He rubbed his hands on his thighs. “No. This is just a quiet moment while I wait for the stupid people to catch up, so I thought I’d check on other things. What happened with that big guy?”
“Wardell? We’re best buds. He invited me over for a
“I’ll bet.” He sighed. “You’ve developed a knack for slipping out of trouble, haven’t you? Didn’t you get snapped up by Uncle Sam a few months ago? After Washaway?”
I became very still. “Yes.”
“And what? They let you go?”
“I guess they had to, huh? How’d you manage that?”
Arne seemed amused by that. “You know what turns people into monsters, Ray? Knowing they can get away with anything. Once they realize they aren’t going to be punished for anything they do, the masks come off, baby, and the devils run free.”
I didn’t need anyone to tell me this. This was my life. I said: “It’s time to help me with my thing, right?” Arne spread his hands to say
“But it didn’t start with Wally. It started with Luther.”
“He’s the guy you brought in to replace me, right?”
“Nobody replaced you, Ray. Your spot was open and waiting for you. Luther was just extra help. He was big, strong, and friendly—not that bright, but how many bright people do the work we do? Mostly he was loyal, as long as you put a couple of bucks in his pocket.
“Luther was hanging at the Bigfoot Room all by himself when Wally walked in. Wally dropped your name, which Luther recognized. After I don’t know how long, Luther called all of us at once: me, Fidel, Summer, the whole crew. Everyone but Vi and Melly met up at the Bigfoot Room. Wally made his pitch—he offered us a super power—and Luther was the living proof that it was real. He vanished right in front of us. All we had to do in return was a single favor. Luther’s excitement was infectious.
“I had a bad feeling about it, though, and I put him off for twenty-four hours. You know why.”
“Wally looks like a walking tumor and you didn’t want to end up like him.”
“Hell yeah. I’m a good-looking man. I can’t throw away a face like this. But Luther said that the powers Wally had were different from the invisibility thing. Bigger. He said Wally couldn’t vanish himself, which was why he needed our help.”
My mouth suddenly felt dry. “What powers does Wally have?”
Arne shrugged. “I don’t have a lot to tell you. You’d have to ask Lenard.”
“Why?”
“Well, Lenard doesn’t like victims to feel too comfortable around him. He likes them wide-eyed and sweating, right? And he starts thinking that your buddy Wally is too cheerful, so out of the blue he rushes the guy and knocks him over, right into the dirt. Then he starts screaming at him like a nutcase, ‘Don’t you dare smile at me! Don’t you fucking smile!’ And the rest of us are rolling our eyes at him.
“But your buddy just got to his feet and smiled at Lenard again, like a big
“Except this time, your boy was ready and it didn’t even move him. It was like Lenard was pushing against an office building—he couldn’t even make a dent in the guy’s flabby man-titties. Almost like …”
I remembered the way the cook had hit the little red predator with his ladle, and how the creature didn’t move an inch.
“Yeah, and then there was this wave that came out of him—I’m not sure what to call it. It was like one of those old kung fu movies, where one dude shoves another without touching him. Lenard had his ass lifted off the ground and dropped into the dirt ten feet away. He didn’t know what to do about that, but Ty and Fidel took the heat off by making a joke of it. You’d have to talk to Lenard to find out what it felt like. I was just standing there watching.”
“Right.”
“Not much, is it? It’s like he’s the patron saint of shoving. He acted like he could do more, but then, he would.”
I nodded. I didn’t want to thank Arne; he might have told me I was welcome and walked out. “What favor did Wally want?”
“He hasn’t asked for one. Not from me. By the time Luther came to us, his debt was paid in full. I asked him what he’d done, and he took me to the—”
A gunshot popped in the next room. Arne’s expression became weary, and he vanished.
Damn. My questions would have to wait. I ran into the hall and cut the lock on Wally’s door with my ghost knife.
The door swung inward. A bearded man pivoted toward me, raising his arm. I threw myself to the floor, but there was no gunfire. Fidel laid a hand on the gunman’s shoulder, and he lowered his weapon. Fidel had his SIG Sauer in his other hand.
“Ray?”
They all had the same gun. I left the ghost knife on the floor and raised my hands to show that they were empty. Then I got to my knees, letting my hand fall on my spell and picking it up. Wally lay on the bed, his arms
