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Too much It sliced into ht soes squarely ho zenith

I&039;d really done it Overdone it What was supposed to have been a light touch turned into a hammerblow that bounced back inclawed and grabbed hard as death

Lurching up, I tried to reach the couch, but banged solidly to the floor, doubling in, knees drawing toto cushion the worst and failing

So cold

Tre oh, God, not another one

Before the seizure peaked I went invisible

The grayness was peace and co spas to rip me or anyone else apart

What had set it off? I&039;d not been thinking of Bristow Just trying to help Gordy The hypnosis? Why was that hurting? It didn&039;t use to, not this badly-

Stupid questions I didn&039;t want to think them up, didn&039;t want to find the answers If I could just stay like this

Without a solid body to feed and care for, I had no anchor to what had beco as I was chained to flesh, I was stuck with its memories, disappointments, responsibilities, and pain Lots of pain I wanted to float in this sweet respite forever

Floating Invisible Alry or scared I didn&039;t want any feelings at all

On the old ho-fed stock pond, and one rare summer day I had it to myself Without a mob of older brothers and sisters to spoil the stillness I&039;d stretched out in the ainst the noon sun, spreadheat above, chill water cooling below, I drifted, gently rising and falling, each intake of breath like a s ever Until then I&039;d never realized how good it was to have that kind of absolute, yet utterly serene solitude

Soon enough I grew bored and ain I should have stayed longer

When you&039;re a kid you know things will always be there for you Growing up teaches you different

With twenty-five years between me and that perfect childhood mo upright, shaken, but at least not shaking An i;froh I wanted to turn up the heat, but it wouldn&039;t help My usual i the chill of the grave Why, after this long a stretch since ered the fit? A run-of-the-estion, the kind I&039;d done hundreds of times before? It didn&039;t see-forthis one up, waiting to drop it on uard down? I had to do that to focus on Gordy And it left s

Great If that was true, then to prevent further attacks I only had to go through the rest of life with my shoulders bunched around ain Why hadn&039;t I thought of that sooner?

I waited to be sure the attack was truly over, pacing the roo a point not to look out the da untoward stirred within, so it seeh to wake Gordy No more attempts to influence him or anyone else, at least for now

Thankfully, I didn&039;t have to try for a second whammy to do that part Just a hand on his shoulder, an easy-does-it shake

He must have nodded off for real He ith a start, one hand auto for the inside of his coat where he wore his gun

"Fle God, but he sounded tired About the sa Ain&039;t it tiuess so But not to her place After Derner told me what Hoyle and Ruzzo pulled on you I should find some spot they won&039;t look Keep her clear of this"

"You&039;re worried about theht not be the only ones wanting to take over, given a chance I know Hoyle He&039;ll spout that he&039;s steady for et hie Derner&039;s nervous, too"

This was interesting "And here I thought I was his least favorite"

"You think Coldfield would et scarce so I can rest?"

I sled me headfirst in hell, but it had worked One of its influences on others was estions on their own

"I&039;ll call hiht now," I said "Why don&039;t you stretch out on the couch while I arrange it?"

"Good idea I need the rest"

I stood by ready to help, but he left his chair unassisted and made the journey across the roo not to shuffle like an oldasked to play host to Northside Gordy He&039;d helped keep Gordy safe before, and didn&039;t ave me an address and said he&039;d be there in person to look after things I knew the street It was one of the borderline areas One side was Bronze Belt, the other side white Gordy and Adelle showing up there wouldn&039;t raise as much notice than if Shoe put theht, it would certainly be the last place wherearound

Plans fixed, Ioff another fit The internal chill clung to me, not as bad as before, but noticeable

Music played in the Nightcrawler&039;s main rooht&039;s show had been going full swing for so even through the intervening walls It was really too bad I&039;dfor free for the ti elsewhere I&039;d have to ask Derner how that had gone over when he&039;d broken the news

I found Stroe area and told hi Gordy and where to take him Strome was evidently familiar with the street, too, since his distaste for the idea was obvious He didn&039;t like colored people, but happily for everyone he wouldn&039;t have to remain there His partner Lowrey had no such proble as usual

Adelle was at the sa a pause in the , and alone low and pleasantly seductive He said, "It&039;s a great place, I can get you top billing and an unli, acting, dancing, radio, the works"

"That&039;s very kind of you, Whitey-"

I walked up just then, delaying her reply "All done," I said "Sweetheart, you get a vacation until you say different"

She immediately understood what that , she stood I put my arms around her because she looked like she needed it, and just held her aher whole weight, and for a second she see in public ood to me, as well At ti of body presence, just that and no o andto be fine, and when she seeain She pulled a handkerchief from somewhere and blew her nose

I looked her up and down "Doll face, you&039;re always tricked out better than a ht You don&039;t want to give the doctor a second patient, do you?"

"But I-"

Tapping my ear, I shookHappens at the darnedest tiue with ht, Jack I&039;ll get hie, you felt like all-girl to ht and thank you!" She pecked e his mind if she didn&039;t hurry He would let her knohere they were headed I didn&039;t think she&039;d care where they stayed so long as he got better

Kroun stared after her, then at y face "What&039;s the deal? Are you an&039; she ?"

"We&039;re just friends"

"Friends with a da?"

I let that one pass, still feeling good about being helpful That hugher leave, Kroun sprouted a sht "I heard Gordy was dating a looker, but didn&039;t know she was Adelle Taylor What a woman She just s in comers "Dairl here to take a picture Think you could get her back?"

"She won&039;t be in the mood for it Another time"

"What a woman," he repeated, like a prayer He leaned forward, ar"

I sat at the table to better to hear He&039;d lowered his tone, and Caine and the band were going loud "Yeah?"

"Seeing&039;s how you&039;re such good friends with her, you think you think she&039;d go out with , and was tempted to poke him one in the eye Kroun held to an utterly serious face, waiting

Then he blinked, head cocked, eyebrows high and innocent, and I finally realized he was pullinga whole two seconds It sparked an equally brief one fro a little late that thatboss, but he didn&039;t see to like hi friends orking fine, but had it beco? With the nervy stuff going on inside my head, I could believe it

"What was that about, anyway?" he asked "So hied "I don&039;t twist his ar to do business, but it wouldn&039;t hurt hi that stateed their mattresses onto the floor to be out of the line of fire froetting soure he h worries "She hugged you pretty hard," he said "Didn&039;t that hurt?"

He was too observant for ot a pain shot earlier"

"What kinda shot? Morphine?"

I was far too alert to be on ue "Donno Stuff works okay"

"It sure aze for a ht, then nodded at the stage "You like this singer?"

Alan Caine had a spotlight song going It ht have done the sas okay Don&039;t like him much," I said

"Not a lot of people do, only the ones who haven&039;t ed to avoid the honor"

"Probably for the best He&039;s like sandpaper on a burn Wouldn&039;t know it to see hie of the dance floor, stirring up the wo to the the impression he wanted to rinned for ot," Kroun added "Wish I could get women to fall on me like that Well, actually they do, but only &039;cause of who I auy looks like if he&039;s got money and power I mean, look at Capone, for cryin&039; out loud Face like a nightmare and built like a whale, but the women were all over him You think it&039;d have been the sauy? Not for a ot fro of a butcher, but he also kne to have a good tih I wondered if Gordy was downstairs yet, on his way to Coldfield&039;s neck of the woods Coldfield was supposed to phone Cryht back to drive me over, there was a chance I could catch the call

But Escott or Bobbi or even Wilton could take care of that; I didn&039;t have to be at Cry someplace else

"Don&039;t you have a club to run?" Kroun asked, still watching Caine

Da? "Had to take a detour here Car trouble Stro me over later"

A waitress ca, still focused on the shoaved her off and lighted a cigarette for solanced over

"You smoke?" He seemed mildly surprised

"Yeah That a problem?" Everybody sht on Caine fought through a slowly shifting blue haze

"No Just-"

"What?"

He shook his head "Nothing"

Maybe he was one of those fresh-air types I could have told his I&039;d read it in a azine ad someplace Of course I couldn&039;t inhale, so none of that applied to er than Walter Winchell&039;s

Alan Caine&039;s nu, and beautifully clean note I was no h about how hard that was to pull off No wonder Escott was ihts came up Caine had delivered; the audience wanted to let him know about it His voice had filled the roolowed He graciously s sent the kisses, waving handkerchiefs It was crazy I&039;d seen so like it in a newsreel, but the film had been about Hitler Just as well Caine wasn&039;t in politics We didn&039;t need an American version of Germany&039;s most fahtly off to get behind the curtains They didn&039;t quite close, and I saw him visibly shut down his perfore He wouldn&039;t need it until the next show He had thirtyfrom a black to an all-white tuxedo for the second set Plenty of tililes beyond the curtain: Evie Montana trotting eagerly past to catch up with him Yeah, there was tis

I suddenly shivered in my overcoat Couldn&039;t help it

"You cold?" Kroun asked

"Yeah I must be in a draft"

"Or it&039;s that medicine you take I heard so cold"

Kroun&039;s deadpan look returned "A cold?"

I&039;d not been sick froe Didn&039;t know if I could get sick in the ordinary way For all I knew this could be the Undead version of the Spanish influenza

"Maybe you should get htclub jobs were fish-belly pale I fit right in "Nah, I&039;ht"

"Ya think? Never heard that one before"

The band swung into dance music, and couplesThat was one way to work off the extra energy Caine had built up in theain After a few tune changes I checked my watch Bobbi&039;s first set was over, and Teddy Parris would be stepping fros I could almost see and hear it in my mind After his set and their duet, Roland and Faustine&039;s red-washed dance-

Shut it down Quick Better to not ile, which could get hu Strootten sidetracked backstage Plenty of cute girls there, and this was their break time

Kroun&039;s attention wandered around the club, then he looked at his watch

"Expecting so up with some friends here You?"

"Stro drinks"

He snorted "Not likely Mitchell said friends Those two are oil and water They only mix when they have to"

"I can have the boys find hi about Mitchell What if he&039;d decided to make a quick trip to Lady Crymsyn to see Bobbi? I stood to leave "I&039;ll check on &039;em both"

Kroun flapped one nonchalant hand, apparently content to watch the dancers The waitress, either deternetislass of ice water for him He smiled warmly up at her She smiled back He wouldn&039;t be short of feht if I read her look correctly Alan Caine had nothing on Kroun when it cahtcrawler&039;s bar-the kind Bobbi wanted me to put in-and I used it to call Cryuy answered I&039;d expected Wilton, but he was probably busy

The drunk guy was reA wo ling I wondered if I&039;d been that boring in the days when I&039;d been able to get properly drunk One of the better by the minute Crymsyn was a swank place Busy No reason why I couldn&039;t have two phones in it I waited aKroun use his charain

This tiet Escott

Clunk, as he dropped the receiver onto the booth&039;s sh there was a large, noisy crowd in the lobby That was reassuring I should be there to greet the custoestion they&039;d have a great time, hit home with a little eye wharaines stopped I&039;d have to stay on the wagon fro people

The waitress was now sitting with Kroun; but that was okay, everyone kneho he was, and none would nag her to get back to her job In passing I noticed she was slim and dark-haired, very like Adelle Taylor but shorter He must have liked that type The waitress sure seemed to like him

"Hallo?" Escott Finally

"It&039;s Jack"

"You all right?"

"I&039;s Re asn&039;t Strome and didn&039;t have a streak of silver in his hair?"

"The ill-favored Casca of the trio?"

I recognized the theatrical tone and perfect inflection Escott ht out the Shakespeare in hiet his references at times Looks like I&039;d have to put another one on the list "I guess He&039;s not shown up there, has he?"

"Not that I&039;ve noticed Is there a proble as he stays away I sent so for that most excellently well One of them said they were there to keep Hoyle and his cronies out"

"Yeah It&039;s probably nothing, but I don&039;t wanna take chances Tell them I said to add Mitchell to the list I don&039;t want hi Bobbi"

"Why would he do that?"

"He knows her from when she ith Morelli"

A pause "Indeed I take it you&039;d prefer she not be subjected to unpleasant reminders of that chapter of her life"

"Bull&039;s-eye If Mitchell shows, tell hihtcrawler, toot-sweet"

"I shall be pleased to do so"

"You seeood hted at the idea of a party Bobbi&039;s setting it up for Saturday My appreciation is boundless, old man"

"Uh, okay, likewise" Escott in love What a picture Color it pink Lace it with brandy "I&039;ll be by later I got business here still"

"Take your ti in aflower petals around

No he wouldn&039;t But still

Kroun looked like he ht not care to be disturbed I left him to proceed with his conquest and went on to pass the word for the help to be looking for Mitchell Let hi

Another shiver Damn

Since Strome was likely to come in by the alley door, I made my way to the rear of the club The kitchen would be warmer than the rest of the place I&039;d wait by a fired up stove and hope to thaw out If that couldn&039;t shake the chill, then I didn&039;t knohat else to do Maybe retreat to ht with a hot-water bottle Come the daytiet as far as the kitchen Stroe area with Derner, and their heads were close together Even at a distance I could see so off in their posture They weren&039;t the sort to broadcast much in the way of e

They spotted ave his own suppressed version of a guilty start

"What is it?" I asked, hts were necessarily doused here to keep froe area in front Only thin threads seeped fro room doors All but one: Alan Caine&039;s

"Got a problem, Boss," said Derner

"We can take care of it," said Strome

"What is it?" I suspected that Caine and Evie Montana were locked in,Not unheard of in a dressing roos in front oftrack I waited the

Derner broke first "There&039;s been an accident"

Stroly was h to put my back hairs up "Accident, my ass," he muttered

He was upset "Spit it out," I said

Derner rubbed a hand over his face, a shoeariness and frustration in the gesture Next he checked the wide hall, which was eirls wandering about, the stage er, stray waiters All I saere a couple of the-room door It creaked inward to silence

No sounds of an interrupted tryst, no squawk of outrage, no movement at all

Dark inside The dim spill from the hall didn&039;t penetrate far, even for me

"What happened?" I asked "He leave?"

"Caine&039;s still here, Boss," said Stro any farther, without any visible facts, I kneas wrong