The Night's Legacy Page 19

  “Sure. In the meantime your little stunt at the Fed is going to have Washington so far up my ass you’ll be able to see them when I open my mouth!” Rahnasto hurled the empty tequila glass at Set. It missed by a wide margin, shattering on the floor.

  “If the government tries to interfere, they will be destroyed as well.”

  “Just like you destroyed the SWAT team tonight?”

  “The time was not right to strike.”

  Rahnasto snorted and poured himself some tequila straight from the bottle. He would probably end up with a lightning bolt in the chest before much longer, but he didn’t care. It was better than continuing to follow this madman around. “I think the time was right and you were too scared to do it! That woman frightened you off.”

  “The girl is of no consequence. My plan is continuing to move smoothly. We have taken the wealth of forty-nine banks.”

  “Money insured by the Federal government.”

  “That will not matter. The people of this city will still tremble with fear. They’ll take to hiding money under their mattresses, in coffee cans buried in their yards. They’ll trade their feeble paper money for gold or precious gems, something with a more permanent value. And now they know their pathetic leaders can’t protect them. Nor can this Silver Seraph.”

  “What good does that do me? I already had a sweet deal. The do-gooders mucked things up, but even they were under control.” Rahnasto finished off the bottle. “I got too greedy. I thought I could have them gone and make even more money. Instead I wind up in bed with some goddamned revolutionary. A goddamned lunatic who thinks he’s an Egyptian god. You’ve ruined me, you son of a bitch!”

  Rahnasto threw the bottle at Set, but again it missed. For his part the “god” showed no signs of discomfort. He hadn’t even leveled his staff to threaten Rahnasto. That probably meant a lightning bolt was due at any moment.

  Set glared at him with those glowing red eyes. “The plan will continue. In the meantime, I will take my leave to devise a way of dealing with this new hero.”

  “Go on, run and hide, you bastard!” Rahnasto shouted, but there was no one there.

  Chapter 18

  Lois couldn’t sleep and it was too early for visiting hours at the hospital, so after changing out of the armor, she found a diner near the hospital to get some coffee. The waitress was older than her, but had the same bored look on her face as she sauntered over to Lois’s table. Before the waitress could say anything, Lois said, “I’ll just have a black coffee. Bring the cup and leave the pot.”

  “Rough night?”

  “Pretty much.”

  Like when she had been the one in the uniform, the waitress just nodded and went to fetch the coffee. The sociable types generally didn’t work at four in the morning; they preferred the busier hours. It would get busier in an hour or two as the workaholics rose and the first commuters began showing up. By the time the place really got hopping, she could go over to the hospital and check on Mom.

  She gulped down the first cup in one long pull. The caffeine didn’t help her already jangled nerves. She poured another cup to savor a bit more while she thought about the last few hours. When she closed her eyes it all seemed like a dream, like something from a movie. It was certainly the kind of twist reserved for the movies or soap operas. In less than two weeks she had found out that her mother was a superhero and her father a vigilante bum. What next, a long-lost evil twin?

  She tried to put these thoughts out of her mind to concentrate on the real problem: Set. What Sam had said did make some sense; it would be easier to stop Set if they could catch him without that magic stick of his. She couldn’t imagine who would go around in such a getup, pretending he was an Egyptian god. She wished she could ask Dr. Johnson about it, but he was dead. Had he known Set’s real identity? If so, it would explain why he’d been murdered and his office trashed. She ought to pay a visit to Dr. Johnson’s house later and see if he had left behind any notes on Set that might be helpful.

  She didn’t realize she’d fallen asleep until she heard glass breaking. Opening her eyes, she saw another waitress had dropped a stack of plates. The diner was almost full now of men and women in work clothes, reading newspapers, chatting with each other, or checking their phones. She found the bill tucked beneath her saucer, probably left by the waitress hours ago. Looking at her watch, Lois saw it was already ten o’clock. She dropped some money on the counter and then hurried out the door.

  Dr. Pavelski looked a little better rested but still concerned. She stopped Lois before she could go inside to see Mom. “I’m not sure it’s a good idea for you to go in there,” Dr. Pavelski said.

  “She giving you more trouble?”

  “Not really. She’s just not talking. Not a word since you left.”

  “Is she catatonic?”

  “No, but something’s eating her.”

  “Other than that she’s paralyzed?”

  “Yes. What did you two talk about yesterday?”

  “Just the usual: how much of a disappointment I am.”

  “Lois—”

  “I need to see her. There’s something important I need to tell her.”

  “She doesn’t need any shocks to her system right now.”

  “Don’t worry, this is going to take some of that weight off her shoulders.”

  The doctor relented, letting Lois into the room. She found Mom awake for once, not that she seemed very awake from the way she stared at the wall. Lois bent down so that her eyes were level with her mother’s. “Hi, Mom.” When Mom didn’t say anything, Lois added, “The silent treatment? That’s pretty juvenile. You’re fifty years old for Christ’s sake.”

  “Language,” Mom whispered.

  “So you can still talk after all.”

  Mom Glared at her and said, “I told you not to come back. I’m very upset with you.”

  “I know, but this is important. I ran into someone last night. A Mr. Sam Rivers. That name ring a bell?”

  The way Mom’s face paled and her eyes began to tear up, it meant a lot to her. “How did he die?”

  “He’s not dead, Mom. He’s just got a broken arm. Some rubble fell on him and I pulled him out of it and took him back to his place. I pulled off his mask and figured out who he was.”

  “You were always too smart for your own good,” the way Mom said this was not a compliment. “What did he say?”

  “He told me everything: how he played dead after the mob tried to whack him, how he met you on that don’s boat, and how a certain museum director fell madly in love with him.”

  “I wasn’t the director when I fell in love with him,” Mom said. Then she sighed and said, “I guess now you want an explanation.”

  Lois sat down on the chair, pulling it close to the bed. She didn’t want to risk Dr. Pavelski or anyone else overhearing them. “How could you let him do that? How could you keep that secret for so long?”

  “To protect you. And Betty and Richard and the museum. They would have tried to take everything from Sam if they knew he was still alive. That’s why we had to keep the secret.”

  “You could have told me. I could have kept the secret too.”

  “You were just a little girl. It was too much of a risk.”

  “What about when I came back here? Wasn’t I mature enough then?”

  Mom smiled at this. “I didn’t want to risk that you’d try to leave again. I know he’s not what you hoped for in a father. You must be terribly disappointed in both of us.”

  “Did you really love him, Mom, or was it just a schoolgirl crush?”

  “I love him.” She reached out to take Lois’s hand and squeeze it. “I know it’s hard for you to understand. Sam understands me better than anyone except your Aunt Betty when she was still alive.”

  “Even better than Dr. Johnson?”

  “Yes. There were things about me Richard could never know, let alone understand. That’s why it never worked out with us. When your father was in the hospital, we
spent a lot of time talking in a way Richard and I never could. He filled the hole in my heart that had been there since your grandparents died. Do you understand now?”

  Lois wiped tears from her eyes and nodded. She had always thought of Mom as just Mom, the wise, patient authority figure telling her to clean her room, do her homework, and not use such bad language. She had never seen her mother as a woman before, a woman who needed someone who understood her loneliness and heartache, someone to comfort her in the bad times. “I understand, Mom.”

  “I’m so sorry about how all of this turned out. I would have given anything for you to have a normal family, a normal life.”

  “I know, Mom,” she whispered. Lois was careful when she hugged her mother not to undo any of the tubes or wires connected to Mom at the moment.

  “And I’m sorry I got so angry with you yesterday. You were only doing what you thought was right.”

  “It’s fine. You’re just trying to protect me like you always have, but I don’t need you to worry about me so much. I’m not a kid anymore.”

  “I know, but old habits die hard.” Mom let out another sigh and then smiled. “I think I’ve had enough excitement for one day.”

  “Goodnight, Mom.”

  “Goodnight, sweetheart.” With that Mom closed her eyes and fell asleep again. Lois sat there, head buried in her hands and she cried.

  * * *

  When Lois had gathered herself enough to leave the room, she found herself immediately ensnared in a crushing hug. “Oh my God, I’ve missed you so much,” Melanie said. “I wanted to come visit you sooner, but there’s been so much going on with the museum and all that. How’s your mom feeling?”

  “She’s a little better,” Lois said into Melanie’s shoulder. She managed to wriggle free of Melanie’s grasp and force a smile to her face. “How are you doing? The police weren’t too rough on you, were they?”

  “No, they just ran Tony and me off.” Melanie looked down at her feet as if suddenly embarrassed. “I’m sorry about Dr. Johnson. He was a good guy.”

  “He was.” Lois looked down at the floor as well, feeling her face turn warm. Melanie was a nice girl, but they weren’t exactly BFFs yet; she couldn’t confess to Melanie yet just how much Dr. Johnson had meant to her.

  Melanie was the first to break the awkward silence. “Hey, how about we get some lunch? I’m starving.”

  “That sounds good.”

  They went down to the hospital cafeteria, Lois never liking to stray too far from Mom during visiting hours. The cafeteria food was wretched, but not as bad as some things she’d eaten, or some things her father had probably eaten. She didn’t want to imagine what he was having for lunch in that crummy shack of his.

  After buying a dry turkey sandwich and some stale cookies, Lois took her tray over to where Melanie was picking at what passed for a salad, trying to find some lettuce that hadn’t wilted yet. “It’s not exactly Couere de Mer,” Melanie said.

  “You get used to it after a while,” Lois said, looking around at the doctors and nurses who had long ago adjusted their palettes for this slop.

  “Do they know anything more about your mom yet?”

  “Not much. Dr. Pavelski says that with some therapy, Mom should be able to move her arms and upper body around like normal.”

  “That’s great.”

  Another awkward silence fell over them. It didn’t bother Lois as much as Melanie; from the way the other girl’s cheek kept twitching, she was desperate to say something. Lois took a bite of her sandwich and then said, “Any idea yet when the store is going to reopen?”

  “Tony said in a couple of days, once the police have finished their investigation. I’m not sure I want to go back. Thinking about what happened to your mom and Dr. Johnson, it’d kind of give me the willies being there, you know?”

  “Me too.”

  “Are you going to come back? Tony and I would totally understand if you didn’t. I mean, your mom probably needs you here for moral support and stuff like that, right?”

  “She’s asleep most of the day. When she’s awake, she’s usually telling me that I should leave town again, find somewhere safe.” Lois sighed and tossed the sandwich aside. “In a way it would be nice to go back to work, to have something to do, you know? Most of the time I’m here I’m just sitting around, doing nothing. At least at the gift shop I’d have something to occupy my mind.”

  She didn’t mention most of the thoughts occupying her mind at the moment concerned her father and how to avenge her mother and Dr. Johnson. Melanie was one of the last people Lois would entrust with a secret like her dual identity as the new Silver Seraph. Half the city would probably know an hour later.

  “If I come back, I hope you’re there too,” Melanie said. “Tony’s a nice guy, but it’s more fun having another girl there, you know? Someone I can talk to and stuff.”

  The way Melanie looked down at her salad as she said this and the softness of her voice, told Lois that something was going on. “Is something wrong?” Lois asked.

  Melanie shrugged. “I have problems with my mom too. Only she’s way meaner than your mom. She just won’t let it go about Ollie. I mean, hello, I get it that you think he was a jerk and everything, but that doesn’t do me any good now, you know? Not unless someone builds a time machine or something. Is that possible yet?”

  “No.” If time travel were possible, Lois would have a lot of things to fix, starting with running away from that diner seven years ago. She knew that wasn’t what Melanie needed to hear at the moment, though. “Look, sometimes mothers can be hard on you, but it’s because they care about you.”

  “I don’t think my mom’s ever cared about me. Not since Daddy left. All she ever does is pick, pick, pick.” As Melanie said the latter she stabbed at the salad with her plastic fork. Lois figured Melanie was imagining the brown lettuce as her mother. “Why didn’t I get better grades in high school? Why did I go to community college instead of a real school? Why did I take that job working for Ollie? Why did I marry him when he was so clearly a jerk? She’s like that every single time I talk to her. Nothing I can do is right to her, you know?”

  “She’s probably just worried about you. She wants you to be happy.”

  “Maybe.” Melanie pushed her salad away. “I think if my mom were in here I’d let her lie around all day by herself.”

  “Come on, you don’t mean that.”

  “I might.”

  “Hey guys, got room for one more?” Tony asked.

  “Sure,” Lois said, glad to have someone else around to help break the gloomy mood. She pushed aside a chair for him to sit down. “How’d you know we were down here?”

  “I went upstairs and they said you two had left, so I thought you might come down here for lunch,” he said. He had bought a greasy slice of pizza that looked far from appetizing. “Oh, I brought you a message from upstairs.”

  “A message?”

  He nodded and then reached into his pocket. He unfolded a piece of pink stationary. “The nurse gave it to me. She said someone called there trying to find you.”

  “Any idea who?”

  “No, the nurse didn’t say.”

  Other than a local phone number there was a name written on the piece of paper: Brian Brendel. She didn’t know anyone by that name. Maybe it was an alias her father used. Or maybe it was someone working for the mob or Set. Either way, she supposed she might as well find out. “Do you have fifty cents?”

  “Sure.” Tony reached into his pocket and then brought it back out with two quarters that he dropped into her hand. “Knock yourself out.”

  “Thanks. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

  She found a pay phone and dropped the quarters in. The voice that came on the other end belonged to a woman. “Brendel and Associates, how can I help you?”

  Brendel and Associates? Associates in what? “Hi, my name is Lois Locke. Mr. Brendel called me at the hospital.”

  “Oh yes, Miss Locke. Mr. Bre
ndel would like to see you in his office as soon as you can manage it. He has something very important to discuss with you.”

  “Like what?”

  “I’m not at liberty to say over the phone. I can have a car pick you upif that would be all right?”

  “Yeah, sure.”

  “Are you still at the hospital?”

  “Yes,” Lois said, wondering how they knew that. Did this Mr. Brendel have someone keeping tabs on her?

  “Very good. They should be there in a half hour.”

  Lois hung up the phone and then went over to her co-workers. “What did they want?” Tony asked.

  “I’m not sure. They’re sending a car for me.”

  Melanie’s good humor returned as she squealed at this. “A car! That’s so fancy. Maybe he’s a rich prince or something, you know?”

  “I guess we’ll find out,” Lois said.

  * * *

  The car was a Lincoln sedan driven by a burly man who looked as if he could be a mob enforcer. He said little to her along the way to Brendel’s office, which was fine with her. She didn’t feel especially chatty at the moment, not with so much to think about. There was her mother’s condition, her father’s emergence, and her new career on top of wondering who this Brendel was and what he wanted with her.

  The driver took them downtown, to the heart of the financial district. Lois had rarely visited this area, not having much use for the stockbrokers, lawyers, and insurance salesmen who took up most of the buildings. She couldn’t help craning her neck up though to see the tall buildings. What would it be like to try climbing one of those with the armor? She might get a chance to find out if Set kept trying to rob banks.

  The car stopped in front of the Rangell Building, a skyscraper made of smoky glass so that the whole thing looked like a big piece of obsidian. The driver opened the door for her, but she refused any help in getting out of the car. She wasn’t an invalid, not like Mom might be after she left the hospital.

  A middle-aged blond woman in a sharp black suit hurried up to her with a hand extended. “Miss Locke, I’m Cathy Sarasate, Mr. Brendel’s personal secretary. We spoke on the phone?”