“I’m not sure,” I admitted. “But I’ve got an idea where we can start.”
“Well, let’s get going, then —we’re burnin’ daylight! I think it’s high time we made this fucker pay!”
I had nothing to say to that, so I just gritted my teeth and nodded. Truth be told, Gio’s enthusiasm made me feel like shit. He had no idea what I was about to drag him into. He had no idea he was only here because Danny’s plan to appease his Deliverants by getting me to inter his soul had failed. He had no idea that Danny would be as desperate to put him in the ground as I was to bury Varela.
He didn’t know because I didn’t tell him. Telling him would have only complicated matters, and matters were plenty complicated already. Besides, it wasn’t like telling him would’ve made a difference. Gio here was damned either way —the only question was whether he was going help me extract his pound of flesh before he went. And until that time came, I didn’t need him getting cute on me. So I didn’t tell him.
Keeping Gio in the dark was the right call —the smart play. But knowing that didn’t make me feel like any less a heel for doing it.
Just then, a whimpering alerted me to the fact that our mortician friend had awoken. He looked to have a pretty good goose-egg on his forehead from where he’d connected with the floor tiles, and as I watched, he collected himself into a ball and began rocking back and forth, knees hugged tight to his chest. His eyes were fixed on a spot on the floor six inches in front of his shoes, and he was muttering something to himself, though what it was, I couldn’t hear. A prayer, I suppose, if he were so inclined. Or it coulda been a grocery list.
“The hell’s the matter with him?” asked Gio.
“Cut him some slack,” I said. “Poor bastard’s had two corpses get up off his table in as many days.”
“Well, then, you’d think he’d be getting used to it by now.”
I approached Ethan, crouching down beside him and putting a hand on his shoulder. It was a friendly gesture, but he flinched nonetheless. “Listen, Ethan,” I said, in the sort of tone you might use to soothe a frightened child, “you did good. You honored your end of the deal, and now I’m going to honor mine. Me and Gio —er, Mr Frohman —are taking off, and my guess is, you’ll never see either of us again, OK?”
I don’t know if he heard me. I suppose it didn’t matter. I’d said my piece —and besides, once we were out of Ethan’s life, everything would eventually return to what, in the world of a mortician, passed for normal. That was more than you could say for either me or Gio here, a fact that went a long way toward blunting my sympathy and assuaging my guilt.
Gio, for his part, was busy struggling into the jacket of his burial suit —a jacket that, with the proper support, could’ve sheltered a family of four. Once he managed to squeeze himself into it, he sat down to pull on his shoes, grunting with exertion as he tried to reach his feet.
“Jesus, dude, it ain’t that I’m ungrateful for you bringing me back and all, but next time you find me a body, you think I could see something in a medium? I mean this guy’s freakin’ gaaah–”
At that last, he tossed his loafer to the floor in sudden fright, the intended end of his sentence forgotten. When the shoe hit the tiles, a fat orange-brown cockroach spilled out of it and skittered under the stainless steel mortuary table. Gio recovered quickly, blushing at his startlement and retrieving his errant loafer. I, on the other hand, did not. At the sight of the cockroach, a chill crawled up the length of my spine as though on spindly insect legs, and a cold sweat broke out across my face and neck.
“Hey, Captain Mumbles,” Gio yelled toward the fetal Ethan, full of false bluster now in compensation for his bout of fear, “what kind of funeral home are you runnin’ anyway? I mean, I know you keep dead bodies and shit in here, but can’t you fucking clean? You owe better to the folks that come through here than to bury ’em full a roach eggs.” Ethan didn’t reply —he just rocked and stared at nothing. “Hey, asshole,” Gio continued, “I’m talkin’ to you!”
“Leave him alone,” I said, my voice thin and tinny to my ears. “The roach wasn’t his fault. You want to blame somebody, you’re going to have to take it up with me.”
Gio balked at my admonition, wheeling toward me with an eye-roll and a derisive snort. “What, you moonlighting as his housekeeper?”
“Francis,” I said, my voice dripping quiet menace, “I’m telling you to drop it.”
Something in my tone must’ve convinced him, because the predatory smile that his chiding of Ethan had brought to his face faltered, and then disappeared altogether. He followed my gaze to the spot where the cockroach had disappeared from sight and stared at it with an expression like clouds gathering. “So that thing,” he said, his words devoid now of all humor, “it’s like some kinda bad guy or something?”
I shook my head, though my eyes never left the shadowy underside of the mortuary slab. “More like some kind of sign,” I replied.
“OK, then, a sign. But a sign of what?”
“A sign we’re running out of time.”
“Get your things,” I said, “we’re going.”
“Everything I got in the world right now, I’m wearing. Where the hell we going?”
I drew my thumb and forefinger across my lips as if to zip them, and then nodded toward the door, still staring at the spot on the floor where the cockroach had been. Truth be told, I didn’t know if it could understand what we were saying, or whether my reticence would delay my Deliverants’ pursuit either way. What I did know was that I wasn’t gagging for a repeat of the whole bugs-in-my-motel-room incident, so for now, discretion seemed the better part of valor.
Out in the driveway, Gio caught sight of Ethan’s tiny, ancient hatchback. “You’re kidding me, right? I seen Matchbox cars bigger than this thing. No way this dude you stuck me in is gonna fit inside that piece of shit.”
“Yeah, well, he’s going to have to, because it’s all we’ve got.”
He eyed the Fiesta up and down and shook his head in disbelief. I had to admit, the car didn’t look much larger than his Frohman-suit, and its faded blue exterior was flecked with enough rust to make me wonder if it was structurally sound enough to carry him. As we climbed into it, I heard him mutter something about clowns and sardines, but it was kind of hard to hear him over the squeaking of the shocks.
I thumbed the ignition, and nothing happened. I frowned, and tried again. Nothing still. Three tries later, the old girl sprung to life, but I guess my frown stayed put, because Gio clapped me on the shoulder and smiled.
“Hey, man, lighten up! We ain’t neither of us dead yet —we may as well have some fun while we’re here! ’Sides, you and me decked out in a coupla kick-ass suits, hunting down the shit-bag who killed me? We’re like the fucking Blues Brothers, man! We’re on a mission from God.”
I’ll admit, mob stooge or not, I felt sorry for the guy. Poor son of a bitch was wrong on so many counts, I didn’t even know where to start. So I didn’t. Didn’t bother to point out that he and I were dead already, or that if God was the one pulling our strings, He was a supreme deity with one sick sense of humor.
No, I didn’t say any of that. Instead, I shook my head at the damned man’s pointless optimism and threw the Fiesta into reverse, wincing as it labored backward into the quiet suburban street.
9.
The Shady Acres Rest Home was a sprawling clapboard mansion in the southern style, nestled in the sun-scorched Alabama countryside about an hour’s drive from Montgomery. Years of unrelenting heat and humidity had reduced the once-white paint to a blistered patchwork the color of old newspapers, which draped like lace over the ash-gray wood beneath. In the lot beside the building, a few dusty old sedans glinted in the afternoon light —staff, I assumed, because the row of spots marked Visitors was vacant until I piloted the Fiesta into the one nearest the entrance.
I climbed out of the car and felt the hot breath of the Gulf breeze against my cheeks. We’d been driving for going on fi
fteen hours, Gio and I, our only stop three frantic minutes at a strip-mall in St Louis spent swapping the Fiesta’s plates with a pair from a navy blue VW Rabbit. Gio spent the first few hours of the drive peppering me with inane questions —about my job, my life, about the places I’d been and the people I’d dispatched. He’d also blathered at length about the guys he’d whacked and the scams he’d pulled working for the Family out in Vegas. No doubt he felt some kind of kinship between us, seeing my job as nothing more than the supernatural extension of his own. But it wasn’t —not to me, at least. Unlike Gio, I took no joy in what I did, and God willing, never would. Besides, thanks to Danny, I already had more friends than I could handle —the last thing I needed was another. So I mostly kept quiet, and waited for Gio to talk himself out. Somewhere around Nashville, road-weariness set in, and he lapsed into a sort of drowsy, companionable silence. I’m not gonna lie, I was grateful for the quiet, but if you want to know the whole truth, I was glad to have some company as well. So long as he kept his yap shut, at least.
“So,” Gio said, the Fiesta rocking as he grabbed hold of the oh-shit handle above the passenger seat and hoisted his fat frame out of the car, “you gonna tell me what the hell we’re doing here? Besides sweating to death, that is,” he added, mopping his prodigious brow with his tie.
“We’re here to see an old friend,” I replied.
Gio eyed the nursing home with skepticism. “Exactly how old a friend are we talkin’ here?”
“Old enough.”
“This dude gonna know where to find the guy who offed me?”
“No, he’s not.”
“Then why did we come all this way to see him?”
“Because unless I’m much mistaken, he’s going to lead us to someone who might. You got the time?”
“Last I saw, the clock on the dash read quarter to one.”
“We’d best get moving, then, unless you feel like waiting around here till next week.”
By the look on his sweaty, heat-flushed face, I’d say he didn’t much relish the thought of spending the week in such steamy environs. Which was fine by me, because I sure as hell didn’t —though my reluctance had nothing to do with the heat. No, for me it was more the frickload of angry, crawly Deliverants on our tail that made me reluctant to stay anyplace for one second longer than we had to.
Inside, the lobby of the nursing home was quiet. A ceiling fan turned lazily above an empty seating area comprising a rose damask sofa and two matching armchairs, all at least as old and timeworn as the building itself. A wooden reception desk ran the length of the far wall, and behind it sat a plump, silver-haired woman in pale blue scrubs, her nose buried in an Elmore Leonard novel. As we approached, she set the book down and flashed us a tired, perfunctory halfsmile that looked as if it had walked into the room only to forget what it was doing there.
“Can I help you, darlin’?” she asked, her vowels stretching pleasantly beneath the weight of her drawl.
“Yes,” I said, “I’m here to see Mariella Hamilton.”
“And your relation to the patient?”
“I’m her grandson.”
“Her grandson,” she echoed, incredulous.
“That’s right.”
“What about him?” she asked, raising an eyebrow as she took in Gio’s massive frame. “He her grandson, too?”
“No,” I said, flashing her my best we’re-all-friendshere smile. “But he’s an old friend of the family —grew up a few doors down. I’m sure she’d like to see him.”
The woman shook her head. “Sorry, darlin’, but if he ain’t family, he’ll have to wait here. The rules, you understand.”
Gio made like he was gonna object, but I cut him off. “That’s fine,” I said. “He’ll wait.”
The way the woman eyed the two of us, it was clear she didn’t believe a word of what I’d said. But then she shrugged, as if deciding she didn’t care much either way. “Mariella’s in room 2123,” she said, her words tinged with weary resignation. “Just follow the hallway to your left until you reach the staircase, and–”
“Thanks,” I said. “I know the way.”
Mariella Hamilton was a tiny, frail specimen of a woman, nestled in the soft white blankets of her hospital bed like a champagne flute wrapped for transport. Looking at her, I couldn’t fault the nurse downstairs her skepticism at my claim we were related. Her skin was the color of brown sugar —a far cry from my meatsuit’s pasty white —and stretched tight and shiny across her fragile bones. Though she couldn’t be a day under eighty, her hair was still largely black, and pulled into a severe bun, so that what few streaks of white were present swirled like creamer through coffee atop the contours of her head. Her eyes were closed, as always, and her hands were crossed atop her breast. Clipped to one finger was a sensor, which ran to the heart monitor that blipped a quiet rhythm from its perch beside the bed —the same rhythm it had blipped, without fail or deviation, for the last twenty-seven years.
I leaned in close and kissed her forehead. Then I took a seat in the chair beside the bed, gathering her hands into my own. I closed my eyes and bowed my head, my lips moving in silent prayer. It was only when the sound of footfalls echoed through the room that I raised my head again, blinking against the sudden brightness as I turned to see the source of the interruption.
Turns out the interruption was a hulking kid of maybe twenty-three, with thick arms, dishwater hair, and dull, close-set eyes that glowered out at the world from beneath a brow that could have sheltered woodland creatures in a storm. He was dressed in the same pale blue scrubs as the woman downstairs, though his were nowhere near as clean, and he was carrying a tray laden with alcohol swabs, a rubber tourniquet, and a handful of needle-tipped test tubes of the type used to collect blood. When he saw me sitting there, he froze. Confusion and good manners played tug-of-war with his face. Eventually, good manners won out, and he smiled, continuing into the room and setting his tray down on the bedside table beside me.
“Sorry to barge in on you like that,” he said, his words tinged with the same drawl as the nurse I’d spoken to downstairs. “Mariella here doesn’t get company too often. Truth be told, you scared the hell out of me!”
“Did I?” I asked.
“You did, at that,” he said, looping the tourniquet around Mariella’s arm above the elbow and tapping at one suddenly protruding vein. Seated as I was, the kid towered over me, the scent of soap and sweat and sick clinging to his massive frame.
“So,” he said, his eyes never leaving his task, “how is it you know ol’ Mariella?”
“Actually, I don’t. It’s Quinn I’m here to see.”
At that, the guy went rigid. Thick ropes of muscle flexed beneath the skin of his forearms, and his jaw clenched in sudden tension. A moment later, he appeared once more relaxed, but it was too late —I knew my words had hit their mark.
“I don’t think I know any Quinn,” he said, feigning levity. “You sure you got the right room?”
“Yeah, I’m sure I got the right room. Just like I’m sure you know exactly who I’m talking about.”
The kid was quick, I’ll give him that. No sooner were the words out of my mouth than he’d kicked the chair out from under me. My cheek exploded in white-hot pain as I slammed face-first into the floor, the upturned medical tray clattering to a rest beside me. Then he leapt on top of me, knocking the wind from my chest. He grabbed a fistful of my hair in one meaty hand and yanked, wrenching my head upward and exposing the tender flesh of my neck. My muscles burned in protest at the awkwardness of my position, and I wanted to thrash, to fight, to struggle against his iron grip. I wanted to, but I didn’t. It didn’t seem prudent, what with him holding a needle to my jugular and all.
“Who are you?” he hissed into my ear. Needle dug flesh, and I squeezed shut my eyes as I fought the urge to flinch. “What are you doing here?”
I opened my mouth, but nothing came out but a sort of dry, creaking noise. The pressure against my jugular doub
led, and I tried again.
“I —I was… I was looking for you…” I wheezed. I couldn’t get any air into my lungs. My head was fuzzy; my vision dimmed. “It… it’s me —Sam!”
Suddenly, the weight atop me was gone. I rolled over to see the guy crouching awkwardly over me, and staring at me with an expression of shock and bewilderment. The needle he’d been wielding fell forgotten to the floor beside me.
“Sam? Is that really you?”
“Last I checked,” I said, dabbing at my blood-pricked neck with one hand.
Two things happened then that I confess I wasn’t expecting.
The first of them was he slapped me —hard. Getting slapped by a guy that size is hardly a dainty affair; it was more like getting socked in the face with a two-by-four. My head snapped back from the force of the blow, and rebounded off the floor with a fwack. Everything went kinda spotty for a minute, and my cheek burned in remembrance of his hand.
The slap I probably shoulda seen coming. But the second thing? The second thing I wouldn’t have predicted in a million years.
The second thing was, the dude grabbed me by the lapels of my suit coat, hoisted me up off the floor, and kissed me like he meant it.
10.
When he finally released me from his grasp, I slumped back to the floor, a bemused grin breaking across my face.
“I’ve got to be honest with you, sweetheart —that meat-suit of yours isn’t exactly my type. But still, it’s good to see you, Ana.”
“It’s good to see you, too, Sam.” All trace of her meat-suit’s Southern accent had disappeared, replaced by Ana’s crisp Balkan tone. She looked at me a moment from behind those dull, close-set eyes, and traced the line of my jaw with one thick, calloused finger.
Then she slapped me again.
This time, I wasn’t so surprised. I turned my head in time with the blow, so this one was like getting smacked gently with a two-by-four. But hell, she hadn’t killed me yet, which by my reckoning meant things were going better than expected. Then again, the day was young.
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