The possibilities ran through his mind. Jonas had been at the library, he lived across the water from the Merlin property and he seemed to be around when he shouldn’t be at times. Jaden and Ted knew the truth about the reliquary—and were always at the library. Joe Richter had been the one to have access to the house, and he’d just admitted that he’d wanted to buy it. Chris Vargas, petty criminal, had been in the house. None of it meant anything; as evidence, it would all be laughed out of a court of law. The reliquary had to be the key; the real one was far more than a talisman against evil.
It had been the receptacle in which a million-dollar diamond had been smuggled.
Who did he really trust?
His cousin, David, and Katie. Sean and Vanessa. They’d been through enough together. But Ted and Jaden and Clarinda and Jonas had been around for a hell of a lot of bad stuff, too. They’d proven their mettle. They couldn’t be guilty of any—evil.
Getting into his car, he swore softly into the air.
He had nothing. There could be someone out there he hadn’t begun to suspect.
As he got in the car, he got a call from the station. It was Ricky Long, who was working computers and research for the week.
“Hey, boss,” Ricky said.
“What did you get?” Liam asked him.
“George Penner is a tourist from Virginia City, Nevada. He went home three days ago. I spoke to him, and he told me that yes, he’d been in the library, in the rare-book room. He’d been researching shipwrecks, and he said he didn’t know anything about the book that was missing. I checked with local police, as well. He was born and bred in Virginia City—it was his first trip to Key West,” Ricky told him.
“All right. Well, that takes care of George Penner,” Liam said. “What about the other name? Bel Arcowley?”
“Well, boss, I can keep going, but I haven’t found a reference to him—or her. I swear, I called most places in town, I still have a few to go—you know how many inns, bed-and-breakfast places, private homes, hotels, condos and time-shares there are in Key West?” Ricky asked him.
“Yes, I do, but keep checking, all right?” Liam asked.
“Sure. You’re the boss. This is about the Merlin place, isn’t it?” Ricky asked. “Yep.”
“That’s one screwy place. But I don’t understand what the book has to do with anything.”
“I don’t know, either. That’s what I need to find out.”
“You know, it’s probably a fake name,” Ricky said.
“That’s possible. You just have to sign in—they don’t ask for ID. A librarian has to open the door to let folks in, and they try to keep an eye on letting folks out,” Liam said. “I think I should get over to the library. See if I can find out which librarian let the man—or woman—in.”
“Should I give up on the calling?” Ricky asked.
“No, keep trying.”
“Will do,” Ricky said. “Anything—just so long as I don’t have to go back in that house!”
Liam twisted his key in the ignition and headed back north toward Old Town.
If someone had come into the library with the express purpose of stealing a book, that person would have used a fake name.
He pulled off on the side of the road and took a notepad from his glove compartment. He wrote the name. Bel Arcowley.
He started to move letters around. It didn’t take long. The words were an anagram.
Abel Crowley. Someone out there was really playing games.
Deadly games.
Sitting in Cutter’s study, Kelsey read from In Defense from Dark Magick.
She had started first delving into more boxes and crates, looking for more magic tricks, but she didn’t come across any. She found some ancient Chinese funerary forms and a collection of communion chalices, but at that point decided that reading would be better than delving.
“Too bad it’s not an audiobook!” Avery told her. “We could listen together and get all kinds of things done!”
“I don’t think they were doing audio when this came out,” Kelsey told him.
“I’m going to take care of shelving these chalices in the glass cases out there—two shelves have room, if I move some of the Chinese lucky cats,” he said.
“That’s great. Thanks, Avery,” Kelsey told him.
It was comfortable; he shelved and she read.
The first part of the book was a series of prayers against different forms of evil. “Lord, protect me from the miasma in the air, in the disease of the Devil’s making, that travels in the air we breathe. We lift the cross to thee, we beseech thee in the forms of Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Cast out thy evil that we take into our lips and lungs, and guard us from that form of his torment,” Kelsey read aloud.
“And if it had been the right time in history, they could have taken vitamins!” Avery said.
“The whole first part of the book is just incantations like this, nothing that strange,” Kelsey said. “The concept was that the devil was in everything, in people, in the air, in illness…in the weather! Listen to this one. ‘Dear Father, in the name of the Holy Mother and all the Saints, cast the demon Devil from the seas, from the wind that blows, and rocks our ships, devouring them to a watery grave.’” She looked over at Avery. “I can’t believe that Cutter believed any of this!”