• • • •

I had a bad burn on my wrist from when Acheron used the blowtorch to melt the chain. That meant I was due for a long spell in the waiting room of Mercy Hospital's ER. They do triage in that place strictly based on what kind of condition you're in, not how important you think you are. So, if you're not actually bleeding or suffering a heart attack, you can expect a long wait, even if you're a cop.

  Before I left for the hospital I had a few words with McGuire, who had arrived with the SWAT team and about six other cops, including two more detectives from the squad.

  I gave him the quick version of what had happened to me in the last thirty-six hours or so, with special emphasis on the fact that the warehouse on Stansfield Avenue was not only empty but had a dangerous spell on it.

  McGuire had been making notes. He looked up from his pad and said, "I'll get Rachel in on that. Maybe she can also call on a few of the other local witches to help disperse it."

  "No hurry — the guy who was supposed to activate the spell won't be showing up," I said. "I'm hoping that right about now he's making the acquaintance of several of Acheron's friends."

  I also mentioned that Patton Wilson was still at large, and recommended that an arrest warrant be issued ASAP.

  "I'll take care of it," McGuire said, "for all the good it's likely to do. A guy with his money is probably halfway to Australia by now."

  "Could be," I said. "Although I have a feeling he won't stay hidden very long. Mister Wilson's determined to start Helter Skelter, and he can't do that while hiding out at a sheep ranch in the outback."

  I also made a point of reminding him that Thorwald was a double agent, or whatever you'd call what she was doing. "Yeah, that one's going to be tricky," he said.

  "We can't just let this slide, boss," I said. "The bitch tried to have me killed – and for all we know, she could've hired Duffy the Vampire Slayer to get Karl, too."

  "I have no intention of letting it slide," McGuire said. "I'll be having a word with a couple of people at FBI headquarters, as well as her boss at Quantico. And if she ever shows her face in Scranton again, I'll have her brought in for questioning on a material witness warrant. I have a feeling the questions could take quite a long time."

  Christine and Karl both insisted on accompanying me to the ER, in case Acheron decided to try again.

  "I'll be glad of the company," I said, "especially because there's a lot of stuff I wanna know. But I'm not too worried about Acheron – it isn't anything personal with him. He was just going to kill me because I was here. If anything, he owes me a favor for setting him free."

  "Maybe," Christine said, "But I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for him to send flowers."

  "And if he does," Karl said, "I'd call the bomb squad, and then run like hell – so to speak."

  Once the folks at Mercy established that I wasn't going to die on them anytime soon, they sent me out to the waiting room for what figured to be a long stay. Karl, Christine, and I sat down on a couch, as far away from the other patients as we could get.

  "All right, Karl," I said. "This is where you explain to me how you were able to avoid getting a stake pounded into your chest – not that I'm complaining, you understand."

  "Not much of a trick," Karl said. "I wasn't home during the day yesterday."

  "Why not?"

  "It took us longer than I'd planned to get our commando buddy processed into the Pike County jail. By the time we were done, it was almost dawn, so Lacey let me spend the day in the trunk of her car."

  "Nice of her," I said.

  "More than nice," he said. "When I woke up, I found that she'd pressed my jacket . Even let me take a shower at her place."

  "Let you shower, huh?" Christine said with a smile. "Sounds like she's hot for you, Karl."

  "Lacey? Nah, not me – she's your dad's girlfriend."

  "Give it a rest, Karl," I said. "So, you haven't been home at all?"

  "Nope – Lacey drove me right to work. She dropped me off, then said she was going to go keep an eye on Thorwald, like you asked her to."

  "Then she got my message. Good."

  "If Thorwald blew the hinges off my bedroom door," Karl said, "I'm gonna be fuckin' pissed."

  "Just make sure she didn't leave you any little surprises while she was there," I said.

  "Booby traps, you mean?" He shrugged. "Not too many of them can harm us bloodsucking undead."

  "No?" I said. "How about a thermite bomb under your bed, with the timer set for noon tomorrow?"

  "Fire," Christine said, and shuddered.

  "You make a good point there, Stan," Karl said. "I'll check the place over before I crash."

  "Why would Thorwald bother with Karl now, Daddy?" Christine asked. "I mean, the Church is history, right? Navarra's dead, Wilson's in hiding, and any commandos still alive probably ran back to Kansas, or wherever they came from."

  "Maybe," I said. "But if Thorwald's been working for the Church, it's because of idealism, not money. And some fanatics just don't know when to quit."

  "Fuckin' A," Karl said.

  From time to time, a nurse would come to the door of the waiting area and call somebody's name. I kept hoping to hear mine.

  "You two don't know how glad I was to see you banging on the windows of that warehouse," I said. "But how'd you know to go there? The only address we had was for the decoy, over on Stansfield Avenue."

  "We have Louise to thank for that," he said. "For some of it, anyway."

  "Louise the Tease?" I said. "Our PA?"

  "That's her. I guess she doesn't want to keep doing that job the rest of her life – can't blame her for that."

  "Louise," I said. "Damn. What'd she do that got you to the right place?"