I held open the servant’s jacket so she could see I was unarmed, then stripped it off and tossed it onto the top of the plastic cage. She stared at me in shock. Apparently, touching the cage was Just Not Done.
She entered and pulled the door shut. The latch didn’t engage because I had cut it off. “This is my home,” she said.
I felt a twinge of guilt at that. I had done a lot of rotten things and I’d broken my share of laws, but I didn’t like scaring women. Not that she looked scared.
Too late now. “I’m sorry for barging in, Ursula,” I said, trying to keep any genuine regret out of my voice. I didn’t think she’d trust a sympathetic face. “I had to see this setup for myself. It’s not much, is it?”
“What is it that you know that I do not?”
“That Asian fellow offered you a job, correct? To keep caring for Armand?”
She nodded. “Of course. I have cared for him for years. I am the expert.”
“Well, he doesn’t have Armand anymore.”
Her expression didn’t change. “What do you mean? Who has him, you?”
“No one has him, as of an hour ago. He’s running loose on the mountainside.”
Her expression still hadn’t changed. I didn’t like the way she was looking at me. It reminded me too much of Regina’s flinty stare. “Why should I believe you?”
“Because I’m here.” I sat in the rocking chair and didn’t let my smile fade. “I wanted to see whether he came back here. This is his home, isn’t it?”
“It has been for twenty-two years.” Both of us stared into the empty cage.
“Do you think he will come back here eventually? His home doesn’t look very comfortable.”
“He does not need comfort. He is not like other kinds of dog. At first, we gave him chew toys and soft blankets, but he never bothered with them. He never ate, either. Never drank water. I’m not even sure he ever breathed …” Her voice trailed off. I wanted to keep her going.
“Never ate?” I prompted. “What kind of dog is he?”
“He is not a dog, of course. Not a real one. He is a spirit. We fed him with our love. That was all he needed.”
We heard a pair of gunshots. They were far away, faintly echoing off the mountainsides. Maybe Biker wasn’t going home after all.
“My God!” Ursula said. “Are they hunting him?”
“No one is going to shoot him, not when he is worth so much,” I said. “It was probably—”
She turned toward me and raised the Colt. I threw myself and the rocking chair to the side as the gun went off. I rolled onto the floor, wondering if she’d hit me.
The ghost knife was already in my hand. I threw it.
The gun went off again, splintering the wooden floor. A moment later, the ghost knife sliced through the Colt’s barrel and hammer. Then the spell passed through Ursula’s shoulder.
Her ski jacket split open, but I knew the flesh beneath would be unmarked. The top of the pistol fell to the side, and the spring in the magazine flung the remaining rounds into the air. I
She stared in amazement at the weapon in her hand. I relaxed a bit and checked myself for bullet wounds—I’d heard people could be shot but not feel it. I didn’t find any blood. She’d missed. A little shiver ran through me; I’d been lucky.
I kicked the rocking chair away and felt it wobble. The gun or the fall had broken it. I rolled onto my knees.
The floorboards shifted. On impulse, I raised my arm just as Ursula body-slammed into me. I heard an electric crackle, then felt a sharp, burning pain on my biceps.
My whole body jolted as an electric current ran through me, making all my muscles fire at once. We hit the floor together, and the impact broke the connection. I twisted, reached up with my other arm, and caught her wrist.
She’d burned me with a stun gun, and if I hadn’t raised my arm, she would have zapped me in the eyes.
Her face was close. Her teeth bared, her eyes wide with a killing urge. Damn. The ghost knife had passed through her. Twice. Why hadn’t it worked?
I tried to push her off me, but she was too big and too strong. She raised herself up and put her whole weight behind the stun gun, forcing it toward my face.
I didn’t have the strength to hold her off with just my left hand, and my right was numb and weak from the shock. She grinned at me, and I could see triumph in that smile.
I forced the stun gun to the side and heard it crack against the floor by my head. Ursula cried out and dropped it. I twisted against her, letting her body weight roll over me. She fell onto the broken rocking chair and hissed in pain.
I tried to get out from under her, but she lunged toward me, mouth gaping. I leaned away as she snapped at me, her teeth clamping down on my collar inches from my throat.
To hell with this. I put my knees against her hip and kicked. She fell back and I rolled away onto my feet.
Ursula grabbed the stun gun and lunged at me, arm extended. She was a big woman, but she was slow. I caught her wrist and pulled her toward me, knocking her flat on her stomach. I pinned her elbow and quickly knelt on her shoulder. Now she was the one without leverage.
