Slowly Johnny looked up from his food, through the acid-etched, fern-patterned glass dividers which loaned the booths a little privacy, until her face was directly in his line of vision. Maybe for a moment he caught her eye, but just for a moment, and then she looked away. The half-blind guy – the guy with the eye problem, anyway, who shared her booth – had his back to Johnny; but he didn’t look much anyway, slumped over his mug of coffee like that. Her father, maybe?
No, her lover, Harry Keogh answered, but silently, speaking only to himself. Her vampire lover, you scumbag.
He had been into Pound’s mind from the moment he and Penny had entered the place, and the mental cesspool in there was as rank as anything he’d ever come up against. Together with the necromancer’s recognition of Penny as a former victim, or that victim’s double, it strengthened Harry’s resolve, confirmed his commitment. But as yet Pound’s recognition of her hadn’t produced the reaction Harry had expected. Curiosity, yes, but not fear. In a way, perhaps that was understandable.
For after all Found knew that the other Penny was dead; he knew that this couldn’t be the girl he had violated. Still, his shock had been short-lived and Harry was disappointed. Also, he knew now that he was dealing with a very cool customer. Whether Found would be able to stay cool when confronted with what was on the cards for him . . . that was something else entirely.
Leaving Johnny’s mind, the Necroscope leaned across the table a little toward Penny and quietly said, ‘I can see how badly shaken you are. I can feel it, too. I’m sorry, Penny, but just try to stay calm. It won’t be long now; when Found leaves I’ll go after him; you’ll stay here and wait for me. OK?’
She nodded and said, ‘You seem very . . . well, cold about all of this, Harry.’
He shook his head. ‘Just determined. But you see, Found is cold, which might give him an advantage if I allowed myself to get too heated.’
As he spoke, Harry saw two men enter the diner from the car park. They seemed ordinary enough but there was something about them. As they moved along the self-service bar collecting cold drinks, their eyes scanned the room, found the Necroscope and Penny in their booth, moved on. Harry went on to probe their minds – and his telepathic probe at once came up against a wall of mental static!
He withdrew immediately. At least one of these men was an esper, which meant E-Branch was closing in … on both Johnny Found and Harry Keogh! They probably wouldn’t try anything in here – maybe not even in the darkness of the car park – but in any case Harry didn’t want them on his trail. And they’d obviously figured out that if they followed Found they’d find the Necroscope, too. Now of all times he really couldn’t afford this sort of complication.
Now, too, he remembered the car he’d seen tailing Pound’s truck out of Darlington: an unmarked police car with . . . how many men aboard? Two or three? He’d thought they were all policemen but now knew better. Suddenly, coming from nowhere, he felt a growl rising in his throat. His Wamphyri side was reacting to the threat. Aware of Penny’s gaze, he stifled the growl at once.
‘Harry.’ Her voice was concerned. ‘You’re very pale.’
Fury, my love. ‘There’s something I must do,’ he told her. ‘It will mean leaving you here – but only for a minute. You’ll be OK?’
‘In here, alone with him?’ Her eyes were huge and round.
There are fifty people in here,’ he answered. And two of them at least are pretty sharp characters. ‘I promise I’ll be right back.’
She touched his hand and nodded. Then I’ll be OK.’ But she avoided looking Pound’s way.
Harry stood up, smiled a robot’s smile at her and went out into the night.
At first, to anyone watching, it would appear that he’d been heading for the gents’ toilets, but as he passed close to the swinging glass doors of the exit he turned sharply and pushed through them –