“Maybe, but this thing is a piece of shit. No professional Dead Head would carry something like this.”
I hand Julie the watch. She looks it over.
“They sell things like this at flea markets and goth shops, don’t they?”
“You can buy them all over Hollywood Boulevard. Good luck tracking it down,” I say.
“Maybe they weren’t professionals, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t necromancers,” says Candy.
“It’s possible,” says Julie. “May I keep this?”
“Of course,” says Death.
“Maybe I can pull some prints or DNA off it.”
She puts it in a small container and places it in her bag.
“I’m wondering something,” says Candy. “Could we use a spell to track where Death walked from? Maria, who gets the store videos, is a witch. She might be able to help us.”
“That’s not a bad idea,” says Julie.
“Yeah, it is,” I say. “If you backtrack Death, then you’re backtracking the knife, and I’ve seen what happens when you aim hoodoo at that thing. Let’s see what Julie comes up with before we get too Tinker Bell.”
Julie arranges things in her bag.
“All right. I have plenty to work with right now. We’ll hold off on any spell work until I see what the physical evidence shows us. Do you have the knife with you?”
“You sure you want to take it?”
“I’d like to examine it myself.”
“But no hoodoo and no Vigil?”
“That’s right.”
“I’ll get it.”
I go upstairs, dig the knife out of my coat, and bring it back down. Julie slips it in an evidence bag.
“Just be careful,” I say.
“I always am,” she says. There’s a note of irritation in her voice. I shut up.
Julie puts the knife in her bag and takes out a plain white business envelope.
Handing it to me, she says, “Here’s the five-hundred-dollar advance I promised you.”
I open the envelope and look inside. It’s full of crisp, new twenties.
“Thanks,” I say, then to Candy, “It’s lobsters and Twinkies tonight, baby.”
She takes the envelope and riffles through the bills.
“May I say something?” Death asks.
“Shoot,” Candy says, rolling up one of the bills like she’s smoking a cigar.
“There’s something else to consider. Trapped in this body, I can’t do my job of escorting souls from Earth. Essentially, I am no longer Death. But there must be a Death. It’s one of the fundamental laws of the universe.”