by Glen Cook
When I thought she was ready, I asked, "Can you talk about it now?"
She took a big bite out of her brandy before she nodded. "I have it under control. It was just ... the circumstances, I guess. Domina and my father having a screaming argument that had everybody running for cover. Then the news about Karl. Then when I finally managed to sneak out so I could come talk to you, Courter caught up with me down the street, and when I wouldn't go back home, the look he got made me think he wanted to kill me, too. I went kind of crazy and ran away screaming. But if the whole world has gone crazy, don't I have the right to get a little crazy myself?"
The words tumbled out of her, tripping over one another in their haste to dance in the open air.
"Hold it! Halt! Stop! Good girl. Now take a deep breath. Hold it. Count to ten, slowly. Good. Now tell me what happened. Start from the beginning so it makes sense."
Dean took my mug, which needed filling, and at the same time interrupted. "If you'll pardon me, Mr. Garrett, the most important point comes out of order. Her brother is dead."
I stared at Amber. She shivered, nodded. She was counting well past ten. "How?"
"They say he committed suicide."
That caught me flat-footed. I didn't know what to say. Before I got my mind in order, my permanent motionless houseguest broke all precedent and reached out beyond the bounds of his demesne.
Garrett. Bring them in here.
Dean caught it, too. He looked to me for instructions. "Do what he says, I guess. Amber, come with me. My associate wants us to talk it over in his presence."
"Do I have to?"
"Keep thinking two hundred thousand marks gold."
"I'm not sure I want to keep on ... Of course I do. I want out of that place more than ever, now. I'll never feel safe there again."
"Let's go, then. Don't worry about him. He's harmless to those who intend him no harm."
I'd forgotten one thing.
______XXIV______
Amber let out a squeal that was half pain, half horror. I thought she would faint. But she was made of tougher stuff than I suspected. She hung on to my arm a bit while she stared at Amiranda, then got hold of herself, stepped back, looked at me. "What's going on, Garrett?"
"That's what I found instead of the gold." She stepped over to the corpse.
Bring Mr. Slauce, Garrett. It may be helpful to present him with the same shock. "What about the other one?"
Dispose of him once we are done here. He should have learned his lesson.
"Want to give me a hand, Dean?" I didn't doubt that I could manage Slauce by myself. If nothing else, I could tip him over and roll him. But why strain myself?
We dragged him inside and per instructions set him down facing Amiranda. Amber seemed in control again. She said, "You have some things to tell me." "I'll tell you my story if you'll tell me yours." About then the Dead Man loosed his hold on Courter Slauce. I went to the door to make sure he didn't use it before we were done with him. He shook all over. There wasn't much bluff in him when he looked around. He didn't say anything. That disappointed me. I'd expected some bluster and the invocation of the Stormwarden.
"I want to know some things," I told him. "I think Miss daPena has a few questions, too. It's even possible Miss Crest might want to know why she was killed."
His eyes darted to the corpse. "I don't know nothing about that. Were did that come from? I thought she run off. Domina has been chewing my butt for days because she managed to get out of the house with her stuff. Never mind that I was halfway across town delivering a letter to one of the Baronet's girlfriends when she did it. That wouldn't have done for an excuse anyway, since I couldn't tell her."
He is telling the truth he believes, Garrett.
"Then he wasn't in on it?"
"Not wittingly, though I did not say that, Garrett.
"All right, Slauce. Who kidnapped Junior?"
"What the hell? How should I know? What the hell are you doing sticking your nose in, anyway? You got paid. You're out of it."
"That supposes nobody but Willa Dount would hire me. Slauce, I think you know the answer to the question. Just in case, though, I'll tell you the answer. Nobody kidnapped him. Unless a man can kidnap himself. My main interest, though, is why did Amiranda have to be killed? And who said the word that made it happen?"
Amber opened her mouth. I raised a hand, cautioned her to silence. Slauce didn't need to know her angle.
You are getting ahead of yourself, Garrett. No interrogation or manipulation of this man can be soundly founded—until we have heard everything Miss daPena has to tell us. Have you forgotten what brought her here? Or is her brother's demise too trivial for consideration?
I hadn't forgotten. I was stalling, having to deal with Amber's grief and hysteria and hoping for a breakthrough with Slauce that would give me the answer to my own dilemma. But I wasn't thinking soundly. Not to hear Amber out would be stupid. Since I'm one of the smartest guys around, it wouldn't do for me to tarnish my image by doing something dumb.
"You win, Old Bones. But upon your head be the rainfall."
It was not I who felt compelled to charge off to the rescue.
It is possible, with great concentration, to shut him out—if he has other things on his minds. He always has to have the last word. There are times he has all the disadvantages of a wife, with none of the advantages.
"Amber. You feel up to telling me what you came to tell? All settled down now?"
Slauce started snarling. "Girl, you don't talk to this guy about nothing. You don't do nothing but march yourself straight home."
I scowled at the Dead Man and said, "You had to let him get his second wind."
Amber told Slauce, "Shove your elbow up your nose, Courter. You don't scare me anymore. In a couple of days you and Domina are going to be hanging out in the wind. Aren't you? Maybe you could bull-smoke your way around Karl, but not Karl and Amiranda. And I'm sure not going back there and give you guys a chance to explain to Mother about Karl and Amiranda and me!"
"What kind of crazy talk is that, girl? Your brother killed himself."
"Just like Amiranda ran away. Give me credit for knowing my brother. You're not going to sell me that. My mother isn't going to buy it, either. And I'm not going anywhere near any of you people. Not when two out of the three family heirs suddenly turned up murdered."
"Three out of four," I tossed in, just to see how high the water would splash. "Amiranda was pregnant. Three months. The child would have been male."
That was a surprise to both Amber and Slauce. It silenced them. But if it wakened any suspicions, they concealed them well. I faced the Dead Man, indicated Slauce. "Shut him off, will you? I don't need him shoving his oar in while the lady is talking."
What lady?
Slauce went stiff as a corpse. Timely revelation, Garrett. You have him rattled and reflective. But you may have cost yourself your credibility with the girl. She has begun to suspect that you have not been candid about your own motives.
Yeah.
______XXV______
I said, "I think the best way would be for you to start right after the last time we talked."
Amber balked. "You aren't interested in anything but Ami."
"Oh?" I admitted an interest. "And I want whoever did this to her. I don't like people who waste attractive young women. But if you think I'm immune to the charms of a share of two hundred thousand marks gold, then you're a lot sillier than I think you are. Listen here. I'd be on this trail just as hot if that was you over there and Amiranda was standing where you are. I want the guy behind it. And I'll bet your mother will, too, once she gets here."
"There'll be hell to pay."
She is going to buy it, Garrett. You slick talker. I gave the Dead Man the look he deserved. "Amber, right now all I have to work with is what you can tell me."
She stalled long enough to satisfy her ego, then got to it. "Courter saw you when you were leaving. He ran right to Domina. Naturally. And she
flew into one of her rages. Only more so. I've seen her angry before but I never ever saw her lose control. She screamed and threatened and threw things and scared Karl so bad he told her everything we said. So it's good we didn't say anything about the gold. He would have told her about that, too. I didn't tell her anything. That made her mad all over again, so she had Courter give me a beating and lock me in my room. They didn't let me out till this morning."
She pirouetted, pranced over to Slauce, slapped him, and danced back. "There."
"They," it turned out, had been Karl, who had come to her while the house was asleep, unlocking her door. He had seemed severely troubled but had refused to explain except to say that he'd had all that he could take and was going away now and wouldn't be back.
"But that didn't mean he was going to kill himself."
I didn't believe he was the type, either. Not enough guts. "You'd better go over what he said. There might be some hint there. Try to recall his exact words and actions."
"I don't know how I could get his words more exact. Except that he asked me to go with him. I told him I wasn't miserable enough yet to give up and run without any prospects. But he was. Really. Something had shaken him badly. He was pale. He couldn't stand still. He was sweating."
"In othere words, he was scared."
"Terrified."
"Like he had seen a ghost?"
"That's funny."
"What is?"
"That's exactly what I thought then. That he must have seen a ghost."
"Maybe he did. At least secondhand. Go on. He left?"
"As soon as he knew I wasn't going with him."
"Any hint where?"
"A safe place with an old friend is what he told me when I asked."
"Donni Pell?"
"Maybe. That's what I thought when he said it. The way he said it. Donni Pell or Ami. I just figured he knew where Ami went."
"Why Amiranda?"
"They grew up together. They were close. They always had their heads together. If she ran away, he had to know where she went. She wouldn't go without leaving him a message somehow. Even if he was kidnapped when she went."
The more I saw of them, the more the workings and relationships of the daPena family baffled me. "All right. It could have been Amiranda but it wasn't because she was dead. We have to assume it was Donni Pell. That might not be true but anything else seems unlikely. Given his nature, it would have been a woman. Correct? Who else did he know? No one you or I know about. I guess I'll have to go there and see."
This business was all legwork. Morley would approve of the exercise I was getting. "Go on with the story. Your brother decamped, headed for parts unknown, frightened. Then what?"
"Twenty minutes later, Courter came. They knew Karl was out. They wanted me to tell them where he went."
"They?"
"Courter. It wasn'l really they till later. But Courter didn't come on his own. They sent him."
"I assume you gave him valuable advice on the placement of his elbow."
"Yes. So my father took his place. He was as pale and sweaty as Karl had been. And he had a wild look that scared me. Like he was so terrified he was capable of anything. He didn't get anywhere either. He did a lot of yelling. My father yells a lot. I mostly just stayed out of his reach till Domina came in. She tried to keep me from hearing what she said, but I heard part of it. She'd heard from one of the staff that Karl had heard that Mother was in Leifmold. Meaning Mother could show up anytime because she could get to TunFaire almost as fast as the news that she was coming. Father really got excited then."
"And?"
Amber seemed ashamed. "I want you to know, I love my father. Even when he does irrational things."
I tried my raised-eyebrow trick. I hadn't been practicing lately. She wasn't impressed.
"He screamed at Domina to get Courter. They'd beat it out of me. She couldn't calm him down, so she went out, I guess to get Courter. Father came after me. And he actually did hit me. He never did that before. Not himself."
"And?"
"I picked up a shoe and bopped him over the head. He went away. And he didn't come back. A couple hours later I heard him and Domina having a screaming match all the way from her side of the house. But I couldn't tell what it was about. I thought about sneaking over and eavesdropping but I didn't. I was scared to go out of my room. Everybody was going crazy. And then a little while after that, I decided I had to get out of that house. Forever. No matter what. Even if you can't find the gold."
"Why?"
"Because one of the servants told me that Karl had committed suicide. When I heard that, I knew I had to get away. Far away, where nobody could find me. Or I might be dead, too. Only I didn't run fast enough, I guess. Because Courter caught up with me just before I got here. He even tried to come in and drag me back out when your man let me in."
I considered Courter, then the Dead Man. He would be monitoring Slauce's reactions as closely as he could.
The man is a villain for certain, Garrett, but he appears to have no guilty knowledge concerning the death of Karl Junior or his supposed kidnapping. Much of what he has heard here has been news to him. He appears to be slow of wit and it could be that he is considered too stupid to be trusted. I faced Amber. "You're convinced your brother was incapable of taking his own life?"
"Yes. I told you that already."
"All right. That gives me a new line of attack. Where, when, and how did it happen?"
"I don't know."
"You don't know? You mean you just—"
"Don't you start yelling at me too!" She lifted a foot, snatched off a shoe, and brandished it.
Three seconds later we were shaking with laughter. I got hold of myself, gave Slauce a look, shifted it to the Dead Man.
He knows.
"Dean, take Miss daPena to the guest room and get her settled. While you're at it, you might as well fix yourself up for a few more nights. We're going to need you here."
"Yes sir." He sounded excited. At least he was in on this thing. "Miss? If you'll come with me?"
She went reluctantly.
_______XXVI _______
"i think I have to revise my strategy," I said. "I was going to let Slauce have the works so he could go home and get things stirred up."
I assumed as much. I believe it is time you approached Mr. Dotes on a purely business basis, instead of favor for favor. You need more eyes.
"Right. Things are stirred up enough without me sticking my hand in. Can you make him forget what he's seen and heard here?"
I think so.
"Then let's see what he has to tell about Junior checking out."
The Dead Man released his hold on Slauce. Friend Courter was vulnerable. When I asked, he answered, and didn't start toughening up for several minutes. He gave me an address and an approximate time of death only two hours after Karl had fled his home.
"How did he do it?" I asked, for Courter's sake going with the suicide fiction.
"He slashed his wrists."
That was the clincher. "Aw, come on! And you believed that? You knew the kid. If you'd said he'd hanged himself, I might have thought it was just barely possible. But even I knew him well enough to know he couldn't cut on himself. He was probably the kind of guy who couldn't shave because he was afraid he might see a speck of blood."
Do not press, Garrett. You will get him to thinking. For him that might prove to be a dangerous new experience. He just wanted his own job made easier. You go see Mr. Dotes now. By the time you return, Mr. Slauce will have forgotten this episode entirely. He will be a bit intoxicated. Take that into consideration when you are planning how you will remove him from the premises. And you might as well consider doing the other one while you are at it. Right. Grumble. I left him to his fun. Morley rented me five thugs. His discount to the trade left their price only semi-usurious. I assigned one man to keep an eye on my place just in case something happened that the Dead Man couldn't handle alone. The world is filled with unpred
ictable people.
One man got the job of keeping track of Courter Slauce. The remaining three got the unenviable task of trying to keep tabs on the denizens of the Stormwarden's house. I told them they should report to Morley. Dotes would have a better chance of tracking me down if there was something I needed to know. Five men weren't enough to do the job the way it ought to be done, but this one was out of my own pocket. The only client I had was one who had retained me on a contingency basis, and while I was willing to grab off a chunk of that ransom, I had a pessimistic view of my chances. I made a mental note to quiz Amber about what she had learned regarding Domina Dount's handling and delivery of all that gold.
Disposing of Bruno and Slauce was an easy half hour's work with a borrowed buggy. An unconscious Bruno got dumped into an alley where he'd soon waken hungry enough to go into the cannibal business. Courter wasn't all the way out. He was just roaring drunk. I don't know how the Dead Man managed that. He never said. I just walked Slauce into a tavern, sat him down with a pitcher, then look the buggy back where it belonged. Then it was time to go see what could be seen at the scene of Junior's suicide.
______ XXVII ______
The wooden tenements, three and four stories tall, leaned against one another like wounded soldiers after the battle. But the war never ended down here. Time was the enemy never to be conquered and there were no reserves to help stay the tide. It was night and the only light in the street fell from doors and windows open in hopes the day's heat would sneak away. That was a hope only slightly less vain than the hope that poverty would take to its heels. The street was full of serious-faced, gaunt children and the tenements were filled with quarreling adults. The corners, though, lacked their prides of narrow-eyed young men looking for a chance under the guise of cool indifference. No dares issued or taken. They were all in the Cantard, burning youth's energy in futility and fear, soldiering. The war had that one positive spin off. When you wanted to talk about your crime, you had to go find senior citizens who remembered the good old days before the war.
