Blind God's Bluff A Billy Fox Novel - By Richard Lee Byers Page 0,69
understand?” he asked. “Now will you mind your manners and behave?”
“Yes.” I gasped.
It would be nice to think I was just bullshitting him to make the torture stop. That, even at that moment, I hadn’t really broken. But I’m not sure it’s true. At best, it was probably half-and-half.
“Good,” he said, and I felt pathetically grateful. “But let’s make absolutely sure.”
Then I was back on the floor in the dark, with strong hands holding me down. The thing that had been my mommy sank her teeth into my cheek.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Eventually the skulls stopped chewing on me, and Timon turned me loose to sleep normally. The dreams I had on my own probably weren’t any treat, either, not after what he’d put me through. But I didn’t remember any of them when I woke up.
The air smelled of piss, and my pajama pants—red silk this morning—and tangled sheets were cold and wet. Shame made me glad I was alone. That A’marie wasn’t there to see.
Then I realized that wasn’t exactly true. Yes, it would have been embarrassing. But I still missed waking up to her and wished she was there to tell me everything was all right.
Feeling shaky and dazed, like my head was full of static, I stripped the bedding off the mattress, the pajamas off me, and rinsed everything in the tub. The Tuxedo Team would still know I’d had some kind of accident, but maybe they wouldn’t be able to tell it had involved my bladder.
Then I showered, shaved, dressed, and found breakfast on a cart outside the door. I managed two bites of a Greek omelet, and then I had to run back into the john and puke.
But after that, I started feeling better. Or maybe I just got mad. Either way, it bucked me up enough to get me going.
I still had the phone one of Leticia or Gimble’s flunkies had left for me. Raul hadn’t bothered to take it. I flipped it open and dialed Vic’s number.
She answered on the second ring. “Hello.”
“It’s me,” I said. “I just wanted to make sure everything’s okay.”
“It is,” she said. “I’m back at work. I hoped that would help, and I think it is.”
“What did you tell everybody about the black eye and bruises?”
She lowered her voice. “The same story we told in the clinic. I was in an accident, and the air bag didn’t deploy. I’ve had at least dozen kids ask me if I’m going to sue somebody. How depressing is that?”
“They see lawyer commercials every time they turn on the TV.”
“How are you? Are you still, well, with them?”
“Yes. And I’m okay. But I could use a favor. Nothing that will pull you back into the middle of it. Just advice. Education majors have to take a bunch of Psych classes, right?”
“Yes.”
“What did they teach you about dreams?”
It only took her a couple minutes to tell me what she remembered, but it seemed like enough to point me in the right direction. Then she got off the phone to lecture some poor kid who’d been sent to the office—I winced because I knew what he was in for—and I headed out to find A’marie.
Once again, the other servants took a passive-aggressive stab at keeping me away from her. But I scowled and persisted until I tracked her down. She was dusting a room on the ninth floor.
“Is anybody even staying up here?” I asked.
“No,” she said. “But anytime Timon uses the hotel, he likes for it to get a thorough cleaning.”
“He would,” I said. “Look, something happened. Timon pushed me too hard, and I guess it changed my outlook. Jammed my brain into gear, maybe. Anyway, I have an idea. Or two, depending on how you look at it.” I told her what they were.
She shook her head. It tossed her curls around, covering and then revealing the stubby horn on the left. “He’ll never go for the first one, and the second one’s stupid.”
I shrugged. “Maybe. The way things have been lately, it’s hard for me to tell.”
“If you really want to help, I gave you a plan. It’s simple, and it will work. You just have to throw the game.”
“I can’t.”
She looked like she wanted to stamp her hoof. “Why not?”
“For one thing, like I already told you, there’s no guarantee that it would really make things any better.”
“And I told you, we’re willing to take our chances.”