"It's all right," he told her. "I have to go with him.And him.Andt go home, where you will be safe. But it will be all right. You'll see."
The man on the floor suddenly got up and made a shambling rush for the door. No one moved to stop him, nor even commented on his passage. The waitress calmly crossed the room and started to right the chairs and tables.
"But you're hurt!" Lore lei objected hopelessly The tears spilled now, tracking lines in the smeared makeup."Your head's bleeding! And it's all my fault. If I hadn't-"
"He'll be okay. I'll take care of him," the big man said gruffly before Daniel could. "Look, Laurie. Tiffany's going to call you a cab, and you're going to go straight home. You came a gnat's ass away from big trouble tonight. If I didn't think this creep had kept you from really getting into it, I'd bust his head right here. So you just get yourself home and safe, and stay out of trouble. Okay?"
"Oh, sure," cried Lore lei angrily. She rubbed her face, completing the ruin of her painted eyes. "Little Laurie should go home and be a good little girl. I know what will happen. I'll never see him again!"The last was a wail that cut Daniel's soul.
"You will," Daniel promised, ignoring the policeman's dark glance. "I'll have to find you to get my fiddle back, won't I?" And he nodded to where the case was still propped in the booth they had shared.
Lore lei's face lifted a little. "You promise?"
"Little sparrow, I'd sooner part with a hand than my fiddle. For one without the other is no use at all.Iall.Icome for my fiddle." And for you, his eyes added,and he saw her hear the voice of his heart. She crossed the room and taking up the case, held it as lovingly as if it were his child.
"Get moving," the cop told him gruffly and started him on his way with a push. Daniel didn't resist. This one couldn't know it, but he was taking him closer to the Dove and the task that must be finished. And when it was finished, he would trust his fiddle to call him back.
"Ed?" It was the waitress, following them to the door. She was speaking softly. "You don't mind, I'm not going to call that cab right away. There's a few things I'd like to tell that little girl, before she goes any further. Sort of a payback to Mike, you know what I mean?"
"I don't know anybody else who could tell her better, Tiffany Marie. I'm going to take this fellow to Mike now, and I'll let him know. Hey, you need some money for the cab?"
"No. You just worry about what you've got to handle. But, uh, Ed, for what it's worth, it's true. That guy had his eyes on Laurie. That gypsy hadn't a stood up to him, he'd a taken her. For what it's worth."
"Okay. I'll make sure Mike knows it. See ya, kid."The cop pushed the door open with one black-gloved hand, and pushed Daniel before him with the other.Thother.Thereig car at the curb, grey in the street lights. "Get into it," the old policeman told him."You've heard of protective custody? Well, I'm going to put you in protective handcuffs." When Daniel didn't speak, but merely got into the car, the other grunted. "Don't touch nothing, and for Christ's sake,don't bleed on the upholstery."
Leaping in the darkness,
laughing in the wind;
Look down, look down,
look down, look down,
See the stars again.
"STARS OVERHEAD"
Durand slowly lifted his eyes to meet Stepovich's."You ever do drugs?" he asked curiously.
"No, god dammit! That's not what this was about!"Stepovich's voice rose enough to turn heads at the next table.
Durand lifted his hands. "Hey, it was a joke. Guess it wasn't funny. Look, you'd been hit in the head.Thahead. That."
"I hadn't been hit in the head when she was talking to me at her apartment."
"Yeah. Well, maybe that was just weird gypsy shit,you know? Mystical stuff, give the gull a good show,and all that."
"Maybe," Stepovich agreed grudgingly.
"Yeah. So, maybe what we oughta do is go back to Madam Moria's place. If she's there, we talk, only this time we've got a little more leverage, because we're there legitimately." Durand stressed the last word ponderously. "We'd be looking into what went on this afternoon."
"Makes sense," Stepovich said slowly. "But you can think what you like. I still think there's something to what I saw this afternoon. And to what she told me that night."
Durand shrugged. "Suit yourself. Can't hurt to keep it in mind."
"You know," said Stepovich, "there was a woman,a psychic, who got called in by Ashtabula County a few times for tough cases. County hired her to look at the scene of the crime and describe what had happened, and on a few missing persons cases."
Durand looked skeptical. "Yeah? What came of it?"
"Not a fucking thing," said Stepovich.
Durand laughed. "One for you," he said, and drained his beer.
Stepovich had just finished his and set the mug down when he saw Ed loom up behind Durand. It gave him a perverse pleasure to watch Durand jump when Ed laid a big hand on his shoulder.
Ed leaned over the table, spoke to them both. "Got something for you. Outside. In my car."
Neither one asked what it was. Ed's face was enough. They rose silently, Stepovich leaving money on the table. "The car's in back," Ed told them. "I didn't want to leave him out here under the lights. I had to cuff him. Hurry up. He looks like the type who'd do some damage left alone." Their breath made plumes in the air.
But the gypsy was sitting quietly in the front seat,ignoring the handcuffs looped through the steering wheel. Even in the dim alley light, Stepovich could see he'd been roughed up. What was Ed mixed up in now? He grabbed him by the elbow, stepped him away from the car. "He's not the right one, Ed."
"Yes, he is." Ed glanced over to where Durand was peering curiously in at the gypsy. The gypsy was staring straight ahead, ignoring them all. Light winked briefly on the key he tossed to Durand. "Un cuff him from the wheel and stick him in the backseat. But keep his hands cuffed behind him, okay?"
Durand just looked at him, eyes wide. Ed sighed."Look, Randy, just do it, okay? I'll explain later. You won't get in trouble, I promise." As Durand moved grudgingly to obey, Ed turned back to Stepovich."Uh, Mike. There's something I got to tell you. I'm a little afraid that you're going to overreact. So, before I start, the first thing I want you to know is that Laurie isn't hurt, and she's probably on her way home by now."
"What?" Stepovich's guts squeezed tight and cold,"What?"
"Tiffany called me down to the diner. Said there was a guy in there with Laurie, and Laurie was all tarted up. So I went down there, right away and-"
"You didn't call me?"
"There wasn't time. Anyway. When I got there,there was a fight in progress. Some guy, um, wanted Laurie, and the guy in the car there, the gypsy, he was beating the shit out of him. Woulda killed him,probably, if I hadn't broke it up."
The gypsy moved docilely from front seat to back.Durback.Durandand on the gypsy's head to push it down as he entered the car. He winced and hissed in pain. But he went in willingly enough. Durand slid in after him, pushing him into the corner.
"Where's the other guy?" Stepovich felt murder building, his face reddening, the muscles in his arms and chest swelling.