Astrid found a jacket in the closet, probably still there from the real mayor. It was a loud plaid thing. She draped it over Edilio. She went to the conference room and came back with a chair cushion which she slipped under Edilio’s head.
“Was it Zil?” Astrid asked Howard.
Howard barked a laugh. “Of course it was Zil.”
Astrid clenched her hands into fists. Sam had demanded a free hand to go after Zil. He’d wanted to deal with Human Crew.
Astrid had stopped him.
And the town had burned.
And now the basement was full of hurt kids.
And the ones who were just hurt were the lucky ones.
Astrid twisted her hands into a knot, an anguished, prayerful gesture. She had a powerful urge to drop to her knees and demand some kind of explanation from God. Why? Why?
Her gaze fell on Little Pete, sitting quietly, playing his dead game.
“And that ain’t all of it,” Howard said. “You have some water?”
“I’ll get you some,” a voice said. Albert had entered the room unnoticed. He found the water jar and poured a glass for Howard, who drained it in one long swallow.
“Thanks. Thirsty work,” Howard said.
Albert took the seat Astrid had vacated. “What’s the rest of it?”
Howard sighed. “All night kids were coming by, right? Crazy stories. Man, I don’t know what’s true and what’s not.”
“Tell us some stories,” Albert urged quietly.
Edilio snored softly. Something about the sound made Astrid want to weep.
“Okay. Well, you’ve got kids saying they saw Satan. Seriously, devil horns and all. And others kept it a little more real, saying Caine, but skinny and crazy acting.”
“Caine?” Astrid’s eyes narrowed. “Caine? Here? In Perdido Beach? That’s crazy.”
Albert cleared his throat and shifted in his seat. “No. It’s not crazy. Quinn saw him, too. Up close. Caine stole the two emergency boats late last night or early this morning. Depending on how you see it.”
“What?” The shrill exclamation made Edilio stir.
“Yeah. No question it was Caine,” Albert said in a forced calm voice. “He came though while the fire was at its worst and everything was confused. Quinn and his people were just coming back in, wanting to help, and there was Caine and maybe a dozen kids with him.”
As Albert laid out the details Astrid grew cold inside. Not a coincidence. It couldn’t be a coincidence. It was planned. Somehow in the back of her mind she had pictured Zil just losing it, acting out, maybe losing control of a situation that got out of hand. But that wasn’t it. Not if Caine was involved. Caine didn’t lose it. Caine planned.
“Zil and Caine?” Astrid said, feeling stupid even thinking it.
“Zil’s whole thing is hating freaks,” Howard said. “And Caine? Let’s face it: he’s kind of the Prince of Wales of freaks.”
Albert cocked an eyebrow.
“You know, Sammy being the king,” Howard explained. “Okay, the joke’s no good if I have to explain it.”
“Caine and Zil,” Astrid said. It felt better somehow putting the names in that order. Zil was a thug. An evil, twisted little creep who exploited the differences between freaks and normals. But smart he was not. Maybe cunning. But not smart.
No. Caine was smart. And in Astrid’s mind it was impossible that the stupider of the two would be in control. No, it had to be Caine behind all this.
“Also…,” Albert said.
At the same time, Howard said, “Plus…”
Edilio woke up suddenly. He seemed surprised and confused to find himself on the floor. He looked around at the others and scrubbed his face with his hands.
“You missed a little,” Howard said. “Caine and Zil worked together on this.”
Edilio blinked like an owl. He started to get up, then sighed, gave up, and leaned his back against the desk.
“Also,” Albert said before Howard could continue, “there must have been some kind of falling-out. Because Zil’s guys started shooting at Caine as he was pulling away. They got one of the boats. Quinn pulled a couple of Caine’s kids out of the water.”
“What did you do with them?”
Albert shrugged. “We left them. They weren’t going anywhere. They’re starved. And Quinn says he thinks maybe they’ve gone a little crazy.”
Albert picked fastidiously at a spot of something on his pants. “Caine took out Hank. Hank was the one shooting.”
“Jesus,” Astrid said. She crossed herself quickly, hoping that doing so would turn the word from blasphemy to blessing. “How many kids died last night?”
Edilio answered. “Who knows. Two that we know of in the fires. Probably others. Probably we won’t ever know for sure.” A huge sob escaped from him. He wiped at his eyes. “Sorry. I’m just tired.”
He wept silently after that.
“I guess I might as well get this out there, too,” Howard said. “A couple of kids are saying they saw Drake. And a lot have seen Brittney.”
Silence stretched after that. Astrid found a chair and sat down. If Drake was alive…If Caine was working with Zil…
“Where’s Sam?” Edilio asked suddenly, as though he’d just noticed.
No one answered.
“Where’s Dekka?” Astrid asked.
“In the basement,” Edilio said. “She kept going for a long time. Her and Orc and Jack. But she’s sick. Tired and sick. And she got a bad burn on one hand. That was it for her. I made her go to Dahra. Lana will…you know, when she’s done with…Man, I’m sorry,” he said as he began crying again. “I can’t be digging graves. Someone else has to do that, okay? I can’t do that anymore.”
Astrid realized that Albert and Howard were both staring at her, one with intense curiosity, the other with a weary smirk.
“What?” Astrid snapped. “You’re both on the council, too. Don’t look at me like it’s all up to me.”
Howard laughed grimly. “Maybe we better get John here, huh? He’s on the council, too. Sammy’s missing, Dekka’s out of it, Edilio’s losing it and he should be losing it, the night he had.”
“Yes. We should get John here,” Astrid said. It felt wrong bringing the little kid into this, but he was on the council.
Howard laughed, loud and long. “Yeah, let’s get John here. That way we can stall for a while longer. We can keep on doing nothing for just a little while longer.”
Albert said, “Take it easy, Howard.”
“Take it easy?” Howard jumped to his feet. “Yeah? Where were you last night, Albert? Huh? Because I didn’t see you out there on the street listening to kids screaming, seeing kids running around hurt and scared and choking, and Edilio and Orc struggling, and Dekka hacking up her lungs and Jack crying and…
“You know who couldn’t even take it?” Howard raged. “You know who couldn’t even take what was happening? Orc. Orc, who’s not scared of anything. Orc, who everyone thinks is some kind of monster. He couldn’t take it. He couldn’t…but he did. And where were you, Albert? Counting your money? How about you, Astrid? Praying to Jesus?”
Astrid’s throat tightened. She couldn’t breathe. For a moment panic threatened to overwhelm her. She wanted to run from the room, run away and never look back.
Edilio got to his feet and put an arm around Howard. Howard allowed it, and then he did something Astrid never thought she would see. Howard buried his face in Edilio’s shoulder and cried, racking sobs.
“We’re falling apart,” Astrid whispered for herself alone.
But there was no easy escape. Everything Howard had said was true. She could see the truth reflected in Albert’s stunned expression. The two of them, the smart ones, the clever ones, the great defenders of truth and fairness and justice, had done nothing while others had worked themselves to exhaustion.
Astrid had figured her job was to bring order out of chaos when the night of horror was finally over. And now was the time for her to step up. Now was the time for her to show that she could do what needed doing.