Thankless in Death

through it all, but my sense is they’re good changes. Hopefully the right changes.”
    “Taken down like this …” With his head angled, he stepped a bit closer to the screen. “I believe I own some of those properties.”
    “You—of course you do,” she said on a frustrated sigh. “Stupid brain cells. You can probably get through to the managers, the supervisors, whoever has a tenant list.”
    “I could, yes, but even that would take some time. Holiday, darling. Offices are closed at this hour, and will be tomorrow. Some of those managers will be out of town, and accessing the data will take time. I can do it myself, but unless you have a name, I wouldn’t know who I’m to look for.”
    “New tenant. The first kill wasn’t planned. He wouldn’t have starting looking for a place, this kind of place, sooner than last Friday, probably later than that, but we can work it from last Friday. New, single male tenant, that cuts it down.”
    “It would. I’ll start something, but first I’ll need a copy of the revised map—in the lab,” he added, “so I can work the other program as well. I don’t know how many I have in a sector that large, but it’s easy enough to find out. And in a sector that large, they won’t all be mine. I could, with a bit of finesse, access other tenant lists with the same criteria.”
    She bumped against her own line, slid a toe across. “Go ahead. I’ll push for a warrant. Start with your own, okay? I’ll push hard and get it. I’ll damn well get the warrant.”
    “All right then. I’ll see what I can do. With or without the warrant, it’ll take time. I’ll wager there’s easily a hundred properties highlighted there.”
    “A hundred and twenty-four buildings,” she confirmed. “Whateveryou can do to cut that down’s a plus. And it’s time we had luck swing our way. Maybe you’ll hit.”
    “That would be something to be thankful for. I’ll let you know, when I know.”
    Renewed, she pushed through the reports again, and started adding to her notes.

21
    SOMEWHERE AROUND ELEVEN, REINHOLD’S CRAV ing for Onion Doodles refused to be denied. Torture was hungry work. He swiped the sweat off his face—it was heavy work, too—checked the AutoChef, then cupboards.
    Cursed.
    He’d forgotten to tell the idiot droid to buy Onion Doodles.
    The AC, the pantry, the refrigerator, the chiller, were all well-stocked. But not a single bag of Onion Doodles lived among the rest.
    And he had to have some.
    He thought about rebooting the droid, having it go down to the store. The fancy food shops would be closed, but he knew there was a 24/7 market on the mezzanine level. Then he decided he could use the longer break, maybe a short stroll around, even a drink at the all-night club, also on the mezzanine.

    Joe was out for the count anyway, and it wasn’t much fun to pound on an unconscious guy. Big effort, low reward.
    He’d used the hose, the sap, a miniburner, toothpicks—talk about inspiration!—and the razor knife the droid had used to cut the plastic.
    No wonder he was hungry.
    He left the bloodied, burned, bleeding man unconscious and went to wash up.
    He sang in the shower, masturbated, sang again.
    He changed into fresh clothes—the new black jeans with a touch of silver stud work, a collarless shirt in strong blue, the leather jacket and boots. And he looked completely iced.
    He reminded himself to put crap stuff back on before he got to work again. He didn’t want to mess up tight new threads.
    He made sure he had his swipe, his code, his spanking new ID and credit cards, and some cash in case he wanted to flash it around.
    He checked himself out in the mirror a final time, saw himself as dangerous, sexy, successful—and gave the fake soul patch an extra press. He’d grow one of his own soon enough, he thought, and whistling, left the apartment.
    He checked out the bar first. Smoky blue lights rolled over the walls, and a holoband crashed onstage. He’d expected more of a crowd, people sexy and dangerous and successful much like himself, but plenty of the tables and stools sat empty.
    Dead zone, he thought in annoyance, but since he was there, he swaggered over to the bar. He ordered a whiskey, neat, like he’d seen men do in vids.
    “House brand or you want to call?” The broad-shouldered bartender gave him a bored look that immediately put Reinhold’s back up.

    He tapped an imperious finger to the bar in front of him. “Best you’ve