Page 34 of Dead Beat

“But—”

Alex laid her hand on his shoulder. “I was in the real Tripp’s head. I saw what Spenser did. He hurt your dog. He tried to kill you. You let him drown, but you didn’t push him off that boat. You’ve been in my head.” She dropped her voice to a whisper. “You know I would have. That’s how I know you’re not a killer, Tripp. Because I am.”

He brushed at his damp eyes. “Why is that so comforting?”

Alex shrugged. “Help Dawes. Do what you can for Theo. Okay?”

“Okay.”

In the sunroom, Darlington sat across from a man who looked twenty but was over a century old. Alex righted the chair Kittscher had knocked over and took a seat.

“Let’s start with the easy stuff,” she said. “What did you do to Theo?”

“I let him care for me,” Kittscher said calmly. “He was of service. Why are you here? How did you find me?”

“We found your old papers,” said Alex. “Doubting Thomas. Not much of a front.”

“A bit of play,” Kittscher said. “I wanted my old friends to be able to find me if they had a need.”

“You wanted to show off,” Darlington said. “You wanted someone to know what you accomplished.”

“I see now you really are a man of Lethe.”

“Maybe,” said Darlington. “I certainly was.”

“You walked the Gauntlet.”

“Twice,” said Alex.

Now Kittscher looked confused. “Twice?”

“What? Like it’s hard?”

“But it is hard, isn’t it?” Kittscher said with a small smile, and Alex wondered how they had ever mistaken this creature, even briefly, for something that was human. “The descent always leaves a mark.”

“You’ve been waiting a long time, haven’t you?” said Darlington. “To brag to someone.”

“But it’s not really him,” Alex protested. “It’s his demon.”

Kittscher’s grin turned sly. “Yes and no.”

Alex thought of Tripp waiting in the other room. I don’t want to be a bully.

“The protection spell that…” She hesitated. She didn’t want to use Mercy’s name in front of this predator. “That we used to fight our demons, that gave us our salt guardians. It came from the Lethe library.”

“You had salt guardians,” Darlington said. “You conjured them before you went to hell.”

“Of course,” Kittscher scoffed, the arrogant young man emerging. “You went without protection? Such courage. Such stupidity.”

But Darlington looked thoughtful. “You all had guardians?”

“Little Lionel thought God was enough, but I insisted.”

“A good Christian. A believer. Reiter wasn’t there for plunder,” Darlington mused. “His was a spiritual journey.”

Like Turner, Alex thought. Reiter believed God was on their side, that Bible verses and the righteousness of their mission would keep him safe.

“Rich men can afford their faith,” said Kittscher. He laughed. “You can imagine my befuddlement at the end of it all. What’s an atheist to think when he himself becomes a god?”