I hauled the heavy doors open. I’d had enough practice that they no longer gave me trouble. I went into the Blue Casket and was nearly knocked down by the silence. No band, no poets, no customers. Just dark and blue and much too empty.
“Silent as the grave,” I said out loud, to myself as I thought.
“Calavera!?” a voice nearby exclaimed. I jumped.
I looked around and saw Olivia sitting at a table, papers and an adding machine spread out in front of her. “What are you doing here?” she asked, sounding almost as surprised as I felt. “I heard you went pow in Zapato, daddy-o.”
“Well,” I said, climbing down from the ceiling, “Hector LeMans tried and missed, so now it’s my turn. I’m headed to El Marrow to put him out of business.”
“That place has changed, man.” Olivia shook her skull sadly. “You don’t know what you’re getting into.”
I sat down at the table opposite her. “This town has changed, too. What the hell happened?”
“Well, it started with that strike, Cal. The Man hummered the Sea Bees, your boys bugged out, and the whole town got trimmed.”
“My boys?” I asked, trying to fake her.
“Hey,” she chided, “don’t be coy.”
I shrugged, giving up the old pretense. “So what happened to the ‘boys’?”
“No idea. Skipped town. Taken for a ride, for all I know.” She shrugged herself.
“So, why’s it so quiet around here, exactly?”
“Past curfew, daddy.”
“Curfew?” I shook my skull in disbelief. “Who’s in charge of this place now?”
Olivia threw back hers and laughed. “Take a guess!”
“Hector?”
“Well,” she said, “it’s Maximino who runs the town, but he’s Hector’s tool all right, so I’ll give you that one.”
“Which explains why the track seems to be hopping when nothing else seems to be,” I said, “but what about you? I would have thought you’d be exempt from anything the Man laid down if Max is calling the shots.”
“I gave Max the air,” Olivia said with a throaty, dark growl. “He’s not the big boy he used to be. Not that it really matters. Most of the nightlife has gone to El Marrow anyway.”
“El Marrow? Are you kidding me?” I laughed. “That stuffy government town?”
“Hey, man,” she snapped, “I told you—things have changed.”
“So why are you still here?” I asked. “Why not follow the crowd to El Marrow?”
“All my best customers are here, man. I’ve got… responsibilities, if that’s the right word. I’ve still got a decent business here, even if I do have to close early.” Olivia shrugged again. “Or maybe I’m just in a rut.”
“So how long have you been here, anyway?”
She took a drag on her cigarette. Still used the holder. “A woman never tells her age, Manny.”
“You’re dead,” I pointed out. “That’s as old as anyone ever gets.”
She shrugged. “It’s tradition, Cal. Deal with it.” She knocked ash of the tip of her cigarette. “But tell me, why are you looking for Alexi, anyway?”
“Car trouble,” I said.
Olivia laughed. “Social mechanics was his bag. What happened to Glottis?”
“It’s not his kind of problem. There’s a bomb under the engine and the Bone Wagon’s too low to the ground for any of us to get at it. It’s wired to the starter, and it’s got a mercury switch thrown in for good measure.”
“Well,” she said after a second or two of silence. “Who thinks enough of you to do that?”
“Ever met a guy called Domino Hurley?”
“Hmm,” she said, thinking. “Yeah, I think so. A big guy, maybe. Community-college type with ivy-league airs?”
I laughed. “That’s him.”
“Yeah, he was in here once or twice asking questions,” Olivia said, “years ago. He wasn’t welcome.”
“I always said you had style.”
She ‘smiled’. “I’ve got it all, daddy,” she said, “including a tight little body that can get into any position.”
“Well, this is a pretty dangerous ‘position’.”
“You haven’t met some of my boyfriends. Anyway, if the scene is what you say it is, you just need that switch snipped off without any jostling, and then Glottis can deal with the rest.”
“That’s about the size of it. Unless there are other surprises I didn’t see. But… I can’t really ask you to risk yourself. I was hoping Alexi or someone he knows could help out. Or maybe Carla—”
“Believe me, you don’t want to see her again. And don’t worry about me, Manny: I can handle bombs. I’ve had plenty on my stage. But I have a price.”
“What’s that?” I asked.
“Take me with you.”
“Why would you want to go to El Marrow?” I wondered. “You just said—”
“You’re not the only one with a score to settle in El Marrow, man. And I meant what I said about that place changing. You don’t know the setup there. I do. You need me.”
I supposed I did. She was probably right about Carla, and she was telling me the same thing about Alexi that Velasco had. If he had to skip town, things would be getting hot for me once word got out I was back.
“Yeah, OK,” I said. “You can come along if you want to.”
I took Olivia with me back to the Bone Wagon. There were introductions and Olivia said to Meche, “So you’re that ghost chick Manny’s been chasing after!”
“I guess I am,” Meche said coolly.
“Olivia thinks she can take care of that switch,” I said to Glottis. “Alexi isn’t around any more.”
“He had some sense, after all,” Olivia said. “I’ll need something to cut out that switch, Glottis. And that flashlight.” Glottis tossed her the flashlight and a pair of wire clippers. Olivia crouched down and shined the light under the car. “Hmm,” she said. “Tight squeeze. Fortunately, I’ve lost some weight.” She lay on her back and started, gingerly, to scoot under. “OK,” she said after a couple of minutes, “I can reach the switch. Looks like a simple piece of work. Anybody who wants to had better scat——Ready? Here we go…” There were two quiet snicks and then the mercury switch came rolling out from under the car.
“Good work,” I said. Glottis blew out his breath and wiped his forehead.
“Glottis,” Olivia said, “you can take care of those wires now.”
“I think you should come out first, Miss Ofrenda,” he said.
“Well, actually,” she said, sounding embarrassed, “I’m stuck.”
Meche started to laugh.
Glottis removed the wires from the starter and yanked them out. Then he made the Bone Wagon rise up on its shocks and Olivia crawled out.
“One of you brave boys can get that nasty thing out of there. I’m done being a hero, cats.” She stood and started to brush herself off. “Yuck. Grease everywhere.”
“And all over your best turtleneck, too,” Meche said.
“This old thing? Don’t be silly.” Olivia gave up using her hands. “Well, I’d better go and change. Don’t leave without me,” she said as she walked toward the doors.
“Without… you?” Meche asked, sounding more than a little suspicious.
“If you’re going after Hector LeMans,” Olivia said, “then I’m coming along. Call it… my fee for services rendered.” She laughed and skipped away.