He plopped down onto the corner of the bed. “Okay. I do. But Ty, he … Okay. Once, about a year and a half ago, I had a flat on my car, and I couldn’t afford a new tire. I was really, really broke, and he and I had just gotten together, okay? And I was upset because I’m in frickin’ L.A. without a car, okay?
“The next day, Ty had put four new sidewalls on it. He thought I would be happy, but he had even less money than I did. He hadn’t even started to cover his facility fee at the gym. I’m not stupid, okay? I knew he hadn’t bought them. But I made him promise not to steal again.”
“But you kept the tires,” a voice behind us said. I spun around, my pulse already racing. Ty stood in the doorway, his hands empty. He looked at Dale, then at me, then back at Dale again, as though he wanted to make us unmeet each other.
“Why is this here?” Dale demanded. “In my home!”
Ty glanced at the suitcase without much interest. “I need it,” he said. “I need to offer it to someone to get him to do something for me.”
“Who?” I asked. “Wally King?”
“Yeah,” he said to me. “You’ve been putting it together.”
“I still have a couple of blank spots in the story. Help me with the rest of it.” He laughed at me. It was a cynical sound; he wasn’t so glad to see me anymore. “All right, then,” I said. “Help me get the guy who did this to you. No one else can.”
“You’re the one who did this to me.”
“That’s bullshit, Ty.”
“Well,
His shout echoed in the tiny room. Dale bolted to his feet and retreated toward the corner. I held myself absolutely still, and I knew right then I would have to kill him.
“What do you expect from me, Ray? This guy shows up out of the blue at the Bigfoot Room saying he knows you. He says he can do things for us, and Luther is right there to say it’s true, it’s all true. He promises us power, and he delivers, too. All he asks is one favor in return, and he hasn’t even collected from me yet.”
“I don’t think he’ll bother, Ty.”
He sighed. “What’s the use?”
I thought about Wally’s cabin and my iron gate. Maybe I didn’t need him to explain it all to me. “I’ll tell you, then. You went somewhere secluded. Wally had a circle or square or something painted on the floor—maybe it was drawn in chalk—and it had symbols around it. Then he put a symbol on you, too, and you got into the circle. What was next? Chanting? Music? Did he draw another symbol?”
Ty wasn’t in the mood to answer questions. “How did you know he drew a symbol on me?”
“Because he put a
Ty lifted his shirt, exposing ab muscles that gave me a twinge of envy. And a sigil.
It wasn’t large, barely as wide across as seven quarters arranged in a circle, all touching. Three squiggles had been drawn inside a slender ring, but this time I couldn’t figure out what those squiggles might represent.
Then I realized that the ink was fading. The outer ring especially was wearing away.
Dale had leaned in close to me so he could look, too. “It’s henna,” he said. “But fading.”
Ty dropped his shirt to cover the sigil. It occurred to me that I had Annalise’s cell in my pocket. I took it out and lifted Ty’s shirt again. He went stiff and awkward when I touched him. I snapped the picture quickly and backed away. Ty frowned at me and straightened his shirt. “Yeah. The ink was diluted, I think, and when it wears out, I’m history, right?”
I looked him in the eye. “Caramella is already dead.”
“Damn.” He turned his back and stepped over to the bureau. There was another unrecognizable spaceship on it. Ty flicked it with his fingers. It slid across the painted wood and fell to the carpet with a fragile plastic sound.
“Ty,” I said, pointing my thumb at Dale. I chose my words carefully. “Do you care about this victim?”
Dale looked at me, shocked. “Victim?”
Ty laughed sadly. “Oh, Ray, you have no idea. You don’t know how many times I’ve had to pick up a credit card he’s left forgotten on a restaurant table. Or car keys. You don’t even know. But yeah. I love him.”
“Then you have to get away from him.”
“No!” Dale shouted. “Ty, I don’t know what’s going on, okay, but—”
“Shut up,” Ty said. His tone wasn’t unkind, just sad. “I mean it.”
“When Caramella went,” I pushed on, “she nearly took Vi’s daughter with her.”
“Vi’s daughter?” he said, as though it was hilarious that I’d called her that.
“Yes. And not just her, either. When this thing takes you, it’s going to take whoever is nearby, too. Ty, I can —”
“You can what, Ray? What? Tell me what you can do?”
“I can get you away from people—”
“Fuck that. I want to live.” Ty bared his teeth at me as he said it, letting anger give him strength. “I’m not going to give up now! I’m going to find this Wally King, and I’ll offer him the money. If that doesn’t work, I’ll offer
