“No, her lawyer picked her up. Rachel said you said Cruz would be better off sleeping it off at home.”
“I didn’t –” Dad caught my anxious look and swallowed his protest. “Oh, that’s right,” he said, forcing a rueful smile. “Sorry, it’s been a busy day.”
“Mrs. Phipps’ lawyer,” I said to Sergeant Finney as my stomach churned. “Was her name Tara Kingsley?”
He eyed me suspiciously. “How did you know that?”
“Oh, er, Mrs. Phipps told me when she spoke to me earlier,” I hedged. “I was just curious.”
“Hm,” he grunted skeptically. “Hernandez is taking Cruz’s shift tonight. Make sure he doesn’t fall asleep on you.”
“I need Peter for this project we’re working on,” Dad said, shaking his head. “Miguel’s on his own tonight.”
Sergeant Finney opened his mouth to object and then closed it firmly. “Yes, sir,” he said curtly. “Does this have anything to do with that business with Peter’s car?” He looked at me like it was my fault it was stolen, which I supposed wasn’t entirely wrong.
“Yes, in a way. Make sure you keep an eye out for it on your way home.”
Sergeant Finney’s scowl deepened. “Rachel canceled the Code 60,” he said carefully, clearly wondering if his Chief of Police was going senile. “She said it was a false alarm.”
Dad glanced at his phone, flipping through his texts with pursed lips. He set it aside with a sigh. “Thanks, Bill,” he said heavily. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” He didn’t even try to explain the discrepancy.
“Is everything okay, Chief?” Sergeant Finney looked worried now.
“Everything’s fine,” Dad lied. “Good night.” Sergeant Finney hesitated and then nodded. He closed the door behind him and Dad used both hands to rub his temples. “They got Rachel, didn’t they?”
“They must have,” I agreed, “but when? She was perfectly fine just a little while ago.” I started when the door suddenly opened again, but it was only Melissa and the other girls filing in.
“Peter,” she asked me worriedly, “what’s going on? We didn’t want to come out until that police officer left.”
“We ran into a little hiccup,” I admitted. “How did the call go?” Allison didn’t look any different and her eyes seemed normal.
“It went fine, near as I could tell. We couldn’t hear what the incubus was saying but Allison followed the script exactly.” Karyn nodded her agreement, although she looked dissatisfied.
“They weren’t talking about me at all,” Olivia said accusingly.
“Good,” I nodded, but given this latest revelation, I still couldn’t shake a nagging doubt. “Simon says, tell me if the incubus is controlling you,” I ordered Allison.
“He’s not,” Allison said. She was staring at me longingly again, though, which was unnerving.
“What are we going to do, Dad?” I asked. “He’s got Mrs. Burns and Mrs. Phipps and Cruz now.”
“What?” Melissa and Karyn asked in unison, both of them looking at me aghast. “When did that happen?” Melissa demanded.
“I’m going to check the security cameras,” Dad announced, getting to his feet. “Let’s see if we can figure out how they did it.”
There really wasn’t enough room in Dad’s office for all nine of us but that didn’t stop us from crowding around his desk as he pulled up the recordings from the last hour. He started with the one overlooking the visitor’s parking lot and fast forwarded until a dark sports car pulled in and parked beside Cruz’s Charger. A moment later, the driver got out and Dad paused the playback. The black-and-white image wasn’t the best quality, but it clearly showed a young African-American woman in a finely-tailored business suit.
“That’s Tara,” Karyn confirmed, sounding angry.
Dad let the video play at normal speed. I expected Tara to walk towards the station lobby but instead she just stood there. I couldn’t figure out what she was waiting for, until the passenger door opened and someone else got out. The collective gasp from the audience nearly sucked all the air out of the room.
“Peter!” Melissa whispered, gripping my shoulder painfully. “That’s you!”
It was like looking in the mirror. The incubus had changed out of my uniform into a t-shirt and jeans. I couldn’t tell what color his shirt was, but other than the lack of bullet holes, it could have been me standing there. He scanned the parking lot and said something to Tara, who nodded and started towards the entrance. He caught up to her just before they vanished from the frame.
“That’s a bit disconcerting,” Dad said, glancing back at me. “I know you said he looked like you but seeing it for the first time –” He shook his head.
“He doesn’t look like me,” I reminded him tersely, “he is me. That’s my actual body. What did they do next?”
Now that we knew when they showed up, it was easier to find them in the other camera feeds. We watched them go up to the front door and walk in and then Dad switched cameras and we saw them from inside the lobby, approaching the desk.
Mrs. Burns was in this view but her back was to the camera so we couldn’t see her reaction to seeing me walk in with Tara, even though I was supposed to be in the conference room when all this happened. The two women exchanged a few words and then Not-Peter leaned over the desk and touched Mrs. Burns’ hand.
The result was immediate and obvious. Mrs. Burns stood and walked around her desk, standing right in front of the incubus. Then she took his face in her hands and kissed him in a way that made it perfectly clear that, had there been a bed in the lobby, she would have been lying on it waiting for him to join her.
“Oh my God, Peter!” Melissa exclaimed in a strangled voice. “She’s old enough to be your grandmother!”
“That’s not me!” I protested, trying to pry her hand off me. Her fingernails dug deep enough into me that I was surprised I didn’t pop into ghost form again.
In the video, Tara stood off to the side with her arms crossed, rolling her eyes and tapping her foot impatiently. She finally said something and pointed at her wrist and the other two finally broke apart. Not-Peter spoke to Mrs. Burns and she nodded, returning to her desk and reaching underneath for the button to unlock the door into the station. Tara pulled it open and waited for Mrs. Burns to join her, nodding at whatever the incubus was saying.
The two women vanished inside, leaving Not-Peter alone in the lobby. I wasn’t surprised he didn’t join them – the risk of running into one of us was far too high – but I thought he’d wait for them to return with Cruz and Mrs. Phipps. Instead, he looked straight at the security camera and smiled in a way that looked completely wrong on my face. Then he gave us the finger and walked out the front door.
“Son of a bitch,” Dad murmured, casting a sidelong glance at me as if to remind himself that I’d been with him the entire time. “He knew we’d find out what he did.”
“He’s got balls, that’s for sure,” Karyn observed with grudging admiration. “He took all those women out from right under our noses.”
“They walked right past this room and we didn’t know,” Melissa added uneasily.
“That’s thirteen women he’s captured so far,” Amy observed with a grin, sounding far too eager. “He’s getting closer to his limit.”
Since we didn’t know what his limit was, that information was useless, so we ignored her. Dad followed the incubus back outside but he just returned to Tara’s car. Tara and Mrs. Burns walked down the hall, pausing for a moment at the conference room door, and then continued on to the jail. We watched them have a lengthy discussion with Sergeant Finney but finally the two cellmates were released. All four women left through the back door and split up, with Tara rejoining the incubus in her car, Mrs. Burns and Mrs. Phipps climbing into her sedan, and Cruz reclaiming her Charger. All three cars left the lot one after the other and turned north on Jefferson before we lost sight of them.
“They probably went back to Mrs. Kendricks’,” I guessed as Dad sh
ut down his computer. “They must have left just before Allison called him. Was he in a car when you talked to him?” I asked her. She nodded. “Why didn’t you tell us that?”
“You didn’t ask,” she told me.
“It doesn’t matter, Peter,” Dad said. He sounded tired. “It wouldn’t have made any difference. He’s been one step ahead of us the entire time.”
“What about our plan?” Rachel asked anxiously. “Are we still going to try to trap him?”
“We need to call it off,” Karyn insisted. “He’s on to us.”
“No, he isn’t,” I argued. “Mrs. Burns doesn’t know what we were doing here. All he knows is what Allison told him on the phone. He still thinks we’re going to summon Garrax in the library. He can’t take the chance that we’re bluffing.”
“We’re going to have to move quickly, then,” Dad noted. “If nothing else, we have to find another rally point. He knows where we are now.”
“We need to head straight over to the library,” I agreed, “before he has time to send anyone after us. Let’s go.” I herded the troops out of the office and into the corridor. “Okay, Dara and I will head over in Cruz’s car. You guys take a roundabout route in case anyone’s watching and park somewhere out of sight. Glamour up and join us as soon as you can. We’ll prop the back door at the library open so you can get inside.” I started down the hall towards the lobby but the only things following me were doubtful looks and objections.
“I want to stay with Dara,” Melissa insisted, taking Daraxandriel’s hand. The tail immediately encircled her leg and snuck its head up her skirt.
“You can’t,” I explained again with as much patience as I could muster. I really needed to change her back to normal. “You have to stay hidden, remember?”
“There’s not enough room for everyone else in the Jeep,” Dad reminded me.
“Fine,” I sighed. “Olivia can come with us. We need her to open the door anyway.”
“Didn’t Cruz take her car?” Karyn frowned.
“Oh, for crying out loud,” I muttered, palming my eyes to ease the ache building up in my skull. Nothing was going right for me today.
“You could take one of the patrol cars,” Dad suggested.
“The idea is to make it look like we’re trying to keep all this a secret,” I explained. “We can’t drive up to the library in a cop car.” I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Okay, new plan. The library’s only a mile away, give or take. Dara and I will just walk over. And Olivia,” I remembered belatedly. “Give us enough time to get there first and meet us there.”
“I’ll just wait here,” Amy volunteered. “I’ve already done my part.” She held up the journal.
“Not a chance,” I told her. “They’re going to come back here looking for us and I don’t need to be worrying about you joining their side.”
“You’re worried about me?” she smiled. “How sweet.”
“That’s not what I meant. And give me that, we need it.” I took the journal from her and handed it to Daraxandriel, who slipped it under the waistband of her skirt. “Just stay with Dad and keep out of trouble.”
“What’s the fun in that?” she grumbled.
“Are you sure this is going to work?” Karyn asked with a grimace.
“No,” I admitted ruefully, “but it’s all I can come up with. Just make sure Allison’s glamours are as good as you can make them.” She nodded doubtfully, glancing at the others. Everyone seemed to be wearing a variant of the same expression, which wasn’t very reassuring.
“That’s still six of us in the Jeep,” Dad pointed out. “It’ll be snug.”
I counted noses and realized he was right. Melissa, Karyn, and Allison had to be together for the glamour and Dad needed to stay with them until we drove the incubus out of my body. Rebecca would be safer with them but I really didn’t want to have to deal with Amy on top of everything else, so I abandoned any pretense of chivalry. “Rebecca, you come with us.”
“What?” She looked understandably alarmed.
“Are you sure about this, Peter?” Dad asked.
“We should have a witch with us anyway and the others need to be with you. Besides, she’ll be able to talk to Olivia if we get split up. It’ll be fine,” I assured them. “She can hide with you guys once you get there.”
They acquiesced reluctantly and the two teams went their separate ways. Daraxandriel, Rebecca, Olivia, and I reversed course to leave through the back entrance while the rest departed through the lobby. We waited for a minute that seemed more like fifteen for them to drive off and lead any observers away and then we stepped out into the parking lot and got our bearings.
“That way,” I pointed. The dome on top of City Hall was just visible above the office buildings and shops lining Jefferson Street. “It’s only six blocks or so.” I glanced at Rebecca’s feet. She was wearing sneakers too, thankfully. Olivia was still barefoot, of course, but she was a ghost so that didn’t matter. “Let’s move it.”
I started out at a jog and the others arrayed themselves around me, Daraxandriel and Olivia to my left and Rebecca to my right. We followed the sidewalk north and paused at the intersection with Wallace Avenue.
“You know all the witches, right?” I asked Rebecca. “Do you see any of them around here?” It was well past the official rush hour, but there was still a fair bit of traffic on the roads along with a handful of pedestrians.
Rebecca peered around anxiously and then shook her head. “I don’t think so.”
“Can you detect glamours? Is there anyone hiding from us?”
She looked doubtful but she scanned the area again. There was something weird about her eyes this time but I couldn’t quite pinpoint what the change was. She finally shook her head again. “I don’t see anybody,” she reported, “but I’m not very good with glamours.”
“That’s all right,” I assured her. “We actually want them to follow us but I’d rather know about it if they are. I don’t like surprises.”
“You and me both,” she smiled, ducking her head shyly.
Oh-ho! Little Peter perked up. Someone’s getting interested in you.
She is not, I argued. She’s just nervous.
Nervous girls don’t make eyes at guys.
She’s not making eyes. I glanced at Rebecca to make sure, only to discover her gazing up at me with her big brown eyes. She looked away immediately and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as she pretended to watch the oncoming traffic.
Right, Little Peter drawled sarcastically. Women want us, Peter. When are you going to admit that to yourself?
That’s just your ego talking.
You mean our ego, don’t you? We’re one and the same, remember?
Shut up. The light finally turned red and I started across Jefferson. “Olivia,” I said over my shoulder, “you open the back door when we get there and stand watch. Let us know as soon as the incubus shows up. Dara, you and Rebecca pretend you’re summoning Garrax on the star.”
“I don’t know how to summon demons,” Rebecca reminded me.
“You’re not actually summoning him,” I explained patiently for the gazillionth time. “You’re just making it look like you are. Put a pentagram on the floor or something and wave your wand around. Maybe chant in Latin.”
“I don’t know any Latin,” she frowned.
“Just make it look convincing,” I sighed. “It only has to last for a couple of minutes.” I reached the sidewalk and waited for the girls to catch up. It occurred to me that we needed to figure out where the others were going to hide. They’d be glamoured but it was best if they stayed out of sight in case something went wrong. There was absolutely no cover in the foyer itself.
I continued down Wallace with the rest of my ragtag team in tow, trying to remember the layout of the library. Mrs. Kendricks’ office is too far away from the front doors, I mused. Maybe one of the other offices up front? We’d have to leave the door open so they can get out without making a
ny noise. Hopefully the hinges won’t squeak. Which way is he going to come in? It’d be easier if he came in through the front, except he’ll think we wouldn’t want any interruptions so he’ll assume those doors are locked. He’ll have to come in the back way but we’re going to have to leave it ajar for him. Is that going to look suspicious? If he can still read my memories, he’ll know that it sticks sometimes so it should be okay.
I was so caught up trying to plot everything out in my head, the sudden roar of a car engine behind me didn’t fully impinge on my consciousness. Olivia’s horrified gasp did, though, and I turned to see a small white coupe accelerating towards us, its hood emblem aimed right at me.
“Look out!” I shouted, but Daraxandriel was already leaping aside like a gazelle avoiding a cheetah. Olivia and I weren’t in any danger but Rebecca was just an ordinary girl. She was as good as dead if that car hit her. I instinctively jumped between her and the car and wrapped my arms around her, closing my eyes and cringing as I waited for the inevitable impact. Three, two, one, I counted in my mind. Zero.
Suddenly everything went dark and quiet, like someone had thrown a blanket over us, and I felt an odd shuddering in the air, as if something was vibrating without actually making a sound. I looked up cautiously and discovered that I was standing under a silvery dome just tall enough to keep my head from hitting it.
“What happened?” I asked, wincing at the echo of my voice. Rebecca’s body trembled against mine and her hands were thrust out in a warding gesture. “Did you do this?” Rebecca nodded jerkily, her face pressed against my chest. “Are you okay?” Another nod. I released her and stepped back. Her hands shook badly as she slowly lowered them and she kept her eyes squeezed closed. “What happened to the car?”
“I don’t –” She stopped and took several unsteady breaths. “I don’t know. I just – it was coming right at us!” She started shaking again and I pulled her into my arms until she settled down again. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I was so sc – sc – scared.”
“You and me both,” I told her sincerely, and I felt her smile against me. “Thanks for saving us.”
Sudden Death Page 27
