“Behind you, jackass.”
Veck muttered something vile, and looked over his—
On the ground, stretching behind him . . . was a single shadow.
“Like I said, you’re free.”
Veck stared at the nice-and-normal for what felt like ages. Then he refocused on the angel. “My father . . . he thinks the execution is going to get stayed. He told me he was going to live.”
“Not a bet I’d take.” Jim shook his head. “Maybe that was true if you’d have made a different choice, but thanks to the way things worked out . . . I think you’ll like what you see in the papers soon enough. It’s what my boss has told me all along—there are no coincidences.”
“I thought you were the boss.”
“I wish.”
“Veck? Who’re you talking to?”
Veck glanced at de la Cruz, who’d craned out of the unmarked. “Ah . . .” When he looked back, Heron had disappeared, as if he had never been there. The little animal, too. “Ah . . . no one.”
“Look, I don’t care if you smoke in the car. Especially if it’ll save you from frostbite.”
Veck looked back to where Jim had been standing. The man was gone, the glow had faded . . . and yet the presence remained somehow.
“Veck?” de la Cruz said. “Come on, you can smoke in here.”
“Nah,” Veck replied after a moment. Then he stabbed the ember out on the sole of his boot. “I think I’m quitting.”
“Again.”
Veck snagged the motorcycle’s key and got back in the unmarked. As he and the other man closed their doors, Veck stared across the front seat.
“Do you believe in God, Detective.”
De la Cruz made the sign of the cross over his chest. “Absolutely.”
“So does that mean that demons exist?”
“Hell is real. Unless you’ve forgotten that girl we found at the motel? Or what happened to Sissy Barten.”
“I haven’t forgotten.”
De la Cruz nodded and began driving off. “But yeah, I got the faith. And I believe that sinners go to Satan’s living room for eternity and the just go to Heaven and the mighty Lord provides. I attend Mass with my family every week, and the Good Book”—he pounded on the glove compartment, the door flipped open, and a little red Bible glowed in the tiny light—“is always with me. If there’s one thing that life’s taught me, God takes care of us, my man.”
“So you think . . . people can be saved.”
“No, I know it. And once you got the faith—and I don’t care what kind it is—it transforms you. There’s no going back, and no one and nothing can take it away from you. You open the heart, and it comes in, and that’s when you know hit’s going to be all right.”
Veck nodded and fell silent as he stared out the front window.
Together, they bumped along the dirt lane. Got out to the county road and hung a left. Angled over for the highway.
After they were on the Northway and headed toward Caldwell, Veck said, “Permanently.”
“Huh?”
“I’m quitting permanently.”
De la Cruz looked over. “You know . . . this time, I believe you.”
“Take me to the hospital.”
“Emergency room or inpatient.”
Veck smiled a little. “Wherever my partner is.”
De la Cruz grinned and clapped him on the chest. “Now you talkin’, my man. Now you makin’ some sense.”
CHAPTER 49
Far above, in Heaven’s lap, as Jim stood at the foot of the manse of souls and stared up at the second flag waving lazily on the parapet, he thought . . . two more to go.
If he managed to get two more of those flappy bastards on top of that wall, he could quit this shit.
And his mother would be safe forever.
And Sissy would be free. If he hadn’t sprung her before then.
“You have done well.”
Nigel’s autocratic English accent didn’t seem quite so annoying.
“Yeah, but I’m not stopping now.”
“In this you are correct.”
Jim nodded, and then looked over at his boss. The guy was dressed in a pretty damn sharp suit, this time black with pinstripes. Matter of fact, he looked like an elegant gangster as he stood beside a table set with fancy- schmancy plates and crap. Two of the other archangels and the big Irish wolfhound were seated, clearly waiting with patience for the go-ahead on the dessert that was all laid out.
“On that note,” Jim murmured, “I’m going back down. Next round will be starting soon.”
Or at least, he hoped it would.
“Won’t you stay for an after-dinner sweet? We have a seat for you.”
“Thanks,” Jim said. “But I’ve got someone I have to see.”
“Very well.”
Except before he could disappear, Nigel drew him aside, out of the earshot of the others. “We are not yet finished, you and I.”
“Sorry, I’m really not hungry.”
“With regard to this agreement you had with Devina—”
“You mean who the soul was.”
The archangel cleared his throat. “Yes, indeed. I would caution you—”
Jim clapped the guy on the back and ignored the glare he got in response. “I got this, Nigel. Trust me.”
As he cocked a half smile, the odd, noncolor eyes of his boss narrowed. “Sometimes I wonder if that is wise.”
“Trusting my ass? Well, you picked me.”
“I am e’er reminded.” The angel caught Jim’s arm. “But I would tell you something.”
“Blah, blah, blah—”
“The next soul. You will recognize him as both an old friend and an old foe who you have seen of late. The path could not be more obvious if it were spotlit.”
Jim rolled his eyes. “Nice road map, Nigel. As usual, you put a real sharp point on ‘obtuse.’ ”
“Trust me.”
As Jim cocked an eyebrow, one side of the archangel’s mouth lifted in a smile.
Jim had to laugh. “You know, it’s a wonder we don’t get along better.”
“I would have to agree.”
On that note, Nigel sent him back, and the trip was easier than the first couple of times he’d gone up and down to earth.
At least this time, he didn’t have to die to get his travel ticket stamped.
Taking form in front of the garage he now lived in again, he looked up. The windows of the apartment were dark, and with no exterior lights on, the night extended through the yard, past the forest, and out to the rolling field beyond. But all was not black. Off in the distance, the white farmhouse had its two lanterns on the front porch
