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“No. I’m not doing this. I can’t. Not right now.”

“Come on. Join in the fun and help every mortal who’s ever lived. Even the depressing ones like you.”

I look at him.

“Careful with the guilt trips. I’m not all that thrilled with human beings right now.”

“Don’t you want to hear the rest, at least? Why she won’t work with Father?”

“That’s easy,” I say. “She’s missing.”

Samael looks at me like a dog trainer whose favorite puppy just learned to fetch.

He says, “Good guess. But we have a clue as to where she is: Earth.”

I give him a look.

“You want to narrow that down a little?”

“All right. The Pussycat Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard.”

“That old porn place? That’s been gone for a million years. How long ago did she disappear?”

“Forty-some-odd years now.”

I knock some ashes from the Malediction.

“What the hell was the Opener of the Ways doing at a porn palace in the seventies?”

“I told you, she liked spending time with mortals. From what I understand, some of her friends had . . . exotic tastes. Do you really think it’s important?”

“Who knows? But maybe if we can figure out what happened forty years ago, we’ll be able to find her. Only, even if there were any Pussycat Theatres around, what are the odds someone would remember her?”

“Virtually none,” says Samael.

“Exactly. Case closed. See you around.”

“You must be excited. Running off to solve the case already.”

“I just said I wouldn’t.”

“You said you couldn’t. Not the same thing.”

I pick up a pebble and toss it across the graveyard.

“Why are you asking me to do this? Why don’t you do it or get winged minions to do it for you?”

For the first time, he looks a little uncomfortable.

He says, “That’s not really possible at this moment.”

“It’s Mr. Muninn, isn’t it? If he isn’t looking for her, why should I?”

His face softens a little.

“I know that you have your own problems. Bad dreams. Fists through walls. Questions about what’s left for you on Earth. And then there’s your donut friend. It must all be very confusing.”

“It is and I don’t want to talk about it.”