Karl was moving in on her again.
That was when she heard a siren pulling up outside, and tires screeching. The cops had finally arrived.
Footsteps were hurrying this way. But would they be in time?
CHAPTER 18
I had to hand it to him—when it came to policing this town, Saul was the last word in experienced preplanning. He knew the Landing back to front. Understood the kinds of curves this place could throw you. And so—following on from the strange turns the business with Anderson had taken—he had ordered his people to get in touch with him immediately if there was another instance of domestic violence. Which was what they’d done. They’d called him right away.
His vehicle, mine, and a patrol car pulled up almost simultaneously outside the house on Clore Crescent. I could see immediately the front door had been busted open. But I wasn’t sure what sense that made, until I spotted Cass’s overturned Harley.
I’d been thinking about her only recently. But what in God’s name was she doing here?
We ran for the porch. I managed to outstrip them, and reached it first, my weapon drawn. The moment that I stepped in, I could hear that there was shouting coming from above.
“Leave her be, Karl! She’s our friend!” rang out a woman’s voice I didn’t recognize.
And then I heard one that I did.
“Get back inside, Ginny! Please!”
She sounded like she was under a lot of pressure. And we’ve always looked out for each other. So I started heading up, taking the stairs three at a time.
“I’m not letting you exchange your life for mine! He’s my husband!”
“No!” Cassie was yelling. “He’s possessed! It’s not him!”
I finally came to a halt, tilting my gun backward slightly, unsure what to do with it. This was a bewildering scene. I felt my insides tighten.
At the far end of the corridor, a brown-haired woman was standing in an open doorway. There was a full-length mirror on the wall back there, and so it had to be a bathroom. I thought I’d seen her several times before, back when Cassie’s Diner had been open. The blood had drained from her face, and her narrow frame was shaking. But she looked defiant all the same. The screams of children were emerging from inside the bathroom, and that made my gut tense up even worse.
Cass was hunkered on the floor midway to me, with her back pressed against a wall. One of her Glocks was lying on the light brown carpet. Why wasn’t it in her hand?
There was a bruise emerging on her temple. Otherwise, she looked okay. Except…not for too much longer.
A short man in a plaid shirt was standing over her, an ax drawn back across his shoulder. I immediately took aim.
Cass noticed me and held an arm out.
“No! It’s not his fault!”
The others had come up the stairs behind me. Not only Saul. There was Hugh Williams again. A rookie called Colin Trent. And even Lauren, who must have ridden here in Hobart’s car. She’d sobered up extremely quickly. They all aimed their weapons too.
The man turned his face to us. Took in the fact that there were five guns pointing at him, and then snorted.
Blood was oozing thickly from his shoulder, from a bullet wound. So he had no right to look that smug. His eyes were the same shade as a misty morning in the fall, a gray so bottomless it seemed to go on forever. Saul had already described this, but it was the first time that I’d seen it. And it was slightly difficult to hold my aim steady under such a penetrating gaze.
“Go ahead boys, fire away,” he laughed. “Do your worst. You’ll only hurt poor Karl.”
Then he looked directly to my left.
“Did I say ‘boys’? Excuse me—that was not exactly PC, was it? Why, hello again, Lieutenant Brennan.”
I glanced quickly around at Lauren. Her face looked like it had been fashioned out of clay. Her upper lip had gone wet, her blue eyes squinting slightly. She was reliving the nightmare from the mortuary, I knew. And it had to be torture for her, going through the same thing twice in a few hours.
But she didn’t back off. She stayed right where she was, trying to do her job the best way she knew how.
My attention went back to Hanlon, or at least the body he had occupied.
“The Old Ones have truly smiled on me,” the figure with the ax was telling us. “I’ve finally got what I wanted.”
“And what’s that, Cornelius?” I asked.
“Invulnerability, until the End of Days, and then beyond them. You see, the Shadow Man can’t be hurt anymore. But he can still hurt you!”
The muscles in his arms bunched. The ax head flashed when he did that.
And then he brought it swinging down on Cass.
I suppose I fired without thinking very much. Except that I was shooting at wood rather than the man
The ax handle blew apart. The head went flying off, embedding itself in the wall about a yard above Cassie’s head.
She was back on her feet in a flash. She shoved the guy away from her, as hard as she could, then raised her knee and drove a boot heel into his solar plexus. At which point, he should have doubled up. But he didn’t even seem to feel it. His grip tightened on the broken handle, and he slammed it into her chin. Cass went flying back again.
And then he did something that astonished and appalled me. The man simply turned his back on us, as if we were not even there. And began advancing on the woman in the doorway.
She shrank back inside. But in her panic, she’d forgotten to close the door.
I pocketed my gun, and started running. Threw myself on the man’s back. It should have been easy to bring him down—he was stocky, but much shorter than me. But the experience turned out to be like riding one of those rodeo machines. He bucked savagely, swinging me around like I weighed nothing.
Saul came in behind me, adding his considerable bulk to the fray. He got his arms around the fellow’s neck and then bore down with every ounce of his might, trying to wrestle the guy to the floor. The other three had got hold of his legs, trying to yank them out from under him.
He still wouldn’t go down, at first. Like we were running on steam, and he was nuclear powered.
Cassie jumped onto his back behind me. The man struggled a few more seconds, teetering under our weight, then finally collapsed. We grabbed every limb and joint we could, and pinned him down.
He leered at us with contempt. His eyes were genuinely startling this close up.
“Okay, you’ve got me,” he snarled. “But who—Cornelius Hanlon, or Karl Graves? And what if I decide to stay in here?”
I could see it from his face in the weak light. He knew what our dilemma was, and was reveling in it.
“What would you do then, huh? Lock poor Karl away for life?”
I was acutely aware that the guy’s family was listening to this. But I’m afraid that seemed to be the plan, at least for the time being. Saul already had his cuffs out. And with the uniformed guys’ help, was getting the man turned facedown with his arms twisted behind his back. It was an effort, but the lieutenant managed to snap the first bracelet on.
Hanlon burst out laughing.
“Oh good heavens! You’re arresting the wrong man—can’t you see that?”
Tears of mirth began spilling down his cheeks. That infuriated me—I could hear one of his daughters crying. What ground at me worst was the knowledge that the man was absolutely right. But I couldn’t see any other way to go with this.
Which was when Lauren reached in past me. She still had her Walther out. To my surprise, she jammed it into the man’s face. His eyes went very narrow when she did that.
My God, was she going to…? I started to reach for her, but then had second thoughts. She looked levelheaded, in control. So I decided it was best to trust her for the moment.
“I know you, Cornelius,” she snapped.
To emphasize her point, she shoved the muzzle of the gun firmly against his right cheek, so that the flesh puckered around it.
“You
like to play your little games, don’t you? But you can’t do that in jail. You’re seriously going to languish behind bars, simply to spite us? What sense does that make? Let this guy go.”
“What if I killed him first?” he grunted. “I could make him swallow his own tongue.”
Lauren’s tone grew even frostier. “Doesn’t work. I know first aid.”
That made him blink with confusion. I think I saw, in that instant, how detached from reality Hanlon was.
“You’re in a no-win situation here,” Lauren insisted. “Better to make yourself scarce, don’t you think?”
I knew how determined she was to catch the man. But this wasn’t the time for it, and she had the common sense to see that.
He became very still, his body going slack. And you could almost hear his crazed mind ticking over.
Then, without another word, his mouth stretched open wide. And pale gray vapor came rushing out of it. The color started bleeding from Karl’s eyes at the same time, his normal brown shade coming back.
The cloud billowed up against the ceiling, making us duck. Then it went churning down the stairwell to the front door of the house, disappearing through it.
Other shapes were moving toward us, next instant. The woman of the house and her young daughters, who were practically hysterical with fright. They threw themselves on their knees beside Karl, their hands going to his face. I backed away, and everyone else took my lead on that.
He was in a good deal of pain now, the wound in his shoulder finally making itself known. He squirmed and moaned. I didn’t enjoy watching that.
“What’s happening?” he yelled.
Then he jerked alarmedly at his tethered wrists, noticing the cuffs for the first time. So he obviously remembered nothing.
Saul undid them and then we backed off another couple of yards, giving these folks some privacy. I think it was Hugh Williams who called an ambulance.
I was deflating with relief, like everyone around me. Cass was rubbing at her chin, but seemed otherwise fine. Looking across at Lauren, I could see that she was shaking and perspiring. But she’d done good, and I told her that.
“So where do we go from here?” she asked.
Well, this whole thing had been down to magic, hadn’t it? And when it came to that particular subject, there were plenty of experts that we could consult.
It was time to go back to Sycamore Hill.
CHAPTER 19
Samuel Howard Aldous Levin—Judge Levin to most people in town—walked up to Lauren, adjusted his rimless spectacles, and then studied her as if she were an exceptionally fine and fragile statue made of crystal.
He was a short man, slightly built. But perfectly turned out, as always. A tailored dark brown suit was draped immaculately around his narrow frame. His shirt was a much lighter shade of the same color, as was his tie. Gold cufflinks gleamed at his wrists. His shoes were handmade and looked brand new, but then they always did.
Me and Saul had both been here before. But Cass had never been inside his house. We were in his study, which was tucked under the gables of his tall, picturesque residence. And it was not the kind of environment she was used to. She kept gazing around like she’d wound up on a different world.
This was nothing like her own home. Everything was very neat and orderly, from the huge four-panel cherry wood desk, which had only his big leather diary on it, to the collection of scrimshaw in the cabinets along the walls. The furniture was American Classic. Hers was chain store cruddy, and she knew it, and it showed.
“Remarkable,” the short man breathed. He started reaching gently for our new visitor’s face, but realized that was not appropriate. His hand withdrew. “The first outsider that I’ve ever seen who isn’t bent on harming us. Precisely the opposite, in fact.”
Lauren stared back at him blankly, unsure how to react to this much scrutiny. But that didn’t faze the judge. He turned to the rest of us with a quiet smile on his features.
“Who knows? Things here in the Landing might be looking up.”
Except it didn’t feel in the least bit like that, not to the rest of the people standing here. He hadn’t been through what we had. Hobart looked uneasy. As for myself, I made a point of clearing my throat loudly.
“Ah, yes,” the judge took note. “This Hanlon.”
Who was far more the type of visitor that we were used to. Levin went back behind his desk and sat down in the big green leather swivel chair. Light was coming in weakly through his windows, since he had the maroon drapes closed most of the way. Adepts always prefer the shadows. But at least he’d switched his desk lamp on.
“I’ve consulted with the others. And the problem we keep running up against is this. If Lucas had some kind of device that turned him into this”—he seemed to be struggling with the concept—“this…living vapor, then he managed to keep it a secret completely. We never had the first inkling that it existed.”
He glanced at me, sharpness in his gaze.
“You say Lehman Willets was aware of it?”
“He sensed something. He wasn’t exactly sure what.”
“Which is a good deal more than we can claim. I do so wish,” the judge mused, “that the doctor would rejoin our community. He’d be such an asset.”
I wasn’t sure how most people in town would take to that. You try to persuade him, I thought. But I didn’t say it.
“Anyway,” the judge continued briskly, “what’s done is done. You say, when Hanlon’s in that form, he can take over other people’s minds?”
I thought about Karl Graves, the way that he’d not even known what he’d been doing. But there was more to it than merely that. When it came to Stephen Anderson, there had been no mind to take over. The second time he’d brandished a knife, the guy had been dead.
Hanlon had become a puppet master on a grand scale. I explained that.
“It makes me shudder to think about it,” Levin murmured. “But the salient fact is this. We weren’t able to detect this device before, when Lucas owned it. And now that it’s in the hands of this interloper, little has really changed. We’ve already tried Locating Spells, Revealing Spells, and nothing works.”
Kurt van Friesling had a black stone compass with a golden needle that detected supernatural forces. I suggested that.
“Already attempted.” Levin pulled a face. “It was no use. Whatever it was that Lucas owned, it seems to contain a power way beyond the reach of our own.”
And I didn’t like the sound of that even a tiny little bit. Magic might cause genuine problems in the Landing. And the major adepts were a bunch that I was always wary of. But they were our main line of defense against serious attacks. If they were at a loss, where did that leave the rest of us?
“If only we could find out what it was,” the judge pondered, tenting his fingertips under his chin.
“His granddaughter certainly knows,” put in Hobart.
“Little Milly?”
“Not so little any more. And she couldn’t wait to get her hands on the thing.”
We told him about the angry scene she’d made last night, in every distasteful detail.
“I must say I’m shocked,” he blurted. “And she wouldn’t tell you what she was looking for?”
“She maintained her right to silence.”
The judge peered at him. “You arrested her?”
At which point, Saul glanced across at me annoyedly. “Not yet.”
“But you’d like to?” Levin asked him. “Haul her down to the station house? Let her sweat under some nice bright lights?”
We both knew the man’s reverence for due process and the Constitution. It almost amounted to a religious belief. And Saul had been expecting this, but wasn’t in the mood for backing down.
“Maybe. It’s an option.”
The judge favored him with a tight, humorless grin.
“I hope you’re not turning into a cruel and unusual man, Lieutenant.”
Hobart looked completely unbothered. A
nd I stood firmly by his shoulder, trying to back my old boss up. Levin relaxed his fingers and then laid them on his desk.
“There’ve been rumors about her, now I come to think of it. That she left Todd Vernon in a pretty fragile state. And the family did pay her off extremely handsomely. They don’t usually dig so deep into their coffers.”
Had they done that because they’d been very anxious to get rid of her? What Willets had said came back to me, about that genuinely twisted darkness in her soul.
“But I can’t imagine why,” Levin murmured, still trying to think things through and taking his sweet time about it. “Her parents were charming people. And her grandpa, of course, was an exceptional man.”
Exceptional in what way? I couldn’t help but wonder. How charming a habit was it to go sneaking around at night and rummaging through other people’s minds? If Millicent Tollburn was a twisted sister, it might be something in her background, although I wasn’t sure quite what.
“We’re going to need a warrant to search her place, at least,” Saul was pointing out, trying to take command of the situation and failing.
“I’m afraid that you won’t get it,” Levin told him.
Saul frowned, mystified. “Why not?”
The judge didn’t like his tone, apparently, because I could see his pale eyes flash behind his glasses. And his shadow, on the wall behind him, seemed to actually swell, becoming taller and more threatening. It reminded me how powerful he could be, in spite of his small stature. I’d watched him turn himself into a massive eagle once.
But then he got a handle on himself again, and his shadow—like some strange reflection of his temper—settled down.
“We know that she doesn’t have the device, man. Hanlon does. You told me so yourself. There’s no clear connection between Millicent and anything that’s happened, so how can you show me probable cause?”
A little of the air went out of my lungs. I should have been prepared for this turn of events, and so should Saul. You see, the judge worked to a very simple principle. In a town where anything was possible, you had two choices. You either lived in total chaos, or you stuck intently to the rules.
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