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“If he doesn’t keep his hands off Marie Antoinette, he might never get to sleep again.”
Carlos gives me an Aqua Regia and a shot of whiskey for Allegra, but Brigitte gulps it down, so I order another.
“I feel so guilty,” she says.
“Relax. Everyone has exes. They’ll work it out.”
“Allegra said that Eugène killed a man. Do you know if it’s true?”
“A long time ago, he told me he killed someone over a woman. I’m guessing this is her.”
Brigitte stares.
“It’s all so impossible. How can something like this happen?”
Now it’s my turn to gulp my drink.
“The of-all-the-gin-joints-in-all-the-world part? It can’t. Someone set this up.”
“Who?”
she says.
I shrug.
“I got mugged by an angel the other night. It’s been a weird week.”
“But why Liliane?”
“I hate to say it, but this might be more about me than them. Wormwood has been playing a lot of games with me lately.”
Brigitte pats me on the arm.
“Dear Jimmy, you know I love you, but not everything in Los Angeles revolves around you.”
I look over at the three of them. Right this minute, Vidocq, Allegra, and Liliane look pretty far from me and my stupid obsessions.
“Maybe you’re right. I’m seeing conspiracies in my cornflakes. But you have to admit, this is fucking strange.”
“Maybe it was inevitable. Whatever impulse drew Eugène to Los Angeles, could it have drawn the only other immortal possibly in the world?”
“If you’re not coming to L.A. to get famous, this is an easy place to blend in, no matter how weird your past.”
“And we do all have pasts here,” she says.
“We’ve been through a couple of things.”
“Come. Let’s get Allegra her drink.”
I hand Brigitte the shot glass.
“You should give it to her. I don’t think she wants favors from a guy right now.”
We go back through the crowd to our friends’ international psychodrama. Vidocq and Liliane alternate between English and French. It doesn’t take a genius to see that Allegra doesn’t appreciate the parts of the conversation she can’t understand.
Brigitte hands her the drink.
“Thank you,” she says, and drinks half, looking like she might be saving the other half to throw at someone.
