Garth was still at the coven's headquarters, but I convinced the station's desk sergeant that my brother would want to talk to me right away. I was patched through to his car radio.
"Mongo! You all right? We got a call-"
"I know, Garth. I was there, but I'm all right."
There was a pause, then: "Well? Where the hell are you now?"
". . Taking care of some business," I said, feeling like The Fool in the tarot deck. Stepping off a cliff. Except that I was no innocent.
"How'd you get away?"
"Dwarf cunning," I said, hating myself for the smart-ass reply, but thinking of the woman a few rooms away having her face sewn back together. "Listen; Sandor Peth's dead, and you've got what's left of the coven there-except for Esobus." I swallowed hard, trying to rid myself of a sour, seaweed taste in my mouth. "Uh. . you didn't happen to pick up anyone in the street outside the building, did you?"
"No." Now Garth's voice was strained. "Tell me what happened."
I did, omitting only Madeline's role in helping me escape. I finished up by saying, "You'll find all the evidence you need in the books of shadows they keep in their cubicles."
"Sorry, Mongo," Garth said tightly. "We didn't find anything-and we probably couldn't hang on to it if we had. Whoever called said the coven was about to kill you; it wasn't exactly the kind of situation where I felt like waiting around for some judge to swear out a search warrant. We could conceivably be in trouble, if they want to press it."
"Krowl and the others. . weren't dressed in ceremonial robes?"
"No robes, Mongo."
They would have been consigned to the gas fire, along with the books of shadows and any other incriminating evidence in the coven's possession. I felt sick.
"Well, you'll just have to make do with my story. I'm telling you they're behind the whole thing. That factory is the coven's headquarters. What the hell did they say they were doing with a mini-crematorium in the center of the floor?"
"Hey, brother, I believe you. The point is that we don't have any physical proof. Krowl swears that the complex was started as an adjunct to his Mystic Eye Institute, then left unfinished when he ran out of money."
"Then what were they doing there?"
"As far as the law is concerned, it doesn't matter what they were doing there. Krowl owns the place. Anyway, it would help if we could find the woman who called in. She probably knows a lot. You don't have any idea who it was, do you?"
"No," I lied. I was beginning to feel light-headed and nauseated again, and I knew the feeling had nothing to do with antirabies shots. "Like I said, you'll just have to make do with my testimony."
"Right now I'll make do with just finding you. Where are you, Mongo? I'll come around and pick you up."
". . I'll be at the station house in a couple of hours."
There was a long silence on the other end of the line. When Garth finally spoke again, his voice was hard and cold. "You're holding out on me, Mongo. What the fuck do you think you're up to?"
"I'll talk to you later, Garth," I said, and hung up.
Feeling as if I were wrapped in a bale of wet cotton, I went to a canteen down a corridor from the Emergency Room and got a cup of coffee from a vending machine. I sat down, lighted a cigarette and stared down into the brown depths of the coffee. The steaming liquid reminded me of the hole I'd seen in the floor of my mind, and I recalled how I'd gone over and over the facts of the case in an attempt to keep from falling into that hole. Now, with the coven experience behind me, there were more elements to add. I was convinced that if I stared hard enough, mixed everything together and stirred hard enough, the rest of the answers would break free and float to the top, like clots of rancid cream.
The cigarette end burned my fingers. I stubbed the butt out in a standing ashtray while continuing to stare into the coffee, thinking. I was still staring when I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was Madeline. Her entire forehead was bandaged, but her lovely blue eyes were free of pain. To me, she still looked beautiful; she wouldn't look so beautiful to others when the bandages were removed.
"Hello, babe," I said softly. "Shouldn't you at least be staying here overnight?"
Mad shook her head, and winced. "The blood made the wound look worse than it really is. I'm all stitched up, and the plastic surgeon says there won't be too much of a scar." She smiled and made a small curtsy. "I'm betting it will look sexy. How about getting me a cup of coffee?"
I brought her coffee from the machine, sat down across from her. "Thank you again for saving my life."
"You're welcome again. Now let's forget about it, okay? Having you around is worth a little slice on the forehead. Remember what you said? We're the only two people who have anything to say to each other at those boring faculty parties."
"Why did you run the way you did, Mad? Didn't you know Esobus was there?"
She grinned wryly and gently touched her bandaged forehead with her fingertips. "I knew; I guess I'm just a damn fool. Call it the curiosity of the scientist. I wanted to see who Esobus was."
"Did you get a look at him?"
Madeline shook her head. "He was dressed in a crimson robe, like the others, with a hood over his head. He was just running out when I came up. He was tall-over six feet, I'd say. I didn't see the knife until it was too late; it just kind of flashed out at me. His hand was big, and I think he was wearing a diamond ring on his index finger."
"Mad, how did you know they had me? How did you know where I was?"
She blinked rapidly, and her eyes went slightly out of focus as she absently touched her cheek. "Didn't I tell you?"
"No, you didn't."
"I received a telephone call. This voice-"
"Was it a strange voice? Distorted, like Esobus'?"
"Yes," Madeline said, sounding confused. "How did you know?"
"It doesn't make any difference. Go ahead."
"The voice told me where you were," Mad continued in a quiet, subdued tone. "It said that the coven planned to kill you. I was told to call the police right away, and even told where the window would be open. When I called Garth, I was told he wasn't there. The police said I'd have to give my name before they'd listen seriously to anything I had to say. I gave them the information and told them it was a life-and-death emergency, but I just couldn't give my name. Then I panicked and came myself." She paused and sipped at her coffee. "Do you have any idea who might have called?"
"It was the same person you heard leading the ceremony tonight," I said tightly. "Esobus."
"The man who slashed me?"
I slowly nodded, still staring down into the coffee. Now my stomach was tying itself into knots of nervous tension. At last, one more answer had come boiling up from the mixture of questions in my mind; the face of this one was leering and obscene.
"Mad," I said, looking up at her, "I owe you my life, so I really don't have any right to ask you for more. But I will anyway. If you'll help me, I think I may be able to clear this whole matter up."
"You mean you think you can find Esobus?"
"Maybe," I said, pushing my cold coffee to one side. "I just may be able to produce physical evidence that will pin murder and extortion on those happy coven brothers." I paused, added, "The police are going to need it; there was nothing worth anything left in the coven headquarters by the time Garth got there."