Corine Solomon #1 - Blue Diablo by Ann Aguirre

Author:Ann Aguirre [Aguirre, Ann]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance, Fantasy, Fiction, General
ISBN: 9780575093973
Publisher: Victor Gollancz Limited
Published: 2010-07-01T05:00:00+00:00

Raising the Dead

“No,” Eva said at once. “I’m sure I can get somebody over here. We need another woman to balance us out. What’s the good news?”

“Well, otherwise we seem to be set. We have the table”—I rapped on the glass top—“but we need some fresh bread or warm soup as an offering to the recently deceased. Apparently minestrone is best. Do you have any?”

In her message, Madame Claudine went on at length about the best soups. If there was no minestrone, then chicken noodle would do. Under no circumstances should we ever offer a spirit cream of mushroom. I didn’t take time to ask why. She also included a list of breads, which must be fresh. Apparently spirits don’t take kindly to sourdough either.

“Hm . . .” Eva went to the cupboards, rummaged, and then produced a can of Progresso with a triumphant air. “Will this do? I’m not making homemade for a dead lady. No offense, Officer Saldana. I’m sure she was a lovely person.”

“None taken.” Jesse eyed me up and down as if wondering whether we were all crazy. We might be. Maybe the movies would’ve been a better bet, except I wouldn’t go off with a guy I suspected might have whacked his ex.

“We’ll also need candles.” Chance glanced up from perusing the notes from Madame Claudine’s list. “Six—one for each of us, since we’re using the Power of Three.”

“We have some bug repelling ones from the last barbeque,” Chuch put in. “They’re citronella, though, so they’re kind of stinky.”

I sighed. “Go get them. Beggars can’t be choosers.”

“They can,” Chuch said, heading for the garage. “They’ll just be hungry beggars.”

“Hey!” Eva hurried after him, soup still in hand. “What about your cousin Dolores? She used to be into crystals, right?”

“Forget the séance part. Tell her you have ice cream—she’ll come.”

As she went to look for the woman’s phone number, Eva muttered, “Cabrón.”

I gave Saldana a look.

“What?” Jesse spread his hands, palms up. “I would’ve shown you a good time.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of. Did you bring it?” Whatever it was. Damn, it was hard to keep my emotions on an even keel. He’d pick it up if I didn’t.

“Sure did.” He patted his jeans pocket. “It should do the trick.”

“It’s not medicine, I hope. I’m not sure a prescription is personal enough.”

At that he choked. “Oh, it doesn’t get much more personal.”

After Eva made her call, we set up. First a warm bowl of soup centered on the table, and then the candles ringed around it. We argued about whether we should light more, as Madame Claudine said spirits crave light and warmth, but I couldn’t stand the smell. In fact I had to crack a window just to tolerate the six we had. We scrounged two folding chairs from the garage, and it looked like we were ready.

Dolores arrived within fifteen minutes and came in without knocking.

“Buenas noches!” I expected a big woman, based on Chuch’s joke, but she looked like she had a tapeworm, all bones, angles, and jutting nose.

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