Iris Johansen - Blood Game

Then he turned and walked out of the cathedral.

“DEAR GOD,” EVE WHISPERED, her gaze on Jelak’s body. “What happened? What did he do to him?”

“I don’t believe there’s any question what he did to him,” Joe said. “Just how he did it.”

She shuddered. “No wonder Jelak was running from him if he thought he could do that to him.”

“Personally, I enjoyed the hell out of it.” Joe got to his knees. “I wanted him dead, and Caleb obliged. Though I’d rather have done it myself.”

“Joe…” She had suddenly become aware of the multitude of dagger cuts all over his torso. She put her hand out to touch one on his shoulder. “He did that to you…”

“I’m okay.”

“You’re not okay.” She saw a two-inch cut in the flesh on his upper back that looked as if it had been hacked out. Just the pain he’d undergone for that wound alone must have terrible. “We need to get you to a doctor.”

He nodded. “Let’s get it over with. Those stitches may hurt as much as Jelak’s carving.”

“I don’t think so.” She was suddenly not feeling nearly as full of horror as she stared back at Jelak. “Bastard. I wish Caleb had made him suffer more.”

“It was probably sufficient. Stroke, brain hemorrhaging, and suffocation.” He took her arm. “And none of it can be proved in any court of law.”

“But we saw it.”

“Even if we testified, which neither of us is inclined to do, we’d be laughed out of court. Jelak died of natural causes.”

“Blood,” Eve said. “The blood killed him.”

“That’s apparently the way Caleb wanted it. The final irony.”

They had come out of the church, and Eve took a deep breath of the cool night air. Only a short time had passed since she had entered the cathedral, but she felt as if she had been in there for a century.

But Joe was safe. Jelak was dead. There would be no more deaths, no more danger from a man who thought he was destined to be a vampire god.

“Okay?” Joe was looking down at her.

She nodded. “You’re the one who is all cut to pieces. I’m going to call Jane and tell her you’re alive and functioning and to meet us at the hospital. I know you have to call the precinct and tell them about Jelak.” She took his hand. “But then can we just go home?”

“That sounds good to me. I’m afraid they’ll find more bodies in that cathedral than Jelak’s, but someone else can do that investigation. They can get our statements tomorrow. I’ll have them send someone to the cottage.” He smiled. “After all, I have an excuse. I’ll have the hospital tell the department to put me on sick leave.”

THE SUN FELT WARM ANDsoothing on Joe’s bare back as he stretched out on the bank of the lake. He smelled the fresh scent of pine and the good clean earth. It was a day when it felt good to be alive.

“Your back still looks terrible,” Nancy Jo said. “Maybe you should have plastic surgery or something.”

“I don’t care about whether I’m a pretty boy or not.” He rolled over to see her sitting a few feet away. “But I might have to have something done to keep Eve from flinching for me every time she sees them. It’s only been a few days. The scars will fade.” He smiled. “It feels really good to get some sun on them.”

She nodded. “I can’t feel sunlight yet. Bonnie says it will take a while.”

“If you decide that you want to stick around. Are you sure there’s not something better around the corner?”

“I’m not sure. I don’t know. But I don’t think I can leave Daddy yet. He needs me.”

“I needed you,” Joe said quietly. “And you came through for me. Thank you, Nancy Jo.”

“I couldn’t let you die.” She shook her head. “And I couldn’t let Jelak win. It would have been horrible. I just had to think of a way to do it. It was Bonnie who showed me how.”

“Bonnie, again.”

Nancy Jo nodded. “She said you had to live.”

“I’m glad the two of you agreed on that point.” He put on his shirt but didn’t bother to button it. “Are you sure your father still needs you? Or is it that you need him?”

“Probably both. But I wouldn’t stay if I didn’t think that it was the best thing for him. He can’t find his way right now. It’s important that he not go down the wrong path.” She smiled. “He wanted to be president. He thought he could help people. I know he can still do it. He just needs someone to nudge him along and keep him from being lonely.”

“That’s an important job, but I can’t think of anyone who could fill it better than you, Nancy Jo.”

She smiled impishly. “I can’t either. With a little help from my friends. But I might get lonely too. Do you mind if I drop in now and then to see you?”

“It would be my pleasure.”

Her smile faded. “You mean that?”

He nodded. “My extreme pleasure.” He chuckled. “After all, you’re the perfect friend. You have very few demands.”

“I demanded you get Jelak.”

“That was an understandable exception.”

“I can’t promise I might not ask something again. I can’t just stand around and watch something go wrong.”

“Then we’ll worry about it when you do.”

She nodded. “You’d be much better off having Bonnie for a friend. But she says that there’s something standing in the way.” She looked at him searchingly. “And I think she’s right. You’re closing up, Joe.”

“Am I? Then maybe she’s right, and there are a few obstacles that are difficult to overcome.”

“Not for her. She’s a great problem solver. She’s helped me along any number of times.”

“Then it must be me.” He got to his feet. “I’m going back to the cottage.”

“Because you don’t want to talk to me about Bonnie.” Nancy Jo was frowning. “Why not? I’d think you’d want to talk to-”

“Nancy Jo, stop being pushy.” He strolled back toward the cottage. “You know the trick. It’s time to do your vanishing act.”

CALEB WAS GETTING OUTof his car when Joe arrived back at the cottage. He stood waiting as Joe walked up the path. “You’re looking better than the last time I saw you. No permanent damage?”

Joe shook his head. “What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to say good-bye. I’m going to go back to Scotland.” He paused. “And I wanted to express my appreciation for your discretion in making your report. It could have been awkward.”

“Discretion? I only told the truth. Jelak attacked you, but you didn’t try to defend yourself. Then Jelak had a massive stroke and hemorrhage and died. The captain thought it was a bit convenient, but the autopsy bore it out.” He paused. “Otherwise, I would have hung you out to dry. I won’t have Eve being under suspicion for making a false statement.”

He nodded. “You had to protect her.” He glanced at the wounds on Joe’s body. “From Jelak, from me, from the whole damn world. I respect that quality in you.”

“When you’re not trying to shoot me.”

He smiled. “You got in my way. I was in hunt mode. I told you I wouldn’t have given you a serious wound.”

“Hunt mode,” he repeated. “That’s quite an arsenal you used on Jelak.”

“A small talent, but my own. Not anything as interesting as communing with spirits.”

“Not a small talent. Very deadly. Was Jelak special, or is it your common modus operandi?”

He was silent. “I think I’ll let you work that out for yourself.”