Back there? She’d read it in his mind.
To begin with. But there may be other places. You of all people know I can’t stay here.’
Harry, she was quick, anxious to return, you know I won’t go up against you.
‘I know that, Zek.’
She was silent for a long time; then Harry had a thought. ‘Zek, if you’ll swim back to the beach, there’s someone here would like a word with you. But better if you have your feet firmly on the beach, because you won’t believe who it is and what he has to say. And this time you really might drown!’
And he was right, she didn’t believe it. Not for quite some time . . .
About the middle of the afternoon, when Jordan had finally accepted everything and the glow had gone off him a little, he said: ‘What about me, Harry. Can I just go home?’
‘I may have made a mistake,’ the Necroscope told him then. ‘Darcy Clarke knows I had that girl’s ashes. He might figure it out. If he does he’ll know I have a couple more talents now. Which will be confirmed – and how – if you show up! And anyway I have this feeling that everything is going to blow up, soon. You can go any time you like, Trevor, but I’d appreciate it if you’d stay here and out of sight a while longer.’
‘How long?’
Harry shrugged. ‘I have a job to do. That long. Not much more than four or five days, I should think.’
That’s OK, Harry,’ Jordan nodded. ‘I can stand that. Or four or five weeks if I have to!’
‘What will you do, anyway? Back to the Branch?’
‘It was a good living. It paid the bills. We got things done.’
Then it’s best that you leave it until I’ve gone. You have to know that they’ll be coming after me?’
‘After all you’ve done for us. For everybody?’
Again Harry’s shrug. ‘When an old, faithful dog savages your child, you have him put down. His services in the past don’t cut it. What’s more, if you knew for certain he was going to savage the child, you’d put him down first, right? And afterwards you might even feel sorry for the old guy and cry a little. But hell, if you also knew he had rabies, why, you wouldn’t even think twice! You’d do it for him as much as for anyone else.’
Jordan played it straight, face to face. ‘Does it really worry you that much? I mean, let’s face it, Harry: it won’t be an easy job, taking you out. Janos Ferenczy had a lot going for him, but he wasn’t in the same league as you are now!’
‘That’s why I have to go. If I don’t I’ll be forced to defend myself, which can only hasten things. And then there’d be a chance for this curse to go on for ever. I didn’t spend all that time doing all of that – Dragosani, Thibor, Janos, Faéthor, Yulian Bodescu – just to end up the same way they did.’
‘In that case . . . maybe I should go. I mean now.’
‘Oh?’
‘I can stay out of sight, keep an eye on them for you. They have Paxton watching you, but they won’t know that I’m watching them. They don’t even know I’m alive. I mean, they do know I’m dead!’
Harry was interested. ‘Go on.’
‘Darcy will be the man to watch, not in the office but when he’s home. I know where he lives, and I know how he thinks. You’ll be on his mind a lot, both ways: because of what you are, but also because he’s a good sort of bloke and he’ll just be, well, thinking about you. So when everything looks set to go down I’ll know it, and then I’ll get back to you.’
‘You’d do that for me?’ Harry knew he would.
‘Don’t I owe you?’
Harry nodded, slowly. ‘It’s a good idea,’ he finally said. ‘OK, go after nightfall. I’ll drive you into Edinburgh, and then you’re on your own.’
And he did. And then the Necroscope was on his own, too. But not for long.