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“What the fuck are you doing for people like that?”

“Trying to save your life, for one thing. They might be complete assholes but there’s a worse bunch of assholes that want to blow L.A. off the planet in less than twenty-four hours.”

“Oh,” he says. “Is that why you’re here? To tell us to get out of town?”

“No, because I know when and where it’s going to happen and I’m going to stop it.”

He looks at me.

“Are you sure? I mean, I can get to LAX in an hour. Burbank airport even faster. And don’t worry. I’ll leave a note for Candy and Alessa.”

I tap a finger on the counter.

“Stop it. I told you. I’ve got it handled. After I take out the bombers, I’m free. I don’t owe Wormwood anything. I fact, I plan on killing a whole lot of them soon.”

He puts his hands over his ears.

“I don’t want to hear this shit. Don’t you understand? None of us have had to hear about one of your Superman murder sprees for a year. And I think I can speak for Candy and Alessa too when I say we don’t want to. Things are quiet. We do our jobs and we have fun. We have okay lives. Please don’t fuck that up.”

I look at him, trying to gauge his level of bullshit. Kasabian has never forgiven me for cutting off his head, and I can understand that. Part of me wants to believe that he’s saying all of this because I’m in a weak position and it’s his chance to finally get some revenge. But it’s not that. He doesn’t have a heart for me to listen to, but I can read his eyes and the frightened microtremors around his lips. He’s telling the truth. Barging in here like this, I might as well have driven a tank through the front door. At least I waited for Candy to leave so she didn’t have to see this disaster.

“You’re right,” I say. “I just had to know how things are. I’m going to go now. Do not tell Candy I was here.”

He looks at me like he doesn’t trust me. “Is that a threat?”

“No. It’s me asking you politely to keep Candy out of this.”

“Okay,” he says grudgingly. “I just didn’t like your tone there at the end.”

“Sorry. I’m going to take off.”

I’m starting to step into a shadow when Kasabian says, “Hey, I’m not telling you to fuck off forever. Just don’t pop out of the dark like the Grim Reaper and scare the piss out of me.”

“Got it.”

“For what it’s worth, I know Candy misses you. We had a drink on your birthday. Just the two of us. She got kind of misty-eyed and everything.”

“Misty-eyed? I suppose that’s better than nothing.”

“Beggars can’t be choosers, right?”

“That’s what they say.”

As I’m about to leave, a poster on the wall catches my eye. It’s for a drive-in theater called the Devil’s Door.

“Is that Flicker’s place?”

“Yeah,” says Kasabian. “She reopened about three months ago. Fixed the place up nice. You ought to go see it.”

“I just might.”

“See you, Stark.”

“Later, Kas.”

I step through a shadow but don’t go out anywhere. I stay in the Room of Thirteen Doors and just breathe the cool air.

That didn’t go the way I’d hoped. To tell you the truth, I’m not sure what I was looking for, but it wasn’t “You being dead is the best thing that ever happened to everyone.” I’m going to have to think about this more before I do anything. Maybe check in and see if Vidocq wants some company. Two assholes without a country. I wonder if he’s still living in my old apartment. Maybe he wants a roommate. It doesn’t sound like anyone is going to be inviting me back to Max Overdrive anytime soon. But I’