Moot Read Free Page B

so
he cut his chest open and gets the shortie to man the
bellows. How could I ever turn that down?”
    “You’re all heart.”
    “ Ain’t that the truth. Plus, I’d swear he’s a better player now.” It laughed at that,
a laugh in sound only. “Brass tacks, Duds.”
    “Is the reunion over?”
    “You died years ago, yet I
only see you now? You’ve hurt my feelings.”
    “Something tells me you’ll
get over it.” I handed Jimmy the photo. “I’m looking for this girl.” I ignored
its smutty tsk tsk . “I’ve caught a missing kid
case. Can’t find her among the living. Maybe she’s found her way down here.”
    Jimmy considered Isabel’s
face. “Cute. Too cute for a place like this. Sorry, don’t recognize her.”
    “I figured.” I slid the
crumpled journal page over and tapped it with my fingertip. “This mean anything
to you?”
    Jimmy let the paper lie,
reading the scribble from above. Even with one eye false and the other cloudy,
I could see them frost over. “Nothing to me,” it said. “Looks like gibberish.”
    “I’d never play poker with
you, Jimmy. Doesn’t mean I can’t read a lie.”
    Jimmy looked at me,
something blazing behind its one good eye. “How’s the family?” it leered.
“Keeping well?”
    I stiffened. “Stick to the
subject.”
    “Those girls still run you
ragged?” Jimmy leaned forward, painted lips carved into a smile that wouldn’t
fool a blind man. Its voice was empty as my wife’s marriage vows. “Why, they
must be adults by now. Any grandkids on the horizon?”
    I fought the urge to drive
my fist through that smirk. “You’re still a sick twist, Jimmy,” I managed.
    “And you’re still dull.
Death hasn’t changed that.” Jimmy feigned a yawn. “Show yourself out, Pasco.
I’m not interested in what you’re selling.”
    The moot made to leave. I
grabbed its forearms, pushing my mug up close. “Let’s not mince. I don’t like
being here, so let’s bypass the dance. I’ve got a girl who went all churchy,
stole some cash, and vamoosed. A doornail writes a note, that’s all I have to
go on. You know something. Who’s this Nex ?”
    “What should you care,
some spoiled breather brat wants to dance on her grave?” It spat in my face.
“Look at yourself. Detective Pasco, always worried about the lifers.”
    “What do you know about
it?”
    “Everyone knows. You’re
shuffling blind in the light. You’ve lost touch with who you are. There isn’t a Greytowner around who doesn’t know this word. And
none of them will tell you a thing.”
    “Talk,” I said, squeezing
tight. “Or I’ll cause you so much hurt you’ll go bankrupt trying to put
yourself back together again.”
    “You’re a traitor to your
race, Pasco. You know what we call you? The self-hating moot. The lifer lover.
The great dead dick, pretending a pulse.”
    “ Talk. ” I snapped
its left arm like a matchstick. Letting go, I whipped out Marion and pointed
her at the approaching doorman. The room went quiet, the band ceasing its
desecration of Cole Porter. all eyes now on the Dudley Pasco floorshow.
    I looked back at Jimmy,
arm bones splintered through skin, its face mild, as if I had just suggested we
go grab a bite.
    “How’s Marion, Dud? You
allowed conjugal rights? Keeping the bed warm for when she gets out?”
    I pressed the gun against
Jimmy’s neck.
    “I’ll puncture your
brainstem, babe.”
    “Did the razor hurt, Duds?
Such a clichéd exit. I’d figured you to eat your gun.”
    “You’ll be a brain in a
jar. Really limit your career choices.”
    “Boring,” it said. “I never
liked you in life, Dud. I like you less now. The ol ’
S&M.”
    “What?”
    “That’s where you’ll find
your girl. That’s where they all go.”
    I let go, warily watching
the doorman as I stood to leave. “And what happens at St. Mike’s?”
    Jimmy looked at me, almost
sadly, rubbing the open bone. “Maybe you’ll wake up.”
    #
    St. Michael’s of
the Celestial Anima