Brynholf shook his head.
I drippedmy blood into his open mouth, slowly, and Nagisa came back with a gasp.We were parked an alley over from Feedworthy, back near the Arcade.
“Where are my Right and Left hands?”he asked.
“They’re safe,” Eddie said.“They managed to break away before the big crash.You’re fine.It’s me, you, Stacey, and Vic.We’re going to confront William Corcoran at the coffee house.You think you can get big and scary again?”
“What are you going to require of me?”Nagisa asked.
“You distract the Bruiser, and we’ll bust in and get him,” Vic said.
“That sounds like a most excellent plan,” Nagisa said.
“Let’s lock and load,” Eddie said.
Nagisa walked,solitary and alone, up to the Bruiser.It seemed markedly less active than the other had been—almost as if it were on standby.Nagisa began his chant and grew.He was not as big as he was back at the Mall—but he was still serpentine and deadly, and with a series of snaps and claps, he managed to rouse the Bruiser into chasing him off into the city.The pavement shook as they ran, footprints embedded into the street.
There was a crowd of deadies hanging about, also looking comatose.It was as if they had their off switch pressed.Vic blasted them with his shadow pulses, Eddie with his tire iron, and even I had a gun.I did not fall off the back of the bike this time.
When the crowd was cleared, Eddie kicked the front door in.
William Corcoran was sitting there as if waiting for us.
“Finally!”he exclaimed.
Vic moved as if he possessed—immediately invoking some kind of terrible specter of wrath that almost immediately immolated Corcoran on the spot.Twinkling flames and lava seemed to burst forth from the ground.
“That takes care of that,” Vic said.There was a morbid sense of satisfaction in his eyes.“I’ve been waiting a long time for that.”
“And that’s it?”Brynholf asked.
“That’s it,” I said.
“Vic is the reason we have no evidence of William Corcoran on the scene?”
“Yes,” I said.“As I explained before.”
“Destruction of evidence, then,” Brynholf said.“And you two are aiders and abettors.”
“I’d actually like to call Vic Almoday to the stand,” Abe said suddenly.
Vic looked as if someone had spiked him through the gut.
“I already gave my testimony,” he said quickly.
“The Defense has further questions,” Abe said, voice neutral.
“Myself as well,” Judge Volkheim said.“I see here from written statements Brother Al was both somehow at Hartshome and in the moving van, but also rescued Stacey when she was stranded on the ground, face to face with some Tazmynes?”
I searched the audience for Brother Al.He got to his feet, quickly leaving the Chamber we were in, the tailcoat on his jacket moving carefully as he descended another set of steps.
“I don’t think that’s relevant,” Abe said.“I insist on calling Vic back to the witness stand.”
“I already gave my testimony,” Vic snapped.
“Then you won’t mind repeating the truth again,” Judge Volkheim said.
“Stacey, you can’t pin the blame for this on me,” Vic said.
