He looked at Javier and Javier looked at him, and they got out of the car and approached the corpses. Slowly. The first was an old man. The mayor. Virgil had never met him, but he knew his face well enough. Jesper. The cause of all this hardship and pain, now lying there, covered in a sprinkling of snow with a hole in his head.

The second corpse was a demon, a red one, like Amber. His throat had been torn open. Javier made a sound, like he was going to be sick, but he managed to keep his lunch down and they walked to the bunker. The door was open and the lights were on inside.

Virgil led the way in. At the bottom of the steps there was another door, bigger and heavier than the first. Through it, a cheerless concrete hall with harsh lighting and dozens of bunk beds along each wall. There was a kitchen unit and a dartboard and a card table and rooms at the back, probably filled with canned goods.

“Hello?” Javier called, even though it was pretty obvious the place was empty. “What do we do now?”

Virgil looked around. “I have no idea.”

“We could stay,” said Javier. “Close the door and wait out the night. In the morning, we get in your car and we drive.”

“Drive where?”

Javier shrugged. “Your daughter’s place.”

“She doesn’t want to see me.”

“I don’t care,” said Javier. “We have a hell of a story to tell her and even if she doesn’t believe us, which she won’t, at least it’ll get you talking.”

“I don’t know,” said Virgil. “It’d be awkward.”

“You almost got me killed,” said Javier. “You owe me, so we do what I say, and I say we drive straight to your daughter’s place first thing in the morning.”

Virgil hesitated, then nodded. “I guess I do owe you.”

“Damn straight.” A few seconds ticked by. “Do you think the others are okay?”

“I really hope so.”

“The guy out there, he’s a demon like Amber’s a demon. You think that’s her dad?”

“I don’t know,” said Virgil. “Maybe. The other guy’s the mayor.”

“I figured.”

Virgil took out his phone, searched for the numbers that Linda had put into it. He eventually found them, called Kelly and then Amber without the call being picked up. Then he called Linda herself.

“Virgil!” Linda said when she answered. Her voice was hushed, like she was hiding. “You’re okay!”

“I am,” said Virgil. “I’m at the bunker with Javier. What happened?”

“Amber’s parents came. They took Austin.”

Virgil went cold. “No. No, no, no.”

“What?” said Javier. “What’s wrong?”

Virgil held up a hand to silence him as Linda continued. “Then the cops came. I’m with Ronnie and Warrick. We’re heading back to your place.”

“We’ll meet you there.”