Page 24
“We’ll figure this out,” she says. “There are other lawyers.”
Something occurs to me.
“I’m supposed to see Thomas Abbot. He’s connected to every Sub Rosa in the state. He’ll know a way out of this.”
“You think so?” Brigitte says.
“He has pull with the governor, senators, everyone. There’s always a loophole with these things. He’ll find it.”
Brigitte looks a little brighter at the thought.
“That would be wonderful.”
“Don’t worry about anything. I’ll see him tomorrow and we’ll get all this worked out.”
Brigitte gets up and hugs me.
“Thank you. I don’t want to leave. Not like this.”
“No one is leaving anywhere,” says Candy. “Stark will fix it. Right?”
“Absolutely.”
Allegra says, “Maybe we should put a hold on the second movie for a while. Give everyone a chance to have a drink. Calm down a little.”
I get my bourbon. “That’s a good idea.”
People get up and head back to the kitchen. When she isn’t pouring everybody drinks Janet stands with me, munching nervously on a jelly donut, not talking to anyone. I was right to bring up Abbot. People relax knowing I’ll get him involved. The bastard better be as connected as he claims. Candy, Allegra, and Brigitte huddle together, talking. I can’t blame them. Janet is too shy to go over and all the men are smart enough to know that it was one of us who caused the problems, so we should just shut up and stay out of the way for a while.
When she finishes her donut, Janet wipes her hands and says to me, “That thing you said before. What’s a Sub Rosa?”
I look at her.
We’ve been dancing around this topic since we met. Janet is smart enough to know that the people who cleaned up the mess with the High Plains Drifters aren’t regular civilians you see in the street. She knows there’s something special about me and the other people in the room. That’s probably one of the reasons she froze up when everyone started arriving.
I say, “It’s not that big a deal. Sub Rosa are people who can do tricks. Hoodoo. Magic. Whatever you want to call it. Thomas Abbot runs the operation. Keeps the lid on things.”
“Are you like that?” Janet says. “Can you do magic?”
I look across the room. Carlos is giving me a look. I give him one right back.
“For fuck’s sake, she’s not dumb. Tell her the truth.”
I don’t say anything for a second. I don’t have to.
Carlos points to me with a cracker covered in brie.
“Of course he’s magic, darling. Look at his fucking face. He should have been dead fifty times over. Hell. He was dead for a while.”
Janet looks at me.
“Wait. You were dead?”
Now I really give Carlos a look.
He shrugs.
“He makes it sound worse than it was,” I say finally.
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24 (Reading here)
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 116
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 119
- Page 120
- Page 121
- Page 122
- Page 123
- Page 124
- Page 125
- Page 126
- Page 127
- Page 128
- Page 129
- Page 130
- Page 131
- Page 132
- Page 133
- Page 134
- Page 135
- Page 136
- Page 137
- Page 138
- Page 139
- Page 140
- Page 141
- Page 142
- Page 143
- Page 144
- Page 145
- Page 146
- Page 147
- Page 148
- Page 149
- Page 150
- Page 151
- Page 152
- Page 153
- Page 154
- Page 155
- Page 156
- Page 157
- Page 158
- Page 159
- Page 160
- Page 161
- Page 162
- Page 163
- Page 164
- Page 165
- Page 166
- Page 167
- Page 168
- Page 169