Page 119 of Thief of Night
She just hoped that he and Posey were okay.
Charlie picked up the phone. “It looks like there’s an alley a couple of streets down. I am going to suggest that Mr. Punch meet me there.”
Rosalva peered at the map. But before she could answer, Mark walked into the room. He had a take-out bag with him, grease darkening a corner of it.
“You haven’t called yet?” he asked.
Charlie shook her head as she tapped out the number.
“Put it on speakerphone,” Mark said.
Taking a deep breath, she did as he asked. Now that she’d deleted the contact, once it connected, it didn’t display a name.
“Charlie?” Malhar asked, obvious relief in his voice. “What happened? Are you okay?”
In the background, she could hear people speaking over one another.
“I’m fine, Fred. Please put Mr. Punch on,” she said as clearly as she could without seeming unnatural.
There was a silence at that.Please,she thought.Please understand what I am trying to tell you.
“Hold on,” Malhar said.
A few moments later, Red’s voice came over the line. “Hello.”
Charlie bit the inside of her cheek to keep from sobbing with relief. He was alive.
A glance over at Mark showed that he was tense, but not yet suspicious. Mr. Punch was secretive and he had Rooster for a middleman. The chance that Mark wouldn’t recall the exact timbre of his voice was high, but not nothing.
“You’ve got to help me,” Charlie said. “I don’t have long. I made it out of the house, but I can’t see his shadows moving in the dark.”
Red spoke. “Everyone was very worried. Everyone but me. I’m angry, Charlie. I don’t need a Hierophant who can’t handle herself.” The coldness in his voice was a slap in the face.
“I need to get out of here. Please.” It wasn’t hard to let panic come into her voice. “He hurt me.”
“Tell me where you are.” Before, she’d said he was good at playing a role. Now she saw he could play more than one, because there wasn’t a hint of warmth in his voice.
“There’s a sign near me that says Maple Lane. You have to promise you’re coming right now,” Charlie said. “Or I’ll make another phone call. I’ll tell Vicereine everything. We’ll go down together.”
“You don’t need to threaten me. I’m getting in my car,” he said, voice icy. “Stay on the line.”
“I don’t want to chance anyone spotting me because of my phone. Flash your headlights twice when you get here and I’ll know it’s you,” she told him.
There was a long silence from the other end of the line. “Be careful, Charlie,” he said.
“There are so many shadows. Please just come soon.” She pressed the button to disconnect the call.
Mark studied her, then reached out his hand for her phone. She gave it to him.
“I told you that I could get him to come here,” she said, but her voice shook. Now she had to convince him to keep her alive. “And I can get him out of the car too. You still need me.”
“Then you better have something to eat,” Mark said, putting the bag of food between them on the table. “We’ve got fifteen minutes until go time.”
He’d gotten fish and chips. Charlie dragged a few fries through the tartar sauce. She could barely manage to choke anything down.
You’re fucked, Charlie Hall. And now you dragged Red into your mess.
She tried to tell herself that this was just another con. She had to misdirect Mark. Keep him off-balance. And then get the hell away from him when Red arrived. It wasn’t as though she hadn’t conned a homicidal maniac before. Salt certainly qualified.
