Marker of Faith

CHAPTER 30

CHAPTER 30

It was a tight fit in the back seat of the sedan, but Rattle seemed content enough to be wedged in with Minerva. She had her arm around him and he was leaning in, his head resting on her ample chest with his eyes closed; every few minutes he would yawn and Minerva would coo sweetly to him, like a mother to a restless child. She hummed to herself as she stroked his hair, and Rattle had a crooked smile on his face. John saw it all in the rearview mirror; he thought he might see canary feathers sticking out of the old cat's mouth the next time that Rattle yawned.

Roddy was half-turned in the front seat, one of his arms dangling over and the other wrapped around his headrest, just staring at Minerva. He looked like a lovesick puppy, and every once in a while Rattle would crack an eye open and wink at him.

John gripped the steering wheel tightly as he maneuvered the car down a stretch of bumpy road. He was driving fast and reckless, but the urge to put distance between their group and the latest murder scene outweighed any caution in his mind. He stole a glance in the rearview mirror again at Minerva, and sensing his gaze she looked up and smiled at him.

"We need to talk to you about all this," John finally said.

She nodded her head and sighed. "There's time," she whispered, turning her head to look out the window. "We need to get where we are going first, and then I'll tell you everything I know about this crazy mess." She started humming again and Rattle yawned.

John's cell phone rang and he plucked it from his pocket, driving one handed while he looked at the screen. It was Williamson. The carnage at the Moon Goddess had probably been discovered by now, and John wasn't ready to deal with the Chief yet. Not at all. There was no way without sounding insane to describe what had happened, and John was already treading on thin ice with the boss.

"You gonna answer that?" Roddy asked.

"That's a negative." John pushed the power button and turned off the phone. "It was the Chief, the last person I want to talk to right now."

Roddy's phone instantly started chirping and he laughed when he read the caller ID. "He must be desperate."

"Don't answer it."

"Way ahead of you, amigo," Roddy said as he turned off his phone.

Both John and Roddy's pagers went off at the same time. John unclipped it from his belt, and without looking at the message screen tossed it out the window. Roddy shook his head and then also tossed his own out the window.

"El Jeffe gonna be pissed," Roddy said with a laugh.

"What's new?"

Without really planning it, John was headed back to the cemetery. As they pulled up in front of the gate, Minerva laughed in excitement.

"Oh, this is a good place," she said with a nod of approval. "A safe place."

Much to John's surprise, Roddy jumped out of the car and ran to open the gate. With a flourish, he waved them through.

"I know, I know," Roddy laughed as he got back in. "Home again, home again, jiggety jog."

They pulled up in front of the cottage and it looked the same as they'd left it; empty, run-down and delightfully abandoned. No one else paid a visit while they were away in shadow land.

Rattle, no longer limping, carried Minerva's bag into the cottage and set it in a corner as the rest of the group shuffled in. He opened a cabinet, set low on the wall, and pulled out an old kerosene lantern. With a wry grin, Rattle lit the lamp, and the room shrank even further under the shadows created by the tiny flame. He stared at the peeling paint on the walls.