I turn and hand Allegra the cooler, turn back to McQueen and Sons, hook two fingers under the rim of the desk, and flip it into the air. It goes high enough to graze the ceiling tiles and lands upside down with a deep hollow metal thunk. A snow of bail forms follows it to the ground.
McQueen and Sons looks at me from her desk chair.
“I guess you really are the guy they said would be coming.”
“Who said?”
“The rectal itch.”
I nod and take the cooler back from Allegra.
McQueen says, “Sorry about the attitude, but you’re not the first person to walk in here claiming he was Saint George, the angel Gabriel, or the devil himself and start asking questions.”
“I thought Johnny was a secret.”
“He’s supposed to be. Hence, the attitude.”
“I understand. If you want I’ll put your desk back.”
She shakes her head.
“Let Billy do it. It’ll be his penance for the mortal sin of lameness.”
“Hi. I’m Allegra.”
We both turn.
I say, “McQueen and Sons, this is Allegra. She’s an alchemist and my medical specialist.”
Allegra frowns at me and turns to McQueen.
“If you don’t tell him your regular name soon, I guarantee he’s going to call you McQueen and Sons for the rest of all our lives.”
“Tracy.”
“Hi, Tracy,” says Allegra.
Tracy focuses back on me.
“So, you’re really that Sandman guy people talk about.”
“I don’t know. I don’t talk to that many people.”
“Did you really come all the way back from Hell for a woman?”
“Wouldn’t you?”
“Shit, man. I do it every day.”
TRACY LOCKS THE office and walks us around the corner to an apartment building a couple of blocks away. It’s one of those peculiar L.A. complexes supported on a series of metal legs, with an open parking area underneath and the apartments above. It’s like Hannibal Lecter hired an architect to design something guaranteed to turn into a human trash compactor in any quake higher than a 3.0.
She has a corner place on the top floor. It was probably the old owner or manager’s place because it looks like someone knocked down a wall and made two small apartments into one decent-size one.
A small blond woman lets us in.
“That’s him? I thought it was just going to be one person coming.”
“It’s okay, baby. The chick’s a doctor and she brought the candy.”