Slipping Away

It’s late in the day and I’m awake in bed. Ferris is sleeping lightly next to me and that slow creeping sensation becomes a flood as all the things I tried to forget come sweeping back. The Kid, Dingo, and the stupid Book. I still don’t know what I really believe about it. Maybe Sunshine was right, maybe this was all some wild goose chase. With Dingo gone, my best lead for finding if Dingo or someone else had killed the kid. It was possible that whoever killed Dingo also killed the kid, but not necessary. Whoever had done it had to be tough, beating a vampire around was tricky work. One of Malvolio’s goons? Or had the Enlightenment just been toying with me? It had to be something supernatural, either way. The only lead I had left was the Book itself. Why kill Dingo in his apartment and why in such an awful way? To find out where the Book was? Whoever killed the kid must not have been able to take out Dingo with them and lost the Book as a result. They find Dingo later and tied him up to get him to talk. The only question now was…had it worked? And if it hadn’t, where had he stashed the Book? I slipped quietly out of bed and tried to get the gears turning in my head. This little romp was just a distraction and I was letting it get to me. And besides, for some reason sleeping in during the day suddenly seemed wasteful. Wonders never ceased. I sat in a chair looking out one of my few dusty windows in my boxers, smoking a cigarette and trying to think. Today was my last chance before the big meeting to have something for Malvolio. He’d be expecting me at the Hotel tonight. Time was running out. So woefully presuming the Book is still hidden, where would it be? Where would Dingo think something was safe from all the twisted characters involved in this crazy mess? Where had a blood geek like Dingo felt safe? It’s tough to answer a question like that for someone who goes by the name of Dingo. For some reason I reached over to the pile of clothes that had been torn off me last night. My shirt was in tatters. I pulled out the photo I’d found and studied it for a while. Then it hit me. Dingo had felt safe with Sunshine and Me. So where had we been all the time? The old dump we had shared was just a few blocks away.