Blood Sins

Epilogue

TESSA EASED Sawyer's office door closed and joined the others in the conference room of the police station. "Ruby's asleep. Worn out." Hollis shifted in her chair to look at a clock high on the wait murmuring, "God, it's only a little after five. This day's gone on for a lifetime." She was pale and obviously still in pain, but just as obviously well on her way to completely healing the damage Samuel had inflicted.

"On the plus side," Quentin pointed out, "you emerged with a fun new ability. Thank God. Be honestdid you know about it when you decided to face off with Samuel?"

"Wish I could say yes. It would have saved me a lot of being, you know, scared half out of my mind. But, no. When I hit the ground, I thought I was dead. I didn't even know what I was doing, until I actually started to feel bones knit." She paused and frowned. "Which is a very creepy sort of feeling, I have to say."

"Creepy, maybe. But useful in our line of work." It was Quentin's turn to frown. "And maybe that explains all your near-death experiences so far."

"Probably," Bishop said. "Medium-healers tend to have an incredibly strong will to survive."

Quentin said, "I think it was the medium part that tipped the balance. It shook Samuel just enough to give Tessa and Dani the time they needed to get into position. Nice going," he added to Hollis.

With a grimace, she said, "Yeah, well, he called my bluff."

"You were bluffing?"

A soft laugh escaped her. "Had to. Either all the energies out there weren't enhancing my abilities for once, or the spirits decided to stay out of it. Either way, I was sooo bluffing. Hard as I tried, I could not open a door."

"Damn," Quentin said blankly. "I mean damn, Hollis. Thank the universe for that new ability and the will to survive."

"Yeah. I really did."

Tessa shook her head wonderingly, then looked at Sawyer. "Speaking of the will to survive, what's going to happen to Ruby?"

"I don't know. Her mother and so many of the others seem almost catatonic now. I wonder if, in the end, Samuel will have as many living victims as dead ones."

"Bailey will do what she can up there," Bishop said. "The guardians in the SCU are, among other things, psychologists or counselors. And we have others on the team who can help."

"Can they?" Tessa asked steadily.

"Some. I don't know how much, to be honest. Samuel was a wholly destructive force."

"Will he destroy Bambi?"

It was Sawyer who answered, with a faint grimace. "If Senator LeMott buys her the best defense money can buy, I doubt she'll spend a day in prison. The bastard was abusive, and most of his followers look and sound dazed at best and brainwashed at worst. Hell, I didn't want to have to put her in my jail. Even if I did see her kill him with my own eyes, I'd defend her in court."

"I think we all would," Bishop said. "Even Reese."

"How long will he stay at the Compound?" Hollis asked.

"Probably not long, if I know him. He'll make sure there's someone to run things up there, assuming the congregation wants to continue. He and Galen will make certain all the evidence Tessa found is collected. Not that we need it for a prosecution, but perhaps for Bambi's defense. And to tie up a few loose ends for us."

"You know," Quentin said, "we still have a few unanswered questions." He realized he was being stared at, and qualified, "Even more than usual, I mean. Like, who was Andrea, our spirit who told Hollis where Ruby could be found?"

"Why did Samuel have an obsession about buying up mostly worthless property?" Hollis added. "And did he really intend to destroy the world?"

Tessa joined in. "How was Bambi able to hide her true intentions from Samuel? She didn't read as psychic, and her mind seemed to be an open book."

Bishop had an answer for that one. "It was because she wasn't psychic, ironically. He'll never admit it on the record, but Senator LeMott had her hypnotized, and planted very deeply and very carefully some post-hypnotic suggestions. That word he used out there today, 'viper'? That was the trigger, what activated the order to kill. Until that moment, even Bambi wasn't conscious of what she was going to do. Because she wasn't conscious of it, Samuel didn't read it."

Quentin said, "I thought a person couldn't be hypnotized to do something as drastic as killing against their will."

"They can't, according to all the research." Bishop shrugged. "LeMott found himself someone entirely willing to kill. For a price."

"The female of the species," Quentin said, adding a hasty, "Present company excepted, obviously."

Sawyer said, "Do my questions count? Because I've got a lot of 'em, beginning with why all my officers act like they're finally awake and ending with the significance of that medallion DeMarco said Sarah Warren had on her when she was killed."

"I can only answer the ones about Haven," Tessa told him. "And probably not all of those. But the medallion is something we all carry when we're on assignment."

"It's a start," the chief said with a sigh.

Slowly, Bishop said, "What I really want to know is, who told the Director that Galen was shot and killed?"

Abruptly serious, Quentin said, "Only three witnesses were there that night. We both know it wasn't Reese."

Bishop nodded. "Which leaves the two church members he was withCarl Fisk and Brian Seymour."

"Funny thing," Quentin said. "Brian Seymour hasn't been seen since his last shift in the security control room late last night."

"So was he working for the Director?" Sawyer wondered out loud. "Or for somebody else who wanted to keep an eye on the SCU? Just many enemies do you have, Bishop?"

"At least one more than I need," Bishop answered. "And that's the one I'm going to have to find."