Julie opens her bag, then looks at me.
“You were interested in the knife. Did you find out anything about it?”
I fill her in on what happened with Vidocq’s experiment and Marlowe’s reading.
“Have you ever seen that happen before?”
“Never.”
“All right. We’ll set the knife aside for now and concentrate on other areas. At least we have a starting point with our visitor’s identity.”
“We do?” says Candy.
“People still aren’t dying. Religious groups are up in arms, some calling it the end of days. There have been runs on grocery stores and banks. Hell, the president gave an address about it last night, saying the government is conferring with our allies to make sure this isn’t a terrorist act. This has been all over the Web and TV since it started happening.”
She frowns at me.
“You don’t pay much attention to the news, do you?”
“I make a point to avoid it.”
“Start watching TV, at least. It’s part of your job to have a clue what’s going on in the world.”
“I’ll take care of it,” says Candy.
“At least one of you is a grown-up.”
I take out a Malediction.
“I make a point to avoid that too.”
I open the side door, blowing the smoke outside so Death doesn’t choke and I won’t look bad in front of the boss. This is worse than Hell. I can’t even kill anyone to get on her good side.
“Where are your other clothes?” says Julie to Death. “The ones you woke up in.”
“There. In the room where I was sleeping.”
“I’ll show you,” I say, tossing the cigarette into the alley. Good-bye, old friend.
We go into the storage room and I flip on the light. Julie pushes past me, slipping nitrile gloves on over her hands.
“Have either of you handled the clothes?” she says.
“We both helped him undress,” says Candy.
I step deeper into the room, out of Julie’s way.
“And I searched his gear.”
Julie hands us each a pair of gloves.
“In the future, don’t touch any potential evidence barehanded.”
“Got it,” says Candy. Teacher’s pet.
Julie holds up Death’s coat, then his pants. There’s pale dirt or dust on the bottom of each, and more on the floor. She checks his shoes and finds more dust. From a padded compartment in her bag she takes out a gizmo that looks like an iPad crossed with a game controller.
A small tray pops opens on the side of the tablet and she carefully drips in a sample of the dust, then pushes the tray shut. The screen lights up, showing some kind of multicolor readout.