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An earthquake? Is it just my flying saucer or is it the whole city? The shaking goes on and on, getting worse by the second. The refrigerator slides away from the wall. Appliances jitter to the edges of shelves. Glasses and plates fly out of cabinets. And the earthquake just gets worse. To keep from falling I have to lean on the counter and hold the knife with both hands, hauling back on it with all my weight. Finally it pops out and I slam down onto my back, cracking my head on the marble floor.

Once the shaking stops I haul myself to my feet. The kitchen is a disaster, but there’s a knot on the back of my head and I’m too dizzy to do anything about the mess. There’s a scorch mark shaped like an obscure Hellion death hex in the center of the cracked kitchen counter. I grab the bourbon and kick my way through the debris to the living room. I have to turn the sofa upright to sit down.

All in all, it’s been a delightful twenty-four hours. Janet got bitten by a snake. I saw an intestine monster eat some people, then get cooked like bad brisket. I got my ass kicked by some third-rate spooks and now my nice kitchen looks like a drunk brontosaurus tried to fuck the dishwasher. If tomorrow is this much fun I might have to pack it in and go back to Hell. At least there all the houses come pre-wrecked and I won’t feel guilty about breaking this place.

I wake up a few hours later. Still feeling guilty about the kitchen and whatever cleaner elves come by every day, I find a dustpan and shovel as much of the broken plates as I can out one of the windows, followed by the broken appliances. Someone told me it’s what Martha Stewart does with her burned quiches, so I’m feeling pretty good about myself.

Candy calls about getting together and we decide to go to the Devil’s Door drive-in.

I steal a T-Bird convertible from a vintage car lot in Beverly Hills and pick her up a little before eight. We speed over to Flicker’s and find a space good and close to the screen. It’s a strange feeling being out with people so many times these last few days. I’ve become so used to being alone that the feeling is a combi

nation of relief and tension. At least with Flicker we were fighting monsters. And with Janet, we were trying not to die in the desert. But with Candy right now, it’s just the two of us. No missions. No big agendas. Just us learning to be around each other again.

Flicker changed the movies and tonight it’s a triple feature, Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, and Son of Frankenstein. I’ve always felt bad that Frankenstein is my least favorite of the three, but tonight it’s helpful because it gives me and Candy time to talk.

When I get the top down on the T-Bird Candy says, “How’s the spook business?”

I light a Malediction.

“Better, I suppose. Flicker came along and showed me some of her tricks for dealing with the Stay Belows.”

“She teach you to call them that too?”

“Yeah. She knew a lot more about the situation than I did, so I just played passenger while she did all the work.”

“What did you learn?”

“That our dead pal had a girl, and I think she might be the one who killed him.”

“Any idea who it was?”

“An angel named Zadkiel. But I don’t know why. If it was a simple angel problem, I could probably fix it. But it’s not. There’s someone else he’s connected to. I’m sure of it. Someone secret. Someone with money. Maybe a thief or an ex-thief. I need to figure out who it is.”

“Oooh. Catwoman!” says Candy playfully.

“I’m ready to believe anyone right now. Anyway, I’m tracking down more leads. Abbot is getting me an address.”

She sits up, looking more serious.

“Is he going to help Brigitte?”

“He’s trying. But it’s bad timing with the Feds being so deportation happy right now.”

“Fuck. You know, I’d like to find out who got her into this mess.”

“Me too.”

“If you find out, tell me so I can pay him a visit.”

“We can go together.”

“Hell yeah. Like old times.”

“Like old times.”

She brightens and says, “You should come by the store on Friday. Alessa’s and my band are playing a little gig.”

“I guess I haven’t heard you play guitar since I came back.”