Known Devil Read Free Page A

probably couldn’t have seen it, anyway, with all the colors goin’ off inside my head.”
    “So, there’s two stages,” I said. “What happens after the flashing lights?”
    “After that, you just feel gooood, you know? All relaxed and happy and shit. It’s like you just got laid, but about ten times better.”
    “And how long does that go on for?” I asked him.
    “Like I already told you–”
    “I know,” I said. “You don’t check your watch. But give me a ballpark estimate – an hour, three hours, half a day, all day?”
    He wiped a shaky hand over his face. “I dunno, maybe three hours, could be a little more. But that’s about right, I guess.”
    Sefchik frowned. “How much per pop?”
    “Twenty-five bucks.”
    “How do you take it?” I asked him.
    Thor turned his sweaty face toward me. “Huh?”
    I will not hit the suspect in the head. I will not hit the suspect in the head .
    “Do you snort the shit, inject it, smoke it, stuff it up your ass – what?” I said.
    “Me and Car mostly smoke it,” he said. “But I know a couple guys who say snortin’ gives you a bigger blast. I dunno; I never tried it that way. Look – can you guys, uh, Detectives help me out here? I need to see a doc pretty bad. I feel like I’m gonna jump out of my fuckin’ skin or something.”
    I got to my feet. “Detective Sefchik and I are gonna step outside for a couple of minutes.”
    Sefchik stood up too and followed me to the door.
    “You guys gonna call the doctor?” Thor asked. The need in his voice was unmistakable.
    “We’ll think about it,” I said.
    “Cause if you ain’t, then I want a fuckin’ lawyer in here! He’ll get me to a doc. This is fucking inhumane treatment! I got my–”
    Then we were in the hall, and I closed the door behind us, cutting off Thor in mid-rant. Sefchik looked at me, his face a study in disbelief.
    “Elf junkies?” he said. “Is this asshole fucking kidding ?”
    “Does he look like he’s kidding?”
    Sefchik shook his head a couple of times. “I knew fucking gobs could get hooked on meth, and that’s bad enough – but elves? What’s next – werewolves shooting heroin? Vamps on speed? Makes my head hurt, just tryin’ to think about it.”
    “Yeah, I know just what you mean.”
    “So, why’d you take a break?” he asked me. “Just want to vent a little? Not that I blame you.”
    “Nothing wrong with venting,” I said. “But the main reason is I have to make a phone call, and I don’t want my man Thor listening in on it.”
     
    I pushed a button on my speed dial, and a few seconds later Karl’s voice said in my ear, “Hey, Stan.”
    “Hey,” I said. “Where are you?”
    “We’re still in the waiting room at the ER. You know how it is – they give you a quick once-over, and if you’re not actually dying, you can go sit and wait for a few hours. I figure an elf’s busted wrist isn’t real high on their priority list tonight.”
    “There’s a couple of things I’d like you to do while you’re down there.”
    “Like what?”
    “When they finally get your little buddy into a treatment room, make sure the docs get a blood sample and send it to the lab.”
    “Lookin’ for what, exactly?”
    “I don’t know,” I said. “Anything that shouldn’t be in an elf’s blood, I guess.”
    “I’ll take care of it. What else you need?”
    “Since you’re gonna be waiting a while, why don’t you ask your pal about something called Slide.”
    “What the fuck’s that?”
    “I’m not positive, but I think it might be a drug that elves can get hooked on.”
    “Well, fuck me,” Karl said. “You sure about this stuff?”
    “No, I’m not. That’s why I want you to talk to Car about it. You know that’s his name, right?”
    “Yeah, he told me. Guess he got tired of me saying, ‘Hey, you’.”
    “Later on, I want to compare whatever you get from him with what I already heard from his partner, Thor.”
    “ Thor , you said? Like that old