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“Shut up, thief. For once don’t forget to wipe your prints off the car before you ditch it.”
“Anything else, dear?”
“Seriously, if it looks like things aren’t going to work out, come home.”
“They’re going to work out.”
“But if they don’t.”
“I’ll be there.”
“What’s the corpse for?”
“A long shot. Got to go.”
“Don’t forget the handcuffs.”
“I know. And ice cream.”
I hang up. I don’t have the heart to tell her that the handcuffs disappeared with the cops.
I DITCH THE car across from Vidocq and Allegra’s apartment, remembering to wipe down the steering wheel on the off chance that the world doesn’t end.
“Let’s go,” I say.
“Where to?”
“The Room of Thirteen Doors.”
I leave the headlights on and take Samael in through a shadow.
He takes a long look around the place.
“Thirteen doors. How charmingly literal. But it’s a bit dreary, don’t you think? I thought you might have brought in a carpet or at least a table with some flowers on it by now.”
“When you fêng-shui Hell, I’ll call you for decorating advice.”
He points to something near the Door of Drunken Eternity.
“What are those?”
“Those are mine.”
He walks over and peers down at them.
“One is the Singularity, isn’t it? I don’t recognize the other.”
“It’s the Mithras.”
He nods, impressed.
“So that’s where it went. Planning on having a cookout?”
“Only if I have to.”
“I’m glad all our fates are in the hands of someone whose decisions are so nuanced and well thought out.”
Samael walks around the entire room, touching each door as he goes.
