"Oh, come on. You know my lawyer. You think that's going to fly? And if you think you can arrange an accident for me like Jimenez did for Purecete, consider that you currently have a dead dog waiting for a word from me to start biting the living hell out of you. It won't kill you. But I'd bet you'll wish it would. Whoever is on the other side of this door is going to think you've gone insane when they see you rolling on the floor with an invisible dog. Because only you and I can see Iko."
If hate were a living thing it would have leapt for my throat from his eyes. "Saiga!" he shouted at the door. "Salga! Estoy bien!"
The knocking died away.
"What. Do you want?"
"Ms. Arbildo's real will. I want it registered and entered for probate, or whatever you need to do to execute it. Today."
"I don't have it," he spat. "It's gone. I burned it!"
"Then forge it. Like you forged the ones you showed me be- fore. The estate is to be divided among the families of the crew of the Dulcia."
"There is no estate to divide! Don't you get it, estupida gringa? It's all gone. The estate is bankrupt. The money is gone!"
"You told me Maria-Luz was loaded. That thirty thousand U.S. was a 'drop in the bucket. And it didn't disappear until you were the sole controller. So you can un-bankrupt it the same way you broke it in the first place, Banda. And if you don't, you won't just have an angry ghost dog on your ass. Because even you and your dead partner and your cheap secretary can't possibly have blown that much money, and certainly not without leaving a trail wide enough to march the Mexican army down. So, you still have it. Which means it can be returned to its rightful owners."
He glowered.
"Iko," I said.
He threw himself into his chair, saying, "No, no! Please." He snatched his keyboard and began to type.
I came and stood over his shoulder, watching, while Iko growled nonstop. I looked the finished document over.
"That's pretty good, Banda. I see you'll still be able to feather your own nest, if less regally than before," I added, glancing around his very nice office.
He muttered under his breath.
"Knock it off. You lost. Man up and live with it."
I hung around while he finished up, printed the forms, forged the signatures, and got warily to his feet, eyeing the threatening little hound that dogged him unceasingly. Stifling his fury, he led me on a long damned walk around downtown Mexico City to register the will and rescind the previous one.
Just outside of the courts building he stopped and turned back tome. “Satisfied?"
"Mostly. But I know you can walk right back in there and pull that paperwork by saying you were coerced. But this is the thing you need to remember, Banda: the dog is forever. And once I'm gone, you're not off the hook, because there is someone in Oaxaca who knows all about the will, the Dulcia, the dog, and all the rest."
"Another of your ghosts?"
I laughed. "Oh, no. A very real, solid, living person. I know you can find out who it is, but don't be hasty. Remember I said there was a way to get rid of the dog?"
"Yes," he snapped.
"That person knows how to set you free. But they won't if you screw over the survivors of the Dulcia's crew. And they can't if you decide to kill them. That person—and powerful friends—will be keeping an eye on you. If that person dies, or if that person chooses not to help you, you and Iko get to spend this life together, and the next one and the next one, until there is no one left on the planet who remembers you, or the dog. Until the third death."
He howled and threw himself at me. I just stepped back as Iko lunged.
I walked to the edge of the plaza and flagged a cab, ignoring the crowd that had gathered around the convulsing, screaming man on the ground. "Airport," I said, turning on my cell phone.
I waited for an answer to my call and finally someone picked up. "Villaflores…"
"Hey, brat-boy. It's the GP. It's done."
He laughed. "I'll be on the next flight. Don't want Iko to have to chew on that lawyer for too long."
"Yeah, poor, faithful Iko."
It's rare for Justice and Vengeance to stand in the same place, but I thought this time, maybe they would. At least for a while. Until the will was executed and Banda's embezzlements were restored to the proper owners. I hadn't told Banda the truth, but that wasn't bothering me too much. Whether he lived with Iko for a day or a lifetime, whether anyone remembered Banda or gave a damn in a year's time or thirty, there was at least one thing that made me smile: it would be a long time before the third death of the little clay dog.
NOAH'S ORPHANS by Thomas E. Sniegoski
ONE
Remy knew it wasn't real, the product of some strange, dreamlike state, but he didn't mind in the least. Seeing her this way—it was almost as if she were still with him.
Almost as if she were still alive.
She had called to him from inside their Maine summer home, and he'd gone to her, climbing up the stairs to the second floor. Standing in the doorway to one of the spare rooms, he watched her.
Her back was to him as she looked out one of the open windows onto the expanse of backyard, verdant with grass that would need a lawn mower's attention sooner rather than later. She was wearing a white cotton dress that billowed and moved in the warm summer breeze coming in through the window. And as he silently stared from the doorway, he was reminded of how much he loved her, and how incomplete he would be without her,“Remy," she called out again. He answered, startling her. She laughed that amazing laugh, and turned to face him.
"There you are," she said, eyes twinkling brighter than the highest spires of Heaven.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." He stepped into the room.
"No fear," she said with a slight shake of her head as she reached out to take his hand.
Deep down he knew that this was all wrong, that Madeline had passed away three long weeks ago from cancer, but he couldn't help it, eagerly wrapping himself in the warmth of a lie.
Her hand was cold and wet and he was about to ask if everything was all right, when he realized how dark it had become in the room.
Black, like the inside of a cave.
And from outside he heard the sound of heavy rain.
A dog barking pulled Remy from his fantasy, and he left his wife, the darkness, and the rain to find himself sitting on the porch of the summer home, now in the grip of winter.
It was snowing, and the wind had carried the fluffy white stuff up onto the porch. It had even collected on him as he had sat unmoving. Remy brushed the snow from his arms and the top of his head and Marlowe barked again for his attention.
"Hey," Remy said. "Sorry about that, must've dozed off." "No sleep," the black Labrador retriever said, reminding him that angels did not sleep.
Angels of the heavenly host Seraphim were not supposed to have human wives, summer cottages in Maine, or work as private investigators, either. But he did.
"I know, but I was dreaming," he said, remembering his wife's beautiful face and how the sudden darkness had tried to claim it.
"Rabbits?" the dog asked.
"No rabbits," Remy said. Snow had accumulated on the dog's shiny black coat and Remy started to brush it away. "Madeline."
Marlowe lowered his gaze. "Miss," he grumbled in his canine tongue.
As a member of God's heavenly host, Remy was able to understand the myriad languages of every living thing on Earth. But even if he could not, there was no mistaking how the animal was feeling, for Remy felt the very same way.
"I miss her, too," he said, reaching down to rub behind one of Marlowe's velvety-soft ears.