Inherit the Dead

much support from his daughter as she was from him.
    It was all very convincing. But the two of them were playing at . . . something.
    What was it Angel had said before that had flipped a switch in the back of Perry’s brain, that had convinced him she was lying?
    When they were only a few feet from him, Angel’s heels click-clack ing against the marble floor, he watched her raise a hand and delicately push fingers behind the lenses of her dark glasses. It was a simple enough gesture, an obvious one. It was the way somebody would oh-so-subtly wipe away tears, but short of dashing across and snatching those expensive sunglasses from her face, there was no way to be sure there were actually tears there to begin with.
    Perry would not have been surprised to find that she could manufacture them at will.
    It was clear that neither Angel nor her father had any intention of acknowledging Perry’s presence. With Norman Loki it made sense, but why the sudden change in Angel? Clearly, she had not liked his questions, but he wasn’t going to stop till he had all the answers.
    They began to walk just a little faster and looked the other way, returning the uniformed sergeant’s respectful nod with thin and grateful smiles. Perry waited a few seconds, then stepped casually forward. He fell into step and walked alongside them.
    “It’s funny,” he said. “Julia told me she was going to die the first time I met her, but I really don’t think she thought it would be quite so soon.”
    There was no visible reaction from Angel or her father.
    “I mean, even if she was dying, and you know I’m really not convinced that’s true . . . she didn’t strike me as the type to kill herself.” Perry shrugged, pretended to think about it. “Maybe it was an accident.” He looked sideways at Angel and her father, who were now moving a little quicker than before. “Maybe . . . ”
    Now, Norman Loki stopped and snapped his head around to look at him. “What’s the matter, Christo? You worried that now your client’s dead, you aren’t going to get your fee? I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that your services are no longer required. We’ll send a check to you next week—you needn’t worry.”
    Perry saw a smile flicker briefly at the corners of Angel’s mouth.
    “Why should I be worried?” Perry said. “I know there’s still plenty of money around. I mean, Angel stands to inherit a bundle.” He looked at Angel, then turned back to Loki. “And as you’re the executor, I’m sure there’ll be a few dollars coming your way, too. Maybe a lot more.”
    “You know nothing about it,” Loki said.
    “You said earlier that you wrote the terms of this weird inheritance. And we both know that everything hinges on Angel’s twenty-first birthday, which is just a couple of days away now.” He widened his eyes, as if he had only just been struck by something that he’d actually been thinking ever since Julia Drusilla’s so-called suicide. “Whatever the hell happened to Julia, the timing’s awfully convenient, don’t you think?”
    “Are you making some kind of accusation?”
    “Just talking things through.”
    “Good,” Loki said, looking around. “Just keep talking nice and loud, okay, because when I sue your ass for slander, I want there to be plenty of witnesses.”
    “Shame there were no witnesses around when your ex-wife took that dive from the twenty-fourth floor,” Perry said. “Maybe if there had been, you two wouldn’t be walking out of here.”
    “How dare you!” Loki took a step toward him. Angel made a show of trying to hold her father back. “Where d’you get off saying things like that? Julia has just died, for Christ’s sake.”
    Perry raised his hands and nodded, mock-impressed. “It’s nice to see that you’re so upset. I’m a little surprised, though, tell you the truth. It’s not like you and Julia had a . . . conventional relationship, is it?”
    “What’s that supposed to mean?”
    “Come on, Loki. You forget telling me all about it when you weredrunk—you really want to get into that here and now? We can talk about your pool boy and bathhouses and underground nightclubs if that’s what you want, but in front of your daughter? I mean, isn’t she upset enough already?”
    Loki glared, and Angel tugged at her father’s arm. “Let’s go, Daddy.”
    Loki was breathing heavily, and the bones in his jaw pulsed against the skin as he clenched his teeth. He managed the thinnest