Broken (Otherworld 6)

Tolliver's expression didn't change. "If you are on the council, then tell me this. Who's the sorcerer delegate?"

"Trick question," Zoe muttered.

"No," I said. "If Dr. Tolliver does know the current council, then it's a trick question within a trick question. There is no sorcerer delegate. Never has been. However, one other delegate is married to a sorcerer who does help with our investigations, though he doesn't participate in matters of policy."

Tolliver met my gaze. "You know him?"

"Of course. And he knows us. Call him up and ask, about either us or the investigation. He's aware of it, and has been helping with background."

Tolliver hesitated, then nodded, but didn't move. I suspected he didn't know Lucas well enough to have his number, though he might be able to get it if he made a few calls. I reminded myself to ask Lucas about Tolliver. He hadn't known Shanahan, but he was more likely to know a supernatural doctor, at least by reputation.

Tolliver finally put his medical bag on the ground and relaxed into his chair. "I can tell you this much. Whoever said Patrick's letter is responsible for this portal is wrong."

"Right," Clay said. "So the fact that this portal opens on the same night his letter is stolen, and spews out Victorian zombies and cholera is...a coincidence?"

Tolliver blinked. "This portal is responsible for the cholera?"

"Nah, it's just a coincidence."

Tolliver ignored him and turned to me. "Is there anything else?"

I hesitated, then said, "Possibly something with the rats, but we aren't sure yet."

Tolliver let out a quiet curse. "Typhus, probably. I've been dealing with rat bites all day."

"Typhus? How...bad is that?"

"Treatable with antibiotics if it's caught. People haven't started showing symptoms yet. I'm just dealing with the bites, far more than normal. Typhus will be a concern, if that's what it turns out to be, but at this stage, I'm more worried about infection from the bites. The rats seem to be more aggressive than normal."

"We found that out. They're attacking in daylight too. Is that from the disease?"

"I don't know enough about typhus to say." He leaned back. "First, cholera. Now this. No wonder I'm so busy."

Clay looked at him. "So, getting this portal closed might not be such a bad idea."

"I never said it was. Cholera and typhus notwithstanding, I completely agree that it needs to be closed, but I'm not convinced that finding Patrick will help. Yes, it seems impossible that this is a coincidence, but I find it very hard to believe his letter is to blame. It's a fake."

"That may be," I said, "but whether Jack the Ripper wrote it or not--"

"No, I mean it wasn't a real portal device. It was a fake. That's what Mr. Shanahan--Patrick's father--always said."

As he looked across our faces, he must have seen our confusion, and continued, "Geoffrey Shanahan was what you'd call an affable drunk. Normally, he barely said two words to me, but when he'd been drinking, he liked to talk, especially about his father's collection. He'd take Pat and me in there and regale us with the stories behind the pieces, what they were supposed to do, who had exposed them as fakes--"

"Fakes?" I said.

"Of course." Again, Tolliver looked at us, then Zoe. "You must know this, Zoe. You put some of those artifacts in that collection yourself."

She shook her head. "Theodore Shanahan placed the order and I filled it. Half the time, I barely even knew what I was stealing."

"Not surprising, I guess. He was an arrogant old bugger. Like most men who get their money from shady dealings. If you act like you've been born to it, no one questions where the money came from."

"So it's a collection of...fakes?" I glanced up at Clay, remembering the files we'd found in the house, where we'd thought he'd cleverly documented his artifacts as counterfeits. "Supernatural curiosities."

Tolliver nodded. "All of them, including that letter."

"So it supposedly did contain a portal," I said. "One that was believed to be fake."

"I don't remember the exact story behind it, but Patrick will have it on file."