The Getaway God (Sandman Slim 6)
Page 100
“Where’s Candy?”
He shrugs.
“You’re the one with the sweet tooth. I always preferred my snacks salty.”
“Don’t be cute. I can kill you before anyone here can stop me.”
Mason leans on the table.
“You already did, remember? That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. You cheated.”
“I sure did.”
“You told me not to use magic and then you went ahead and used it yourself.”
“My game. My rules.”
“That’s exactly what I was going to say to you.”
“I’m not playing games with you. I’m going to ask questions and you’re going to answer them.”
He leans back in his chair, looking relaxed.
“And what if I don’t? You’ll kill me? How did that work out last time? You ended up stuck in Hell playing Lucifer. Badly. Your lover left you. Heaven, Hell, and L.A. suffered all sorts of calamities. And through it all, the Angra grew stronger. No, killing me just made things worse for everybody. Besides, you think I can’t find my way into a new body? You could fill a stadium with all the bodies my friends and I have created. And all I need is one. You can’t win playing your old games, Jimmy.”
“Where’s Candy?”
“In the cut-glass bowl on Grandma’s coffee table.”
Before he or Julie can move, I lean across the table and punch him. He shakes it off and looks at me.
“In a caravan to Timbuktu.”
I hit him again.
“On the Matterhorn ride at Disneyland.”
I start to hit him again when I hear Julie.
“Stark! Stop it.”
Mason spits blood on the floor.
“Tell you what, Jimbo. You like games. Play a game with me and I’ll tell you everything I know about your squeeze.”
“What kind of game?”
He turns to Julie.
“Do you have any playing cards around here?”
“We have a few games in the break room,” she says. “I’ll check.”
“Hurry back, darling.”
Mason turns back and raises an eyebrow at me. His chop-shop face is almost as scarred as mine.
“One of yours?” he says.