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He was sure of only one thing: he owed her. And this assignment hadn’t come out of the blue. Arthur had chosen him deliberately, knowing he would protect Beth Slocum better than anyone else ever could, because of that debt.
Bryan thought he probably shouldn’t hate his father for keeping secrets from him when secrets were a part of his job. He did hate it, though. He hated just about everything his old man did these days. Every word out of his mouth seemed unreasonably irritating and made Bryan want to snap back, even when it wasn’t altogether warranted.
Bryan wasn’t stupid. It made sense to resent his father for not giving a damn about his mother’s death. Josh hadn’t shed a single tear. And it made sense to hate him for dragging Bryan out of his school, away from his friends, his home, and making him live in an apartment the size of a closet in Manhattan.
He thought maybe Joshua was starting to get that. He thought maybe that was why, when his dad’s former boss from his days in the ATF, days before Bryan was even born, contacted him about this job, he’d accepted so fast. He knew Bryan detested the city. He probably thought this middle-of-nowhere town in Vermont would be better for him.
But Bryan didn’t want to be here, either. He just wanted to go home.
He drove the pickup, which he secretly loved, into the tiny town of Blackberry, which was all of two miles from the old woman’s run-down house. He spent the entire drive trying to locate an alternative or punk station on the radio, with no luck at all. Nothing out here but easy listening, country and talk radio.
God, he was going to die of boredom inside a week. He pulled off when he found a park, walked the entire thing, and found a fountain, a basketball court, a hot-dog stand. He bought a dog and continued on. The town was packed, way more people than could possibly live in a place this small. Must be the tourists his dad had told him were liable to be around. God, there were a lot of them, walking around with cameras, or driving with their heads sticking out the windows, pointing at the trees.
It was pretty here. He had to give it that.
Just at the edge of town there was a library, and he spent a couple of hours there, using their Internet connection and playing video games.
He’d killed the rest of the morning and was working on the afternoon when he pulled into the blacktop square beyond the ornate little sign that read Blackberry Public Parking. It was smack in the middle of a strip of road that was lined on either side with businesses. They all had awnings, and all the awnings were color coordinated—green or white, or green-and-white stripes. The stores—shops, really—had old-fashioned lettering on the windows, and they all looked like something out of one of the Norman Rockwell prints his mother used to have hanging all over their house. If not for the tourists, Bryan would have felt as if he’d walked right into one of them. The barbershop had an actual barber pole.
He pocketed his keys and took to the sidewalk. It was clean, unbroken, no weeds springing up in between the blocks. Oak trees grew from circular holes in the concrete, with red mulch covering their bases. Almost every building had a flag on display—not all of them American flags, though. Some were Canadian, some Italian, and some bore peace signs or rainbows.
He scanned the shop windows. Drugstore, grocery, ice cream “shoppe,” hardware, electronics…“Now we’re getting somewhere,” he said.
He went through the swinging doors of the tiny electronics store, nodded hello to the woman behind the counter and started perusing the shelves. There was only one other customer in the place, an absentminded professor type in a baggy suit.
The woman behind the counter said, “Can I help you find something, young man?”
“Yeah, I’m looking for a set of headphones for my MP3 player.” He pulled the tiny device out of his pocket as he spoke and held it up, but as he did, the other customer placed his purchases—a video camera and several tapes—on the counter.
“They’re right over there, son,” she said, pointing at a pegboard right beside the counter, where about twenty different sets of headphones hung.
Bryan went over and began looking for one that would fit his player.
He noticed the guy at the counter taking his purchases and turning to go. A twenty lay on the floor at his feet. As the man walked toward the door, Bryan hurried to grab it. “Excuse me, mister, I think you dropped this.”
The man turned as if surprised, saw Bryan holding out the twenty and smiled. He had thick, unevenly cut black hair that looked as if he’d combed it with an egg beater, thick-lensed glasses with black plastic frames, and the kind of pointy beard you’d expect to see on the villain in an old movie.
His smile was warm, though. He quickly pulled out his wallet and checked his cash. “You’re right, I did drop it. Thank you, young man. That was very thoughtful of you.”
“No prob.”
The guy took the twenty, tucked it into his wallet and tugged out a five. “Here, for your honesty.”
“No, really. It’s okay,” Bryan said, holding up a hand.
“You’re sure?”
He nodded. “My mother was always telling me if you can’t be honest for the sake of honesty, you’re not really being honest at all.”
The man tipped his head to one side. “Your mother sounds like a very wise woman.”
“She was,” Bryan said. He turned back to the rack of headphones beside the counter.
The stranger cleared his throat, and Bryan turned again, surprised to see him still there. “I don’t mean to pry, but, uh…do you go to school around here?”
Bryan shook his head. “I’m taking a semester off, but I have a private tutor so I won’t fall behind.”
“Ah. A private tutor, is it? That’s very wise. One of the teachers, I assume?”
“No, she’s not teaching right—” He bit back the rest of the sentence, as his father’s coaching and warnings came whispering through his brain. He was talking about Beth Slocum, the woman they were here to protect. A woman in hiding. “I mean, I don’t really know what else she might do. I’m brand-new in town.”
“I only ask because I’m a teacher myself.” The man dug a card from his pocket and handed it to Bryan.
“You teach here in Blackberry?” Bryan asked.
“Well, it’s not official yet, but I expect to be hired any day now. What subjects are you taking with this tutor? Maybe I can offer to cover the ones she doesn’t?”
“No, thanks,” Bryan said, deciding to err on the side of caution. “I don’t want to take on too much at once. But, uh, I’ll keep you in mind if I need another tutor.”
“You do that. And thank you again for your honesty. Your mother would be proud.”
Bryan had to swallow past the lump in his throat as he watched the man go. Then he looked at the card. Oliver Abercrombie. There was a telephone number, but no address. What an odd man.
Mordecai got into his car—a car far below his standards, but one that would stand out far less than his former one would have done. It was a nondescript brown sedan, five years old and nothing fancy. Nothing noticeable or memorable. He was dying to get back to searching for Lizzie.
No, not yet. You have to stay.
You have to watch the boy. We sent you into that shop for a reason, Mordecai. When will you learn to trust us?
“But Lizzie—”
She’s not going anywhere, Mordecai. And finding the heir to your powers and your gifts is just as important as finding Lizzie.
He blinked. “The boy is the heir?”
He could be. Only you can decide that, Mordecai, and that is the primary mission right now.
Maybe it should be, he thought. It wasn’t, though. To him, nothing was more important than finding Lizzie, reclaiming her, purifying and redeeming her. He supposed that was yet another symptom of his flawed human form. It was selfish. The will of Spirit must always come first.
That’s right, Mordecai. You’re a tool. A messenger. A servant. So stay and watch the boy.
He bowed his head. “I’m sorry. Forgive me my sins. I surrender all, Father. Not my will, but thine, be done. I’m sorry. Forgive me.” His throat felt tight, and his eyes hot and damp.
Here he comes!
Mordecai looked up, brushing the moisture from his eyes so he could see as the boy came out of the shop. He went into a couple of others but didn’t stay long anywhere, and finally, with a few bags in his hands, headed to a white pickup truck in the town parking lot. He started it up. Mordecai started his own vehicle, as well, and followed the boy home.
He lived, apparently, in a Victorian house two miles past Blackberry. The style of the place was similar to the one Mordecai was renting in Bonnie Brook, six miles in the other direction, except that it wasn’t as well kept. It showed signs of neglect, needed paint, and the lawn was a weed patch.
Mordecai did everything he could to ensure he wouldn’t lose track of the boy. He pulled over and memorized the address, the directions, the license plate number of the pickup truck. It was nearly noon. He whispered, “Can I go and search for Lizzie now?”
No.
He swallowed, lowering his head. “The school might have phoned for me. God knows Nancy Stillwater has to be quite ill by now.”
You have your cell phone.
“They may have left a message on the machine. If I don’t return the call, they’ll hire someone else.”
Your lack of faith will be punished, Mordecai!
Pain—splitting, racking, blinding pain—blazed through his skull. Mordecai slammed his palms to either side of his head, squeezed his eyes shut tight and grated his teeth. Pressure built inside his head as if it were being inflated, until finally it felt as if it would surely burst.
And then it was gone.
He lay limp against the seat of the car, panting, trembling, his cheeks damp with tears. “All right. All right. I’ll stay.”’
Use the cell to check your messages, and keep your eyes on the boy.
“Yes, yes. I’ll obey.”
Chapter Three
Friday
“No, Bryan, you cannot stay home. I let you slide in the city, but that’s over. You’re going to school. You’re going to register, and you’re going to take classes. This is your senior year. It’s important.”
Beth couldn’t help but hear Joshua’s raised voice as she stepped up onto the porch to join Maude for their morning tea. The front door was open. The screen door was closed, but sound traveled right through that. Maude looked up, shaking her head sadly. She was in the middle of her morning injection—one before every meal was the routine—and she pulled the hypodermic from her arm and set it on the tray table.
“Important to you, maybe,” Bryan said. He wasn’t shouting, but he wasn’t quiet, either.
“No, Bry, it’s important to you. To your future. I told you before we left Manhattan, you’d have to register at the high school here.”
“And I told you to forget about it.”
“If you keep letting school slide, Bryan, you’ll never get into a good college.”
“I don’t give a damn about college.”
“Since when?”
“Just leave me alone, okay?”
Beth went slowly to her chair as Maude poured their tea. “Doesn’t sound like they’re doing too well, Maude.”
“They aren’t. But it will get better.”
“Maybe we should, uh, close the door. Give ’em a little privacy?” Beth suggested, with a nod toward the still-open front door.
“Well now, if I close the door, how are we gonna know how to help those two?”
“What do you mean, ‘we’?”
Maude just shushed her as the voices rose again.
“Bryan, you had a ninety-eight average your junior year. You were talking about applying to Ivy League schools, for God’s sake. What happened to that?”
“Gee, I don’t know, Dad. I can’t imagine what could have happened between then and now, can you?”
Beth winced. “Ouch. That was a bull’s-eye.”
For a moment, Josh didn’t reply. Probably reeling from the blow his son had just landed. Then, his tone gentler than before, he said, “All right, I know what happened. Your mom died. And that’s the most horrible thing that could ever happen to a kid. But, Bryan, you can’t die with her. She wouldn’t want that, and you know it. If she were here right now, she’d be telling you to knock it the hell off. You have to find a way to pick up the pieces and move on with your life.”
“Like you have, you mean?”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
No reply.
“Bry, don’t think for one minute that I didn’t care about your mother. I loved her once. We created a son together.”
“You wouldn’t know it to look at you, though. Her dying hasn’t made one ripple in your life, has it, Dad?”
There was a loud bang, the slamming of a door, and it made Beth jerk in reaction. Moments later, footsteps came down the stairs. Through the open door, Beth saw Joshua stop at the bottom of the stairway, push a hand through his hair and close his eyes briefly. He looked haggard. She felt sorry for him. Not as much as she did for his son, though.
“Good morning, Josh,” Maude called.
Josh looked their way, his glance sliding from Maude to land on Beth. Sighing, he came out to join them on the porch.
“I’m sorry about all that,” he said. “Not a very pleasant way to start the day for you.”
“For you, either,” Maude said.
“Or for Bryan,” Beth said. Josh shot her a look, his lips thin.
“Join us for a cup of tea, Joshua. One of my homemade medicinals. Just the right blend to sooth your nerves.” Maude was pouring before she finished speaking, and Beth noticed for the first time that she had set three cups on the tray table, where there were usually only two. And there was a white plastic lawn chair against the wall.
Josh sank into it and accepted the cup Maude handed him. “If I can’t even get the kid to go to school…” He sighed, sipping the tea, not finishing the thought. “This is good, Maude. How did you know I’d need my nerves soothed this morning?”
“Made it for Beth—chamomile and honey. I thought she seemed a little edgy yesterday.”
“I was not edgy.”
Maude shrugged. “You’re always edgy when there’s a male of the species within twenty feet of you, girl.” She winked at Josh. “Thinks you’re all up to no good, I guess.”
“Most of us are.” He smiled a little, his eyes actually teasing her as he took another sip of his tea. “This is really hitting the spot.”
“Maude has a tea and a platitude for just about every imaginable occasion,” Beth said. “But I imagine you already knew that.”
