Again and again, she thought she saw things moving in the gloom:
darkness slithering through darkness; a ripple in the shadows between
two patrol cars; a throbbing in the pool of blackness that lay behind a
police riot wagon; a shifting, malevolent shape in the pocket of
darkness in that corner over there; a watchful, hungry shadow hiding
among the ordinary shadows in that other corner; movement just beyond
the stairway and more movement on the other side of the elevators and
something scuttling stealthily across the dark ceiling and Stop it!
Imagination, she told herself. If the place was crawling with goblins,
they’d have attacked us already.
The garage man returned with a slightly battered blue Chevrolet that had
no police department insignia on the doors, though it did have a big
antenna because of its police radio. Then he hurried away to get the
second car.
Daddy and Rebecca checked under the seats of the first one, to be sure
no goblins were hiding there.
Penny didn’t want to be separated from her father, even though she knew
separation was part of the plan, even though she had heard all the good
reasons why it was essential for them to split up, and even though the
time to leave had now come. She and Davey would go with Rebecca and
spend the next few hours driving slowly up and down the main avenues,
where the snowplows were working the hardest and where there was the
least danger of getting stuck; they didn’t dare get stuck because they
were vulnerable when they stayed in one place too long, safe only while
they were on wheels and moving, where the goblins couldn’t get a fix on
them. In the meantime her father would go up to Harlem to see a man
named Carver Hampton, who would probably be able to help him find
Lavelle. Then he was going after that witchdoctor. He was sure he
wouldn’t be in terrible danger. He said that, for some reason he really
didn’t understand, Lavelle’s magic had no effect on him. He said
putting the cuffs on Lavelle wouldn’t be any more difficult or dangerous
than putting them on any other criminal. He meant it, too. And Penny
wanted to believe that he was absolutely right. But deep in her heart,
she was certain she would never see him again.
Nevertheless, she didn’t cry too much, and she didn’t hang on him too
much, and she got into the car with Davey and Rebecca. As they drove
out of the garage, up the exit ramp, she looked back. Daddy was waving
at them. Then they reached the street and turned right, and he was out
of sight. From that moment, it seemed to Penny that he was already as
good as dead.
A few minutes after midnight, in Harlem, Jack parked in front of Rada.
He knew Hampton lived above the store, and he figured there must be a
private entrance to the apartment, so he went around to the side of the
building, where he found a door with a street number.
There were a lot of lights on the second floor. Every window glowed
brightly.
Standing with his back to the pummeling wind, Jack pushed the buzzer
beside the door but wasn’t satisfied with just a short ring; he held his
thumb there, pressing down so hard that it hurt a little. Even through
the closed door, the sound of the buzzer swiftly became irritating.
Inside, it must be five or six times louder. If Hampton looked out
through the fisheye security lens in the door and saw who was waiting
and decided not to open up, then he’d better have a damned good pair of
earplugs. In five minutes the buzzer would give him a headache. In ten
minutes it would be like an icepick probing in his ears. If that didn’t
work, however, Jack intended to escalate the battle; he’d look around
for a pile of loose bricks or several empty bottles or other hefty
pieces of rubbish to throw through Hampton’s windows. He didn’t care
about being charged with reckless use of authority; he didn’t care about
getting in trouble and maybe losing his badge. He was past the point of