Sweet Silver Blues

by Glen Cook

  “Full Harbor’s reason for existing is military. Anything gaudy could effect the city’s military situation. Garrett, I’m convinced you know things I want to know. But I’m not going to press you. When you feel like baring your soul, drop in. And I’ll trade you the name of the man she married. Meantime, I’ll just use you as a stalking horse.”

  “Yeah.” I waved bye-bye, but my heart was not in it. I was pondering that equine-derived chestnut.

  Morley and the triplets joined me. “Who was that?” Morley asked. I told him. He asked, “He have anything interesting to say?”

  I told him all that, too.

  “Gang warfare and vampires,” he mused. “What a city.”

  “Vampires?”

  “Several people claim they were attacked this week. It’s all the talk. You know how those stories get going. People will see vampires in every shadow for a month.”

  34

  We slept at the same inn. We couldn’t be safer elsewhere, and the quarters were the best available for grolls.

  The innkeeper had five messages for me. They were from Zeck Zack, had come at a rate of one daily, and had become increasingly strident. I got the impression he wanted to see me.

  “Tomorrow is soon enough,” I told Morley. “Tonight I’m going to lay around and ruminate and drink beer to get the Cantard dust out of my throat. I’m not much closer to the woman but I’m starting to see the outlines of the other stuff. Except for Vasco and his crowd, I don’t think it has anything to do with silver. I think three or four conspiracies with completely alien or only marginally overlapping goals have collided here, maybe with the woman being the link. I don’t think I’m the only one going around wondering, Who the hell are those guys? What do they want?”

  I let it go there. Morley could chew on it if he wanted. I snuggled up with my beer and tried to let my mind go blank.

  Some might say I did not have to work very hard.

  Zeck Zack turned up next day. He got righteous with me.

  “Do I work for you?” I asked.

  He looked around. A lot of unfriendly faces were turned his way. Centaurs are not popular, which is probably why Zeck Zack spent so little time at his city house. He desisted, though he kept simmering. He handed me a sealed letter. “Your instructions are in there. You are to come alone.”

  “Have you been smoking weed?”

  “What?”

  “I don’t go anywhere alone. People have been dying around this town. Four of them right out around your place.”

  “You will go alone or they will not let you see her.”

  “Then I’ll find her my own way.”

  Morley walked in then, coming back from grazing. He slapped Zeck Zack across the rump, a familiarity and indignity that almost sent him into paroxysms. Morley said, “There was another vampire thing last night, Garrett. Sounded like the real article.”

  “Remind me to wear my high-collar shirt when I go barhopping tonight.” His pursed lips told me he had something more on his mind but wouldn’t say what until I got rid of the centaur.

  I told Zeck Zack, “You see? It’s dangerous to wander the streets alone.”

  “I will put it to them. They are going to be very irritated with both of us. They have gone to a great deal of trouble to make the woman available. But, perhaps, for that reason they will accede to your petition.”

  I did my eyebrow trick. My petition? “Right. Check it out. You know where to find me.”

  He extended a hand. “The instructions? They will have to be changed.”

  I gave them back. He left, giving me a couple of dark looks.

  “He wanted me to come to the meet all by myself, on the lonesome,” I told Morley. “Just me face-to-face with ‘them,’ whoever ‘they’ are.”

  “Whoever, they have him peeing down his leg. And he has a reputation for being a tough bastard.”

  “I noticed he had a case of nerves. What’s up?”

  “The place is being watched. Somebody followed me out and back. I didn’t give it a good scout because I didn’t want them to know they’d been made, but I spotted two more. I figured that’s iceberg.”

  “Damn! The works. A whole crew. And now they know I’m dealing with Zeck Zack.”

  “Spilled milk. Who do you figure for it?”

  “That army bastard. I don’t know why. Vasco or the striped-sail crowd wouldn’t have the resources. The centaur doesn’t need to know every breath we take. He hopes he has us on the hook.”

  “Maybe the major needs a closer look.”

  “Maybe. Though I don’t even know his name. And I’d rather not. I’d just as soon get on with the job I’m getting paid to do.”

  Morley nodded. “It’s getting thick. I find myself looking forward to the trip home—in my more insane, impatient moments.”

  I slouched in my seat. “I guess we spend the day on in-and-out, getting a scout on how many and how good they are. We can make like we’re getting ready for another trip out of town. We can eat the food on the way home if the meet goes down and I get what I need.”

  “We’ll have to work a way for all of us to shake them, too.”

  “Yeah. This thing couldn’t get any more complicated if you hired three wizards to knot it up.”

  35

  I was wrong, of course. It could get more complicated. And it did.

  Morley, the triplets, and I spent the day running the bird dogs, and scoped out both daytime and nighttime routines for shaking them, though it looked like there would be at least twenty of them on us around the clock. It isn’t hard to shake watchers when you know they’re around, especially in a city as crazy as Full Harbor.

  Morley had gone out for supper. I was having mine with Dojango in the common room. His brothers were in our quarters, where they felt more comfortable.

  Dojango wasn’t a bad sort to pass the time with, if you made allowances. He knew more crude stories than anyone I’d ever met, though he didn’t deliver them very well. Actually.

  Further complication waltzed through the door.

  “Saucerhead Tharpe!” I groaned.

  “And Spiney Prevallet,” Dojango said of the guy who was the last of the four to enter. “Doris! Marsha!” He could put a snap in his voice when he wanted. It carried over the common-room noise.

  The two in the middle need no introduction. My old flames, Tinnie and Rose. Tinnie stomped past Saucerhead, who was giving the grolls the once-over and not liking what he saw. I said, “I see the Venageti didn’t get you. And I thought their sailors had an unfailing eye for the finest.”

  She halted in a widespread stance within slapping range, but her fists settled on her hips. “You’re a brass-balled son-of-a-bitch, Garrett. You know that?”

  “Yeah. I’ve heard that talk, too. And it’s true, so don’t think you can flatter me. Have a nice trip? How long you been in town?” I kept one eye on Rose who looked as vicious as an entire pack of wolves circling in for the kill. Saucerhead and Spiney, with better sense and no emotional investment, put their hands in their pockets and kept them there. “Had supper yet? Sit down. My treat. It isn’t the Unicorn Gambit, but the food sticks to your ribs.”

  “You . . . ! You . . . !” Tinnie stammered. “Don’t you sit there and act like you didn’t do anything. Don’t treat me like one of your flapping old army buddies, you bastard.” The fire was fading from her eyes. She had become conscious of the silence surrounding us, of all the staring eyes and knowing smirks.

  “You’re not being very ladylike,” I noted. “Sit down, my one true love. Let me ply you with food and spirits.”

  “Bought with Uncle Willard’s money?”

  “Of course. It’s a legitimate business expense.” A smile flirted with her lips despite her determination to be angry. She plopped into the chair Morley usually inhabited.

  “Dojango, would you scare up enough seats for the rest of our guests?”

  He looked at me like I was crazy, but he did it. “You’re lucky you got here when
you did. An hour from now this place will be standing room only. Hello, Saucerhead. I paid your fee against your account at Morley’s place. All right?”

  “Yeah. Sure. That’s what I wanted. How you doing, Garrett?” He was embarrassed to be seen in the company of two real live women. What was it going to do to his reputation?

  “Not so good. I’ve fallen right into the middle of the damnedest thing I ever saw.”

  Civilized behavior begets civilized behavior. Rose decided to play the game and was the perfect lady as Dojango held her chair. “Rose,” I said. “You’re looking lovelier than ever.”

  “It must be the sea air. And a change of diet.”

  I looked at Tinnie. “Not roots and berries, I hope.”

  Tinnie winked.

  I faced Spiney Prevallet. “Mr. Prevallet. I’ve heard of you but don’t think we’ve ever met.”

  “Garrett. No, we haven’t. I’ve heard of you, too.” And that was all he had to say for the evening. It was enough to set my teeth on edge. His voice was neutral but as cold as the bottom side of a coffin.

  If Morley and Saucerhead are the best at what they do, Spiney Prevallet is crowding them. And he’s said to be less squeamish and less choosy about the jobs he takes.

  The landlord himself came to take orders. Men like him have a sixth sense. He wanted to size up the trouble before it happened. I smiled at him a lot.

  “You’ve had trouble?” Rose asked. She sounded hopeful.

  “A little. More, you’d say I’ve been trouble. Everybody I talk to turns up dead.”

  That got their attention. I gave them an edited and censored account of my adventures. Somehow, I forgot to mention Zeck Zack.

  I was still talking and wondering how to get rid of them, in case the centaur showed, when Morley walked in.

  He never batted an eye. He walked up behind Rose, who had her back to the door, and trailed his fingertips lightly up the side of her neck. “A miracle. I would have sworn the pirates would have—”

  Tinnie cut in. “Garrett already used that line. Only with him it was Venageti sailors.”

  “Then add plagiarism to his list of sins.” Morley placed a small box on the table before me. “That four-legged wonder of a cook sent you this kelp salad. Since you’ve already eaten, maybe you should save it for a snack.”

  I peeked despite his warning. Kelp salad, all right. “He gave it to you?”

  “To bring over. He knew we had company and didn’t want to intrude.”

  “I don’t have much use for kelp, but since he went to all the trouble . . . ”

  Morley kept stroking Rose’s neck and shoulders. He nodded once to Tinnie, ignored Spiney and Saucerhead completely. If, as I suspected, the kelp concealed Zeck Zack’s instructions for making the meet, we had a problem. I expect that had Morley’s undivided attention.

  “Did you bribe Master Arbanos somehow?” I asked Tinnie.

  “That little water rat? He did exactly what you told him to. He handed us over to Uncle Willard personally.”

  “I’m sorry I missed that.”

  “You’re going to get your chance to take part in a reenactment.”

  “How did you manage—”

  Rose said,”Our good Uncle Lester bestowed a small legacy on each of us.”

  “I see.” Women with their own money do tend to get independent, don’t they?

  That box of salad sat there staring at me, begging to be opened, and I hadn’t one idea how to get rid of them.

  “Why are you here, Tinnie? Rose I understand. A hundred thousand marks makes for a big greed.” Morley was over talking to the grolls, now. I hoped his mind was more fertile than mine.

  “I have a grudge to settle with a certain bastard who had me tied up and shipped like a sack of turnips.”

  “After he had the brass-balled gall to get you out of the hands of kidnappers. What can you do with a churl like that?” I countered.

  She had the grace to redden.

  Morley came over and begged Dojango for his seat, which was next to Rose. With bad grace Dojango gave way and joined his brothers.

  I saw it then, and Morley knew when I knew. He gave me the ghost of a smile and went to work charming Rose.

  Dojango ducked through the door to our quarters.

  Five minutes later I developed an irresistible need for the loo. I grabbed my box and promised to be right back. I trickled fingers through Tinnie’s hair. She slapped my hand but it was only a pat.

  Dojango was waiting. “Out the window. Night course. Morley says you’d better read your instructions and dump them down the loo first.”

  I had that much sense. I didn’t figure he needed reminding, though. “Who’s next?”

  “Morley. He comes to see why you’re taking so long. He’s worried. Then Doris goes, then me. Marsha stalls and distracts them by keeping them from getting through the door.”

  “Sounds good. If it works.”

  36

  I ambled up the lane toward the Orthodox cemetery, where we were to meet at the Kronk family plot. Convenient, that. Zeck Zack or his messenger was supposed to take us to the meet from another plot just two hundred yards away, come midnight.

  I reached the place where the first man to arrive was supposed to lie in the weeds for anybody following the rest. “Morley? I’m clean.”

  Page 108

  Dojango came out of the darkness, not Morley. “What took so long?”

  “I had more tails than an uighur. All pros. Took awhile to shake them. Where’s Morley?”

  “Pushing sugar.”

  “Doris and Marsha?”

  “At the plot. They just got here, too. They almost forgot. They were having fun trotting around town watching the humans huff and puff trying to keep up.”

  “The ladies?”

  “You and Morley better forget those two and take up kicking beehives.”

  “Mad, huh?”

  “Furious, actually.”

  Morley came back from his pandering. “Just in time, Garrett. Let’s go check something out.” He marched off through the graveyard.

  His destination proved to be a decrepit mausoleum. He examined its door. I couldn’t see what he saw. He grunted. “Hunh. Maybe they knew what they were talking about. Marsha. Open it up.”

  The groll obliged. There was no sound of seals breaking. There was almost no sound at all. Curious in a door that should have been unmoved for generations.

  Then the stench rolled out.

  I considered a crack about ducking the stampeding buzzards, but desisted. Death is no joke.

  “We need a light, Morley,” Dojango said.

  “I figured we would. I borrowed a lucifer stone from my bitty buddy Hornbuckle.” He removed it from its protective sack. It was a young one, burning bright.

  I didn’t want to go inside, but I did. I stayed only as long as I could hold my breath, which was long enough to get an education. It was pretty bad, but I did recognize what was left of Father Mike, the Sair, and the clerk from the civil city hall. I had no idea who the others were.

  Marsha closed it up. We walked to the Kronk plot in silence. Finally, Morley said, “Somebody’s garbage dump.”

  “Who put them there?”

  “Soldiers. I quote Hornbuckle: ‘Soldiers without livery.’ ”

  “I see.” I saw a great deal. It had nothing to do with finding Kayean, but a lot to do with a nameless major.

  Morley said, “On no evidence at all I’ll bet you fifty marks your major was part of the outfit that liberated the church the day your girlfriend’s father died.”

  “No bet. Not even at ten to one.”

  A man in the major’s position wouldn’t quietly dispose of the top Venageti agent in his territory. Not when he could bring him in and harvest all sorts of rewards. Not unless that agent could name some very interesting names, like maybe that of an agent even better placed than he.

  “Investigators from TunFaire, you had to say. He thinks we’re the King’s men and we
’re looking for him. What other reason for the interest in people named Kronk?”

  “Or the Emperor’s men.” I shook my head. “My poor sweet, silly Kayean. She had to make the worst choices in fathers and husbands.”

  Morley frowned. “Husbands? You don’t even know who he is.”

  “I don’t have to to know he’s somebody Zeck Zack and his bosses want to keep us away from. It can’t be her. There’s no evidence that she’s anything but a woman carrying on a profitable correspondence with an old flame.”

  Morley grunted. “What about your major?”

  “You know me. I’d rather negotiate, like with the centaur. Or I just let them ride and hope for the best, like with Vasco and his bunch. I’ve only killed two men since I got out of the Marines, and one of them was by accident. But I think somebody is going to have to chop the head off this snake before it crushes us all.”

  We scouted the terrain thoroughly. There was no sign the centaur planned anything cagey, but that wasn’t especially reassuring.

  Zeck Zack came for us himself, which said something about his relationship to the shadow folk behind him. “You’re early,” he accused.

  “So are you.”

  “I told them I needed time to scout you for treachery. In truth, I wanted time to talk.”

  “You trust us, then?”

  “As much as one dares, given the circumstances. Your claims received independent corroboration from persons who had no wish to further your mission.”

  “Who?”

  “I believe they called themselves Quinn and Kurts.”

  So. I had to reorganize my notions about who had done what to whom that bloody night.

  “Mr. Garrett, I’ve gone to a great deal of trouble on your behalf. For myself as well, I admit, for it could mean my neck if the knowledge of the movement of certain letters reached the wrong persons. But still, on your behalf I have saved your lives by convincing them that the surest way to handle you is to let you get your affidavit. You might also note the removal of two deadly enemies, which improves your odds.”

  “You want something.”