The Perdition Score by Richard Kadrey Read Free Book Online Page A

good history with money.”
    â€œIt’s not money. It’s authority. Someone gives you a job and you take it, but then they give you an envelope full of stuff to read and it’s like homework. You leave it on the floor hoping the dog will eat it.”
    â€œAnd it never does.”
    â€œYou’re mad at the dog we don’t have?”
    â€œCan we rent one to clean up my mistakes?”
    â€œIt would have to be a pretty big dog.”
    I poke her in the leg with my fork and she punches my arm. Candy isn’t exactly human. She’s a Jade, which is kind of like a vampire, only worse. It also means she’s strong. Her love taps are like a velvet-covered baseball bat.
    â€œAbbot said there was stuff in the folder about insurance.”
    â€œMmm,” says Candy around a mouthful of food. She swallows and says, “Yep. Medical and dental. There’s 401(k) stuff in there too.”
    â€œNow he’s just fucking with me. He knows I don’t have any bank accounts.”
    â€œHe’s the augur. He has pull. Just because there’s paperwork that says you’re dead, it doesn’t have to always be that way. Talk to him. Maybe the Sub Rosa can resurrect the late James Stark.”
    I shake my head and eat my tamales. I’m very hungry and then very self-conscious. We’re in bed naked and I wonder if I have any bruises on my body from the fight. I should have checked myself when I took a shower. It’s a good thing I’m not a spy. I’d blow my cover story two minutes into enemy territory. I change the subject.
    â€œDid Julie tell you about the kid I brought her?”
    â€œYeah. He’s a friend of the Abbot’s or something like that.”
    â€œAbbot was cagey. I’ve been wondering about that, but I don’t know what to think.”
    â€œThere aren’t that many secrets men usually have about a missing kid. The kid is dead. The kid was snatched by the mother and he doesn’t want to say so. Or he snatched the kid and doesn’t want to say. There’s another more common reason.”
    â€œCome on. Tell me.”
    â€œIt’s his kid and maybe Mom is married to someone else.”
    I try to picture that for a second. I don’t know anything about Abbot’s personal life. He could date women, men, or tentacled elder gods for all I know. I look at Candy.
    â€œYou’re getting good at that detective stuff.”
    â€œI know,” she says. “That’s why I’m with Julie and you got fired.”
    â€œThanks for bringing that up again.”
    â€œBlame it on the dog.”
    When we finish the tamales, Candy grabs the plates, takes them into the kitchen, and ditches them in the sink. She comes back into the bedroom and crawls onto my lap.
    I start to kiss her, but she pulls back.
    â€œWhat’s wrong?”
    â€œWhat happened to your eye?” she says.
    I reflexively touch the bruise.
    â€œIt’s nothing. Like I said, I bumped my head leaving Abbot’s boat tonight.”
    â€œSandman Slim walks into doors?”
    â€œHey, a guy snuck up behind me tonight and sneaked a selfie before I knew it.”
    â€œThat I can believe,” she says, and rolls off me onto her back. “I know there’s something wrong with you, but I can’t help if you won’t let me.”
    â€œI’m okay,” I say.
    â€œNo, you’re not. This isn’t the first time you’ve come home bruised. You’re usually better at hiding them, but I know your body pretty well, so I notice them even when I don’t say anything.”
    I put a hand down on the bed and she reaches out and wraps her warm hand around one of my fingers. I don’t want to look at her, so I look at my hand. Old scars gleam white like I stuck my hand into a metal grinder looking for my car keys.
    â€œI’m still getting used to this new life is all. I’m a little off balance.”
    She rolls