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Fully clothed, still in my overcoat, I lay flat on the ar for the dawn

It&039;s really better than it sounds

I had heat and light-always leaving the la up in the dark-and it was profoundly quiet

My bricked-up alcove wasn&039;t the overwhelet claustrophobic, and I could put my back to a wall

For now my spine was stretched tense on this cot, and between it and the canvas, protected by a layer of oilcloth, was a sufficient supply of my home earth to keep the dayrave withconsuh the ones I experienced while aeren&039;t enough In the car I ed to cut shortto rise, and before it went full force I denied it breath and a voice box by vanishing

The awful cold shuddering rayness, and I lettime To vanish ain, with a different kind of healing One for my soul

But no such luck I returned to solidity weak and drained and shivering

And helpless and terrified, don&039;t forget about those My body and mind had both turned onI could do about their betrayal

I&039;d been so tired afterward I could not recall driving ho back to uys could drop into bed and shut off theirlike that, there would be no sleep forsun finally knocked me out I was in for a bout of Undead inso a normalWhen you drift through it, , then contentedly turning over to dive back in again

You have a sense of passing tiht drop into death left

Like noas still terrified, which would be exhausting to anyone, and the fear would be there when I woke again

I lay on the cot Waiting Sensing the approach of the sun that would take my life away Some part of me wanted utter oblivion, the kind from which you never awoke

That would solve a whole lot of problems for me All of them, in fact

Out

And return

I&039;d felt it come and shut my eyes in time They were open now Another day had rushed overhead

The only way I could tell for sure was to glance at ood, withthe watch, I ht&039;s old news Hadn&039;t Escott told s? Ti, then vanished and floated, rising through the floor to go solid in the dim, quiet kitchen My hat here I&039;d left it on the table so Escott would know I&039;d come home

Damn, but I still felt cold despite the overcoat "Charles?"

No reply, so he was probably already at the club He was being a hell of a friend to look after his work and mine I&039;d have to find some way to thank hi hi to have a surprise pay packet co for all the ti withfair

I went to bring in the mail, but the stack on the hall table toldforchatty correspondence

Back in the kitchen, I phoned the Nightcrawler office and got Derner "How&039;d things go today?"

"Pretty one hoave ht be in the rooht?"

"Red carpet all the way"

That was reassuring "What about Hoyle? Any trouble?"

"Haven&039;t heard froone, I donno where"

"Find out Keep it low and easy" I wouldn&039;t feel comfortable until I knehere he&039;d landed "What about Ruzzo?

They behaving?"

"They turned up looking like they had a gas attack to go with their shiners One of the boys thought they were trying to find Hoyle, but not for sure They know they&039;re on the outs, but you want I should fire the fatal Execution was the normal mob response for what Hoyle tried to do to me "That&039;ll be up to Gordy when he&039;s back" He&039;d probably get rid of the who didn&039;t likeup and went to e of clothes Usually I preferred to sit and soak in a near-boiling tub, but didn&039;t have the ti with the water slopping past the cellophane curtain would have to do

Shaving, as always, was a touch-and-nick adventure I&039;d switched froht to a safety razor in the aruys, and oncecut-throat device my older brothers had introduced me to, I&039;d probably have lopped my head off by now Still, Ifixed that

What it did not fix were the long threads of scarring that covered what I could see of my chest and ar the already pale skin always felt colder than the rest of e had gradually gone away, even the one from the bullet that had killed me But not these, no matter how many times I vanished And I didn&039;t knohy

Most of e had taken place that saht To replace ; ed-shameless, mindless, desperate

And enjoyed it

It hurt to heal then I had been unable to vanish, and it hurt a lot Left in ofof Bristoas sih the ordeal was past, so a record over and over but with the sound do so you don&039;t consciously notice that it&039;s repeating and driving you crazy I had to find some way to switch it off

I&039;d reluctantly talked to Escott about going to a head doctor, but how in hell could any of theet blindsided by these shivering fits and drink blood until I&039;ot a pill for that?

I didn&039;t think so

And another less-than-perfect evening began with the discovery that the two street-side tires of ister at first I walked around my car, unlocked the door, and was about to open it when the i ht The car was lower than it should be I backed off and stared and couldn&039;t believe and stared and couldn&039;t believe; and then I got pissed and wanted to hit so, only that would have left a dent in my blameless vehicle

I was certain Hoyle or Ruzzo had done it A kid&039;s vicious prank

It wasn&039;t anything that could be proved Not ordinarily If I confronted Ruzzo about it, they&039;d happily lie into be very unpleasant-for the for the new tires Four, so they&039;d all match

Then I&039;d probably beat the hell out of Ruzzo For soic or threats never work You have to kick their asses to get your ain and explained the situation

"We got garages, don&039;t we?" I asked

"Thirty-three, not counting the wrecking yards-"

"That&039;s good Find one close to my house and send soed out to four new ones" As long as the ht as well benefit fro"

"Right, Boss"

"And I need a car until mine&039;s fixed"

"No problem," said Derner "You can use Gordy&039;s Strome&039;ll drive you He&039;s away now, but can be there in an hour"

"Nah, I&039;ll cab over and wait at the Nightcrawler In the meantime I want Ruzzo Both of &039;em Hoyle, too"

"I&039;ll send out the hounds"

"They can cough up cash for replacement tires unless I take it out of their hides"

Derner&039;s "yes" sounded oddly faint, and I wondered why before realizingskinned from that meat hook, after all

Next I called the lobby phone of Lady Crymsyn Wilton answered I told him I&039;d be late on account of business and to open as usual He said okay and no proble Derner At least some pieces of my life were still in place Then I phoned for a cab

I was still toohtcrawler, I blew off steareed that criainst the world by our e, were fast friends by the end of the ride He got a dollar tip for ood Maybe I didn&039;t need a head doctor, just a lot htcrawler&039;sshow I sent someone up to tell Derner I was here, then settled in at one of the tables, breaking one of the rules for surviving in thewith , I wouldn&039;t have ive a da the front were on my side Sort of They&039;d spot trouble and deal with it I kept my coat and hat on For soht All inelse was, so why not?

Without being asked, a girl brought a glass of water to er I said no and shooed her off with a neutral sly skirts hurried to and fro and traded talk loudly across the breadth of the room I had waiters for irls to cohts They had red velvet skirts to s Many of thetheirls followed through on it, andlot than they did collecting tips in the club

On one hand I didn&039;t mind, but out of self-preservation had to cut the, it would reflect on the club and me Gordy could take that sort of heat frorief

Bobbi was still trying to figure out what to do with the leftover costuhtcrawler&039;s talent trickled in They weren&039;t supposed to use the front, but did anyway, leggy dancers heading backstage,up, everyone busier than me and consumed by their own concerns I liked that

Whitey Kroun walked in People paused to look up; I felt the drahich is why I turned to see who&039;d arrived

Even here he filled the place Soers, politicians Bobbi had that electric quality, but she only threw the switch orking because it sometioing all the time, and if he are of it, he didn&039;t let on

He took off his hat, brushed a hand through his hair He used the gesture as a , and sketched a casual wave I returned it, half-expecting hih the casino door Only then did I notice Mitchell in his wake like a plain-Jane pilot fish

He gave lare

It e of the night before He sees On one hand Mitchell was only doing his job A good lieutenant is supposed to make life miserable for anyone who could potentially annoy his boss But I was getting bored with this one If he didn&039;t leave for New York soon, I&039;d be inclined to inspire a sudden interest in ice fishing so he&039;d go away for the rest of the winter

I just looked back, again not blinking, not giving a daot bored and went elsewhere I returned to watching the club&039;s opening routine It was much the same as my place, but with more money

Jewel Caine, the obstreperous ex-wife of this week&039;s star performer unexpectedly appeared, beelined to a booth with a view of the stage, and hunched down in its depths Under her black coat, which she unbuttoned, she was all in blue froht&039;s green One of the casino bouncers passing through finally noticed her while she jerkily plucked off her gloves It was no business of arettes and grie with needle-sharp eyes A wo unsuccessfully to read her mind Sometimes you can tell what&039;s in a person&039;s head by his or her carriage Now that she wasn&039;t screaht be in a reasonable lass of water and ambled over I was still boss Maybe if I found out what her plan was, I could head off trouble, breakage, and hospital bills

"Mrs Caine?"

"Who wants to know?"

"My na"

"So how do you know me?"

"I&039;onna throw ht if I sit with you?"

She thought it over, giving me a hard up and down, then nodded "What do you mean by &039;associated&039;?"

I took my hat off, put it to one side, and slipped in opposite "I know the owner I&039;"

She arette and went on to the next, her fingertips yellow fro

There were hted by the time she needed it She leaned forward and puffed her se the place What do you want fro you seeainst your ex-husband-"

"More of a mountain He owes me a lot of ali teeth with tweezers to get hi, but I really need it, the landlord&039;s leaning on roceries It&039;s not like I&039;" She shut herself down, ust "Christ, but don&039;t I sound pathetic"

"If he&039;s holding out, you&039;ve a right to be upset What about getting him into court?"

"That costs money I can&039;t feed myself, arette and politely vented it to one side "Look, kid, les, and unless Alan pays up, I&039; But then he&039;d enjoy that, the son of a bitch"

I raised a hand and a waitress came over They knew about my temporary rise in rank Fast service for the boss was part of the job "What will you have, Mrs Caine?"

Surprisingly, she wanted only water and a twist of leht I took her to be a hard drinker

The waitress calass and a bowl of peanuts Jewel attacked theers delicate I wondered if she&039;d eaten lately She didn&039;t look starved, but you didn&039;t have to look it to be hungry I was acquainted with that a little too well

"Thanks, kid," she said, lifting her glass

"Just call me Jack"

"Yeah I&039;ve seen you around Heard you run that red club with the funny naotten to you, too?"

"What do you er than iven et bupkis He sees to it"

"What can you do?"

"Just about anything I can sing, but I&039;ll wait tables, clean the daer are you?"

"I do all right istful throaty stuff, nothing fast" She tapped ash off "These things spoiled e, but I can&039;t seeet aith that aren&039;t a strain on the cords, and I&039;ood with mood pieces I can make a rock cry"

That told me she knew her stuff "I&039;ive you a short set to do"

Jewel stared, hovering between disbelief and hope "You sure? For real?"

"That jackass is never gonna sing at my place It&039;s only a short set It won&039;t paynow, I&039;ll take it"

"Can you start toer" I got ave her a business card for the club "Go over tos out You&039;ll talk to Bobbi Smythe You know her?"

"Yeah, but-"

"Your landlord? A loan, then" I had forty bucks and gave it to her "Interest-free You need more?"

"Christ, kid, that&039;s two month&039;s rent!"

"It&039;s okay, I&039;ll take it out of Caine&039;s salary He h"

"A few thousand"

"I&039;ll set sos here, you&039;ll get your alimony It won&039;t be permanent, all he has to do is leave for soet on your feet?"

"Hell, yes" She seeed "It gets my mind off my own troubles"

"Must be some troubles"

I didn&039;t want to talk about what churned ether?"

She snorted "Ten years back I was the big star and he was well, you&039;ve seen him He&039;s a knockout He still is"