Rolon shot her four more times, twice in the chest, once in the neck, and once in the forehead. Wailing, she changed to her ghoulish form. The bloody wounds remained. She took a step in our direction, and I shot her again, staggering her. She bared her teeth and then vanished entirely.
As soon as she was gone, Bear roared and began to change back into a human. Hain, I saw, was gone as well. I guessed that Saorla had taken him with her.
“Nice shooting,” I said to Rolon.
He nodded. “You, too.”
“Are you well enough to get the hell out of here?”
“Damn right.”
I stood and helped him up, and we lurched to the door.
Bear was halfway through his change: He remained very hairy, and his face still had a certain ursine look to it, but his eyes were more human than bear. With his leg still broken, he wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon, but I couldn’t worry about that right now.
I glanced around at the mess we’d made of his living room. “Too bad about your house,” I said, and left with Rolon behind me.
CHAPTER 21
Rolon was unsteady on his feet, and his face remained gray. I had no idea what kind of magic Hain had thrown at him, but I had a feeling he was lucky to be alive. I helped him into the Lexus, hurried around to the driver’s side, and got us out of there as fast as I could without drawing the notice of traffic cops. Once on the freeway, I headed back to Amaya’s place.
Along the way, I pulled out my phone and dialed Kona’s number.
She answered on the first ring.
“You’re hot, partner,” she said. “Don’t go home, don’t go to your office.”
“I won’t. Thanks. You have a pencil?”
“Yeah, why?”
I gave her Bear’s name and address.
“Avondale is outside my jurisdiction,” she said.
“I think that falls under the heading of ‘not my problem.’”
“I suppose it does,” she said. “Who is he?”
“One of the Sweetwater Park killers. The other, the brains behind the killing, is a dark sorcerer named Palmer Hain. Dark hair, trim dark beard, dark eyes. He’s about six feet tall, one-eighty, and he drives a late-model silver sedan of unknown make. Be careful with him. He’s dangerous as hell, even for me.”
“Thanks, Justis. I’m . . . I’m sorry about all this. I know you didn’t kill that girl.”
“You have nothing to apologize for. Hopefully I can clean up this mess before long.”
“That would be good. Where are you now?”
I hesitated. “Maui,” I said. “Wish you were here.”
“Sorry, shouldn’t have asked. Habit, you know? I swear that’s all it was.”
“I believe you. Gotta go.”
“Right. Stay safe.”
“I’m trying.”
I closed the phone and glanced at Rolon, who was already watching me.
“You’re in some serious trouble, aren’t you?”
I wasn’t crazy about the idea of sharing my problems with one of Jacinto Amaya’s attack dogs, but right about now he was the best friend I had. And moments ago he’d saved my life.
“I’m wanted for a murder I didn’t commit, and for the life of me I don’t know how I can prove I didn’t do it. So, yeah, I guess you could say I’m in some trouble.”
“And still you’re helping the cops. They might be able to track you with that call.”
I shrugged, my eyes on the road. “Would you let dark sorcerers get away with murder just to save your own skin?”
“I might. I’m not sure. But you didn’t, and I respect that.” He stared out his side window. “So will Jacinto.”
We got stuck in traffic passing through Phoenix on our way to North Scottsdale, and if it hadn’t been for the impending start of the phasing, I wouldn’t have minded at all. This was a very, very nice car. But I begrudged every minute we lost.
When we reached Amaya’s mansion, Rolon got us past the security guys without delay-maybe he sensed my impatience. He was still wobbly on his feet, and he made a show of letting me help him into the house, which I appreciated.
“What happened?” Jacinto asked, meeting us inside the door.
I explained it all as succinctly as I could: the visits to Hacker and then Bear, Saorla’s appearance and Hain’s arrival, and our escape.
“Your man saved my life,” I said, as Rolon sat on a couch sipping club soda. “And he’s lucky to be alive.”
“Good thing I’m built like a brick shithouse, eh, amigo?”
I grinned.
Jacinto smiled, too, but soon turned grim again. “I can’t help you with Saorla,” he said. “She’s beyond me. But this man Hain, I might be able to track him down.”
“I have the police working on it,” I said.
“I’m better than the police.”
I didn’t doubt it, but I also didn’t want Hain being found dead within a day or two of me mentioning his name to Kona. “Why don’t we give the police a chance first.”
He nodded. “All right.”
“I need the car for a while longer,” I said, already eager to get going. “Is that all right?”
Jacinto opened his hands, smiling faintly. “Mi coche es tu coche.”
“Thanks. And also for the Glock, by the way. It came in handy.”
“Where are you going next?”
I took a breath. “To be honest, I’m not sure.” I checked the time. Two o’clock. Daylight was slipping away, and I didn’t have much confidence in my ability to win this fight and exonerate myself before night fell and the phasing began.
“He needs a place to spend the night,” Rolon said. “He can’t go home.”
“Is that true?” Amaya asked.
“It’s true that I can’t go home.” As soon as I gave the matter even a moment’s thought, though, I knew that I couldn’t stay here, either. “But I have somewhere else I need to be.”
“With the woman? Miss Castle?”
I shook my head. “The police will be looking for me there. But Saorla will be looking for me out at my father’s place in Wofford. And if I’m not there, she’ll hurt him.”
“If you are there,” Rolon said, “she’ll kill you.”
“She’ll try.”
“Where does your father live?” Amaya asked, drawing my gaze.
In his saner moments, my father would be no happier than Kona about me working for Jacinto. He certainly wouldn’t want the man on his property, even to fight on the right side of a magical battle. Twenty years after leaving the force, my dad was still a cop to the core. And I wasn’t sure I gave a crap.
Long ago, as a safety precaution, I had memorized the GPS coordinates for my dad’s trailer. I wrote them down for Amaya.
He glanced at the paper and met my gaze once more. “Your old man crazy?”
I bristled at the question but kept my voice under control as I said, “Most of the time.”
He nodded. “Mine, too. If you let me help, I won’t allow anything bad to happen to him.”
“What’s your interest in this, Mister Amaya? You hired me, you put me on Regina Witcombe’s trail, you’re being more kind to me than I have any right to expect. And for the life of me, I don’t understand why. What’s in it for you?”
“Isn’t it possible that I do this because it’s the right thing to do? Even vicious drug lords have moments of altruism.”
I said nothing. I waited, watching him.
A brittle smile touched his lips. “Rolon, if you’re feeling up to it, find Paco and tell him we might be heading out to Wofford later in the day.”
Rolon eyed us both, then stood. “Sure thing.” He left the room, his gait steadier now than it was when we reached the house.