“Did you pass this along to Mr. Pallack?” Cheney asked.

“Only a bit of it so Thomas would know that he was indeed in contact with his parents. Evidently Mrs. Pallack was always a possessive mother. That didn’t change when she died.

“Her sniping is a mother-in-law’s jealousy, nothing more. I myself am very fond of Charlotte. She’s done Thomas a world of good, keeps his spirits bolstered, laughs when she’s supposed to, and is of immense assistance to him in all his political fundraisers. Thomas’s mother was simply being bitchy, not at all uncommon amongst the departed, you know. Some of the dead are like that—mad and vengeful. So is Margaret Pallack, on occasion. I’m relieved she hasn’t terrorized anyone. She would be very good at it.”

Cheney asked, “Do you stop aging once you die, Soldan?”

“Oh yes. Thomas looks older than his parents now. He’s quite a bit older than they were when they were killed. This disturbs them, naturally. They don’t want him to die. For two reasons: They don’t want to have to spend eternity with a son who looks older than they do, and they’ll lose their only strong connection to this world since there are no other relatives here who would even think to call them, much less want to.”

Cheney said, “You make it sound like picking up a video phone and punching in the right numbers.”

Soldan merely puffed away.

Cheney was frowning. “Soldan, you mentioned the dead terrorizing the living. But that’s the movies. Do you think a dead person can really physically affect a living person? In other words, if Margaret Pallack wanted Charlotte Pallack out of the way, could she make it happen?”

“You’d need to be a federal assassin for that,” Ancilla said, and sneered at him.

“Usually,” Soldan said, “once a person crosses into The Beyond, they lose their corporeal being, with all its advantages and disadvantages.”

“Disadvantages?” Cheney asked.

“Liver disease, for example,” Soldan said. “That is why I indulge only in my Asian delight. The liver is a sensitive organ. It does not deal well even with the finest vodka.”

Cheney said, “So not all the dead lose their ability to assume a corporeal form?”

“Yes, they do, only—this is difficult but I’ll try to explain it simply enough for you, Agent Stone. Some of the dead appear to be able to tap into a source of energy—it’s black, this energy, and it’s frightening. I have no idea where it comes from, no one does. I myself have never tried to connect with any of the spirits who wallow in it, and I don’t ever want to. They scare me. I don’t know what it is they want. Do they truly terrorize people like you see in the movies? Maybe it’s all a myth. I don’t know.”

Cheney asked, “Have you spoken to August since he was murdered?”

Soldan said, “August roams, endlessly. He’s a nomad in The Beyond. I suspect he will calm down within the next decade or so. A violent ending, it shocks the psyche, you see.”

CHAPTER 45

Did you ask him who he thought might have killed him?” Cheney asked. “What an interesting question, Agent Stone. No, I did not put that question to him precisely like that, but it was obvious he didn’t know. He did mention to me that before his murder he was trying to locate a new cocaine dealer since the one he had was becoming unreliable.”

“Why has Thomas Pallack wanted to speak to his dead parents for so many years?”

“How very odd,” Soldan said after a long pause, eyes wide open now, sucking in his Asian delight. “When I look at you through my delicious smoke, the two of you appear to merge. It’s a lovely aura that envelops the both of you. Your aura, Agent Stone—I see clashes of purples and reds that show a formidable intelligence at the service of sheer determined meanness, a violence deeply controlled, beautifully controlled, yes, and channeled.

“Julia’s aura—right now it roils like dark clouds in the sky, with pulses of fear, so many unanswered questions. But there is hot excitement where you merge. She dampens your anger, you lessen her fear. It is quite remarkable.”

Cheney said, “That’s very interesting, Soldan. I can see you’re good at what you do. But answer my question, please. Why the obsession with his parents? It would seem to me they’d have nothing left to talk about.”

Soldan merely frowned at Cheney and continued puffing.

“Soldan,” Julia said, sitting back on her heels, “we’re thinking that the same person who killed my husband is trying to kill me. What Ancilla said about an accomplice trying to kill me, that simply isn’t true. You know I would never have harmed August. Neither would Agent Stone.”