Gask nodded, pleased that the deputy was doing all the work for him. “There is every reason to believe he will try to contact her. When he does, he will ask her to keep his presence a secret. He will lay low for the duration of his visit. He will not show himself readily. That’s where you come in.”
Larry Spence leaned forward, his hands knotted. “What do you want me to do?”
Findo Gask wished everything in life were this easy. “Miss Freemark is your friend. She knows of your interest in her, and she will not be suspicious if you find an excuse to visit her. Do so. Do so at least once every day. Get inside her house any way you can and look around. You may not see Ross, but you may see some sign of his presence. If you do, don’t do anything foolish. Just call this number immediately.”
Gask drew out a white business card and handed it to Larry Spence. It bore his fake identity and rank and a local number to which an answer phone would respond.
“I don’t have to tell you how grateful the bureau is for your cooperation, Mr. Spence,” Gask announced, rising to his feet. “I won’t take up any more of your time today, but I’ll stay in touch.”
He shook the deputy’s hand, leaving a final imprint of his presence so that the other would not be quick to forget what he had been told. “Penny!” he called down the hallway.
Penny Dreadful emerged on cue, smiling demurely, trying to hide the hungry look in her eyes. She was like this every time she got around children. Gask took her by the arm and steered her out the front door, nodding in the direction of Larry Spence as they departed.
“I was just starting to have fun,” she pouted. “I had some of my toys out, and I was showing him how to cut things. I took off one of my fingers with a razor.” She giggled and held up the severed digit, then stuck it back in place, ligaments and flesh knitting seamlessly.
“Penny, Penny, Penny,” he sighed wearily.
“Don’t get your underwear in a bundle, Gramps. I made sure he won’t remember any of it until tonight, after he’s asleep, when he’ll wake up screaming. Deputy daddy will think it’s just a bad dream.”
They climbed back into the car, clicking their seat belts into place. Findo Gask wondered how much longer he was going to be able to keep her in line. It was bad enough with Twitch, but to have Penny pushing the envelope as well was a bit much. He rolled down the window and breathed in the winter air. The temperature had risen to almost forty, and the day felt warm and crisp against his skin. Odd, he thought, that he could still feel things like that, even in a body that wasn’t his.
He thought for a moment about the enormity of the struggle between the Word and the Void. It had been going on since the dawn of time, a hard-fought, bitter struggle for control of the human race. Sometimes one gained the upper hand, sometimes the other. But the Void always gained a little more ground in these exchanges because the Word relied on the strengths of humans to keep in balance the magic that held the world together and the Void relied on their weaknesses to knock it askew. It was a foregone conclusion as to which would ultimately prevail. The weaknesses of humans would always erode their strengths. There might be more humans than demons, but numbers alone were insufficient to win this battle.
And while it was true that demons were prone to self-destruct, humans were likely to get there much quicker.
“Home, Penny,” he instructed, realizing she was waiting for him to tell her what to do.
She pulled out into the street, swerving suddenly toward a cat that just barely managed to get out of the way. “I was listening to you in there,” she declared suddenly.
He nodded. “Good for you.”
“So what’s the point of having this dork hang around Miss Olympic Big Bore to find out if this Ross guy is staying with her?”