Nick didn’t answer at first, but Ivan could tell from the tension in his body that this was because he was effectively paralyzed with shock or fear.
He gave him about twenty seconds to calm down, then prodded him with the pick.
“You,” Nick said, when he’d found his voice.
“Yes,” Ivan said. “Me.”
“You… you don’t exist,” Nick said.
“If you do not answer my questions to my satisfaction, then we will have exactly that much in common,” Ivan said. “Where were you last night?”
“When?” Nick asked.
“The whole night,” Ivan said.
“You want me to account for every minute?” Nick asked.
“You are a lawyer, are you not?” Ivan said. “Break down those billable hours for me.”
“I was here, until six.”
“And then?”
“Home,” Nick said.
“I think you are being less than complete in your accounting,” Ivan said. “You left when, exactly?”
“A little after six,” Nick said. “I didn’t exactly make a note of the time.”
“And you went where, first?”
“To the garage,” Nick said. “To get my car. Then I drove home… no.”
“No, you didn’t?”
“I went to the bar.”
“Which bar?”
“Spenser’s,” Nick said. “You wouldn’t know it. It’s…”
“Do not presume to guess at that which I do or do not know,” Ivan said. “You spent how long there?”
“Half an hour. Maybe an hour,” Nick said. “Then I went straight home.”
“When was this?”
“I guess about eight-ish, nine-ish,” Nick said. “When I got home, I mean.”
“And you stayed there the whole night?”
“Yes.”
“Doing?”
“Look, you bastard, I don’t even know what this is about, but your people took my daughter,” Nick said.
“And that’s why you did it, yes?” Ivan asked.
“Did what?”
“What were you doing?”
“Nothing,” Nick said. “My wife left me and my daughter’s gone. What am I going to do? I go to work, go to the bar, go home, and go to sleep. You want to kill me? Too late. I’m already dead.”
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Not Nick’s turn to play the villain yet, I guess. If Ivan goes after him every time something goes catastrophically wrong, he might find himself at fault when Nick finally does go after Tribe.
hourse -> hours
++ook;
“You… you don’t exist,” Nick said.
“If you do not answer my questions to my satisfaction, then we will have exactly that much in common,” Ivan said.
Now I love Ivan even more.
And I am by no means convinced that Nick is anywhere near as innocent as he seems. Though I do wonder if it’s somehow possible, given his apparent disbelief in magic, if he’s created whatever’s stalking them unconsciously…
^^^ that is totally plausible. i mean, the unconscious does have a way of doing things or conscious mind isn’t aware of.
i so loved the ending to this chapter. “You wanna kill me? Too late. I’m already dead.”
I agree with Miss Lynx…given that Nick killed his daughter with his combined imagination and lack of belief in the laws of magic, it seems extremely likely that his desire for revenge has translated into something real…
Or maybe the detail that one of the John’s is heading into the kingdom of the blind means that it’s the One Eyed King?
*shrug*
Nick is dead, he says? Perhaps that part of him that wanted to live is in fact something of the unknown beast stalking Tribe? The buried will to live, the subconscious, the perception based reality of magic…
? Or not.