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"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 possessiveis amore I myself aood, keeps his spirits bolstered, laughs when she’s supposed to, and is of immense assistance to him in all his political fundraisers Tho bitchy, not at all uncost the departed, you know Soaret Pallack, on occasion I’ood 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 hen 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 ould even think to call them, much less want to"

Cheney said, "Youin the right nu "Soldan, youBut 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 exae only in an 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 sient Stone Soy--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 spiritsin it, and I don’t ever want to They scare me I don’t knohat it is they want Do they truly terrorize people like you see in the movies? Maybe it’s all a ust since he was ust roams, endlessly He’s a nomad in The Beyond I suspect he will cal, it shocks the psyche, you see"

CHAPTER 45

Did you ask hiht have killed hient Stone No, I did not put that question to him precisely like that, but it was obvious he didn’t know He didto locate a new cocaine dealer since the one he had was beco unreliable"

"Why has Thomas Pallack wanted to speak to his dead parents for sopause, eyes wide open now, sucking in his Asian delight "When I look at you through e 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 forence 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 exciteer, you lessen her fear It is quite re, Soldan I can see you’re good at what you do But answer my question, please Why the obsession with his parents? It would see left to talk about"

Soldan

"Soldan," Julia said, sitting back on her heels, "we’re thinking that the sa to killto kill me, that siust Neither would Agent Stone"