The Getaway God (Sandman Slim 6)

I know what this is. I should have let him take my finger. Instead I gave Mason the perfect opening to hurt me through someone else. I practically handed Mason Allegra and Fairuza on a platter.

I go to Vidocq and Allegra’s apartment. Not through a shadow. I ride the Hellion hog so I can feel the rain for a while. Vidocq stays with Allegra as she cries in the bedroom. I spend the night, listening for sounds at the door. I have a lot of guns with me.

DURING THE NIGHT, I go out through a shadow to see the clinic. The whole mall is gone. Just burned timbers, broken glass, and collapsed roofs. I don’t mention it to either one of them.

There are bottles and packages scattered over Vidocq’s worktable. It’s too haphazard to be his stuff. I pick up a small bundle of yellow herbs and give it a sniff. They stink of smoke. These few things are what Allegra managed to grab from the clinic before she had to run. Bottles of rare potions and plants. A ­couple of old handwritten books. Probably Doc Kinski’s personal medical notes. A chunk of blue amber. Some red mercury. Carefully wrapped in silk are the two pieces of divine light glass that heal most injuries. There are a ­couple of small vials on the end that I don’t recognize.

“They’re potions for Candy. Allegra made them fresh herself, so there’s no chance of them being poisoned,” says Vidocq.

I didn’t hear him come in.

“How’s Allegra doing?”

He shrugs.

“Badly. But it could be worse. Thank you for coming over.”

“Anytime. What else can I do?”

He drops down onto the old couch. Rubs his eyes.

“Nothing. She’s asleep now. I think when she wakes she’d like to be alone for a while to collect her thoughts.”

“Sure. I’ll take off.”

“I don’t mean to throw you out.”

“Don’t worry about it. But there’s one thing,” I say.

I set down a Desert Eagle .50 that some Satanists gave me a while back.

“That will shoot through a wall and still kill anything on the other side. Don’t be shy about using it.”

Vidocq picks up the gun and weighs it in his hand. Sights down the barrel. He nods.

“I don’t like these things, but times like this force us to reconsider our prejudices.”

“Call me if you need anything.”

“Thank you.”

“I know it will sound lame, but tell Allegra I’m sorry and I’ll try to find out who did it.”

“I’ll tell her.”

I ride the hog home. It’s morning, but no brighter than it was the night before. I change my route when I see a ­couple of patrol cars in the distance. A big vehicle—­maybe one of the Vigil’s ASVs—­shoots across Hollywood near Western.

I park the bike next to Max Overdrive and go in the side door.

Kasabian is hiding in his room. Delivery food boxes and beer bottles are piled up outside his door. Money is the magic anyone can do, and Kasabian always has a little stashed away no matter how broke he claims to be. Only he could find someone still delivering food. I wonder how much a burger costs these days.

When Howard Hughes went crazy, he locked himself in a room and watched Ice Station Zebra on a loop. With Candy it’s Spirited Away. Kasabian has the original Dawn of the Dead going in his room. The jagged Goblin sound track fills the whole first floor. I go upstairs and close the door.

I wonder about the cops that watched Allegra’s clinic burn. Was that official policy or hillbilly street justice? Maybe the cops and the arsonists were working together to take out a Lurker safe haven. That’s just with the city needs. A bunch of righ­teous vigilantes.

I suppose the existence of Lurkers couldn’t be a secret forever. It was hard enough for the Sub Rosa plants in the police department to keep them off the books. Now that everything’s falling apart, the few assholes in power who knew something or suspected something are free to shake whatever tree they like and see what falls out. How long before someone pays a visit to Bamboo House of Dolls? It’s a good thing the city is deserted. What Lurkers don’t need is having all of L.A. going ballistic when they find out that monsters have been living among them since forever.

I walk around the apartment. Look at Candy’s things and wonder if I found something that might make her feel better,