Killing Pretty (4 page)

“Did you ever think about not talking to ghosts? You're not a Dead Head necromancer. Why bother?”

Her brow furrows.

“They're my friends. I can't abandon them. Would you refuse to see a friend because she lived in a bad neighborhood?”

“No. I guess not. But I'm not a ghost expert. Mostly I deal with things I can punch. For ghosts, I'd have to think about it.”

“That's okay,” she says. “I'd rather have the right answer than a quick wrong one.”

“Okay. But I just started a new job and I kind of have my hands full right now. Let's maybe talk the next time you come by.”

“Great. Thanks.”

“No. Thank you,” says Kasabian. “I'll make sure he doesn't forget.”

Maria puts her handbag under one arm.

“I appreciate it. I'll come by when Dash gives me your movie.”

“Thanks. You're always welcome to come by,” says Kasabian, suddenly a fucking diplomat. He and Fairuza broke up a few days ago. Is he already on the prowl? Does Maria know he's 90 percent machine?

“See you around, Maria,” I say.

She smiles and starts out. Stops.

“Did you know there's something sprayed on the front of your store?”

“Yeah. I'll take care of it tomorrow.”

“Okay. Bye.”

Kasabian and I watch the big-­screen monitor bolted to the ceiling for a few more minutes. He was right, of course. The movie has a completely different feel with McQueen playing the Sundance Kid. We could make a mint if we can get more never-­mades like this.

Candy comes in during the closing credits.

“Chihiro?” Kasabian says. “Holy shit.”

She smiles and does a turn.

“You like the new me?”

“You look great. I mean you always looked great, but I think you nailed it this time.”

I take out a Malediction.

“She doesn't look like Candy. That's the important thing.”

“Don't light that cigarette,” she says.

“Why?”

She comes over to me.

“Why this?”

She leans in and kisses me. I kiss her back. It's been long enough that we've been even somewhere safe together that it feels strange and new to hold her. And I'm not used to her being Chihiro yet. It feels a little like I'm cheating on Candy. But she is Candy. This whole thing is going to take a while longer to get used to.

When she lets go of me she steps back and laughs.

“What?” I say.

“You have lipstick all over yourself. Hold it.”

She gets a napkin from the Donut Universe bag and wipes my lips. Which, with perfectly lousy timing, is when Fairuza decides to walk in. She's a Lurker. A Ludere. Blue-­skinned, blond, and sporting a small pair of Devil horns. She knew Candy for a long time. She played drums in Candy's band back before she “died.”

Fairuza takes a DVD from her bag and slams it down on the counter. Walks over and slaps me hard enough it feels like hornets are having a hoedown on my cheek.

“Candy's barely gone you're already with this little bitch? Fuck you.”

She starts to hit me again, but I get my arm up and her hand glances off.

“Fairuza,” says Kasabian.

She turns and stabs a finger at him.

“And fuck you too for hanging around with this asshole. Is this the bitch he gave Candy's guitar to? Yeah, I heard about that. Fuck all of you.”

She heads for the door and slams it hard enough I half expect the glass to crack.

Candy takes a step back and hands me the napkin. I wipe the last of the lipstick off my face myself.

“I've got to tell her,” says Candy.

“No, you don't. The more ­people that know, the more dangerous this gets. Let her hate me. I can live with that.”

“Goody for you,” says Kasabian. “What about me? She's never going to speak to me again as long as I'm here with you two.”

“What are you worried about? I thought you broke up.”

“We did,” he says. “But at least we were friends and . . . I don't know. Maybe there was some chance of getting back together. Now, though . . .”

I put my hands out like a goddamn preacher.

“No one tells Fairuza or anybody else. We are on thin fucking ice. One mistake and Candy ends up in a federal pen. It's too much of a risk.”

“What about me?” says Candy. “Okay, some ­people are going to think you're an asshole for being around Chihiro, but you still get to be you. I'm no one.”

I hadn't really thought of that.

“Look, I'm still trying to get my brain around all this too. Maybe down the line it would be safe to let a ­couple of more ­people know. But we've got to play this out for a while. Chihiro didn't even exist a ­couple of weeks ago. You stick out. Let ­people get used to you. Then maybe we can think about letting other ­people in.”

Candy thinks for a minute.

“I'll give it till the end of January. Then I'm talking to Fairuza. I'm not asking you. I'm telling you.”

“Fine. But she's the only one for the time being.”

“I guess.”

“Listen. If this thing falls apart, it's not just on you and me. There's other ­people too. Julie. Brigitte. Allegra and Vidocq.”

“Aren't you maybe leaving someone out?” says Kasabian.

“I was getting to you, Iron Man.”

“I thought we discussed no more nicknames.”

I ignore that.

“I know you think I'm a drag sometimes, but there's a lot at stake here.”

“I know,” Candy says quietly.

“I saw you dead once. I don't want to see that again.”

“I wasn't really dead, dumb-­ass.”

“You sure looked like you were.”

“That's 'cause I'm such a good actress. Me and Brigitte are going to star in a remake of
Thelma & Louise
.”

“As I recall, that didn't end well.”

“In our version the car is a Delorean time machine, so we just drive off and have adventures with pirates and robots.”

“Or
Lethal Weapon,
” says Kasabian. “You could do a girl-­girl remake.”

“Or
Bill and Ted,
” she says.

She looks at me.

“I need another drink. You have supplies upstairs?”

“You know it.”

I step aside and let her lead the way.

“Hello? Is anyone there?”

It's a man's voice coming from the storage room.

I look at Kasabian.

“Lock the front door.”

“Sure. It's not like we're a place of business or anything.”

As he does it, Candy and I knock on the storage room door.

“You all right in there?”

“Where am I?”

I open the door. He squints and pushes himself back to the farthest corner of the cot I set up for him, huddling there like a bug.

He says, “It's too bright.”

Candy and I go inside and close the door. It's ripe in here. The guy wasn't clean when I met him. Add an extra week to that. We're in a cheese factory.

Candy hits the overhead light. It's only a sixty-­watt. Candy liked the room dim when the band rehearsed.

I take a step closer, getting between the guy on the cot and Candy in case he's as unhinged as he looks.

“Is that better?”

Slowly, he opens his eyes. He keeps a hand up, blocking the bulb. When he can focus he stares at me.

“Where am I?”

“At Max Overdrive. Do you remember coming to me at Bamboo House of Dolls?”

He sits up and leans against the wall. Candy steps around me, fiddling with her phone. Who the fuck is she calling right now?

“Who's that?” he says.

“A friend. What do you remember?”

He looks at the blanket, his hands, and the room like he's never seen any of it before. When he looks at me I can see the gears starting to turn in his head.

“You're Stark.”

“That's right. And this is Chihiro. You met her the other night too.”

He stares at Candy for a little too long.

“That's not her real face,” he says. “Or her name.”

Candy shoots me a worried look. I hold up a hand to say “be cool.”

“You can see through the glamour,” I say. “So, you really are an angel.”

He nods.

“The oldest, known to mortals as the Angel of Death.”

“Yeah. You said that the other night.”

“And you don't believe me.”

“I'm not saying I don't believe you, but I've met my share of, let's say, unstable angels.”

“You mean Aelita.”

“There were others but, yeah, she was the worst.”

“I'm not mad and I have no desire to be here or to be a burden.”

“Then why are you here? And why come to me?”

Death touches the gauze bandages over the hole in his chest.

“You closed the wound.”

“Not me. It was friends. And you haven't answered my question.”

“It hurts,” he says, rubbing his chest. “Everything hurts. I'd forgotten what pain is. Do you have anything for it?”

I take out my flask, unscrew the top, and hand it to him. He takes a swig and coughs, practically spitting the Aqua Regia all over himself.

“This is Hellion brew,” he says.

“That's right. Drink up. It tastes like gasoline, but it'll help with the pain.”

“I'm not sure it's permitted.”

“I don't think anyone would hold it against you,” says Candy. “It's not like you're here to party.”

He looks at Candy for a few seconds, then drinks. He keeps it down better this time, but he'd probably be happier with an aspirin. Fuck him. I drank Aqua Regia for eleven years in Hell because there weren't any angels to help me. Death can choke down a ­couple of mouthfuls.

He hands me back the flask.

“Feeling better?”

He wipes his mouth with the back of his hand.

“No.”

“You will.”

“The brew smells interesting.”

“Huh. I never thought of that. I guess it does.”

Candy gets in closer to him.

“Why did you come here?”

“I was looking for Sandman Slim.”

“Why?” says Candy.

“I need help.”

“Because you're in a body.”

He nods.

“And someone has murdered it. Murdered me.”

I say, “Why not call one of your angel pals?”

He closes his eyes again.

“I don't know who to trust.”

“But you trust Stark,” says Candy. “Why?”

“Because Father trusted him.”

Father. Mr. Muninn. God.

The bloody, dirt-­streaked trench coat he had on when I met him is in a pile on the floor. I pick it up and go through the pockets. He doesn't object.

I say, “Why not go to Mr. Muninn if you need help?”

He shrugs.

“I've called and called to him, but all I get is silence.”

There's a knife in one of his coat pockets. I've never seen one quite like it. It's over a foot long, double-­bladed, with a black wooden grip. Sort of like an oversize athame ritual blade, but with a silver eagle on the grip. There's what looks like a glob of tar by the pommel, maybe to hold it in place.

I hold it out to him.

“What's this?”

“That, I believe, was what killed me.”

“How do you know?”

“Because someone pulled it out of my chest and I awoke.”

“Who pulled it out?”

He holds up a hand and gestures vaguely.

“I don't know. I get the impression they were teenagers having some kind of party. By their startled reaction when I awoke, I don't think they were looking for me.”

“Okay,” I say. “It's New Year's and some kids are out partying. They find you and pull the sword out of the stone like King Arthur. Then you came and found me. Is that pretty much it?”

“I think so,” he says.

“And you've never seen this knife before?”

“Not before I woke up.”

“How did you find me?”

He's closed his eyes again. We're losing him.

“I'm an angel. I reached out and there you were, so I walked to where I found you.”

“Where did you walk from?” says Candy.

“I don't know. There was a concrete structure. Not quite a building, but like it once was. It was covered with painted words and images. There were trees and scrub. It was dry and warm there. And stone stairs. Yes. I had to walk up a long stairway. After that, I walked for a long time down a highway and then through the city. That's where I found you.”

He's looking at me and I don't want to believe any of it, but he's such a whipped dog I can't throw him out yet.

“I'm tired again. You are right about the brew. It took the pain away,” he says.

“Okay. You get some more rest. But we're going to talk again later.”

“Yes.”

“And you're going to take a goddamn shower. Today.”

“Yes. Thank you,” he says, and lies down. “Would you turn the light off, please?”

“There's just one more thing before we go.”

“Yes?”

“I'd appreciate it if you never mentioned anything about Candy's face or name again.”

“As you wish.”

Candy turns off the light and we go back outside. It's good to be out of the room and the dead man's stink. I turn the knife over in my hands.

“You ever see anything like it?”

Candy shakes her head.

“Never.”

I take it over to Kasabian.

“How about you? You recognize it?”

“No, but I can look around online if it'll get him out of here quicker. He gives me the creeps.”

“I'm with you there.”

“I think he's kind of sad,” says Candy.

“Shit.”

“What?”

“I should have taken notes or something. I'm never going to remember everything he said.”