I opened the back passenger door as far as possible and squeezed onto the back seat. “There,” I said, closing the door and settling into the cushy seat. I dropped my mace into the back.
We were alone. Finally. The warm glow of the dash lights lit the front of the cab. Fleetwood Mac sang about being a gypsy on the stereo.
“This is cozy,” I told Doc, who had turned in his seat to stare at me. Bewilderment and amusement took turns crisscrossing his face.
“Is this a kidnapping?” he asked, a grin now playing at the corners of his mouth.
“Maybe, but I’m new at this particular crime, so don’t laugh at me.”
He shifted in his seat so he faced the back seat. “What’s going on, Violet?”
“I wanted to talk to you alone for a bit before we go home where the kids, Aunt Zoe, Harvey, and whoever else shows up will be listening.”
“Talk about what?”
I patted the seat next to me.
His brow lifted. “You want me to come back there?”
“Yes. It will make things easier.”
“I don’t think there’s enough room to open my door.”
“Crawl through the middle.”
He shook his head, chuckling under his breath. “Never a dull moment with you, woman.”
A moment later, along with a few grunts, plus an elbow shot to the roof, he settled into the seat next to me.
I faced him in the shadows. “Is your elbow okay?”
“It’s fine. Is your head okay? The lidérc didn’t swirl things up in there, did it?”
“My head is the same as before, smartass.”
“Then why am I sitting in the back seat with you in a stranger’s garage in Lead?”
“Rosy isn’t a stranger.”
“Violet.” His tone said the gig was up.
I laced my fingers together in my lap. “I have an idea.”
His gaze narrowed. “Uh oh.”
“Hear me out.” I unlaced my fingers and rubbed my palms on my thighs. “After Dominick sees that his lidérc is back in its cage and agrees our deal is done, I want to sneak back to the Sugarloaf Building and have a séance.” When he continued to stare at me in silence, I added, “In the dark.”
“No.”
I continued. “I think I know how to kill the lidérc.”
“You think?”
“I’m pretty sure.”
“Absolutely not.”
I sighed and looked out the windshield at the snow shovel hanging on the front wall. “Doc, I understand why you might be resistant to this endeavor.”
“Resistant?” His voice was higher than normal.
I pressed onward, determined. “But it has to be done.”
“Enough, Violet,” he rasped, leaning his head against the seat back and closing his eyes. “Do you have any idea how much you scared the holy hell out of me today?” Lines filled his face, the shadows making the ridges look deeper. “When I got your cryptic text …” he paused taking a breath. “Jesus, I couldn’t grab your mace and get to the courthouse fast enough. Luckily, Coop had the key to get in and was waiting for me. Willis pulled up as we were unlocking the door.” He looked over at me. “I don’t know who was more afraid of what we’d find in that basement—me or your bodyguard.”
My eyes began to water again. I looked down at my hands. “I’m sorry I put you guys through that.”
He reached out and lifted my chin. “We signed up for this, but that doesn’t make it any easier when your life is on the line and we can’t do anything to save you.”
“But both of you did do something. Even Cooper helped.” Jane and Prudence, too.
He stroked my cheek. “What would have happened if Cooper hadn’t had a key?”
“Jane was going to let you in. She led you down to where I was, right?”
He nodded. “She led Cooper. He was the only one who could see her. Willis and I just followed.”
I caught his hand and held it. “I didn’t have time after Rex showed up at the office to do much more than react.”
“What do you mean?”
I told Doc about how weird my ex had been acting and then filled him in about Jane showing up, the whiteboard message, my struggle with Rex, him threatening me with a knife which ended with me getting cut and him receiving a stapler blow to the head, and then my escape into Jerry’s office thanks to Jane.
“Where does Cornelius fit into this?”
“He must have seen Rex and me in his monitor. I was locked inside Jerry’s office when he pounded on the door. Jane wouldn’t let me go out to him, though. She somehow knew the lidérc was inside of him.” I blew out a breath and recounted my conversation with Cornelius through the door, ending with, “How was Cornelius able to hold onto a lidérc? That thing was in me only a few minutes and I was an itchy mess.” Not to mention that cold, clammy sensation that had weighed me down at first.
Doc shook his head. “There’s more to Cornelius than we both know—probably even more than he realizes.” He rubbed his thumb over the back of my hand. “What made you decide to take the Hellhole route out of Jerry’s office?”
“Jane. She was with me almost the whole time, blocking the lidérc as she helped me escape.” I scooted into the middle of the back seat, moving closer to him. “She convinced me to go through the Hellhole again. We were down in the hole when she pointed at that ward and mimed that it was meant to keep whatever was in the tunnel from passing and heading topside.”
“What do you mean she mimed it?”
“She never actually spoke to me.”
He cocked his head. “You mean the whole time you two were communicating with sign language?”
“More like points and nods and scowls.”
He scratched his jaw through the heavy beard stubble. “Interesting.”
“Anyway, I ran through the tunnel and didn’t see a creepy red-armed beast, so it must slink around on another plane.”
“Or it just wasn’t there at the moment,” he said.
“Or the lidérc hadn’t lured it there this time.” I had a feeling that smoky devil
