4

It was one of those occasions where suddenly Spencer's memory fired all the right information into his brain and there it was soggy and fat and rotting like a barrel of apples which had been left in the barn all summer and winter… it was about to explode.

He didn't want to go back to the motel whilst in this thunderous mood. It might get him killed. Instead Spencer walked out to the house and stood there looking at it and feeling sick. He was very sure of what he was remembering now. Bobby Kirk had been accused, though he had sworn innocence… he'd looked guilty and had acted guilty. He had been stalking the family… Spencer remembered the story now has it had been written in one of the many books Rossi had written. Slowly as the story appeared in his mind he walked back to where he thought he was going to kill or be killed trying.

o-o-o

Bobby Kirk: A young man of twenty-two. He was tall with brown wavy hair and green eyes. He'd been born and raised in the Boston area and had moved with his family to Sanctuary three years previous. Bobby wanted to be a journalist, but his academic prowess had been weak and he'd not achieved the results at college that he'd needed for uni. Bobby Kirk attempted to get a job at the local newspaper and they'd turned him down numerous times. They didn't like his pushy attitude. Though one is needed, it was just a bit too much. He was too sure of himself, and yet his poor intelligence was obvious. They had no place for Bobby in the world of journalism. Bobby therefore started up a small news sheet of his own. He called it Sanctuary Alive and his aim was to take photographs of the town and surrounding area and print them with interesting stories to go along with them. He planned on printing some off on his home printer and then taping them to lamp posts and trees in the town centre. He wanted people to see that he could do that job.

There was just one problem, though Bobby Kirk had a camera, he had no news to report.

What happened next is largely open to conjecture and therefore wont be told here. This is for truths only. The Speckson family reported to the police that someone had killed a large amount of their chickens. Someone was sent out, but there was no way to tell who had done it. The case was closed. A week or so later, actually it was ten days, they contacted the police again… This time reports of a prowler on the grounds, someone scaring the horses… again someone was sent and again whoever had annoyed their horses had gone. What did they want the cops to do? Six days after that happened Mrs Speckson called the police again. It was mid morning and she claimed that someone was in the house with her. The cops arrived and found a broken window in the enclosed porch, but the glass had been broken outwards, it wasn't someone trying to get in, rather something trying to get out. They told the tall woman with striking features and a surly manner that it was probably a wild animal which had been shut in the house. She complained at their lack of civility. She complained in her quiet but deep voice that she wanted this investigated properly. It never was.

The following day one of the boys came home with a bag of candy which he told his mother a man at the bus stop had given him. Mrs Speckson called the police. They asked the boy what the man had looked like. Ryan Speckson was seven… all men looked tall and all men had brown hair… he was unable to say what the man was wearing, but was able to recall what he'd said.

'Here you go boy… you'll need this later.'

He claimed that the bus had then arrived and he'd taken the candy and got on the bus. He'd never seen the man before.

The next day the delivery boy came with a package. No one answered the door, which was unusual because Mrs Speckson rarely went anywhere other than out the front to sell eggs. The delivery boy walked along the side of the house and tried to look in the window, but that, as has been reported previously was covered in blood and he couldn't see in. He drove back into town and called the cops.

That was what happened… the incidences which led up to Bobby Kirk's arrest. Obviously the cops wanted to talk to the school. They needed to know if anything unusual had happened and the only thing they could think of was that some young man with a camera had been hanging around. They had told him to go away. They had told him that they would call the cops. And there was another man too who had been asked to go away, but he just seemed to be looking for someone. He didn't seem dangerous. Neither of the men did, but one of them was taking photographs and was known by name as Bobby – or Bob Kirk. A simple lad… slightly soft in the head.

Whether Bobby was soft in the head or not didn't matter. What mattered was that in the garage at the house he lived in with his mother, father, and sister… was a pile of photographs and a large amount of them were of The Specksons. They kept asking Bobby why he had been stalking the family and Bobby refused to say. They asked him where he'd been the night of the murders and again Bobby refused to say. All he would say was that he was innocent. He had no alibi. He had been following and photographing the family. It was enough to arrest him. It was plenty for a jury to stamp his file as guilty. It was plenty to have that monster removed from the public arena never to be let out again.

That was the end of it…

Bobby had at last created the news story he'd been so desperate for. He never lived to read it in print though.

o-o-o

As the motel room door opened and then slammed behind him, Floyd could see that Spencer was pissed off about something. It might have been the cavorting half naked Sam who was dancing to some weird Arabian music playing on the television, but Spencer's eyes barely flickered in Sam's direction. Oh he saw the fun and games which had been going on in here, but the information which was now in Spencer's head was far more important and Sam and his sluttish behaviour.

'You lied.' Spencer spat at Floyd. 'I wouldn't mind, really I wouldn't, if you thought to trust that I'd understand and… and…'

'Calm down, Babes. Sam be a sweetheart and get dressed… maybe pop out for some lunch? Spencer and I need some private time.' He then ignored Sam and turned to confront Spencer whose rage was very evident. 'Just sit and calm yourself. I'm not going to discuss this in front of Sam.'

So though he didn't want to calm himself he sat on the brown chair which was against the wall next to a small table and it felt almost as though the anger was being sucked away. He stood… he was told to sit down again. 'I don't want to sit!' He shouted… and he flinched back from Floyd who put a hand on Spencer's shoulder and shoved him back into the chair.

'Don't you fucking argue with me. I said we will talk… not in front of Sam.'

'Why not in front of him? He has as much right to know.'

Floyd prodded Spencer hard in the chest. 'Sam has no rights over anything. He's going now… see… see… I'm handing him cash and he's gong to go to that place around the corner and have pancakes and then he's going to select something nice and bring it back. Sam is going to take his fucking time and he's going to stay out of trouble. Understand?' Sam nodded, snatched the money and was gone… 'Now, what have I lied about and what has blown you into such anger?'

'The Specksons. You killed them. You tore them apart and skinned them.'

Floyd raised an eyebrow and sat on the edge of the bed. 'And where did this information come from, because if that's true then surely the cops are going to come and arrest me.'

'You know full well that some poor young man called…'

'Bobby Kirk. Yes I know what happened to Bobby Kirk… and that makes me guilty how? I don't get your train of thought.'

Spencer went to stand again. He couldn't think when he was sitting. He couldn't think angrily… but Floyd did his teleporting act and was there pushing Spencer back down into the chair before he'd managed to straighten his legs.

'You… you… I don't know. It's the MO. It's your MO and I refuse to believe that you were here at the time and hanging around that family and you…'

'I was… I admit. I was hanging around but it was curiosity which caused it. The same curiosity which had Bobby interested in them. Swear on my mother's life that I didn't kill them.'

Spencer folded his arms around himself and shook his head. He was a long way from convinced. 'You don't have a mother.' He snarled at Floyd, 'and that doesn't explain what happened to them or why you were so curious.'

Floyd slid back to sitting on the edge of the bed. 'Tell me all you've remembered. I'm stunned that it took you so long, but now it's there…' Floyd tapped his head with a finger… '… tell me all.'

Spencer spent the next five minutes going over the scant bit of information he had and now that he was sitting down and facing Floyd the evidence that Floyd had done this was very weak. 'But… the point is that you lied to me about what happened in that house. I don't want to live there, Floyd. I don't want to live where a family were slaughtered. I don't care who committed the crime, well yes, I do, but that's another matter. What I'm bothered about is why you saw fit to lie to me.'

'This is all about me saying about the ghost?' He watched Spencer's head nod and Floyd sighed. 'I didn't lie as such. The place has strange auras… oddities. It was more of a possession than a haunting. It's clean now.'

'Irrelevant. You lied to me.'

'I lie to you constantly. Why is this such a biggy?'

'What was the curiosity you had with Mrs Speckson. It surely wasn't because she was a good looking woman.'

'Certainly not.' Floyd smiled and tucked his hair behind his ears. 'Mrs Speckson was a good looking man though. It's a long story and Bobby found some of it out. The town like to say that he was a poor journalist, but when he put his mind to it he could sniff out stuff… and he sniffed out that deception pretty well. As did I. That's how I met Bobby Kirk.'

'What?' Again Spencer stood and again Floyd pushed him back down again. 'A man? She had children!'

'Amelia Speckson wasn't who she appeared to be and Bobby Kirk was very close to the truth. Very… but not quite as close as I was. I saw him at the school gates. He made things so obvious. He was not hiding the fact that he was taking photos of the boys.'

'But why? If he was suspicious about the mother why did he want photos of the boys?'

'Evidence! Why the fuck do you think? I said; he was good at his job. He left no page unturned. He saw me giving Ryan the bag of sweets and he assumed that I knew the boy. Kirk was on me like a fly on shit. He wanted to know everything. Of course I couldn't tell him what or who I was… I couldn't do that, but…'

'Why kill them!' Spencer shouted.

'Hey now… calm… I said calm. I didn't kill them. The only person I might have damaged was Bobby because he was unable to give an alibi as to where he was that night… Now… had he told them where he was then I would have killed him, but he was a good boy and he kept his mouth shut. That was until he was in the damned prison and asked for a priest. He was going to confess all… and I'd told him to remain silent on the matter. Bobby Kirk thought that as he was locked away from my influence that he was safe.'

'Poor guy.' Spencer spoke with sorrow in his voice. 'You made him kill him self.'

Floyd got up from the bed and now took the couple of steps over to Spencer. 'I could do that then and I can do that now. Don't think I cant or wont. You will keep your trap shut. I don't want Sam finding out.'

'Sam already knows.' Spencer hissed back.

'Sam doesn't know everything. He only knows enough to keep him satisfied. Don't talk to him of it.'

'Then who killed them. It wasn't you, it wasn't Kirk…'

'Well that's hopefully what we're going to find out. It's like a small ghost hunt. We will move in and lure it out.'

'And Mrs Speckson? What about her – him – whatever…'

'Another time… let me relax you. Rest back… hands off your lap. I want to show you something awesome.'

Spencer slapped Floyd away for now. He wasn't feeling at all like he was going to be able to perform any magic for Floyd. Even Floyd's mouth wasn't going to get results today. 'Stop with the distractions and tell me about Mrs Speckson.'

Floyd let out a long tired sigh and sat back on his heels. He rested his hands on Spencer's knees which had snapped together tight enough that Floyd would have needed a crowbar to get access. 'Why? What's so important? I didn't kill them. Whatever they pulled out of the dark was what killed them.'

'Why kill the chickens?' Spencer asked… he was looking down at Floyd's hands ready to fight them off.

'I didn't. Nor did Bobby. I know that wasn't Bobby because he was with me that night.'

Spencer ground his teeth at Floyd. He was getting more questions the more Floyd answered. 'How do I know that? You admitted that you lie to me, so why should I believe you?'

Floyd sat right back onto the floor now, his back against the end of one of the beds. 'Trust. I thought we were going to trust each other, but you have obviously been out nosing around. You've not come to all these conclusions alone. Who have you been talking to? You said you went to the library, but where else did you go? And remember that I'll know if what you say is a lie.'

Spencer swallowed back on the saliva gathering in his mouth and licked his lips. 'I went to the library, found some information and so I went to the cops and asked what else I should know and then I walked up to the house to confirm in my mind that I had seen that place before, albeit in a photograph, but I had seen it and heard of it. I'd heard of Bobby Kirk and the murders. I just couldn't remember where or why. It was before my BAU days… it was whilst…'

'You were having a very bad time with your mother. We'd been out one night and come home and she was standing virtually naked in the doorway screaming about something.'

Spencer put his head into his hands. His shoulders slumped and he let out a small mewling sound. Oh he remembered that time very well. It was then that Floyd persuaded him to send her to Bennington. It was then that Floyd disappeared for a couple of months. 'You abandoned me when I most needed you.'

Floyd denied that. 'I left you with your mother. My presence wouldn't have been wanted and you damned well know that. I put everything in place for you. All you needed to do was sign on the dotted line. I was there for you during the whole fucking process so don't say I abandoned you. I left for a few weeks so you could have time to make sure she was well and settled without any distractions and I came here to follow up on something I'd heard whispers of and it interested me.'

'You put yourself first.' Spencer spat back. 'You never think to ask me what I would have liked. I needed you. I needed someone to come home to and hold and keep me safe and tell me all was going to be OK. I needed reassurance not someone running off to the other side of the country to play some damned detective game.'

'And what has your mother got to do with anything? I was just saying that was when I came here. What the fuck is your problem? I do put you first. I bonded with you didn't I? I died so that you could…'

'Oh right!' Spencer had bounced to his feet again. 'Throw that at me again! Go for it.'

'I will do and I'll keep doing it until it stops getting a reaction from you. It's too much fun to waste. Sit the fuck down or I'll tie you to the chair. You want answers then I'll give them, but not like this. Not with you accusing me of shit I didn't do.'

'Ha!' Spencer rounded on Floyd. 'When you have a reputation of killing and eating people, don't look so offended when people die and get eaten and I don't assume it's you! You've brought that on yourself. I'm going out front for a smoke. When I'm calm again I might listen to you, but I'm so mad with you right now that you could tell me that your name is Isgar-Quenell and I'd not believe you.'

'Don't you fucking talk to me like that! You whoreson!' The door to the room slammed again and Floyd was left standing alone wondering what went wrong and why.

Spencer paced angrily, puffing at a battered cigarette and kicking up stones on the small pathway leading to the parking lot. Sam stood with his back to a tree and watched him. He had eaten his food and had a brown bag stuffed with other nice things under his arm, but he'd heard the shouting and now Spencer obviously knew the big secret Sam had nothing to keep Floyd from slapping him around. He watched with his mouth in a tight angry line and then marched over to him. Sam thought that Spencer was so enraged that he might have been giving off radiation. 'You know that you've fucked everything up for me don't you?' Sam snarled at Spencer spraying syrup flavoured spittle into Spencer's face. 'The only reason he's been nice to me is because I said I'd tell you there'd been a murder there and now I've lost the only card I held. Hope when you see my broken body crumpled on the floor that you'll be satisfied. I can't believe that you'd do that to me. You have as good as murdered me. Happy now?'

'Stop being such a drama queen.' Spencer snarled back at him. 'If I've done anything wrong then I'm sorry, but you really weren't my first thought when I found out what happened in that house. Are you aware of what happened? You still want to live there?'

'I know bits… And yeah… I still want to live there and so does Floyd so I guess we out vote you and you're going to have to live there too.'

Spencer threw his cigarette butt to the floor and stamped it out with his toe. 'I don't have to. I can go home. I could return to Vegas. I don't have to stay here. If I am here it's because I want to be here not… Oh why am I trying to reason with you?' Spencer walked with a long stride back to the room where Floyd was waiting calmly with his fists at his side and blood on his mind.

And so for a while the three of them sat in silence. Floyd wanted to beat the shit out of both of them. Spencer was waiting for Floyd to start with his fists and Sam sulked on the bed and licked syrup off his fingers in a way which might have looked good at any other time than this. Spencer wanted answers. He wanted them all and he was about to demand them when Floyd stood up and threw the car keys at Spencer. They smacked him on the chest, bounced off and landed on the floor next to his feet. 'Go back home if that's what you want so badly, but don't expect me to come running after you when you start getting lonely. And take that miserable bitch with you.' He jabbed a finger in Sam's direction. 'I try so fucking hard to make things nice for all of us. I thought this place would suit us all, but you have to treat everything with such suspicion and ruin it. Well you did a damned good job. It's ruined.'

Spencer bent down, picked up the keys and placed them on the table. 'You just don't understand do you? I want to be with you, but I want you to be honest with me. I want to know why this place, why now, what happened there. Why did Bobby Kirk do what he did and what the hell was going on with the Specksons. Why were you watching them? What was so damned interesting about a man pretending to be a woman? It's not so unusual is it? Nothing incredible. If the man wanted to dress in drag why was that such a draw for you? What was really going on?'

'I wanted to wait until we'd moved in. I was planning on telling strange stories beside an open fire. I had it planned out in my head. That's gone. You want me to tell you now?'

'Yes!' Spencer yelped out.

Sam let out a small whimpering sound and was ignored by both of them.

'It's all to do with them trying to call up someone dark. I'll tell you no more until you agree to move into the house with me.'

'They were communicating with something?' Sam asked, crawling forward so he could hear better and maybe be heard too.

Floyd turned to look at Sam and nodded. 'They were. They had their sacrifices. They had everything in place. The happy family. The kids… the books of dark magic. They were bolting forwards fast. I was in the house that day she could feel someone there. She called the cops but I got what I'd gone for and I destroyed it. It seemed that I left something behind though because they still tried to summon something up. Looks like they succeeded.'

'Sounds like it was you they summoned.' Sam pointed out and Spencer nodded.

'Wasn't me! How many times do I have to tell you!'

'When you stop lying.' Sam said just before the boot smacked his face and he flew back again onto his back and maybe Sam would have been correct and Floyd would have killed him for being such a pain in the arse, but Spencer moved in and pulled Floyd away from him.

'He's just speaking his mind. He can't help himself. Stop hitting him, please. Try to understand why we are so suspicious of your motives in moving us into this place. You say it wasn't you, then I'll believe you, but you must have an idea of who it was. You said you took a book…' Spencer dragged Floyd by the back of his belt away from Sam who was curled up with his arms over his head. 'That book must have said what they were doing.'

a/n: not sure how this is going... XOX