“A quick call and we found out he was David Harrison, spent his growing-up years going from group home to group home, child of two drug addicts killed in a car crash. Aged out at eighteen, held a few menial jobs over the years, fell into drugs himself, and has lived on the streets for the last ten years or so. I figured that might help you—”

  “It will, thanks!” Zach told the captain. He looked at Gavin and nodded. In their careers, most law enforcement officials came across excellent liars, criminals so good at spinning tales they should have gone into acting careers.

  He headed back into the room and took his seat.

  David Harrison was still sitting with his head just hanging down.

  “David—Mr. Harrison—” he said, letting Skye know they had gotten the man’s name and background. “I believe—”

  “Beelzebub. Just call me Beelzebub,” he protested, looking at Zach and frowning. “You’re not getting it at all. We need to behave as the witches, the devil, and the evil, so that those around us can see that it is out there! We work against type, don’t you understand? People are sheep; they believe what they see; and what they see can be so, so wrong.”

  “But your name is David,” Skye said softly. She shook her head. “You’re not any kind of a devil, David. We can see that you’ve spent a miserable, miserable life! And your supposed master knew that and offered you something better—food, a home, caring. And you were eager to listen to someone who wanted to help you.”

  “Because he knows!” David exclaimed.

  “So, who is he? If he’s so wonderful, you can tell us who he is,” Zach said quietly.

  David Harrison sat back, smiling. “He’s the wicked witch!” he said.

  “You don’t know who he is, do you?” Zach asked.

  Something flashed across the man’s face.

  He didn’t know! But how is that possible?

  “He’s the wicked witch, teaching those who are truly evil the truth. He will win; he will take the power because he must,” David said.

  “Where does he live?” Skye asked.

  “In the darkness of the woods, where he can fight the devil and keep him at bay,” David told them earnestly.

  “When you need to see him, you see him in the woods?” Skye asked.

  David waved a hand in the air.

  “When were you supposed to meet him next?” Zach asked.

  David hung his head again. “I failed him! I was to have met him in the forest with … with the devil’s woman.”

  “The woman you were threatening to kill?” Skye asked softly.

  “Yes, she needed reconditioning. Badly,” David said. “She needed to be brought into the light; she needed to be saved.”

  “Where in the forest?” Zach persisted.

  David laughed. “Head in from the road, find the center, the large space in the midst of the star copse of trees. Except most people don’t know the forest, and even if they know the forest, they’d never know the star!”

  “Maybe we’ll have you bring us there,” Zach suggested.

  The man sighed deeply. “I’d be … I’d be as lost as you. I just knew that I had to get the woman and start looking until I found it. Or until he found me.”

  “Where else do you meet him? What else do you do for him?” Skye queried.

  “I’m earning my wings,” the man said. “I … I bring people to designated places.”

  “People,” Zach repeated. “Like Bella Dunn?”

  David smiled then. “Bella is my friend. She deserves everything the master can give her, do for her! Yes, I brought Bella to him.”

  “Where’s your gun? Did you force her?” Skye asked.

  “No! I invited her. And only a few carry weapons such as guns!” David said, as if horrified by the idea that all of the master’s followers might do so. “And only the master himself carries Eve.”

  “‘Eve’? An assault weapon, you mean,” Zach said.

  David shrugged. “She is Eve; only someone who truly gains their wings may carry a weapon such as Eve.”

  “How many have earned their wings?” Skye asked him softly.

  He shrugged. “Perhaps a few. But there is tending to the flock; there is food; there is guarding those who, we fear, have not understood; who might try to take the innocents, who are learning, away from the righteous path.”

  He sat back, closing his eyes. “There is nothing more I can tell you. The master cared for me a long time. He made me well; he made me whole. But he is smart. He knows that the devil dancers can sweep us up, and he’s careful that none of us can give him away. I can’t tell you anything else. It’s not that I won’t tell you anything else. I simply can’t, because he keeps places, people, and plans to himself. He knows that devils can be tricksters!”

  Zach glanced at Skye; they both believed the man was telling the truth.

  And yet …

  They knew Bella had been introduced to the master, and she was among the “flock” that he was gathering.

  They stood together. “Thank you, David,” Skye said. “They will take care of you tonight. They will see you have food and a bed. We aren’t devils, nor do we dance with any. Hopefully, you’ll begin to see the truth.”

  She wasn’t waiting for an answer. She stood and walked out.

  Zach stood and looked at the man. “Yes, thank you, David, for your honesty. And because I do believe you’re a good man at heart, I hope for your sake the innocent people your master has taken don’t wind up being brutally killed in defense of his lies.”

  The man looked at him. Zach thought something almost like fear touched his eyes. He didn’t know, and there was nowhere left to go in the little room.

  Zach headed out to join Skye in the hallway, just as Gavin and Captain Claybourne came out of the observation room.

  “Connie? The cook and the waitress?” Zach asked Gavin immediately.

  “Connie is coming around. She was still groggy and not very coherent, but the doctors say that may change. In addition to being stabbed, the waitress had a blow to her head; she’s been put into a medically induced coma and may need further surgery to reduce swelling in the brain. The cook is out of surgery, stable, but still sedated. Tomorrow is the earliest we have a chance of talking to those two,” Gavin told them.

  “But Connie could …” Skye began.

  “Bit by bit. She was hit with some heavy scopolamine, which was what the doctors believe was somehow put in her coffee!” Gavin told them. “Ironically, I’m told that scopolamine is also known as ‘Devil’s Breath.’”

  “Ironic, all right,” Skye murmured. “So, I imagine, when she was in there, the cook had probably already been struck. The witch slipped the drug into the coffee being served to Connie and waited for the waitress to head back into the kitchen. Maybe the witch was on the way out after Connie—with his minion in the woods, ready to sweep her up—when the waitress interrupted him.”

  “Possibly,” Gavin agreed. “And this guy, this minion …”

  “We’ve been listening, but it’s almost as if he’s been speaking a foreign language. Do you think we have anything?” Claybourne asked anxiously.

  “We know Bella is with whoever this master is, but that’s obvious to all of us. At least, you can tell her parents that she’s alive,” Skye said.

  “At some point, we’ll get back into the forest—” Zach began.

  “Well, the master won’t be there now! He’ll have known that David failed, and he isn’t getting Connie,” Claybourne said.

  Of course, Claybourne didn’t know just what Skye might see if they were able to find the star copse in the woods, Zach considered.

  “We know these people are being taken as pawns, as shields,” Zach said flatly. “This guy has doped and brainwashed the addicts, kids, and anyone he saw at the bottom of the ladder as being vulnerable. Frankly, I think he killed Mike Bolton because he might have had an idea of who he was and what he might be up to. He took the Bolton kid—and Mrs. Howell and little Sophie—to have small children in his number. He also went for the obvious, instead of doing his usual—stealing a kid out of a group home or something like that—because he wanted us spinning our wheels searching for them. I believe it’s because whatever the great plan is—it’s happening soon. We need to see Detective Berkley, which we’ll do now and get whatever she can give us. And maybe there’s hope we can speak with the cook or the waitress from the café, but I don’t think they’ll be much help. When they’re able to talk, they’ll say they were stabbed by a witch. If I’m right, the witch came into that place through the back, trying to verify that Detective Berkley was there. Maybe the TV freaked her out—or maybe she saw he had followed her into the café. The waitress and cook had to go because they were going to call the police. Captain, I think Gavin, Skye, and I will go to the hospital and try to speak with Berkley. Then we’ll get some sleep after seeing to it that our best people, and your best people, continue seeking something that would make this man a king in truth—a gold shipment, a massive money exchange, something, perhaps the movement of tech or a serious military weapon—”

  “A bomb, a bioweapon!” Captain Claybourne said with dismay.

  “Possibly. And when he goes after it, the kids—the innocents—will be his shields. We must know what—and stop it!” Zach said. “So, Skye and Gavin, ready?”

  “Incidentally, we’ve got another problem,” Gavin said.

  “What’s that?”

  “I’m afraid we’re going to find Detective Vince Cason … dead,” he said flatly. “He still hasn’t responded. Either someone slipped him something, and he’s in deep, deep hiding, or … or he’s dead. He’d have responded by now if he could have.”

  Claybourne shook his head. “No. You found Berkley. Get out there and find Vince Cason, too!” He headed off to his office.

  “I can drive,” Gavin said.

  “We’ll take our car, too,” Skye said quickly, glancing at Zach. She smiled. “We haven’t eaten since breakfast, and now it’s very late. So after we’ve spoken to Connie, we’ll need to grab something—”

  “And probably fall asleep in our soup,” Zach joked. “But we’ll meet you there, all right?”

  Gavin nodded grimly. They all left the station and headed for their cars.

  * * *

  Skye walked to the passenger seat and Zach took the wheel. “This is getting scarier and scarier. I mean, the master apparently wants to be king of the world. Now, I love Salem, Massachusetts, but it’s not the Hague, Paris, London, DC, New York, or Tokyo—though I hardly think the master is a linguist. And if he’s trying to instill fear into the heart of every country, then it might be a horrific weapon he’s after,” Skye said, leaning back and closing her eyes. But she spoke softly again, saying, “This is … I mean, I thought we were looking for a simple murderer. There’s really no such thing as a ‘simple’ murderer, but I still … a person or persons, maybe horrific cult killings, but to think that someone might start out in such a way, converting some, killing some, and seeking something that’s much bigger, even more horrific …”

  “Michelle has had the director speaking with the top brass in the military,” he reminded her.

  She nodded. “It’s just that … there’s something. Something big.”

  “We’ll see what Connie knows,” he said.

  “And then eat!” She cast a glance his way. “I can’t believe that you—and your determination we all need fuel—have been so patient!”

  “Oh, I’m hungry. Today has been one thing after another, with no time to give in; and therefore, I’ve been ordering my growling stomach to be silent,” he told her.

  “And that works?”

  He laughed. “No. One more stop, then food,” he promised.

  And then? he wondered. We’d both be ready to crash, of course. That is … if something else didn’t happen!

  “Let’s get in there. Connie telling us what’s happened to her might be the best break we get yet,” he said.

  They parked at the hospital. Of course, the visiting hours were over and they had to produce their credentials. They had arrived right behind Gavin and entered together. They were led to the room where Connie was alone—guarded by an officer in a chair just outside her door.

  “You’re back!” he said to Gavin. “Sir!”

  Gavin smiled. “We’ll just be a few minutes. Has she been in any distress?”

  “I heard her mumbling a bit, but not in the last twenty minutes or so,” the officer said.

  Gavin thanked him and they went into the room.

  She appeared to be sleeping peacefully.

  Gavin perched at her side on the bed. He touched her arm gently, nudging her and saying, “Connie?”

  She seemed to whimper; he shook her gently and her eyes opened. She stared from him to Zach and Skye. She let out a sigh of relief.

  “I’m still so …” Connie began, her voice trailing.

  “I know. Confused,” Gavin said.

  “Scared! Oh, my God, it was so awful. I mean, someone knew something! I thought I was going to meet Vince, but I was kind of irritable, so I went home. I had started to settle in for the night, and then decided I’d head back to the shop and meet him and try to make more discoveries, as he had suggested. I got there, figured maybe he hadn’t come yet, and I’d give it a few minutes. Then I was at the register playing with some stupid thing there, and I looked up and … I saw … it! Big and green and whipping an AK-47 around, and I realized I’d stupidly put my gun in the safe at home. I ran and I heard this cackling, and I knew it was behind me. I couldn’t go to my car, because it was cackling and swearing that I shouldn’t worry, I’d just explode, so … I ran into the forest. I threw my phone away because Vince and I had both thought of the possibility a cop was involved, and another cop could have traced me … and … I got lost in the forest. I wandered and wandered; and by the time a whole day had gone by, and I saw the café, I figured I’d get coffee and ask the waitress if I could borrow her phone. I could call in and run back and hide in the forest again until someone could come out for me … It really wants to kill me! That awful creature wants me dead!”

  “And there’s no chance the awful creature can get you now,” Gavin promised her. “We have a man at your door, and we have backup outside and in the waiting room. You’re all right.”

  Tears streamed down her cheek. “Gavin, I don’t deserve to be a detective!”

  “Yeah, you do. You’re still alive,” Gavin said gently, reaching down to squeeze her hand.

  “Why didn’t I immediately ask to borrow the woman’s phone? Why did I feel I’d be better and sound sane if I could just have coffee? I don’t know where I walked from. I’m lucky I didn’t startle any creatures … but I was terrified of being on the road where I couldn’t hide! And then at the café … I sipped the coffee, and it was strong and good, and I thought I’d be all right until …”

  “Connie,” Skye said gently, “are you able to tell now if you were frightened of something on the TV—or something real? We know your coffee was drugged. Did you see a movie, or—”

  She smiled. “I was aware of the television! I was thinking of the irony. But no, the coffee hadn’t really gotten to me; yet … he was there in the back.”

  “The same witch?”

  She shook her head. “I don’t know. I just really don’t know!” she said with dismay.

  “And that’s all right, it’s all right,” Gavin assured her. “That’s the point—dress everyone up in the same costume, and no one knows which witch is which.”

  “The important thing is you’re all right,” Zach said.

  “Vince hasn’t been in to see me yet!” she said, and she frowned, studying Gavin’s face. “Oh, no! Has something happened to Vince, too? Oh, my God, did the witch get him at the costume shop before I got there?” she demanded, growing more and more distressed.

  “Hey, we think he’s in hiding, too,” Gavin told her. “He’s smart; he’s careful. He’s going to be all right.”

  His words didn’t convince her. She lay back again and closed her eyes, her face a mask of misery.

  Zach squeezed her hand. “No, no, Connie. We heard from him after that—he was on a search for you. And now? We’re going to find him. I promise you.”

  Was that something he was supposed to say? No. Something he needed to say at that moment? Yes.

  “Connie, have faith in the man you work with!” Skye told her quietly. “He knew you would survive; you just needed the right people to find you, and we did. We’ll find Vince, too, I promise.”

  They needed to leave; to let the patient go back to sleep.

  “Rest,” Gavin told her. “You’ve worked this; you’ve worked it hard. Now rest and let us do some of the heavy lifting.”

  She gave him a weak smile.

  As they started to file from the room, Connie caught Zach’s hand.

  “Someone … Be careful!” she whispered.

  He realized she didn’t want Gavin to hear her words.

  “Someone in the department is involved!” she said.

  He gave her a smile, eased his hand from her grip, and assured her, “We know!”

  He quickly rejoined Skye and Gavin.

  Connie hadn’t wanted anyone else to hear her—and that anyone else had included Gavin. Did she suspect him?

  They were informed that the cook, Sam Astrella, and the waitress, Ona Patterson, were still sedated.

  Cathy O’Hara had been released; her parents had determined that they should take her on a long trip out of state.

  They said their good nights to Gavin, knowing they’d all meet again in the morning; hopefully, they would know more at that time, with tech crews and others working through the night.

  In the car, Skye asked Zach, “What was she warning you about? That she wouldn’t say in front of Gavin. Does she suspect him of being involved?”

  “Probably,” he told her.

  “It’s just not possible.”

  “We don’t want it to be possible.”

  “I don’t even want to think about it right now!” she told him, groaning softly. “Wouldn’t it be cool if our brains came with on and off buttons, and we could rest our minds when we needed to?”