‘And what did she say?’
‘She could not confirm if any approaches had been made to you. She said that she had not put your name on the list, and you had not been her responsibility.’
‘So who added my name to the list?’
‘That doesn’t matter.’
‘It does to me, because it’s left me under the gun. You know. Who was responsible?’
‘Brightwell,’ said Epstein. ‘She said Brightwell insisted that it should be added.’
‘When?’
‘Shortly before you killed him.’
We were coming close to it now, the point of all this, the nexus of Epstein’s doubts about me.
‘Do you think I killed Brightwell because I knew he put my name on this list?’
‘Well, did you?’
‘No. I killed him because he was a monster, and because he would have killed me otherwise.’
Epstein shook his head. ‘I don’t think that Brightwell wanted to kill you. I suspect he was convinced that you were like him. Brightwell believed you were a fallen angel, a rebel against the Divine. You had forgotten your own nature, or had turned against it, but you might still be convinced to turn again. He saw in you a potential ally.’
‘Or an enemy.’
‘That’s what we’re trying to establish.’
‘Really? It feels like a kangaroo court. All that’s missing is the noose.’
‘You’re being overdramatic.’
‘I don’t think so. There are a lot of guns on show, and none of them belongs to me.’
‘Just a few more questions, Mr Parker. We’re almost done.’
I nodded. What more could I do?
‘The woman said something else about you. She said that your name had recently come up again, that there were those within her organization who considered you to be important. It was why she chose to send that particular list of names to us.’
Epstein reached out and took my hands in his. The pads of his index fingers pressed against the pulses on my wrists. To my right, I felt the intensity of Liat’s regard. It was like being hooked up to some kind of human lie detector, except this one would not be fooled.
‘Did they ever approach you with an offer, or a bribe?’
‘No.’
‘Did they ever threaten you?’
‘People have been threatening me for a decade, Brightwell and his kind among them.’
‘And how have you responded?’
‘You know how I’ve responded. I have their blood on my hands. In some cases, so do you.’
‘Do you belong to this Army of Night?’
‘No.’
I heard a buzzing to my left. A wasp was bouncing against the mirror above my head. From the sluggishness of its movements, it looked like it was dying. The sight of it recalled another meeting with Epstein, one in which he spoke of parasitic wasps that laid their eggs in spiders. The spider carried the larvae as they developed, and they in turn altered its behavior, causing it to change the webs that it spun so that, when the larvae finally erupted from its body, they would have a cushioned web upon which to rest while they fed upon the remains of the arachnid in which they had gestated. Epstein had told me that there were entities who did the same to men, dark passengers on the human soul, carried unawares for years, even decades, until it came time to reveal their true natures, and then they consumed the consciousness of their hosts.
I watched Epstein follow the progress of the dying insect, and I knew that he was remembering the same conversation.
‘I’d know,’ I said. ‘By now, I would know if I carried one of them inside me.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘There have been too many opportunities for it to emerge, too many times when it could have changed the course of events by doing so. If it dwelled within me, it could have shown itself and saved some of its own, but nothing came to save them. Nothing.’
Again, Epstein’s eyes flicked to Liat, and I understood it was her response that would determine what happened next. The gunmen watched her too, and I saw them ease their fingers beneath the trigger guards in anticipation. A tiny bead of sweat leaked from Epstein’s scalp, like a tear from some hidden eye.
Liat nodded, and I felt myself tense to receive the bullets.
Instead, Epstein released his hold upon my wrists and sat back. The guns vanished, and so did the remaining gunman. Only Liat, Epstein, and I stayed.
‘Let us drink, Mr Parker,’ said Epstein. ‘We are done.’
I stared down at my hands. They were trembling slightly. I stilled them with an effort of will.
‘Go to hell,’ I said, and I left them to their wine.