Rusty Nails (The Dade Gibson Case Files) (20 page)

Like vultures, the angels picked Lucifer’s bones clean until there was no trace left of the drug that fueled the war in heaven. It would have been an extreme comfort to think that Satan was dead and gone and never to be thought of again. But Dade somehow suspected that these creatures never truly died. They were eternal, and no amount of bullets or explosives could change that. All they had done today was to slow the demonic force down enough to give the angelic hosts a chance to clean up the mess. The corporeal body was gone…for now…but the spirit lived on.

Dade watched in awe as the clouds rolled back and a legion of seraphim dressed in battle regalia descended from the sky. Their blazing swords drawn and their eyes alight with the fires of war, the angels made quick work of what was left of Samael’s dissidents.

By degrees, Pyriel came to, not knowing where he was at first and then drawing his guns uncertainly as the sight of so many angels obviously disturbed him.

“Hold on a minute,” Leon mumbled, his head throbbing from all they had been through. Pyriel shook his feathered head once and then again, noticing that these seraphim appeared to be on their side. He holstered his weapons and took a deep breath, wondering what had happened in those few minutes he had been unconscious.

Abbadon groaned as two burly angels lifted the small car off of his chest and his hand immediately went to the belt where the key to the bottomless pit should have been. The sight of so many dead spirits made him instantly suspicious of what had gone on behind his back, and he couldn’t help but be worried about how it reflected on him. His face paled at the thought of having lost the key until an angel held out her hand and returned it.

“My daughter gave this to me,” she said, her face glowing warm like morning sunshine. Abbadon sighed as he took the key back into his possession.

Although it had been many years since he had heard that angel, Dade instinctively turned toward her, subconsciously remembering the way her voice had comforted him in the womb.

“You’ve done well, Dade,” Victoria said, pulling her son’s face to her cheek to absorb some of the tears that were flowing freely down his face. “I can’t tell you how proud I am of you.”

After the worst of the crying was over with, Dade pulled away to have a better look at the woman who had been snatched away from him when he needed her most. She smiled at him, her eyes still full of the old love and kindness; and suddenly, all the old miserable memories of the years following her death were dragged away with the bodies of the seraphim that were being gathered up to fuel the great fire.

“You knew what was going on all along,” he said.

“I’ve been watching over you, Dade,” she replied. “You’re my boy.”

“You’re an angel,” Dade said, still shocked even after listening his father’s revelation.

“Yeah, who would have thought,” Jack Gibson said with a broad grin as he stepped over bodies and headed toward the family. “I haven’t done many things right in my life, but I managed to do all right in the wife department. I guess I had better taste than I thought.”

“You obviously haven’t gone back and looked at what you were wearing in your wedding picture,” Jane said with a smile. “I think you threw taste out the window. You just got lucky with mom.”

Chapter 53

Nobody saw Louise Hartwell step out of a rusty car with her gun drawn and her eyes full of anger.

“I’m only going to give you one chance to tell me where you hid that bone,” she screamed, firing off three quick rounds one of which took Dade high in the shoulder. Dade fell to the ground with a groan, and Leon responded immediately, drawing the gun that Dade had given him earlier.

Louise Hartwell fired once at him, and he returned the favor, blowing two fist-sized holes in the large woman’s chest. She fell to the ground with a thud, her hand still clutching the .357 for dear life.

Weak but still able to walk, Dade made his way over to the dying woman, holding one hand over the hole in his shoulder. He wasn’t worried about her gun any more. She wasn’t in any condition to use it.

“Explain yourself,” Dade said.

Louise Hartwell’s eyes were wide and bloodshot. “I’ve got all of Edgemore’s bones but one. He’s missing a finger. I thought you had it for sure.”

Even though Dade didn’t have any idea what Louise Hartwell was talking about, he was going to win this last final mind game with her.

“It’s right here,” he lied, putting one hand in the pocket of his jeans. “But it’s not going to do you any good where you’re going. It’s a shame really. All that life wasted for nothing. And to think I was planning to give it to you once I got out of this junkyard. It seems it got covered up by a little graveyard dirt in the mausoleum. We must have looked right over it that day we went inside.”

Louise Hartwell opened her mouth in surprise. But nothing, save for a thin trickle of blood, came out.

With his shoulder bleeding heavily from the gunshot, Dade staggered over to Liz and wrapped her up with his one good arm. He kissed her hard on the mouth once and then collapsed as he heard the onrushing whine of ambulance sirens.

Chapter 54

“Are you really sure you want to do this?” Liz said as Dade booted up the computer with his good arm, the other bandaged like an Egyptian mummy.

“I need to know one way or another,” he said, trying not to groan too much. “And there’s no better way to find out than to ask the man himself. After this, I’ll bury him and let him rest.”

“Promise.”

“Well, yes ma’am,” Dade said, impersonating John Wayne. “I’ll lay his sorry carcass in the ground and forget all about him.”

“You’re such an idiot.”

Dade laughed as The Ouija Room popped up on the screen.

“Would you do the honors?” he asked, motioning to the swivel chair with his good arm. “I can’t type very well in this shape.”

“You couldn’t type very well before you got shot either. But I guess I’ll do it.”

Liz typed Richard Edgemore’s name into the search engine and waited for his spirit to manifest.

“What is it now?” he said grumpily, emphasizing his agitation with several question marks and exclamation point.

“We’ve still got some unfinished business,” Liz typed.

“Fine,” Richard responded almost wearily. “What is it you need to know?”

“You made a deal with the devil.”

“That’s a fact, not a question. Is there something you wish to know?”

“Why?”

“Why not?” Edgemore replied. “It was a business opportunity. I saw a chance to make a lot of money, gain a lot of power, and make a name for myself. We all have to choose sides at one point or another.”

“One of your bones isn’t in with the rest,” she said. “That’s the only thing that saved you. Did you know the index finger of your left hand isn’t in with your remains?”

“Of course it’s not.”

Dade looked at Liz, bewildered. “What does he mean ‘Of course it’s not’?”

“Explain yourself,” Liz typed.

“You two obviously haven’t done your homework,” Edgemore said. “Otherwise, you’d know.”

“Know what?” Liz asked, growing impatient.

Edgemore didn’t reply with words this time, but with a web address. Reluctantly, Liz clicked the hyperlink. She was surprised to find her web browser directed to the archives of The Crowley’s Point Sun.

“Look at the headline,” Dade said, more than a little surprised.

“Local philanthropist donates check for $50,000 to Elementary School.”

The picture beneath the caption showed Edgemore waving with his left hand and presenting a check with his right. Obviously there was no index finger on the left hand.

“I lost it in a poker game a long time ago,” Edgemore explained. “A few of those angels at The Zodiac like to raise the stakes. I bet on a hand I thought I couldn’t lose and ended up losing a finger.”

“Why didn’t you tell us that earlier?”

“I was looking out for my own self-interests. I didn’t have any guarantees that any information I gave you wouldn’t be used against me.”

Dade’s face was a dark, blood red. It was obvious that he was angry. Liz wouldn’t have been surprised in the least to see his boot crash through the monitor at any minute.

“So there was never any danger of Samael forcing you to give up your secret?” Dade asked.

“None,” Edgemore replied.

“Well, where’s the stash now that all of this is over?” Liz asked. “Surely you don’t think it would hurt to tell us now.”

“Oh, that.”

Somehow, Dade didn’t like the way the spirit responded.

“I’ve nearly gotten shot, strangled, crushed by a pile of junk cars, and cut into little tiny pieces by a seraph with a coat-full of stilettos. I would say an explanation is in order.”

Liz fingers raced over the keys, dictating Dade’s every word. Despite all that Dade had said, Richard’s response was a quick one.

“I ran out of my supply.”

“What?” Dade and Liz said simultaneously.

“I knew that Samael was after me, and I knew that I would need some sort of insurance. That little rumor was it. Even after Samael killed me, thinking he could force me to give up my secret, I wasn’t worried.”

“Because he didn’t have all of your bones,” Liz typed.

“Precisely.”

“Why didn’t you tell me that the first time I talked to you?” Dade said, furious that he had gone to so much trouble for nothing.

“You never asked.”

“Fine. Enough said,” Dade remarked to Liz. “Just ask our friend how many graves he’d like me to dig for his remains.”

“Graves?” Edgemore said suddenly worried.

“One for each bone if need be,” Dade explained. “I think that’s punishment enough for all he’s put us through.”

“But this is eternity we’re talking about.”

“No, it’s not,” Dade said. “We’ll dig you up eventually. But for now, you’re going to pay. Besides, you weren’t worried about limbo before”

“That’s because I know where the finger is,” Edgemore replied. “The angel’s name is Jayel. He’s the one who beat me in that poker game. He was going to return the finger to my crypt once Samael was no longer a threat. But he was nothing like you. You scare me because I really think you’ll do what you say.”

“You got that right,” Dade said. “And by the way, there’s just one more thing I think you should know.”

“What’s that?”

“I won’t have to condemn you to limbo. I think my sweetheart here did it for me. She helped Pyriel blow The Zodiac Club into smithereens. I doubt you’ll ever find that finger again.”

Dade didn’t wait for Edgemore to panic. Instead he motioned for Liz to turn off the computer. Somewhere inside The Ouija Room, Richard Edgemore was screaming for help.

“After all you’ve been through, I think he deserves everything he gets,” Liz said.

“Amen, sister.” Dade replied, pulling her close to him, kissing her firmly on the lips. “But if your conscience starts to bother you, I’ll go in a couple of weeks and bury the bones on the lot where The Zodiac Club stood. His remains should be in close enough proximity to give him some peace.”

“You do have a sweet spot in there,” Liz said, tapping Dade on the chest.

Dade immediately lapsed into Jimmy Stewart. “Well, yes ma’am, I guess I do. Now, let’s go to the hospital and see Leon.”

“I’ve got his goody bag right here,” Liz said.

Carefully, Dade peeped inside and immediately started laughing.

“A new feather boa and some nail polish,” he said.

“Leon called me and asked me to bring him a few things. He said he feels naked without these.”

“And I just thought I was going to start having a normal life now that all of this is over,” Dade said.

‘You wish,” Liz laughed. ‘Wait until you hear about the message that was left on the answering machine. I think you may have another case.”

The End