“They’ll be on your tails in an hour,” the demon said.
“And you will suffer mightily,” Jessie said.
“I don’t see how,” Kanastorous said, though he watched the detective through heavy-lidded eyes.
“Even if an arrest order is issued at once, against Brutus and Helena and me, the coppers won’t catch us all together or even quickly. At least one of us will have the time to perform the ceremony and summon you up again. And the next time, Kanastorous, we’ll snuff out all seven of the black candles and give you eternal rest; you’ll never have a conscious thought again, for all eternity; you’ll drift, mindlessly, in the void.”
“This is outrageous!” the demon wailed.
“But that’s the way it will be.”
“Throwback,” the demon spat.
“You believe that we would carry out the threat?” Jessie asked.
“Any of you three?” Kanastorous asked. “Of course I believe it You are a pack of savages.”
“Then I trust you’ll know how to act when we let you go.”
“I’ll mind my own business,” the demon said. “What else can I do?”
“What else indeed?” the detective asked. He turned, picked up the open Bible and began to chant In a few minutes, though all the chalk marks remained on the floor, Kanastorous had been dispatched.
As Brutus blew out all fourteen of the candles, both black and white, alternating from color to color as prescribed by ritual, Jessie crossed the room and turned on the ceiling lights, which stung both his and Helena’s eyes. Brutus didn’t notice. As if the lights had been a signal, the vidphone rang in the outer office.
“I’ll see who it is,” Helena said.
Jessie went to his desk, which was pushed up against the wall where the robot had left it, and he got a narcotic pin gun from the center drawer. He checked the clip to be sure that it was full, strapped the holster on under his jacket and slipped the weapon into its leather pouch. From the same drawer he took a plastic crucifix and a bottle of yellowish garlic oil, which he dropped in a coat pocket.
Brutus came back from blowing out the candles and said, “What’s up? What do we do now?”
Before Jessie could answer, Helena stepped in from the front office and said, “It’s Galiotor Fils, your favorite client”
The detective glanced around, looking for his extension, couldn’t see where the company robot had put it when it was moving furniture, and went into the outer office to take the call. He sat down on the edge of Helena’s desk, lifted the receiver and looked at Galiotor Fils’ face in the vidscreen. “Yes, Mr. Galiotor?”
The sad, amber eyes stared back, and the lipless mouth was still turned down at the corners as the maseni said, “I was wondering if you’d made any progress in discovering what happened to my brood brother.”
“We’re working on it, Mr. Galiotor,” Jessie said. “In fact, we’ve got a pretty hot lead right now.”
“You have, sir?” The maseni brightened considerably at this bit of news, his mouth leveling out, his deep amber eyes taking on a glint of life, a crinkle at the corners.
“A very hot lead,” Jessie repeated. “And I think that you were close to the truth, when you originally came to me,” Jessie told him. “I think your embassy people, in Los Angeles, have indeed been involved in a cover-up of some sort.”
“I knew it!” Galiotor Fils declared.
“They’ve tried to keep me from asking questions about Tesserax—and they’ve gone to the point of violence to take me out of the picture.”
“Good heavens!” Galiotor Fils said. Violence was not much a part of the maseni character.
“And they did have me out for a short time,” Jessie admitted. “However, I intend to be more careful, now that I know how rough they’re willing to play.”
The maseni made a face and said, “What have these scoundrels been up to, Mr. Blake?”
“I can’t take time to explain the situation to you now,” Jessie said. “We have to move while that tip is hot.”
“Well, yes, I see that,” Galiotor Fils said. “But is there anything I can do to help?”