The Finders

-Joan?

Joan, in the back of the car, earphones over her head, doesn’t answer. With her left leg, she kicks to the beat of the music and keeps hitting the driver’s seat in which her father sits.

-Joan?

Lucas keeps his eyes on the road. The day is fading fast and he wants to drive carefully but the kicks at the small of his back keep coming and... Leaning, he reaches behind the seat with his hand, grasping for the leg of his daughter.

-JOAN!

Joan screams. Lucas removes his hand and leans further, trying to look at her while keeping the car on a straight line.

-Honey, I’m sorry but-

The car hits something. The windshield cracks and a dark form is sent flying off the road. Lucas hits the brakes, and the sedan comes to a screeching halt.

-Joan are you ok?

Joan slips off her headphones and nods.

-Yes. What happened?

Lucas slides the car on the shoulder, puts it in park and unclips his seatbelt.

-Think we might have hit a deer or something. Let me go see.

Lucas gets out the car and inspects the front. The fender is cracked, the windshield too but there is no trace of blood, only a slimy goo that smells of trash.

-Did we hit a trash bag?

Lucas walks to the back of the car. Gravel crunches under his shoes. There is no deer body on the road or the shoulder. No blood either and no trace of trash or bag. Leaning in, Lucas looks in the ditch and sees a black briefcase laying on the ground.

-Uh?

Lucas slides down the ditch and walks towards the briefcase. Joan calls to him.

-Dad? Did we hit a deer? Is it dead?

Lucas tenses.

-Everything is fine Joan. Wait in the car!

Joan shuts up and Lucas sighs. ‘I’ve had her three days’, he thinks ‘and I already suck at this’.

Lucas squats on the ground and pulls the case to him. He pops it open and the lid rises to reveal stacks of money. Enough stacks to fill the case from side to side, from bottom to top. On the stacks rests a little black book.

-Jesus Fucking Christ.

Lucas lets go of the case as if burned and stands up. Wide-eyed, he pivots left to right, then right to left, looking, seeking. There’s nothing to see but road and woods. He takes a step back and rubs his face with his hands. The piles in there come well over 200000$.

-My god. So much money.

Joan leans through the window.

-Dad, what’s going on?

Lucas turns.

-STAY IN THE CAR JOAN!

Joan slips back in the car. Lucas closes the case and stays there for a moment.

So. Much. Money.

His mind made up, he grabs the briefcase, runs, sits at the wheel, tosses his cargo on the passenger seat, puts the car in gear and hits the gas. The car slides and throws pebbles every which way until the tires bite pavement. Lucas accelerates and keeps looking at the rear-view mirror for a few kilometers before finally relaxing. Joan, in the back, asks:

-Dad? Are you ok?

Lucas smiles.

-Yes. Yes, I am. In fact, I think we’re both ok.

They drive for a couple of miles, move to the highway, and lose themselves in traffic, ending up on a side road to slide in the parking lot of the Green Pine Hotel. Lucas first thought he’d stop at a cheap motel but realized he can afford better. With a giggle, he parks the car, grabs his bag and the suitcase after stuffing a wad of bills in his pockets.

-Come on, we’ll stop here for the night.

***

The suite is amazing. It has a big screen tv, a gigantic bathtub and even a fireplace. Lucas drops bag and suitcase and falls in the couch.

-Would you look at this. We can live like kings for tonight.

Joan looks around, clutching her backpack to her chest. Then she stares at the briefcase Lucas dropped by his bag.

-Daddy, if you found a briefcase, then we must have hit a person, don’t you think?

Lucas frowns.

-There was nobody there, Joan. Also, no blood. I think maybe the briefcase fell from a car or truck and then hit our car.

Joan comes to stand in front of him.

-But Daddy, we were alone on that road.

Lucas frowns. ‘I had some luck, for a change’ he thinks. ‘Why shouldn’t I have some luck? There must have been a truck. Or a car.’

Joan moves closer to him, still clutching her bag.

-Dad, there was no other car or truck!

Lucas’s jaw clenches and he leans forward, grabbing Joan by the shoulders.

-Enough, you nagging bitch!

Joan pulls back and Lucas lets her go. His face red, he stands, walks to the mini-fridge, and pulls out numerous liquor bottles. Popping the tops, he gulps a few of them and relaxes.

-Yes, that does it. That does it fine.

Joan, still clutching her bag, is now sitting on a bed as far away from Lucas as possible. Tears roll down her face. Lucas looks at her and sighs, then comes to kneel on the floor in front of her. He smiles.

-I’m sorry, honey. I’m… I’m new at being a full-time dad. I know you miss your mom and you’re stuck with me. I’ll do my best, ok?

Joan nods. Lucas pats her knee.

-Good. Now this case I found, it means nice things for us, hey? No crappy apartment. Only the best.

Joan nods again. Lucas grabs the remote control and turns on the T.V.

-Look here, they have a bunch of Disney movies on demand. You want to pick one? Then we can order from room service and they’ll bring us our food right here. It’ll be like a picnic for rich people!

Joan’s smile is wider this time. She grabs the remote and starts scrolling through the colorful displays on the screen.

-They have Aladdin!

Lucas, busy foraging for the room service menu, says:

-Aladdin it is, honey.

Menu found, he lets Joan select a burger and fries, with a slice of pie and a piece of chocolate cake ‘two desserts, like the queens do’, she says. He gets a sub and pie for himself, with coffee. She gets sprite. The food comes in, Lucas tips the waiter, and they gorge, watching Aladdin go from street rat to prince. Lucas looks at the suitcase.

-Seems like I found my own magic lamp, he mutters to himself.

The movie ends, Joan insists on trying the giant bathtub and finally, she goes to bed. Lucas looks at her and feels strange. Like in a dream.

-I’m a dad, he says, not for the first time in the past few days. The words feel a bit less awkward.

Not tired one bit, Lucas remembers the little black notebook and pulls it out of the case.

The notebook is filled up to the last page with notes that look like this:

Adam – L, acquired / delivered.

Rowan – Cs, acquired / delivered.

Michelle – M, acquired / delivered.

Eric – Ks, acquired / delivered.

On the last page, just before the last, empty line, are those words:

Andre – H, acquired

Lucas frowns. No delivered? He spends a while trying to make sense of the list, but nothing comes to mind, so he shrugs and puts the book back in the case and goes to bed. His last thought before sleep claims him is ‘today was my lucky day’.

***

The smell is the first thing to reach Lucas. It’s somewhere between dead fish and a trashcan left in the sun for too long. Then he hears Joan scream and is fully awake.

The lights are on and he sees Joan first, curled against the headboard of her bed, clutching a pillow to her chest then the smell gets stronger. Lucas turns around.

His mind goes blank for a few seconds.

The thing standing in the room has leathery skin. What looks like a dark trenchcoat falls around its silhouette, but closer examination shows that the coat is part of the thing’s body. The hands have long fingers that twitch like spider legs and the face, the face is covered by a long-beaked mask like the plague doctors of old used to wear and the eyes are hidden behind red tinted goggles. Lucas moans: he doesn’t think he could stand the thing’s face.

It looks around the room, sees the briefcase and grabs it. A short inspection reveals the missing money and notebook. It turns around and despite the goggles, Lucas knows it’s looking at him.

-You took my money and my book. You destroyed the heart.

The voice comes from the beak, which makes a clacking sound, closing sharp on every word and Lucas’s hair rise all over his body.

It’s not a mask, it’s the thing’s face!

The voice is full of phlegm, it’s wet and somehow, warm but not a comforting warmth, no. More like the heat of moist flesh burning with disease.

Lucas reaches for the bedside table and fumbles around. He’s afraid to look away from the thing. After what seems forever, his hand finds the booklet and he holds it out.

-Here. I’m… I’m sorry, here is your book.

The thing comes forward and grabs the book. One finger brushes against Lucas’s flesh and he whimpers.

Joan is sobbing, face buried in her pillow.

The thing flips the booklet open to the last page then reaches a hand towards Lucas and snaps its fingers. Lucas stares then grasps what it wants and fumbles once more in the side table, pulling out a pen with the hotel monogram on it. As he hands the pen to the thing, he can read ‘Green Pine Hotel’ on it and part of his mind laughs. Part of his mind breaks.

The thing scribbles something in the book, then pauses. The beak, closed, jerks up and down. The thing walks around the room and Lucas realizes it’s sniffing. The red tinted goggles turn towards Joan and the thing’s beak clacks open and close a few times.

-The Finders always finds what is needed, no matter the cost.

The Finder drops the booklet and jumps towards Lucas, who screams in surprise but can’t pull back fast enough. Long, moist fingers curl around Lucas’s head and he screams as his mind shuts down. The last thing he hears as darkness takes him is Joan screaming.

***

Lucas comes to and sits up, memory rushing back. The room is empty. Joan is nowhere to be seen. Lucas gets up on wobbly legs.

-Joan!

He runs around the suite.

(We can live like kings for tonight.)

-JOAN!

(They have Aladdin!)

Lucas runs in the hallway, which is empty, then back in the suite, to notice the black booklet on the floor. He remembers the Finder scribbling in it and with trembling hands, he opens it.

On the last page, his eyes travel to the last two lines.

Andre – H, acquired has been changed to:

Andre – H, acquired / lost, destroyed.

The last line now reads:

Joan – H, acquired

Lucas’s mind draws a blank, then he remembers the words:

‘You destroyed the heart’.

The list make sense now.

Adam – LIVER, acquired / delivered.

Rowan – CORNEAS, acquired / delivered.

Michelle – MARROW, acquired / delivered.

Eric – KIDNEYS, acquired / delivered.

Andre – HEART, acquired / lost, destroyed.

Joan – HEART, acquired.

Lucas falls on his knees and throws up on the plush rug. The notebook hits the ground.

The Finders always finds what is needed, no matter the cost.