Ballistic Kiss (Sandman Slim 11)

“We’ll figure this out,” she says. “There are other lawyers.”

Something occurs to me.

“I’m supposed to see Thomas Abbot. He’s connected to every Sub Rosa in the state. He’ll know a way out of this.”

“You think so?” Brigitte says.

“He has pull with the governor, senators, everyone. There’s always a loophole with these things. He’ll find it.”

Brigitte looks a little brighter at the thought.

“That would be wonderful.”

“Don’t worry about anything. I’ll see him tomorrow and we’ll get all this worked out.”

Brigitte gets up and hugs me.

“Thank you. I don’t want to leave. Not like this.”

“No one is leaving anywhere,” says Candy. “Stark will fix it. Right?”

“Absolutely.”

Allegra says, “Maybe we should put a hold on the second movie for a while. Give everyone a chance to have a drink. Calm down a little.”

I get my bourbon. “That’s a good idea.”

People get up and head back to the kitchen. When she isn’t pouring everybody drinks Janet stands with me, munching nervously on a jelly donut, not talking to anyone. I was right to bring up Abbot. People relax knowing I’ll get him involved. The bastard better be as connected as he claims. Candy, Allegra, and Brigitte huddle together, talking. I can’t blame them. Janet is too shy to go over and all the men are smart enough to know that it was one of us who caused the problems, so we should just shut up and stay out of the way for a while.

When she finishes her donut, Janet wipes her hands and says to me, “That thing you said before. What’s a Sub Rosa?”

I look at her.

We’ve been dancing around this topic since we met. Janet is smart enough to know that the people who cleaned up the mess with the High Plains Drifters aren’t regular civilians you see in the street. She knows there’s something special about me and the other people in the room. That’s probably one of the reasons she froze up when everyone started arriving.

I say, “It’s not that big a deal. Sub Rosa are people who can do tricks. Hoodoo. Magic. Whatever you want to call it. Thomas Abbot runs the operation. Keeps the lid on things.”

“Are you like that?” Janet says. “Can you do magic?”

I look across the room. Carlos is giving me a look. I give him one right back.

“For fuck’s sake, she’s not dumb. Tell her the truth.”

I don’t say anything for a second. I don’t have to.

Carlos points to me with a cracker covered in brie.

“Of course he’s magic, darling. Look at his fucking face. He should have been dead fifty times over. Hell. He was dead for a while.”

Janet looks at me.

“Wait. You were dead?”

Now I really give Carlos a look.

He shrugs.

“He makes it sound worse than it was,” I say finally.