Dead Mans Hand

"Hiram?" Tach said, looking over at the big ace.

Hiram nodded ponderously, as if his head were almost too heavy to move. "We had all done… vile things. Myself included. What purpose would be served by imprisoning the mounts? We were only his instruments, his hands, his mouth, his eyes. It was Ti Malice who murdered, not your grandson. I told Jay there was no sense in bringing Blaise to trial. The real murderer was already gone. And the rest of them… were they any different? You knew Sascha long before Ti Malice took him, doctor. He was never an evil man. Ezili was the worst, but even there… how much was Ezili and how much was the master? She had been his prize mount her entire life."

"They're all going to be living in hell anyway," Jay said. "With me," Hiram added darkly.

Tach looked from one to the other. "Without the kiss…" Hiram nodded. "You… you ca

"Oh, Hiram," Tachyon said, his voice thick with pity for his old friend. "You should have come to me."

"There are a -lot of things I should have done," Hiram said.

"Anyway," Jay said, "I let the mounts go."

"All of them?" Tachyon said, astonished.

"I didn't figure I had the right to pick and choose," Jay said. "Charm was the only one I thought twice about. He was the one who killed Chrysalis."

"Charm?" Tachyon said. "But why?"

"Chrysalis knew everything about everybody. Ti Malice depended on secrecy for safety. Exposed, he was pitifully vulnerable. She must have found out about him somehow, but what she didn't know was that Sascha was already his. The way I figure, her trusted telepath told his master that Chrysalis was getting close, so Ti Malice sent Charm to take her out. It adds up. The killer had to be someone Sascha knew, otherwise he would never have gotten inside the Palace without being detected. Maybe Ti Malice rode Charm personally that morning, to experience the sensation of beating someone to death. Or maybe not. I don't suppose we'll ever know."

"All this time searching for the man who killed Chrysalis," Tachyon murmured softly, "and yet you chose to let him go."

"Charm's fucked up enough," Jay said. "Besides, it wasn't Charm, it was Ti Malice. And Ti Malice is gone." Dr. Tachyon sipped from his drink and thought about that for a long time. Finally the alien gave a short, curt nod. "So much blood," he said. "So much killing. It has to stop, Jay."

"Yeah," Jay said. "Maybe Barnett is right."

"No," Tach said.

Hiram Worchester stood up suddenly. "I should go. I have to pack

… check out…" His voice trailed off.

"Of course," Tachyon said.

"Go on," Jay told him. "I'll come down in a minute." Hiram nodded and stepped out into the hall. When the door closed behind him, Ackroyd turned back to Tachyon. "He's going to need your help, doc. He's an addict, and from what he says, the kiss is a hundred times more addictive than heroin."

"Hiram will have all the help he requires," Tachyon said. "I owe him a debt I can never repay. A blood debt. My grandson's life." The alien shook his head. " I could have helped him," he said plaintively. "Why didn't he tell me?"

"There's a better question. You're supposed to be Hiram's friend. So am I. So how come, all this time, we never noticed that anything was wrong?"

Dr. Tachyon just looked at him. Tears welled up in his eyes, and behind them, guilt.

"Shit," Jay said. He was tired of tears, tired of guilt and shame and fear and pain. "Just forget it, okay? There's nothing we can do about it except try to get him through. Hiram used all the strength he had left in him to kick your grandson in the head. He's going to need us."

"Then we must not fail him," Tachyon said.

Jay nodded. Suddenly he felt very weary. " I better go down and keep Hiram company," he said. "He's still pretty shaky."

"Of course," Tachyon said.

But when Jay opened the door, Hiram was right there, in the hall. His huge body was trembling, and he looked up at Jay from forlorn eyes. "Hiram, what's wrong?" Jay asked.

"It's… nothing," Hiram began. "I suppose… an anxiety attack." He blinked, as if to clear his head. "Jay… if you wouldn't mind… could you… come down to the room with me? It's just that I

… would rather not be alone right now. Can you understand that?"

Jay nodded. As he took Hiram by the arm, Dr. Tachyon rose unsteadily from his wheelchair. "We'll both go," the little alien a

While they waited for the elevator to arrive, Tachyon turned back to Jay. "One thing," he asked. "You never said where you teleported Ti Malice."

"Fu

"Yes?" Tachyon said politely.

"I made a lot of phone calls from the hospital. Ti Malice hasn't shown up in any of my usual places. Somehow, though, I didn't think he would. I looked right into that son of a bitch's face when he was crawling toward me, and the only thing that popped into my mind was this nightmare I've been having since I was a kid." Jay coughed apologetically. "I know that place real well," he said. "So you figure it out."

Dr. Tachyon thought about it for a moment. There was the sound of a chime. The elevator doors opened. Tach nodded slowly to Jay, turned, and entered the car.

1:00 P.M.

Bre

Bre

"Tracking Chrysalis's killer," Bre

"What the hell are you talking about?" Ackroyd interrupted. He looked a little worse for wear, himself. His face was puffy and bruised and he seemed to be favoring one side.

Bre

Hiram hung back for a moment, then did as Bre

"Oh, God," Hiram moaned. "Will this never end?"

"Let's give him a chance," Tachyon said.

"Why?" Ackroyd asked truculently.

"Because I know who killed Chrysalis," Bre

Ackroyd frowned. "It was Malice's joker goon. Chrysalis had discovered him-"

"No, it wasn't." Bre

Ackroyd nodded reluctantly. "Yeah. It had me going for a while, but it didn't take me long to realize it was a setup." Bre