Ceremony In Death

She'd kept her voice down, but left her intention clear. They would talk, in private, or in public. The location was up to Isis.

"I don't think I misjudged you," Isis said quietly, "but you make me doubt myself." She signaled to a young woman Eve recognized from the initiation rite. "Jane will handle the customers," Isis said as she started toward the back room. "But I don't want to leave her long. She's very new at shop work."

"Alice's replacement."

Isis's eyes burned. "No one could replace Alice."

She entered what appeared to be a combination of office and storeroom. On the reinforced plastic shelves were gargoyles, candles, sealed bins of dried herbs, clear stoppered bottles filled with liquids of varying hues.

On the small desk was a very modern and efficient computer and communication system. "Jazzy equipment," Eve commented. "Very now."

"We don't eschew technology, Lieutenant. We adapt, and we use what is available to us. It's always been so." She gestured to a chair with a high, carved back, took another for herself, one with armrests shaped like wings. "You said you would be quick. But first I need to know if you intend to leave Chas in peace."

"My priority is closing a case, not the peace of mind of a suspect."

"How could you suspect him?" Her hands curled around the armrests as she leaned forward. "You, of all people, know what he's overcome."

"If his past is relevant – "

"Is yours?" Isis demanded. "Is the fact that you survived a nightmare to your credit or to your detriment?"

"My past is my business," Eve said evenly, "and you know nothing about it."

"What comes to me, comes in flashes and impressions. Stronger in some cases than others. I know you suffered and were i

Her voice changed, deepened, just as her eyes did. "A small, cold room washed with dirty red light. And a child, battered and bleeding, huddled in a corner. The pain is unspeakable, beyond endurance. And I see a man. He's covered with blood. His face is – "

"Stop it." Eve's heart was hammering, choking off her air. For a moment, she'd been back there, back in that child who'd crawled whimpering like an animal into the corner with blood staining her hands. "Damn you."

"I'm sorry." Isis lifted a hand to press it to her own heart, and it trembled. "I'm so very sorry. That's not my way. I let anger take over." She shut her eyes tight. "I'm so very sorry."

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Eve lurched out of the chair. There was no room to pace, to prowl, to steam off the dregs of memory. "I'm aware," she began coldly, "that you have what is commonly called heightened psychic skill. HPS is still being studied. I have a report on my desk right now. So you've got a talent, Isis. Congratulations. Now, stay the hell out of my head."

"I will." Pity swam in her eyes and couldn't be blinked away. She'd seen much more than she'd expected or intended. "I can only apologize again. Part of me wanted to hurt you. I didn't control it."

"It must be hard to control it when you're angry. When you're threatened. When you see a weakness and can exploit it."

Isis took a careful breath. Her system was still rocked, not only by what she'd seen, but what she'd done. "It isn't my way. It's against the foundation of my faith. I will cause no harm." She lifted her hands, rubbing her fingertips under her eyes to dry them. "I'll answer your questions. You wanted to know about Lobar."

"You were seen arguing with him here in the store, the day before Alice died."

"Was I?" She drew her composure back, cloaked it over her. "It's always a mistake to believe yourself alone. Yes, he was here. Yes, we had words."

"About?"

"Alice, most specifically. He was a misguided young man, filled with a dangerous self-importance. He thought himself powerful. He was not."

"Alice wasn't here, she wasn't working that day?"

"No. I'd hoped she'd spend time with her family, co

"And you argued."

"Yes. He said that I couldn't hide her, that she'd never get away. She'd broken the law – the law that Cross and those who belong to her subscribe to. He said her punishment would be torture and pain and death."

"He threatened her life, and you didn't tell me. I was here before, and I questioned you."

"No, I didn't tell you. I considered it no more than a clash of wills, his against mine. He was no more than a pawn. I didn't require HPS to intuit that. He only wanted to upset me, to prove his superiority. His way of doing so was to describe, graphically, what he had done to Alice sexually." She drew another breath. "And he told me that I had been promised to him. That when I was taken in, when my power was crushed, he would be the first to lay hands on me. Then he told me what he intended to do and how much I would enjoy it. He invited me to sample some of his many talents then and there, so that I would see how much more of a man he was than Chas. I laughed at him."

"Did he assault you?"

"He pushed me. He was angry. I'd deliberately baited him into it. Then I used it. An old spell," she said with a flick of her hand. "What you might call a mirror or boomerang spell, so that what he was sending toward me – all the darkness, the violence, the hate – was reflected back at him, and when reflected, enlarged." She smiled a little. "He left quickly, and very frightened. He didn't come back."

"And you were frightened?"

"Yes, on a physical level, I was."

"You called Forte."

"He's my mate." Isis lifted her chin. "I have no secrets from him, and I depend on him."

"He'd have been angry."

"No." Eyes level, she shook her head. "Concerned, yes. We cast a circle, performed a rite for protection and for purification. We were content. I should have seen," she continued, with regret shimmering in her voice. "I should have seen that Alice was their goal. Pride made me believe they would turn on me, that they wouldn't dare touch her while she was under my protection. Maybe I wasn't as honest with you as I might have been, Dallas, because without my pride blinding me, I know Alice might still be alive."

Guilt was there, Eve decided as she drove off to pick up Peabody. And guilt could lead to retribution. Frank and Alice had been killed by a different method than Lobar and Wineburg. The deaths were co

She wanted to get back to Central, run a probability scan. There was enough data for it now. And if the numbers warranted it, she could go to Whitney and request the manpower for a twenty-four-seven watch on both groups of suspects.

Damn the budget, she thought as she fought traffic. She'd need a high probability ratio to wangle the expense of time, money, and manpower. But Peabody and Feeney weren't enough to keep round-the-clock tabs on everyone involved.

Including Jamie, she thought. The kid was looking for trouble. She believed he was smart enough to find it.

Peabody hopped in when Eve swung to the curb at Seventh and Forty-seventh. Across the sidewalk, the rowdy noise and computerized warfare of a VR den spilled out of the open doorway. It nicked the ordinance on noise pollution, but Eve figured the proprietors were willing to risk a fine or two in order to lure in tourists and the bored.

"He in there?"