The Sorcerer Heir (Heir Chronicles) (33 page)

As, apparently, did half the people at the party, Leesha thought.

“I walked down toward the lake. When I got down to the water’s edge, I heard somebody crying. It seemed to be coming from the gazebo. I went in to see if whoever it was needed help, and saw that it was the girl you know as Emma Lee. A member of the band from the Anchorage. A labrat. When she heard me come in, she looked terrified. Then she saw it was me, and seemed—well, she seemed relieved.”

Not a common reaction to wizards, Leesha thought.

“I asked her what was wrong, if I could help, and she said nobody could help her and to leave before I got hurt. She was literally shaking. I asked if somebody was hurting her, and she wouldn’t answer, just kept after me to leave. That’s when Kinlock showed up. When he saw us together, he attacked me.”

“Attacked you how?” Mercedes asked.

“He slammed into me, knocking me down. I tried to immobilize him, but it didn’t even slow him down. It was like it didn’t work on him. Emma tried to help me up, but Kinlock ordered her up to the house and told her to wait there for him. She asked what he was going to do, and he said it was something he should have done in the first place. And, she said”—he swallowed hard—“she said, ‘You’re going to kill him, aren’t you? You’re going to murder him, just like you murdered my father, just like you murdered his sister, just like you tried to murder me.’”

At this, the brushfire of conversation in the room was extinguished. This had the ring of truth. The wizard’s expression, his voice, the specificity of his language suggested that those words had been engraved on his heart.

“Emma was obviously afraid of him,” DeVries continued. “She was all covered in my blood. But she—”

“Whoa,” Leesha interrupted. “Where did all the blood come from?”

DeVries looked momentarily stumped. “I don’t know. I guess my nose was broken, and I hit my head. Anyway, she still stood up to him. She told him not to kill me, and told me to leave. And I did.”

“He let you go on Emma’s say-so?” Mercedes looked up from her note taking.

DeVries nodded. “I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to leave Emma there, but I—I did.” His voice faltered. “He came after me, though, and caught up with me in the woods. My first clue was when he stabbed me in the back. I tried to run, but I fell, and he came after me and cut my throat, and then stabbed me through the chest. He would have made sure he finished the job, I think, but he heard somebody coming toward us, calling his name, and ran away.” He looked up at Madison. “I think it was your sister. I tried to call out to her, to warn her, but I guess I passed out.”

Madison folded, like she’d taken a hard punch to the gut.

“Why would he try to kill you in a place where he was so likely to be seen?” Leesha asked.

DeVries stared down at the table. “He was angry. I’m not sure he was thinking clearly.”

Leesha looked around. None of the other members of the task force seemed inclined to ask more questions, so she forged on. “I have a few more questions,” she said. “Was Kinlock carrying a weapon when you saw him in the gazebo?”

DeVries frowned. “I don’t remember seeing any sort of weapons—not while we were inside.”

“What was he wearing?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know—his usual. What he was wearing onstage. You saw him.”

“Which was—?”

“Jeans, T-shirt, leather jacket, I guess. And those leather gloves he always wears.”

“Is there a point to all this?” Hackleford demanded. “This isn’t a formal court. Why are you cross-examining him?”

“I just want to get a few things on record while they’re still fresh in his mind,” Leesha said. She looked at Jack, who was taking the official notes. “Did you get all that down, Jack?” She turned back to DeVries. “How much time had passed after you left the gazebo before you were attacked again?”

“I don’t know. I was kind of stumbling around. Not long.”

“Okay,” Leesha said, “so moving along to the attack: what was your attacker wearing?”

“I think he’s already answered that question,” Burroughs interjected.

“No, I already asked what Kinlock was wearing,” Leesha said. “Now I’m asking about the person who stabbed him in the woods.”

DeVries seemed to be struggling to keep his temper. “Like I said. Jeans, T-shirt, leather jacket, gloves.”

“What Kinlock was wearing in the gazebo.”

“Yes. It would have been,” Rowan said through gritted teeth, “since it was the same person.”

“And what Kinlock was wearing onstage, before the break.”

“Probably. I did not pay a lot of attention to the band.”

“So anyone who saw the band would know what Kinlock was wearing.”

“I suppose so,” DeVries said, his voice low and tight.

“Now we’re out in the woods. What did your attacker stab you with?”

DeVries thought a moment. “It happened really fast. It seemed like it was some kind of—of sword, or dagger. When he stabbed me in the back, the blade went clear through my body.”

The members of the task force murmured to one another. There was plenty of blood in the woods, but no weapons had been found.

“And Kinlock was alone, right? Out there in the woods?”

“He was alone,” DeVries said. “At least, I didn’t see anyone else.”

“So he must have been carrying that big blade in the gazebo.”

“I suppose so, yes. The point is—”

“But you didn’t notice him carrying a sword or a dagger or any kind of weapon in there?”

“No,” DeVries said. “I did not. Maybe he had it hidden out in the woods somewhere. Maybe he had a magical sword that shrinks and grows. All I can say is that it was extremely sharp, and he knew how to use it.” He fingered the puffy scar on his neck.

“Why are you giving this witness such a hard time?” Morrison said. “He’s just trying to tell you what happened.”

“I’m uncomfortable with this rush to judgment,” Leesha said. “Isn’t it possible that he was set up? Jonah Kinlock saved my life a few weeks ago—and Emma’s and Fitch’s. He probably rescued the Montessori children, too, if we can believe your own daughter’s testimony. I think that should count for something.”

“It seems to me that we need to question this Emma Greenwood or Lee or whatever she’s going by today,” Burroughs said. “It seems to me, with the proper persuasion, she would—”

“She was supposed to be here,” DeVries said. “She promised to come and testify. The problem is
not
a lack of persuasion.”

What’s going on between those two? Leesha wondered, looking from one to the other. Some private dispute?

“Why would she speak up now, after all this time?” Seph asked. “Why didn’t she tell all this to the police?”

“I can’t say for sure,” DeVries said. “With her history, you can imagine why she didn’t want anything to do with the police. I think when she discovered I’d survived the attack and intended to testify, that encouraged her to speak up herself. But now she seems to have disappeared.” He shot a look at Leesha. “Apparently, Ms. Middleton hasn’t seen her lately either.”

“I don’t know that we can say she’s
disappeared
,” Leesha said. “Last week, she packed up a few things and left me a note saying that she was going to be staying at school for a few days. I haven’t been able to reach her since then.”

“Did she say anything to you about—about all this?” Mercedes asked. “Did you know she intended to testify?”

Leesha shook her head. “She never said anything. She was a very private person. She kept things to herself.” Leesha stopped, realizing that she sounded like the kind of person who gets quoted in the newspaper about a killer or a victim. “I just can’t believe that Emma would be involved in murder. She—she’s the most honest person I’ve ever met.”

“Clearly.” Burroughs snorted. “She’s a runaway with a rap sheet who has been lying ever since she got here. How much credence can we give to your opinion when you don’t even know her real name?”

Leesha eyed Burroughs. She couldn’t help wondering if there was some history between this bully of a wizard and Emma. “Everybody has secrets. I know her well enough to trust that if she’s using an assumed name, she has a good reason for it. As for Jonah, I don’t know him that well, but why would he have rescued us if he’s in on this scheme? I never had any indication before now that Emma was afraid of him.”

“Could that have been why she decided to move into Trinity?” Mercedes asked thoughtfully. “Could it have been because she was afraid of Kinlock?”

“She said she wanted to learn more about mainliners,” Leesha said.

“Mainliners?” Seph cocked his head.

“That’s what savants call members of the guilds,” Leesha said.

“Maybe she wanted to find out our strengths and weaknesses,” Hackleford suggested.

“Where do
you
think she is, Leesha?” Seph asked. “I mean, assuming she’s not being held captive at the Anchorage. Any theories?”

“If I had to guess,” Leesha said, “I’d guess she went back to Memphis. Remember when she came with me and Fitch to that hearing? She’d do almost anything to avoid getting up in front of people and testifying.”

“It would help to have someone here from the Anchorage to answer these allegations,” Seph said. “We can speculate and guess all we want, but none of us knows the truth of this. And it seems unfair to accuse them behind their backs.”

“I don’t think we can afford to wait,” DeVries said. “I’m worried that if Emma isn’t already dead, she may soon be. The best case scenario is that she’s being held prisoner, probably somewhere in the Anchorage complex.”

“What do we care about her? It sounds to me like she’s getting what she deserves,” Morrison snapped.

“That’s not true,” DeVries snapped back. “She doesn’t deserve this.”

It’s odd, Leesha thought, that DeVries is so quick to defend Emma, after suggesting she might have been in on the Halloween murders.

DeVries collected himself, and continued smoothly, “Besides, she’s the only witness we have, aside from the preschoolers. This is guild business. If we’re going forward with a trial, we’ll need testimony from her. Which is why time is of the essence.”

“Do you think they’ll just let us walk in there and take a look around?” Burroughs snorted. “We need to go in numbers, and we need to be ready to use lethal force if necessary. Remember, these people are mutants—monsters, many of them, who’ve been implicated in God knows how many murders. Who knows what they are capable of?”

Speaking of a rush to judgment, Leesha thought. “We need to give them a chance to respond to this testimony. We should contact Mandrake and ask him to make Jonah available to talk to us. And ask him about Emma’s whereabouts.”

“No,” Hackleford said. “We need to take them by surprise. If we alert them to our suspicions, they’ll destroy all the evidence.”

Leesha wasn’t buying the born-again Hackleford and Burroughs, ready to join hands with the “underguilds,” even to fight a common threat. It was so...unwizardly of them.

“I’m worried about Emma, too,” Leesha said. “In fact, of everyone here, I’m the only one who might call her a friend. But I don’t think it will help her to go charging in without a strategy in mind. If she is there, and they mean to kill her, she’s already dead. If not, then we probably have the time to plan more carefully.”

Burroughs snorted. “What we need is the kind of all-out magical assault that will convince them that resistance is futile. How much planning does that take?”

“They are resistant to conjury,” DeVries said. “Or at least Kinlock and Greenwood are.”

“I still find it difficult to believe that conjury doesn’t affect them,” Burroughs said. “Is it at all possible, DeVries, that you simply missed?”

“I’ll concede that, Burroughs,” DeVries said, “if you explain to me how hundreds of now-dead wizards all over the world missed as well. Or perhaps you think they were shooting blanks?”

“I agree with DeVries,” Leesha said, astonished to hear herself saying that. “We don’t really know what we’re walking into. We can’t rely on magic to win the day.”

“What are you proposing?” Hackleford said, grimacing. “Are you suggesting that we carry
guns
?” From her expression, it was as if she’d suggested they use slingshots and catapults.

“Do guns even work on zombies?” Morrison asked.

“Why not just drop a bomb on them?” Jack murmured. “Think of the lives we’ll save.”

“Shut up!” Leesha said in her outside voice.

To her amazement, everyone shut up.

“I’m not suggesting guns or bombs or an all-out magical assault. All I’m saying is we treat them like human beings who have the right to confront their accusers.”

“Leesha’s right,” Madison Moss said into the silence that followed.

Everyone turned to look at her.

“I know all about witch hunts, and I don’t much like them. I have more reason than most of you to want to get to the truth of the matter. Some would say that I have more reason than most of you to seek revenge on the—on those responsible for Grace’s death. That’s sure the way I felt right after the murders.” She twisted a tissue between her fingers. “But I would have to include myself in that number. If I hadn’t shirked my responsibility, maybe this would have been resolved sooner—in time to prevent all of these deaths. Life handed me a destiny I didn’t want, so I did as I pleased and left other people try to clean up this mess. Peace takes work, and I didn’t do it. I’ve paid a really high price.”

“Maddie,” Seph murmured. “It’s not like you asked for—”

“Don’t you make excuses for me, Seph McCauley,” Madison said. “You’ve been making excuses for me for way too long. Doesn’t matter if I asked for this thing; it landed in my lap, and it was up to me to use it to make things better. There are too many wounds still festering from the past. I’m finding out that you can’t just ignore them. So. If we vote to go to the Anchorage, I’m coming along—to
talk
to people, not to attack them. If I see this thing turning into a slaughter, I will act.”

“What if
we’re
the ones being slaughtered?” Hackleford said, looking around the table for support. “What will you do, then?”

“The thing is,” Mercedes said, a little hesitantly, “we know that you exert power over all guild members. But it’s not clear that you have the same control over the savants.”