Sleight (43 page)

STANDING THERE, LOOKING at the hole in the window, pieces of drapery stuck in jagged glass still stuck in the frame, I considered what I had just done. I noticed a drop of blood on the sill, like a punctuation mark at the end of a sentence.

The faint smell of salt, and car exhaust were all but wiped out by the freezing air and snow.

When Kenwoode had asked me to knock Constance out I’d tried something I had only done on a limited basis in the past. Coordinating two of my knacks I’d forced Constance to the floor and then used my knack for illusion to make it appear that she’d been violently knocked unconscious. I’d added a trickle of blood for detail.

“Benny, he’ll be back. He wants Justine. I’m worried about her.” She glanced at Justine who was looking dazed but unhurt.

“What’s been going on in here?” I asked, even though I thought I knew and really didn’t want it to be confirmed.

She looked down at her feet. “Benny, she’s been taken in a bad direction. They...,” she glanced at Griff and Weller, “...she took their abilities. They’re...” her voice faltered.

I suddenly felt very cold and hollow.

I looked at Justine and then back to Constance. “Why? How could he have done this?” I asked.

Placing a hand on my arm she looked up at me. “We should go. I don’t know what to do about these two, but if there’s any hope of helping Justine we’re going to need Harald.”

I heard groaning behind us and when I turned, Danton was trying to sit up. We both hurried to his side.

A large bruise was blooming on the left side of his face where Kenwoode had clobbered him.

“Son of a bitch!” He jerked his head, sweeping the room and then groaned again. “Where is he?”

Chucking my chin, I indicated the window.

Danton gritted his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut. “You did that?”

“Yeah. I don’t feel like he gave me a choice. He was going to take Justine.”

We helped him up and he gently pushed us away, rattling off a couple of choice words of profanity.

“I have to call this in,” he said.

“We need to get Justine to Harald,” said Constance.

Rolling his shoulder and cracking his neck Danton frowned. “You go. I’ll stay. I can’t just leave. This is one too many.” He stared meaningfully at Griff’s prone form and Weller’s drooling body still strapped into the chair. Truth was I had no love for either and it would be easier to let him handle it, but it didn’t seem right.

“What happens to you?” I asked Danton.

“I’ll figure it out,” he responded, not sounding very convincing.

“Detective...,” said Constance.

“Aiden,” said Danton.

“Aiden. If we’re going to help her it needs to happen sooner than later.” Constance nodded at Justine, who seemed to be coming around.

Making a face, Danton looked at me. “Benny will get you out. Go on. Move.”

“Thanks Danton,” I said.

“Yeah, yeah. Come to my funeral,” he said.

Constance seemed unwilling to approach Justine so I put my arm around her. I led them both out into the hall and quickly to the stairwell. Justine hadn’t spoken yet, but she had little trouble walking on her own.

“This leads to street level. The door opens behind a hedge. I can make myself hard to see but I can’t hide you and Justine.”

“What do you recommend?” Constance asked.

It struck me that in the last few hours I had been promoted from tolerated-teen-participant to someone that others consulted. Odd, and not entirely welcome.
‘Careful what you wish for’
. Thanks mom.

“How did the two of you get here?” I asked.

“I was going to take Justine to her car when Preston offered us a ride. We came here in his SUV,” Constance said. Her pursed lips and flashing eyes communicated volumes about what she thought of that now. He’d been waiting for the opportunity to take Justine. Constance had been an inconvenience.

“Where is it parked?”

“Out on the street, about a block from here,” she said.

“Okay, we get to the bottom floor you two walk out and head to the SUV. I’ll follow behind you for protection, and I’ll be camouflaged.”

Constance gave me a strange look.

“What?” I asked.

She took a deep breath. “It’s just a little disconcerting how quickly you’re adapting. How are we going to get into his car?”

“I’ve got that,” I said, waggling my fingers.

“Benny’s smooth,” slurred Justine. Her eyes were heavy-lidded, reminding me of the last time we’d been in the stairwell. I’d thought she’d been drugged, but she’d been recovering from absorbing Dell’s and Tank’s knacks. The realization gave me the chills. Constance frowned.

“Wha?” asked Justine.

“Nothing. We need to hurry in case Kenwoode is headed to his car,” I said.

When we reached the first floor landing we stopped at the door while I disabled the alarm. While I screwed with the lock, Constance ran her hands through Justine’s hair and then her own. Then she smoothed out their clothing. If anyone got a really good look at them they’d wonder why they looked so rough, but they would pass a casual glance.

My knacking around finally produced a soft clunking noise and the door popped ajar.

“I’ll pull it open and the two of you walk through. Ready?”

They nodded and I yanked it wide. Constance went out chin up, displaying a confidence I don’t think she felt. She held one of Justine’s hands, although she looked like she was grabbing a live spider. Justine gave me a dopey look as Constance pulled her out into the daylight. I waited a couple of seconds, cloaked myself and followed them, closing the door behind me.

I hoped we would be able to help her, but I was worried. The conversation I’d had earlier with Mr. Goodturn bothered me. Would he see her as some rabid animal? I had more than a few reservations about asking him to dig around in Justine’s mind. But it didn’t seem that there was any other choice.

I winced as I counted the seconds before I followed them out the door. We were preparing do something I had been uncomfortable with just hours before.

EVEN THOUGH JUSTINE’S legs were wobbly she didn’t slow Constance down. We made good time and reached Kenwoode’s SUV quickly. It took less than a second to knack the door locks. When we climbed in, Constance got behind the wheel. I helped Justine get into the backseat and buckled her in. I climbed in to the front passenger seat and fumbled with the ignition for several sweaty moments before I felt the tumblers click into place. Constance shook her head as the engine roared to life. I added car theft to my expanding list of crimes.

Without another word Constance pulled away from the curb. I rattled off some directions and she piloted the big car toward home.

Knowing that Justine couldn’t hear my telepathic connection, I reached out to Constance.

Is she going to be okay?

To her credit, Constance kept her reaction to an almost unnoticeable flinch.

I don’t know. She drained the essence of their abilities, Benny. She’s in a fugue state. Her body is assimilating all of the energy she’s absorbed. It’s like someone drinking several shots of liquor, one after the other.

You saw it?

Yes, but I couldn’t stop it.

Her mouth turned down in a grimace. My hands clenched. I was horrified and angry at what Kenwoode had done to Justine.

Can Mr. Goodturn help her?

Maybe, but that won’t be easy. Her ability is so closely tied to her consciousness that even if he can block it she might inadvertently trigger it again if the wrong set of variables occur.

I looked over my shoulder at Justine. Her eyes were closed. I’d been worrying about her getting hurt. This seemed so much worse.

Can
you
heal her?

She shook her head and then caught herself.

No. I wish I could but my gift doesn’t work that way.

I broke the connection and we traveled in silence the rest of the way home. We turned into the pawnshop’s alley about twenty minutes later. A sense of relief washed over me, quickly followed by grief and confusion. Now what were we supposed to do? Justine was almost, if not exactly, as dangerous as Sonja had been. We couldn’t just let her take off on her own. Had she been leading a double life, or had her life-sucking misadventures been repressed somehow?

Constance opened her door and looked at me, worry and fear in her eyes.

“We need to get upstairs, Benny.” She nodded with her chin in the direction of the back seat, where Justine had sat up. “All of us.”

“Give us a minute, okay?” I asked.

She pursed her lips but gave me a slight nod and walked toward the door that led to the pawnshop.

“What are we doing here?” Justine asked.

I so wanted to believe that she couldn’t remember. It wouldn’t make her any less guilty of what she’d done, but it would seem better somehow.

“Kenwoode’s betrayed us. You got hurt. We need to get upstairs and make sure that you’re okay. You were out of it when we found you.”

Her cheeks got red and her head drooped. “I remember Constance being there. We came back with her right?”

“Yeah. Come on. We should get upstairs.”

“The red-haired woman, Griff, the bald guy they were—,” her head jerked up, and her eyes widened. I saw slow realization come over her. She didn’t look happy, but she also didn’t seem to be remorseful. Her eyes darted to the door handle in the back seat and back to me.

“Where’s Mr. Kenwoode? What are you going to do to me, Benny?” she asked, her eyes wary.

She looked like a trapped animal. The illusion of pretending that she didn’t know what she’d been doing fell apart.

“I would never hurt you Justine. I care about you too much. I’m worried about what Kenwoode’s done to you,” I said. I thought it best to avoid telling her I’d thrown her Svengali out a window.

She rested one hand on the door handle.

“Benny, I’m not going upstairs with you. But I want you to know that I’ll never change the way I feel about you. I need to leave. Go away. I’m...confused. Some of this feels exciting and some of it...”

She opened the door and got out and I did the same. We stood there looking at each other. I couldn’t let her leave. She’d hurt someone else.

“Benny, I want to give you something.” She took a step toward me, her eyes glowing in the fluorescent light of the garage. Instinctively, I took a step back and she frowned.

“I want to heal your leg, before I leave. A gift. From me to you.”

A gift? The thought disgusted me, and I’m sure my face gave me away. I shook my head.

“I don’t want that,” I said.

“You...you don’t want it?” she asked.

Of course I did, but not at the cost that others had paid for it. How could I let her remove my crippling injury, no matter how much I wanted to be whole again, when I knew how she had come by the power to do it?

“I can’t let you use your knack to heal me. I won’t let you do it.”

Her face hardened. “It’s tainted? Is that it?”

“Justine, please let Mr. Goodturn try to help you,” I said, trying to forget his comments about putting down a wild animal.

“No. I’m leaving,” she snapped.

“I can’t let you go,” I said, drawing my knack influence around her.

She was breathing hard, her face red and angry. “You’re going to hold me here against my will?”

“I don’t want to.”

“But you will if you have to? Right?” she asked, her voice dropping into a whisper. “How can you do this to me?”

I lowered my eyes.

“Look at me,” she said. “Look at me and tell me you don’t love me. Do that and you won’t have to hold me. I’ll do whatever you want.”

And because I was so torn with guilt and grief I did.

I looked up and into her eyes.