“Where will you go?” Merlin asked.
“Into the city,” William replied with
a shrug. “You?”
Merlin shrugged as well. “I have a job to do. I have to go to the island. You know that. Hitchcock knows that too.
I’m probably playing right into his hands.”
“Then don’t go,” William remarked.
She angled her head. “Are you gonna tell me it’s too dangerous,
William? After all the places you sent
me, all the things I did for you
there? Danger’s part of the day job. If I got scared of what I’d face .. I’d’ve
been dead, buried an’ forgotten a long way back.”
He regarded her. “What I mean is .. don’t go on his
terms. Go on your own. I don’t want Derek to die. I never have. If I had wanted that, he’d
be dead, buried and forgotten. Don’t
let Randolph win.”
“I’ll try. As ever, no guarantees.”
She put a hand on his arm. “Be
careful. Don’t trust this guy. He isn’t worth your .. rather dubious
loyalty. My advice, get your ass to the
airport, fly home to Patricia.”
He smiled. “I think I might do that .. except I want to be here in case I’m
needed.”
“By whom?”
“That .. I really can’t say.”
“I won’t ask you to call me an’ let me
know what he plans to do. I got a
feeling .. he wouldn’t let you. Just
watch your back. Any guy so driven by a
need for vengeance doesn’t care who goes down with him.”
“Sound advice,” he agreed. “And it goes both ways.”
William waved and walked down the
drive to the gate where the taxi cab was waiting. Merlin wondered if they’d ever see each other again.
*****
Richard Jones wasn’t in the least bit
tired but then he hadn’t flown in from England. He’d been in the arrivals terminal to watch Derek enter, then,
having sized up the man, had retreated to wait out of sight. It had been easy to step into the crowd at
the right moment.
He’d been fully briefed by Randolph
Hitchcock on the residents of this house.
Derek Rayne, Precept. Nick
Boyle, weapons specialist. Alex Moreau,
researcher. Rachel Corrigan, medical
doctor. Peri Boyle .. some kind of
special guard. So far, he’d met three
of the five, plus Rachel’s daughter Kat.
He’d been told Peri Boyle might not be there but would definitely arrive
later. There was not much time to put
the plan into effect.
Richard thought about his attack
pattern. Derek was sensitive. Not only that, he was the leader and, while
the others may grumble about it, they would obey his orders. Therefore, Derek should be taken out fairly
quickly. Alex Moreau was not so much of
an immediate threat. Nick should be
next. Then the child because that would
make the mother more amenable. Finally
Alex, and Rachel would follow as soon as she arrived. By then, it would be easy.
The Eye of Thoth wouldn’t work on Peri, she had .. defenses against
it. However, it would work on the
others .. and then they would ensure Peri wouldn’t cause any problems.
After that, as they say, it was all
plain sailing.
The one unknown factor was Peri
Boyle. If she arrived today, the bowl
could be destroyed and the entire plan would fall apart. Therefore, Richard had to act swiftly but
still keep within character. He
unpacked his bag, took the copper bowl and examined it. He left it by the door, then forced himself
to sit in his room for an hour before going out to .. explore. It was equally important to gain a working
knowledge of what was where. Before too
long, Richard would be giving the orders in this house.
*****
“He seems to find us acceptable,”
Derek commented quietly. “So far .. we’ve
made a good impression.”
“We’re all on our best behavior,” Nick
responded, glancing around from the keyboard.
“Mmm, keep it up,” Derek advised with
a quick smile. “I don’t want one of
your infamous temper tantrums to drive Hugh away, not just yet. Give him a chance to get his bearings, at
least.”
“Whatever you say, boss.”
“When will Peri get here?”
Nick shrugged. “I passed the message on. She said she’d try for today. If not, tomorrow for sure.” He eased back, turning to look at the older
man. “I wouldn’t push her, Derek, not
right now. This weapon is a big deal
for her. She’s never faced anything
like it before.”
“Are you saying she won’t come?” Derek
inquired, his voice level.
“No, I’m not. She told me she wouldn’t call in reinforcements
cos they’d only die with her. She’s
ready to do that. But you gotta give
her the chance to prepare, to find out as much as she can about this .. enemy. Anything less wouldn’t be fair. We’re in no immediate danger, Hitchcock
hasn’t shown up at the gate. We’re okay
in here. We can hold out for a while.”
“You’re right. Let’s try to relax. Let Hugh see us at our best, and not at our
worst.”
“I’m pretty cool,” Nick remarked. “You should take some of your own advice for
once.”
“Thank you for pointing that out,”
Derek politely commented. “Where’s
Kat?”
“In the kitchen. She’s ready to do a hand over of duties.”
“Only if Hugh wants to work while he’s
here. Officially, he hasn’t agreed to
accept the job. What about Alex?”
“In her room, on the phone to Mark.”
“Oh.”
“An’ Rachel’s still in the city with
her detective friend,” Nick concluded.
“I think that’s everyone accounted for.
Derek .. get outta here. We got
it covered.”
“Yes, Nick,” Derek said meekly, and
went out.
*****
Kat looked round as the door opened,
and she swallowed. She couldn’t help
it. Hugh creeped her out. The worst thing, the really worst thing, was
that Kat didn’t know why. She didn’t
know the guy. There wasn’t anything
about him she could say ‘it’s that’. It
was simply a general feeling of .. creepiness.
“Ah .. the kitchen,” he said and
nodded at her. “Miss Katherine.”
“Hugh,” Kat acknowledged, watching him
like she would a snake.
“Dr Rayne tells me you’ve been doing
sterling work in here. He’s very
grateful. I expect you feel a little
resentful that I’m here now.”
Kat shrugged. “I couldn’t do this forever. I got school starting again soon.”
“I’m sure I'll need some assistance,
the first few days. Can I count on
you?”
“Uh huh.”
“Excellent. Well .. shall we make a start?
You can show me where things are kept.”
There was absolutely nothing wrong
with any of it. He kept a good
distance. He smiled pleasantly. He was polite and well-mannered. He looked every inch the perfect
butler. He had to be okay. Derek had checked him out, and her mother
had helped. Kat just felt that ..
somehow, they’d made a massive mistake.
“The store’s down here,” she
said. “We filled it up just this
morning … ”
*****
Merlin now felt twitchy on two fronts
– Randolph Hitchcock’s curiosity bomb, and William Sloan.
“This is crazy,” she muttered. “There have to be answers. All right, let’s focus. If you can’t find the front door, look for
the back door. Maybe there is nothing
to find about these pottery things, but how about other magic from the first
times? Has to be some. Everything has to start somewhere,
right? Before there were big dinosaurs,
there were little dinosaurs. Oak trees
grow from acorns.”
She realized she was pacing.
“Peri, stop talking to yourself,” she
muttered. “Go do some work.”
She uncorked a bottle of wine, took a
fresh pack of cigarettes and climbed the stairs to her office. The computer was humming quietly. The information had to be somewhere. She just had to look in the right place with
the right eyes. Maybe those eyes needed
to be a little intoxicated. Maybe,
then, the bad feelings would get drowned out.
*****
“You don’t have to do this, Hugh,”
Derek persevered at breakfast the next morning.
“Sir, you have been left in the lurch
thru the most unfortunate of circumstances,” Richard replied smoothly. “The least I can do is help out while I’m
here. It really is no effort and how
else can I make any kind of accurate assessment of the position?”
“Well .. if you’re sure,” Derek
accepted.
“You’ve been most generous, Dr
Rayne. Please, I insist.”
“Thank you. Kat deserves some time to herself before school starts again.”
“I agree wholeheartedly. May I ask, sir, when Mrs Boyle will be
returning?”
“We think it will be today,” Derek
replied.
“Thank you, Dr Rayne. I need to know how many to cater for. Enjoy your breakfast.”
Richard bowed and left him alone. Alex entered a few minutes later, and, soon
after that, Nick joined them.
“He’s a good cook,” Derek
commented. “Any word from Peri?”
“Not yet. I tried calling but I just got voicemail. I left a message,” Nick replied.
“Derek … ” Alex began, and said
nothing more.
“Alex?” he prompted. “Is Mark all right?”
“He’s fine,” she dismissed and then
stared at the table for a long moment.
“I don’t know how to say this.”
That brought heads up. Words that like always meant trouble. Words like that were invariably followed by
‘I’m leaving the Legacy.’
“Just say it then,” Nick invited, his
voice tight.
“Are you sure that’s Hugh?” Alex
asked. The instant tension
vanished. “Right, who else could he
be?” she went on, unaware that she’d caused hearts to turn over. “It’s just .. I did the initial check on his
background. He’s perfect. Everything about him gave me the right
vibes, y’know? And yet now he’s here ..
I don’t feel I know him at all.”
“Rachel and I were very thorough,”
Derek remarked.
“An’ I dug real deep into his past,”
Nick added.
Alex shrugged. “Maybe it’s just me. Joseph was .. such a part of our lives here
that it’s difficult to accept someone else in his place. It’s almost like an invasion of territory.”
“He needs time, and so do we,” Derek
commented. “Anything new needs to
settle, to become established. Before
too much time has passed, Hugh will seem to us like he’s always been
here.” He looked along the table. “Nick, how are you progressing with the
research?”
“I don’t think I’m progressing with
anything. In fact, it would be more
accurate to say I’ve hit a brick wall.”
“Maybe Peri is having more luck,”
Derek murmured.
*****
Pete Miller had told Rachel to take a
break from her escort duties for half a day.
They’d arranged to meet for lunch at Fisherman’s Wharf at one. Rachel had been grateful. For one thing, she didn’t particularly like
having a shadow hovering around her all the time. For another, things had been piling up at home. Pete was great company, now the specter of
romantic entanglement had been exorcised, and Rachel enjoyed being with him,
especially in the city. Escorting a
stranger around San Francisco was like seeing it fresh. She’d been to places she hadn’t visited in
years, and she’d had a really good time.
But there were things to see to at home. Phone calls to be returned.
Patient notes to be updated.
Housework.
Pete was grateful too. Now Rachel had been so diligent in pointing
out places of interest and just being with him as they walked the streets and
rode the cable cars and the BART, he felt he had a halfway decent idea of where
things were and how to get to them. He
wanted to do his own thing for half a day.
He rose early, showered, got dressed
in jeans, T-shirt and jacket. His
police issue .38 was is in its shoulder holster. His badge and ID were in the inside pocket of his jacket, along
with his permit to carry a concealed weapon.
He ate a quick breakfast and hit the streets.
His first port of call was the
Brisbane Police Department. He’d made a
few contacts at the convention and he wanted to check out how things were done
in this part of the city. After that,
he visited another friend from the convention who was based at the San Bruno
PD.
“Hey, Sam! How’s it going?” he called.
“You’re still here, Miller?”
Pete shrugged. “I got a friend here, took some personal
time, stayed on a few days. Why? Is this a bad time?”
“Dragged some poor sonofabitch outta
the lagoon late last night. Back of his
head’s smashed in.”
Pete frowned. “You got the case?”
“Does it look like I’ve been to bed yet?” Sam Kearney inquired.
“You
know who he is?” Pete asked, with a sympathetic smile. He’d had his share of nights like that.
“Some
Brit, by the looks of things. Wasn’t
robbed, just killed an’ dumped. People
these days … According to his passport,
his name was Hugh Satterley. Don’t
suppose he got very far from the airport, poor bastard.”
“Could
I see the file?”
“Sure,
beat yourself up, working on your vacation.”
Sam shoved the folder across the desk.
He had several other folders asking for his attention.
Pete
flipped it open and scanned the photographs.
Then he studied the initial report.
“Weights
in his pockets ..? Someone didn’t want
this guy found,” he remarked.
“Strange. Why go to all that
effort for what’s basically a street mugging?”
“We’ll
maybe never find out. Look, Pete, I’m
sorry, I’d like to talk but – ”
“Hey,
no sweat. You got my number,
right? Call me.”
“When
I get three seconds to myself,” Sam nodded, “sure thing.”
“Hang
in there, man. Be safe.”
Outside
once more, Pete checked the time and decided he’d better start moving north
again if he was going to make his date with Rachel. He stepped into the street and raised a hand.
“Taxi!”
*****
Merlin
woke with a headache. It wasn’t a
hangover, just a softly pounding residue of uneasiness.
She’d
found out something about the old magic.
It hadn’t exactly cheered her.
The old magic was raw, rough, and packed a punch. Imagine an Enforcer’s mental ability as an
unrefined essence, molded but not tamed and held inside an artifact, like a
wand or a crystal. With the right
command, it could burst out. The
accounts she’d read – and there were not that many of them – spoke of a suicide
weapon. It killed not only the intended
victim and others who happened to be in the area, but the wielder as well. Obviously, over time, this magic force had
been tempered as the magicians learned more of their craft. She could expect no one else to be killed,
or even hurt, but she could reasonably expect to die.
“Well
.. it had to happen sometime, I guess.
It’ll be for a good cause. If my
death means no one else will have to face this weapon .. why shouldn’t it be
me? It’s how I wanna go.”
Merlin
had no precognitive ability but she knew – she just knew – the weapon would be turned on her. She showered, dressed, and left the house on Paradise Drive
probably for the last time. Then she
drove the Range Rover to the ferry and started the journey to meet her fate.
*****
“Ah,
Hugh,” Derek said as he entered the kitchen.
“Oh .. what’s that?”
Richard
was pouring water into a metal bowl.
“Something my grandmother left me, sir.
It’s a family heirloom. Almost
.. a good luck charm. It goes with me
wherever I work.”
“It
looks very old,” Derek commented, coming closer.
“Indeed
it is, sir. Would you like to see?”
Richard
held it out. Derek took it and peered
into the shallow depths. There was a
stylized eye on the base and the water and the light made it flicker almost as
if it were alive.
“It’s
called the Eye of Thoth.”
There
was a muted flash and Derek blinked, his expression becoming quite blank. Richard calmly took the bowl away and put it
on the table.
“Can
you hear me?” Richard asked.
“Yes.”
“Continue
with your work as you usually do. Tell
Nick Boyle to come to the kitchen to explain the alarm access box to me. Then, when you are alone, call the gate and
tell them the emergency is over. They
are not to prevent Mr Hitchcock from entering the estate.”
“All
right,” Derek agreed.
“When
you’ve done those things and when Mr Boyle returns, you must begin work on
assembling the artifact.”
“Very
well.”
“Whenever
you hear me say ‘the Eye’, you will be ready for fresh instructions. Is that clear?”
Derek
nodded.
“You
may leave now.”
“Thank
you.” Derek blinked again. “Ah, Hugh.
I just wanted to say we’d like lunch at one o’clock.”
“Of
course, sir.”
Derek
nodded and smiled pleasantly, and left the kitchen. Richard waited, his chest tight with tension. If Nick didn’t arrive, Richard would know he
had only a short period in which to make his escape. Even if Nick did arrive, it was still no clear indication that
the old magic in the bowl had worked on Derek Rayne. After all, the younger man might well burst thru the kitchen door
with a gun in his hand. Richard opened
a drawer and slid out a sharp knife .. just in case.
Some
five minutes later, Nick came in.
“Derek sent me down here to explain about the alarm access box,” he said
and Richard relaxed.
One
down, four to go.
“It’s
down here,” Nick continued.
“Ordinarily, I wouldn’t tell you, at least not yet,” he added. “You haven’t said you’ll take the job an’,
if I tell you, it’s a major pain in the ass to change all the codes if you turn
us down.”
Richard
moved the bowl slightly.
“What’s
that?” Nick asked.
“Just
a copper bowl. From Egypt,
apparently. It has .. some kind of
design in the bottom. See ..?”
Wanting
to get back to his stalled research, Nick sighed but he also remembered Derek’s
caution about not losing it. He leaned
closer, looking into the bowl.
“The
Eye of Thoth,” Richard said.
Nick
jerked back as if the water had bitten him.
His face blanked.
“Your
main priority is to find out how the artifact is to be assembled. You will devote all your time to this
task. It is imperative that it is made
into one. Is that clear?” Richard
ordered.
“Yeah,”
Nick said.
“Whenever
you hear me say ‘the Eye’, you will be ready for fresh instructions. Do you understand?”
“Sure,”
Nick nodded.
“You
may leave.”
Nick
blinked. “You wanna see this access box
or not?”
“If
it’s going to be a nuisance to you, sir, I can wait.”
“Great. I got something important I should be
doing.”
“Of
course, sir. Luncheon is at one.”
Nick
nodded and left.
Richard
took the bowl and carefully carried it into the foyer where he put it on a low
table next to the dried flower arrangement.
He had no idea how the bowl worked, he just had his orders and he
intended to carry them out. Fill the
bowl with ordinary water, say the Eye of Thoth, and the magic will charm anyone
looking into the depths. It will make
them susceptible to suggestion, any suggestion. Mr Hitchcock had explained all that Richard needed to know.
The
most dangerous two in this house were now firmly under his control. The day had started well.
*****
Kat
was bored. She’d gone from being a
valued member of the house to in the way.
She remembered Nick had said he’d find stuff for her to do but, when
she’d asked, he’d brushed her off, saying he was too busy right now. That had hurt. Nick was never too busy for her.
Alex, too, was wrapped up in her personal dilemma as well as making a
start on Pete Miller’s background check using the laptop in the library. Derek …
Well, he’d been abrupt. That had
hurt as well. Kat had felt tears start
to burn her eyes but he’d ignored them.
So,
lonely and bored, Kat had gone into the garden. She scuffed her way along the drive, slowly heading toward the
gate, and brooding over the change in personality of the two guys she’d come to
see as an older brother and a surrogate father.
It
had been such a sudden change. She felt
neglected. Abused. No, that was too strong. But certainly misused. All the days she’d worked so hard .. and now
she was just a kid again. In the way.
What
would Peri say if she were here? C’mon,
Kat, face up to it – life isn’t fair.
Stuff happens. You gotta live
with it or you gotta find a way to change it to something better.
Yeah,
Kat considered, that sounds like Peri.
I wish she was here for real.
She’d know what to do.
As
if in answer to her wish, the Range Rover crunched around a bend in the
drive. Kat raised a hand to wave and
Merlin grinned at her. She brought the
vehicle to a halt, leaned across and opened the passenger door so Kat could
climb in.
“Hey,
how you doing?”
“Better
now you’re here,” Kat replied, hunching into her jacket.
Merlin
switched off the engine. “Okay, I’m
listening. Who’s done what to whom?”
Kat
heaved a big sigh and began to talk.
She told Merlin about Rachel and Pete.
About Alex and Mark. About Hugh.
“Who?”
Merlin inquired.
“The
new butler.”
“He’s
here already?”
Kat
looked at her, her eyes wounded. “You
haven’t been around for a while.”
“No,
I guess I haven’t. I should be used to
things turning on a dime around here.
Go on.”
Kat
continued. She told Merlin about
Randolph Hitchcock and the lockdown.
And she concluded with Derek being abrupt and Nick being busy.
Merlin
nodded. “Well, it’s no guarantee but
I’m here now so maybe things will lighten up again.”
For
a while, anyway, she silently added.
“Okay,
let’s work thru your list. Your Mom an’
Pete. No big deal. He’s a friend from outta town. He’s a cop.
He’ll be going home before you know it an’ your Mom’s gonna be back on
your case. Enjoy this freedom while you
got it, kid, cos it ain’t gonna last.
Alex an’ Mark .. you can’t interfere.
They gotta work it out. Be there
to listen, keep the advice to a minimum or it’ll turn round an’ bite you. Hugh …
Don’t know the guy so I can’t say whether he’s creepy or not. I’ll reserve judgment on that one. Randolph Hitchcock .. yeah, I know about
that. Some guys can’t let go of the
past. Something big happens in their
life, it’s like a lead weight on a piece of rubber sheet. Everything gets dragged to that point. Everything spirals toward it. Life becomes distorted, twisted. It stops them in their tracks. Blame gets apportioned, a grudge is born,
and it grows. Eventually, revenge is
all they live for. Take it away ..
they’re nothing. Sad thing about it is
that, no matter which way it goes down, people realize .. it was a waste of
time. Their life was nothing but a
house of cards, y’know? They build an’
build .. an’ then it collapses an’ they look back over all those years of
waiting an’ brooding an’ plotting. They
find they’ve gotten old and they’ve done nothing. They haven’t lived at all.”
Merlin
studied her. “Do you understand that?”
“Uh huh.”
“Okay,
so .. put yourself in the place of the target of all this waiting an’ brooding
an’ plotting. Wouldn’t you be a little
abrupt if you knew the guy was back in town?”
Kat
slowly nodded.
“An’
wouldn’t you ask your friends to help you?”
“Yeah.”
“And
that help would keep ’em busy.”
“I
guess. I feel pretty mean now.”
“Hey,
at almost fourteen, I was pretty mean all the time. Don’t sweat it,” Merlin winked.
“It’s one of the few perks you get being that age.”
“Enjoy
it while I can?” Kat grinned.
“Hell,
I would. I mean, when you get older,
people say huh, she’s just a bitch.
They look at you an’ say she’s a teenager, thirteen, what d’you expect?”
Kat
giggled. “I’ve missed you!”
Merlin
started the engine again. “Kat .. were
you here when Carl Chang came by?”
“Yeah! He brought those weird things for Nick to
look at.”
“You
met him at the door?”
Kat
nodded. “He almost fell. I remember.
He said it felt like he’d kicked something.”
They
broke the door seal, Merlin reflected.
That is strong black magic.
*****
Alex
left the library to wander down to the foyer.
Richard was there, minutely adjusting the flower arrangement. She still felt a shiver of .. something not
quite right but she trusted Derek. If
he said it just needed a little time, the least she could do was make the
effort.
“Hello,
Hugh. How are you settling in?”
“Very
well, thank you, madam. Have you seen
this? I’m not sure if it should be here
or not.”
Frowning,
Alex saw the bowl. “I’ve never seen it
before. What is it?”
She
went closer …
*****
Merlin
let the engine idle. Kat watched her.
“Do
you think my Mom’s in danger?” she asked quietly.
“No,
I really don’t. I think the people in
this house are in danger. It’s why I’ve
come back. Kat, something bad is gonna
happen here an’ I don’t want you to be part of it. If I asked you to get yourself home, or better yet get yourself
to my house, could you do that? Call
your Mom, ask her to come pick you up from Paradise Drive. I’ll give you money for the ferry an’ a taxi
cab the other side.”
“I
could do that but – ”
“This
isn’t the time to argue, not with me. I
want you safe, okay?”
“But
you can do anything,” Kat persisted stubbornly. “And that guy can’t get in.
Nick gave orders to the gate.”
Merlin
twisted round to face her. “Between you
an’ me, all right? Don’t wanna scare
you, kiddo, just telling you straight.
That guy got around William Sloan and William is more twisted than a
corkscrew. He’s kept me away .. and you
know I don’t run from a fight. If he
can do that, he can find a way to get inside this house. Now, I don’t want you here when he turns
up.”
Kat
nodded. “Can I try on some of your
clothes?”
“Hell,
yeah,” Merlin grinned, and held out the door key.
“Okay,”
Kat said, taking it. “Peri .. be
careful.”
“Sure
thing,” she winked, holding out some money.
“Go on, get outta here. An’
don’t look back.”
*****
Alex
came into the lab. “I’m here to help.”
Nick
had unlocked the lead container and removed the three pottery shapes to lay
them on the bench.
“The
three must become one,” Derek stated.
“But
how ..?” Nick asked. “There’re no
records anywhere of this artifact.”
“Simple
experimentation,” Derek decided. “Three
of us, three pieces. One each. We work as a team.”
*****
Merlin
watched Kat run toward the gate then she continued along the drive. She parked the Range Rover in the garage and
walked back to the house. She felt a
little sick and knew it was down to proximity to the magic. She opened the door and noticed at once the
seal had been broken. Swallowing, she
went into the foyer. The house seemed
unnaturally quiet and it was never noisy.
“Anyone
here?” she called.
In
the kitchen, Richard Jones heard the strange voice and looked at his
watch. Come on, he thought. How difficult can it be ..?
*****
Alex
came closer and picked up the end piece.
Nick took the one in the middle.
Derek claimed the first.
“This
here .. it’s like a slot,” he murmured.
“How
about ..?” Alex breathed and pushed her piece onto the one in Derek’s
hand. It clicked into place.
“I
felt it tremble,” Derek reported. “Nick
..?”
*****
Merlin
waited but didn’t get an answer. I know
they’re here. The house is in
lockdown. I’m not getting any evil
sensations.
She
turned to the stairs then changed her mind and went toward the kitchen. Kat’s senses were good. So were Merlin’s. If the new guy creeped Kat out, there had .. to be .. a reason.
Merlin
halted sharply, suddenly torn. Just
because Randolph Hitchcock couldn’t get in – yet – didn’t mean he couldn’t
arrange for someone else to get in.
Someone they wouldn’t suspect.
Someone they’d do all they could to help feel at home. Someone whose slightly odd behavior wouldn’t
be commented upon. Someone .. like a
new butler.
Everyone
has a time to die, she thought. Philip
would say everything happens for a reason.
If I find that Joseph’s time to die was in a deliberately engineered
accident, I am gonna be extremely pissed off.
She
broke into a run.
*****
Nick
twisted the piece this way and that, trying to find the one place it could go …
*****
Rachel
looked round. “Hey .. where’d you get
to?”
“I’m
sorry. Traffic,” Pete explained with a
shrug. “I’ve been south of the city,
touching base with some friends I made at the convention. I thought I’d have enough time to get back
here but I miscalculated.”
“It’s
okay,” she smiled. “This is your
personal time, after all.”
“Yeah,
it is, and, while I am very grateful to you for showing me all that’s best an’
bright in this city, it is nice to know it has its dark underbelly as well.”
“For
sure,” Rachel agreed. “If I’d known you
wanted to go walking along those
streets, I would’ve suggested you go on your own or take Nick.”
She
set off at a gentle stroll. “I find
about half my clients are victims of street abuse at some time in their
lives. Usually, it was a turning point. I have to help them deal with it.”
“You
won’t have to help this guy,” Pete remarked.
“He’s dead.”
*****
Merlin
burst into the kitchen. Richard Jones
looked calmly at her.
“Can
I help you, madam?”
“You
can tell me who you are,” she replied.
“My
name is Hugh Satterley. I’m the new
butler,” he replied. “And you must be
..?”
He
was lying.
“What
have you done?” Merlin demanded.
“Done,
madam? I don’t understand.”
She
advanced toward him. “Don’t give me
that crap! What have you done?”
*****
“Oh?” Rachel glanced at him. “What happened?”
“I
would like to say gang related cos he had weights in his pockets which suggests
no one wanted the body found, but this guy was in no gang. I’d like to say .. street abuse but he
wasn’t robbed. He had cash on him, and
his passport. He was killed by a heavy
blow or blows to the back of his head an’ thrown in the lagoon, according to
Detective First Class Sam Kearney of the San Bruno PD. Sam thinks he’d not long flown in.”
“Some
welcome to San Francisco,” Rachel muttered.
“Yeah,
it’s things like that which give a place a bad name,” Pete agreed. “Perp probably won’t ever be found. Strike one tourist.”
“Who
was he? Do you know?” she asked.
“Hugh
something. A Brit. Satterley.
Hugh Satterley.”
Rachel
stared. “Oh my God ..!”
*****
“Hey
.. wait,” Nick said softly. He turned
everything over. “Here. It goes .. here.”
He
pushed his piece into place and felt it click home.
*****
Richard
Jones backed up against the table.
Merlin was almost on him now.
Then she halted, her mouth opening.
She looked like she couldn’t breathe.
She clutched at her gut, her eyes full of pain, then they rolled up in
her head, she choked, and her knees buckled.
Merlin hit the floor.
He
waited until he was sure she wouldn’t move then he stepped around her, nudging
her with the polished toe of his shoe.
She rolled slightly, but did nothing else.
“That’s
what I’ve done, madam,” he said.
“Everyone is now .. exactly where they should be.”
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