He was walking down the corridor, conferring with an aide, who was holding a folder open in front of him. I stood against the wall, waiting quietly and out of sight until they reached me. Then I hurried to keep pace with them. Both him and his aide looked over at me, startled.
“Senator Duke? Could I talk to you for just a minute?”
The aide turned to shield the senator, blocking my access to him. He said, “I’m sorry, the senator is much too busy right now. If you’d like to make an appointment—”
“Really, just a couple of questions, we don’t even have to stop walking.” I hopped to try to catch sight of Duke around his aide. “Senator? How about it?”
He looked straight ahead and didn’t slow. “One question, if we can keep walking.”
“Of course. Thanks.” The aide glared at me, but shifted so I could walk next to Duke. “Why did you bring Elijah Smith here?”
“Because he understands my mission: to see these . . . diseases . . . eradicated. I’m sure you understand. And he’s a man of the cloth, which brings a respect that these hearings are sorely in need of, wouldn’t you agree?”
“A man of the cloth? Really? Of what denomination? Have you seen any kind of identification for him?”
He frowned. “I’m sure he’s a good Christian preacher who teaches that faith saves.”
“He wasn’t what you think. He wasn’t helping anyone.”
“Was?” he said. He stopped and looked at me. “What do you mean, was?”
“He, uh, had to leave town suddenly.”
Glaring, I thought he might start a fight with me right there. His aide’s eyes widened, like he was worried, too. “What have you done?”
I stood my ground. I wasn’t going to let him cow me. I had authority, didn’t I? Yeah, right.
“You believe, Senator. I know you believe: ghosts, devils, angels, good and evil, the whole nine yards. Elijah Smith was a demon, preying on the weak and helpless. I hope you’ll believe me.”
His expression was cold, but his eyes held a light—a kind of fevered intensity. “If he was preying on anything, it was your kind. Vampires and werewolves—monsters. Hardly the weak and helpless.” He gave a short laugh.
“We’re all just people at heart, Senator. I wish I could make you understand that.”
“That’ll be for the committee to decide.” He gestured to his aide and stalked down the corridor. His aide scurried to keep up with him.
I met Ben outside the Senate office building. He seemed surprised to see me coming out the door instead of arriving via the sidewalk.
“You’re up early,” he said, raising an inquiring brow.
“Um, yeah. By the way, we don’t have to do anything about Smith. You don’t have to look into it.”
He studied me closely. “What did you do?”
“Nothing,” I said far too quickly. “Well, I mean, we did a spell.”
“A spell?”
“We just threw some herbs and stuff around. That’s all.”
“It’s not something you’re going to end up in court over, is it?”
Not human court, at any rate. “No, I don’t think so.”
He sighed. “Just for you, I think I’m going to raise my rates. To pay for the hair loss treatments.”
He was such a kidder.
We entered the meeting room and found our usual seats. Cormac hadn’t shown up since Duke fired him, but Ben said he was still in town. Just in case, Ben said, but wouldn’t say in case of what.