“This was probably their rehearsal space.”
Wells shakes his head.
“No. It’s more than that. Maybe forensics will tell us what. DNA. Dental records for the skull.”
“Forget that. The teeth were gold too.”
“That’s disappointing.”
“That’s not what bugs me.”
“What does?” says Sola.
“That the place was abandoned awhile ago. That means whatever the Angra groupies were doing in there—assuming it was them—they finished.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” says Wells.
He looks back at the hole.
“We need to seal off this whole part of the tunnel.”
“You don’t need me for that, right?”
I turn and show him the bite wound on my neck.
“I’d like to go and get fifty tetanus shots, so I’m taking off.”
He looks at the wound, but doesn’t say anything. Just nods.
“Be at headquarters early tomorrow. We’ll have work to do.”
“Sure.”
Like today wasn’t work.
I head back down the tracks and up onto the train platform. I wonder what the watercooler talk will be like tomorrow, now that people know all the gossip about me is true. That I’m not entirely human and I’m really good at killing things. Too bad I don’t have a car. I bet I could get a really good parking space now.
I take a quick look around to make sure I’m alone and step into the shadow of one of the concrete palm trees.
I COME OUT of a shadow in the parking lot by Allegra’s clinic. It’s in a strip mall next to a nail salon and a pizza delivery joint. A sign on the clinic door says EXISTENTIAL HEALING. I knock on the glass. Fairuza opens up.
“Hey, Stark,” she says. “Candy already went home.”
“Good. I’m here to see Allegra.”
I touch my neck and show her the blood. She just opens the door. Everyone here is pretty used to seeing me bleeding.
Allegra comes out of the examining room, wiping her hands on a towel. Her café au lait skin contrasts with the bright white medical lab coat.
She comes over and gives me a loose hug, trying to not get rain from my coat all over her.
“He’s fucked up again,” says Fairuza.
Allegra’s brow furrows.
“What happened?”
“A dead man bit me. Sort of dead. Walking around dead, but not a zombie. I just figured I should get it cleaned out or something.”
“Look at you being sensible for once. Come on in.”
“Need any help?” says Fairuza.
“No. I’ve sewn this one back together more times than I can remember.”
She has me take off my coat and shirt and sit on the exam table.
She cleans off my neck with Betadine. I hate the smell of hospitals and clinics. They make you feel like you should be sick just stepping inside.
“That hurts.”
“Baby,” says Allegra. “I’d ask how the new job was working out, but you walking in here voluntarily tells me everything I need to know.”
“They make me get up early too,” I say. “It’s pure abuse.”
“The good news is that there’s a lot of blood, but the wound itself isn’t bad. I have a salve that will help the healing.”
“I’m good at healing all on my own. I just don’t want rabies or lockjaw or diaper rash. Whatever a corpse bite can give you.”
“I haven’t had a lot of experience with this, so I’m going to take some blood and give you a wide-spectrum antibiotic.”
“I hate needles.”
“You really are a baby today,” she says. “Which makes me think you’re not just here because you scraped your knees. I’ve seen you hurt worse than this and you didn’t come in.”
“You got me, Perry Mason. I’m worried about Candy. What can you tell me?”
I can’t see Allegra, but I hear her draw a long breath.
“Honestly, I don’t know. I haven’t worked on many Jades. I’m running some tests on her now. I should have something in a day or so.”
“Call me when you do.”
“You know, even though we’re not a regular hospital, there’s still this thing called doctor-patient confidentiality.”
“I know. But call me anyway.”
“We’ll see.”
“The clinic looks pretty quiet today.”
“That’s why Candy went home. We don’t have that many patients these days. Still, we’re doing better than the regular hospitals.”
“What do you mean?”
“There are more Lurkers staying in town than people. Cedars-Sinai, big hospitals like that are pretty much empty. Even the doctors are gone. It’s critical-care patients only with a skeleton staff.”
“So, it really is only us funny people left.”
“No, and that has me worried. I think people have been watching the clinic. There was a pickup truck in the parking lot across the street all day yesterday. A van the day before that.”
“Who do you think it was?”
“I have no idea. It just makes me nervous.”
“Are you sure it wasn’t just people looking for a place to get out of the rain for a few hours?”
“Maybe. Maybe seeing the city like this is just making me skittish. I’m scared.”
She puts some gauze on the wound and tapes it into place. I hate the feel of tape on my skin.
“If it happens again, call me. I’ll check out whoever it is.”
“Thanks. That makes me feel better. There. All done.”
I put on my shirt and coat. Allegra sees the dirt on my pants and boots.
“Where the hell have you been?”
“Have you ever been in an ossuary?”
“I’m not sure I know what that is.”
“They have one in Paris. Vidocq will tell you about it. It’ll be great pillow talk.”
“It’s something gruesome, isn’t it?”
“I’ll let you be the judge.”
“Go home,” she says. “And stay in. Both of you.”
“That’s the plan.”
I start out and stop.
“Candy is going to be okay, right?”
Allegra washes her hands.
“She’ll be fine. I’m sure it’s just a Jade-specific virus or something. I’m reading up on it now. Don’t worry so much.”
I nod and head out the front.
“Tell Kas I’ll see him tonight,” says Fairuza.
“Have him show you his new hat. And make him tell you where it came from.”
I DON’T EXACTLY lie about who fixed up my neck when I get home, but when Candy guesses it was a Vigil medic, I don’t correct her. It will bug her if she knows I’ve been talking to Allegra, and after her being sick and my discovering I’m a serial killer suspect, it would be nice to have a few hours free from drama.
I listen to Candy practicing guitar downstairs in the rehearsal room. Fairuza comes over around eight and disappears with Kasabian into his inner sanctum. Chinese delivery shows up soon after. I watch Three Extremes upstairs. It’s all gloriously boring.
Candy comes up around eleven, bright-eyed and sweaty from practice. I haven’t seen her this happy in days. The sofa is wobbly from when we broke the leg, so we head for the bedroom, where the furniture is sturdier. The only casualty is a bedside lamp shaped like the Cowboy Bebop spaceship. Personally, I’m not sorry to see it go.
“I think you did that on purpose,” she says.
“I’d never do something that underhanded.”
“Right. Don’t worry. I intend to replace it with something more hideous and embarrassing.”
“I hope it doesn’t get broken too.”
“You better. Each new lamp I have to get will be worse than the one before. Trust me. I know where to get more cute kittens, talking robots, and pink monsters than you can shake your ass at.”
“Understood. I’ll guard future lamps with my very life.”
“Good boy,” she says, then kisses me and lies down.
For a while, lying in the dark, it feels like nothing is wrong at all. Then I hear the rain battering the window and I remember that pretty much everything is wrong.
I don’t remember falling asleep. I’m just lying beside Candy and then I’m somewhere else.