“Shut up. Coming after him means she came after me.”
I take out the .45 and push it into his ribs.
“Do you know what happens to people who try to kill me or mine?”
Teddy has gone as white as his Rolls. He tries to swallow but chokes on his spit.
“Please. I don’t know what you want. The girl isn’t one of mine.”
I say, “Liar,” to double-check, but the moment has passed. I can read it in his heartbeat and his breath. The microtremors in his voice. The fucker is telling the truth. I keep the gun out anyway.
“Who could do that? Summon and control a spirit that powerful?”
“I don’t know. Maybe someone from the temple. For all I know, it could be Amanda.”
“Please. She can’t even keep her kid in line. What’s she going to do with a little Lizzie Borden?”
“Please don’t shoot me.”
“Are you sure? You can stay here forever with your drinking buddies.”
“What can I say to make you believe me?”
I lower the gun, resting it in my lap.
“Nothing. You already have.”
There’s no way the girl is one of his. At least if she is, he doesn’t know.
If she isn’t connected to Osterberg, then I’m back to nothing and this whole trip has been pointless. Traven ought to appreciate that. At least one of us will be happy. I should shoot Teddy just for getting in the way of me getting King Cairo.
“Let’s head back to the homestead, Teddy. All this fresh air is giving me hives.”
On the way back, we pass what looks like a pretty ordinary cemetery. There’s only one thing wrong.
“What’s the story with that patch of graves?”
“What do you mean?”
“American tombstones point east at the rising sun. Those face west. I think your necro-Teamsters blew the gig.”
He shakes his head.
“You have a good eye for someone so . . . excitable.”
“I’m an asshole. I’m not blind.”
“To answer your question, it’s an English Gnostic plot. They were contrarians to their very core, rejecting the reality of this world. When they died they were buried and marked in the wrong direction to display their disdain for this world for all time.”
“You’d make a billion dollars on Jeopardy! if all the categories were ‘creepy facts about the dead.’ ”
“Would you mind putting your gun away, Mr. Macheath? I think you can see that I’m no threat.”
“Yeah, but I’m a nervous passenger and it’s kind of like my security blanket.”
Teddy brings us back to the front of the house. He parks the cart back in the shade. Gets out and waits for me like an obedient kid.
“I hope there’s no hard feelings, Ted. After the ghost went after Saint James, you understand I had to check you out.”