Cole Perriman's Terminal Games Read Online Free PDF Page B

genius to be that much of an asshole.”
    Marianne laughed. “If that’s any measure of genius, he’ll probably get a Nobel.”
    Renee went on talking—all about Evan and the gang. Marianne almost felt the presence of old friends, earnest young creators of images, sounds, words—her younger self among them. They had been a vital, hungry bunch, straining for a chance to show off their talents, to make their own statements to the world. But those memories didn’t quite hold the same allure for Marianne. During her six-year marriage, Marianne had watched Evan fall deeper and deeper into a whirlpool of booze and amphetamines, alternating them more and more rapidly, cranking himself down with alcohol and cranking himself back up again with meth, always in search of an increasingly elusive creativity.
    She sighed deeply. Whatever creativity was, it had to be more than perpetual adolescence. She had divorced Evan two years ago and had moved to Santa Barbara to get away from the life they had shared.
    “Have I been saying that a lot?” Renee’s voice snapped Marianne out of her reverie.
    “What?”
    “I keep saying that I miss those old days,” Renee said. “Don’t you?”
    “Yes—I mean, yes, I think you’ve been saying that a lot.”
    “Sorry. I keep forgetting that you might remember things a little less fondly.” Renee sipped her drink for a moment, then said, “You haven’t told me anything about life in the Golden Kingdom. What’s it like?”
    “As far from bohemia as you can get.”
    “Meaning?”
    “Meaning it would bore you half to death.”
    Marianne’s attention was caught by a figure outside the lounge, just visible through the glass above their booth. She leaned forward slightly to see better. Yes, it was that detective she had encountered upstairs. With a sharp intake of breath, she ducked back, hoping he wouldn’t look her way.
    The man strode by without once glancing in her direction, his large form flickering through the stripes of plain and frosted glass as he walked along. Then he veered across the lobby and out of her sight.
    Renee watched Marianne with interest. “And who was that?” she demanded.
    Marianne didn’t answer. That awful dark blotch flashed in her mind again. And now the cop was right there in the lobby. What if he just popped in here during his break for a cup of coffee? Would he seize the opportunity to grill her again? What if she told him, as she probably should, why the stain had shocked her? Would he insist that she accompany him to the police station or the precinct or whatever the hell it was called?
    “Marianne!” Renee said, more insistently.
    “Renee,” Marianne said abruptly. “Let’s go someplace else.”
    “Why?” Renee answered with surprise.
    “I want to see your new condo.”
    “Don’t bullshit me. You’re gonna hate my condo and you know it. Who’s that guy you were watching?”
    “I wasn’t watching anybody,” Marianne said. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”
    Renee just planted her elbows firmly on the table. “Don’t give me that. I can tell when something’s important. I’m a radio journalist. I get paid for being nosy.”
    Marianne sighed. “I saw something really weird on my floor. When I left my room and went to get the elevator … Renee, did you see Auggie’s animation? In the Snuff Room?”
    “Oh, sure. I hardly ever miss his act.”
    “Well, do you remember how it looked—that wall with a design on it? And then the blood? The red color splashing across it?”
    Renee nodded.
    “It was upstairs. On my floor. The very same scene. The samedesign on the wall and the same pattern—exactly the same stain across the wall.”
    “You mean he got the wall design from this hotel? Are you sure? I don’t even remember what it looked like. Some kind of round thing, right?”
    “It was a circular garland with the image of a sun inside.”
    “Well, you’d remember something like that.”
    “Renee, I’m telling you the