“What about the mallet and the stake?” Kit asked quietly.
“I don’t know about you, but if someone waved a hammer and a sharpened stick at me, I’d back down in a hurry,” I replied.
“They’re just props to you and me, Kit, but they’ll mean something to Rendor. They may be our only hope of persuading him to come along peacefully.”
56 Nancy Atherton
Kit gave me a piercing look, as though he knew that the stake was more to me than a mere prop. Then he turned his face to the overcast sky and leaned back on the bench.
“Let’s say you’re right,” he proposed. “Let’s say that Rendor exists and that he’s some sort of pseudovampire. Why would he appear to the boys during the day? If you know that vampires are allergic to sunlight, I think it’s safe to assume that he would.
Wouldn’t he spend the hours from dawn to dusk safely tucked up in a pseudocoffi n?”
“He might believe that his cloak protects him from the sun,” I said, recalling Aunt Dimity’s comment.
“What cloak?” Kit asked.
“The cloak he was wearing when the boys saw him,” I explained.
“Didn’t they tell you? Rendor swooped. ”
I flung out an arm to imitate Rob’s impersonation of Rendor and flinched as the blackberry’s prickly branches raked the back of my hand. I yelped in pain, turned to take stock of my scratches, and saw, impaled on the blackberry’s thorns, a ragged strip of crimson fabric.
I stared at the fluttering wisp, transfixed, then reached out to disentangle it from the thorns. Fascinated, I rubbed the red scrap between my fingers, draped it across my palm, and turned to show it to Kit.
“Look,” I whispered. “It’s silk. ”
“So it is,” he said, stroking the cloth with a fi ngertip.
“It was stuck on the blackberry bush,” I said. “But the rain hasn’t rotted it and the sun hasn’t bleached it, so it can’t have been hanging there for very long.”
“It looks like a fresh tear as well.” Kit ran his finger along the scrap’s frayed edge, frowning pensively. “It’s not the sort of thing I’d expect hikers or horseback riders to wear.”
“No, it’s not,” I agreed, my voice quivering with the thrill of discovery. “But in Will’s drawing, Rendor’s cloak has a crimson lining.
Aunt Dimity: Vampire Hunter
57
He must have caught it on the thorns when he passed this way. ” I looked up at Kit. “And I’ll bet you anything that he passed this way a short time after he stood beneath your old friend, the apple tree, watching you, Rob, and Will on the bridle path.” I shivered at the thought and turned to look at the decaying headstones. “He must have felt right at home here.”
Kit, too, turned to look at the headstones. Then he took the wisp of crimson silk from my hand and held it dangling at eye level.
“Lori,” he declared. “I do believe you’ve fi nally found a clue.”
Seven
K it tucked the ragged scrap of silk into his breast pocket and passed the cup of tea back to me.
“I don’t suppose there’s the slightest chance of persuading you to call in the police,” he said resignedly.
“Not the slightest,” I assured him. “I’ve had a hard enough time getting you to believe me. Can you imagine what a desk sergeant would say if I told him that a pseudovampire was stalking my sons?”
“You’re wasting police time, madam,” Kit intoned in a ponderous rumble.
“Something like that,” I said. “Then he’d remember the newspaper stories about Abaddon shooting me in Scotland, and he’d treat me like a crazy woman who sees stalkers hiding around every corner. He’d probably send me off to see a shrink.” I shook my head.
“Sorry, Kit, but it’s up to us to fi nd Rendor—if you’re still willing to help me, that is.”
“Do you really think I’d back out now?” Kit asked, reverting to his natural voice. “It’s my fault he’s still at large, Lori. I was careless on Sunday. I should have been more thorough when I checked out the boys’ story, but I’ve been . . . distracted lately.”
I thought I knew what was distracting Kit, but I decided to make sure.
“It can’t be easy for you,” I said casually, “having so many new employees to manage.”
“They’re hard workers,” he allowed, “which is surprising when you consider their backgrounds. They all come from well-to-do families, you know. None of them need to work.”
“Even rich boys will get their hands dirty when they have the Aunt Dimity: Vampire Hunter
59
right motivation.” I swirled the tea gently in the cup. “Annelise seems to think they’re trying to impress Nell.”