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THIRTY-NINE
Puppetmaster
Just as Paul had said, it was all a big fake. That evening the Venator team swarmed his small bedroom. Sam was searching the glom memory while Ted and a tech aide worked on the computer.
“Take a look,” Ted called, pointing to the screen.
Deming leaned over and read the e-mail. It was from Victoria Taylor.
Paul, Thank you for everything. The European Coven has agreed to take us. I cannot wait until Stuart and I are together again. You are a true friend. —Victoria
Everything had been staged as meticulously as a small theatrical production. Victoria had procured a corpse from the morgue. That was the body of the girl who had burned in Newport. There were dozens and dozens of e-mails from Stuart and Victoria. They had planned to leave the country the day of Stuart’s alleged burning. The whole thing was a hoax, an escape plan hidden within a conspiracy threat.
Luckily, it had all worked out for the best. No vampires had been harmed. Everyone thought Suck was a movie. The Red Bloods were still in the dark.
“You guys picking up Victoria and Stuart?” Deming asked.
“According to this they’re meeting at JFK in an hour. We’ll be there,” replied Ted.
“The attic?”
“Checked out. His fingerprints were all over the computer, and fibers from the trunk of the car matched Stuart’s DNA.”
Deming realized Stuart had likely been in the trunk the night they had left Rufus King’s party. So that was why Paul had looked so nervous when she’d asked him for a ride.
Sam Lennox returned from the glom. “Nothing here but boredom and loneliness,” he said. “No sign of any violence or agitation. Looks like the kid was telling the truth.”
It was just as she’d thought. Deming nibbled on her cuticles. Unlike the pretty story Paul had told her about Piper, in this one, everything had been as he’d described.
Deming felt relieved. She had gotten to the truth this time. Or had she? A nagging doubt remained. Everything fit too well, too simply . . . whether it was because it was the truth or because Paul had prepared another elaborate lie, she just wasn’t sure. She had to cover all her bases.
&nbs
p; “It’s too easy,” she muttered.
“What are you thinking?” Sam asked.
“Look, you guys kept those ashes from that burning, right? Have the bloodline checked. Just confirm that it wasn’t Victoria.”
“Done.” Ted nodded and called into the Venator team back at the Repository to order the test.
“Keep a team on Rayburn,” Deming ordered. “He’ll be waking up soon enough. Then when you guys are done here, meet me back at Bleecker. I want to take another look at those masking spells. Make sure everything checks out.”
FORTY
DeathWalk
Then the Lennox brothers met Deming back at Venator quarters, one look at their drawn faces told her all she had to know. Sam sunk into the nearest battered armchair. “You were right. The bloodline is unmistakable. Victoria Taylor is dead. She’s been dead for weeks.”
“And we checked the bond records,” Ted added. “Victoria didn’t have a bondmate in this cycle. Stuart didn’t either. They were free agents. At least in this lifetime. But in any event, they weren’t together, and they never were. It was all a lie. All the e-mails were faked.”
Deming kept her calm, but her hands were shaking. “Stuart Rhodes?”
Sam shook his head. “The only thing we found at the airport terminal was an urn with remains. The lab’s going through it now, but I have a hunch it’s Stuart. Looks like the body’s been dead for three days. The video was a lie. There was no saving him from the beginning.”
“Where’s Paul?” she asked.
If it were possible to look more desolate, Ted Lennox managed it. “The team lost him a few hours ago. He slipped away; they don’t know how. Look, whoever or whatever this guy is, he’s dangerous. He’s not one of us, and he’s killed two vampires already. He’s able to conjure a doppelgänger. That’s real dark magic right there.” The Venators had found no trace of the girl in Paul’s car in the glom memory, which meant she had never existed.
