Seventh Seal - Jacquelyn Faye Page 0,56

his head.

"Of course not. I uh…fuck. What the hell are we going to do?"

"This is your job. Not mine. I'm just the target dummy."

"That's not funny." He narrowed his eyes at me.

"Spaaaaaawn of Satan. Satin. Finish."

"Shut up," we both said to Materos.

"Boil me up. Put me in an oven. You know you're going to."

His ramblings gave me a flash of brilliance. "Have him committed."

"What?"

"Well, fucking look at him. He got hit with all the draw fours and he's still not playing with a full deck. Call a psychiatrist. Have him put in a mental hospital." I paused to look at him. "Hell. I'll even pay."

"Why?"

"I don't know. I mean between everything. Jimmy, his brother getting eaten by Squishy the Third, getting attacked by vampires… I feel kind of guilty."

"And sometimes bad shit happens to bad people. It's called Karma, Dot. And it's a bitch."

"But so am I." I grinned at him.

"I'll make you a deal. I'll make the call and have him remanded to a state-run facility. Either they can take the cost out of his savings or the state can pay. You're not footing the bill for this asshole."

"Fine. But it was a good idea, yeah?"

"Yeah." He actually smiled.

"What about the other body?"

"What other body?" He winked at me.

Chapter 16

"There. That's the last fucking one." I straightened up slowly in the back of the delivery truck. Normally when we ordered stock, they shipped it freight on a delivery truck from the distribution center in Syracuse. Unfortunately, our last order had been so huge we'd gotten the whole front half of an eight-wheeler. It was no small fucking wonder why Jason had snickered and said, "Sure," when I asked if he needed any help.

He hadn't even let me use the old 'but I just got out of the hospital' routine, either.

Dar grunted as he took the last box of books and headed through the back door. I just slid them from the front of the truck to the back. He and Ellis had carried every single one inside First Moon Books. I probably shouldn't have complained.

I hopped down off the back of the truck and almost collided with the driver walking around the back at the same moment.

"Woah!" He gave a startled jump.

"Sorry. All done. She's yours again."

"You know, if you had a loading dock, they could have palleted and shrink wrapped all the boxes."

"And miss all this fun?" I laughed as he held out the bill of lading and a pen.

I signed in the received box and handed it back to him without even looking at the box quantity. He seemed honest enough. If anything was missing, Dar would let me know and I could bitch later. "Thanks…"

"Mickey."

"Thanks, Mickey. Can I buy you a coffee?"

He smiled and tipped his hat. "I'd love to, but I have to get back and loaded up again. Maybe next time."

"Suit yourself. Have a good one." I headed toward the back door, turned, and yanked it shut behind me as I stepped into the much warmer back room. Sighing in relief, I shucked my jacket and screeched.

Candace was standing there holding out a warm cup of coffee for me. "Sorry, Lady."

"No, you're not." I returned her grin, took the coffee, and ruffled her hair. "Thanks, Sweetie."

"Welcome."

"How come Josie let you out of the pit?"

"Lunch." She leaned against one of the metal shelves filled with cardboard boxes.

"Why aren't you eating?"

She shrugged.

"Everything okay?" I narrowed my eyes at her in suspicion.

"Now that we have some help, we can actually take breaks. But Josie doesn't think we should be away from the shop at the same time." So help me goddess, Candace pouted. My heart broke. I couldn't take the cute.

"And you're lonely?"

She nodded and huffed, the blast of air directed upward, blowing a few loose strands of her corn silk hair out of her eyes.

"You want to have lunch with me?" There was a moment of excitement, but then she eyed the chafing dishes full of Herb's finest with a bit of distaste. "Too much meat?"

She nodded.

"Want to go get a salad?"

"Can we?"

"Sure. Come on." I held out my hand and grabbed my jacket with the other.

She took my hand and we headed into the store, not stopping until we were out the front door. I eyed the diner. The last place in the state you wanted to go for a salad. Marge would probably flog you if you tried to order one and bring you a burger instead. In fact, I was at a loss.