“How’s Tamerlan Radescu doing?” I say.
Abbot glances at me.
“All right, I suppose. Why do you ask?”
“What I mean is, is Radescu on your payroll?”
“No. He came around offering his services, but I don’t have any use for a Dead Head. How did you know about that?”
“He was heading to your boat when I was leaving.”
“Ah, right. He and my father were close, but we’re not. He’s turned into a mean old bastard. I don’t need that around.”
I nod, wishing I could see his eyes so it would be easier to tell if he was lying.
My arm throbs.
“If you were right there, why did you let Isshii burn my car?”
“I wouldn’t have if you’d been one of my employees. It would have been my obligation to step in.”
We drive for a while longer.
“Do you have any aspirin?”
“In the glove compartment.”
I find the bottle and dry-swallow four pills.
“Give me twenty-four hours,” I say.
“That’s fair. Where should I drop you?”
“My boss’s place so I can tell her about the car. It’s in Silver Lake.”
“Let’s go.”
I spend the rest of the drive wondering who’s started killing people again.
ABBOT DROPS ME outside of Julie’s building and heads off to do important Augur stuff, like sipping drinks on his yacht.
I head upstairs. Julie must have the security cams on because Candy meets me at the top of the stairs.
“You look terrible. What are you doing out of bed?” she says.
“I’m fine. I just need to sit down.”
She pulls a chair over by Julie’s desk and I drop down into it.
Julie pushes her coffee my way. I drink some and nod thanks.
“She’s right, Stark. You don’t look good. What do you need that we couldn’t talk about on the phone?”
I take the keys to the Crown Vic out of my pocket and slide them across the desk.
“Here are your keys. You’ll probably be getting a notice from city impound. Maybe a junkyard.”
She takes the keys and drops them in a drawer.