An Affair Of Sorcerers

That was a new wrinkle, a little frightening. 'Dr. Robert Frederickson,' I said tightly.

'Just a moment, Dr. Frederickson,' the woman said. There was an odd ring to her voice that made my stomach contract painfully with anxiety. 'There's someone here who wants to speak with you.'

I waited, breathing shallowly and tapping my fist impatiently against the glass. A few moments later April came on the line. She was crying, and for one terrible moment I feared I was about to get the dreaded news that Kathy was dead. But then I realized that she was crying with happiness, and her weeping was punctuated with joyous laughter.

'Robert!' April cried. 'We've all been waiting for you to call! Dr. Greene says he thinks Kathy's going to be all right!'

Someone was banging a gong inside my skull again, and there were tears in my eyes. 'Have they found out what's wrong with her?'

'Yes!'

'How? What's wrong with her?'

'I don't know all the details, Robert. Who cares? Just get over here, will you? I want to hug you!'

Garth pulled up just as I was flagging down a cab. I got into his car, told him the news, and we drove off toward the Medical Center.

Garth kept asking questions, which I fended off. At the moment, I was too tense and tired to talk; but in that small part of me that wasn't totally drained, I felt elated. If Kathy was going to live, we were all home free. Almost. The sky had grown overcast, and the city was awash in a dull bronze glow. I kept telling myself that the poor light was the reason I didn't seem to be able to see too well.

Chapter 15

True to her word, a beaming April grabbed me as I walked into Kathy's room. She joyfully mauled me, then started on Garth.

'Where's Kathy?' I asked, nodding toward the empty bed.

'They have her a floor below, in a special-treatment center,' April said, wiping away tears of happiness. 'Dr. Greene said something about lithium poisoning. The point is that they can clean the poison out of her body now. He's convinced she's strong enough to survive.' She paused, put a hand to her mouth and hiccuped, then laughed and hugged me again. 'You saved her life twice, Robert. First from the fire in the apartment, and then when you brought Esteban to her.'

'Where's Esteban now?'

'He's gone with Senator Younger and Linda to their hotel suite; he can work with Linda there.'

'What about Daniel?'

April's eyes clouded for a moment and she shook her head. 'I don't know where my brother is,' she said distantly. 'I haven't heard anything from him since he was here last.' She sighed, brightened. 'But that's not unusual for him. God, I can hardly believe that Kathy's going to be all right!'

I accepted April's kiss on the mouth, and felt a thrill shudder through my body as I kissed her back. I caught Garth watching us, a bemused smile on his face. I flushed, cleared my throat and looked away. Garth knew.

Joshua Greene emerged from the elevator at the end of the hall, saw us and fairly skipped down the corridor. His dark eyes and white, even teeth shone in his ebony flesh. 'Good news, huh?' he asked, grinning broadly.

'To say the least,' I replied. 'Is Kathy. . really going to be all right?'

Joshua nodded. 'She'd been poisoned with a massive dose of lithium. Lithium occurs naturally in the body, and it's hard to trace without a specific test for it. She should be regaining consciousness soon.'

'A nice piece of medical detective work, Doctor,' Garth said admiringly. 'We all thank you.'

'I'm afraid we don't deserve the credit,' Joshua said thoughtfully. 'As a matter of fact, Officer, I'm glad you're here. There's something I'd like you all to hear.'

The doctor led us down a side corridor to a small office. Garth, April and I went in, and Joshua closed the door behind us. 'We'd have discovered the lithium eventually,' Joshua continued, 'but perhaps not in time. The information that saved Kathy's life came to us in a tape recording. That's what I want you to listen to.'

Joshua opened a drawer and took out a small tape cassette, which he placed on a playback machine he'd already set up. There was about fifteen seconds of silence; then a voice began speaking. The voice was eerily distorted into a metallic, wailing tone, a kind of electronic falsetto which made it impossible even to tell whether the speaker was a man or a woman. The voice quickly described what had been done to Kathy: a large dose of lithium injected anally so that no needle mark would show. The approximate dosage was given, and then the tape abruptly went silent.

'That's it,' Joshua said, shutting off the machine. He ejected the cassette and handed it to Garth.

'How did you get the tape, Doctor?' Garth asked, putting the cassette in his pocket.

'It came this morning, by Special Delivery. I'm sorry if I've ruined any fingerprints on it.'

Garth shook his head. 'I doubt there would be any fingerprints on it to begin with. Whoever sent this is too clever to leave obvious tracks.'

We all stood in stunned silence for a few moments. It was Garth who finally broke the silence.

'Does the voice on the tape mean anything to you, Mrs. Marlowe?'

April slowly shook her head. 'No,' she said softly. 'It sounds like some kind of machine.'

'It means that someone in Esobus' coven got cold feet,' I said.

'I'll take Kathy away from here,' April said with a heavy sigh. 'We'll go someplace where no one can ever hurt her again.'

'We'll get whoever is responsible, Mrs. Marlowe,' Garth said tautly. 'We don't want any other little girls to be hurt.' He turned to me. 'It looks like we have you to thank for smoking out whoever made this tape.'

'Maybe we should be thanking Daniel,' I heard myself saying. I was distracted by all the new questions raised by the recording. 'Then again, this tape may have been sent for an altogether different reason.'

Joshua cleared his throat. 'Excuse me, but I must get back to Kathy now. Mongo, don't forget to come in for your shot tomorrow.'

'Thank you, Doctor,' Garth said as the thin black man walked from the room.

April turned to me and took my hand. 'Now, at least, you can rest and take care of yourself.'

'And I'll take you home,' Garth added, putting one of his large, strong hands on my shoulder.

'Hey,' I said, pulling away and almost falling over. 'I've still got a client.'

Garth frowned. 'What the hell-? Who?'

'Kathy,' I said evenly. 'She gave me all the money she had to find her father's book of shadows. I figure I haven't earned my fee yet.'

Garth walked me out of the hospital. 'You know,' he said wryly, 'that remark about the girl giving you all her worldly goods in order to help her father sounds like the punch line from a Christmas story.'

'Yeah. I'm a sentimentalist.'

'You want a beer?'

'Not really.' The excitement surrounding Kathy's pending recovery and the strange tape recording had made me temporarily forget my aches and pains. Now they all came back; I felt as if I were collapsing in on myself. My thumb and stomach were beating an excruciatingly painful rhythm, in unison. 'Christ, Garth, I'm tired. I think I'll go home and sleep for a week.' 'That sounds like a remarkably intelligent statement, coming from you. What are you going to do when you wake up?'

'You know the answer to that.'

He grunted. 'I do. That's why I want to talk. Come on. You should eat something, anyway. Try to stay awake long enough for a little conversation.'