“I thought you didn’t smoke.”
“Only after surgery.”
“Sorry, but I gave my last one to a guy who sold his soul to the Devil.”
He sits up in his chair.
“I guess there’s some things worse than getting shot.”
“Not many. Anyway, I hear the guy is such a fuckup he’s getting his soul back. Even the Devil doesn’t want it.”
“I must have missed that day at Catholic school. The nuns never told us that being a dumb-ass was a weapon against the Devil.”
“Now you know.”
He leans forward, propping his good elbow on his knees.
“Don’t apologize for any of this. Remember when you and your pretty squeeze killed all those zombies in the bar? Business doubled after that. With you back and ninjas going Wild West, I’m going to make a fortune.”
“As long as no one shoots the jukebox.”
“I’ll kill any cocksucker that touches my jukebox.”
“You’ve got someone to take you home?”
“My brother-in-law is going to give me a ride.”
“You never told me you were married.”
“I’m not. He’s really my ex-brother-in-law but I like him a lot better than my ex-wife.”
I get up and look around for Allegra.
“You take care yourself. Heal up before you reopen the bar.”
“I’m going to make so much money I’ll buy a Cadillac to drive me to my Lexus and drive that to my other Cadillac to drive to work.”
“I’ll catch you later, man.”
“Later.”
Candy disappeared into the back of the clinic right when we got here, but Allegra is putting things away in the treatment room.
“Welcome home. Candy says you two had an adventure today.”
“The other guys had an adventure. We had a car wreck.”
“And walked away with a couple of scratches. I’m jealous. Remember that time you took me with you to meet the dead man Johnny Thunders? I miss that kind of thing.”
“Maybe you should train some people to take a few of your shifts.”
“I am. You met Fairuza, the sweet Ludere, the other day. She’s my chief apprentice.”
“Cool. I’ll drag you and Vidocq along when the right kind of craziness comes up.”
She smiles and wraps two chunks of what look like pearly rocks in dark blue silk. Divine-light glass from the beginning of time. God broke a star and dropped the glass to Earth. One of his original fuckups. It wasn’t all bad. It turns out it heals a lot of wounds. Doc Kinski once used it on Allegra.
“You don’t know anything about the other Stark, do you? You’re a doctor. Maybe he’d tell you something he wouldn’t tell other people.”