When she arrived at headquarters, Deming was ushered into a small waiting room. She was made to wait for a few hours, with nothing but the drone of FNN on the television screen and old magazines to keep her company. Finally Mimi’s secretary arrived. “She’s ready for you now, dear,” Doris said.
Deming entered the office and took a seat across from the massive desk. The Regent was certainly in a foul mood. The Venator thought she had never seen a person with a blacker affectus, and steeled herself for a tongue-lashing.
But after a heavy silence, Mimi only sighed. “You’re very lucky. Piper’s so traumatized from learning about Victoria’s death that the Crandalls have decided not to file a complaint.”
“I assume complete responsibility. If you’d like me to resign . . .” Deming said, looking squarely at her superior with her head held high. What happened that morning was a blow to her ego, but she had no time for self-pity. She felt a huge amount of shame, and promised herself she would make it up to Piper by bringing Victoria’s real murderer to justice.
“No. I don’t accept. We need you more than ever. While you were breaking down your suspect, this arrived in my in-box.” Mimi flipped her screen around so Deming could watch. This time, the video was much shorter. It was just a freeze frame of a bound and shackled vampire. But the message was the same. On the eve of the crescent moon, watch the vampire burn.
“Who is it?” Deming asked, stoic in the face of this new disaster.
“Stuart Rhodes. Duchesne senior. He’s been missing since Rufus King’s party in Connecticut. Saturday night. You were there, weren’t you?”
“Yes.” Deming reviewed her memories from that evening, but she had been so busy with Bryce she hadn’t paid attention to anyone else, hadn’t noticed anything odd. Stuart Rhodes. Who was Stuart Rhodes? He wasn’t part of the in-crowd. But it had been a tasting party, which meant every Blue Blood at Duchesne was usually invited. Deming had a vague memory of a small, quiet boy standing to the side, watching everyone from behind glass-bottom lenses.
“Anyway, it’s the same thing. Just like Victoria’s video,” Mimi said.
“Is there any link between Victoria Taylor and Stuart Rhodes?”
“As far I know, none. Stuart is not . . . Well, let’s just say he had his own friends,” Mimi said delicately.
“You think this is random, then?”
The Regent shrugged. “Isn’t that for you to find out? Anyway, just like before, his location has been masked. We can’t find him in the glom.”
“This thing’s on the Internet?” she asked, motioning to the screen.
Mimi nodded. “Yes, but the Conspiracy’s working to add the Suck movie tagline on it. That should be up within an hour.”
“Good, that takes care of exposure.”
“But it doesn’t help us find our victim,” Mimi pointed out. “You heard the video, and this time we only have three days until the next crescent moon. I’ve managed to keep the Conclave unaware of this new hostage for now. I can’t take the wards down again; not that it helped us any last time. So start doing what I brought you here to do. You’d better come up with something, Chen! Find me my killer! Find Stuart! Or I swear to God when the Coven dies, I’ll take you down with me.” The Regent did not need the help of the glom to look like a wrathful Angel of Death just then.
But Deming remained unperturbed in her seat. “Understood.”
“You seem awfully confident,” Mimi huffed. “What are you planning?”
“What I should’ve done the minute I arrived in New York. A DeathWalk.”
THIRTYSIX
Background Checks
The next morning the Lennox brothers listened intently as Deming outlined what they would need to help her prepare for the mission. After yesterday’s humiliation she had believed she would never be able to work in New York again, that her fellow Venators would demand she be taken off the case and shipped back directly to China. Instead the brothers were being extraordinarily understanding. It happened all the time, they assured her. Venator work was not infallible. They made mistakes. What was important was that they kept trying.
The plan was for the three of them to enter the glom together, with Sam keeping an eye out for danger and staying at the top level, while Ted would follow her as far as he could into the spirit trail, stopping just below the subconscious layer. Once Deming flatlined she would be able to go underneath the masking spell, locate Stuart, and pull his body out of the real world and into the glom, where the boys would be waiting to help, and then the four of them would jump out together.
“Still sounds risky,” Sam said, shaking his head. “Once you’re in the protoconscious, you’re on your own, and you might not be able to get back into your body in time.”
“Yes, technically I’ll be dead for five minutes and my heart will stop beating. But five minutes out here is like five hours in the glom. I’ll have plenty of time.”
“It’s your call.”