The Devil in Gray (21 page)

Moses took a cookie and pushed it into his mouth, and before he had finished chewing it, another, and then another. When he carried on talking he sprayed crumbs on his pants and he had to keep brushing them with his hand.

“There are two kinds of
orishas
—the white
orishas
and the dark
orishas
. The white
orishas
have the power to heal, and give life, like Obatalá and Oshún and Osain, the god of herbs. The dark
orishas
are hot and their strength is greatest in wars and battles. These are Changó, Oggún, Oyá, and Babalu-Ayé.

“Santería has two basic concepts, right? The first concept is
aché
, which means divine power, the power that was used to create the universe. Then there's the concept of
ebbó
, which means sacrifice.

“In Santería we make sacrifices to the
orishas
and we propitiate them because we want them to give us
aché
. With
aché
, we can sort out anything that's bugging us, we can screw our enemies, we can find pretty women and happiness and money.
Aché
also means
authority
, which is why Queen Aché calls herself by that particular name.”

“I see,” Decker said. “So
ebbó
—sacrifice—will bring you
aché
—power?” He hesitated for a moment, and then he said, “What kind of a sacrifice would somebody have to make if he wanted the power to be invisible?”

“
Unseen
more than invisible,” Moses corrected him, helping himself to another cookie. “An
ebbó
like that—well, that would call for blood. We never shed blood lightly, not even the blood of a chicken, because blood is the essence of life. Usually we offer fruit or flowers or candles or whatever the
orisha
likes to eat. But if somebody wanted the power to walk through the world without being seen—yes, blood, my friend. Possibly maybe human blood.”

“Is there any way in which you could make a kind of a counter—
ebbó?
”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, could I ask the
orishas
to give me the
aché
so that I could
see
this invisible person?”

Moses thought about that, and then he shook his head. “I can't honestly say I know the answer to that. One spell
can
be cast to break another. It depends who cast it, and how strong it is. I heard of a man who asked a
santero
to cast a spell on his older brother to bring him ill luck, and the spell worked. In only two or three months, his brother's wife ran off with one of his best friends, his business went bankrupt, and he caught a skin rash all over his body.”

“That's not just
ill
luck,” Jonah said. “That's
shit
luck.”

“Oh yes. But the older brother went to a
babalawo
, a high priest, and the
babalawo
realized at once that somebody had put a curse on him. The
babalawo
made a sacrifice to the
ajogun
, who are the opposite of the
orishas
. The
ajogun
are the evil forces in the world—
arun
, which is disease;
ofo
, which is loss;
egba
, which is paralysis; and
iku
, which is death.

“The
babalawo
cast a spell that every bad thing the older brother had suffered should happen to the person who had cursed him, only a hundred times worse. That same evening all of the younger brother's family were killed in car crash, including his newborn son. Within a week his furniture business had burned down, and he was badly burned trying to get out of the building. In the hospital, before his burns were healed, he was diagnosed with incurable leukemia. It was only then that he confessed to his older brother that he had arranged for a bad-luck spell, and his older brother discovered who it was that he had cursed in return.”

He took the last cookie and bit into it. “A true story,” he said. Then—realizing that he had emptied the plate all by himself—he held out the half-eaten cookie to Decker and said, “Want one?”

“No, thanks. I just need the ability to be able to see this guy. I also need to see the evidence he leaves behind him. I know the evidence is there. Fingerprints, fibers, DNA. It
must
be there. But in some way he's made it invisible. I need
eyes
, Mr. Alebodu. Eyes that can see through magic.”

“Well … I'll have to give this some sober thinking.”

“Okay … I really appreciate your talking to me. If you come up with any ideas, maybe you can give me a call on this number.”

“You've forgotten something,” Moses said, quietly, as Decker stood up. Decker looked around and saw his teacup, still full.

“Oh … I'm more of a coffee kind of guy. Sorry.”

“There's another question in your mind, my friend, and you don't know how to put it into words.”

Jonah looked across at Decker and made a face that meant “don't ask me.”

Decker said, “How do you know that?”

“Because an unspoken question, what's that like? It's like a bird sitting on a wall. It won't fly away until you clap your hands.”

“It's not important.”

“I think it cuts close to your heart, and this is why you decided not to ask it.”

“Forget it, it doesn't matter.”

“I think it
do
matter. Because what would a police detective with a slave-owning name want to know from a
santero
? Let's ask ourselves that.”

“All right,” Decker said. “What about Saint Barbara? Were any of the
orishas
named for her?”

“And you ask me that because …”

“I ask because I've been having bad dreams. I've been hearing my girlfriend, who was killed two years ago. I hear her talking to me, in my sleep. Or maybe not in my sleep, I don't know. Maybe she's really there.”

“And she talks to you about Saint Barbara?”

“That's right. She says that Saint Barbara wants her revenge. A couple of days ago, when I got home, I found the name Saint Barbara written on my wall, in human blood.”

“And …”

“I saw her again, last night. She was standing in my apartment, covered in a sheet, like she was playing ghosts.”

Moses took off his glasses. His eyes were bulgy and unfocused, but somehow Decker felt that he could see him better without them.

“Sit down,” Moses said. “Let me tell you this. Saint Barbara is the name that we gave to Changó, who is the mighty and terrible
orisha
of fire, thunder, lightning, and war. The cult of Changó came from the city of Oyo-Ile, the ancient capital of the Oyo kingdom. Changó reigned over the city for seven years, but he was always interested in magic and he had
great
magical power.

“One day Changó caused a great thunderstorm that destroyed his palace and killed many of his wives and children. He was so remorseful that he hanged himself. His enemies rejoiced, but soon afterward a hundred thunderstorms destroyed most of the city of Oyo-Ile, along with Changó's enemies. Changó's followers made sacrifices in his honor and declared that he was an
orisha
, a god.
‘Oba ko so,'
they sang. ‘The king did not hang himself.'

“Changó is the most powerful and popular of all the
orishas
. He has millions of followers all around the world. His priests keep his power in ‘thunderstones'—which are the bricks of buildings that have been struck by lightning, and kept in a wooden bowl. You can see that I have one over there, on my shrine. If you wish to make a sacrifice to Changó, to propitiate him, you have to wash the bowl in herbs and palm oil, and then sacrifice a rooster and sprinkle its blood over the thunderstones. This is one of the oldest ceremonies in Santería, and goes right back hundreds of years to Africa.

“You can also give Changó chicken meat and bananas, although his favorite food is a freshly killed ram.”

“Chicken meat and bananas?” Decker suddenly thought of the face that he had seen in his kitchen.

“That means something to you?” Moses asked.

Decker told him. Moses listened, and nodded, seemingly unsurprised. “I think your dead girlfriend is doing everything she can to protect you.”

“From what? From Changó? What have I ever done to Changó?”

“I don't know … but it's pretty clear to me that he's looking for revenge. And when Changó looks for revenge, he makes double sure that he gets it. I hate to tell you this, my friend, but you in
acute
trouble.”

Jonah asked, “Is there any way to find out what this Changó's so mad about?”

“I'm not sure. But I could help you to make an
ebbó
to Changó, which might make him forgive you. Right now, the only thing that's standing between you and some very horrible consequence is the spirit of your girlfriend, and she's putting herself in very serious danger by daring to mess with such a seriously powerful
orisha
. Every time she appears to you, she's going to have to suffer the moment of her death over again, and if she upsets Changó too often, he'll give her to Oyá, the watcher of the doorway between life and death, so that she spends the whole of eternity
trapped
in that moment, and never being free.”

In his mind's eye, Decker saw Cathy's head exploding, again and again, and the thought that she would have to experience that forever was more than he could bear. He had seen enough and heard enough to believe now that there
was
an afterlife, and that the spirits of the dead were still among us, even if they only made their presence known in times of crisis.

“This
ebbó
,” he said. “Tell me what I have to do.”

“You have to be cleansed. I sacrifice this rooster you brought me to Changó. Then tomorrow you must come back and I will give you a bowl with the rooster's blood in it, mixed with an
omiero
for Changó.”

“An
omiero?
”

“An
omiero
is a sacred elixir, my friend, which we use for bathing and also for drinking. Changó's
omiero
is a mixture of blood,
rompe zaraguey, zarza parilla
, and
paraíso
. You will have to take the
omiero
home and bathe yourself with it. Then take a second bath to wash off the blood mixture. Into this second bath you will have to stir some
álamo
and some
prodigiosa
, some holy water and some honey. I will give you all of these things. While you are bathing, ask Changó for his forgiveness for whatever you have done to offend him, and ask for his protection.”

“And you think that could work?”

“You will have to believe that it is going to work, or else it won't. You have to have faith. You still love your dead girlfriend, don't you? Think of her, and what you are doing to save her from Changó's anger.”

He tinkled his bell again, and Aluya reappeared. Moses said, “Bring me my
cuchillo
and a white bowl. And maybe some more of those cookies.”

“That's some perfume she's wearing,” Decker remarked, as Aluya went to do what she had been asked.

“Esencia Pompeya, one of the three sacred perfumes of Santería.”

Aluya reappeared with a white bowl, a white cloth, and a long sharp knife, as well as a brown paper bag of cookies. Moses stood up and indicated with a wave of his hand that Decker and Jonah should do the same. “I will be invoking Changó. We must show respect. Aluya, the candles.”

He spread the cloth on the coffee table in front of him and placed the bowl in the center of it. Then he held up the knife and kissed its blade.

Aluya brought over two white candles in silver candlesticks and lit them. Moses then waved at her to leave the room. He stood in front of the candles for a while, with his eyes closed and his head tilted back. Then he began to chant. “
Babamo Changó ikawo ilemu fumi alaya tilanchani nitosi ki ko gbamu mi re oro niglati wa obinu ki kigbo ni na orin oti gbogbo omo nijin gbogbo
…”

After a while, he opened his eyes and said, “Please give me the rooster.”

Decker pointed at himself. “Me?”

“Yes, you. You are the one who is seeking forgiveness from Changó.”

Hesitantly, Decker knelt down and unfastened the catch on the lid of the basket. As soon as he opened it, the rooster exploded into feathery fury, flapping and squawking and pecking at him. He managed to grab one its legs, even though it was scratching him with its claws. Jonah came over and seized its wings and at last he got hold of the other leg, so that he could lift it upside down into the air, still struggling and clucking.

“This chicken sure ain't a chicken chicken,” Jonah said.

“Hold him up good and high,” Moses instructed. Decker did as he was told, and Moses took hold of the bird's head and stretched its neck. “
Changó, kabio kabio sile
,” he intoned, and the cockerel gave one convulsive shudder and then remained strangely still, as if it knew what was going to happen next, and was prepared to accept it.

Moses sliced its throat with his knife and its dark blood dripped quickly into the bowl. He then took the bird's legs from Decker, and began to circle it around in the air. “
Changó alamu oba layo ni na ile ogbomi
,” he breathed. “
Kabio kabio sile
.”

When the bowl was almost filled with blood, he laid the cockerel down between the candles. “The words
kabio kabio sile
mean welcome to my house,” he explained. “I was invoking Changó so that he knows that you are seeking his forgiveness and that you wish to wash away your transgression, whatever it is.”

He looked slowly around the living room. “Do you feel anything?” he asked.

“Like what?”

“Like the presence of a great power.”

Decker looked around, too. He couldn't be sure that it wasn't just the humidity, and the strange smell of herbs, but he thought he could detect a
tension
in the air, as if a thunderstorm were brewing. And Changó, after all, was the god of thunderstorms.