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"I’ to have a lot more questions for you over the next few days Maybe weeks However long it takes to settle this Be straight with ive you your body back"

"Sit here and wait for Mason to get me What a sweet deal"

"Work with et you"

Kasabian’s expression goes blank, like he’s staring off into the distance at soht, you know I aot power, "

"Then you have every reason to want some payback, too"

"Don’t you think I would have if I could? Look at me! I even had to steal this stupid store just to earn a living Then a dead guy cooing to put down Mason Faim"

"No, I am You just point me at hione He’s Kayzer Soze"

"What about the others?"

"You’re asking a lot,for exactly what I’et into the next thing "Tell me, Kas, like your life depended on it Who killed Alice?"

Kasabian’s eyes dart back and forth in his head like they’re looking for the eject button I recognize the look of panic It almost feels like I can hear his heart speed up But he doesn’t have a body, though maybe he’s still somehow connected to it

"You know about that? All the way down there and you know about that?"

"Talk to "

I look at the floor, but I don’t lass I can’t stand talking about her I raise aze to meet Kasabian’s If he had a body, he would have bolted

"I don’t know much It’s not like Mason or anyone stops by to talk over old tiet the same rumors as everybody else I heard Parker did it"

"Mason sent him?"

"Parker doesn’t shit unless Mason tells him it’s okay, so yeah, Mason must have told him to do it"

"Why? After all these years, ould he do that?"

"I don’t known, man Seriously"

I stare into Kasabian’s eyes and know he isn’t lying He’s absolutely panicked as I coarette out of the ashtray and let hi to cry

My Alice is dead and I’m alone

"Tell me about the store," I say "How e kids They cora is the only one with any brains"

"Who’s she?"

"Shedown there with the customers"

"She runs the place so you can stay up here and bootleg et by I bet you did some dirty trick or then you were in Hell"

"You have no idea," I tell hira open the place?"

"Ten Yeah, she does"

There’s a closet behind the door to the stairs I push the stairs door closed and open the closet It’s e shelves I drag the body into the back of the closet, then bring in Kasabian’s head I set him on top of the shelves He says, "I’m a little claustrophobic"

I look around the room He can’t stay out in the open, in case someone comes up here There’s a s Kasabian shareon the botto it in and turn it on while fiddling with its old-fashioned rabbit-ear antenna A local news show comes on and I put the set on the shelf with Kasabian

"Maybe this’ll ease your pain"

Kasabian frowns "You’re a real prick, Jimmy"

"But I wasn’t always, was I?" I close the closet door halfway and stop "You ever call ain, I’ll nail this door shut You can complain about claustrophobia for the next fifty years in the dark" I close and lock the closet door

I sit down on the bed, exhausted and in pain It’s been an eventful day I landed here with nothing and ended up with a nice new jacket and a pocket full of cash I even have somewhere to crash and wash my face The A else occurs to uess I’o and wash off the blood that’s drying on my belly and chest, but when I try to stand, my cracked ribs shoot to the top of my pain threshold and convinceoff Brad Pitt’s jacket and lie back carefully The moment my head hits the pillow, I’m out

Alice had short, dark hair and almost black eyes There were rose thorns tattooed around the base of her long neck She was sli We’d been going out for three or four weeks While ere lying around in her bed one night, out of nowhere, she said, "I can do ic Want to see?"

"Of course"

She juht fro under her skin,the tattoos over her arms, back, and chest move like dancers in some eerie ballroom

She went to her dresser and drew a curly little mustache on her upper lip with eyeliner pencil When she came back to bed, she had a top hat and a deck of cards She sat down and put on the hat, straddling me on top of the covers