Kelley Armstrong - Broken

He gestured to the chairs. There were only three, and he seemed ready to give them to us, but when Clay took up position at my shoulder, Tolliver turned the third chair around to face ours, then sat.

“So…” he began. “What’s this about?”

I told him the story. A version of it, that is. Zoe had suggested we remove the part about stealing the letter ourselves. If that would bother Tolliver, it seemed a little hypocritical, considering he engaged Zoe’s services often enough to be on a first-name basis. But she’d advised us to stick to a variation on the truth-that we were interracial council delegates investigating the portal and trying to close it.

I also left out the part about suspecting Shanahan of being the zombie controller.

When I finished, Tolliver looked at Zoe.

“You know that these two are council delegates? For a fact?”

She laughed. “Why else would they be investigating this? It’s hardly the kind of thing people volunteer for.”

“I can think of one group who would, particularly if they could use this portal to their advantage.”

“A Cabal?” Zoe waved at me. “Does she look like a Cabal goon?”

“No, which would be a perfect way to convince us she isn’t. It would also explain why Patrick is missing. They likely took him into custody themselves.”

“Yeah?” Clay said. “Then why would we be looking for him? That’s what we’re doing here. Trying to find him, hoping he can close this thing.”

Tolliver’s expression didn’t change. “If you are on the council, then tell me this. Who’s the sorcerer delegate?”

“Trick question,” Zoe muttered.

“No,” I said. “ If Dr. Tolliver does know the current council, then it’s a trick question within a trick question. There is no sorcerer delegate. Never has been. However, one other delegate is married to a sorcerer who does help with our investigations, though he doesn’t participate in matters of policy.”

Tolliver met my gaze. “You know him?”

“Of course. And he knows us. Call him up and ask, about either us or the investigation. He’s aware of it, and has been helping with background.”

Tolliver hesitated, then nodded, but didn’t move. I suspected he didn’t know Lucas well enough to have his number, though he might be able to get it if he made a few calls. I reminded myself to ask Lucas about Tolliver. He hadn’t known Shanahan, but he was more likely to know a supernatural doctor, at least by reputation.

Tolliver finally put his medical bag on the ground and relaxed into his chair. “I can tell you this much. Whoever said Patrick’s letter is responsible for this portal is wrong.”

“Right,” Clay said. “So the fact that this portal opens on the same night his letter is stolen, and spews out Victorian zombies and cholera is…a coincidence?”

Tolliver blinked. “This portal is responsible for the cholera?”

“Nah, it’s just a coincidence.”

Tolliver ignored him and turned to me. “Is there anything else?”

I hesitated, then said, “Possibly something with the rats, but we aren’t sure yet.”

Tolliver let out a quiet curse. “Typhus, probably. I’ve been dealing with rat bites all day.”

“Typhus? How…bad is that?”

“Treatable with antibiotics if it’s caught. People haven’t started showing symptoms yet. I’m just dealing with the bites, far more than normal. Typhus will be a concern, if that’s what it turns out to be, but at this stage, I’m more worried about infection from the bites. The rats seem to be more aggressive than normal.”

“We found that out. They’re attacking in daylight too. Is that from the disease?”

“I don’t know enough about typhus to say.” He leaned back. “First, cholera. Now this. No wonder I’m so busy.”

Clay looked at him. “So, getting this portal closed might not be such a bad idea.”

“I never said it was. Cholera and typhus notwithstanding, I completely agree that it needs to be closed, but I’m not convinced that finding Patrick will help. Yes, it seems impossible that this is a coincidence, but I find it very hard to believe his letter is to blame. It’s a fake.”

“That may be,” I said, “but whether Jack the Ripper wrote it or not-”

“No, I mean it wasn’t a real portal device. It was a fake. That’s what Mr. Shanahan-Patrick’s father-always said.”

As he looked across our faces, he must have seen our confusion, and continued, “Geoffrey Shanahan was what you’d call an affable drunk. Normally, he barely said two words to me, but when he’d been drinking, he liked to talk, especially about his father’s collection. He’d take Pat and me in there and regale us with the stories behind the pieces, what they were supposed to do, who had exposed them as fakes-”

“Fakes?” I said.

“Of course.” Again, Tolliver looked at us, then Zoe. “You must know this, Zoe. You put some of those artifacts in that collection yourself.”

She shook her head. “Theodore Shanahan placed the order and I filled it. Half the time, I barely even knew what I was stealing.”

“Not surprising, I guess. He was an arrogant old bugger. Like most men who get their money from shady dealings. If you act like you’ve been born to it, no one questions where the money came from.”

“So it’s a collection of…fakes?” I glanced up at Clay, remembering the files we’d found in the house, where we’d thought he’d cleverly documented his artifacts as counterfeits. “Supernatural curiosities.”

Tolliver nodded. “All of them, including that letter.”

“So it supposedly did contain a portal,” I said. “One that was believed to be fake.”

“I don’t remember the exact story behind it, but Patrick will have it on file.”

“File’s gone,” Clay said.

Tolliver nodded, as if neither surprised nor indignant that we’d searched Shanahan’s house.

“Can you remember anything about it?” I asked.

He paused, then shook his head. “I’ll think on it some more, but that piece never interested me. Neither did Jack the Ripper in general.” A small laugh. “Even as a child, I think I was offended by the suggestion that a doctor might have been responsible. Patrick would know more. The letter was one of his favorite pieces.”

“Which brings us back to square one…” Clay said.

“Finding Patrick. I agree that the portal needs to be closed, and quickly. Even if I don’t know how much help Patrick can be, I’d be happy to help you locate him…if I could.”

“Why can’t you?” I said.

“Because, while Patrick and I were close as boys, we’ve barely seen one another since college. He only calls now and then to see whether I’ve come to my senses and taken up a more profitable branch of medicine…with profits he could help me invest. When he learns I haven’t…” Tolliver shrugged. “That’s the end of our contact until the annual Christmas card. I can try-”

Tolliver’s cell phone rang. He answered. As he listened, he closed his eyes, suddenly looking very tired. “Tell them I’m on my way,” he said, then hung up.

“There’s a small outbreak of intestinal upset at a nursing home I cover, and they’re worried it’s the cholera. More likely food spoilage from the heat, but I need to check it out immediately. As I said, I’ll think about the letter some more, and Patrick as well, and see what I can come up with.”

I took out a piece of paper, jotted down my number and gave it to him. He was out of the courtyard before I got to my feet.

Zoe made us promise to call and update her. In the meantime, she’d try to track down more on the story behind the letter.

The five of us went to dinner before the meeting with Matthew Hull. Jeremy had decided we’d go-that the potential reward outweighed the risk.