Page 59 of End of Days

Shoshana began running up the stairs and I thought,Here we go. Crazy-ass shit yet again.

The inspector sprinted behind her, and I followed, saying, “I’m sorry. She’s really worried about her friend. Is it a man who was killed?”

The inspector didn’t answer, instead shouting, “Stop! Stop going up!”

We reached the third landing and Shoshana exited, going to the door with two cops outside. She managed to get past them, and then was finally stopped in the foyer, two officers holding her in place.

She wasn’t fighting them.

Which was a blessed relief, because if she had, they’d both be dead.

We entered behind her. The inspector said, “What the hell is going on? Why are you here?”

Shoshana looked at me and said, “This is it. He was here. TheRamsadkiller was here.”

Chapter 39

I was prepared to haul Shoshana’s ass out of the building just to prevent a catastrophic compromise of our cover, but when I heard her words, I paused. Shoshana had some ethereal ability to see past the mortal world. She could sense things that others could not. In the past, I had scoffed at it, but deep inside, where the primordial instinct lay, I believed. It wasn’t something that could be explained, and I’d be the last person to ever admit it. But I believed it was real.

The inspector looked at her, then at me, saying, “What’s she talking about?”

I said, “Nothing. She has a habit of going off the rails. Sorry to bother you.”

I glared at Shoshana and said, “Time to go.”

The inspector snatched my arm and said, “What’s she talking about? What’s aRamsad? Is that like a prostitute?”

I said, “No. She’s just crazy to find her friend. I’m sorry this happened.”

Shoshana looked toward an open kitchen window, seeing a rope hanging half in and half out. She said, “That red cord is the weapon, isn’t it?”

Lia heard the words and squinted her eyes at me, wondering what Shoshana had seen. I’ll be damned if she wasn’t reading me the same way Shoshana did. She understood I didn’t want to talk in front of the other uniformed personnel. She said, “Okay. Get the hell out of here. Right now.”

I said, “Gladly. Just let my friend go.”

They did, and we began walking down the stairs. I said, “What was that all about?”

Shoshana said, “The mastermind was here. The killer of theRamsad. I felt it. I could smell it. I saw it. I could taste it. That body in there was his kill.”

I knew she was trying to explain to a mere mortal what she saw, using the senses of an average human, but she hadn’t “seen” or “smelled” or “tasted” anything. It was something else, and I wasn’t sure if it was just her wanting to believe it true, or if it reallywastrue.

We reached the landing and I heard footsteps above me. Like I thought would happen, the inspector appeared and said, “I don’t know who you are, but I’m going to find out. And it won’t be pretty if you have information for our investigation and are holding out.”

Her Italian accent was adorable, making me wish yet again Knuckles was here.

I glanced at Shoshana and said, “Look, we have no idea what’s happened here, but we might have information about it from another investigation. We came here because of that. We had no idea about any killings in Rome. We’re looking for a guy who’s working against U.S. interests, not a killer of whores. If you tell us what you know, we’ll do the same. I think we’re looking for the same man, but for different reasons.”

“My name is Lia Vairo. I’m in charge of this investigation. I can pull you in by the authority vested in me.”

I looked at Shoshana and said, “What do you think?”

Shoshana did her weird stare over the woman, then turned to me, saying, “Yes.”

I saw Lia disconcerted with the stare, just like I felt when Shoshana did it to me. That thing wasn’t pleasant.

Lia said, “What the hell was that?”

I said, “I know you can arrest me. I’d prefer it if you didn’t. This is much bigger than a murder. I’ll help you find the killer, and you’ll help me prevent a lot more deaths than these whores here in Rome.”

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