“Don’t. I don’t want you in trouble over this,” Jesse said. “I could use a witness though. In case something goes wrong with them.”
Rowland nodded.
Jesse went back into the interrogation room. The statue creeped into his consciousness, a waiting force demanding audience. Lawson continued staring at it as if it were the only sight worth a damn on the whole planet.
Jesse took a seat at the table and couldn’t help letting his attention roam to the statue. Had one of the tentacles been pointed at the ceiling like that before?
A shiver ran down Jesse’s spine. Maybe staring at the damn thing was the wrong idea. He turned his attention to Lawson instead. “What can you tell me about the statue, Lawson?”
“Vows made must be kept,” Lawson replied.
There had to be a way to get him to talk. Jesse leaned in. “What if I want to worship? How am I supposed to find the other believers?”
Lawson scrutinized Jesse. “You’re tricky. Scholars never worship.”
“Plenty of scholars have faith,” Jesse replied. “How can I find mine if you don’t help me?”
“You already see them!” Lawson gestured at the statue. “It demands. It tells you. I can’t tell you.”
“But how am I supposed to be atoms within atoms without your help?” Jesse said.
“Everyone will be. Faith only means you find peace first. Once you find faith, she finds you.”
“She?” Jesse asked.
Lawson clamped his mouth shut, and his eyes widened with fear.
“Did she tell you to steal the statue?”
Lawson shook his head, but Jesse wasn’t sure if that was a denial that there was a woman involved or that she hadn’t ordered him.
“Did you steal the one from the Valless mansion?” Jesse asked. When Lawson said nothing, Jesse continued, “Some great faith you have, if you won’t tell me what you’ve done in service to it.”
“I have faith,” Lawson said.
“Then why steal the statues?”
Lawson chewed on his lip.
“Common burglary is hardly worthy of a god’s attention,” Jesse replied. “I bet your god doesn’t even know you exist.”
“It does!”
Jesse scoffed. “You broke in and took things that weren’t yours.”
“Liberated. I liberated the icons. They were in places without worship. They are needed elsewhere. Before they are abused and stripped of power.”
“Needed for what?” Jesse asked.
“Would you like to see?”
That sounded like a loaded, dangerous question, and yet Jesse couldn’t help wondering what Lawson meant. The need to know burned through him. “Show me.”
Lawson began muttering under his breath in a long, low set of sounds that Jesse couldn’t decipher. The words felt wrong, like an ice glue congealing around his thoughts. A terrible sense of cold wormed its way into the pit of his stomach.
The door to the room opened and Bryce walked in with Alex and the other man from the park. Alex had swapped out his sarcastic hoodie for a dark jacket, and he kept his hands in his pockets as he went to the other end of the room.
“Agent Dawes,” Bryce said. “We have the authority to remove the prisoner and the evidence.”
