gave me my excuse. I wanted time. Now we can use their ignorance to our advantage. We have to plan to have this telephone conversation.”
“There’s a good-sized desk in the other room,” said Michael. “This little Louis Quinze thing will fall apart if we try to use it.”
She smiled. He’d said he loved French furniture, but everything in this room seemed to be prancing. The gilded moldings were bubbling up and down the paneled walls as if they were made of neon lights. Hotel rooms, she had been in so many of them. All she could think of when she’d arrived was, Where are the doors, where are the phones, does the bathroom have a window for possible escape? Another flash of Lasher’s hand closing on her arm. She flinched. Michael was watching her.
Yuri was staring off. He hadn’t seen her shut her eyes, and then struggle to catch her breath.
“They know,” Yuri said. “Their newspaper clippers will have seen it in the New Orleans papers. Mayfair. They will have seen it, and faxed the clippings home. They know everything,” he said. “Absolutely everything. All my life is in their files.”
“All the more reason,” said Michael, “to set to work now.”
Rowan stood still. He’s gone, he’s dead, he can’t hurt you. You saw his remains, you saw them covered with earth when you put Emaleth with him. You saw. She had folded her arms and she was rubbing her elbows. Michael was speaking to her, but she hadn’t caught the words.
She looked at Michael.
“I have to see this Taltos,” she said. “If he exists, I have to see him.”
“It’s too dangerous,” said Yuri.
“No, it isn’t. I have a small plan. It will take us only so far, but it is a plan. You said that Stuart Gordon was Aaron’s friend?”
“Yes, for years they worked together. You want us to take Stuart into our confidence? You want to trust Ash that he has told us the truth?”
“You said that Aaron had never heard the word Taltos’ until it came from Lasher’s lips?”
“That’s correct,” said Michael.
“You can’t contact those two, you can’t do it!” said Yuri frantically.
“Michael, the drawing can wait. I have to call Claridge’s.”
“No!” cried Yuri.
“I’m not a fool,” she said with a small smile. “Under what name are these odd-sized persons registered?”
“I don’t know.”
“Describe them,” said Michael. “Say the name Samuel. Yuri said everyone knew him, they treated him as if he were a jolly little Father Christmas. The sooner we make this call the better. They could have already left.”
“Aaron never knew what a Taltos was, he never read anything or heard anything—”
“That’s right,” said Yuri. “Rowan, what are you thinking?”
“All right. I make my call first,” said Rowan. “Then you make yours. We should go now.”
“Don’t you want to tell me what you mean to do?” asked Michael.
“Let’s see if we can reach these two. It falls apart if we can’t reach them, and we’re back to the starting line. Let’s go.”
“I don’t have to draw pictures?” asked Yuri. “You said something about pictures.”
“Not now, get your jacket, come on,” said Michael. But Yuri looked as helpless and confused as he had all morning. Michael took the jacket off the chair and put it over Yuri’s shoulders. He looked at Rowan.
Her heart was pounding. Taltos. Got to make this call.
Twelve
MARKLIN HAD NEVER seen the house in such an uproar. This was a test of his talent to dissemble to the max. The council room was crowded with members, but the meeting had not been called to order. No one noticed him as he passed in the corridor. The noise was deafening under the arched wooden ceilings. But this commotion was a blessing. No one seemed to care about one novice and his reactions, or what he did or where he went.
They had not even awakened him to let him know what was happening. He’d stumbled onto all of this when he’d finally opened his door and discovered several members “patrolling” the hallway. He and Tommy had scarcely exchanged words.
But by now Tommy had reached Regent’s Park and disconnected the fax interception. All physical evidence of the false communications was being destroyed.
And where was Stuart? Not in the library, not in the parlors, not in the chapel praying for his beloved Aaron, not in the council room, either.
Stuart could not break under this pressure! And if he was gone, if he was gone to be with Tessa … But no, he would not have fled. Stuart was with