Chapter 90

BEWARE THE SNAKE

In the pile of papers they found in the briefcase, Faultless discovered a leather-bound Bible. It was a pocket-sized version.

He skimmed through the pages. The writing was tiny. As he flipped through, something caught his eye.

He opened it where a passage had been underlined in ink and notes were scribbled in the margin.

Tash sat next to him on the floor. She kissed his shoulder. It was very matter-of-fact. Like she’d kissed it every day for years.

He smiled. She looked scared.

“What does the Bible say about sleeping with your murdered sister’s boyfriend?” she said.

He shook his head. “I think it’s okay.”

“You sure about that?”

He nodded.

She asked, “What have you found there?”

“It’s underlined. Hebrews, chapter four, verses twelve to thirteen. It says, ‘For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do’.”

Faultless stayed quiet and turned the pages, looking for more marked passages.

“Another one,” he said. “Leviticus, chapter seventeen, verse eleven. ‘For it is the blood that maketh atonement for the soul.’ And then this. Genesis, chapter three, verse one. ‘Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God has made.’ Someone’s written ‘Beware the snake’ next to the verse.”

Faultless felt a chill run through him. He looked behind him, to where Hanbury kept his python. He stood and went over to the vivarium. It was empty. Or it looked empty. He peered in, looking for the reptile under the rocks and branches. He saw nothing.

“Where’s it gone?” he asked.

“The snake?”

“Yeah.”

“I . . . why? It can’t have nothing to do with Dad’s python.”

“No, but . . . I don’t know, it just made me think.”

Faultless felt a sense of fear flood his heart. The foreboding had grown since he’d come face to face with Jack. It was as if something had been sown in his heart at that moment. Or maybe it was always there, and the meeting had made the seed begin to grow. One thing he knew, he was hesitant to make love with Tash. But he needed to. He wanted her. Not as a substitute for Rachel, but as Tash. It had been difficult because of the feelings he’d experienced in the cavern—the sense that he would stain the world, that he would poison everything. But his desire for her was overwhelming, and for those few minutes, he felt cleansed. The notion that he was tarnished, though, returned quickly once he started reading through the notes.

The phone rang. Tash answered it. She nodded and then put the receiver back in its cradle.

“That was Dad,” she said. “He wants you to . . . to go over and help him have a word with Spencer. Don’t be cruel to him, Charlie. And don’t let my dad . . . you know . . . ”

“I’ll go over and supervise,” said Faultless.

He rose, reluctant to leave her. A knock on the door stopped him. Tash opened it. Don Wilks stood outside, sneering.