“It’s okay. I get it.”
She looks at the door.
“The store is doing really well now. Did Kasabian tell you that we have bands in sometimes?”
“He did. Do you and Alessa still have a band?”
“Yeah. We’re really good now. You should come and hear us.”
“I’d like that.”
Candy screws up her lips a little bit.
“Alessa thinks we need a logo, but I have no idea how you get something like that.”
I pat my pockets and then remember that my other coat burned up in the bonfire, along with just about everything else.
“Across Sunset from an antiques store called Angelic Bazaar is a café. There’s a cute waitress inside named Alyx. She showed me some of her designs. She’s really good. And I think you’d like her. Tell her the bodyguard sent you.”
Candy raises her eyebrows at me.
“My. You do work fast, Mr. Stark.”
I wave a hand at her.
“It’s not like that. I was wearing a glamour. She thinks I’m some pretty boy from central casting.”
“Still. You charmed her.”
“The face charmed her. Everybody likes that damn face. I have to get another one.”
“Or maybe figure out something to do so you don’t have to wear glamours anymore.”
I finish the coffee and put down the mug. I want more, but it doesn’t feel right asking.
“How are you with still being Chihiro?”
Candy shrugs.
“I’m pretty used to it. I don’t think of her as quite me, so when Alessa and I go clothes shopping it’s like we’re buying stuff for our crazy friend.”
“I almost forgot to tell you, Abbot said that when the Golden Vigil disbanded last year, all of their cases were closed. There’s no warrant out for Candy anymore. You can go back to being you.”
She frowns.
“But the Golden Vigil is back. Doesn’t that mean their old cases are back too?”
“I don’t know. Can they do that?”
“I think they can do anything they want. I’m going to stay Chihiro for now. It’s what everyone is used to at the store and in the band. Having her just disappear would take more explaining than I want to do right now.”
“I can understand that.”
I touch my coat and feel the black blade inside. Even though I don’t want it to, it feels comforting.
I say, “It might sound weird to say, but I’m glad that you and Alessa got together before I disappeared.”
“Before you were murdered,” says Candy.