked up by the car. I brought the RMP to a complete stop and saw a group of teenagers. They darted from the darkest and oldest part of the cemetery, each heading his own way. 

I put the car in park, rolled up the windows, and turned it off. As I opened the door, a cold winter's breath met my cheek. Maxine shivered and coughed.

"I'm not chasing them.” 

I looked at the digital display screen. "I'm with you, sweetie. It's 33 degrees outside, and I'm too tired to chase peon gangster wannabees."

We left the car and went into the yard. As we walked through the tombstones, I felt something. I could never explain it except to say that my Spidey senses were tingling. 

It felt uncomfortable and hot, like an unwelcomed heaviness that settled on my thoughts. I could feel the environment with heightened senses. I was connected.

 I stopped beside one of the tallest graves in the cemetery. It was nearly three hundred years old and built like a steeple. At least eight feet tall, it was weather worn. Cold, hard monuments surrounded it with ancient symbols that had faded. Broken headstones crumbled and became a part of the landscape. 

"I think we need to go check out the church," Max sighed, shook her head no, and coughed. 

"Uh-oh, now you're getting sick. You might have upset the spirits." 

She pretended to laugh, but not because I was being funny. Max told me multiple times that my sense of humor was stupid and dorky, even though she laughed at my jokes. Her current smile was a facade. She was battling a flood of emotions and needed to show me she was okay.

I reached out for her hand. Max took hold of it with both of hers and walked into my arms. We both smiled, giddy and smitten. She leaned forward, and our foreheads touched. We kissed. With our mouths open and lips pressed together, she whispered in a sexy voice. "Tag, you're it.”

I kissed her again."It won't take a minute. I'll be right back."

I handed her the keys and told her to stay warm. I promised a trip to Ray's Diner after the call so she could get her favorite tea.

Max turned and headed back to the RMP while I started towards the church. The feeling I was having got heavier the closer I went. I saw a flickering light in the sanctuary. 

Typically, I'd chalk it up to kids or teens getting their jollies off or their high on, but something about this night was different. Somehow, we went from witch's bottles to cultic threats and curses, and now the Potter Church.

The place was empty for three years. The City Council shut it down after a horrific murder-suicide.  

It was a story that furthered the town's reputation. 

****

We were first on the scene. They dispatched us to a suspicious person inside the church. It wasn't unusual back then. The building was a beacon for the occult. They broke in and had their necromancy, masses, and animal sacrifice in the center of the sanctuary. It was a magnet for witchery, sorcery, and demonism. 

We found two victims that night. The first was a wife and mother named Himiko Takeda. The second person was a gangbanger. His street name was Snowball.

When we entered the church, we found her hanging by the neck from the balcony. Her wrists had also been slit. 

Directly beneath her was a circle and a weird symbol drawn out of charcoal. A small nickel bag of Mescaline and m*******a, a feather, and a human tongue were in its center. The blood that slowly dripped from Himiko's fingers covered all of it.  

We found Snowball lying on a pew. He was shot in the head by the 38 on the floor. He was a bloody mess. Beside the GSW, it was his tongue that was in the circle. Someone had stabbed close him to thirty-five times, and just below his feet on the pew was his castrated p***s. 

Immediately, her husband, Kenji Takeda, became a person of interest. 

On the surface, he seemed the obvious suspect. He and Himiko divorced forty months earlier. They separated after Himiko’s diagnosis of brain cancer. Her parents told police that Kenji was intolerable when hearing it. So, he kept the children, made her leave, and filed a court order for custody. They granted the order without contestation. 

Himiko moved in with her parents. One morning, her father check in on her. She was gone. They reported her missing and immediately blamed Kenji.

Her mother told investigators that Himiko was leaving two times a day to get treatments, usually mid-morning, and late evening. However, the report also said that Himiko stayed overnight at the facility because of how sick the treatments made her. Neither of her parents knew the treatment center's name or location, and Kenji was not cooperating.

Many believed that Kenji killed his wife. This resulted in harsh accusations and rumors directed at him from within the community. 

At school, the children were being teased, harassed, and bullied. Classmates jumped His ten-year-old son. The house vandalism was constant, and Kenji received death threats. Himiko's parents sued for custody of the children. They were supported by the local Women and Children Advocacy. 

Then, when the soccer club refused his son's participation in their travel team, Kenji put the house on the market. However, the court stopped the process until they could reach a decision regarding the children. After two months of appearances and testimony, Kenji could continue with the sale. But because of the rumors surrounding Himiko's disappearance and her parent's constant interference with the house showings, it forced him to take next to nothing for his home. Finally, Kenji could move his family out of state and start over.  

It was two years later when we found Himiko and Snowball in the church. 

Kenji voluntarily spoke with detectives the next morning. Keegs and I were in the bullpen when I saw him. I remember the look on his face. He was in shock. He thought she was dead.

He told the homicide investigators that when Himiko changed; he thought it was because they were unsuccessfully trying to have another baby. She had two miscarriages in three months and had sought an OBGYN for tests. So, he thought it might have been depression from the constant disappointment. She became very jumpy, irritated and would lose her temper with the children. She would disappear for hours at a time, and she started missing the school pickups. 

Kenji noticed that three thousand dollars went missing from their joint savings account. Then, two weeks later, another missing five thousand dollars. He told detectives he tried to talk to her about it. But the more he asked for answers, the worse she became. 

He hired a private investigator when another forty-five hundred dollars went missing, as did two of his watches and her wedding ring. 

Kenji himself looked for clues in the house. In the bathroom, underneath the sink, he found small empty bags and some cellophane wrapping. She stuffed them in the middle of a book. The Grimoire for the Green Witch.' He was afraid. He told homicide what she was doing. Throughout the book were spells, divinations, and ritual practices. They were all underlined and marked as completed. She was trying to get pregnant. Her desperation led her to witchcraft.

The Private detective he hired followed Himiko to a crackhouse run by Shadow Posse in the Four-Three Precinct. He gave Kenji photographs of his wife and Snowball having i*********e on a park bench and in a car. There were also photos and a video of her exchanging s****l favors for drugs with other Shadow Posse members. 

Kenji confronted Himiko with the evidence. He wanted her to go to rehab and the police. She refused both. During the argument, her youngest son walked into the room and told her to stop yelling. She slapped him across the face and knocked him to the ground. That was when Kenji made her leave and began the process of divorce.

To hide all of this from his children and Himiko's parents, he concocted the story about brain cancer. 

The termination of the marriage was quick. Himiko answered none of the subpoenas and did not cooperate with case statements. It was uncontested, and they gave Kenji full custody of the children.  

He was married at the time of the murder. He and his wife were expecting.

There was something else, however. It was another gruesome discovery that was solved. 

After Kenji sold his house and moved out of state, the new owners let it fall into disrepair and then foreclosure. When it finally went to Sheriff's sale, a Real Estate Developer bought it.

Central sent Keegs and me to meet their home inspector at the house. While checking the crawl space, he found a bowling ball bag. Inside, he found the skeletal remains of an infant wrapped in a bathroom towel. 

The coroner's report showed that the baby suffered a broken neck.

So, when Kenji told the detectives the story about his wife, they collected DNA samples from Himiko and Snowball and compared them with the child. It was a 100% match for both.

Homicide then interviewed a Shadow Posse enforcer named Bullet, who was in Central Booking on drug charges. He not only ran with Snowball, but he knew Himiko. When they showed Bullet the crime scene photo, he confirmed and confessed to a very chilling and wicked story.

Himiko began using hallucinogens as part of a witch's coven ceremony. She and the other charmers got high and performed a fertility ritual. However, Himiko became riddled with guilt and shame. The worse her depression became, the harder the drugs she used. Eventually, c***k cocaine became her drug of choice. She left the coven and her family to stay at the bando.  

Bullet told detectives that Shadow Posse was using an agent to push Himiko deeper into addiction. She was yellow and beautiful and could make the gang a lot of money in s*x trafficking.

Himiko had a one thousand dollar-a-day c***k habit that she couldn't financially keep up with. Snowball threatened to go after her kids if she didn't start sexing him and members of Shadow Posse. He then threatened to kill Kenji if she refused to stay at the drug house. 

Snowball turned Himiko out and dominated her. 

He began using her as a p********e and a s****l plaything. He was trafficking her to anyone who would buy. 

Then she became pregnant. However, she didn't know because of the drug use. When she went into labor, she feared Snowball would kill her. So, she called Bullet.

She had him take her to her old home, which was now abandoned. In the bathtub in the house where she loved her husband and raised their children, she gave birth to a son. Then, knowing she couldn't keep him, she asked Bullet to kill it and get rid of the body. So he snapped the baby's neck, put it in a bowling ball bag, and buried it deep inside of the crawlspace.

After the murder-suicide, case detectives speculate she lured him to the church, had s*x with him, and shot him in the head. Then, after she mutilated him, she slit her wrists and hung herself from the rafters. 

When they solved the case and went public, a young girl named Mary Mullaney approached detectives. 

Mary was a recovered h****n addict and p********e who knew Himiko from the coven. Mary admitted to having influenced Himiko into witchcraft and purposely got her addicted. She then sold her to Shadow Posse to afford her habit and standing within the gang. She was the agent that Bullet spoke of.

Mary confessed to detectives about having birthed a child of her own. She suffocated the baby for fear of reprisal from the coven. 

She led investigators to Haley's woods to a spot near Shenandoah Creek. CSI searched for any sign of the child, but they found nothing. There were no filed charges because homicide labeled her as being mentally defective from the overuse of narcotics. 

Within the next four months, we arrested her three times for trespassing on Potter's land and once for assaulting a police officer. She was so obsessed with the church, graveyard, and finding her child's body that it drove her mad. 

Finally, on a frozen February morning, she committed suicide. She broke the ice beneath the witch's dunking tree near Potter Graveyard, tied a forty-five-pound weight around her hands, and drowned herself in Mill Pond.