Professor Grouse’s voice was strained when he spoke. “And what do you expect me to do with this?”
“I want you to fix it,” Scarab said.
“So you can use it to kill thousands of innocent people? No.”
“Professor, I’m not going to waste our time. I’m not going to tell you that I was framed and imprisoned for a crime I didn’t commit. I’m not going to tell you how I watched my youth slip away from me while I was in that cell. I’m not going to tell you about the anger or the need to see my enemies suffer. I’m not going to tell you any of that.”
“Really?” Grouse asked. “Because it sounds like you just did.”
“You’d die before you’d help me, Professor. I know that full well. But you have the skills, the talent and the knowledge I need, and the only thing that’s stopping you from doing what I ask … is you.”
“And so your plan is …?”
“It’s quite simple. If you won’t change you mind, I’m going to change it for you.”
“Maybe you should give Detective Marr something worthwhile to do,” Skulduggery said. “Right now Ghastly is checking out every castle within a two-hour drive of here. I’m sure he’d appreciate the help.”
“Oh, yes, because a source you will not divulge told you that Scarab’s base is probably a castle. That’s all you have to go on?”
“We work with what we have, Thurid.”
“Well, do you have anything else?”
“We have motive,” Valkyrie said. “Scarab wants revenge on the people who framed him.”
Guild looked at her. “What are you talking about?” he said at last.
“You guys killed this Esryn Vanguard bloke,” Fletcher told him. “You didn’t want him weakening your side or stopping the war or whatever it was you were scared he was going to do.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
Valkyrie held his gaze. “You had one of your Exigency Mages assassinate Vanguard, and then you framed Scarab for it and locked him away without a proper trial.”
Guild snarled at Skulduggery. “You’re supposed to be investigating Scarab, not me. You’re wasting valuable—”
“If we want to anticipate Scarab’s moves,” Skulduggery interrupted, “we need to know the truth. Is he coming after you, or both of us, or everyone? If he did kill Vanguard, then all we have to do is put you in protective custody for a year or so. He’ll get bored, or die, and it’ll all be over.
“But if he didn’t kill Vanguard, we have bigger problems. And we need to know what they are now.”
“Well, why don’t you work on the assumption that we have bigger problems and take it from there?” said Guild.
“Did Scarab kill Vanguard?”
“This is not—”
“Did Scarab kill Vanguard?”
“No,” Guild snapped.
“Meritorious ordered the assassination,” Valkyrie pressed.
“It was a necessary move to make,” Guild said.
“Vanguard was on your own side.”
“Vanguard was on no one’s side but his own.”
“That didn’t make him an enemy.”
“I’m not going to stand here and explain our actions to you. We did what had to be done and if there are ramifications, I’ll deal with them when this particular crisis is over. Are we agreed? Excellent. So now that you know all of Scarab’s grievances, you’re going to catch him, yes?”
“It brings us a step closer,” Skulduggery said. “But our main concern is that Desolation Engine.”
“It’s deactivated,” Guild said. “Useless. Why would that be of concern to us?”
“Because there’s only one man alive who could possibly fix it and Scarab’s just kidnapped him.”
Guild paled. “Grouse could repair the Engine?”
“The man’s a scientific genius. He could do anything. The question becomes, of course, will he repair it? And I really don’t think he will. I think he’d rather die than be responsible for hurting people.”
“You had better be right.”
“But we don’t want him to die,” Valkyrie said angrily. “If anyone dies, it should be …”
Guild looked at her and she shut up.
“Will he be tortured?” Fletcher asked, his voice quiet. “I know you people do a lot of that kind of stuff … But the Professor’s an old man. He won’t be able to take it. It was bad enough he was in a car crash.”
Valkyrie frowned, the thought suddenly striking her. “Why was he in a car crash? Why were they in a car at all? Sanguine could have just grabbed him and tunnelled away with him. Why did they take a car?”
“I was wondering that myself,” Skulduggery said. “The only explanation I can think of is that maybe he was trying to lead us somewhere.”
“A trap?”
“That’s the only thing that makes sense.”
“Then it’s a good thing he crashed.”
“It has been reported on the news,” Guild snapped. “It is in no way a good thing any of this happened. If the worst comes to pass, if Grouse does repair that Engine, what will Scarab use it for? To kill me?”
“If he just wanted to just kill you, he could have done it when Dusk came in with his vampires. He might see the Sanctuary, as a whole, as being responsible for his imprisonment.”
“Then that is why he wants the Engine. He wants to destroy this place.”
“Maybe,” Skulduggery said, then looked up suddenly. “I know why they stole the Soul Catcher.”
“You do?”
“I know how they’ll make Professor Grouse help them. I even know where at least one of them will be tonight.”
“And you figured all that out while we were standing here talking?”
“I am a detective.”
“So what do they want with the Desolation Engine?”
“It’s probably what we think – they want to destroy this place. But I don’t know that for sure.”
“When you do know something for sure,” Guild sighed, “would you be kind enough to tell me? I’m quite looking forward to the day when you become useful.”
They walked to the Bentley.