Read Salt and Iron for Free Online Page A

want to tell my side of the story. I can explain .”
    “Yeah?” James asks.
    “Yes!”
    He goes over to the table, and Lennox looks back at him, and his eyes open up a little bit more.
    “Holy shit,” Lennox whispers. Behind him, time ripples like water. It should freak James the fuck out, the way it suddenly appears, but the booze has steadied him. He’s so glad he had those drinks. “Holy shit ,” Lennox whispers again, and he subsides as if someone let all the air out of him.
    “Don’t let me stop you,” James says.
    The man shakes his head. “No, I… I didn’t mean it. I got bad eyes. I….” He looks from James to Gabe and back to James again. “I’m taking my lawyer’s advice,” he says and shuts his mouth so hard his teeth go clack .
    Time rolls on like a river behind him and then settles out too, so James can’t see it anymore.
    He looks at Gabe, and Gabe looks back and shrugs. Then he sighs and goes to the table and sits opposite the witch. “Mr. Lennox, we arranged this meeting because you requested it.”
    “Didn’t have all the facts then,” Lennox says. He tries to cross his arms, but he can’t. The shackles don’t allow for a lot of movement, to prevent incantation. “Changed my mind.”
    Gabe looks at James a little helplessly. Sometimes James manages to be a smooth talker, but it’s hit-or-miss. He gives it a try.
    “Look,” James says, “you don’t have to talk, of course not. In fact, your lawyer’s advised you not to. We’re not going to ask you to talk, either. I’m just gonna tell you what I think and what I’m going to say in my statement, based on what we found at the scene, okay?”
    Lennox looks from face to face and squirms where he sits.
    “So, my name is James van Helsing. I’m an expert in divination—”
    Lennox laughs, scoffing and loud. “No kidding,” he shouts, and James goes cold. Cold like he hasn’t been since he was a kid and figured out what the hell was wrong with his eyes. Cold like he thinks he might die. “Anybody else know about your expertise ?”
    James is so, so glad he had those drinks. He pushes himself away from the fear. Even if Lennox accuses him it won’t mean anything. Frantic prisoner, pointing fingers at anyone in reach. He summons up his courage and keeps going.
    “I did six years of training with Bill Ellis, and I’m certified, so yes, a number of people are aware I am an expert. Now, what we found at the site was a salt circle of the kind most often used for….” He glances at Gabe.
    “Time work. I’d say for fixing time to a destiny.”
    “Now, we know that salt circles are painful to the sidhe and diminish their magic, and we also know that the only reason to build a salt circle when there’s no sidhe around is to keep them from coming to feed on the magic you’re calling up.”
    He sits back and spreads his hands.
    “So a circle like that, we figure you three were pulling some serious magic into those tarot cards you were building, enough to ring a dinner bell for all the sidhe in the district. So we think, and this is just an assessment based on evidence of course, that you were fixing destiny.”
    Lennox is shaking his head, a rapid, tiny movement, almost small enough to be a tremor.
    “Nothing to say?” he asks. “I thought you wanted to tell your side of the story.”
    Lennox says nothing.
    “The cards,” Gabe says softly. “Tell him what we’ll tell the judge about the cards.”
    James glances over at Gabe as if he’d forgotten. He nods.
    “You want to hear, Mr. Lennox?” James asks.
    Lennox’s tremor seems to grow into a headshake.
    “You probably should anyway, because this is where it’s going to get awkward for you, because those cards weren’t divination symbols. Those cards had real people’s faces on them. Faces of people who work closely with law enforcement. And you can ask your lawyer how the justice system feels about people who target those who work to uphold the law in this