Strum Again? Book Three of the Songkiller Saga Read Online Free PDF Page A

during the lecture, and the chorus girls do lots of high
kicks to keep the audience interested. It's all the rage these days
to have meaningful, profitable entertainment. Part of what my boss
is promotin'. Now how 'bout that game of poker?"
    "I feel more like another tequila
sunset. A lecture ? Really ? What have things come to?
That's the most boring damned excuse for a show I ever
heard."
    "Yeah, they don't pass out programs anymore,
just informational pamphlets. Barrel of laughs."
    Gussie bought her chips and felt totally
intimidated sitting down in her smelly and soiled pink sweats among
all the well-heeled high rollers at the table the redhead
indicated. The other players looked at her like they could smell
her too. But when the dealing commenced, Lulubelle blew a kiss at
the deck. Gussie won without trying and kept winning. It wasn't
even fun it was so effortless, and evidently Lulubelle felt the
same way, because before long she leaned over and gave Gussie a hot
buss on the cheek and wandered off.
    Gussie cashed in her chips right
afterward, much to the disgust of the opposing players. There were
two men at the cashier's window. One of them handed her one hundred
thousand dollars and asked if she wouldn't like more chips. She
stared at the money and asked if he had traveler's checks instead.
At that point, the other one stuck out his hand, said he was from the IRS and she had
to give him back 30,000 of what she had just won. After she'd done
that and signed the appropriate paper, he very kindly directed her
to an all-night bank in the lobby. All the way to the bank she kept
wondering when her winnings were going to turn into dried leaves or
dust as fairy gold is supposed to. Then she thought, well, it might
disappear for other reasons. The IRS could find reasons to take it
even out of her account without her knowing about it. If she bought
traveler's checks, anybody looking for her could trace her. If she
kept it in cash, she'd probably get mugged. Oh, well, easy come
easy go.
    She stepped back into the night and found an
all-night auto dealership. One brown minivan later she was on the
road again, leaving Torchy-Lulubelle to wield her power. It did
cross her mind to wonder why the Debauchery Devil in her Lady Luck
guise decided to favor somebody who was supposed to be her
opponent. But then, that was one thing about the redhead, you never
could tell what was on her alleged mind.
    Gussie felt pleased about the van as she
zoomed out of town. Nobody knew where she'd gone or what she'd
bought, and that would make it hard finding her again. As soon as
she was safely down the highway, she pulled off at a truck stop and
climbed into the back on the nice soft, new-smelling cushions to
sleep off the tequila sunsets. Wouldn't do to be picked up for DWI
now that she'd come so far.
    Before she drifted off, she wondered again
about the redheaded devil. The woman had blabbed everything she
knew about the meetings where the devils had conspired, had even
described the other devils. All this presumably while under the
influence, but though she had talked drunk, she didn't act any
drunker than usual once they got to the casino. And why had she
just let Gussie win like that? The devil-woman's fecklessness and
unpredictability were oddly familiar to Gussie, putting her in mind
of the way certain musicians used to act. She wondered if Torchy
was really as crazy as she seemed or if she was up to
something.
     
    * * *
     
    "Dereliction of duty, DD," the boss said,
leaning back in his swivel chair.
    "O Contrary, Chair. I have a lot of duties,"
the Debauchery Devil said, shrugging. "Couldn't pass through Vegas
without making a few converts, now, could I?"
    "DD, you have the right attitude, but you're
such a flake," the Expediency Devil said. He was a new improved
model over the slightly old-maidish-looking previous one. This one
had crisp dark curly hair and a lean, mean form that if he had been
mortal would have been the result of