Very few boxes had been unpacked in the house, although the man must have been living here for several weeks.
Marty found what he was looking for right there on the dining table, as if it had been set out as a buffet for him. Photo albums lay open amidst legal documents and other paperwork. Birth certificate, certificate of death, newspaper clippings . . . and those wonderful mortuary bills. It was as if Lipranski was putting together a lugubrious memory book of his son’s life and death. Near the computer, the edge of a newspaper article stuck out from beneath a scanner that was turned on. This wasn’t for a memory book, Marty realized, but for a website; an online shrine to Lipranski’s preternatural son. The thought so repulsed Marty that after collecting the mortuary papers, he gave the unconscious man a swift kick to the ribs. Then, as an afterthought, stole the computer and scanner, realizing that it would not only ruin Lipranski’s plans, but would veil the real motive of Marty’s visit beneath the robbery. By the time Lipranski came to, he would be too busy dealing with the theft of the computer to notice the missing mortuary documents.
But this next part—this was the meat of his task, and although his hallowed taskmasters most certainly had their noses pressed to the pane of his mind, they remained silent, offering him no encouragement to ease his way into this indelicate duty.
He picked up the Gideon Bible and randomly flipped it open, hoping to find some passage that might sandbag his will against the fear raging within him. Fear of what, he wondered? Dead was dead, and Michael Lipranski had been so long exposed to the elements that there would have been little left to bury. A shredded sack of bones. Nothing frightening there.
But what if he was more than a sack of bones? What if he was down there, lying in wait like a vampire? After all, he was a star shard—who knew what their flesh was capable of? What if, when he opened the casket, Michael’s eyes were open and aware?
His finger fell in Proverbs, chapter ten, verse eight: The wise in heart will receive commandments: but a prating fool shall fall. Humility was not one of his stronger points, Marty was certain on which side of the line he fell, and the knowledge motivated him to step from the stolen Taurus, taking the shovel from the back seat.
When he found the plot, as shown on Lipranski’s paperwork, Marty felt certain something must be wrong, because the unmarked grave showed no sign of being new. He began digging. The roots of the ivy turned out to be soft, and had done much of the job for him, having broken up the loosely compacted soil so that the first few feet was like digging through an earthen meringue. If nothing else the silent seraphim in his mind were stacking the odds in his favor. And so he hummed some golden oldies to pass the time as he dipped deeper and deeper into the grave, each shovel stroke another moment closer to exhumation, and the irrevocable destruction of Michael Lipranski’s remains.
EVEN FROM HIS GRAVE, Michael was curving space around himself, pulling Drew Camden into an orbit that spiraled inexorably toward its center. As Drew climbed the cemetery fence, he could hear the bang of a shovel, which had hit wood, doubled by its echo from the monolithic mausoleum wall at the top of the hill, glowing a black-light sapphire in the moonlight. Briscoe had already reached the casket—but the fact that Drew could hear the shovel at all meant that he wasn’t too late.
Drew now knew where he had seen Briscoe before. It had come to him even before he found James Lipranski in his home, icing the blow to his head. Briscoe had been one of the thousand followers who had worshipped the shards, from the grounds of Hearst Castle all the way to the Black Canyon. He must have stood there at the rim as the dam burst, and the four hundred were taken under. Drew didn’t even want to guess at what had brought him to this.
Drew ran up the hill, keeping to the grass at the edge of the narrow cemetery aisles to silence his footfalls, until he could clearly see the double mound of grave tailings, between which Martin Briscoe’s head bobbed as he dug, grunting with each thrust of the shovel. Ten feet away, Drew pulled the gun from his jacket pocket, and didn’t speak until it was trained on Briscoe’s psoriatic head.
“Not exactly walking the dog, are you, Mr. Briscoe?”
Briscoe gasped and stumbled, his feet bo-jangling a soft shoe on the casket until he regained his balance. Out of breath from digging, he said nothing, he just wheezed as he stared down the barrel of the pistol.
“I’m not sure Michael would appreciate you dancing on his grave,” Drew said.
“You’ll get out of here, if you know what’s good for you,” Briscoe said, then returned to digging, as if the gun meant nothing to him.
Drew took a few steps closer, never dropping his guard. Although the grave was dark, his eyes had adjusted to the light of the gibbous moon. Briscoe had unearthed the dark oak dome of the casket, and was working his way down to the latch.
“There aren’t many things that would get me to kill someone,” Drew said, “but robbing my best friend’s grave definitely makes the A list.”
Briscoe rested again, sweat showering from his forehead, his breath coming in rapid gusts. Good, thought Drew. Let the bastard have a heart attack and get this over with.
“You can’t kill me,” Briscoe said with such dismissal in his voice, it made Drew grip his pistol even harder. “I’m here on higher business than you could ever imagine, so get your queer ass out of here now, before you become a permanent resident of this cemetery.”
“You have to the count of three to drop the shovel, and climb out,” Drew said, but Briscoe completely ignored him.
“One . . .”
The shovel threw a splatter of dirt on his running shoes.
“Two . . .”
This was a poker game, Drew knew, from which he could not fold—and he realized with great alarm that he would be forced to show his cards.
“Three.”
He did not fire. Briscoe hesitated for a moment to see exactly how Drew’s hand played out. And then Briscoe grinned.
“That’s a starter pistol, isn’t it?”
Drew screamed in rage. If it had been a real gun, he would have used it, then used the man’s own shovel to bury him. Drew leapt into the grave, dropping the starter pistol, and prepared to tear the man apart with his bare hands if he had to. The grave was an uneven, constricting space, and there was little chance to dodge the punches Drew threw. Drew connected a powerful punch to Briscoe’s gut, then to his chin, then to his gut again, until they both lost their balance and they fell to wrestling on top of Michael’s coffin.
Drew slipped on the curved varnished dome of the coffin lid, giving Briscoe the upper hand, and Briscoe pressed Drew against the earthen wall of the grave. Drew reeled at the smell of his rancid breath.
“Twice the fun,” said Briscoe. “I get to kill you, and destroy Michael’s remains all in one day!” That motivated Drew to hurl him off, and swing a punch so strong it would have shattered Briscoe’s jaw if it had connected, but Briscoe pulled back at the last instant, the punch only grazed his chin, and the momentum torqued Drew too far around. His feet flew out from under him, and he came down hard, jarring loose a mudslide that covered his legs.
Briscoe stood above him and grabbed the shovel.
“The news article said you broke a collarbone last year. Fifty percent chance I break the same one.” He plunged the shovel down, and Drew raised his arm to block the blow. The shovel cut a deep gash in his forearm. He screamed as Briscoe drew the spade out. “I wonder how many blows it would take to slice off your head.”
As Briscoe raised the shovel, Drew freed one of his legs from the mud, and prayed that all of his running had left his muscles strong enough to do the job. He kicked out his leg, catching Briscoe’s ankles, and it knocked Briscoe down to his knees—but he didn’t let go of the shovel. Scrambling, Drew found the starter pistol in the dirt beside him. Briscoe pulled the shovel back, ready to swing it like a scythe, so Drew lunged up, jammed the starter pistol into Briscoe’s right eye, and pulled the trigger.
The blast, muffled by the flesh of Br
iscoe’s eye socket, sounded like little more than the crack of a child’s cap gun.
Briscoe screamed, and the shovel fell from his hands. Although it was too dark to see whether his eye was covered with blood or dirt, Drew could smell the singed flesh. There was no telling how much damage the starter blank had caused, but it was enough to rob Briscoe of his “higher purpose,” and send him scrambling out of the grave. He ran down the hill, wailing in agony, leaving behind his shovel and a backpack.
By the time Drew had pulled himself out from under the mud, Briscoe was scaling the cemetery fence. There was no chance of catching him, and even if he did, Drew’s arm was hurting far too much to be able to apprehend Briscoe.
Drew heard a window slide open somewhere up above in the upscale neighborhood of Spyglass Hill, and a man poked his head out like a cuckoo clock, a minute too slow. “Get out of here, you hoodlums, before I call the cops!” Then the cuckoo popped back into his hole, and the window slid shut.
Sitting back down in the grave, Drew took off his jacket and pressed it against his bleeding arm, until the sharp pain resolved into a slow, throbbing ache. Then, with his good hand, he began to brush the dirt off the coffin lid. Whatever Briscoe’s particular brand of lunacy, he would not be easily discouraged—and who knew how many more lunatics were out there with similar intent. Drew had to keep faith that Dillon, wherever he was, would show his face again, and call Michael back to the living. But that couldn’t happen if Michael’s body fell victim to one of the vandals. It had to be protected, so Drew dug out enough of the coffin to free the hinges, and took a good long moment to prepare himself.
“Man, Michael—the things I do for you . . .”
Then he closed his eyes and heaved open the lid.
10. TURNING TRICKS
* * *
SOME TIME AFTER MIDNIGHT, WINSTON STOOD IN A PLUSH Bel Air bedroom. The aging actress watched him from across the room apprehensively.
“Is there anything special I should do?” she asked.
“No,” said Winston, flatly. “Just take off the leg.”
The woman sat down on the edge of the bed, pulled up the hem of her dress, and unstrapped her prosthesis. She gave Winston a reticent glance, then placed the leg on the bed.
“Okay,” said Winston. “Now close your eyes, and relax.”
She closed her eyes, taking a few deep breaths. Winston approached and knelt before her, lifting her dress a bit higher, until he could get a full view of the stump of her left leg. His proximity to it was already bringing forth change, the scars beginning to stretch.
“It tingles,” the actress said.
Winston traced the line of scars with his fingertip, then began to massage the leg with both hands.
Winston hated that he had to do this. Not only did it expose his identity, but it demeaned him as well. If he had to use his talent, it should have been administered for free, but with no money left, he had little choice than to treat it as a commodity. Michael had done it when he was alive, Winston figured, so why couldn’t he?
For the past few weeks, Winston had been vamping. Every hour of every day since swimming from Lourdes’s ship had been an anxious, directionless stall. It was too dangerous to go home, and if he stayed in any one place for long, the conspicuous growth around him brought too much suspicion. So he wandered, watching the money dwindle, knowing he’d have to start turning these little tricks to get by.
Winston’s phone buzzed and he flinched, not expecting it.
“Your next customer?” the actress asked.
“Shh,” he said. “Keep your eyes closed.” It was, in fact, the first text he had received in a long time, since so few people had the number. He had bought it almost a year ago, so that one person could get in touch with him. Dillon.
He ran his hands down the women’s new knee, deeply massaging her calf, and flexing her ankle. Her foot was still in the process of regenesis. He massaged the emergent tarsals, until the five nubs elongated into toes.
“All better now,” he said, standing up.
The woman looked down, and gasped. In a moment she was up, testing her new leg, walking on it, bursting into tears.
Winston quickly reached into his pocket, pulled out his phone, and read the text.
Come ASAP 483 Mill Road, Lake Arrowhead.
And the message was signed “D.C.”
Dillon! Winston’s heart skipped a beat, and he began to calculate the fastest path from Bel Air to the mountain community of Lake Arrowhead, a two-hour journey, at least.
The woman was now absorbed in ballet moves, watching herself in a full-length mirror. “I don’t know how to thank you,” she said.
“I do.” Winston approached her, and handed her a slip of paper that contained a bank account number.
“Whatever you feel it was worth, deposit in this account,” he said. “And when people ask, don’t tell them anything.” Then Winston showed himself out.
AT DAWN, WINSTON DROVE past the Lake Arrowhead address three times before finding it. The deteriorating cabin just off the hillside road was hidden behind a gauntlet of overgrown pines, and appeared as unloved as a place could be, except for the fact that a shiny red SUV sat in the driveway.
It only took a moment for Winston to make the connection—something he should have considered from the moment he received the page—but he had so wanted it to be a message from Dillon, that he neglected to consider that the initials D.C. could belong to more than one person.
Winston knocked on a door painted a deep rustic blue, and peeling like eucalyptus bark. When he received no answer, he knocked again. This time a very tired voice beckoned from within. “Come in. The door’s open.”
Winston slowly pushed open the door to reveal a figure sitting in the gray shadows of the cabin. He couldn’t see the face, but he knew who it was. Drew Camden sat lazily in a rocking chair, his feet up on a coffee table, gently pushing himself back and forth.
“Welcome to my humble commode,” said Drew.
Winston stepped closer, his eyes beginning to adjust to the dawn yawning through the dusty windows. He tried a light switch, to no success.
“Don’t bother,” said Drew. “My parents haven’t paid the electric bill on this place for years. I think they’ve forgotten they own it.”
What Winston had first taken to be a coffee table in front of Drew was actually a foot-locker, strangely out of place in the faded country furnishing of the cottage.
“Three and a half hours,” said Drew. “Wherever you were, you made good time.”
The casual laziness to Drew’s voice was markedly off, and there was a bloody dressing encircling his left forearm.
“Twenty-three stitches. I told my parents I ran into a gate while jogging. The simplest lies are the best.”
On the edge of the foot locker sat an orange vial of pills. Winston reached for it, but it was too dark to read the label.
“Vicodin,” volunteered Drew. “Takes away the pain and a whole lot more.”
“How many of these did you take, Drew?”
“Oh . . . more than I should have, but not enough to kill me.” He took a glance at the foot locker. “Can’t numb everything, though.”
Looking at Drew made his own arm hurt. Winston rolled his neck, and rubbed his eyes. The looming dawn was no friend to Winston today. Not when he hadn’t slept for almost two days.
“You paged me, Drew, and I came. Would you mind telling me why I’m here?”
Drew looked away for a moment, then angled his eyes toward Winston again. “I want to talk about my mother.”
Winston sighed. “I’m not your therapist.”
“My mother began packing things away in our house last week,” Drew said, ignoring him. “First it was just old clothes, but once she got started, it was like she couldn’t stop. She boxed clothes we still wore, kitchen utensils, plates, crystal. I come home from school, and half the house is neatly packed away in boxes. ‘What’s the matter, Ma,’ I said. ‘Are we moving?’
‘No’ she says, sitting at the table, drinking coffee, ‘just getting our affairs in order.’ She doesn’t know why she’s getting her affairs in order. She just is. Like the way my father cleaned out a year’s worth of crap in his downstairs office. Getting his affairs in order.”
Winston sighed. This was nothing new. It was no more strange than the millions of other people sensing an end to the comfortable paved roads of their lives; a coming evil they dared not consider in their conscious life.
“What do you want me to tell you, Drew?”
“I want you to tell me what the hell is going on. Why is everyone suddenly acting like someone just canceled our lease on the planet? And what is Dillon doing about it? He’s the one who holds things together isn’t he? ‘The King of Cohesion.’ Isn’t that why he’s here? Isn’t that why you’re all here? Or are you just going to watch as everything falls apart?”
“Hey, I’ve got my own troubles, so if you called just to bitch at me, you can take your attitude and shove it.”
Drew smiled a slow, sedated grin. “Looks like we’ve both earned bitching privileges these past few days.” Drew took a deep breath, pumping enough oxygen to his brain to sober him. “Sit down. There’s things we’ve got to talk about. Important things.”
Winston crossed his arms. “I’m listening.”
“Trust me,” said Drew. “You’re going to want to sit down.”
Reluctantly Winston pulled up a musty high-backed chair, and took a seat across from Drew. The cushion stank of mildew.
“Ever hear of someone named Vicki Sanders?”
Winston shook his head. “Should I have?”
“I don’t know. Maybe.” Drew reached beside him, picked up a backpack, and tossed it to Winston. “Take a look.”