The Adventures of Gravedigger (10 page)

Within seconds, a reply came back, a series of
flashes that told her that Gravedigger was in position. Li wondered how
Gravedigger planned to safeguard her during the reading of the will but she
pushed the idea out of her mind. She trusted her friend.

She had just started unpacking her bags when a
rapping on the window made her jump. She turned back and saw a fearsome
silhouette – the lithe body of a woman, swords and daggers sheathed at her
sides.

Li opened the window, allowing Gravedigger to drop
to the floor. “How did you get up here so fast? We’re on the third floor!”

“I’m fast.”

“That’s what all the boys used to say.”

Gravedigger grunted. “How many people are
downstairs?”

“Let’s see… There’s a strange old woman named
Myrtle – who might actually be a man in drag – and then there’s a lawyer named
Jenkins; a butler named Sebastian; and a trio of other relatives.” She named
them, making sure to remark on how handsome Cedric was.

“Don’t get distracted,” Gravedigger warned. “Have
you seen anything unusual?”

“You mean besides the spooky house, a guy in drag
and the fact that the Headless Horseman is buried outside? Not a thing.”

“The Headless Horseman?”

“Yep. Buried outside in the cemetery. Unmarked
grave.” Li snapped her fingers. “Oh! And according to Myrtle, old Maxwell was
involved with an occult group called the Sons or Daughters of Malfeasance.”

“You don’t remember if they were called the Sons
or Daughters?”

“No, that IS their name. Sons or Daughters.”

Gravedigger shook her head in amazement. “I might
have heard of them… supposedly they could shift their gender, amongst other
things.” She turned back to the window but stopped when Li touched her arm.
“Where are you going?”

“Exploring. I want you to go downstairs and get to
know these people. Maxwell Hendry’s name was in Goldstein’s files, along with a
notation that he was a dangerous person. If Josef thought he was worth keeping
an eye on, that makes me really curious about what all the mystery surrounding
his will is really about.”

Li nodded, then added, “Are you okay, though? It’s
your first time out and about since… the explosion at Meeks’”

Gravedigger pulled away, her voice going icy cold.
“I’m fine. Now go do your job, please.”

Li watched her friend vanish out the window. After
a brief sigh, she did as Charity ordered.

It was time to go to work.

Cedric grinned when Li stepped back into the
parlor. He rose from his seat and moved to join her. “You found your way back!
I’m impressed. I got lost twice the first time I tried to navigate my way
through this darkened maze!”

Li allowed Cedric to guide her over to the
fireplace, where two seats were nestled close together. There was no sign of
Myrtle but she noticed that Marlowe was still playing cards while Koepp was
wandering around the room, lifting up lamps and other bits of furniture,
staring at them as if he were appraising their worth.

Cedric confirmed that by whispering, “Baldy there
is here for the money and nothing else. He’s a cold one.”

“And what are you here for, if not the money?”

“I’d like to reestablish the Hendry name in the
business world,” he said, settling back into his chair. He crossed his legs and
studied Li with obvious interest. “There was a time when you couldn’t go more
than five feet in Sovereign without seeing the Hendry logo plastered on
everything from matchbook covers to billboards. But Maxwell let it all go to
seed. The family’s wealth is still immense but I want to restore it to prominence,
as well.”

“You have your own business, don’t you?”

“I do. We manufacture refrigerator parts. But I
want to go far beyond that.” Cedric smiled and Li recognized his type: upwardly
mobile, with the view that everyone was just part of the ladder he was climbing.
She knew what would happen if she ended up in bed with him – he’d ensure his
own pleasure, not hers. And then she’d never hear from him again.

“May I ask what you do?” Cedric pressed.

“I’m a daredevil adventurer in service to a masked
vigilante.”

Cedric’s bark of laughter drew a surprised glance
from Koepp and a deep frown from Marlowe. “You are a hoot!” he exclaimed. “Let
me guess which one… masked, eh? I bet you work with The Darkling. Am I right?”

“I really can’t say,” Li answered softly. “I took
an oath.”

Cedric reached out and patted her leg just above
the knee. “A daredevil,” he said, shaking his head. “I like that in a woman.”

Li stood up, eliciting a look of disappointment
from Cedric. “I’ll be back,” she said. “I’d like to get to know the rest of our
family, if I could.” Before Cedric could respond, Li had sat herself down
across from Marlowe.

The sour-faced man looked up from his game of
solitaire. “Only a few more hours,” he said.

“Oh, I know!” Li leaned forward, her eyes
twinkling. “Are you excited?”

Marlowe tugged at his moustache. “I don’t get
excited.”

“Too bad for your wife.”

“Excuse me?” he asked, looking shocked.

Li decided not to pursue her little joke. “Well,
I’m thrilled. It’s so great to not only be a part of this… but to meet new
members of my family!”

“Yes. It is… most interesting.”

“Married? Any kids?”

Marlowe harrumphed and put down the card he had
been waiting to play. “No and no.”

Li nodded. “What are you going to do with your
share of the loot?”

“The estate,” Marlowe corrected, “Is quite
substantial from what I have been told. But seeing it split five ways might
reduce it quite a bit. Since I don’t have any ideas about Maxwell’s exact
worth, it’s difficult to project my future plans.”

Li tapped her chin. “You’re lying.”

“What? How dare you--!”

“I just mean that you strike me as a very careful,
methodical person. Heck, you’ve been contemplating where to put that one card
since I first arrived! And you just said you’re not the excitable type… so you
wouldn’t go to something like this without having fully thought out all the
angles.”

Marlowe said nothing for a moment. When he did
speak, his tone had softened somewhat and he seemed to view her through new
eyes. “For a woman, you’re very clever. Yes, I have plans for my part of the
fortune. Over the years, I’ve become quite the gambler. It’s my one vice and I
like to study the odds long and hard before I place my bet. Sometimes I win…
and sometimes I lose. Unfortunately, I’ve had more of the latter of late.”

“You’d pay off some debts, you mean?”

“Yes. And then I’d translate what I had left into
even greater wealth!” Marlowe confidentially lowered his voice. “I know of a
sure thing, you see.”

Li looked impressed. Inside, she was anything but.
So far, she knew that Cedric wanted to become a famous business leader and
Marlowe needed a quick influx of cash to handle his gambling debts. That meant
one or both might be willing to bump off the competition… but there was no
indication that they had or would.

Li excused herself from the conversation without
much effort, since Marlowe was keen to get back to his game. The last man in
the room was Koepp, who had by this time moved over to an antique vase that
rested on a pedestal just inside the doorway.

“Is that worth much?”

Koepp didn’t bother looking in her direction. “Why
do you ask? Planning to steal it?”

Li’s acting skills weren’t quite good enough to
hide her anger. “I wouldn’t want to horn in on your action. You’ve been casing
the place for hours!”

Koepp turned, a smug look on his face. His
hairless skull shone in the firelight. “I happen to be an art appraiser.”

“I thought you were just money hungry.”

“No. That would describe the rest of you, I would
think.” Koepp leaned closer. “Where I come from, people like you knew their
place. And it wasn’t in the house.”

“What do you mean?” Li asked, though she knew very
well what he was implying.

“I mean that all families have a chink or a nigger
in the woodpile but usually they stay out in the servants’ quarters.”

What happened next was such a blur that neither
Cedric nor Marlowe truly witnessed it. Li’s fist shot forward, slamming into
Koepp’s nose. The bald man fell back, knocking the vase to the floor, where it
shattered into a dozen ceramic shards. Blood streamed from Koepp’s wounded
proboscis and he cupped it with his hands.

“You little whore!” he shouted. He drew his own
hand back, intending to slap her across the face, but Cedric caught his elbow
and held it firm.

“That’s enough!” Cedric shouted. Glaring at
Marlowe, he added, “I don’t know what you said to provoke her but I have no
doubt that you were a cad. Apologize.”

“Never! Unhand me!”

Cedric drew even closer and his expression became
one of tremendous threat. “I’d think about that if I were you.”

Koepp withered under the force of the other man’s
presence. In a low voice, he said, “I apologize for offending you, Miss
Yuchun.”

Li was rubbing her injured knuckles but she
managed to nod her head in acceptance.

Cedric shoved Koepp away, adding, “Maybe you
should wait in your room until the lawyer calls for us.”

Koepp exited the room, still holding his bleeding
nose. The look he shot Li was one that promised vengeance.

“You’d better stay close to me,” Cedric warned. “I
wouldn’t be surprised if he tries to frighten you again. May I ask what he said--?”

“I’d rather not get into it.”

“Of course.” Cedric kindly led her back to the
seat next to the fireplace. “There’s a wonderfully stocked bar in the corner.
Can I get you something?”

Li’s smile returned. Her estimation of Cedric had
gone up slightly since his gallant response so she didn’t see how a drink could
hurt. “I’d love one. Thank you.”

***

Gravedigger felt like she was at home, wandering
through the overgrown cemetery. In just a few months, she’d killed more than
her fair share of criminals… already, her name was becoming a common one on the
lips of the underworld’s major figures. Unlike Doc Daye or Lazarus Gray, she
wasn’t going to throw the various mob bosses into jail… she was putting them
six feet under.

Of course, it had almost been the other way around
when Meeks’ apartment had exploded. She and The Peregrine had been thrown
nearly half a block by the force of the portal’s closing. When Charity had
woken up, her uniform had been in tatters and her left arm had been broken in a
half dozen places.

Max had been even worse, bleeding from a number of
shrapnel-induced wounds. The police and fire department were both arriving and
she’d been able to drag him to a nearby alleyway, where she had waited for
Mitchell to pick them both up.

The authorities were uncertain as to the cause of
the explosion but in the end, they didn’t care to pursue the matter. To them,
all that mattered was that Meeks was dead. The museum had been upset about the
loss of its treasure, of course, but all in all, it seemed to all be resolved.

Gravedigger’s recovery had been rapid – far more
than it should have been. She had done all she could to help Max but in the
end, he had returned to Atlanta to recuperate.

The experience had unnerved Li more than it had
Charity. She and Mitchell both thought that Charity should take some time off –
that she was moving so quickly that they feared she might still be in shock.

They didn’t understand, though. She had no time to
waste – the clock was ticking, every day bringing her closer to Judgment.

Something had tickled in the back of her brain
when she’d first seen this cemetery and she knew that it was important to
investigate it. Li would be fine, she reasoned – the girl could certainly
maintain her composure no matter what happened.

In the center of the graveyard was a gnarled oak
tree, one that immediately caught her interest. The branches leaned downward,
as if they were anxious to seize any unwary soul that ventured too close. The
base of the tree was home to a massive hole that seemed to lead into the
labyrinthine root system. Gravedigger paused near it and stared into the
stygian blackness beneath the tree… Something was
wrong
here but she
didn’t know for certain what it was.

The sky illuminated for a moment as a jagged arc
of lightning cut across it. Gravedigger realized then what was bothering her
about the hole and the roots that formed a canopy around it – the entire area
seemed to be pulsing… no,
breathing
, she thought.

A jumble of thoughts passed through her mind,
then. About Maxwell’s links to the occult, to what Li had told her about the
Headless Horseman and about things she’d read in Josef’s library. Since his
death, she’d made a point of reading through everything he’d left behind… and
there were several references to the Horseman legend in Sovereign.

Some said that the headless killer was no mere
specter. They said that he did the bidding of some higher power – frequently
thought to be the devil, of course, but not necessarily. Whoever summoned him
needed to first perform a blood sacrifice, which would then give him control
over the Horseman.

Gravedigger looked back at Hendry Hall, which
stood, angry and frightening, in the distance. Mortimer Quinn, who had spent
some time in Sovereign in the late 18th century, had written the book that
dealt with the Horseman legend most significantly. He did mention a cult that
had lurked in Sovereign around that time but he hadn’t named them… Could they
have been the Sons or Daughters of Malfeasance?

It was less than an hour before the reading of the
will… and Gravedigger felt certain that something terrible was going to happen.
She took one step towards the house when she became aware of movement to her
left.

Spinning around, Gravedigger took an impact
directly to the forehead. She fell back, the world suddenly going black. She
had been so wrapped up in thought that she’d missed the signs of danger… and
now, she realized, there would be no second chance.

A figure stood over her, a heavy log held in their
strong hands. Myrtle looked back at the tree and then turned back to the masked
woman at her feet.

“Not much longer,” she hissed. “It’s almost time for
the Horseman to ride once more.”

***

Charity woke up with her arms and legs tightly
bound to a chair. She was inside a small room, sparsely furnished. There were
several bookcases filled with ancient tomes and a painting of Maxwell Hendry
that dominated the nearest wall. There was one door that led out of the room
and she could hear voices on the other side – including Li’s. The words were
muffled enough that she couldn’t understand what they were saying.

Fumbling about with her fingers, she hoped to
reach one of her many weapons – but they were all missing.

Movement from behind her made her pause.

Myrtle moved into view, looking very mannish in
slacks and a gossamer blouse. She looked into Gravedigger’s face, which was
still hidden by her mask. “Please tell me who you are.”

“Where are my weapons?”

Myrtle gestured to the farthest bookshelf. Sitting
on top of it was Charity’s arsenal. “You were very well armed. Expecting
trouble, were we?”

“I like to be prepared.”

“Always a good idea.” Myrtle pulled up a chair and
sat down in it backwards, so that her arms crossed over the back of the seat.
“Again: who are you?”

“I’m called Gravedigger.”

“The vigilante? I’ve heard of you.” Myrtle clucked
her tongue. “I pictured you… differently. Taller. More dangerous. Masculine.”

“Sorry I disappointed you.” Gravedigger tilted her
head and her voice took on a curious note. “So why did you fake your death?”

Myrtle looked surprised. “What do you mean?”

“You’re one of
them
, right? The Sons
or
Daughters? You can shift your gender from one to the other – but not very well,
from the looks of it.”

Myrtle stood up, looking angry. Her face shifted,
becoming even less feminine. The skin of her face became wrinkled, hanging
loosely around the jowls. Her breasts, barely there to begin with, took on a
different shape, becoming like those of an old flabby man. “You’re a little
bitch,” Maxwell Hendry hissed.