“If it’s a trap, it’s certainly not a fancy one,” I said.
“The handwriting could be because the writer can’t do any better, or it could be a disguise.”
“We know nothing.” I was pretty disgusted with that state of affairs.
“We have to go,” Eli said. “We go fully armed, though. Vest and guns.”
I nodded. “I expect this is from John Edward, and it was the safest way he could communicate with us. But that’s just a guess. Could be from anyone. Maybe the Society of the Lamb.”
“Would that be connected with the pin the Fielders’ neighbor had on his shirt pocket?”
“I couldn’t see him. Describe it.”
“A bleeding lamb superimposed over a cross.” Eli made a face. “Of course, the lamb is white.”
“Maddy told me about a girl who lived out by her, just thirteen, who was pulled out of her house and whipped by men who claimed she was a witch. They belonged to that Society of the Lamb.”
Eli looked really grim. “This kind of ignorance is what we have to fight all the time,” he said. “It’s ridiculous. Our founder was devout, most of us are devout, and we would never…”
I knew why he’d trailed off. Yes, you would. You do it all the time, I thought. He’d been about to say, We’d never use magic for evil. But what had I seen during our trip to Mexico? Wizards using magic for evil. Because I defined evil as “trying to kill me and Eli,” and there had been plenty of that. They’d almost succeeded.
“What do you think Iron Hand Security has to do with this?” I said. “I guess you know what’s in the crate, and maybe your grigori organization was who sent it here. How did Iron Hand get involved?”
“While you were out on your own yesterday I sent a telegram, but of course I had to put it in the most general terms.”
“Heard back yet?”
“No. I told the telegraph office I’d call back in today.”
That sounded very familiar.
It wasn’t the time of day for the tree to be providing shade, and I was tired of tilting my head to keep the glare out of my eyes. I tried to think of something I could do to move us forward. “Rogelio,” I said. “Let’s go get him. You said we’d have to interrogate someone, and now is a good time. Where could we take him?”
“We can put him in the car and drive out of town,” Eli said. “It’s hard to find a place around here that can’t be seen for miles around.”
“And this is a community of farmers, who are liable to be out and about all day. I guess we could find a patch of woods.” I thought of the tall trees cutting off our view, and I didn’t like the idea at all.
“I’ll go scout out a place,” Eli said. “You try to find out where he’s staying.”
“Okay.” I got up, glad to have something to do.
“Be careful.” Eli put his hand on my shoulder. “He may be more dangerous than he looks.”
“The day I can’t take down Rogelio is the day pigs fly,” I said.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
I was sorry I’d said that two hours later. I’d found Rogelio sitting in another restaurant, having a long drink with lots of ice. He was alone. I’d waited outside, hard put to look natural while I remained out of his sight. He’d come out finally. By that time, I hated him because he had been under a fan having a cool drink while I was sweating.
I set out following him. In a little town like Sally, that wasn’t easy to do. I was real glad when I spotted Eli cruising around in his battered car. Our eyes met, and I jerked my head at Rogelio, who was a block ahead of me. Eli was able to do a U-turn and pull up to the curb beside my former crewmate, who looked over when Eli leaned over to the passenger side and rolled the window down.
“Rogelio,” Eli called. I sped up to box Rogelio in from the rear by then, and he still hadn’t noticed me. Rogelio went over to the window and bent down. I closed on him from behind and stuck a knife to his ribs.
“Get in the car,” I said.
“No.” Rogelio began to push back against me, and I jabbed him.
“You bitch!” he said, and started to wheel around to hit me, but Eli got him with a spell first, contained in some powder he’d pinched from a pocket of his grigori vest. Rogelio went blank and silent.
“I love that,” I said. I opened the passenger door and told Rogelio to get in. He did, without a word. I got in the back seat.
“Smooth as silk,” I said, smiling. I kept the knife in my hand. “How long will the spell last?”
“It’s unpredictable,” Eli warned me. “So don’t relax.”
“As if I would.” I was sitting forward on the seat, my knife almost at Rogelio’s neck. It would only take a second to settle him.
We’d abducted Rogelio just before noon, and the streets were empty. People were home eating lunch, or inside a store shopping. Anything to be out of the sun. Of the few people about, no one had seemed to notice a thing. If they had, they were confused enough about what they’d seen to keep quiet.
We drove north out of Sally and into the countryside, which was gently rolling and cleared for agriculture for the most part. Cows and chickens, the occasional crop of cotton or… something else. I’m not real versed in farming.
Rogelio seemed to be more aware after ten minutes, and soon after that he was definitely stirring and muttering.
“Hold still!” I said, pricking his neck. “Don’t talk till we’re ready for you to talk.” Our unwilling passenger quieted down for a minute or two, but then he was twitching again, and saying, “No, no, no.” Which was not useful.
“We about there?” I was wondering how long it would be before I had to fight Rogelio, which would not be hard since I was behind him and armed. But we hadn’t had a chance to search him. That made me anxious.
“Yes, here we are.” Eli turned right onto a rutted driveway, very short, which ended in a ramshackle place that had once been—it was hard to say. Maybe a storage shed? Maybe a real small home? Whatever it had been, now it was leaning to the side like it had had too much to drink. There were big trees around it, and the grasses and weeds had had their way with the yard. Pretty much ideal as far as concealment for the car, and there wasn’t another building anywhere in sight.
Rogelio put up a fight when I told him to get out of the car, but Eli was able to give me a hand. “I don’t want to hurt him too bad before you ask him questions,” I said by way of explanation. It felt good to be back at work I understood, but very strange to be doing it wearing a dress. I was all too aware I was getting seeds and leaves and bits of stuff all over the skirt while I was maneuvering Rogelio to the back of the building.
To my relief, Eli had bought some rope. We secured our prisoner and sat him down at the base of a little tree. The high weeds closed in around him, and Rogelio looked like a small man.
I found a stump to sit on while Eli did his “questioning.” I knew it was part of this particular job, but I had no stomach for it.
Rogelio turned out to be a tougher nut to crack than I’d figured. I made myself stand witness. If Eli had seen me shoot many, many people, I could watch him practice pain magic on Rogelio. I tried to figure out what was different about the experience. Magic seemed more personal than a bullet, I guess.