The Reflecting Eye

## Overview

"The Reflecting Eye" is a novella in the anthology *Nocturnes*. It is typical Parker fare, including Louis and Angel, and introducing a character named the Collector.

## Synopsis

Many years ago, the Grady House was the scene of a string of horrible child abductions and murders, perpetrated by the owner - John Grady. Grady had bought the house and was "fixing it up." He had tripped up, though, when he took two children close to where he lived and too close together. Grady had just taken Denny Maguire when he also abducted Louise Matheson on her way to a friend's house. With the authorities on the alert from the first abduction, it took only a matter of hours after Louise's friend had reported that Louise had never shown up to track down Grady. When they arrived at Grady's house, they found that he had just killed Louise, and Denny Maguire was unconscious at his feet. Uttering, "This is not a house; this is a home," Grady shot himself.

Now, several years later, around Christmas and a few weeks from Rachel giving birth to their child, Charlie Parker finds himself being hired by Frank Matheson - Louise's father. Frank had bought the property to keep it shut down. But recently, he found a picture of a young girl in the mailbox at the house. He reported it to the police - but they appeared to be unconcerned with the clear implication that the child was being targeted for an abduction, and/or did not want to cause panic. Frank hires Parker to discover who the child is and who took the picture.

Matheson tells Parker about a man who came around offering to buy a mirror from the house - an ill-kempt man who looked unhealthy but exuded malice, and described himself as a collector.

Parker heads to the town of Two Mile Lake where the Grady House is located and talked to Chief of Police Wayne Grass, who fills him in on some of the back story, since Grass was at the Grady House that night. Parker heads to the Grady House and notices that it is heavily sealed up, there are mirrors every where, the door to the basement is locked, and there is a heavy smell of chemicals that disorients him.

Parker visits Denny Maguire at the bar he owns. Maguire tells Parker that Grady referred to Louise Matheson as "an offering" and thinks the picture of the girl is also "an offering." Maguire notes that he was the only boy that was taken, and the only survivor. He tells Parker how there were mirrors everywhere, and that the remains of the other children were sitting by the far wall of the basement, and that Grady talked to their reflections in the mirrors. Leaving Maguires bar, Parker meets the Collector, who attempts to get Parker to help him secure a mirror from the Grady House and from Matheson. Parker asks the Collector why he doesn't just break in and take a mirror and the Collector says he can't, it's protected.

Parker returns home and he and Rachel go over the case. She points out that when you look in a mirror, you don't see yourself - you see a mirror image of yourself, and interpret that with your own self-image in mind.

In a passage, Connolly notes that the *north* wind stirs in the Grady House.

Parker recruits Louis and Angel to help him keep surveillance on the house. He calls an old colleague - Clem Ruddock - who had been a member of the state police several years ago but retired. Clem was also at the Grady House that night - and described him as being tormented. Clem comments that Grass is a straight arrow who is also haunted by the events of that night and takes his stewardship of the house seriously. He also notes that there were a lot of books on the occult. These had gone up for sale last fall, and someone - who looked like a tramp - turned up claiming to represent a rare book dealer and bought the whole lot; but the dealer had never heard of him.

The Collector goes after a man named Ray Czabo, a "death tourist" that had visited Parker's house after his wife and child were killed. He visits Czabo's wife, notices that she has taken a lover, and is assaulted by a man named Chris Tierney. The Collector easily kills him.

Parker winds up at Edna Czabo - Ray's wife - who tells him Ray doesn't live there any more and tells Parker to leave. As Parker leaves he gets a call from Maguire who tells Parker that Grady was afraid and "taking precautions" - burying dog bones in the yard. As he's talking to Maguire, Edna's lover comes out - a man named Casey Tillman who is the son of gangster Gunnar Tillman.

Parker goes to Ray's apartment. Ray isn't home, but Parker snoops around and finds signs that Ray hasn't been there for awhile, as well as an empty film canister. He leaves a card for Ray, and learns from a neighbor that Gunnar likely came by and roughed Ray up. On a hunch, Parker goes to the closest drug store and from the fotomat retrieves two rolls of pictures Ray had taken. He looks through them and sees a bunch of surveillance pictures of Casey and Gunnar, but he also finds a series on the Grady House. In one of the pictures, Parker notices that Grady had tried to take a picture inside the house through the boarded up windows, and ended up capturing a reflection of a dark-clad man.

Louis and Angel fly into Portland and Parker catches them up on the story. They drive to Two Mile Lake and take up a stake-out in a farm house that Matheson owns not far away and with a view of the Grady House. They take turns watching the House over the next week. Parker learns from the police that Ray Czabo was found in a shallow grave, shot in the head execution style. When the police search Czabo's apartment, they don't find Parker's card. He visits Casey TIllman at his garage, where Gunnar gets in Parker's face. Casey tells Parker his father has been on edge because one of their men, Chris Tierney, was found dead. Another of their men had seen someone thin creeping around who wore a long greasy coat and looked like a bum.

After ten days of surveillance, Parker notices some activity at the Grady House. He calls Angel and Louis and goes to investigate. He notices that the Collector has been there recently, and then notices the door to the house is open. He goes in and sees that a strip of wallpaper has come down and on the wall is a series of symbols and writing. WHen he looks in the mirrors, he sees the house as Grady had intended it. He notices that the basement door is also open. Parker hears the voice of a little girl, and sees the reflection of two little girls in a mirror, who caution him that "he never left" and "he's coming." He feels shadows moving around behind him. He goes into the basement and finds more mirrors, where he thinks he sees another man behind him. He hears footsteps above him, so he kills his flashlight and hides in the shadows.

He discovers Chief Grass with the child from the picture. Chief Grass tells him Mr. Grady would be mad at strangers in his house, and Parker sees Grady in a reflection. Grass says he has had many discussions with Grady, and brought many pictures to the house for Grady to pick one. Parker tries to reason with Grass, but he retreats up the stairs. His escape is blocked by Louis and Angel, however. Parker continues to try to talk Grass down, but he thinks he can hear someone whispering in Grass's ear. Grass turns the gun on himself and says "This is not a house; this is..." before shooting himself.

Parker gets Louis, Angel, and the girl out of the house, and confronts the reflection of Grady in the mirror, shooting it. Two days later, workmen remove the remaining mirrors and Parker and Matheson take them to an industrial furnace. Parker speculates that Ray Czabo had captured a picture of Chief Grass at the house, and Grass killed him. As Matheson goes to get someone to help pitch the mirrors into the furnace, Parker is knocked unconscious by the Collector. He comes to moments later, and sees the Collector there - who tells him that if they burned all the mirrors, Grady would still be free; he further explains that Grady is damned and owes a soul. The Collector takes a small gilded frame and shows him a reflection of Grady captured there.

In a bit of a future bomb, Parker relates that he will subsequently find the paperwork from the book sale in which the purchaser elegantly signs his name as "Mr. Kushiel" and gives an address of the old state prison at Thomaston, which has since been ripped down.

The story concludes as Parker notes that he and Rachel's daughter - Samantha - was born on December 12th - the anniversary of Susan and Jennifer's death at the hands of the Traveling Man