Damn Him to Hell

up.

I caught Julius and Paddy in the process of carrying Katerina back to her tower. They needed Andre’s muscle. I didn’t think they’d have it soon. Setting down Milo’s bag, I shouldered the lower half of the stretcher next to Paddy so we could keep her semi-straight going up the stairs.

“Is Andre all right?” Julius asked worriedly, huffing only a little.

“Maybe I should wait until we put the lady down before talking,” I stalled, trying not to gasp from the effort of lifting the weight. “He’s fine,” I said hurriedly when the stretcher sagged. “Long story.”

I didn’t know how much to tell them. They didn’t know what I was, and since I didn’t really know myself, I didn’t want to say too much. So I couldn’t mention invisibility and demons and all the parts I wanted to discuss. I had to stick to the real and the legal, like the good little lawyer I was supposed to be. Especially now that I knew Julius had once been a judge.

Instead, in lieu of conversation, I asked, “Who was the bonehead who gave Andre the cloud can?”

“That would be me,” Paddy said wearily. “It had to be done. My mother hasn’t been right in the head for years. I’m not sure senility can explain it. If anything will slow down Acme’s dangerous experimentation, it’s removing Gloria. What happened, do you know?”

The cloud can was still in my bag with Milo. Well, still in the bag. Milo was following us up the stairs.

“I know what happened,” I said grimly, my shoulders aching from the weight. “You need an elevator in here.”

“Normally, we don’t carry much up and down the stairs,” Julius said, breathing heavily as he shouldered open the door at the top.

“Well, maybe we won’t be gassed again, so you won’t need another bomb shelter run.” I hadn’t given much thought to anything except how Andre was faring, but I needed to consider all the other ramifications of Gloria’s demise. Removing a demon from a chemical factory could only be good, I decided—unless, of course, I was crazy.

We swung the stretcher to the lovingly carved bed with its downy mattress. Sleeping Beauty didn’t move so much as a finger when Julius expertly rolled her between the fine-woven sheets.

“Explain now,” Paddy ordered curtly. “Where’s Andre? We can’t let that can loose into the world.”

“Yeah, that was kind of my thinking. It’s in my bag downstairs. Julius’s bag,” I corrected, remembering lifting it from the knob. “I’ll go get it.” I trotted back down to the kitchen. The bag was there. The can was not.

I’d told Tim to disappear it. Maybe he’d come in and taken it. I dashed back to the second floor and pounded on his apartment door. No answer.

Praying Tim had the can, I returned to the attic and handed Julius his canvas tote. “I think Tim took it. I told him it needed to stay disappeared. But he’s not in his room. He may have gone to the shop to water the plants.”

Paddy frowned but said nothing.

Julius waved away the bag. “Keep the tote. I’ll talk to the boy whenever he comes in. Where’s Andre?”

I checked my watch. After three. It had been over an hour since I’d left him. “Probably still giving his statement to a few dozen cops. And when they’re done, they’ll bring in a few dozen more. We won’t be seeing him anytime soon. I’ve called Schwartz. I’m hoping he’ll let us know if we need a lawyer.”

Julius rubbed his forehead and sank into a cushy recliner. I bet he spent a lot of nights sleeping in it.

Paddy helped himself to the floor. He seemed at home there. “Did the cloud work?”

“That depends.” I glowered at him. “What was it supposed to do?”

“We didn’t know. I just siphoned some from the tank that didn’t blow. I figured if Acme was experimenting on us, we should return the favor.”

“You had to know he’d go after Gloria!” I shouted. “You had that can ready, knowing Andre would go after your mother. You planned this!”

See, even in my anger at injustice, the legal instincts kick in. He was talking premeditated murder. Almost. And I was the prosecutor. I really didn’t want to prosecute Paddy for murder. He had given Andre the can. He had to have expected her to go berserk. Was that murder?

“I had no idea what the gas would do, and I did not tell Andre to use it on anyone,” Paddy argued wearily. I wanted to believe him. “What happened?”

“You killed your mother,” I said bluntly.

Both old men instantly appeared older, more tired and gray, with new lines etched in their skin. I hated causing them pain, but a woman had died. My instinct was to seek justice, no matter how wicked she’d been.

“She was a lovely woman once,” Julius said, almost apologetically. “Very gracious.”

“Until my father died and she sold her soul,” Paddy said, surprisingly. “I thought at first she was just working too hard, learning how to run the company. I don’t think he left her in as strong a financial position as she’d expected. I tried to help but I’m a scientist, not a financier.” He gazed into the distance, as if trying to remember —or decide how much to reveal.

“My cousin Cynthia’s husband steered some government contracts to Acme,” he finally continued. “Since Cynthia’s father left her some Acme shares when he died, Mike had a family interest in keeping it running.”

Sleazy former Senator Mike MacNeill was Max’s father. Dane had stepped into his political shoes after MacNeill pulled some shady deals—probably using his influence to get Acme government contracts. Mike’s illegal activities were likely why Dane had had to place all his assets in a blind trust when he ran for Mike’s seat.

“We hired new management,” Paddy continued. “When they brought in the new element, my mother suddenly became obsessed with the company.” He ran a shaky hand through his hair.

“Gloria was always good to us,” Julius said wearily. “I wasn’t earning enough as a prosecutor to put Andre through private school, but she and Katerina’s mother were old friends. Gloria saw that he received scholarships. The Vanderventers probably helped me get appointed judge. And when I vacated the bench to care for Katerina, she hired Andre to work at the plant after he came home and couldn’t settle down.”

“PTSD,” Paddy said, as if repeating an old tale. “Andre went through hell overseas, fighting two wars and terrorists. He just needed time to get his head straight. He would have been fine.”

“But that’s when things started turning sour,” Julius argued. “In return for giving Andre a job, she wanted me to use my influence in favor of a rezoning to shut down Edgewater and the neighborhood.”

I listened, keeping my big mouth buttoned. These old guys were spilling secrets Andre would never have told me.

“That was back before the chemical flood, when Acme first obtained the magic element and needed to expand.” Paddy nodded in agreement. “That’s when it all went south.” He glanced up to me. “What happened today?”

Damn, I’d hoped they’d keep talking.

“Andre sprayed the gas in the can,” I said slowly, waiting to see if they would exhibit any understanding of what that meant. Both watched me with curiosity and nothing more. “Gloria went berserk.”

They turned to the woman in the bed. One whispered, “Damn.” The other just sighed.

15

Before I went home, I jogged down to the tunnel to check on our patients. Milo found a cushion in Andre’s place and appropriated it, declining to come with me.

The med students were now ensconced in the theater with the more ordinary zombies. Tim hadn’t rescued Leibowitz but had brought two more of the homeless guys. Since yesterday, the baby docs had decided the new healthiness of their patients had something to do with the IV nutrients. They were excitedly talking about getting grants to study homelessness, disease, and nutrition. So maybe something good would come of the gas, should the victims ever awaken—though that wasn’t looking likely.

With Katerina back in the tower, Sarah slept in lonely splendor in the official infirmary. Cora glanced up her