An Affair Of Sorcerers

through the body of the car.

Garth immediately turned on the wipers, but, despite the fact that he had them on at high speed, they had little more effect on the blurred windshield than someone swishing his hand through the water of a pond looking for something on the bottom. Garth slowed the car to a crawl as dozens of taillights, glowing like red wounds in the day, suddenly appeared on the road before us.

A few minutes before, I would have been glad for any excuse not to talk. Now I resented the storm's interruption, the way in which it had wrenched my audience's attention away from me. My certainty, and the words it generated, were building up with inexorable force, like poison in an infected wound.

After fifteen minutes of creeping along, watching Garth hunched over the wheel, I could stand the pressure no longer.

'April,' I continued, raising my voice so as to be heard over the snare-drum beat of the rain and loud flop-flop of the wipers, 'you were the one who told me Frank used to periodically drop manuscripts off at your home for storage and safekeeping. That's what he'd been doing with his book. The early parts of his research-the meat of what we want, including the names of the coven members and records of their activities-is probably still up there in your attic. That shopping bag you brought me was the last thing he brought up. I'm sure that, if we really look around up there, we'll find more than enough to put Krowl and the rest of the coven away permanently.'

April shook her head. 'I don't understand. You said that Frank told Kathy his book of shadows had been stolen.'

'Only part of it-the sections he had in his apartment. The main work had been done, and I'm betting he was just researching background material on witchcraft in general in order to flesh out the book. Those sections didn't have anything in them to identify the members of the coven; but when they were stolen, Frank knew his secret was out and that he was in deep trouble. It was those minor sections that Daniel stole.'

'Daniel?' April whispered breathlessly.

Garth was concentrating hard on the road, but at the same time listening intently to the conversation. I nodded to April and leaned forward so that my brother and Madeline could hear me over the roar of the storm.

'It had to be him. Kathy said her father told her that either Esobus or Daniel had taken his book of shadows. Well, let's assume he knew what he was talking about. I know the coven didn't take it, because Krowl asked me where it was. Admittedly, since Esobus has obviously been playing some kind of double game, it's possible that Esobus took it and didn't tell the others; but I don't think so. My money's on Daniel, and if April will take us to his house after we search her attic, I think that's where we'll find the missing sections.'

'I'll take you anywhere you want to go, Robert,' April said. 'But why would Daniel take Frank's notes?'

'A good question, and I think I have the answer. Daniel wanted to scare Frank off the project. Hypothesis: Esobus and Smathers were the seminal force behind the formation of the coven. Smathers was the front man, and Esobus provided the name that-theoretically-would attract the best ceremonial magicians. Like Michael McEnroe- and Daniel. Daniel was certainly one of the first men asked to join, but he turned the invitation down. All the real heavies-at least, all the ones Smathers knew of-turned it down.'

'But then, Daniel would have known about Smathers' involvement from the beginning, wouldn't he?' April said.

'Not necessarily. Smathers was the front man, but I think the original contacts would have been made through unsigned letters; Smathers wouldn't have wanted to be too up-front. Besides, the fact that the writer knew the identities of the ceremonial magicians in the first place would have lent the project- and the invitations-a certain air of legitimacy. Only if they responded-say, to a post-office box number-would Smathers come out of the closet. As I said, Daniel probably ignored the whole thing.'

Suddenly the taillights before us became brighter brake lights, an unmoving, twin smear of crimson stretching off into the blurred distance. Garth brought the car to a halt and pulled the emergency brake. There was no way of telling what was causing the solid tie-up, but it was undoubtedly an accident-and a big one. The situation had a feel of permanency about it, and I cursed under my breath. My nerves were raw with anticipation, guilt and anxiety.

'But Daniel would have known about the coven from the beginning,' Garth said thoughtfully, absently shutting off the wipers and ignition. 'That would be dangerous information to have.'

'Right,' I said tightly. 'Knowledge of the coven-and, later, information about what they were up to-probably made Michael McEnroe nervous enough to skip town by taking an extended trip to India. Now, considering the fact that we've been dealing with a bunch of crazies who make a fetish out of ritualistic behavior, Kathy's poisoning could begin to make some sense-if that's the word for anything these people did. It certainly didn't in the beginning: They'd already killed Marlowe, so why bother with Kathy? I got the definite impression from Krowl that there was a double betrayal-Marlowe's and someone else's. Who else did the coven think betrayed them? I think it was Daniel. The coven poisoned Kathy to get back at Daniel-to punish him in the most evil, devastating way they could think of. They were torturing him, while at the same time warning him that they could do the same thing to anyone he loved if he betrayed them again.'

Madeline had been half-turned in her seat, staring at me intently. Now she turned around and stared at the rippling, shifting sheets of water on the passenger window. 'How did Daniel betray them?' she asked distantly, her voice barely audible.

'He didn't, Mad. They only thought he did. But he anticipated the problem and tried to head it off by taking those parts of the book that Frank Marlowe was working on in his apartment. Daniel probably didn't know that he didn't have all of it, and by the time he found out it was too late anyway.'

'Sorry, brother,' Garth said, shaking his head. 'I've lost you somewhere.'

'I understand,' April said in a breathy whisper. 'Oh, my God.'

'When Marlowe was first approached, the coven didn't even know his real name,' I continued. 'He was initiated as Bart Stone, the Western writer. Somehow, the coven finally found out that he was researching their entire operation for an expose. About the same time, they found out his real name. From there, it was only one small step to finding out that Marlowe had been married to a witch who came from generations of occultists, and that his ex-brother-in-law was a famous ceremonial magician. . who'd ignored their invitation. They figured Daniel had turned Marlowe on to them.'

There was a prolonged silence, filled only with the wash, bangs and roar of the storm. Finally, Garth said, 'I like it, Mongo. It could be the way you say it is-but you're only guessing.'

'True. But I've had a lot of time to think about this-above and under water. The problem has always been finding an overall theory that will fit the available facts; this is it. Daniel eventually found out about the research project when Frank Marlowe approached him directly for information. Daniel immediately knew there was going to be a problem for him if they ever found out what Marlowe was up to, and he tried to warn Marlowe off. When that didn't work, he stole Marlowe's book of shadows as a warning.'

'I still don't understand why Daniel didn't come to the police after his niece was poisoned,' Garth said.

'He was afraid they'd drop the other shoe,' I said. 'On April. His only chance was to find them himself and convince them they'd made a mistake.'

'Yes,' April said very softly, slowly nodding. 'But there's more to it than that, and you'd understand if you'd known Daniel. He was a priest-and he behaved as a priest. Besides, if Robert's right about the bulk of Frank's book being in my attic, my brother really had nothing to tell the police; involving them could only make matters worse.'

'Assuming you're on target all the way,' Garth said to me, 'do you think we'll find Esobus' real name in Marlowe's manuscript?'

'I don't know.' I paused and lighted a cigarette; my hands were trembling. 'Frank might have spotted her if he'd hung around the warehouse long enough, but I'm not confident about that. I'll bet Esobus missed an awful lot of coven meetings-the real ones as well as the phony ones. Esobus is a very busy woman. In any case, I'm hoping she'll confess of her own free will.'

April put a trembling hand on my elbow. 'She?'

I reached into my pocket and took out the paper I'd removed from Esobus' cubicle. My stomach muscles