He cups his hands in his lap.
“I’ll do Ludovico’s Ellicit. But there are certain conditions.”
“What?”
“We can’t perform the ritual here. It has to be somewhere special, a location only I know.”
“That’s not the condition.”
“I don’t trust your friends,” Howard says. “Especially the alchemist. He could hurt me. Therefore, the ritual will take place with just the two of us. If you’ll agree to that and let me go afterward, I’ll do the Ellicit.”
“Don’t listen to him,” says Candy. She’s right behind me. “It’s a trick.”
I tap the black blade against my leg.
“Why would you do it now when you wouldn’t before?”
“Look at you,” Howard says. “Before, I could have performed the ritual and you could have killed me immediately afterward. But now? Even after I perform the Ellicit, it will be hours before you pose a threat
.”
“You’re so sure of that?”
“Quite.”
“Why’s that?”
He glances at the floor.
“You’ve dropped your knife.”
I look down. The bastard is right. Sometime while we were talking, the blade slipped from my hand. It’s sticking straight up in the floor. Candy pulls it out and hands it to me.
She’s beside me now.
“Thanks,” I say.
“Stay here,” she says. “Go into the garden like Vidocq said.”
“No. There’s no guarantee I’d ever come out again. With Howard, I stand a chance.”
Ray and Brigitte are over by the big book.
“Thanks for trying. I won’t forget it.”
“What are you doing, Jimmy?”
“Going with a sure thing.”
I look at Vidocq.
“Is it all right if he takes some samples?”
He throws up his hands in disgust.
“Take it all,” he says. “It’s nothing but junk. With all of it, I can’t figure out how to save my friend.”
Howard is already pulling bottles and herbs out of Vidocq’s stores. He stuffs it all in his jacket pockets.