The Perdition Score. Richard Kadrey

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СКАЧАТЬ lamp, Candy will conveniently lose it and replace it with something horrifying. Something that spins and has talking robots or waving tentacles.

      Candy crawls into bed and we divvy up the tamales. I take some down to Kasabian, and when I come back upstairs, she’s propped against a pile of pillows digging into her dinner. I take my plate into the room and join her in bed.

      “Hey, do you remember me bringing home a folder or packet of some kind when I went to work with Abbot?”

      She nods, holds a hand over her mouth, and chews.

      “It’s on the floor next to the bureau. You put it there and I’ve been wondering how long it would take you to ask about it.”

      “You looked inside?”

      She nods, looking a little guilty.

      “Sorry. A big envelope from the augur. How could I not look? Besides, knowing you, it was a check for a million dollars and you forgot about it.”

      I mix some beans with rice and swallow a mouthful.

      “I guess I don’t have a good history with money.”

      “It’s not money. It’s authority. Someone gives you a job and you take it, but then they give you an envelope full of stuff to read and it’s like homework. You leave it on the floor hoping the dog will eat it.”

      “And it never does.”

      “You’re mad at the dog we don’t have?”

      “Can we rent one to clean up my mistakes?”

      “It would have to be a pretty big dog.”

      I poke her in the leg with my fork and she punches my arm. Candy isn’t exactly human. She’s a Jade, which is kind of like a vampire, only worse. It also means she’s strong. Her love taps are like a velvet-covered baseball bat.

      “Abbot said there was stuff in the folder about insurance.”

      “Mmm,” says Candy around a mouthful of food. She swallows and says, “Yep. Medical and dental. There’s 401(k) stuff in there too.”

      “Now he’s just fucking with me. He knows I don’t have any bank accounts.”

      “He’s the augur. He has pull. Just because there’s paperwork that says you’re dead, it doesn’t have to always be that way. Talk to him. Maybe the Sub Rosa can resurrect the late James Stark.”

      I shake my head and eat my tamales. I’m very hungry and then very self-conscious. We’re in bed naked and I wonder if I have any bruises on my body from the fight. I should have checked myself when I took a shower. It’s a good thing I’m not a spy. I’d blow my cover story two minutes into enemy territory. I change the subject.

      “Did Julie tell you about the kid I brought her?”

      “Yeah. He’s a friend of the Abbot’s or something like that.”

      “Abbot was cagey. I’ve been wondering about that, but I don’t know what to think.”

      “There aren’t that many secrets men usually have about a missing kid. The kid is dead. The kid was snatched by the mother and he doesn’t want to say so. Or he snatched the kid and doesn’t want to say. There’s another more common reason.”

      “Come on. Tell me.”

      “It’s his kid and maybe Mom is married to someone else.”

      I try to picture that for a second. I don’t know anything about Abbot’s personal life. He could date women, men, or tentacled elder gods for all I know. I look at Candy.

      “You’re getting good at that detective stuff.”

      “I know,” she says. “That’s why I’m with Julie and you got fired.”

      “Thanks for bringing that up again.”

      “Blame it on the dog.”

      When we finish the tamales, Candy grabs the plates, takes them into the kitchen, and ditches them in the sink. She comes back into the bedroom and crawls onto my lap.

      I start to kiss her, but she pulls back.

      “What’s wrong?”

      “What happened to your eye?” she says.

      I reflexively touch the bruise.

      “It’s nothing. Like I said, I bumped my head leaving Abbot’s boat tonight.”

      “Sandman Slim walks into doors?”

      “Hey, a guy snuck up behind me tonight and sneaked a selfie before I knew it.”

      “That I can believe,” she says, and rolls off me onto her back. “I know there’s something wrong with you, but I can’t help if you won’t let me.”

      “I’m okay,” I say.

      “No, you’re not. This isn’t the first time you’ve come home bruised. You’re usually better at hiding them, but I know your body pretty well, so I notice them even when I don’t say anything.”

      I put a hand down on the bed and she reaches out and wraps her warm hand around one of my fingers. I don’t want to look at her, so I look at my hand. Old scars gleam white like I stuck my hand into a metal grinder looking for my car keys.

      “I’m still getting used to this new life is all. I’m a little off balance.”

      She rolls onto her stomach and looks at me.

      “Know how we just talked about me being a detective? If you’re doing something to hurt yourself, I’ll find out.”

      “Let it go this time, okay? I’m just a little off balance, but I’m getting better.”

      “Okay,” she says uncertainly. “But I reserve the right to bring it up again if I suspect you of asshole behavior.”

      “Agreed.”

      She sits up and kisses me.

      “You told me I could tell you anything. You can do the same with me.”

      “I’ll remember that. Thanks.”

      She puts her arms around me and I just hold her like that for a while. I feel something light slide down my chest. She’s crying or I’m sweating. Probably both. I feel like I’m fourteen, caught in a lie within a lie with no way to get out.

      “Do you want to get a dog sometime?” Candy says.

      “Not really.”

      “Thank God. Neither do I.”

      See? The truth didn’t hurt. Now I need to get out of this particular knot of lies by not going back into the fight pit.

      “Get СКАЧАТЬ