Gilded Latten Bones

Dotes became involved, he remains a decade younger than was his target.

It is probable, by the way, that Mr. Dotes was taken originally not because he saw prisoners being shifted but because he might have seen the King's coach. I found a glimpse, never noticed or recognized, in a backwater of what he has been able to recall of that night.

'Dramatic age shifts? Could that explain the child's room in the Elf Town warehouse? Did one of the female villains get pushed back all the way to childhood?'

A plausible theory. I expect that the wild unpredictability began when they started using live bodies. The dead would be at a near ground state and much alike but the living would sprawl across a vast range.

That sounded good but didn't make much sense. I stopped listening. Nor did I harken to Dean and Singe squabbling about the work involved in throwing a victory party. Strafa had come into the Dead Man's room. She had cleaned up and dressed herself fit to kill. She didn't have to turn on the girl power.

So. I believe that issue has been worked out, too.

Maybe. A choice had been made. Questions remained. And I still had to summon the guts to face Tinnie and tell her there was nothing more she could do. I had to say good-bye.

I didn't want to see that being brave, sad, resigned look. But I couldn't disrespect her and what we had been to one another by just turning my back.

I wished there was a way we could stay friends. But that wouldn't work any better for us than it had for Kevans, Kip, and Kyra.

Old Bones settled back virtually and included the entire household in the warm glow of his approval.

He had gotten his boy all growed up.

Even Penny gave up a grudging smile.

About the Author

Glen Cook was born in 1944 in New York City. He has served in the United States Navy, and lived in Columbus, Indiana; Rocklin, California; and Columbia, Missouri, where he went to the state university. He attended the Clarion Writers Workshop in 1970, where he met his wife, Carol. 'Unlike most writers, I have not had strange jobs like chicken plucking and swamping out health bars. Only full-time employer I've ever had is General Motors.' He is now retired from GM. He's 'still a stamp collector and book collector, but mostly, these days, I hang around the house and write.' He has three sons-an Army officer, an architect, and a music major.

In addition to the Garrett, P.I., series, he is also the author of the popular Black Company series.