Hollywood Dead (Sandman Slim 10)

I look at Abbot.

“You’re going to tell him about me saving you tonight, right? I don’t need more enemies right now.”

Abbot glances back in the direction of the door.

“Don’t worry about them. They’re loyal and they understand orders. They’ll leave you alone if I say so.”

“And you’re going to say so, right?”

“Of course,” he says a little lightly for my taste. But I have to trust him for now. Like I said, I don’t need more enemies.

He pushes the list back to me.

“I still don’t understand why Wormwood would make a deal. Why not just come after us?”

“I spent some time with a faction member. Sometimes she talked like she was at a tent revival meeting. I didn’t believe all of it, but I do believe one thing. The faction is on a crusade. A goddamn holy war.”

“Against the Sub Rosa?”

“Against anyone who isn’t a true believer.”

“In what?”

“I have no idea. What do you know about them?”

Abbot ta

kes his first sip of bourbon. He holds on to the glass, rolling it between his hands.

“Honestly, not a lot,” he says. “We know they’re well funded and equipped, and that they’re very good at what they do.”

“You haven’t been able to get anyone on the inside?”

“Not a single person.” Abbot leans back against the sofa. He says, “So, you’ve been dead for a year.”

“That’s right.”

“Some of us thought that you might have faked the whole thing. That you’d grown tired of L.A. and the endless fighting and had decided to retire.”

I look at him.

“You know that Audsley Ishii is dead, right?”

“Of course. Your friend Candy killed him because he allegedly killed you.”

“He didn’t allegedly anything. He put a fucking knife in my back. Do you think I got her to murder an innocent guy just so I could have a weekend in Cabo?”

He sets his glass on the table.

“No. That’s the part that didn’t make sense. I knew you were capable of disappearing, but I had Candy thoroughly checked out. There’s nothing in her background indicating that she’s capable of cold-blooded murder.”

“Did you blow her cover when you checked her out? The Feds are still looking for her. That’s why she’s been wearing a glamour and going by Chihiro all this time.”

“That’s not true,” Abbot says. “Those investigations have all been dropped. After Marshal Larson Wells was arrested, the Golden Vigil operation was shut down and all its cases closed. There’s no warrant for Candy. Or you, for that matter.”

“Lucky me. I’ll get a dog and a Prius.”

Abbot smiles.