Page 100 of Whispers at Dusk
“What? I killed them.”
“They heard you, Dante,” Della said. “They heard every word you said.”
“But maybe I’m a liar.”
“No, you’re crazy, sick, twisted, demented—pure evil,” Della said calmly. “But you’re not a liar. Go figure on that!”
Edmund stared at the man, barely controlling himself.
“Who?” he demanded.
“Me.”
“And who else?”
Dante started to laugh. “What? An Englishman! Oh, well, specially granted the power to carry a gun, but hey, no death penalty. You’re so damned civilized, and you can’t torture anything out of me, so...hmm. Oh! I can see it now! The legal wrangling that’s going to go on, the ragged diplomacy among countries, all wanting a piece of me! But prison in England? I will be out so fast you’ll never know what hit you.”
Edmund looked at Della and she knew. He had to step back out of the room. Or he wouldn’t be civilized.
“Forget him, we need help for these girls—” Della began.
But another man stepped through the door, Jeanne Lapierre.
He was followed by two Louisiana state officers and Detective Fremont—and a host of EMTs. The ramshackle cabin was growing crowded.
Mason looked over at Fremont.
“Can they get him out of here? I don’t know what legal wrangling will go on, either, but for now I believe the man is a guest in his own great state of Louisiana.”
“Officers?” Fremont said.
Silently and grimly, two of the plainclothes men made their way to Dante, ready to escort him out. He started fighting them.
“You two goons! Think you can drag me through all the brush—”
“Yeah, we do,” said the one, sliding a leg behind Dante to catch him at the knees, sagging down.
And then the two men started to drag him.
Dante was furious, looking back.
“Don’t kid yourselves! I will be free. I am immortal, evil is immortal, and I am immortal! I will see you drown in your own blood while I drink what is left! You will die, you will die, you will die!”
“We all die eventually,” Gideon said, staring after him as he was finally dragged out the door.
Della lowered her head, smiling. She couldn’t respond with others in the room. But they would get their chance; when they were alone, she and Mason could thank him.
He worried he couldn’t do much. Ghostscouldrattle the proverbial chains, and they could hit light switches. But gathering the energy for any such function was difficult and exhausting, and Gideon had come through. His distraction had given them the chance to save lives and to survive themselves.
The space was small.
The EMTs needed room.
“Can we get the hell out of here now,s’il vous plait?” Lapierre asked. “No, no, I don’t mean to offend, the bayou is wonderful, but...”
Della laughed. “We’re not offended, Jeanne. I think I have mosquito bites on my mosquito bites. Time to head back to civilization.”
There would be so much paperwork.
