face.
Spiro leaned forward. 'You know how old Con is? Sixty-two. Anyone else would be thinking retirement, but not Constantine Stiva. I'l be dead from natural causes, and Stiva'll still be kissing ass. He's like a snake with a heart rate of twelve. Pacing himself. Sucking formaldehyde like the elixir of life. Hanging on just to piss me off.
'Should have been cancer instead of a back injury. What the hel good is a back injury?
You don't die from a damn back injury.'
'I thought you and Con got along.'
'He drives me nuts. Him and his rules and goody-goody attitude. You should see him in the embalming room. Everything just so. You'd think it was a fucking shrine down there. Constantine Stiva at the altar of the fucking dead. You know what I think of the dead? I think they stink.'
'Why do you work here?'
'There's money to be made, chicky. And I like money.'
I held myself tight in check to keep from physically recoiling. Here was the muck and slime of Spiro's brain, spilling out of every orifice, dribbling down his corded neck onto his pristine white undertaker's shirt. Butthead, all dressed up with no place to go. 'Have you heard from Kenny since he broke into your apartment?'
'No.' Spiro turned broody. 'Used to be we were friends. Him and Moogey and me used to do everything together. Then Kenny went into the army, and he got different. Thought he was smarter than the rest of us. Had all these big ideas.'
'Like what?'
'I can't tell you, but they were big. Not that I couldn't come up with ideas like that, but I'm busy with other stuff.'
'He include you in these big ideas? You make any money from them?'
'Sometimes he included me. You never knew with Kenny. He was slick. He'd hold out, and you never knew. He was like that with women. They all thought he was this cool guy.' Spiro's lips pulled back in a smile. 'Used to crack us up how he'd play the faithful-tilldeath-do-us-part boyfriend role and all the while he'd be porking everyone in sight. He could really sucker women in. Even when he smacked them around they kept coming back for more. You had to admire the guy, you know. He had something. I've seen him burn women with cigarettes and stick them with pins, and they'd still suck up to him.' The cheeseburger slid in my stomach. I didn't know who was more disgusting . . . Kenny for sticking pins in women, or Spiro for admiring him. 'I should be moving along,' I said.
'Got things to do.' Like maybe fumigating my mind after talking to Spiro.
'Wait a minute. I wanted to talk to you about security. You're an expert in this kind of stuff, right?'
I wasn't an expert at anything. 'Right.'
'So, what should I do about Kenny? I was thinking about a bodyguard again. Just for at night. Someone to close up with me here, and make sure I got into my apartment okay. I figure I was lucky Kenny wasn't waiting for me in my apartment.'
'You're afraid of Kenny?'
'He's like smoke. You can't put your finger on him. He's always in a shadow somewhere. He watches people. He plans things.' Our eyes locked. 'You don't know Kenny,' Spiro said. 'Sometimes he's a real fun guy, and sometimes the things he thinks are pure evil. Believe me, I've seen him in action, you don't want to be on the receiving side of the evil.'
'I told you before . . . I'm not interested in guarding your body.' He took a pack of twenties from his top desk drawer and counted them out. 'Hundred dollars a night. All you have to do is get me into my apartment safe and sound. I'll take it from there.'
Suddenly I saw the value of guarding Spiro. I'd be right there on the spot if Kenny actually did show up. I'd be in a position to wheedle information. And I could legally search through Spiro's house every night. Okay, so along with all that I was selling out for the money, but hell, it could be worse. I could have sold out for fifty. 'When do I start?'
'Tonight. I close up at ten. Get here five or ten minutes ahead.'
'Why me? Why don't you get some big tough guy?'
Spiro put the money back in the drawer. 'I'd look like a fag. This way people think you're after my ass. Better for my image. Unless you keep wearing dresses like that. Then I might reconsider.'
