House of Cthulhu Ch. 02

I'm going to kill him!

~

Sibyl set off to her long way home. A cold one, too, without her coat. She wasn't in a hurry anymore, though. Her body was aching from tiredness and the rough handling by the constables. But black and blue marks would soon be the least of her troubles.

Oh, please! Please don't do any shit with it!

~

László groaned and stopped at the balustrade of the vast gallery overlooking the counter hall. Below him, at the first counter, Sibyl was vociferously disputing with the armourer. The Hungarian already knew about what, for Grau had got a call from the redhead man, in which extent he -- László -- had been sent down to the hall.

He leant over the parapet.

"Sibyl! Grau's office. Now."

She snapped her head up, backtracking his voice, then moaned.

"C'mon, give me a break. These corrupt pigs have grilled me for almost four hours!"

He only kept staring at her from the twilight, and she sighted.

~

László had been implacable, and so Sibyl was standing in front of Albert Grau's desk with a dure-looking Albert Grau behind it five minutes later.

"Good morning, Doktor Grau."

"Good morning, Sibyl. Where is your pistol?"

Here we go...

The office, with all its piles of books and overburdened shelves, seemed now like a tomb to her, darkly foreboding in its claustrophobic splendour. Only the slightest hint of dawn trickled into the sky beyond the high windows.

"I believe it to be in the possession of a young man who witnessed -- and was partly involved into -- last night's events."

She held the card out to him. He made no attempt to take it, so Sibyl laid the paper onto the desktop.

"And how occurred said witnessing and involving? Not to mention the possessing?"

Sibyl gave a brief report, yet taking great pains in pointing out her predicament at the funeral parlour.

Grau's facial expression kept petrified, while next to her László emitted disapproving groans at certain crucial parts of her statement. Sibyl hoped the cremator-part would distract them somewhat from her weapon's disappearance, but found this hope dwindle as the Doktor enquired again.

"You put your loaded weapon into a coffin that, if the police will not search it, will be shown to costumers?"

"It appeared to me to be a good idea at that time."

"And does it still appear to you to be a good idea, now that an adolescent is running around with your weapon and in full knowledge about your mission?"

"No, Doktor Grau," she murmured.

"Speak up!"

"No, Doktor Grau!"

He groaned and said nothing for a painfully long time.

"I am disappointed in you," Grau finally replied. "Very disappointed."

He took the card.

"Andrus? That's his name?"

"I reckon."

"Why do you 'reckon'?"

Please, just end it!

"I saw no need to ask for his name."

To her left, László lost his temper.

"Oh, for crying out loud—"

"When did that incident occur last night?" Grau cut him off.

"Around 0:15, I reck—... I witnessed them starting their Black Mass at the stroke of midnight."

"Why didn't he put the weapon in it again and spared you a lot of trouble?"

Sibyl flinched at the last term.

"He may have worried that the police come back. I will ask him."

"You stay. Balogh goes."

Sibyl turned rapidly to the Hungarian, then back to the Doktor, in effect speaking to both.

"Please let me redeem myself."

"No, you are not to leave the building!" Albert Grau ordained.

"You are grounding me?"

"Oh, I will do more than that once we see the results of that roundhouse rendezvous. And you better hope that this lad shows up."

So much is sure.

Grau finally beckoned them to leave, and she trudged after László like a beaten puppy.

"Sibyl."

She turned to him once more.

"Yes, härra Doktor?"

"Do you want to add or change anything concerning the body you saw in that oven?"

"If I didn't know better, I would swear it was Suydam's body in there. More I cannot say."

Grau was not finished with her, though.

"How long did you see it?"

"Five seconds. Ten seconds maybe, if I count the time in I needed to adjust."

"Ten seconds, yes..." his face showed the same expression as the other night, when she had described the ritual Suydam had performed in his maisonette.

"Thank you, Sibyl. You are dismissed."

"Härra Doktor."

~

László caught her in the corridor. More than ever before his gaunt face appeared to her like cut from stone.

"The both of us will have a little talk after this, too."

"László, I—"

But he was gone.

~