The Demon Hunters (33 page)

I’m sure Gia did something
to make Vance compliant. I wonder if he remembers a creature he
abhorred got inside his mind and saw all his dirty secrets. That
she didn’t kill him was
the
biggest surprise of my life. I decided she thought
being locked up in an institution for the rest of his days is a
punishment worse than death, and when you think about it, she’s
right. When you’re dead, it’s all over, unless you die violently
and linger as a shade. I don’t think Vance has a hope in hell of
ever getting out of there. I’m sure Gia will see to it.

“
You should talk to Mike,”
Royal said.

I leaned on his shoulder. “I’ve been
thinking the same thing.”

“
Now would be as good a
time as any.”

“
Nah. He’s
busy.”

“
He is also in a
very
good
mood.”

“
Right
now?”

He handed me his phone. I groaned, and
dialed Mike’s direct number.

Fifteen minutes later I walked into
Clarion’s Homicide Division. Royal thought I should talk to Mike
alone. He and Mike didn’t have a problem. Just me. His exact words
as he dropped me off at the curb were “suck it up.”

I looked straight ahead, across the
squad room at Mike’s door, which stood ajar. Brad Spacer grinned
and toasted me with his coffee cup. The three other officers in
there stared then went back to their paperwork.

I squared my shoulders, tapped on the
doorframe and went in the office.

Mike looked up from an open file
folder, closed it and pushed it to one side of his messy desk. He
didn’t look happy to see me, but he didn’t seem mad either. He even
managed his version of a smile as I took the chair facing his desk.
He didn’t make it easy for me, though. He kept his mouth shut,
waiting for me to begin the conversation.

“
How are things,
Mike?”

He leaned back, folding his hands over
his belly. “Pretty good, Tiff. You saw the press
conference?”

“
Sure did. Congratulations,
Mike.”

He dropped his chin, gave it a little
shake.”Wish I could take the credit, but any anonymous call led us
to Vance and his cronies.”

He lifted his head and met my gaze.
“What can I do for you?”

This would not be easy. I’m not one
for apologies, even when I’m wrong; they have to fight their way
out my mouth. “I’ve been thinking. Royal and I have our own agency
now and it could be we’ll be cooperating with one police department
or another, likely Clarion.”

He nodded again, looking thoughtful,
then said, “Could be.”

“
When that happens, I don’t
want our history getting in the way. So, I’m apologizing, Mike. I
should have understood your position. I
did
understand, but I was . . .
upset.”

He twined his fingers together as he
looked past me. “Those children―the killer seems to have gone to
ground, but he’ll be back. They always come back.”

His gaze swooped on me. “When he does,
maybe you’d like in on it.”

That would never happen, but I
couldn’t tell Mike. “Really? After what happened in
Danby?”

“
I don’t ground a man for
one mistake. You quit.”

So I could have stayed on at the PD.
But then Royal and I would not have our agency.

“
So long as Royal’s here to
keep you in line,” Mike added.

Don’t bristle,
Tiff
. I smiled, though it hurt. “Royal and
I are a good team.”

“
He’s a good guy.” And
there it was, the unspoken,
I told you
so.

“
I know that. I always knew
it. I’m sorry I ignored my gut feeling back then.” I tried another
tentative smile. “Are we good?”

He stared me in the eyes, scrunched up
his mouth. “We’re good.” He hunched over his desk, folding his arms
on the surface. “Anything else I can do for you, Tiff?”

I settled more comfortably in my
chair, swung one leg over the other. “Since you ask.” I beetled my
eyebrows up and down. “What’s the inside dope on the Vance case?
You said he confessed.”

He grinned. Lieutenant Mike
Warren actually
grinned
at
me
. He must be über pleased with himself. “Easiest homicide case
I ever worked” He slowly shook his head side to side as if in
wonderment. “We didn’t have to say one word; he spoke up the minute
we walked in his office. No lies, no evasion. He showed us files in
his computer which detailed his kills, the locations, the names of
the targets. Strangest thing, it was as if he prepared for us
beforehand, as if he expected us, the incriminating files up on his
PC screen and his gang of thugs standing meekly by waiting to be
cuffed.

“
We got an emergency
services call an hour later reporting a kid half beaten to death in
a house on East Monroe. Alissario Arellano Borrego. The house
belongs to Vance.”

“
And?”

“
We’ll know more when he
wakes up. He’s in bad shape.” He shifted, rearranging his big body
in his big chair. “You know to keep it to yourself.”

I did, and I recognized a conciliatory
gesture. Mike need not have told me any of that; he was letting me
know I was back in, to a degree.

I got up from the chair. “Thanks,
Mike.” I moved closer so I could reach across the desk. He looked
at my hand before he enfolded it in his.

I smiled, stepped back so our hands
fell apart, turned and walked out his office. I kept my smile as I
went through the squad room and made my way out the
building

***

“
All good?” Royal asked as
I slid along the soft leather passenger seat of his pickup and
pulled the door closed.

I fastened my seat belt. “More than
good. He didn’t throw me out. He even talked about Vance. Of course
if he knew we were involved, I’d be in a holding cell.”

“
I talked to a few old
friends in the division. They don’t know Vance killed more than
four people in the States, and more in Europe before he moved his
operation here. Gia must have removed their names from Vance’s
database.”

“
So not only is she a
successful author, she’s a talented hacker.”

Our next stop would be Clarion
Regional. We headed south along West Temple, climbing the hill
which leads to South Clarion. The farther we got from downtown, as
we drove the older stretch of West Temple, the more stores had
CLOSED signs on their windows. Seeing any store closed down is bad
enough, but the little old ones with clapboard sides look sad. I
recalled when Smudgie’s Donuts sat in that empty lot, and the smell
of hot, spicy food on the air from what once housed the Cajun
restaurant. Like in too many other places, the small businesses
can’t complete with the new mega-stores. The owners leave the small
buildings to peel and come apart, until they have to be torn
down.

We turned west down Regional Drive,
the new road built specifically for the new, state-of-the-art
hospital, and entered the parking lot. Royal had to drive around
for a minute or two before a parking spot opened up.

We were going to see Rio Borrego and
we half expected to say goodbye. I suppose that was our purpose, to
say farewell to the young man who protected Gia Sabato with his
life. When you see someone so damaged and know why, and how they
ended up that way, when they’re part of your investigation, you
feel an unrealistic responsibility.

We took an elevator to the intensive
care unit. A middle-aged woman wearing the garb of a volunteer sat
behind the desk. Royal strolled over there. Supporting himself with
one hand on the counter, he lounged over it. “Which room is
Allesario Borrego’s?

The volunteer had a hard face, dark
skin with cheeks polished like an apple, a tight-lipped mouth with
deep grooves either side and small, dark eyes. With her hair pulled
back in a bun tight enough to serve as a helmet, she only needed a
little lacy cap to look like a matron in a Dickens
novel.

“
Are you a
relative?”

“
Friends,” he said with a
smile.

A smile from Royal usually works
wonders, but she seemed immune. “Only family is allowed. I’m
sorry,” she said, sounding not at all so.

Small frown lines creased between his
eyebrows. “Can you tell us how he is?”

“
Only if you’re
family.”

Royal’s long arm reached over the
counter and he captured her hand in his. “Thank you, Miss. . . .”
He glanced at her nametag. “May I call you Doris?”

Her expression changed. It softened,
and she fluttered her short lashes at him. “You certainly may.” She
put her other hand over Royal’s. “You know, I don’t like this
subterfuge, but I follow orders and the Director doesn’t want to
bring the media down on us.”

“
Of course he does not,”
Royal said in a soothing tone.

“
I see no reason I
shouldn’t tell you Mr. Borrego is no longer at Clarion Regional,
but a seriously injured man walking out on his own two feet two
days after admittance, apparently healed, could be seen as a
miracle by the unworldly.”

“
I see your point,” Royal
said. He patted the back of her hand. “I hope someone came for him.
He should not be alone.”

“
We released him to Miz
Sabato and Mr. Clare. I’m sure they’ll watch over him. Miz Sabato
assured us of that.”

“
Well, thank you, Doris,”
Royal said with one more pat on her hand. Then he let her
go.

Her eyes flared to twice the size,
maybe as big as mine had become. Her breath came fast. I think she
was about to hyperventilate, but she spluttered instead.

Royal and I got out of there
fast.

As we rode the elevator
down with two women and a medic, I tried not to be angry,
but
seeing
it
happen took me back to Gia putting her will on me, and on Royal,
and this woman was no felon.

“
Not what you think, Tiff,”
Royal murmured.

Was I so transparent? Maybe my hunched
shoulders and stiff neck clued him in to my feelings. “Sure looked
that way,” I hissed out the side of my mouth as we stepped out the
elevator, hurrying so the other occupants could go on their
way.

“
I made her relax,” he
replied in an undertone.

“
Made
her?”

“
It’s one of those things .
. . you know.”

Obviously I wasn’t familiar with the
variations of demon beguilement. “No, I don’t. You better enlighten
me.”

“
Not everyone is
susceptible. Those who are, they relax to the extent they will in
all likelihood tell me whatever they are thinking.”

I slowed my pace as we walked through
the almost empty foyer. “But she looked shocked
afterward.”

He walked close, his shoulder just
short of brushing mine. “Unfortunately, they remember everything
they said with no idea why they opened up to me. I’m sure it can be
disconcerting.”

I threw a glance his way.
“Disconcerting? I would freak if you did that to me!”

“
I don’t do it casually,
Tiff. And I would never do it to you. You know that.”

It didn’t seem as bad as forcing his
will on a person. Made them relax, huh? They got so comfortable
with him, they had to open up, like you do when you share a secret
with your very best friend.

I slanted my eyes at him again. “How
many times did you use that during police
interrogations?”

“
Tiff!” he said in mock
alarm. “That would be unprofessional.”

I rolled my eyes.

***

I wonder about Rio Borrego. A person
can’t heal so fast from injuries as bad as his. So what really
happened there?

I remember Ronald’s and John’s
conviction that Daven Clare died outside his house when it burned
to the ground. Did he? Or did he survive almost certain
incineration without a scar to show for it just weeks later? If
Dark Cousins can miraculously recover from near death, have they
the power to heal a broken human body?

A week after Vance’s arrest I woke in
the night to hear Royal’s low murmur and Gia’s laughter peal
through the house. Alarmed and abruptly wide awake, I pulled my
robe on and went cautiously down the stairs.

***

Royal sat at my kitchen
table.

“
I heard something,” I said
as I went in the kitchen.

He gave me a rather wan, tired smile.
“She’s gone now.”

“
Why was she
laughing?”

“
She told me something she
found amusing, although really it is not.”

I stood close to him with my hands in
the pockets of my robe. “Do I get to know?”

Royal shuffled his chair back from the
table and pulled me onto his knees. “I can tell you what Dark
Cousins are not.”

I put my arms around his neck. “Less
of the cryptic, please.”