"Are you done?" she asked, when Tammy was all but finished.
"Almost," she said. She bowed her head. "Do you know any prayers?"
"I used to, but . . ." Maxine shrugged, empty-handed.
"Then I'm just going to make something up," Tammy said.
"I'll leave you to it then," Maxine said, turning to go.
"No," Tammy said. "Please. I want you to stay here with me until I'm finished."
"Are you sure?"
"Please."
"Okay," Maxine said.
Tammy bowed her head. Then after taking a few moments to decide what she was going to say, she began. "Lord," she said. "I don't know why these creatures were born, or why they died . . ." She shook her head, in a kind of despair, though whether it was about the words or the situation she was attempting to describe, Maxine didn't know; perhaps a little of both. "We're in the presence of death, and when that happens we wonder, it makes us wonder, why we're alive in the first place. Well, I guess I want to say that these things didn't ask to be alive. They were born miserably.
And they lived miserably. And now they're dead. And I'd like to ask you, Lord, to take special care of them. They lived without any hope of happiness, but maybe you can give them some happiness in the Hereafter. That's all. Amen."
Maxine tried to echo the Amen, but when she did so she realized that these hesitant, simple words coming from so unlikely a source had brought on tears.
Tammy put her arm around Maxine's shoulder. "It's okay," she said.
"I don't even know why I'm crying," Maxine said, letting her head drop against Tammy's shoulder while the sobbing continued to rack her. "This is the first time I've cried like this, really cried, in Lord knows how long."
"It's good to cry. Let it come."
"Is it really good to cry?" Maxine said, recovering herself slightly, and wiping her nose. "I've always been suspicious when people say crying's good for you."
"Well it is. Trust me."
"You know, Tammy, I don't know if anyone has ever told you this, but you're quite an amazing lady."
"Oh really?" she said. "Well that's kind of you. It's not the sort of thing Arnie used to say."
"Well then, Arnie was a fool," Maxine said, recovering a little of her old edge.
"Are you ready to go back inside now?" Tammy said, a little embarrassed by Maxine's compliment.
"Yeah. I guess so."
They made their way through the dead to the steps, and started to climb. As they did so it occurred to Maxine that in laying the leaves on the dead, and offering up a prayer on their behalf, Tammy had brought the idea of forgiveness into Katya Lupi's loveless domain. It was probably the first time the subject had been broached in this vicinity in three-quarters of a century. Katya hadn't seemed too big on forgiveness. You erred against her, you suffered for it; and you kept suffering.
"What are you thinking about?" Tammy asked her.
"Just this place." Maxine looked up at the house, and turned to take in the rest of the Canyon. "Maybe the tabloids had it right."
"About what?"
"Oh you know: the most cursed piece of real estate in Hollywood."
"Bullshit," Tammy said.
"You don't think that room downstairs was made by the Devil, or his wife?"
"I don't want to know who made it," Tammy said. "But I know who fed it; who made it important. People. Just like you and me. Addicted to the place."
"That makes sense."
"Places can't be good or bad," Tammy said. "Only people. That's what I believe."
"Did that make you feel better, by the way? What you did out there?"
Tammy smiled. "Bit crazy, huh?"
"Not at all."
"You know, it did make me feel better. Much better. Those poor things didn't have a hope."
"So now we can go look for Todd?" Maxine said.
"And if we don't find him in"—Tammy looked at her watch—"shall we say, fifteen minutes, we give it up as a bad idea? Agreed?"
"Agreed."
"Where do you want to look first?" Tammy said.
"The master bedroom," Maxine replied. "Whenever things didn't go well, he used to go to his bedroom and lock the door."
"Funny, Arnie would do the same."
"You never told me anything about Arnie," Maxine said, as she led the way through the chaos of the kitchen to the hallway.
"There wasn't that much to tell. And there's even less now he's gone."
"Do you think he'll come back?"
"I don't know," Tammy said, sounding as though she didn't care that much. "Depends on whether his new woman puts up with him or not."
"Well, put it this way: do you want him back?"
"No. And if he tries to make nice, I'm going to tell him to go fuck himself. Excuse my French."
They stepped out into the hallway. "You want to go up there first?" Tammy said. "He was your friend, or client, or whatever." Maxine looked doubtful. "Go on," Tammy urged her. "You go on up and I'll try downstairs."
"Okay," Maxine said, "but stay in shouting distance."
"I will. And if I don't find anything down there I'll come straight up and find you."
Maxine started up the stairs two at a time. "I'm not spending another hour after dark in this Canyon," she called as she went.
She watched Tammy descend as she ascended, and then, when the turn in the stairs put them out of sight of one another, she concentrated her attentions on the doorway in front of her. The landing she was crossing was creaking with every footfalclass="underline" no doubt the damage the ghosts had done up here was as thorough as it had been below. God knows how profoundly they'd affected the sub-structure of the place. Another reason—if any were needed—to be out of here quickly. She'd read her Poe; she knew what happened to houses as psychotic as this had been. They came tumbling down. Their sins finally caught up with them and they collapsed on themselves like tumorous men, burying anyone and everyone who was stupid enough to be inside when the roof began to creak.
"Tammy!"
"I can hear you."
"The place is creakin' up here. Is it creakin' down there?"
"Yep."
"So let's make this short an' sweet, huh?"
"We already agreed—"
"Even shorter and sweeter."
Maxine had reached the door of the master bedroom. She knocked, lightly at first. Then she called Todd's name. There was no reply forthcoming so she tried the handle. The door was unlocked. She pushed it open. It grated over a scattering of dirt; and there was the sound of several irregular-shaped objects rolling behind it. She investigated. Besides the dirt there were some rocks behind the door, and several clods of earth, some with grass attached. Somebody appeared to have hauled a sack of earth up from the garden and it had split open behind the door.
"Todd?" she called again.
This time there was a mumbled reply. She stepped into the room.
The drapes were almost completely drawn, keeping out nine-tenths of the sunlight. The air smelled stale, as though nobody had opened the door in days, but it also smelled strongly of fresh dirt. She studied the gloom for a little time, until she saw the figure sitting up on the bed, his knees raised under what she took to be a dark coverlet. It was Todd. He was naked from the waist up.
"Hello, Maxine," he said. There was neither music nor threat in his voice.
"Hello, Todd."
"Couldn't stay away, huh?"
"Tammy's with me," she said, shifting the blame.
"Yes, I heard her. And I expected her. No. Half-expected her. But I didn't expect you. I thought it was all over with us once I was dead. Out of sight. . ."