First Destroy All Giant Monsters (The World Wide Witches Research Association) (41 page)

“Come along. I’ll drive you and I’ll call a lawyer. Someone I know from … someone sympathetic.” She turned to Karl and emphasized each point with a finger jab to the chest. “Karl, don’t say anything until she turns up. Don’t be helpful. Don’t be proud. Don’t answer any questions. Don’t say anything until the lawyer turns up. You have the right to remain silent. Remember to invoke it. It may take awhile for me to track her down, but we’ll get a lawyer to you as soon as possible.” She flashed a challenging glance toward the police detective who grunted and said nothing. “Oh. And don’t drink anything. That’s an old trick the cops use to make you anxious.”

“Thanks, Sandy,” said Karl as his arms were pulled back and wrists cuffed.

“Who is she?” demanded Detective Forth, pointing to Sandy.

“A friend of my aunt who met us here,” said Amber with as much dignity as she could muster. “She was going to come with us for dinner and show us around the Capital.”

Amber met Karl’s eye and he nodded. That was their story. Nice and ordinary. Of course, the books they had with them would cause comment and as soon as they started looking through Amber’s computer there could be real trouble. If they could get past the security, that was.

What the hell was this about an assault?

He could not think of a single reason why the police would be after him. And how had they found him? Surely walking out on his job for a few days wasn’t enough of a crime for detectives to be sent for him. What the hell crime could they think he’d committed?

Assault? Kidnapping?

And where did they get the evidence for a warrant so quickly?

Amber rested her elbows on the hard plastic-topped table and dropped her forehead into her hands. It was well after midnight now and her body was complaining. She was almost dizzy with fatigue. What with the day-long drive and having missed coffee and dinner, she was a wreck.

The police station was not what she’d expected. Years of TV exposure had led her to believe they were all old dust covered buildings with ancient tables and piles of folders and papers everywhere. Admittedly the rooms she passed through were full of people and paper, but aside from that and the tight metal mesh on the windows, it looked like an ordinary office building: bright lights, computers, and the distant murmuring of many busy people even at this late hour of the night.

Amber sat in her back breaking chair, one hand stuffed in her pocket clutching her sandalwood fan, and concentrated on carefully gathering strength. She may have trusted her computer, her wallet, even her books into someone else’s keeping, but her fan-wand was never far from her body. As her computer bag had been slung over Karl’s shoulder at the time of his arrest, her wallet, her computer, everything that was in it was in police keeping.

She was exhausted. This deep in a city it was difficult to draw much from the earth. The weight of the city, its buildings and roads pressed down on Earth energy making it sluggish and choked. Water was just a little too far away. Air seemed her best support now. She breathed slowly and easily until her headache retreated and she could focus her mind on the problems facing them.

The elevator opened, emptying out Sandra and an unfamiliar woman. They spotted Amber and hurried across to join her.

“I’m Thalia Mills,” said the dark haired, dark eyed woman, offering her hand, “I’m the attorney that takes care of any problems the Crystal Light Coven has with the real world. Sandy asked me to take on your case as a favor.”

“Thank you so much, but I can pay,” Amber could barely restrain the urge to hug the woman. “Have you any idea what’s going on? Have you seen Karl?”

“Not yet. I’m going in to speak to the detectives. As soon as I get an idea of the charges I’ll come back to talk to you, then to Karl.”

Amber tunneled her hands through her already disordered hair. Her traveling clothes desperately needed a proper washing and she personally longed for a shower. Hours in the car followed by endless time on these institutional chairs left Amber aching in every joint. Thalia turned and spoke to a police sergeant and was escorted toward the rear offices.

A few minutes later she was back and came to sit beside Amber and Sandy. She pulled a sheaf of paper from a folder already marked with Karl and Amber’s names and balanced them on her knees.

“Sandy said it was important that I got your story first. This isn’t my usual technique. The police say they’re after Karl, not you. I hope he had enough sense to stay quiet until I arrived?” Thalia glanced over Amber’s shoulder at Sandra.

Amber nodded. Spending hours alone trying to think what crime Karl could have committed had only raised Amber’s fear and agitation. She knew Karl. Knew him down to his aura. He couldn’t have committed anything more dangerous than jaywalking. He didn’t even like her to drive his car fast.

“What are they saying?” demanded Amber. “What’s the accusation?”

Thalia consulted her sheets.

“This afternoon a Miss Gloria Simmons filed a complaint …”

“Gloria!” repeated Amber.

Thalia raised a delicate black eyebrow.

“You know her?”

Amber hesitated for a few seconds before replying.

“Only by reputation. She’s Karl’s ex-girlfriend from years ago. I have never been
physically
in the same room as her,” Amber waited, wondering if Thalia would catch the emphasis, “but we think she has been … keeping watch over Karl since the breakup.”

There was a pause while Thalia absorbed that comment, then nodded.

“Why?”

“Ah,” said Amber. “That’s hard to explain. It’s sort of a power issue. She was his unfaithful girlfriend in college. They broke up and he’s not been physically in her presence since she was expelled.”

“Not physically in her presence,” Thalia repeated running her finger down the page. “According to the complaint she filed, Karl broke into her apartment, wrecked the place and beat her, tried to rape her. Then he dragged her down to his car and tried to kidnap her, all the while threatening to kill her. She managed to escape, although not without incurring injury.”

“That’s impossible,” cried Amber. “When did she say this happened? And why?”

“Yesterday evening. There are photos and a physical exam that show she has extensive bruising, a cracked rib, and other injuries consistent with a vicious beating.”

It was Amber’s turn to pause. Only this morning Karl had been celebrating the effectiveness of his karate attack on the dream wolves. He’d gloated, describing the bruises he hoped decorated the bitch queen’s face. She couldn’t explain this to Thalia. It would take too long and there were police moving through the building and none of them would hesitate to listen to a private conversation. Right now it wouldn’t help Karl’s case to have her discussing magic.

The other problem was that Karl
had
inflicted the injuries, but he’d done it in a dream world while Gloria had been a wolf. If they made him do something like a lie detector, the police would suspect him. A lie detector test would be a bad idea.

She settled for facts she could prove.

“It’s impossible for Karl to have done that. Last night we were in a hotel in Albany. The receipts are in my wallet, in my computer bag. We drove down here today. It’s a long trip and we were together the whole way.”

Thalia made several notes in her file.

“Where’s your computer bag?”

“The police have it. Karl was carrying it when they took him in. I asked for it back, because it has all my money in it, but they say it was in his possession when they arrested him so I have no right to it until the matter is settled.”

Thalia made another note.

“I’ll see if I can get access to that. I can’t have them hanging onto evidence of his innocence. It might get lost.”

“Oh. We can get records. I paid with my credit card. The bank will have the transaction. And the hotel will have its copy.”

Thalia’s face fell.

“Your card. Not Karl’s?”

“No. No. I paid for last night’s hotel. And the night before. Karl paid for today’s.”

“How? I understood that you hadn’t booked in yet. Sandy said you were both still in the lobby when the police took you.”

“He made the reservation online. Guaranteed it with his credit card. I did the same thing for last night’s hotel.”

Thalia tapped her pen against the table gazing intently into Amber’s eyes.

“Did Karl pay for anything? Anything with his card yesterday? Dinner receipt, something like that? Whose name was the room in?”

Amber thought for a moment, trying to remember.

“My name. We had room service so it went on my card. Everything else he paid cash.”

“That means, at the moment, you can’t prove that he was with you. There’s no paper trail.”

Amber flushed. “People saw us together.”

“Unfortunately it is going to take time to gather witness testimony. Considering that the complainant is … well, would
like
to consider herself a high profile political mover and shaker the police were able to get a warrant with minimal investigation. A friendly prosecutor, a friendly judge, and all sorts of things can get done quickly in Washington.” Thalia dropped her voice. “Actually most of the people on the hill do not take the senator and his campaign seriously, but Gloria Simmons can make noise to the papers. For some reason this campaign is popular with the press. With all that to think about the police are highly motivated to keep her happy. Her lawyer is here already. I heard he has been waiting all afternoon for the police to bring Karl in. Which is odd and I’m going to look into that.” Thalia frowned down at the files and made another small note. “The lawyer is making all sorts of noises and demands, and I don’t know if you’ve had anything to do with police before, but they prefer a quiet life. No disrespect intended, but they want a solution as soon as possible.”

Chapter Sixteen

Amber’s head dropped back into her hands and she closed her eyes tight trying to remember the last few days.

“I can’t believe that I stopped Karl from paying for things. How could I have been so dumb? I was just …”

Sandy patted her arm.

“Overcompensating, just a little?”

“Yeah,” Amber sighed, “Just a little. A witch hurt him and well, I feel sort of guilty for everything that’s happened to him.”

“It wasn’t your magic. Stop trying to take all the burdens of the world on your shoulders. It will burn you out faster than any number of spells.”

“I guess.”

An hour after Thalia disappeared into the detective area, Amber still hadn’t heard anything about Karl. As they still had her computer, her money and plastic, Amber couldn’t go anywhere even if she wanted.

Amber walked over to the coffee machine and searched through her pockets. She was five cents short for coffee and fifteen cents short for hot chocolate. Sandy was asleep with her head resting against the wall. Yawning, Amber resumed her seat on the hard chair and avoided making eye contact with the officer watching the door. There had been a time in her life when she had thought waiting for dentist appointments was the worst way to pass time; now she knew there was a different level of painful anticipation. Waiting helplessly for something bad to happen to someone she loved.

She didn’t actually love Karl. She liked him; that was all. When he wasn’t being a pain in the buttocks, he was kind and funny. She worried about him. Considering what she knew about the power drains and Madam Gloria – may she get poison ivy on an intimate area of her anatomy forever – anyone who cared about Karl would worry. The fact that Amber wanted Karl beside her right now and for always so that she could keep watch over him, comfort and tease him, was not love. Amber bit her lip and chewed lightly.

It was … interesting, though. Her heart ached that he was somewhere that she was not. She needed to see him, to be comforted by his presence. When he was out of sight she watched for him and when she learned something new her first thought was to tell him. Except for the secrets she kept for the sake of his memory, she amended guiltily. But she would tell him everything one day. One day when they were both safe.

At this moment she wanted to wrap her arms around him and hold him tight just so she could feel his heart beating reassuringly near hers. Amber had never felt so confused and driven in her entire life. And the only way she believed she could be centered and balanced would be side by side with Karl. If she could just get into the room where he was she would feel safer. Calmer. Complete.

Amber shifted restlessly in her chair, bumping into Sandy. The older woman came reluctantly upright, her makeshift pillow falling loudly to the floor.

“I’m sorry, Sandy. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“It’s okay.” Sandy ran her tongue over her lips and reached down to take a bottle of water out of her bag. “We have time, if you want to talk.”

“What about?” Amber’s thoughts were still on Karl, but she could use the interruption.

Sandy sipped water for a moment, “I spent the day thinking about what you said about your problem. What do you know about psychic vampires?”

The detectives were polite as they escorted Thalia back to the interrogation rooms to meet with Karl.

“Have you questioned him?” asked Thalia, her voice light and friendly.

“No,” said Forth. “His girlfriend primed him. He invoked the right to remain silent and we just put him in here to wait for you.”

“Fine.”

They opened the heavy door and stepped into a grey painted room. There was one flat bare table in the middle of the room, four stiff back chairs, and one window covered in old metal mesh.

And Karl seated facing the door.

Thalia stopped, blocking the entrance, then turned to gape at the detectives.

“You think this guy attacked a woman? Who did he go after? Whistler’s Grandmother?”

The three of them turned to look at Karl. They took in his white hair, haggard, exhausted face, and the tremors that passed through his body every few minutes.

“I don’t believe it,” continued Thalia. “This man is obviously too ill to be dangerous. To inflict,” she glanced down at her notes, “broken ribs! Facial bruising and dislocated teeth.”