I stood. “Who called you to tell you where I was? And who told you about the body?”
“Anonymous tip,” the sheriff said.
“How is Antonio?”
“He’ll be okay,” the sheriff said. “We’ll look into the attack.”
I noticed that the deputy was standing in the hallway beyond. “Well, considering I doubt your deputy could find his cock with both hands and a road map, I assume it’ll be a really long investigation.”
“The crime rate in town has risen dramatically in recent weeks. People behaving erratically. Violence from people who have never shown any signs of being violent before. I don’t know what’s happening in Clockwork, but I better not find out that you’re involved, Mr. Carpenter.”
Chris practically dragged me out of the room before I started a brawl, and we were soon outside. “Fucking hell, Nate,” Chris said as we got into his dark-blue Ford Ranger.
“Sorry, but I wasn’t expecting to be arrested for some Nazi’s murder. I certainly wasn’t expecting them to suggest that Jessica and Ava were responsible. Especially all that other stuff about the Kuros.”
“They were trying to rile you up, get you to say or do something stupid,” Chris said as we pulled out of the car park. “However, I wouldn’t be surprised to find that the deputy and your Nazi problem are connected. This is quite the hornet’s nest of shit you’ve managed to involve yourself in.”
I shook my head. “I just can’t figure out why Avalon would send a KOA agent like Robert just to come here and get involved in a custody issue,” I said.
“Ah, the file is in the glove compartment,” Chris said.
I opened the compartment, removed the manila envelope inside, unfastened it, and took out the three sheets of paper it contained. “This is a little old school.”
“I didn’t want to send it to your phone.”
The file made for interesting, albeit unpleasant reading. “Robert Saunders is not a nice person,” I said eventually.
“No, no, he’s not. I haven’t read it all, though.”
“He was a marine who had multiple citations for assault. And more than one occurrence of the military police having to break up a fight that he appeared to have started. It looks like he was dating Jess, and she left him for another marine, so he took leave, flew to South Korea, where the marine was stationed, found him, and beat him into a coma. Robert was arrested, tried, and jailed for . . . aggravated assault? That’s it?”
“I called a military friend of mine,” Chris said. “It’s not in the file, but essentially the marines got Robert tried and convicted, with a dishonorable discharge, under the agreement that once he’d served his term, he pissed off and never returned. A whole bunch of people didn’t do their job, which led to Robert getting to the other marine. No one higher up wanted an international incident and a very public jailing, so it was done quietly. Robert has some powerful and, more importantly, rich parents, so the other family was paid off. The injured marine was given a whole bunch of medals when he woke up. He left the marines a hero who was told to keep his mouth shut.”
“And Robert vanished. There’s nothing here after that.”
“Nope, that’s the last official time we heard of him. Apparently, he joined Avalon and the KOA.”
“Any joy on finding out who they are?”
“Yeah, and none of it is good.” Chris parked the car next to mine outside of Duke’s Diner. “The KOA were set up about eighteen months ago to hunt those who stand against Avalon. The KOA go in, get the help of local thugs to cause trouble and stir up civil unrest, and use that to find the people they’re looking for. Then the Harbingers come in and kill every living person involved with the rebellion.”
I sighed. The Harbingers. “Damn it.”
“Yep, it’s all the good stuff coming our way.”
The Harbingers were the elite special forces of Avalon. You had to be at least a century old to join, and then you underwent a conditioning cycle that a lot of people didn’t make it through. Essentially, the candidate was put into a coma for several years so that their minds could be sharpened, their powers improved, and their bodies honed. When they came out, they were considerably more dangerous than when they’d gone in. Not everyone made it through the whole process, and a lot of them came out of their coma too early, or their bodies couldn’t handle the stress. But they could only undergo the process once, and if they failed, it was too bad.
“And you’re sure they’re not here for me?” I asked.
“Not you, no. Robert would have recognized you.”
“Who, then?”
“You are not the first person that has been sent here to recuperate. There have been many over the years, but apart from you, only one remains.”
“Who?”
Chris let out a long sigh. “I’ll explain all tomorrow. It is not for me to say at this time. Please understand. I need to contact people and see how much danger we’re in.”
“Okay,” I said. “Well, I need to get to the Kuro household. Ava’s not human. And I told her that once I’d figured out exactly what she was, I would come and talk to her about it.”
Chris stared at me for several seconds. “Really? Do you know?”
I nodded. “Yeah. I’ve been thinking about it all day, and I’ve a pretty good idea.”
“Good luck. I’ll speak to you tomorrow.”
By the time I drove up to the massive house where the Kuros lived at the far end of town, it was getting dark. The Kuro house sat on a large plot of land, with trees all around it, shielding it from the nearest neighbors’ view. It had five bedrooms as well as a turret on the left-hand side above a double-size garage. A balcony ran around the front of the house, and dozens of ornate stone sculptures adorned the large lawn next to the gravel driveway. This was where the wealthy came to live. Daniel and Donna had told me that they had not been born to wealth, but Hades took care of those who worked for him, and because of their involvement, they were able to live comfortable lives as well as know they were doing good in the world.
I got out of the Mercedes as the front door opened and Donna walked out. “Nate, Ava said you were coming over. Did she invite you to dinner tomorrow?” She stopped.
There was a bag of clean clothes in the car, so I’d put on a fresh pair of jeans and a dark-blue jumper before I’d arrived. I didn’t really want anyone to see the blood splatter on the clothes I’d been wearing all day.
“She did, yes,” I said as Donna hugged me. “But I’m here for something else.”
Ava stood in the still-open doorway to the house. “You can tell them,” she said.
“I need to talk to you, Daniel, and Ava,” I said.
“You sound like it’s something bad.”
I shook my head. “Not bad, just important.”
Donna told me that Jess was putting Simon to bed and that I should go through the house to the conservatory at the rear. I headed through the maze of corridors to the kitchen. The kitchen itself was large enough to have its own dining area as well as an archway that led to a small room with a set of stairs that went up into the tower. There was a door that remained bolted at all times, as only the basement was beyond, and it contained a safe room amid the paraphernalia that Donna and Daniel had accrued.