“Could you just tell him I’m meeting a friend of Pick’s over in West Seattle who might know something about that trouble we were talking about at lunch? Tell him Pick’s friend might have seen the one we were looking for.”
She paused, waiting. Stefanie Winslow was silent. “Have you got that, Stefanie?” she pressed. “I know it’s a tittle vague, but he’ll know what I’m talking about. If I get back in time, I’ll call him tonight. Otherwise, I’ll see him tomorrow.”
“Okay. Listen, are you all right? This sounds a little . . . mysterious, I guess. Do you need some help?”
Nest shook her head at the phone. “No, everything’s fine. I have to go now. I’ll see you tomorrow. Thanks for helping.”
She hung up the phone and went looking far a taxi.
The demon walked into the lobby of the Westin through a side door, paused to look around, then moved sickly to the elevators across from the lobby bar – It didn’t have much time; it had to hurry. An empty elevator was waiting, doors open, and the demon rode alone to the sixth floor. It stepped off into a deserted hallway, checked the wall numbers far directions, and turned left.
Seconds later, it stood before Andrew Wren’s room. It listened carefully for a moment to make certain the room was empty, then slipped a thin manila envelope under the door. When Wren returned, he would find all the evidence he needed to confront the Wiz with the threat of exposure and a demand for an explanation that the latter would be unable to provide. The consequences of that would be inescapable. By tomorrow night, the Wiz would be history and John Ross would have taken his first step toward entering into the service of the Void.
There was only one additional matter to be settled. Nest Freemark was a threat to everything. The demon had sensed her magic when they had talked earlier that day at Fresh Start. It was raw and unrealized, but it was potent. She could prove dangerous. Moreover, she had a tatterdemalion with her, and the tatterdemalion, if given the right opportunity, could expose the demon. If that happened, everything would be ruined.
The demon was not about to allow that. It didn’t know what the girl and the forest creature were doing here, if they had been sent by the Word or come on their own, but it was time to be rid of them.
The demon turned and walked to the exit sign above the stairs and descended the six flights to the lobby. No one saw it leave.
In the parking garage, it claimed its car and headed for West Seattle.
CHAPTER 16
The night was cool and dark. As Nest Freemark rode through the city, rain misted on the windshield of the taxi, smearing the glass, blurring the garish neon landscape beyond. The taxi passed back down First Avenue in front of the Alexis Hotel, then climbed a ramp to the viaduct. Suspended above the waterfront, with the piers and ferries and colored lights spread out below and the orange cranes lifting skyward overhead, the taxi wheeled onto the lower tier of the expressway and sped south.
It had taken longer to find transportation than Nest had expected. She couldn’t find anything in the market area, so she had walked down to a small hotel called the Inn at the Market situated just above the Pike Place Market sign, and had the doorman call for her. Ariel had disappeared again. How the tatterdemalion would reach their destination was anybody’s guess, but since she had gotten there once already, Nest guessed she would manage this time, too.
The canopy of the northbound viaduct lowered and leveled to join with the southbound, and Nest was back out in the rain again. The taxi eased around slower cars, its tires making a soft, steady hiss on the damp pavement. Nest watched the cranes and loading docks appear and fade on her right, prehistoric creatures in the gloom. The driver was a motionless shape in front of her. Neither of them spoke. Brightly lit billboards whizzed by, advertisements for beer, restaurants, sports events, and clothing. She read them swiftly and forgot them even quicker, her thoughts tightly focused on what lay ahead.