The Long Way Down (Daniel Faust #1)(16)

“That’s what it sounded like. I didn’t ask him to spell it for me.”

Corman shook his head, leaning back in his chair and contemplating his glass of gin like a philosopher. “This has happened before.”

“That’s right,” Bentley said. “Back in the eighties, when Cormie and I first moved here from California. It was a different crowd in those days, you have to understand. Wilder souls. When the nature of the city changed, most of them either drifted away or met their unhappy ends.”

Corman snorted. “What he means is a bunch of coked-up, pentacle-waving cowboys butted heads with the casinos’ new management and ended up dead in a gutter. The corporations make the old Vegas mob look like *cats.”

“It was one August,” Bentley mused, “a bad one. The kind of summer where the sidewalks blistered and the air smelled like gasoline. That’s when the attacks started. Cambion—well, creatures we eventually figured out were cambion—hunting down magicians. A friend of ours was…devoured in his bed. Literally devoured. Not just our crowd, either. They started attacking random citizens. An entire string of missing persons and mangled bodies.”

“What did you do about it?” I asked, leaning forward.

“Nothing.” Corman shook his head, picking up the story. “We planned to, all right. Had a beauty of a plan, but the attacks just suddenly stopped. And I mean stopped overnight, like turning off a faucet. Couldn’t even go looking for payback, because you couldn’t find a cambion in this town for a good five years. It was like something scared them all into going underground.”

“Scared them,” I said. “Or gave them rules. Rules about who they could hunt.”

“That’d be your hound dog,” Jennifer said. “Gotta be one of us, right? Somebody in our little community. Who else would be able to regulate those critters? Anybody go missing lately who’s been around since the old days?”

Corman waved his glass in a circle toward himself and Bentley. “Kid, we are the old days.”

I took a deep breath. “I talked to Nicky Agnelli today.”

The looks from Bentley and Corman could have stripped paint from the wall.

“Wasn’t by choice, believe me,” I said quickly, holding up one hand.

“What did he want?” Bentley asked, a winter chill at the edges of his reedy voice.

“Not important. What matters is I asked him about his community, for obvious reasons. He says they don’t have a community and even if they do, he’s not in charge and doesn’t want to be. Thing is, I dropped the word ‘hound’ and everyone in the room went stiff. He played it off with a laugh, but Nicky’s spooked about something.”

“Nicky don’t get spooked,” Jennifer drawled.

“You know that’s right,” I told her, “but it was written all over his lying face.”

“We need to hit the books,” Bentley said. “Cormie and I will start researching anything remotely related to hounds and the underworld. If any of you have a chance to drop by the store, your help would be appreciated and rewarded with essential nourishment.”

“Pizza and beer,” Corman said. “And if you want something with weird toppings, you’re paying for it yourself. No goddamn pineapple this time.”

“I’m in,” Spengler said. Jennifer just nodded.

Mama Margaux looked at me. “You should come, Daniel. Get your mind off that girl.”

Jennifer adjusted her glasses. “Holy shit. Roxy? You two broke up?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Thanks, Mama.

Jennifer looked at Spengler. “You know, Daniel and I dated for a couple of months, once. Now I mostly date women.”

I leaned back and pantomimed pulling a dagger out of my heart. “Ow. Twist the knife, why don’t you? Truth is, I gave you the most thrilling fifteen seconds of your life. Ruined you for all other men.”

She buried her face in her hands. “It’s true!” she cried, breaking into hysterical giggles. “It’s all true!”

I said my goodbyes after the next round of drinks, and Jennifer followed me to the vestibule.

“Seriously,” she said softly. “I’m sorry about Roxy. You were cute together. You okay?”

I started to make something up, but instead I just slumped against the wall by the door.

“Ah, shit, Jenny. I will be, all right? Not today, but maybe tomorrow. This helps. Being with friends. Gets me out of my own head for a while.”

She leaned in and kissed me on the cheek, leaving behind the faint scent of strawberries.

“Come by my place some night this week. We’ll get high, eat popcorn, and watch some bad movies together. Cures all ills.”

I saw Bentley lurking a few feet behind her and knew we were about to have “a talk.” Sighing, I gave Jennifer a quick hug. “Deal.”

Bentley waited until she went back to the tables, and I held up a hand to forestall him.

“No,” I said, “I am not working for Nicky again. That’s not in the cards.”

“But he asked you.”

“Of course he asked me. And I said no. On that note, he’s connected to the Stacy Pankow murder. I just don’t know how yet. He wanted me to drop it, pretending he was just worried about poor old Jud.”