The Head, Chapter 49
we need a leader
Chapter 49
Detective Thelma O’Neill was in her office. A cop knocked on her door and informed her that three women wanted to see her. “You busy?”
The three women were ushered into her office. One of them was the trailer court witch, Mrs. Cord. Thelma remembered her; she had once led a search of Mrs. Cord’s trailer. She also recognized the deaf one, Laura Ott. She had interviewed her and her boyfriend after they got caught trying to break into Mrs. Cord’s trailer.
Without waiting for permission, the three women sat down in Thelma’s office chairs.
The one she didn’t know said, “I’m Becky Simms. I work at Red’s Place. I know your husband, Billy. I was a friend of Mitch Nelson’s. We are here to talk to you about the head. We need your help.”
The deaf one smiled and nodded.
Thelma said, “Excuse me?”
The witch said, “We know where it is.”
“Where what is?”
Becky and the witch did all the talking.
“The golden head. We’ve located it.”
Thelma shifted in her chair. “I’ll bite. Where is it?”
Becky said, “You know what it is. You know exactly what it is.”
The witch said, “Don’t pretend you don’t.”
“We know that you know.”
Thelma said, “Hold on a second.”
Becky said, “She knows alright. You know, don’t you? Don’t lie. You know what we are up against. Something supernatural. Something evil.”
The witch said, “We are going to attack it.”
Becky said, “Possibly kill it.”
Thelma held up her hands. “Hold on a goddamn minute, I said.”
“And you are gonna lead us.”
Thelma felt as if her office had been invaded by crazy people.
“We are not sure if it can be killed.”
“It may be immortal.”
“Laura here thinks it is probably immortal.”
The deaf one nodded her head.
“It can get into your head. Into your mind. Especially if you are male.”
“Which is why we need a woman.”
“We need you to lead.”
Thelma leaned forward in her chair. “Lead? Lead what? You want me to--? You can’t be serious. I am an officer of the law.”
“You know what it is, what it can do. You have experience. We need you to be our leader.”
“Wait a damn minute. You can’t just barge in here and –”
“Because you are big and tough and strong.”
Thelma wasn’t sure if she was being praised or insulted. “Do you ladies realize I am a police detective?”
“Also, you have weapons.”
“When we invade that house, just to be safe, we may need to restrain certain men, the men whose minds it has already infiltrated. Her boyfriend, for example.” The witch pointed at Laura Ott. “And my son, Jimmy.”
Thelma said, “I am a police officer, and you are just civilians. We can’t just –”
Becky explained, “We’re not as worried about that guy Lannister, the man who beheaded Mitch, because you’ve already got him locked up.”
The witch said, “We think when we go in, when we invade that house, those men that it controlled, her Franklin and my son Jimmy, they may get agitated. They may need to be restrained.”
“And you have handcuffs.”
“We believe it dislikes women, so we are not as affected by it. We believe it dislikes our female minds. We can do this, we think we can, but we need a strong leader.”
Thelma mopped her face. The horrible thing was that she was beginning to understand these women. She did understand. She did know what the head was.
“We have never broken into a house before, so we need advice. Not just advice. Leadership.”
Thelma said, “A house? It’s in a house? Whose house?”
“In short, we need a leader.”
“Someone good at tactics.”
“A woman who is big, tough, brave, and experienced.”
“And has weapons.”
“In short, Detective O’Neill, we need you.”
Happy to see the women getting things done!