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I was somewhat surprised to hear myself answer him with the word in the center of the temple floor: "Potestas"

Evidently I pronounced it correctly and it was the right thing to say, because he didn’t froith suspicion "I’uson," I replied, not sure why I took the nao

Rob appeared to be delighted with me, perhaps somewhat envious, when he indicated my weaponized appearance and said, "So you’re all dressed for the stage Be hard as nails, ned, a little bitch or a little bastard?"

I popped hih quality, producing only one whifff and then another, which echoed quietly along the corridor like a pair of heavily h a closed door

Even an unsenti-time hoodoo tricks and a friend in the hierarchy of Hell can make a serious mistake But only one

In this place infested with human cockroaches, one mistake would be the end of ht, and not just because the state of Nevada had anti-littering laws I cautiously opened the door through which Rob had stepped less than a minute earlier A small office with one desk, a coripped the dead ed him out of the corridor

In books and uy--a title that I’h the pockets and the wallet of the thug he had to kill, searching for and discovering clues that tell him who his enemies are I already knehat these people were, and I didn’t care who I tucked him into the knee space under the desk

I’ devil-worshipper to look like Maybe a lamp with a shade made of human skin, a baby’s skull used as a pencil holder, wallpaper after a design by the Marquis de Sade, and a desk calendar with 365 pages featuring the wit and wisdom of Hitler The reality included a poster headlined THE 12 RULES OF SUCCESSFUL MANAGEMENT and another poster made from a photo of a house cat cornered by a crocodile above the words SHIT HAPPENS On the desk were a bank statement and spreadsheet Stuck here and there, Post-its provided neatly printed reminders: SHERRY’S BIRTHDAY GIFT, the culinarily specific HOT SAUCE, GREEN AND RED, and an almost desperate PAPER CLIPS!

I snatched a box of Kleenex from beside the computer, returned to the corridor, and quickly wiped up the blood on the gray vinyl-tile floor There wasn’t much of it One of the rounds had stopped his heart

When I picked up the sheet of paper that he had been reading, it proved to be a joke going around the Internet It concerned two dogs, a famous newspaper, Valentine’s Day, and urination I couldn’t ih out loud

In the office again, I dropped the tissues and the paper in the waste can I drew the Glock that now held thirteen rounds, turned off the lights, and stood in the dark, taking slow, deep breaths

There is a keen distinction between the words e, ideology or sheer blind hatred, the murderer takes the precious life of another To prevent theso or to deal justice, or to save myself, I may kill him He murders, I kill Funny, then, that killers tend to be the ones who have to overcouilt in the long run, while the hter to celebration without a hiccup

I returned to the hallway, pulled the door shut behind rettable even if he was a spirit who couldn’t be har at ht be so preoccupied that I wouldn’t notice hiiving h a door I al the tune from his old TV show: Dunt-da-da-da-da-dunt-da-da, dunt-da-da-da-da-dunt-da-da

When I opened the door through which he had passed, I found hi for me in a roo units lined all four walls fro They were packed full of just two items: thousands of rolls of toilet paper and paper towels It was such a strange hoard that I couldn’t help but ular voice and precise diction, Mr Hitchcock said, "They must have reason to believe the world will end by diarrhea"

I don’t recall , but my oords were forever knocked out of my memory by the sudden realization that he had talked

Twenty-eight

THE DEAD DON’T TALK I DON’T KNOW WHY I’VE ALWAYS thought that they are denied speech because, if they possessed it, they would be likely to reveal so are not meant to know

Mr Hitchcock had died thirty-two years earlier There had never been any crazy ru faked his death, as there had been about Elvis Besides, he chose to e, when he’d been in his prime as a filmmaker; but if this was the real Mr Hitchcock, he would be far past the centurybeen born in 1899

I stared at hi open but unable to close it

"Mr Tho, and this scenario requires Ja"

"Your powers of observation are impressive But they alone will not ensure the safety of seventeen children There are things--"

"But the spirits of the lingering dead don’t talk"

"I died, as you know But I have never lingered in my entire existence, either before death or after One always has too s I need to tell you, Mr Tho will be pointless if you are not prepared to listen"

"Call me Odd, sir Or Oddie That would be cool I mean, since I’m such a fan Your as brilliant"

"Thank you, Mr Thoht, soine they should be addressed to the producer hom I had to work on occasion, Mr David O Selznick--wherever he et to the matter of the children?"

"Wait a minute," I said, thunderstruck by a sudden realization "You can’t just--We’ve got to--If you’re talking--I el?"

"I ah opinion of me, Mr Thoels, Mr Tho else, except of course when they disguise thes, or whatever I assure you that duringto be huel now"

"Then what are you?"

"The hierarchy of spirits and the assignment of various tasks and responsibilities after death are issues more complicated than Hollywood has portrayed the out all of that, I assure you that by the time I finish, the children will be dead"

He pushed out his lower lip, raised his eyebrows, and regarded me expectantly, as if to say, Shall we let them die, then, so your curiosity can be satisfied?

In defense of my temporary inability to focus on the children, I can only plead that I had recently fended off three attack dogs, toured a collection of severed heads, visited a satanic temple, just killed a man--killed, not murdered--was afraid that I would have to kill many more, had heard a spirit speak for the first time ever, and he was Alfred Hitchcock

But his raised eyebrows and his pout of disapproval, subtle as they were, brought ine that expression and others equally well-practiced had brought errant actors back to the script and to the intended tone of a production with little or no arguory Peck or Rod Taylor--surely never on Cary Grant or Jarin

As soon as I saw his reaction to rin off uard on the third floor, Mr Tho them down froe"

"But I thought they were here in the baseht about them, I was dran here to the baseone to the third floor without certain knowledge that you must have, you would by now be stone dead"

He had ht have come from four states in the West Most of them know one another, but to soured that out by how the guy reacted to me in the hallway"

"Good for you One likes to have a leading man who is credibly clever"

With some e man, sir"

"Frankly, Mr Thouns and go to the third floor openly, as though you belong in this place, you will be uy"

"Yes Except for him"

"He thinks I’m dead"

"I’m sure that he does"

"What if I run into him?"