Wells hands Sola back the tablet.
“Thank you. Carry on,” he says. She turns away and slips her respirator back on. She opens the chapel doors and closes them again.
“I’m going to need help in there,” she says, and heads back down the hall the way she came.
Wells looks at the Shonin.
“Did you ask him any more about the caverns?”
“I was getting around to it,” the Shonin says. “You said you saw caves within the fire when you were in Hobaica’s mind. Do you remember anything more about them?”
I shake my head.
“Nothing more than I already said. I didn’t get a good look.”
Wells says, “There are old mines around the city. Tunnels where oil pipelines run. We’re thinking of doing a search of the whole shebang. What do you think of that?”
I nod, not happy with where this is going.
“Sounds good. Sounds smart.”
The Shonin says, “What happened in the chapel, this isn’t the first time there’s been a killing on a large scale. It’s just the first time Saint Nick has been bold enough to do it in public. In the past he would have hidden it as bodies mutilated in bus or train accidents. Saint Nick needs a place where he can do more of these experiments in private. What better than somewhere underground that no one even knows exists?”
“When do you want to start?”
“In a day or two,” says Wells. “We’ll need to bring in some equipment from back east.”
That’s it then. I have a day to do something about the cavern. Back when zombies were running wild, I found tunnels under L.A. full of the city’s dead. What’s worse, they opened onto Mr. Muninn’s private hidey--hole from when he lived here. He’d been under the city collecting bits and pieces of every human civilization since probably the beginning of time. He had trinkets from the heyday of Hollywood all the way back to kingdoms as big as Rome that existed ice ages ago. And a lot of what’s in the cavern is magic and I don’t want anyone, especially not the Vigil, getting their hands on it. I need to know what to do about it, but I can’t figure it out on my own.
It’s settled then.
I’m heading back to Hell. Candy will be so pleased.
AND SHE IS.
Back at home she says, “I’m coming with you.”
“Yeah. When you’re sick. What a great time to skip off to Hell.”
“Fuck you. Why do you always want to leave me behind?”
We’re in the little living room upstairs. I’m on the sofa and Candy is standing over me, arms crossed. Her face is red.
“What are you talking about?” I say. “I already took you to Hell once and you come with me all the time when I’m doing jobs for the Vigil.”
She uncrosses her arms and rubs her temples.
“It feels wrong. Like you’re not coming back. Like you’re trying to ditch me again.”
“I never tried to ditch you. I got stuck in Hell that one time. Mr. Muninn is in charge now. It won’t happen again.”
Candy goes into the bathroom. I think it’s to keep me from seeing her cry, but a second later I hear her throwing up. She gargles and comes back out wiping her mouth on a hand towel.
I say, “Go see Allegra while I’m gone. Has she used those big chunks of divine glass on you yet? They helped heal me when I got shot.”
Candy blows her nose into the towel and sits on the edge of the sofa just out of reach.
“Did you know that Kasabian has a date with my drummer?”
“Yeah, I heard. Hell of a thing, isn’t it?”
“Okay,” she says. “Maybe I’ll go back to the clinic and volunteer with Allegra for a few days. At least until this clears up. I have to see her for my Jade methadone anyway. Maybe that’s smarter than playing Dante with you right now.”
I slide down the sofa a little and rub her back. She leans over and lets me.
“Tell Allegra I want a fucking diagnosis when I get back. Not just more drugs that make you feel better for maybe a day.”
Candy sits up and slides back so she’s leaning against the sofa. But she doesn’t get any closer to me.
“Fine, asshole. Go play Dirty Harry. Just don’t die without me. Okay?”
“Deal.”
She rubs her temples. Her face is red, but I think this time it’s just her trying not to cry.
I FEEL LIKE a heel for leaving her alone, but I do it anyway. I make sure she heads out for Allegra’s before I take off.
Kasabian is downstairs working on his swami site while The Devil’s Rain plays on his big screen.
“You heading back down to Dixie?” he says.
“It looks that way.”
“You going to help me out with a client?”
“I can’t this trip. Maybe some other time.”
“Too bad. I already did a favor for you, so you’re going to owe me one.”
I already owe Muninn a favor. I don’t like carrying debt around.
“What kind of favor?”
“I think I found your green--haired girl. What’s her name?”
“Cindil Ashley.”
“She used to work at Donut Universe?”
“That’s her.”
He swings his chair around to face me.
“Then it’s her.”
“Where is she?”
“Guess.”
“The world’s ending. Remember? I don’t have time for this shit.”
“A donut shop.”
He leans back on his chair, lacing his fingers together over his stomach like the cat that ate the canary and a Buick for dessert.
“There’s a donut shop in Hell?”
“Just one. The donuts don’t look too good. I guess it’s like gas station food. If you need tuna salad at four A.M. on the I--10 on your way to El Paso, you’re only going to find it where you fill up.”
“Where’s the shop?”
“On the big boulevard about a block north of the palace. She was within a hundred yards of you the whole time you were Lucifer.”
I check my pockets for weapons. Colt. My black blade. Na’at.
“I didn’t get out much. Lucifer isn’t a mingler.”
“If you stop in on her, bring me back a Bavarian cream. I’ll auction it off on eBay. Authentic Hellion snack food—-the Satanists will love it.”
“I don’t think you can sell food on eBay.”
“Then bring me back a baseball cap with a logo. Something.”
“Sure.”
I head for a shadow by the front door.
Kasabian says, “What’s the magic word?”
“What?”
“ ‘Thank you.’ That’s what we say when someone does us a favor.”
“Right. Thanks.”
“ ‘Thank you’ is the proper way to say it.”
“I’ve still got pieces of -people’s guts on my boots. Thanks is as good as it gets.”
“You’re welcome.”
He swings back around to watch his movie. Ernest Borgnine is turning into a goat.
I pull up the hoodie I put on under my coat and step into the shadow.