“More musicals. Mary Poppins. My Fair Lady. Some Disney cartoons.”
“Shiny happy people stuff.”
“Like I said, I don’t want him getting ideas.”
“Go to bed. We’ll take the morning shift.”
Kasabian slinks back to his room, right next to the storage room where our guest sleeps.
“Good night, Kasabian,” he says. “Thank you for sitting up with me.”
“Sure. Glad to. Anytime.”
He closes and locks his door.
“Are you hungry?” says Candy.
Death turns away from the movie long enough to look at her.
“Yes, I am.”
“I’ll bring down the leftovers.”
I head back upstairs.
Julie calls while I’m in the kitchen. I tell her Death is awake and she should come over if she wants Thai food.
“For breakfast?”
“It’s this or the last of Kasabian’s donuts, and those have been around since ‘Steamboat Willie.’ ”
“I’ll pass on the food, but I’ll be right over.”
I thumb off the phone, get the food out of the microwave, and head downstairs with some plates. Candy clears all the crap from the top of the rental counter and puts it underneath. I set down the cartons and Candy digs in.
Death sticks his fork in each dish and sniffs. Touches the food to the tip of his tongue. I don’t think he’s gotten the hang of having human senses.
I pick at a couple of things, wanting coffee and a smoke more than curry. Julie arrives about twenty minutes later with a large messenger bag over her shoulder. Death straightens up and puts out his hand when he sees her.
“Hello. I’m Death,” he says.
Julie gives her best professional smile and shakes his hand.
“Yes. We met briefly at the bar where you found Stark. You look a lot better now than you did then.”
“I feel a lot better. Stark and his friends have been taking good care of me.”
He looks at Candy.
“I’m still not sure what I should call you. You have two faces and apparently two names. Which do you prefer?”
“Look at either face you want, but please, call me Chihiro.”
“Then Chihiro it is.”
“Thanks for recording the interview,” Julie says to Candy. “It was a good start.”
“Glad to be part of the team, chief,” Candy says.