“Are you sure that’s what happened, Maddy?” I raised my hands in a calm-down gesture. “This was only supposed to be a preliminary hearing.”
“They said they had so much evidence they could convict on the spot. Which is fucking bullshit. They don’t know half the people I’ve strangled!”
My head spun at her twisted logic.
Still cowering behind me, Conrad asked, “Did you, by any chance, tell them about these multiple murders during the pretrial?”
“Of course I did! I want full credit! I want my day in court. I want to be famous! Not treated like some sort of criminal.”
“But you are some sort of . . .” I began, stalling while I figured out the best way to negotiate with this crazy woman.
Suddenly Conrad grabbed my arm and thrust me forward. “Take her.” I should have expected a repeat performance of the day I was wrongly reaped. At least it was a women’s bathroom this time.
Reaped. Great. I turned to Dante but he’d disappeared. No wait. There he was, but he was fading fast. He mouthed some words at me but I had no idea what he was trying to say.
I was on my own.
Maddy’s shoulders hunched, her fists rose and she bent at the knee and waist. In fact, she telegraphed her attack with every muscle in her body. I only had a moment to think but my first priority had to be saving Shannon’s body, even if it meant saving Conrad. When Maddy came at me screaming, I met her halfway. The impact sent me sprawling on the floor, head smacking the dirty tiles. Stars and little Tweety Birds circled my skull just like in the cartoons.
Maddy left me lying on the floor and dove for Conrad. Instead of helping, that skegger had leapt over us and had his hand on the door lock. Maddy fisted the back of Shannon’s shirt and dragged Conrad backward toward the sinks, swinging him around and bashing his forehead against the mirror. The glass cracked, but didn’t shatter. Thank . . . whoever for small mercies. Maddy could have done some awful damage with broken glass.
Conrad slumped onto the countertop, stunned, hands scrabbling for purchase, sending the contract amendment flying to the floor.
I staggered to my feet. Protect Shannon’s body was my mantra.
By now, Maddy had dragged Conrad to the floor, straddled his chest and wrapped her hands around Shannon’s throat. Conrad choked and gasped, bits of words rasping past Maddy’s grip. I’d bet my afterlife Conrad was making promises and threats. Maddy ignored him.
And me.
The stapler. It rested on the counter, still in its plastic bag. Moving quickly but stealthily, I climbed to my feet and reached for the hated desk accessory. I shook off the baggie and wrapped my fingers around the metal housing, making sure I had a good grip, brainy bits or no brainy bits. It was about to get some more if I had anything to do with it.
I raced across the room, skidding to a stop behind Maddy. I raised the stapler above my borrowed head and slammed it down on Maddy’s skull, knocking her sideways. Conrad lay on his back panting, then scuttled away to hide in the gap between the counter and the floor.
Enraged, Maddy came at me. She had forty pounds and a lifetime of bar-brawl experience on me. Even Theresa’s law-enforcement-trained muscle memory was no match for the psycho murderer.
She tripped me over backward, knocking the wind from me as I landed on the floor and she threw herself on my chest. She wrapped her hands around my throat and squeezed while at the same time smashing my head against the hard white tiles. I willed Conrad to do something.
Or for Dante to materialize.
Or for the guards to break down the door.
But none of these things happened. I was done for. Black spots danced again at the edge of my vision. At least they were getting exercise. I let go of the stapler and tried to reach for Maddy, hoping to pull her off, but once again my arm flopped uselessly by my side. Maddy smashed and squeezed, squeezed and smashed.
Something in my neck snapped at the same time as my skull caved in.
Yes, I recognized that cranium caving. I had experience in the area.
I felt Maddy climb off my body, screaming at Conrad to come out so she could kill him. Not the best incentive I’ve ever heard.
The black spots grew larger and larger until they overlapped and then there was nothing but darkness.
The last sounds I heard were of Conrad choking again.
Chapter 15
Swap till You Drop
I SPRANG FREE of Theresa’s body, phantom throbbing in my head and neck fading quickly. I cracked my neck, delighted to be pain free again. I felt free, alive . . . well, not alive, of course. But good. Really good.
The sound of choking drew my attention back to the crisis at hand. I spun to see Maddy sitting astride Shannon’s body again, choking the life out of Conrad.
And also choking the Conrad out of Shannon.
Shannon’s face had gone burgundy and her eyes bulged. It was still prettier than Conrad’s demonic features—features that were beginning to overlay Shannon’s again.
Conrad’s fingers scrabbled around the dirty floor. He knocked against the stapler, which lay on the tiles where I’d dropped it. He wrapped his fingers around it and, using the last bit of strength Shannon’s living body possessed, raised it high. Seeing his motion, Maddy twisted to face the stapler without ceasing her stranglehold on his neck.
Another staple clicked into place, wee fangs glinting in the cold fluorescent light. Conrad smashed the stapler wildly at Maddy, managing to hit her in the throat. She coughed and spat blood, her hands spasming on Shannon’s neck. Maybe they loosened a little, but not enough. Conrad’s arm descended slowly to the tiles; once on the floor, nerveless fingers released the stapler almost gently.
Conrad ceased to struggle.
The next second, I watched a pair of scaly gray horns poke out from Shannon’s forehead, now smooth in the peace death brings . . . usually. Her face turned a brighter shade of red—more demon and less asphyxiation. Without disturbing Shannon’s dead body, Conrad sat up and climbed out, right through Maddy.
Behind me, the door splintered, a small crack appearing in the reinforced wood.
Hand on my scythe, I turned back to Conrad. “Conrad Iver. I hath come to take thine soul to . . . Oh, shit. Hide!” I screamed at Conrad while pointing to the mirror. “You have a reflection. They can see you!”
For a moment I feared Conrad wouldn’t care, but apparently he did. “Where?” he yelled, panic in his voice as the door splintered again. This time the blade of a fire ax put in a brief appearance before being yanked back out.
“There! Quick!” I pointed to a small door at the back near the stalls.
Conrad charged toward it, ripped open the locked door and dove inside what turned out to be a supply cupboard. He tripped over a wheeled washbasin and brought a year’s supply of toilet paper cascading down on his head. He’d been able to pass through Maddy as he’d exited Shannon’s body, but he was solid and visible now. Demons couldn’t manifest and disappear like Reapers could.
I felt strangely calm amid the chaos. Maddy lay where she’d fallen, blood seeping slowly from the wound in her neck. I took half a second to enjoy her pain, my hand going to my own now-bruise-free throat.
Theresa’s body lay lifeless, twisted unnaturally on the cold white tiles. Her soul had already risen unto Heaven, so I figured her body’s death was okay. And Conrad was stuck in a supply closet in a bathroom designed for the opposite gender. Oh, sweet irony. At some point I’d laugh about his predicament, but this was so not the moment.
Now that I was a pure spirit again, I could see Dante and Shannon. Dante looked pale and wan, whatever wan meant, but Shannon? Shannon was almost completely transparent. Not much more to her than a faint outline. I had to get her into a body stat!