Read Online Sleepy Hollow: Children of the Revolution by Keith R.A. DeCandido - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Keith R.A. DeCandido
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Abbie, Crane, and Captain Irving—all looked up from what they were doing. Crane was surprised; Abbie just smiled.
But the captain got that just-ate-a-sour-lemon look he always seemed to get around Jenny. “What the hell’s
that
supposed to mean?”
“Just what I said.” She slammed a cabinet drawer shut. “Corbin had all this stuff meticulously organized. It was indexed, filed, subfiled, cross-referenced—made the Library of Congress look like a recycling bin. You cops come in, take it allaway, and just toss it all across the street in this little dungeon of yours. No organization, no cross-referencing, nothing. How exactly are we supposed to save the world if we can’t find what we need to save the world with?”
There was a brief pause as everyone just kind of stared at Jenny. It was like she was back in the loony bin again.
Finally the captain spoke again. “Believe me, if I’d known the fate of the world depended on this stuff, we’d have taken better care of it. But all we knew was that Corbin had a whole lot of useless crap in his office and we needed to clear space.”
They’d spent the better part of the day going over Corbin’s files and searching online, trying to find out everything they could about the medals that had been stolen, and how it might relate to Crane’s vision. Abbie also looked into the places where they knew the medals were displayed, leaving messages and asking for status updates. Irving had had to go off and do his captain thing periodically, so he wasn’t contributing as much, but they’d started first thing in the morning, and it was now starting to get dark.
“Anyhow,” Abbie said before Jenny could get into it any further with Irving, “why don’t we take a break and see where we are?”
“Agreed,” Crane said.
Jenny shook her head. “Fine.”
Abbie glared at Jenny, who just glared right back.So Abbie indicated Irving with her head. Jenny just rolled her eyes, and Abbie indicated Irving with her head again. This time Jenny shook her head and folded her arms.
That just got Abbie to sigh, but Jenny didn’t care. She was
not
going to apologize to that jerk, and Abbie should’ve known better.
Jenny had spent so much time loving her sister, so much time hating her, and so much time just not understanding her. Sometimes it was all three at once, and this was one of those times. She appreciated the concern she had, yet she was annoyed that Abbie thought it was something she had to apologize for.
Then again, she was a cop, and so was Irving. Cops, as she had pointed out a few minutes ago, sucked.
“As far as can be determined,” Crane said, “there are six of the Congressional Crosses—or Independence Crosses—extant. Of those six, three have gone missing. There is the one belonging to Ezekiel Cortlandt, stolen last night, and the ones belonging to Marinus Willett and Abraham van Brunt, recently stolen from the large museum in New York.”
Jenny regarded Crane with a raised eyebrow. “You okay, Crane?”
Crane closed his eyes and sighed. “It is not necessary for you all to be concerned regarding my feelings toward my erstwhile best friend. The van Brunt I knew is dead. The creature we captured,the creature whom I beheaded, is a demon who is using van Brunt’s body and his relationship to Katrina to hurt me.” He then smiled wryly. “At least, that is what I tell myself to ease the guilt and anger. Regardless, my friendship with van Brunt has no bearing on this particular task we must perform.”
“We even know what the task is?” Irving asked. “Right now, all we got is three dead bodies and three stolen medals.”
“Three gruesomely dead bodies.” Abbie shook her head.
“If
you’re
calling it gruesome …” Jenny shuddered. She and her sister had seen plenty of sights, together and separately, that pretty much redefined the word
gruesome
in both their lexicons. It wasn’t a word either used lightly anymore. Jenny then went on to answer
But the captain got that just-ate-a-sour-lemon look he always seemed to get around Jenny. “What the hell’s
that
supposed to mean?”
“Just what I said.” She slammed a cabinet drawer shut. “Corbin had all this stuff meticulously organized. It was indexed, filed, subfiled, cross-referenced—made the Library of Congress look like a recycling bin. You cops come in, take it allaway, and just toss it all across the street in this little dungeon of yours. No organization, no cross-referencing, nothing. How exactly are we supposed to save the world if we can’t find what we need to save the world with?”
There was a brief pause as everyone just kind of stared at Jenny. It was like she was back in the loony bin again.
Finally the captain spoke again. “Believe me, if I’d known the fate of the world depended on this stuff, we’d have taken better care of it. But all we knew was that Corbin had a whole lot of useless crap in his office and we needed to clear space.”
They’d spent the better part of the day going over Corbin’s files and searching online, trying to find out everything they could about the medals that had been stolen, and how it might relate to Crane’s vision. Abbie also looked into the places where they knew the medals were displayed, leaving messages and asking for status updates. Irving had had to go off and do his captain thing periodically, so he wasn’t contributing as much, but they’d started first thing in the morning, and it was now starting to get dark.
“Anyhow,” Abbie said before Jenny could get into it any further with Irving, “why don’t we take a break and see where we are?”
“Agreed,” Crane said.
Jenny shook her head. “Fine.”
Abbie glared at Jenny, who just glared right back.So Abbie indicated Irving with her head. Jenny just rolled her eyes, and Abbie indicated Irving with her head again. This time Jenny shook her head and folded her arms.
That just got Abbie to sigh, but Jenny didn’t care. She was
not
going to apologize to that jerk, and Abbie should’ve known better.
Jenny had spent so much time loving her sister, so much time hating her, and so much time just not understanding her. Sometimes it was all three at once, and this was one of those times. She appreciated the concern she had, yet she was annoyed that Abbie thought it was something she had to apologize for.
Then again, she was a cop, and so was Irving. Cops, as she had pointed out a few minutes ago, sucked.
“As far as can be determined,” Crane said, “there are six of the Congressional Crosses—or Independence Crosses—extant. Of those six, three have gone missing. There is the one belonging to Ezekiel Cortlandt, stolen last night, and the ones belonging to Marinus Willett and Abraham van Brunt, recently stolen from the large museum in New York.”
Jenny regarded Crane with a raised eyebrow. “You okay, Crane?”
Crane closed his eyes and sighed. “It is not necessary for you all to be concerned regarding my feelings toward my erstwhile best friend. The van Brunt I knew is dead. The creature we captured,the creature whom I beheaded, is a demon who is using van Brunt’s body and his relationship to Katrina to hurt me.” He then smiled wryly. “At least, that is what I tell myself to ease the guilt and anger. Regardless, my friendship with van Brunt has no bearing on this particular task we must perform.”
“We even know what the task is?” Irving asked. “Right now, all we got is three dead bodies and three stolen medals.”
“Three gruesomely dead bodies.” Abbie shook her head.
“If
you’re
calling it gruesome …” Jenny shuddered. She and her sister had seen plenty of sights, together and separately, that pretty much redefined the word
gruesome
in both their lexicons. It wasn’t a word either used lightly anymore. Jenny then went on to answer
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