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"KEEP your ears open "
Tony stuffed another cartridge in the rewinder with more emphasis than was absolutely necessary So far he&039;d overheard a totally unbelievable excuse about a destroyed tape, a conversation that could be used to script a bad -winded reviews from a retired office machinery sales?man who expressed opinions on his weekend rentals every Monday Not exactly the buzz on the street
"Vicki says you&039;re the best"
"Yeah, right," heout theWhile he wasn&039;t stupid enough to wish hier and fear, he couldn&039;t help feeling cut off fro he did well
On the other side of Robeson, two teenagers leaned against a bank building soaking up the sun One was thin and black The other, thin and white Skin color their only visible difference They both wore filthy army pants, old scuffed Doc Martens, and sleeveless black T-shirts-one faced with a red peace sylinted in both noses abovewas not as easy as it looked on TV-Tony started to ad-lib the words he couldn&039;t hear "You know about that gang selling organs? Yeah, man, like I&039;m droppin&039; off a kid?ney tomorrow"
"What the hell are you talkin&039; about, Foster?"
Tony jumped and whirled to face his boss who&039;d returned, unnoticed, fro instinctive street response to growl, "None of your business," he "
The older man shook his head and handed him a pile of boxes to reshelve "I&039;ve said it before, and I&039;ll say it again; you&039;re a weird one Get back to work"
"Vicki says you&039;re the best"
It wasn&039;t soVicki down,up the boxes, he caers across the street held out his hand to the other It was such an unusual gesture that it caught his attention and he stopped for a moment to watch They shook hands formally, uncomfortably, then moved apart As one of them turned to face the store, the ivory skull smiled
Tony rubbed at his eyes with his free hand and looked again It was a T-shirt, old and faded and noth?ing , you idiot Skulls always s around with va But a line of sweat dribbled icy cold down the center of his back, and the hand that set the video boxes on the shelves was shaking
"You gotit was al? had been printed with a cheap rip-off of the Vancouver Grizzlies logo There were at least a le with a zipper that see, it opened to show several packets of worn tens and twenties
"All right!" Considering howas it lifted off the floor "Hey? What the fuck are you grinning about?"
The driver&039;s suided the dark sedan onto the Lion&039;s Gate Bridge heading for North Vancouver "I&039;ets off the streets"
Thin ar "Yeah, like you&039;re a real fucking Good Samaritan" He scowled at the dashboard "Hey, weren&039;t you in a gray car before?"
"You don&039;t think I&039;, superior
"No Guess not"
They drove in silence along the North Shore, the only sound the quiet hum of the air-conditioner fan When the car turned off Mt Seyer in the passenger seat shifted nervously "Shouldn&039;t I be like blindfolded or so?"
"Why?"
"So I can&039;t, you know, tell anyone about this"
"Tell who?" the driver asked quietly
"No one, man Fuck " Contrary to romantic belief, those who lived on the street actually learned very little about life The one and only lesson the sur?vivors learned was how to survive If they failed to learn it, then by definition they were just another sad statistic The boy in the car figured himself for a survi?vor He knew a threat when he heard one There was suddenly , friendly, doggy eyes
Pal, he stared unfocused through the tinted windshield and built a pleasant fantasy of beating the driver&039;s s, self-satisfied face in His eyes widened a little as they passed a security gate and turned onto a private road They widened further as the clinic came into view
"This don&039;t look like no hospital"
"That&039;s right" A sign by the edge of the drive read Staff Only "Our clients don&039;t like to think they&039;re in a hospital, and they pay big bucks to maintain the illusion they aren&039;t"
"Fuck, what kind of clients you got?"
The driver sht hand patted the rectangular bulges stretching the side of the bag Rich ones like him
Standard police procedure maintained that a per?sonal visit elicited more information than a phone call Not only were facial expressions harder to fake, but theenvironmental clues were often invaluable As Mike Celluci pushed open the door leading to the offices of the British Colunized that no aspect of this "case" reseht down to it, he didn&039;t have anything else to do
"Can I help you?" The woman behind the reception desk at the BC Transplant Society fixed hiaze of the professional vol?unteer Celluci felt as though he were being assessed for potential usefulness and could al: How nice,around that needs
"Is Ronald Swanson in?"
Her eyes narrowed "Is this about that dreadful woman?"
"If you mean the cable interview ?"
"Look, you&039;re the fourteenth person who&039;s asked about it since I cah the other thirteen were satisfied with a phone call" Two spots of color blazed through the powder on her cheeks "I&039;ll tell you the sa Patricia Chou said, and she should be prosecuted for spreading such a horrible, horrible story Donated organs go to the most needy person on the list They are not ever sold to the highest bid?der Ever"
Soed his features into his best infor expression "Not within the system, no, but if someone were to circumvent "
"That doesn&039;t happen"
"But it could"
"I believe Mr Swanson made it perfectly clear that such a horrific concept is impossible"
"No, ma&039;am He merely said it would be difficult and expensive Which is why I wanted to speak with hiher sections of the city and see if he could find so action, but upon reflection decided he&039;d rather live a little longer While he had no doubt he&039;d survive the gangs, Vicki&039;d kill hi the risk
Her nostrils pinched shut, the receptionist laid both hands on the desk and leaned forward "We are ex?tremely fortunate that ais willing to do so iven the demands on his time, he does not spend his days here If you want to speak with him, you&039;ll have to call his office You&039;ll find Swanson Realty in the Yellow Pages"
It was as efficient a dis her for her time, Celluci turned and left the office
I pity the fifteenth caller, he thought as he waited for the elevator
Swanson Realty actually was in the book, and fro ad, Ronald Swanson was indeed doing very well for himself Unfortunately, there was no way a coh a call to the owner unless the caller identified hiuy on vacation
Frowning, Celluci let the phone book fall back into its plastic case and left the booth For the first tiood idea of how Vicki&039;d felt when her dete?riorating eyesight pushed her off the force He didn&039;t
Fortunately, it wasn&039;t important he speak to Ronald Swanson He&039;dfor his own peace of ht to the i operation, Celluci&039;d hoped he could get hi
Patricia Chou had al, and that meant-Ms Chou&039;s personal vendetta aside-Swanson was as much a suspect as the faceless crime lords of Vancouver
But one body, one kidney, wasn&039;t going to generate much in the way of profit
So, so to be more bodies
He didn&039;t leup near the ceiling The bottom four feet of the walls were a soft pink and so was the blanket on the bed He guessed it was supposed to be soothing, but it made him think of Pepto Bismol and he didn&039;t much like it
He didn&039;t much like the pajamas either, but the driver had made it perfectly clear he was expected to shower, then put them on
At least the son of a bitch hadn&039;t stayed to watch
He locked the bathrooot in and out of the shower as fast as he could, unable to cope with an extended vulnerability Unfortunately, the paja little safer
At least they don&039;t have a hole in the front for ainst his side, he tried the exit Locked But he&039;d expected that They wouldn&039;t want hi their rich patients
When the handle began to turn under his fingers, he hurriedly released it and backed toward the bed, heart pounding He relaxed only slightly when the fa? a stainless steel cart
"Good afternoon, Doug Are you comfortable?"
" &039;S okay What&039;s that for?" He eyed the equipment laid out on the top shelf suspiciously
"Donor specific blood transfusions enhance graft survival So " She ripped open a cotton sith brutal efficiency " I&039; to need to take so in bed feeling weak and dizzy, his fingers plucked at the bag searching for reassurance It wouldn&039;t be so bad, he thought, refusing to acknowledge the fear that closed his throat and lay cold and claainst his skin, if I could only see out the
Jerked out of sleep, Celluci scra phone The clock beside it said 7:04 PM Forty minutes to sunset He&039;d lain down at three for a half-hour nap but was obvi?ously ht The dainty, ladylike receiver alht end to his ear A quick glance at the call display showed hiot for me, Dave?"
On the other end of the line, his partner, Detective-Sergeant Dave Grahaot the names and addresses you wanted"
"Thanks How co from home?"
"Maybe I was onthese things off the system took a little ti with ht you didn&039;t want the whole office wondering why you were suddenly interested in Vancouver gangs and real es?tate salesrinned "What were those options again?"
"Fuck you, too, buddy Got a pencil handy?"
"Hang on" He hit the hold button and headed into the kitchen where he&039;d seen a pad and a jar of pens beside an extremely expensive replica of an old-fash?ioned wall phone "Okay Go ahead"
"You&039;ll notice I&039;s"
"And I appreciate that, Dave"
"Ito believe that you&039;re justdrawn into one of Vicki&039;s weirdo, ations&039;&039;
"Thanks, Dave"
"Yeah, well, I&039;et yourself killed"
The first half of the list, froer than he&039;d thought it would be There was nothing about Ronald Swanson at all Theticket
Henry woke angry, but that was to be expected as Vicki&039;s scent-the scent of an intruder, a co to the bedroo with his upper lip half lifted in a snarl, and it took him a moment to peel the flesh off air-dried teeth
"I bet Brad Pitt never has this problehost waited iue had been less disturbing-it was only dead This spirit hadto it Eldritch shad?ows, Henry found hiht Oh, that&039;s just what I need-now I&039;an to lift its mutilated arms, but be?fore it could open its ue, wasn&039;t it?"
Arms still uplifted, its expression bordered on petu?lance as it disappeared
Alone again, Henry swung his legs out of bed, then, as they touched the carpet, he paused The lingering scent of a second vahost had been banished for one more sunset And yet, an uneasiness re h he could hear the throbbing heartbeat of the surrounding city, no bloodsong called fros there, Tony&039;s absence stood out in sharp relief
Henry stared at his reflection and realized it felt surprisingly good to be alone
"What&039;re you looking so excited about?"
"Me? Nothing"
With the denial the gleam of antici?pation in Vicki&039;s eyes switched off
Celluci frowned The things she thought she had to hide froood-in fact, ood He watched her care?fully as she crossed the living room, pulled out a slat-backed chair, and straddled it but could see nothing that ive hirunted as she tipped it forward on two legs and reached across the table for his notes "Try not to break it"
"Chill, Michael I don&039;t knohy you think you can&039;t trust ot?"
He pushed a sheet of paper toward her groping fin?gers "The reasons Ms Chou thinks thekid?ney is our"She&039;s pretty convincing"
"I didn&039;t know you needed convincing" Before she could answer, he handed her another page "The rea?sons Mr Ronald Swanson thinks it&039;s impractical"
"You spoke to hirarams, it&039;s in his best interest to squash this kind of speculation, so his is not exactly an unbiased opinion"
"It&039;s in Ms Chou&039;s best interest to promote scandal Not exactly an unbiased opinion either"
"But it&039;s the only possible ated"
"What about a si, take the hands to use later?"
"And leave the kidney out of it?" She flashed him a serene and totally false smile as she picked up a pencil and a blank piece of paper "We have what; a dead bodyboth hands and a kidney We have where; thanks to Henry&039;s ghost&039;s wardrobe which indi-cates he&039;s local We have why "
"We have a potential why," Celluci broke in
"Fine A potential why;the pencil into the air, she watched it rise toward the ceiling, then caught it as it tumbled down "Next on the list, who Our only clue is the s who are always looking for new profit and who can certainly find and finance crooked hackers, crooked doctors, and loyal thugs" The gleam of anticipation had returned "I think that takes care of your Mr Swanson&039;s objections"
"And what about Mr Swanson hi off the hands?"
"I hate it when you answer a question with a ques?tion," Celluci growled
"I know There&039;re two reasons I can think of for the killer to re the hands will hide the identity- a belief which shows an appalling lack of knowledge of modern police forensics If that body had a record, he&039;d have been identified by now Or, two, the prints aren&039;t on record and are useful because of that Which brings us back to the gangs We can have this sucker solved by angs in this fair city" Her teeth showed, too long and too white "And I ask theangs are up to-that&039;s how they stay the boss"
Celluci had a sudden vision of a great deal of blood spilled over very expensive suits "How are you going to find out who the top men are?"
"I&039;ll ask a few questions farther down the ladder"
There were certain aspects of Vicki&039;s new nature he found so difficult to understand that he didn&039;t ever botherthe atte forward to this, aren&039;t you?"
"And why shouldn&039;t I be?" Her tone was as"You have no idea of how hard it is to always hold back To be less than you&039;re capable of being!"