I sighed. “I don't know. I might. I want to talk to her, see how it goes from there. Hell, she might not even be home.”
Godiva looked at me, her eyes unreadable behind her glasses. “I think I should go with you,” she said at last in a small voice.
I nodded. I figured she deserved to be a part of whatever happened.
We took 270 around to Ladue road. I had a street guide in the van. Godiva looked up the address. She turned out to be a fine navigator.
“Have you been out here before?” I asked her.
“Not in years,” she said, “but I grew up around here.” Her tone of voice didn't invite further inquiry.
Dr. Klein's house was an imitation castle on a corner lot with a high privacy fence surrounding most of the property. I parked down the street. I still didn't exactly have a plan, but I trusted Catskinner would take over when the time came.
“You stay in the van,” I told Godiva.
i don't trust her.
“Maybe I could help.”
It was confusing, both of them talking at once. It wasn't something that I was used to. We have to trust her, I told Catskinner.
Aloud I said, “Probably not—Catskinner's used to working alone. Besides, if anything happens to me, I don't want her to know you were working with me.”
“I don't want anything to happen to you.” She looked very serious.
I smiled. “Me, either. Don't worry, I'll be fine. You just wait here.”
if she doesn't wait?
We'll deal with that if it happens. It was another one of those neighborhoods where no one walks. They didn't even have sidewalks.
Police response time is probably pretty quick around here, I thought to Catskinner.
agreed. best to be quiet.
I could feel the electric heat on my back, his eagerness, his hunger to destroy. For once I knew how he felt. As I walked up the driveway I could see the shape of a van in the garage. The Land Of Tan van. I hope that meant she was home.
The door was a big slab of ornate wood with a stained glass window in it. Very pretty. I rang the bell.
Are you ready?
it's showtime.
Chapter Five
“there is no right answer to the wrong question”
“Hi there. My imaginary friend wants to skin you alive.”
Her reaction was all I could have hoped for. She'd answered the door in an elaborately embroidered robe that looked like silk. She looked stunned to see me. She'd probably thought I would die when she left me pinned to the wall.
For a moment she just stared at me.
“That Solomon trick won't work twice,” I said. “My friend doesn't need to see you to kill you.”
I stepped inside and she backed away slowly. I shut the door behind me. We were in a two-story foyer with a painted tile floor. Archways were open to the left and right; straight ahead carpeted stairs led up. There was a bookcase against one wall full of little gewgaws and doodads, most of them looking vaguely Aboriginal. Pier One schlock.
“I've got some questions.”
She nodded. She looked scared, but not scared enough to talk. Not yet.
“I want to know why you killed Victor—”
“He died a long time ago.”
“Shut up,” I said. She glared at me, but didn't say anything else.
“I want to know why you killed Victor. I want to know what you took from his safe, and I want it back. After that, we can talk about how you're going to die.”
She folded her arms across her chest. “Is that all?” She was starting to look more angry that frightened.
“Yeah, that's about it.”
She shook her head. “You have no idea what Victor was, do you? You don't even know what you are.”
“Maybe so, but I know what you are.”
Oh, really? And what's that?”
Catskinner answered for me. “skin. muscle. blood. bone.”
That rattled her.
“My friend's still kind of upset. As I'm sure you know, I can't always control him.”
“You can't ever control it, and you never will. You're just a puppet.” Her voice dripped contempt.
I shook my head. “If that was true, you'd already be in pieces.” In my head I asked, Can you scare her without killing her? I want her to talk.
Catskinner's reply was to lash out to the shelf next to me. Something dark blurred past her head and exploded into pottery shards against the far wall. He grabbed another one and it detonated at her feet. The next one he crushed in my hand and threw a handful of red-brown dust in her face.
Now I was seeing real fear on her face. “Stop it!” she cried out.
Catskinner snatched up a bit of crystal and snapped it against the shelf, shattering it. With one of the shards he thrust forward, cutting her robe across her chest without touching the skin below it. He snapped the shard to one side and it embedded in the shelf.
“it stops when you talk.”
“The book!” she shouted at me. “His book was in the safe.”
I felt Catskinner pull back.
“Book?” I asked. “What book?”
“The Book of Thoth.” She glared at me defiantly.
“Thoth, huh? Egyptian guy, head like a bird or something? That Thoth?” I took another step towards her, she took another step back.
“You don't know anything.”
“So tell me, and then I'll know. Where's Thoth's book now?”
“Gone. Dissipated.” With a contemptuous glare. I wanted to slap that look off her face.
“So you were just there for kicks, then? Just because you get off on killing people?”
“There were no people there. Unnatural things.”
I was starting to lose my temper. “Unnatural? As opposed to what you did to Godiva, which was perfectly natural?”
Damn. I hadn't wanted to mention Godiva. The response was gratifying, though. Her eyes widened and she backed up a few more steps. She hadn't expected me to know about Godiva.
I pressed on. We were by the stairs now. “How do you think I got your address?”
“Godiva wanted it done.”
“And that makes it okay to leave her—”
She interrupted me by laughing. “You're an idiot.”
“Maybe so, but I know evil when I see it.” I walked closer. She backed away through the arch to the left. I could see more of her house now. A conversational grouping, matching chairs and couch, polished blond wood and brown leather. It looked expensive.
“Evil? With that reaver inside you?”
“Reaver?”
i do reave upon occasion.
Thanks, I know.
shall i scare her some more?
Not just yet.
She was looking at me closely, as if she could sense my internal conversation. Deliberately she took two slow steps back. I followed her.
“Where are you going?” I asked sharply.
She spread her hands. “You tell me.”
“I like this room. We'll stay right here.”
She planted her feet and folded her arms and glared.
She was right about one thing—I didn't know half of what I needed to, and I didn't even know the right questions to ask.
“Who else was with you?”
“Just me and my imaginary friends.”
Okay, your turn.
Catskinner lashed out and slapped her across the face, hard enough to knock her off balance. With my other hand he grabbed the front of her robe and yanked. She fell, naked, and Catskinner tossed the torn pieces of the robe behind me.
Now there was real fear in her eyes. She crawled backwards and Catskinner stalked towards her, driving her back to where a plate glass door separated the room from the fenced back yard. Idly I noticed there was a large in-ground pool. Typical.
“you live on an island gathering shells on the shore and you think that you can control the tides because you can reckon their rise and fall. you see the surface of the waves an
d you think you know the sea.”
She scrambled backwards, her eyes wide with panic. She reached the glass door, pressed up against it, Catskinner bent down to put my face close to hers. I could feel his death's head rictus on my face.
“you walk across the skin of this world and you think the ground is solid under foot. you close your eyes when you fall under the shadow of great black wings, and you tell yourself the sun will rise again.”
“but you know,” –he reached out to brush my fingers across her arms, crossed tight against her chest—“you know in your heart that one day the sun will set and never rise again. you know the deep that waits for you, in the cold, in the dark, in the stillness, in the forever.”
He straightened, pressed my palms against the glass door. I felt the tension gather in my arms and then the glass exploded outwards.
She screamed and he leaned back down to her.
“hush. just answer the question.”
“I don't know their names! Keith arranged it! They were just drones from the Manchester nest!”
Catskinner turned and I felt his control slip away. I turned back. “Thank you, Dr. Klein.”
She looked up at me, and I could see the gratitude in her face that she was talking to a human being again. As much as she might hate me, I was better than Catskinner.
The story of my life.
“Now, who's Keith, and what's this Manchester nest?”
I could see her give up. The defiance that had been keeping her face closed and her body tense faded away, ran out of her body like water. Her voice was soft as she spoke.
“Keith Morgan. He runs The Good Earth, on Lindbergh, near highway 40. All the nests buy from him. They say he's in bed with some of the others, the blue metal boys, the nova crew—I don't know about that. I got my nettle junk from him. I just wanted to get out from under and out of town—I swear that's all it was. He gave me the seal and told me how to use it.”
I nodded, just as if I understood what she was talking about. So far, her being cooperative wasn't much more help than her being defiant.
You getting all this?
i hear it.
Which meant that it didn't make any more sense to Catskinner than to me. Still, I did have one lead to follow up.
“The Good Earth,” I repeated sagely, as if I had expected as much and just wanted her to confirm it. “And the Manchester nest?”
“I don't know the address. It's out past 270, almost to 141. It's in an old department store. That's all I know.”
I turned from her and she flinched, but I just gathered up the remains of her robe and tossed it at her. She pulled it gratefully over her body.
I needed time to think. Blue metal boys? Nova crew? They sounded like gangs of some kind. Was that what happened? We got caught in a gang war?
“So what did Keith have against me and Victor?”
I lost points with that one. I could tell from her expression that it was a stupid question, but she opened her mouth to answer it anyway when there was a fusillade of knocks on the door.
“Police, open up!”
That's our cue to exit.
She was looking towards the door. I smiled and told her, “Getting out of town—that's probably a good idea.”
She looked back at me in time to see Catskinner pouring back into my face and body.
“talking about me, now that's a really bad idea.”
And then we were gone, over the scattering of broken glass and through the empty door frame, across the patio—I had time to glimpse the water of the pool, green with algae like swamp water—then I was at the privacy fence.
And then Catskinner stopped dead. There was movement on the other side of the fence. The cops had the place surrounded. I could feel Catskinner giving the fence his full attention.
Remember, I urged him, we don't kill cops. Cops never stop looking for someone who kills their own.
In the backyard there was a pool, a couple of plastic chaise lounges, an old wooden tool shed, and me. Catskinner turned my head to look at the pool. It was worse than I thought, the surface was scummed with green and swarms of tiny bugs hung around it like a cloud.
Try the shed, I suggested.
The shed wasn't locked. Once inside I reached to take my body back. Catskinner gave it up easily. I was hungry and hot, but basically okay, although I didn't expect that to last. As soon as Dr. Klein told the cops where to find me I was screwed. Catskinner could get clear of them, I was sure, but probably not without hurting some of them.
I watched through the crack between the doors and waited.
I saw Dr. Klein talking to the cops, still wrapped in the shreds of her robe.
Try not to kill any of them when they come, I whispered in my head.
agreed.
Dr. Klein kept talking, and the cops nodded. Then they started walking away—back into the house, not out into the backyard where she had to know I was. A little while later I heard cars pulling away—no sirens.
I started to let myself hope a little bit. Could it be that Catskinner had frightened her enough that she didn't actually tell them about me? It seemed too much to ask.
On the other hand, he could be really scary.
I didn't see Dr. Klein or the cops anywhere. I eased the door open. No one shot at me, or yelled, or anything.
I stuck my head out. Catskinner was close to the surface, I could feel him just under my skin, but he wasn't trying to take control, just being vigilant.
I think we might be able to make a break for it.
look at the pool.
I looked. There were shapes under the algae, drifting shadows. I tried to make sense of the form, something long and lean, like a shark, but with limbs. Not just limbs, but legs and arms. Not a fish. The shadow resolved itself into a human form, drifting slowly under the scum. Then another. And—
—get us the hell out of here.
Catskinner's will poured into my limbs and then I was at the fence, over the fence, and across the neighbor's yard. I didn't see any police on the side of the house, I hoped that meant they were gone.
It wasn't Catskinner Dr. Klein was scared of. It was what the police would find if she'd sent them out back to get me.
I passed through a handful of lawns dotted with ornamental trees. Catskinner kept my head moving, scanning the streets. No sign of police. No sign of anyone, really. I crossed another yard, out to sidewalk and down to the corner to where Godiva was waiting in the van.
The van wasn't where I left it.
Chapter Six
“silence never lies.”
Catskinner realized it before I did. My body slowed and my head swiveled back and forth, scanning the street.
You're going to say I told you so, aren't you?
I felt my lips stretch into a grin.
i did tell you so, actually.
My body slowed to Catskinner's approximation of a normal human walking pace. I didn't try to take back control. I was busy trying to think.
Options? Run in circles, scream and shout? Probably not too productive at this time. Steal a car? Right. The cars in this neighborhood were loaded with all kinds of electronic anti-theft gear that I had neither the training nor the tools to overcome.
Catch a cab? That's a laugh—cabs don't cruise around here. Same with buses, except on the major streets. I needed to get out of the residential area. Keep walking and hope I don't get stopped by the cops.
Not the greatest plan in the world, but it was all I had. I could feel Catskinner's agreement, he eased up into a jog. Good idea, people around here don't walk, but they do jog. Bully for fitness.
The question was, where did Godiva go? If she just cut and ran, I could understand that. I could almost forgive it. She didn't owe me anything, really. She could have gotten out of Land Of Tan by herself, she might even have gotten the cash (and her teeth) without my help. I just sped up the process, while pursuing my own agenda. Taking my van was an asshole move, but it really wasn't my van to begi
n with, it was Victor's.
The sad thing was that the possibility that she had simply stolen my vehicle and left me stranded in hostile territory was a best case scenario. If she had gone back to Dr. Klein that meant—what? Did she decide that she was better off with the devil she knew? Was the whole thing a set up? I was sure that her hate for Dr. Klein was real, and her desire to help me. If I couldn't believe that, what could I believe?
My body suddenly spun around and I saw the Quality Electrical van pulling around the corner. Godiva was driving and the back looked empty. I felt Catskinner tense.
Don't kill her—let her talk first. There could be a perfectly reasonable explanation.
perhaps. He didn't seem convinced.
When the van got close Catskinner leaped, snatched the door open and swung inside in one smooth motion. Godiva flinched back and the van jerked across the oncoming lane. Luckily no one was coming.
Catskinner directed his attention to the back. No one was there. Nothing seemed out of place.
“I had to leave,” Godiva said in a rush, looking panicked. “Cops, they were driving real slow, like they were looking for someone. I ducked down when I saw them, but I was scared they were going to come back. I've been driving around the block.”
“did they go to dr. klein's house?”
“I think so. They were headed that way.”
“drive to the highway.”
Godiva nodded and made a turn at the next intersection. She kept glancing over at me warily, like she was expecting Catskinner to hit her.
perfectly reasonable?
Close enough. Let me talk to her.
“We're going to Lindbergh and Forty,” I told her.
Godiva smiled over at me, her face lighting up. “You're not mad?” she asked.
“No, I think you did the right thing.”
A pause. Then, “Is he mad?”
“Catskinner doesn't get mad.”
i get even.
You get odd, I countered.
“Did you kill her?” Godiva asked. She was looking straight ahead, her voice carefully neutral.
“No,” I said. “The cops came when I was asking her questions, and I had to run.” I studied her profile, but I couldn't tell how she felt about Dr. Klein still being alive. Maybe she wasn't sure herself.
Catskinner's Book (The Book Of Lost Doors) Page 5