Poem: "One Evil with Another"

This poem was written outside the regular prompt calls. This poem was written outside the regular prompt calls. It fills the "Why do humans think they can rectify one evil with another?" square in my 10-1-21 card for the Fall Festival Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with fuzzyred, ng_moonmoth, janetmiles, and edorfaus. It belongs to the Not Quite Kansas series.  (See the landing page.)

Warning: This poem contains material that may disturb some readers.  Highlight to read the warnings, some of which are spoilers.  It includes canon-typical violence, a murder victim, professional angst, forensic spellcasting, past blackmail, and other mayhem. If these are touchy topics for you, please consider your tastes and headspace before reading onward.


"One Evil with Another"

[Monday, November 19, 2018]

They were minding their own business
when Raymond literally tripped over
the dead body lying in the alley.

Well, technically they were looking
for leads that might help them
get home, or at least learn more
about the world they were stuck in --
but they hadn't been looking for
somebody's random crime scene.

"Shit," Gideon said, staring at
the body. "Now what do we do?"

"Shall I banish it?" Barb asked.

"No, it's a crime scene, the police
will need to know what happened,"
Raymond said. "I wish that I
hadn't disturbed the body."

"You really want to risk
dealing with the police in
this world? And hope that
our cover stories hold?"
Gideon said. "I don't."

Raymond sighed. "I'm
still a cop, Gideon, even if
I'm not part of the department
here," he said. "I can't just
let a crime go unsolved."

"Well," Barb said, licking
his nose, "perhaps I could
help solve the mystery for you."

"How?" Raymond wondered.

"There are spells," Barb said.
"Ways to see the past, or
follow the trails of blood."

"If it's that easy, then why
would someone commit
a crime and leave the body
here, when they'd be sure
to get caught? said Raymond.

Barb smiled, showing off
his cat-sharp teeth. "Look
there," he said, pointing. "See
the sigil? It's mean to block
police scrying spells and such.
But it won't work on me."

"So you could find out
what happened, maybe
even who the murderer is,
and we could give that to
the police anonymously,"
Gideon said. "Raymond,
is that good enough for you?"

"Yeah, it'll do," he said. "I'd
rather more, but you're right
about not taking risks with
the police in this world."

"Go ahead, Barb, and
thank you," said Gideon.

Barb blinked at them, bemused
as always by any appreciation.

Then he hissed and spit the words
of the ear-wrenching demon language.

The sigil by the body burned away.

Ghostly forms appeared in the air,
two men arguing, and then one
bludgeoned the other with a brick.

Barb made a happy sound. "I
got a name," he announced,
then carefully wrote it down.

"Benjerly Meesel," said Raymond.
"That will certainly help the case."

Then Barb sighed. "I found out
why he did it," the demon said.

"Now you sound unhappy,"
Raymond said. "What's wrong?"

"The victim was blackmailing him
and asked for even more money,"
Barb said, ears flattening. "It's all
so sordid. I've seen this sort of
thing over and over. Why do
humans think they can rectify
one evil with another?"

"I don't know, Barb, they
just do," Raymond said.
"I've seen it in my job too."

"Sometimes it's not about
rectifying anything, though,"
said Gideon. "Sometimes it's
just wanting to make it stop."

"Yes," Barb whispered.
"When it gets bad enough,
people will do anything for that."

"All right, how do we get a tip
to the cops about this stuff?"
Gideon said. "We don't want
to deal with them directly."

Barb flicked his fingers,
and the paper that held
the murderer's name was
wafted into the victim's coat.

"I've already scryed into
his checkbook, and it shows
the withdrawals for blackmail,"
Barb said. "Do you think they
can put together those pieces?"

"If they can't, then they're not
proper cops at all," said Raymond.
"I'm satisified with this, thanks.
We just need to notify them."

"Leave that to me," said Barb.

He borrowed Gideon's phone
and charmed it to be untraceable.

Then he did an impressive performance
of a college girl panicking over the body,
gasping out the alley's address before
bursting into tears and hanging up.

They all headed toward home at
a brisk pace, so they'd be well away
from the scene when the police arrived.

Raymond wasn't completely happy
with the situation, but it was as good
as he could get without putting them
at much worse risk with no guarantee
that it would bring any better outcome.

"Thank you for helping, Barb," he said.
"I know justice isn't really your thing."

"No," the demon said, "it's yours."

Raymond smiled. It might not be
possible to rectify one evil with another,
but one good turn certainly led to another.