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“So that’s it,” asked the detective. “This whole thing is over now?”
“As best I can tell,” answered Knight honestly. “I mean, until a few hours ago, we didn’t even know what it was about. And once we did, it was finished. Thanks to Detective Dollins more than anyone else, I think. He was a brave man, and he sacrificed more than possibly any other man ever has to safeguard us all. Your friend was a real hero.”
“He was a New York City cop,” answered LaRaja quietly. Taking a last sip from his tea, he started to speak once more, but was forced to stop for a moment, obviously overcome by emotion. Then, after his brief pause, he added, “And he was a cop I’m going to miss.”
“What will you do now,” asked Bridget.
“I could write a book on dark forces in the Big Apple, I suppose,” responded the detective. “But I doubt anyone would believe me.”
“I’ve tried to tell some of what I’ve seen over the years,” admitted Knight, “but to be honest, people only seem to want to hear about things like this when they can still believe it’s all myths. Once you make it real for them, they usually start talking burning stakes and pillory wheels.”
“Better than castigation from the tongues of the so-called Moral Majority,” joked the detective. Knight thought to correct him, then let the comment slide, simply gracing the officer with a half smile.
LaRaja stayed for only a short while longer. Making an admission of his own, that he needed to spend some time thinking as to whether or not he finally wanted to take his retirement, he finished his tea and then excused himself. Although he had not said so, he left the professor’s home having made it quite clear he would not be saying anything to anyone else about the nature of the extraordinary events he had witnessed.
After the detective had exited, Knight and his assistant sat in the living room for quite a few long minutes without speaking. They busied themselves with their tea, as well as the biscuits and cookies Bridget had brought out, but words failed them. The professor chose not to speak for two reasons. The first was simply that he was tired and had been given much to think upon. The second was that he could tell the young redhead sitting on the other end of the couch was troubled by something.
Give her some time, he thought. If she wants you to know something, she’ll tell you. And then no sooner had he given himself that piece of advice, she said;
“Professor, do you think we’re all done with monsters and ghosts and lightning bolts and the like? At least for a moment?” When he assured her he thought it most likely, Bridget asked, “Then I’d like to tell you something.”
“I think at this point, my dear, you’ve earned the right to say whatever you’d like to me.”
Bridget gave herself a moment. Then, she turned herself bodily, lifting one leg onto the couch and tucking it under herself so that she was facing Knight directly. Realizing whatever she wanted to say must be important to her, the professor turned himself likewise.
“I’m not a virgin.”
“Well,” answered Knight, slightly taken aback but trying not to show it, “commendable. Good for you.”
“You’ve been treating me since I met you as if I were made of Dresden china. I just wanted to …” She paused for a second, blushing, then said, “To make sure you knew I was actually a woman.”
As Bridget paused once more, her head dropping slightly for a moment, Knight reached forward, setting his teacup on the table in front of the couch. When she looked back up, her eyes locked with the professor’s as she explained;
“Granted, I’m not usually such a forward woman, but—”
And then, as Knight’s eyes suddenly went slightly wide, Bridget realized that it had taken him that long to realize what she had been implying. Blushing harder, she did not notice the professor blushing as well as she said;
“Okay, now that I’ve made a complete fool out of myself, I think I’d, I mean—”
Bridget began to stand, but the jerkiness to the way in which she was moving indicated she had no idea in which direction she should go. Upstairs, outside—where? Before she could pick one, however, the professor reached across the couch, touching her gently on the wrist. As she turned to him, a slightly flustered Knight offered;
“You know there isn’t a red-blooded man on the face of this planet who would turn down such an offer. You, ah … you were making an—”
“Yes,” she cut him off, half-ready to laugh, half-ready to cry, “I was throwing myself at you… .”
“Please.” The professor said the word softly, his tone as tender as human speech could render the word. “Please sit down. Don’t make an old fool feel even more foolish.” Bridget sat again, unable to look at Knight. Moving his hand down to where he could envelop her fingers with his, the professor said;
“First, allow me to apologize. Since we had earlier so thoroughly dismissed the idea of my, how shall I phrase it, ‘making advances’ toward you, I have to admit I really was quite caught off-guard at the idea of you doing so toward me.” Giving the back of Bridget’s head a half smile, he added;
“Devilish unfair of you, teasing the elderly so.”
“I wasn’t teasing,” she answered, still not turning around. Sighing at the dismal reception his feeble attempt at humor had garnered, the professor admitted;
“I know you weren’t. But really, my dear, are you certain you’ve quite thought this through?” Not allowing Bridget the chance to answer, he continued, saying;
“You’ve had a rather exciting introduction to our fair city, and I, for one, am quite certain that you deserve a bit of time to think about this, I have to say, quite wonderful idea of yours, a bit later, say when the sky isn’t literally falling in on us.”
“Are you saying I don’t know my own mind, Professor?”
“No, not at all.” As Bridget finally turned back toward Knight, their eyes met once more as he told her gently, “I’m telling you that I think a great deal of you. And that we have months together ahead of us.” Locking his eyes with hers, he then added;
“I’m saying I think we both need to spend a little time contemplating such a thing. I mean, after all, I want you to still respect me in the morning.”
“I think I would,” Bridget answered, her tone a trifle hurt.
“You know,” answered Knight with a grin, “I think you would, too. But, let’s be certain. Besides …” His eyes suddenly filling with merriment, the professor released his assistant’s hand as he exclaimed;
“Bless all the tiny monkeys, I know what we need!” Hustling Bridget up off the couch and toward the door to his garage, he said;
“I know an all-night diner, the Del Rio, wonderful place, one of Brooklyn’s finest—no more than fifteen minutes from here. They serve a full menu, but they’re only good for two things, burgers and breakfast.”
Jumping down the three stairs leading into the garage, Knight circled to the driver’s side of the car, calling out;
“We’ll order family-style—pancakes and sausages, home fries and toast, juice and eggs, three different types. And bacon. What do you say, my dear? If we’re going to sin this early in our relationship, let’s start with nitrates.”
Throwing the professor a grin that signaled the acceptance of her defeat, Bridget leaped down into the garage, heading for the passenger-side door.
Why not? she told herself. I like bacon as much as the next girl. And besides, as far as you and I are concerned, Professor Piers Knight …
Smiling, she slid into her seat.
I’ve got all summer.
Table of Contents
TITLE
COPYRIGHT
DEDICATION
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
INTERLUDE
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
INTERLUDE
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER ELEVEN
INTERLUDE
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
CHAPTER FORTY
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
EPILOGUE