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"I do not speak like Ronald Colboat Annie back there"

"Don&039;t be absurd"

Escott&039;s English accent was more clipped and precise and less leisurely than Col him to bristle was a novel experience for me The debate kept us entertained until we turned the last corner and saw the cop in a chair next to a nuarded us with interest and stood as we approached

"I&039;," Escott told him "Dr Reade asked me to look in on the patient for him"

"Ain&039;t it kinda late?"

"Yes, it is," he said wearily, "and this is hopefully ht"

"I&039;ll have to see your pass"

"Show hiot the man&039;s full attention and flipped out my old press card "It&039;s all in order, officer," I told hio in"

"Thank you" Escott did so--all but grinning at the situation--with ht behind him

It was a private room, furnished in cold steel and white ena in a corner opposite the single high bed The slu occupant was obscured by ru around the top of his head His breathing was slow and deep, our entrance hadn&039;t roused hi back by the door, ready to deal with the cop in case he walked in

"I don&039;t want to do this," I whispered

He understood but shook his head, his hu So far they&039;re bla the head wound for his story, but you can&039;t let him continue to talk, especially if soet hold of it You dare not take that chance"

"Yeah" Daht We&039;d been all over it before and couldn&039;t think of any other alternatives Indirectly, this would help protect Bobbi and Escott as well as myself, so that should have made it easier, but I&039;d still have to be very careful

I cat-footed to the bedside and looked down at the sleeping boy He was Matheus Webber, chubby young friend to the late James Braxton, and he&039;d coht at the radio station Both had been hunting for me with the mistaken idea that I was a menace to society They&039;d assumed my normally friendly disposition to be false and had set out to kill me with the best of intentions and a lot of e of my true nature and needs was limited, and they&039;d placed a superstitious reliance on crosses and silver bullets to control and destroyI couldn&039;t handle until Braxton got in the way of another, muchthe story of their hunt for the vampire to anyone who&039;d listen, but so far his parents, the ht he was crazy fro, soin to believe the story in the same way as Blair Once he&039;d seen a hint of the truth of things, it had all fallen into place for hi my direct influence on his mind There were too many mirrors in the world for me to take any more risks

I folded back the sheet and blanket to get a better look at the kid

What I saould have decided me if I hadn&039;t already made up my mind

Escott craned his neck for a look to see what made iving me an "I told you so" look

The patient wore a big silver cross around his neck with a couple of bulbs of whole garlic threaded together on a string He had at least gotten so direction as far as I was concerned

The boy&039;s eyes opened slightly He didn&039;t know me at first, mumbled a sleepy question, and rolled onto his back I put a hand on his shoulder and said his naot the chance to screa Nash was one of the central pleasures of his life For the first tih to look content His eyes were fil to

"You look like you&039;ve consumed a sour apple," he observed "Was it really so bad?"

"What solves a problem for me could make one for him"

"In ay?"

"You knohat I mean I&039;icalaround?"

"You&039;ve read Freud, then?"

"Never had the time so I don&039;t know about that I do know I shouldn&039;t be doing what I&039;It could be bad for the kid"

Just like Blair, Matheus&039;s face had gone blank It was easy, so da into his e and leave it for other people to clean away It happened before: by accident with my murderer and on purpose with Braxton&039;s murderer Both men were insane and not likely to recover

Matheus didn&039;t deserve that

"I don&039;t think you&039;ve done him harm," he continued "You suppressed no memories"

Which would have been too noticeable by everyone If the kid woke up with no recollection about his trip to Chicago with Braxton, soet too curious People tended to prefer the answers they already had to dealing with new questions, so I played on that

Instead, he&039;d wake up and realize that Braxton had been a crazy oldan impressionable kid There&039;d be some unavoidable embarrassment for Matheus, but he was in the real world now, safe frohtmares of a crackpot

Go to sleep, kid You&039;ll feel a lot better about things in the

"He&039;ll soon put it all behind him once he&039;s home," Escott added

After all, there are no such things as va us close to the curb "Our train leaves in two hours; I&039;d like to be there early to make sure your trunk is properly seen to"

"Hour and a half froet the exact time "I&039;ll be back by then"

I al, but it was unnecessary He was planning to si around the dark and nearly empty streets with anticipation

"Please say hello to Miss Smythe for me"

"Sure"

The door shut, he shifted gears, and glided off I crossed the walk to the hotel entrance and went in Phil Patterson was at his usual spot, leaning against the pillar near the front desk His crony, the night clerk, wastypewriter noises in the office and for thein s with the cops?"

"Yeah, we got everything all worked out"

"Blair tough on you?"

"Couldn&039;t say, I don&039;t kno tough he can get We didn&039;t have any problehts and questions behind it

"Too bad about that little guy, Braxton They ever figure why he got bu to the nuthouse soon, ed

"Guess we&039;ll never know," he agreed, watching me hard

"Yeah, too bad" My voice was a little tight and forced He noticed, but let it pass I owed hiun pointed elsewhere besides my chest when it went off I&039;d have survived the experience, but explaining why to a room full of people would not have been easy Phil decided not to call in the favor just yet

The kid in the elevator knew to taketold and hardly looked up froazine He was deep into Walter&039;s 110th Shadow novel, Jibaro Death I&039;d have to remember to pick up a copy of my own to read on the train

The power to cloud ht out fast That gimmick was strictly for the radio show and certain supernatural creatures of the night--not the book character The main difference between me and the Lament Cranston on the air was that he had fewer scruples about using his talent

Bobbi&039;s door was locked and no one answered ht through, which was a bad ht fro with the clasp of her necklace and walked like a movie holdup victim, elbows pointed up and head tilted down She was a fraction too late to actually see arters when she looked up and sawin the entry way

"Hello, Marza, I knocked--"

"I heard, but I was busy" She gave , unpleasant stare, the kind usually reserved for roaches when they go spinning down the toilet

"That door was locked," she stated

I glanced back and tried etting in"

She swiveled her head toward the closed door of Bobbi&039;s bedrooain "No, I suppose you didn&039;t," she said in a nasty tone, and went to a table to dig through her handbag She stuck a thin brown cigar in her ht unkind thoughts, but didn&039;t voice theence is alasted on people like Marza "What put the bug up your butt tonight?"

Just like a dragon, she pushed blue sh it were a whip "It&039;s what you are"

"Which is?"

"A two-ti after another,"

she said casually

That was a relief At least she wouldn&039;t be co after , since I haven&039;t seen the other girl in five years"

"So you&039;ve told Bobbi"

"So I&039; you It&039;s the truth"

"She believes you, I don&039;t"

"Is that all that&039;s bothering you?"

"You&039;re leaving town to look for this other one What happens to Bobbi when you find her?"

"That is none of your business"

"It is if Bobbi gets hurt"

"I don&039;t plan to hurt her"

"Like you didn&039;t plan for that goon to kidnap her?"

"Did Bobbi explain to you that Escott and I are doing this to ain?"

"And do the cops know you&039;re leaving town?" she asked sweetly

"The less they know, the better it is for Bobbi"

"Don&039;t worry, I&039;ll keep my mouth shut for her sake--"

"That&039;ll be nice"

"--but the best thing you can do for her is to go and stay gone We don&039;t knoho you are You hang around with Slick&039;s old ot money but no job, the cops want you for ht"

"You got Gordy to pay someone off, you mean"

"Lady, you&039;re crazy And I wouldn&039;t be so hard on Gordy; if it weren&039;t for hi and grabbed up her bag, unlocked the door, and walked out, not bothering to slam it I shut it, very carefully and very quietly The woh tobut Godly minded

"Marza? Is that Jack?" Bobbi&039;s voice floated out fro effect on ot all about Marza as Bobbi ca me

"You doin&039; okay?" I asked the top of her head Her silky platinuoon, but she&039;d been to the beauty parlor for repairs and it looked fine now

"God, I thought you&039;d never get here," she ht"

"What kept you so long?" she de to sound nettled "Was it the cops or that Webber kid?"

"Both, but neither should be any trouble no about telling me why Marza&039;s in such a cheerful mood? She looked like a snake bit her, only the snake died"

"She&039;s gone?"

"Once she saw h Have 1 sprouted horns or so?"

"No, but it is because of you"

"So I figured What&039;s the problem?"

"She blames you for what happened to me"

"And not unreasonably What&039;d you tell her?"

"Only what you said to say, that your old girlfriend&039;s sister wanted soet it"

"She want to knohat it was?"

"Of course, but I said I didn&039;t know and you weren&039;t talking It&039;s hard on her, not getting the truth"

"I think it&039;d be a lot harder on us both if she did"

"Maybe she&039;d prefer knohat you are to thinking you&039;re in theas you You sure that&039;s all there is--she just thinks I&039;m in with Gordy&039;s bunch?"

"No, I&039;ve talked with Madison, he said she was pretty upset that night

There was soot her drunk"

"She was ready to taketo callad Madison came in when he did, she needed a shoulder to cry on and mine wasn&039;t available for various reasons"

"But you saw her like that, all vulnerable"

"Nothing wrong there"

"She thinks so She&039;s usually so in control of herself and now she&039;s embarrassed because for once she wasn&039;t"

"That&039;s hardly a good reason to hate uts"

"It is for her"

"Then she needs a doctor"

"It&039;s just artistic te else What are we talking about her for, anyway? I ca"

"It takes ainst htmares"

"I wish I could help, baby"

"You do" She wrapped her ar on to each other as though it were the end of the world So leaked out of her eyes, but she took my handkerchief and dabbed it away "What&039;d you say?" she asked

"I&039;m sorry"

"What?"

"I&039;ht If it hadn&039;t been for me, you--"

"Jack" She pushed away to look me in the eye

"Yeah?" I wasn&039;t so sure I could look back

"Shut the hell up and give me a kiss"

I double-checked She&039;d h She let ht between us

"Y&039;know," she said, co you"

"What do you think?"

"I think she&039;s an idiot butting in where she don&039;t belong"

Then we picked up on things again, and the flat got very quiet except for Bobbi&039;s breathing and the whisper of our hands

"You staying the night?" she ot that train to catch Charles is co by later to pick ?"

"No, but he seems to think so He says he wants ?"

"You&039;re smart, you work it out" She pushed the lapels back until my coat was off, loosened my tie, and undid a few buttons at the neck

"You sure you&039;re up to this? 1 know you&039;ve been through the wringer"

"Let&039;s find out"

She earing her favorite style of lounging pajah Oriental collar The top opened up with a lected to put on underwear She turned her back to me, slid free, and pulled my hands around to her breasts

Her skin was all that a wo body all any lad in a guilty way that her hair was short enough now forthe nape of her neck Even beforehad been a favorite foreplay activity, a many others, which I now endeavored to put into pleasurable practice

Quite so the white skin taut over the big pulsing vein We both moaned as I softly cut into her