'What's new there?'
'You got me. You're sure everything's okay?'
'Apart from the fact that I'm staying with Beryl for the weekend,' Valkyrie said, 'yes, everything's fine. You headed home? Give me a lift as far as Main Street?'
'What about your run?»'Running's overrated.'
'Climb aboard,' he said, and the grin was just spreading across Valkyrie's face when she heard the black van behind her. She went cold as it stopped and Crux got out.
Alan looked at him, at the muck on his clothes and the anger in his eyes, and then stepped in front of Valkyrie.
'Can I help you?' he asked.
'You can get out of my way,' Crux snarled.
'Your van can get past my tractor. The road's not that narrow.'
'Your tractor's not in my way, simpleton, you are.'
Valkyrie couldn't believe this was happening. This was against every rule she had been taught.
Alan looked at Valkyrie. 'This guy the reason you decided on that run, Steph?'
'I don't know him,' she lied. 'Never seen him before.'
'Would you do me a favor, Steph? Would you call the police?'
'I'm a detective,' Crux snapped, stepping forward, and Alan hit him--slugged him right across the jaw.'You stay away from the girl,'' Alan said evenly as Crux retreated, his eyes blazing.
Valkyrie grabbed Alan's arm, holding him back. 'It's okay,' she said quickly. 'We should just go. Can we go? Please, I just want to go.'
'If I were you,' Alan said to Crux, 'I'd get out of town now. I don't ever want to see you back here. Do you understand me?'
Crux glared at him. As Alan turned away, Crux snapped his hand against the air. Alan slammed into the side of the tractor and collapsed on the road. Valkyrie screamed and darted to him, but there was a flash of gray, and her arm was twisted behind her. She fell to her knees even as the handcuffs closed around her wrist, and before she could react, both hands were cuffed.
The Cleaver hauled her to her feet.
'You can't do this!' she yelled as a second Cleaver knelt by Alan. He checked for a pulse and nodded to Crux.
'He'll regain consciousness in a few minutes,' Crux said. 'And hopefully, he'll have learned a little lesson.'
'You attacked a civilian!'
'He attacked me. I have witnesses.»'You used magic on him,' she said, seething, 'when his back was turned. You coward.'
Crux sighed. 'I was doing my duty. If a civilian gets hurt or, heaven forbid, killed during the pursuit of a fugitive, then the blame lies with the fugitive.'
'Wait till Bliss hears about this.'
Crux took hold of the handcuffs and twisted them savagely. Valkyrie yelled in pain.
Crux leaned in. 'You may think Elder Bliss will come to your aid, but he is a very busy man, and sometimes my reports get mislaid on the way to his desk. There is every possibility that he won't even know you've been arrested.'
'You're going to regret this,' Valkyrie said. 'I swear to God, you're going to regret this.'
'I doubt that,' Crux said as he marched her to the van and threw her in. 'In fact, if your capture leads me to Skulduggery Pleasant, I might even get a promotion.'
He slammed the door, shutting out the sunlight.
Chapter Twenty-nine. Cell Mates
Unfortunately ,' Crux said as he led Valkyrie to the holding cells, 'we're a tad overcrowded at the moment. I suppose that's as a result of the Sanctuary finally having a Prime Detective who is good at his job.'
'Have I met him?' Valkyrie asked, and got an angry yank on her handcuffs in response.
'What that means,' Crux continued, 'is that you'll have to share a cell.'
Valkyrie paled. 'What? You can't do that.'
'It's not ideal, but we do what we must,' Crux said, failing to hide the glee in his voice.She tried to pull away, but he dragged her viciously on.
'You can't do that!' she shouted, hoping that someone would hear. 'Let me talk to Mr. Bliss.'
'Elder Bliss is busy with Sanctuary matters,' Crux said. 'We'll get this sorted out, I assure you. But for now, you're going to have to be a good girl and share your room.'
He opened a cell door and shoved her inside. The door slammed behind her, and the man on the narrow bed turned over and looked at her.
'Cain,' Scapegrace snarled.
The slot in the door opened up. 'Hands,' Crux said.
'Get me out of here!' Valkyrie shouted.
'Put your hands through the slot, unless you want to stay manacled.'
Scapegrace's right eye was swollen shut, his nose was bruised, and his lip was cut. He moved slowly, like his whole body was sore.
Valkyrie thrust her hands through the slot, and Crux removed the handcuffs. 'The cell is, of course, bound,' he informed her, 'so please try to behave.'
She bent low, so he could see her eyes through the slot. 'Detective Crux, you cannot do this.»He smiled at her before closing the slot. She turned as Scapegrace got to his feet.
'They broke my fingers,' he said, holding up his bandaged left hand. 'Those Cleavers broke my fingers and beat the tar out of me. Did you have a good laugh, did you? You and the skeleton? Were you grinning to each other as you sent me off to distract them?'
Valkyrie's mouth was dry. There was nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. She couldn't use her powers and she wasn't wearing her protective clothing. She was an ordinary girl, trapped inside a small room with a grown man who wanted to kill her.
'I'm going to beat you to death,' said Scapegrace, nodding. 'I wanted my first kill to be something artful. Something beautiful. But I suppose I could settle for something brutal. It would give me something to work up from.'
'You'll never get out of jail,' Valkyrie said, her words thick in her mouth. 'If you kill me, you're going to spend the rest of your life in a cell like this one.'
'No, I'll get out. Something will happen, and I'll get out. I always do.'
'You'll be a killer. Security's tighter for killers.»'And why is that? Because people are afraid of killers. People are going to be afraid of me.'
He stepped forward and she stepped back, feeling the cold steel of the door through her clothes.
'What about Skulduggery?' she asked quickly.
'I don't see him in here.' Scapegrace smiled.
'You don't want him as an enemy, Vaurien. You know you don't. Once he finds out that I've been arrested, he'll come for me. He'll appear at this door just like he did yesterday, and he'll open it and see what you've done. Do you really want to be standing here when that happens?'
Scapegrace hesitated. 'They'll put me in protective custody,' he decided. 'They don't much like your friend these days, in case you've forgotten. They'll put me in a special cell where he won't be able to find me.'
'He'll find you. He'll hunt you down.'
Scapegrace sneered. 'Let him try.'
Valkyrie knew the rules. Tanith had drilled them into her often enough. With no other choice, when the onset of violence was a virtual certainty and retreat was not an option, the rule was to strike first and without
