Kill City Blues (Sandman Slim 5)

“The Qomrama Om Ya.”

“It’s supposed to save the world from whatever’s coming?”

“If we’re lucky.”

“So you’re back to being the guy who saved the world and killed all the zombies.”

“I never stopped being him. But mostly I’m just trying to keep all my stuff from getting blown up. Can you imagine the universe without The Searchers? I can’t.”

She stands away from the wall. Brushes dust off her sleeve.

“You’re going to need help.”

“Probably.”

“Okay.”

“Okay what?”

“I’ll help.”

“Thanks.”

What do you know? People can surprise you after all. I wonder if she’s been talking to Candy behind my back. Whatever it took, it will be nice not to feel like we’re enemies anymore. But there’s something else. Something she’s not saying. She’s tenser than before. She rubs a knuckle against her lower lip.

“I have something else I have to ask you.”

“What?”

“It’s awkward. You’re going to think I invited you here and I said I’d help just because I want something.”

“That depends on what you want.”

I tap out another cigarette and light it, waiting for her to collect her thoughts.

“Remember when we first met back at Max Overdrive? I said I wasn’t always a nice person. I had this boyfriend. He was a dealer, and when he went to jail I used his money to go to school because I didn’t want to be in that life anymore.”

“And now he’s getting out.”

She nods.

“He called me.”

She holds out two fingers to ask for my cigarette. I give it to her. I didn’t know she still smoked. She takes a tiny puff and about coughs her lungs up.

“He wants his money?”

“No. Yes. But he wants me too. Only, I love my life. I love Eugène. I can’t go back to the way things were.”

“Where is he?”

“Vacaville. He’s getting out at the end of the week. He knows my old apartment.”

“You still have that place? I thought you’d moved in with Vidocq.”

“I keep things there and we store some of his stuff.”

“The boyfriend knows the address?”