I pull off the robe and the headpiece and he takes them over to a coatrack while I check out my face in a mirror by the door. Yeah, I can see myself in the mirror, big deal. My face is a little pink just from being out, but there's a violent red streak across it from pulling open the veil. I can already see where the skin is turning white and flaking. It hurts like fuck. The steroid king comes back over and looks at my face.
– Hmm. I could get you something for that if you like. Some unguent or Bactine perhaps?
I stare at him.
– What happened to the guy used to be here?
– I'm sorry?
– What happened to the guy used to be here that knew who I was and didn't need to see my face? -Oh, him.
The giant walks over to his desk and sits down so that he's back on eye level with me.
– He was executed.
No playful euphemisms around here, boy. No. He was retired or dismissed. Just get it out there, He fucked up so we dragged him outside and staked his hands and feet to the ground and waited for the sun to come up and burn him dead from advanced skin cancer in about twenty minutes. How do I know they did it that way? I said they were traditionalists. That's the way traditionalists do it.
– Too bad, he was alright.
Big boy just watches me.
– So any chance I can get in for my appointment? It's a really beautiful day out there and I want to make the most of it before it gets cloudy.
The giant picks up a phone and presses a button.
– He's here. I did. Thank you, sir.
He places the phone back in its cradle and points at the door across the foyer.
– Just up the stairs and to the right.
– Thanks.
I walk to the door and he presses a button on his desk to buzz it open. I stand there holding the door and turn back to him.
– Hey, who they got me seeing anyway?
– Mr. Predo will be meeting with you today, Mr. Pitt. Just up the stairs and to your right.
– Yeah, thanks.
I step through the door and let it swing shut behind me. Dexter Predo. Fuck. Predo is the head of the Coalition's secret police, and party chairman all rolled into one. He's the guy keeps everybody in line. He's the guy in charge of staking people out in the sun.
I take the stairs to the second floor. The stairwell walls are covered with portraits of great Coalition members from back a couple hundred years right up to the present. At the top of the stairs is a photo of the current Coalition Secretariat, the twelve members and the prime minister. But the truth is, most of the faces in this photo are the same as the ones in the first one down at the bottom of the stairs. Not a lot of turnover in the old Secretariat. Not pictured anywhere, Dexter Predo, a man who prefers to remain obscure.
The stairs reach up for three more flights, but I've never been asked beyond the second floor, and I'm not looking for an invitation. The upper floors are for Coalition members only. As it is I'm lucky my appointment isn't in the basement. I walk a short way down the hall to the first door on the right and knock.
– Come in.
Predo's office is modest as these things go. I mean, I'm sure all his little objets d'art are priceless, but it's not like he has a killer view of the park. Not that the shades would be up anyway. He's at an oak cabinet, pulling a file. Three guesses whose it is.
– Pitt.
– Mr. Predo.
– Please. Come in. Have a seat.
I couldn't tell you how old Predo really is, he looks about twenty-five, but he was around long before I was born. He looks up from the file, sees that I'm still standing and points to a chair in front of his desk.
– A seat, Pitt, have a seat. Be comfortable.
I sit, but I'm not comfortable, and it's not just because the chair is too small. Predo remains standing and flips through the pages of the file.
– Rough business last night, Pitt.
– Yes, it was.
– I don't suppose there was any way for you to reduce the damage?
– I don't suppose there was.
– You might have taken the time to destroy the evidence.
I look at my lap for a moment. He taps the edge of the file against the cabinet to get my attention back.
– The evidence, Pitt?
– That's a residential block, Mr. Predo. If I had torched the school the tenements next door would have gone as well. Bird and the Society would have been all over my back. Plus, there was the other kid still alive in there and all.
– I don't much care what Terry Bird and his ragtags have to say. And as for the kid? That was the evidence I was speaking of, Pitt. I'm still wearing the white cotton gloves. I slip them off. The knife cuts on my left hand are just thin white traces now. By evening they'll be entirely gone. Predo gets tired of waiting for me to respond.
– Barring that, you might have rigged the scene. A murder-suicide perhaps.
– I'm curious, which one would have been the suicide? One of the shamblers with a broken neck? The chick with the knife in her brain? The kid with his head ripped open?
Predo pushes the drawer of the cabinet closed and walks behind the desk.
– The real question is how it got that bad in the first place. What was it that kept you from destroying the filth more cleanly?
– They were eating the kid's brain. I wasn't gonna wait until they gobbled the second one and went to sleep. I had to go at the Goddamn things while they were feeding. They fought back. It got sloppy. Next time I'll let them have the kid.
– Sloppy is an apt word, Pitt. It did indeed get sloppy, and has potential to get sloppier. The police are involved. And worse, the press. Such a grisly murder with Satanic and supernatural overtones, how can they resist? It must be quelled, Pitt. It must be hushed before it draws too much attention and there are prying eyes. It is exactly the kind of business we avoid, Pitt. It is exactly the kind of business you are meant to take care of. It is why we tolerate your independence. And am I to understand that on top of this mess, there is a carrier involved? And that you failed to destroy that carrier?
Fucking Philip! I should have known. That prick never calls just to lend a hand.
– I'll take care of it tonight.
– How will you do that, Pitt, with your neighborhood crawling with police and newscasters and the curious?
– I'll take care of it tonight.
Predo stares at me. He drops the file on his desk and finally sits in his chair.
– You will need to. Tonight and no later.
I wait for it.
– We have found a patsy.
– There was a witness, you gonna change what he saw?
– No we are not, Pitt. We do not need to. The witness is our patsy.
I close my eyes.
– The child whose life you saved will now return the favor by paying the price for this horrid crime. He, of course, has not volunteered to do so, but the evidence we have arranged will make his guilt a foregone conclusion by sundown. But for it to stick, you will need to see that there are no further incidents of this nature.
I open my eyes and look at him. He raises a finger.
– Be useful, Pitt. Your value to the Coalition lies in your usefulness. Be useful and nconspicuous. Destroy the carrier.
I get up from my chair.
– I'm more than useful. I take care of my neighborhood and clean up all the trash the Clans don't want to deal with. So unless you've found another slob to handle your business below Fourteenth, stay off my back.
I head for the door.
– Indeed we shall. But for now, be assured that the cleaning of last night's mess will come with a price, Pitt.
– Yeah, just like everything.
I pull the door open.
– One more thing, Pitt.
I stop and stand in the open doorway, my back to him.
– From what I understand, the boy's veins had been tapped. He had been bled. Unusual behavior for zombies, yes?