Silver Linings

again, his killer's smile gleaming in the darkness.
    Rainbird had always been faster. Faster and infinitely more ruthless because he took a strange delight in the act of bringing death to others.
    Hugh scrambled backward, aware of sensation returning to his right arm. He barely dodged another swinging thrust of the knife as he got to his feet. He found himself up against a display case. Without looking at what was in the case, he smashed the glass lid with his bare hand and reached inside. The jagged edges of glass bit deep. Blood streamed down his arm.
    His fingers closed around the hilt of a sword just as Rainbird leaped in for the kill.
    Hugh yanked the sword out of the case. It was surprisingly heavy. But the weight and balance felt strangely comfortable, even familiar in his hand.
    He brought the weapon around in front of himself and thrust the blade out and up just as Rainbird came hurtling through the air.
    The sword sank into Rainbird's chest with sickening ease. A shattering scream rent the darkness and then there was an unholy silence.
    For a few seconds Hugh just stood staring down at Rainbird's body. He looked up as Silk came pounding down the hall and into the library.
    “He dead?” Silk asked, coming to a halt.
    “Yeah. This time he's dead.”
    “About time.” Silk squinted in the shadows. “You okay?”
    Hugh nodded.
    “Always knew you were faster than him. You just needed the right motivation is all. Come on, boss. We got to get out of here before the rest of those boy scouts get back. Mattie'll have our heads if we let anything delay us.”
    “I didn't plan to hang around.” Hugh realized he was still grasping the sword. He looked down. It was the one he had arranged for Cormier to sell to Charlotte Vailcourt, the one called Valor .
    Death to all who dare claim this blade until it shall be taken up by the avenger and cleansed in the blood of the betrayer .
    “You going to take that sword with you?” Silk asked, already moving toward the door.
    “Might as well. Charlotte will like having it in her collection. And I think Paul would have wanted her to have it.”
    There was no sense trying to explain to Silk that Valor felt clean now, Hugh decided as he followed his friend out into the hall. He could not even explain the feeling to himself.
    Hugh paused briefly in the doorway and glanced back at the body of the betrayer. Rainbird lay in a widening pool of blood. Hugh suddenly remembered another ancient prophecy. All they that take the sword shall perish with the sword .
    “You know, Silk, I'm sure glad you and me wised up a few years back and decided to get ourselves a couple of new professions,” Hugh said. “Nobody stays fast enough forever.”

CHAPTER

Twenty

    Mattie stood on the beach in the moonlight and watched the glistening breakers as they rose and fell on the night-darkened water. The lights of Hugh's cottage gleamed in the shadows behind her, but she did not turn around. Hugh was busy on the phone inside the cottage, talking to Charlotte Vailcourt. Mattie had walked down to the beach to think.
    Not that she had not already had ample opportunity to be alone with her own thoughts during the excruciating wait in the cavern on Purgatory. The short time that Hugh and Silk had been gone had seemed an eternity. When they had finally shown up with the blood-stained sword called Valor , she had known what had happened. She had not asked for explanations.
    Without a word she had bandaged Hugh's bleeding arm while Silk readied the cruiser. They had been on their way within ten minutes. Nobody had said much on the long ride to Hades, where they spent what was left of the night with the local doctor, who treated Hugh's arm. All three of them had fallen asleep from sheer exhaustion, risen early, and been on their way back to St. Gabriel by dawn. And through it all Mattie had said nothing of her plans. She had been waiting for the right opening.
    “Mattie?” Hugh's voice was soft in the shadows.
    She turned and smiled at him. “Finally finish satisfying Aunt Charlotte's curiosity?”
    “Yeah. Man, that woman can sure ask questions. But I think everything's under control at both ends now. The guy who broke into your place finally woke up. He's keeping his mouth shut, but the cops have him cold on three or four solid charges, including breaking and entering and assault with a deadly weapon. You and Evangeline sure did a number on him.”
    “Independent businesswomen have to be able to