Night of Demons - 02 Read Online Free PDF Page B

that. I spotted her bright red Harley.
    “I’m not supposed to let you in,” Matt told me when I started heading for the grounds. “You’re not on the payroll anymore.”
    Which was nitpicking, since he’d just admitted that Cassie—who had never been on the payroll—was already in there. Besides, every cop knew what I did these days. I seemed to have developed a real talent for facing down problems of the supernatural kind. And it wasn’t just a knack. I’d found out recently that there was something more than that involved. Higher powers watching over me. I didn’t understand that fully, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to. So I tried to forget about it, simply get on with the job in hand.
    Matt was making no real move to stop me.
    “Saul inside?” I asked.
    “Where else would he be?”
    “See you later, then.”
    I reached across when I went past him, giving his shoulder a firm squeeze. I was trying to show him that I understood. So many of us have lost people that we care about to magic.
    He simply looked away, then reached up and yanked at the peak of his cap, and that was all I got from him.
    Once through the gates and past the conifers, surprise struck at me. I’d only been here a couple of times. But I didn’t remember the Tollburn place being quite as small as this. He had been very old. His wife had passed away. He didn’t need a larger dwelling. Perhaps, it occurred to me, the house had once been bigger, and he’d used his powers to hive it off into a space where he felt comfortable. I’d known adepts do stranger things to their homes, Woodard Raine for instance. But then…no, don’t get me started.
    The lawn was dense with moisture. A couple more uniformed cops were out there, playing their flashlight beams across the wet turf, looking for signs of anything that shouldn’t be there. This entire area was surrounded by trees, I noticed, giving it a closed-in look.
    “I can see footprints going in,” I heard one of the guys say. “But none coming out. What the hell is that about?”
    I had to admit, it didn’t sound exactly promising.
    With most of the lights in the house on, the leaded windows made it look partway like a cage. But the door was wide open. There was another patrolman, Hugh Williams, stationed by it. He stepped back and let me in. I wiped my shoes on the mat and then, finding no one in the living room, went through to the back.
    When I saw the corpse, I felt my frame twitch. Lucas Tollburn was the last person that you’d expect to see this way. Such a massively respected figure in the town, an adept of almost legendary power.
    He was lying faceup in a pool of blood. But there was more than that. He had apparently been mutilated. I’d met the man several times. He had seemed amiable and charming. So…who’d do such a thing, and for what reason? Why?
    The examiner was crouched over the body. He was new to the team, a small, yellow-haired guy called Troughton, and I didn’t know him very well.
    Saul Hobart and Cass were standing at opposite sides of the conservatory, their backs propped against the glass, watching the man do his work. I could make out silhouettes beyond them, the trees I’d noticed and a higher section of the hill, a few other lights shining in the distance. Their heads came around when I walked in, and both Hobart and Cassie nodded to me. Cassie looked like she wanted to favor me with a brief smile, but then thought better of it. She is used to death and tough that way, but understood she ought to be respectful.
    The detective lieutenant, Hobart, was smartly dressed as usual, in a plain navy suit, a blue shirt, and a knitted woolen tie. He was, above everything else, a family man. He had a wife and three young daughters up in the northern suburbs. And they defined most things about him.
    Massive, sometimes lumbering, he was no soft touch—don’t get me wrong about that. But he was generally slow and thoughtful, sizing up the consequences of his actions. The