Page 84
“The one who paid his rent but kept him on a short leash.”
“That’s the one.”
“And it wasn’t Hennessey or Summers.”
“Definitely not.”
“‘Forever yours, forever mine.’ Does that mean anything to you?”
“Not a thing.”
There’s a tiny Zen garden in a box on her desk. The sand is curved into gentle waves. I pick up the tiny rake, look it over, and toss it back in, ruining the design.
“What did you mean when you said Stein had gone over the edge?”
She shifts her shoulders nervously.
“Chris was always eccentric and a risk taker, but he went a bit mad about it. Breaking and entering. Stealing cars.”
“I heard he could pick locks.”
“Yes. But there were other things too. He’d set fires in abandoned buildings and not run out until the very last minute. He said he belonged to a club. He tried to get some of us to join. No one did, of course.”
Something clicks in my brain. Something bad.
“Did he say ‘club’ or ‘lodge’?”
“I suppose it could have been ‘lodge.’”
“The Zero Lodge?”
“Maybe.”
“Did he ever mention Dan Perkins or Juliette Stray?”
“Ha! Those nuts.” The laugh is genuine this time. “I sold them their house. But no, it couldn’t have been them. They weren’t even in the city back then.”
“And that’s all you know?”
She picks up the rake and begins fixing the sand in her tiny garden.
“That’s everything.”
I crane my head around the expensive-looking office.
“I can see why you didn’t need to make money off Stein. This is a nice setup.”
A thin smile.
“I like it.”
“Who else would know about Stein, hustling, and sex magick and all that?”
“Why should I tell you that?”
“Because a bad word to Abbot about your working as Stein’s pimp is going to cost you money.”
She stops raking and looks at me.
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
- 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 (Reading here)
- 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