Catskinner's Book (The Book Of Lost Doors) (7 page)

She looked up at me, and I could see the gratitude in her face that she was talking to a human being again. As much as she might hate me, I was better than Catskinner.

The story of my life.

“Now, who's Keith, and what's this Manchester nest?”

I could see her give up. The defiance that had been keeping her face closed and her body tense faded away, ran out of her body like water. Her voice was soft as she spoke.

“Keith Morgan. He runs The Good Earth, on Lindbergh, near highway 40. All the nests buy from him. They say he's in bed with some of the others, the blue metal boys, the nova crew—I don't know about that. I got my nettle junk from him. I just wanted to get out from under and out of town—I swear that's all it was. He gave me the seal and told me how to use it.”

I nodded, just as if I understood what she was talking about. So far, her being cooperative wasn't much more help than her being defiant.

You getting all this?

i hear it.

Which meant that it didn't make any more sense to Catskinner than to me. Still, I did have one lead to follow up.

“The Good Earth,” I repeated sagely, as if I had expected as much and just wanted her to confirm it. “And the Manchester nest?”

“I don't know the address. It's out past 270, almost to 141. It's in an old department store. That's all I know.”

I turned from her and she flinched, but I just gathered up the remains of her robe and tossed it at her. She pulled it gratefully over her body.

I needed time to think. Blue metal boys? Nova crew? They sounded like gangs of some kind. Was that what happened? We got caught in a gang war?

“So what did Keith have against me and Victor?”

I lost points with that one. I could tell from her expression that it was a stupid question, but she opened her mouth to answer it anyway when there was a fusillade of knocks on the door.

“Police, open up!”

That's our cue to exit.

She was looking towards the door. I smiled and told her, “Getting out of town—that's probably a good idea.”

She looked back at me in time to see Catskinner pouring back into my face and body.

“talking about me, now that's a really bad idea.”

And then we were gone, over the scattering of broken glass and through the empty door frame, across the patio—I had time to glimpse the water of the pool, green with algae like swamp water—then I was at the privacy fence.

And then Catskinner stopped dead. There was movement on the other side of the fence. The cops had the place surrounded. I could feel Catskinner giving the fence his full attention.

Remember, I urged him, we don't kill cops. Cops never stop looking for someone who kills their own.

In the backyard there was a pool, a couple of plastic chaise lounges, an old wooden tool shed, and me. Catskinner turned my head to look at the pool. It was worse than I thought, the surface was scummed with green and swarms of tiny bugs hung around it like a cloud.

Try the shed, I suggested.

The shed wasn't locked. Once inside I reached to take my body back. Catskinner gave it up easily. I was hungry and hot, but basically okay, although I didn't expect that to last. As soon as Dr. Klein told the cops where to find me I was screwed. Catskinner could get clear of them, I was sure, but probably not without hurting some of them.

I watched through the crack between the doors and waited.

I saw Dr. Klein talking to the cops, still wrapped in the shreds of her robe.

Try not to kill any of them when they come, I whispered in my head.

agreed.

Dr. Klein kept talking, and the cops nodded. Then they started walking away—back into the house, not out into the backyard where she had to know I was. A little while later I heard cars pulling away—no sirens.

I started to let myself hope a little bit. Could it be that Catskinner had frightened her enough that she didn't actually tell them about me? It seemed too much to ask.

On the other hand, he could be really scary.

I didn't see Dr. Klein or the cops anywhere. I eased the door open. No one shot at me, or yelled, or anything.

I stuck my head out. Catskinner was close to the surface, I could feel him just under my skin, but he wasn't trying to take control, just being vigilant.

I think we might be able to make a break for it.

look at the pool.

I looked. There were shapes under the algae, drifting shadows. I tried to make sense of the form, something long and lean, like a shark, but with limbs. Not just limbs, but legs and arms. Not a fish. The shadow resolved itself into a human form, drifting slowly under the scum. Then another. And—

—get us the hell out of here.

Catskinner's will poured into my limbs and then I was at the fence, over the fence, and across the neighbor's yard. I didn't see any police on the side of the house, I hoped that meant they were gone.

It wasn't Catskinner Dr. Klein was scared of. It was what the police would find if she'd sent them out back to get me.

 I passed through a handful of lawns dotted with ornamental trees. Catskinner kept my head moving, scanning the streets. No sign of police. No sign of anyone, really. I crossed another yard, out to sidewalk and down to the corner to where Godiva was waiting in the van.

The van wasn't where I left it.

 Chapter Six

“silence never lies.”

Catskinner realized it before I did. My body slowed and my head swiveled back and forth, scanning the street.

You're going to say I told you so, aren't you?

I felt my lips stretch into a grin.

i did tell you so, actually.

My body slowed to Catskinner's approximation of a normal human walking pace. I didn't try to take back control. I was busy trying to think.

Options? Run in circles, scream and shout? Probably not too productive at this time. Steal a car? Right. The cars in this neighborhood were loaded with all kinds of electronic anti-theft gear that I had neither the training nor the tools to overcome.

Catch a cab? That's a laugh—cabs don't cruise around here. Same with buses, except on the major streets. I needed to get out of the residential area. Keep walking and hope I don't get stopped by the cops.

Not the greatest plan in the world, but it was all I had. I could feel Catskinner's agreement, he eased up into a jog. Good idea, people around here don't walk, but they do jog. Bully for fitness.

The question was, where did Godiva go? If she just cut and ran, I could understand that. I could almost forgive it. She didn't owe me anything, really. She could have gotten out of Land Of Tan by herself, she might even have gotten the cash (and her teeth) without my help. I just sped up the process, while pursuing my own agenda. Taking my van was an asshole move, but it really wasn't my van to begin with, it was Victor's.

The sad thing was that the possibility that she had simply stolen my vehicle and left me stranded in hostile territory was a best case scenario. If she had gone back to Dr. Klein that meant—what? Did she decide that she was better off with the devil she knew? Was the whole thing a set up? I was sure that her hate for Dr. Klein was real, and her desire to help me. If I couldn't believe that, what could I believe?

My body suddenly spun around and I saw the Quality Electrical van pulling around the corner. Godiva was driving and the back looked empty. I felt Catskinner tense.

Don't kill her—let her talk first. There could be a perfectly reasonable explanation.

perhaps.
He didn't seem convinced.

When the van got close Catskinner leaped, snatched the door open and swung inside in one smooth motion. Godiva flinched back and the van jerked across the oncoming lane. Luckily no one was coming.

Catskinner directed his attention to the back. No one was there. Nothing seemed out of place.

“I had to leave,” Godiva said in a rush, looking panicked. “Cops, they were driving real slow, like they were looking for someone. I ducked down when I saw them, but I was scared they were going to come back. I've been driving around the block.”

“did they go to dr. klein's house?”
 

“I think so. They were headed that way.”

“drive to the highway.”

Godiva nodded and made a turn at the next intersection. She kept glancing over at me warily, like she was expecting Catskinner to hit her.

perfectly reasonable?

Close enough. Let me talk to her.

“We're going to Lindbergh and Forty,” I told her.

Godiva smiled over at me, her face lighting up. “You're not mad?” she asked.

“No, I think you did the right thing.”

A pause. Then, “Is
he
mad?”

“Catskinner doesn't get mad.”

i get even.

You get odd, I countered.  

“Did you kill her?” Godiva asked. She was looking straight ahead, her voice carefully neutral.

“No,” I said. “The cops came when I was asking her questions, and I had to run.” I studied her profile, but I couldn't tell how she felt about Dr. Klein still being alive. Maybe she wasn't sure herself.

“She said she was going to leave town,” I added.

A nod. “She was always talking about going to Paris. She went to school there for a couple of years, she always wanted to go back.”

“You ever hear of a place called The Good Earth?”

“Sure, Dr. Klein bought stuff from there all the time. Is that where we're going?”

“That's where I'm going. How about Keith Morgan?”

She chewed her lip. It was a cute gesture. “She used to talk to a guy named Keith. I thought maybe he was her boyfriend and he was married.”

Interesting. “What makes you say that?”

“She was always kind of paranoid about his calls. Kept her voice real low. Like she didn't want anyone to hear.”

We got back on the main street and I realized I was starving. “Hang on, let's stop for food first.”

“Sure. And, uh, can you drive? I don't have a license.”

Now she tells me. “Pull into Subway.”

I got myself a footlong. Godiva claimed she wasn't hungry. I wondered if she just didn't want to give me another opportunity to see her eat. I hadn't looked before, or at least I'd tried not to, but it was clear that she didn't eat the same way that normal people eat. Of course, neither did I, since I had to deal with my body being hijacked by Catskinner on a regular basis. It could be that she really wasn't hungry, I wasn't good at judging a reasonable food intake.

While I was eating I asked her about the blue metal boys and the nova crew. She'd overheard Dr. Klein mention both of them, but didn't know who they were. She had a little more information about the nests.

“I think it's some kind of cult. There were a bunch of guys who came over to do work around the place, building the booths and moving stuff. They looked like they were brainwashed or something, they all looked the same and they didn't talk. Creepy.”  

About six hundred calories later I was pulling onto the highway. We drove in silence for a while and then I turned on the radio. I wasn't any good at small talk.

As I drove I kept glancing at her. She was singing silently along with the radio, her soft lips moving gently to the rhythm. She didn't seem to be looking at me, but I couldn't tell where those strange eyes were focused behind her sunglasses. I didn't quite know what to think of her. Her body in the seat beside me was like a pin-up made flesh, all curves and warmth and soft smooth skin. I remembered how it felt to hold that body close against mine. I wanted that, I wanted her close beside me, but I knew the danger of wanting.

I found myself thinking about her strangeness—her green-in-green eyes, her toothless mouth, the way her jaw moved. I wondered how deep that strangeness went, what more was covered by her clothes.

I remembered what she'd said, what she'd promised in exchange for food. I'd gotten her food and part of me wanted to take her up on it. Just once, a body like that, under me, doing what I wanted—

She was looking at me, then, and my eyes met her sunglasses. She smiled, wide and open, as if she knew just what I was thinking and liked it.

Dangerous. Very dangerous.

I took a deep breath, let it out. Time to come back to reality.

“Where do you want me to drop you off?” I asked.

She looked sharply over at me. “I'm going with you.”

I shook my head. “You can't.”

“I can't?” Her eyebrows peeked over the top of her sunglasses.

“You can't,” I repeated. “In the first place, I don't know where I'm going. And in the second place... I'm not a good person. You don't want to go anywhere with me.”

“I think I do,” she said softly.

That made me angry. Soft things, nice things, they weren't part of my life. Never had been, never could be. “Well, you're wrong. Look, this thing inside me, it kills people. It's very, very good at it.”

“But it's not you.”

“Yes! Yes, it is.” I tried to calm myself. “Catskinner and me, we're part of the same thing. I am a monster.” Surely I could make her understand that.

“You're not the only one.”

That gave me pause. I looked over at her for a moment, then back at the road. She wasn't human, or not entirely human, I reminded myself.

“This is not going to have a happy ending.” I tried again, “People are going to get hurt. People are going to die. Maybe you.”

A dry chuckle. “I'm hard to kill.”

Well, that was something we had in common.

“I don't—” I began.

“I do,” she interrupted me.

“You do what?”

“You were going to say that you don't know where you're going or what you're doing. I do. I'm going with you, and I'm going to do whatever you're doing. The only way you're going to stop me is to throw me out of the van, and I don't think you're going to do that.”

Before I could answer Catskinner did. “
he wouldn't. i would
.”

A slow nod. “Yes, you would. You'll kill me if you think I'm a threat to you.”

“yes.”