Daniel felt some of the tension go out of the fist gripping him, and he turned in the grasp.
Cop. He didn't need the uniform or the badge to know it. It was all in the stance and the eyes and the calm way he told Daniel, "You're coming with me."He turned and spoke more loudly to the waitress."Cancel the ambulance. Tiffany. The one on the floor looks like he'll be able to walk in a while. And I'd just as soon not make a big fuss out of this, know what I mean?" The cop nudged the downed man with his foot. "You want I should put this one outside?"
The redhead shook her head slowly. "Nah. Leave him on the floor, Ed. When he recovers, he can get out on his own. If he's got any complaints, I don't know about them. I was in back, filling ketchup dispensers all the time."
A very slight smile cracked the big man's face. "I thought you might a been. But you sure you want it that way? He might have a mind to be mean when he catches his breath."
Tiffany shook her head and wrinkled her nose in disgust. "S'okay, Ed. I think all his mean just ran down his leg. I don't think he'll give me any trouble."
Lore lei, who had stood quietly, suddenly twisted free of Tiffany's grip. "Let go of him," she said, taking Daniel's arm.
"He's going with me. And you're going home."The big man's voice brooked no argument.
Daniel shook his head, but didn't know what to say. Lore lei drew herself up straight. "You can't do that! He's hurt. And besides you gotta have, uh,probable cause. You can't say disturbing the peace,because he was defending me. That other guy was trying to buy me!" The sudden outrage in her voice was genuine.
"Oh, golly-gee! I wonder whatever made him think you were for sale." The heavy sarcasm in Ed's voice reddened Lore lei's cheeks and shame lowered her eyes. "Look at you," he went on. "Dressed like a street slut and talking like a jailhouse lawyer. Oh,your Daddy's gonna be real proud of his little girl."
Lore lei looked up, but the sudden flash of anger in her eyes threatened to drown in brimming tears. But Daniel jerked, stung. "You will not talk to her like that," he said. He could hear the concern that underlay the policeman's words, but he could not bear to see Lore lei so downcast. "You do not understand what has gone on this night."
The policeman smiled, all teeth. "You will not talk to me like that, gypsy. You and me, we're gonna take a ride and go talk to the little girl's daddy. You wanta explain what went on tonight, you can talk to him.But him.Butyou, I don't think he's gonna be real reasonable about it. So you might want to think about anything else you could tell him that would make him happy. Like maybe anything you know about a dead woman named Cynthia Kacmardk. Or one of your old gypsy buddies who's got some real interesting scars."
There was no mistaking the pattern the man traced on his face. It had to be Csucskari he referred to. Daniel simultaneously felt excitement and a heaviness inside him, as if his soul had turned to lead. His heart bid him follow Lore lei, but duty had ruled him too long. He had to go with this man, endure his questioning, no matter how he might be treated. A clever man could learn much from questions; it could not leave him farther from the Dove. He turned to Lore lei.
"It's all right," he told her. "I have to go with him.And him.Andt go home, where you will be safe. But it will be all right. You'll see."
The man on the floor suddenly got up and made a shambling rush for the door. No one moved to stop him, nor even commented on his passage. The waitress calmly crossed the room and started to right the chairs and tables.
"But you're hurt!" Lore lei objected hopelessly The tears spilled now, tracking lines in the smeared makeup."Your head's bleeding! And it's all my fault. If I hadn't-"
"He'll be okay. I'll take care of him," the big man said gruffly before Daniel could. "Look, Laurie. Tiffany's going to call you a cab, and you're going to go straight home. You came a gnat's ass away from big trouble tonight. If I didn't think this creep had kept you from really getting into it, I'd bust his head right here. So you just get yourself home and safe, and stay out of trouble. Okay?"
"Oh, sure," cried Lore lei angrily. She rubbed her face, completing the ruin of her painted eyes. "Little Laurie should go home and be a good little girl. I know what will happen. I'll never see him again!"The last was a wail that cut Daniel's soul.
"You will," Daniel promised, ignoring the policeman's dark glance. "I'll have to find you to get my fiddle back, won't I?" And he nodded to where the case was still propped in the booth they had shared.
Lore lei's face lifted a little. "You promise?"
"Little sparrow, I'd sooner part with a hand than my fiddle. For one without the other is no use at all.Iall.Icome for my fiddle." And for you, his eyes added,and he saw her hear the voice of his heart. She crossed the room and taking up the case, held it as lovingly as if it were his child.
"Get moving," the cop told him gruffly and started him on his way with a push. Daniel didn't resist. This one couldn't know it, but he was taking him closer to the Dove and the task that must be finished. And when it was finished, he would trust his fiddle to call him back.
"Ed?" It was the waitress, following them to the door. She was speaking softly. "You don't mind, I'm not going to call that cab right away. There's a few things I'd like to tell that little girl, before she goes any further. Sort of a payback to Mike, you know what I mean?"
"I don't know anybody else who could tell her better, Tiffany Marie. I'm going to take this fellow to Mike now, and I'll let him know. Hey, you need some money for the cab?"
"No. You just worry about what you've got to handle. But, uh, Ed, for what it's worth, it's true. That guy had his eyes on Laurie. That gypsy hadn't a stood up to him, he'd a taken her. For what it's worth."
"Okay. I'll make sure Mike knows it. See ya, kid."The cop pushed the door open with one black-gloved hand, and pushed Daniel before him with the other.Thother.Thereig car at the curb, grey in the street lights. "Get into it," the old policeman told him."You've heard of protective custody? Well, I'm going to put you in protective handcuffs." When Daniel didn't speak, but merely got into the car, the other grunted. "Don't touch nothing, and for Christ's sake,don't bleed on the upholstery."
Leaping in the darkness,
laughing in the wind;
Look down, look down,
look down, look down,
See the stars again.
"STARS OVERHEAD"
Durand slowly lifted his eyes to meet Stepovich's."You ever do drugs?" he asked curiously.
"No, god dammit! That's not what this was about!"Stepovich's voice rose enough to turn heads at the next table.
Durand lifted his hands. "Hey, it was a joke. Guess it wasn't funny. Look, you'd been hit in the head.Thahead. That."
"I hadn't been hit in the head when she was talking to me at her apartment."
"Yeah. Well, maybe that was just weird gypsy shit,you know? Mystical stuff, give the gull a good show,and all that."
"Maybe," Stepovich agreed grudgingly.
"Yeah. So, maybe what we oughta do is go back to Madam Moria's place. If she's there, we talk, only this time we've got a little more leverage, because we're there legitimately." Durand stressed the last word ponderously. "We'd be looking into what went on this afternoon."
"Makes sense," Stepovich said slowly. "But you can think what you like. I still think there's something to what I saw this afternoon. And to what she told me that night."
Durand shrugged. "Suit yourself. Can't hurt to keep it in mind."
"You know," said Stepovich, "there was a woman,a psychic, who got called in by Ashtabula County a few times for tough cases. County hired her to look at the scene of the crime and describe what had happened, and on a few missing persons cases."